Strega Gardens - Strega's Pearls | Recipes and Herbal How To's | Strega Gardens

Nettles and Yellow Dock Soup anyone?

5/20/2019

Nettles and Yellow Dock Soup

Ingredients
3-4 quarts of a ready-made broth (maybe a homemade bone broth previously frozen) or
Better Than Bouillon (a product okay to use in a pinch, organic and natural and tastes pretty good, comes in different flavors) it’s okay to just use water but make sure to add enough spices for flavor (double spices below)
Sometimes I blend my nettles and yellow dock leaves in the blender the result looks like pesto and place it like that in the pot. In the picture featured the some of the greens are cut and some are blended then added to the pot.

1 bunch or large bowl of nettles from your garden or wild-crafted from the mountains
6-8 young yellow dock leaves easily found in your backyard or alleyway
2 large carrots
1 large leek
1/2 lb shiitakes or baby portabella mushrooms
1 1/2 cups cabbage
2 sweet potatoes
3 cloves of raw garlic
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tbsp fresh sage or ½ tsp dried sage x’s two
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp coriander seed whole or crushed x’s two
1 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
3 tbls of olive oil or avocado oil
1 cup fresh parsley leaves coarsely chopped
Plain whole milk yogurt
Begin with washing and coarsely cutting the greens. Please us rubber gloves to do this for the nettles as the plant has little hairs on it that sting to touch, or if you are like my husband, just do it barehanded for the love of the natural sting and stimulation. Place aside. Cut off the top part of the leek and discard (you can freeze this for a stock pot later). Slice the leek in half and then slice into long pieces. Place the pieces in a water bath (there is a lot of soil in the many layers) and let the dirt sink down. Remove the leeks from the bowl or sink and let them air dry for a little on a cloth.
Next, rinse and slice the mushrooms and cabbage, peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Slice the carrots 1/4 inch on a diagonal so they look like long disks. Crush, peel and mince your garlic. Warm up your soup pot and add the oil. Lightly saute all the vegetables together until you see them start to sweat or you can smell the garlic.
At this point add your veggie broth or water and stir in all your greens, add in the vinegar and spices. Cover and bring to a boil then lower and simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes, you can always cook it longer. Check the soup periodically, you may need to add more broth or water as it evaporates during the cooking process.
About 10 minutes before you serve your soup add the other sage, coriander, and salt to taste, always re-season your food especially soups. Right before serving fold in the parsley. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then serve with a dollop of yogurt. Enjoy!

Nettle Yorkshire Pudding

4/25/2019

Nettles is one of the best spring time tonics for energy, healing, and increasing nutrition. It's a nutritive tonic herb, a galactogogue (increases milk supply), rich in protein, and nutrients.
Nettles is very high in calcium, magnesium, trace minerals sulphur, zinc, chromium, boron, and chlorophyll-rich in muscle-relaxing magnesium. Through its nutrition, can make our blood stronger, and through its astringent nature, can stop bleeding. This is a friend worth having around all the time powdering and putting in your shaker mixes to add extra nutrients to every meal. For the kids green eggs and ham!

Yorkshire Pudding Gluten Free and full of Nettles
1 big handful of fresh nettle leaf
2 eggs
1 cup of milk (your choice coconut, almond, cow, goat, etc.)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil (avocado, olive, coconut, etc) and more for muffin pan
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 tsp baking powder
2 cardamom pods open and use the seeds
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup arrowroot flour (starch)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Place your muffin tin, preferably a cast iron pan, into the oven and get it nice and hot. Then, place all your ingredients into a blender, I use a VitaMix, and blend together until it is a thin liquid batter. Once your pan is nice and hot add some butter or oil into each muffin spot, pour the batter and listen to it sizzle. Fill to about 3/4 to the top. Cook for 20 minutes. We want the inside nice and moist don't cook it too long, but if you cook it too long it will just turn into a nice muffin.
Serve with hot butter, syrup, or powdered sugar and enjoy.

Dandelion Fritters

4/24/2019

What is a Vaginal Steam and Why Should I Do One?

