Making my own medicine

This weekend I attended a workshop from a local herbalist on making cold syrups. Appropriate for the season...I'm just recovering from a small cold and still am sniffling a bit.

This is what I have to say about making your own medicine. It's cool!!! Do it!! There are so many reasons to make your own medicine.

First of all, it's just plain fun. We had all these beautiful roots and herbs to choose from that were out on the table. We got to taste and smell and learn about all sorts of different plants. We threw everything that tasted and sounded good into a brew on the stove. Like a good winter soup. The boiling water extracts the medicinal properties of the herbs.

Once we had this liquid extraction, we then added a ton of honey (sweetener and it's an antibacterial) and a bit of grain alcohol (so that the syrup lasts for awhile). It can keep for up to 2 years if its kept in the fridge. Mix all of this together, and voila! I had made a very tasty cold medicine with things like Elderberry, Marshmallow root, Ginger, Red Cedar, Oregon Grape, Horehound, and Elecampagne.

It's antimicrobial (Oregon Grape), antiviral (Horehound), heating (Ginger), and yummy (Elderberry).

In just 2 1/2 hours I learned all sorts of useful things. Like: take Oregon Grape with you when traveling in parts of the world where food and water is a bit iffy. If you chew on a bit of Oregon Grape before eating or drinking, it will help kill bacteria and will keep you healthy and happy. This is *good* information to know. So simple. And apparently quite effective.

There are other good reasons to make your own medicine. Like - you know EVERYTHING that is in there and where it came from. How many things do you eat or ingest in a day that you can say this about? No hidden ingredients. Nothing that might be toxic (or even mildly irritating) to my system. And, if my body doesn't react well for some reason to the medicine, I can mess around with the ingredients and amounts until I have something that does just what I want it to do.

Really, it's empowering. To understand what herbs do (and don't do). And to be able to create something in my kitchen that will help heal me. With things that I can find in my kitchen, back yard, and the local herb shops.

Plus, isn't it always easier to take our own medicine?? Well, I guess that's debatable.

Recipe for making your own cold syrup:

2 parts herbs extracted in hot water (so, so many herbs to choose from, put in as many or as few as you like.

2 parts honey

1 part tincture (herbal infusion in grain alcohol)