2/26/2019

Vaginal steams are used in in traditional medical systems worldwide to maintain the general health of the female reproductive system that I have been using in clinical and personal applications for over 10 years. They are used to treat vaginitis, urinary tract infections, to stimulate blood flow to the pelvic area, painful periods, to soften tissues, adhesions, fibroids, and to prepare the area for treatment.
We always use plants, not essential oils, for vaginal steams because the plants already contain the perfect amount of volatile oils. Plants such as basil, whose volatile oils have antibacterial constituents, are frequently used. Hot water releases these oils, and when mingled with steam the oils are able to penetrate deeper into the pelvic tissues as opposed to topical applications like douches or sitz baths, which only reach the vagina and cervix. This method even allows one to treat issues with deeper pelvic organs such as the Fallopian tubes and ovaries. In the same way that steaming your face pulls impurities to the surface, steaming the pelvic floor can draw out old blood near the beginning and ending of your period. Also a warm steam can be very soothing during an active urinary tract infection helping to soothe the tissue. I encourage clients to use this opportunity to urinate directly into the pot while steaming for this issue because they can do so without pain. I use rose as an astringent and tonic along with a sitz bath in the case of UTIs. I like to steam monthly right before my moon because it helps to bring on the bleeding and ease cramping.
This is a traditional Mayan Healing technique and was taught to me by Miss Beatrice Waight, who was my teacher for several years, as well as Rosita Arvigo and Pei Fen Yan L.Ac., my Chinese women’s medicine doctor.
Giving yourself a steam is easy. Clean your toilet, boil a medium sized pot of water and add some dried organic basil leaves, organic rose petals and organic calendula or marigold flowers. Place the pot into the toilet bowl and set the seat down. Wrap your thighs with a sheet or sarong. To do this, place the sheet behind your bottom, bring the sheet in both hands and wrap each leg then lift the sheet to expose your vagina. Sit down and put a blanket over your lap, wrap it around to hold in the steam. Stay on the toilet until the steam goes back down into the pot.
Note: you must be careful using this particular method, it is very easy to burn yourself. To avoid burning yourself make sure the water in the pot is at least 4 inches from the top and always wrap your legs. If it feels too hot stand up and release some steam.
We make Yoni Steam boxes so you don’t have to use the toilet. I think it's way more comfortable and it can be placed anywhere, including outside under the full moon. This box features a cedar frame and Colorado pine beetle blue wood, It can fit in the bottom of your closet upside down and can store extra towels etc. I keep mine in my closet.
Indulge in your very own vaginal steam box, handmade with love and intention. We can stain it or leave it natural. Size can vary depending on your height and weight. Will ship in one piece. Standard size is 15x15x15, larger sizes are available. Optional items include: handles, various wood species combinations, hinged door, back rest, removable lid, Butchers block oil, or Beeswax coating. Click on the images to order your box or steam blend today.

Feeling SAD? End of Winter Blues? Help is on the Way!!!

2/12/2019

St. Joan’s/John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum

There are some 490 species of Hypericums, many of which possess bright yellow flowers and the signature perforated leaves. Several species are commonly used as ornamental plants in people’s gardens. The perforations are easiest to see when a leaf is held up to the sun and viewed from beneath, it is quite striking to see how much light comes through. The perforatum species is the most common variety and grows wild on hillsides with ample sun exposure. It is an annual, grows 12”-18” high on single stocks, sometimes 2 or 3 stalks will grow from a single base root. The flower petals are bright yellow and the flower centers are a darker yellow-orange.
St. John’s Wort is the plant that holds the healing power of the sun. It blooms around the feast of Saint John (hence its name), on June 24th at the height of the summer. People used to hang bundles of it above their doors to ward off evil. The star shaped golden yellow blooms are collected and dried or steeped in olive oil that results in a beautiful crimson sun-infused medicinal oil. The oil is then used in salves and oil blends for ailments such as contusions and stagnant strains and sprains, particularly in concert with Arnica. During the winter months, it works well in moisturizers to infuse the body with a memory of the sun and to increase one’s sensitivity to light increasing Vitamin D intake (by “perforating” the energy field, allowing more light into the system), which helps to alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is a wonderful massage oil on children with growing pains. Internally, tinctures from the fresh plant are used to treat nerve tension and nerve pain, and as an antiviral. Mixed with lemon balm it is an effective treatment for Herpes simplex I and II. St John’s Wort clears out excess emotional debris from the liver and blood, promoting a healthy mood and emotional well-being, and is highly effective as an antidepressant. It opens one’s field to the sun, allowing more light into the emotional body, so much so that in some cases it can result in hyper sensitivity to sunlight. It is a powerful liver clearing herb and helps women who have PMS resulting from liver imbalances. Finally, the tea can be used as a topical antibacterial agent for acne. This plant is not recommended to use while on medicines that need to stay in the body such as anti-rejection drugs in the case of organ transplants. St Joan’s Wort can teach us how to acquire true, deep and lasting clarity, and to fully receive the medicine and wisdom she offers one must create a long- term relationship with her.

If you are interested I have some infused oil and tincture for sale drop me a line for your personal blend! stregagardens@gmail.com or 720-380-9916.

Strega's Clean Kitchen-Smudge Formula

1/17/2019

Strega's Clean Kitchen is the name of the "smudge" or blend of herbs I burn specifically in my kitchen. I spend a lot of time cooking, medicine-making. and drinking tea in this part of my home. I can say for for my own family and friends that come to visit, it's the place we spend most of our time. I created a special blend based on some traditional herbs used by my ancestors for keeping the energy clear. I want the doors for nurturing and nourishment to be open. I want to infuse my food and medicines with love. I do that through speaking my prayers or intentions into my food and the smudge can help maintain the integrity that I desire. It's a formula that holds a sense of protection and clearing while bringing in the blessings of my lineage. I invoke this energy with my thoughts and words. The herbs I use are Rosemary, Ponderosa Pine resin, Calamus Root, and Rose. I powder these plants together in a mortar and pestle while I sing a loving song, singing keeps my mind from wandering. Once I am done, I keep it in a dish next to my stove so it's always in view. I make it in small batches so it remains fresh. Feel free to try my formula and add your own personal touch to this special blend. If you find it difficult to make on your own I am offering a Strega's Clean Kitchen Smudge Kit that includes 2oz of the Smudge blend, bamboo charcoal burners, and a booklet with songs and prayers to use while smudging. If you would like just a little amount of the smudge blend that is available too. Visit my website stregagardens,com for more details.

I am located in Erie, Colorado. Most of the plants have been harvested in the Rocky Mountains, grown in my garden, or sourced with a reputable organic company.

Traditional Herbal Medicine Indigenous to all People

6/4/2017

Traditional herbal medicine is the use of plants as teas, tinctures, salves, poultices, powders, pills, bolus, balms, glycerites, honeys, cough syrups, steams, and many more

Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people and is for all to use and practice. Plant medicine is gentle and strong. The source of all medicine is the earth we live on, so it is gifted to us by the mother of all beings. It can be found all around us—in our backyards, in the cracks of sidewalks, in our gardens, and in the woods. Many indigenous elders say that each plant has a specific job and remedy for every ailment, physical and emotional, inflicted upon the people.

Identifying the medicinal qualities of plants can be very easy. There are many different methods besides looking up the herb or a remedy in a book:
• Doctrine of Signatures—You can see this when a plant looks like the organ or body part for which it has a cure, such as the branching of most coniferous trees mimicking the bronchioles of the lungs. Pine, spruce, and cedar all work on healing colds that infect the lungs.
• Color—When we eat a rainbow of foods, we are nourishing our bodies in many ways. When we are feeling an imbalance, we can increase the intake of the colored food or herb that relates to the organ system for which we need a remedy; for example, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), green foods and herbs nourish and protect the liver and gallbladder, yellow for the stomach and spleen, red foods and herbs for the heart and blood, white for the lungs, black for the kidneys. Colors vary depending upon the tradition you choose to follow.
• Intuition—Note your subtle response to the smell of an herb or flower. If we need a plant, it typically smells very good, though it may not taste very good. Familiarity with your plants is essential for safety reasons.
• Journeying with the Spirit of a Plant —In a safe and quiet space, we can access a part of ourselves that will give us our truth through pictures. There, the spirit of the plants can communicate their healing properties.
• Scientific Case Studies and Research—In the past 20 years, there have been more and more case studies collected and research on herbs and their medicinal values. Many of these case studies can be found on the internet using reliable resources, such as the Harvard website and Pubmed.

The best way to find out if a plant works for you is to do your own investigation and self study. Start out simple for example, if you get a cold, try to make yourself some healing teas to nourish your body's natural defense system. Be adventurous!!

If you have any questions feel free to leave some below.

Simple Herbs for Food and Medicine: Rosemary

5/17/2017

Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis Lamiaceae Family

Rosemary is a shrub with leaves about 1 inch long on a woody stem. The leaves are linear, revolute, dark green above, and paler green and glandular beneath. It has an aromatic, pungent scent with a camphor-like quality to it. The flowers are small and pale blue. This plant has an abundance of essential oils running through it, mostly in the sepals of the flower. Rosemary in its culinary use is famous in Europe. It adds a unique flavor to vegetables and poultry dishes. Rosemary typically is the dominant flavor when used in a recipe (but not always).
Rosemary for remembrance—This plant is famous for its ability to enhance the memory. Many of our most famous writers, herbalists, and healers have much to say about this wonderful plant.

Lindley and Moore, in The Treasury of Botany, says:
There is a vulgar belief in Gloucestershire and other counties, that Rosemary will
not grow well unless where the mistress is “master”; and so touchy are some of the
lords of creation upon this point, that we have more than once had reason to
suspect them of privately injuring a growing rosemary in order to destroy this
evidence of their want of authority.

Sir Thomas More writes:
As for Rosmarine, I let it runne all over my garden walls, not onlie because my
bees love it, but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance, and, therefore, to
friendship; whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language that maketh it the chosen
emblem of our funeral wakes and in our burial grounds.

Medicinal Properties:
— astringent, tonic, circulatory stimulant, diaphoretic, carminative, anti-spasmaodic, emmenagogue, nervine, aromatic, cephalic (relating to the head)
— nerve tonic
— helps with a headache caused by anxiety or nervousness, and especially with poor circulation; as a remedy, it should be taken as a warm tea
— helps aid in digestion
— induces sweating
— used externally as a rubefacient
— tonic to help grow your hair

In her book Fire Heart (2012), Maya Medicine Woman, Miss Beatrice Torres Waight, says:
Rosemary must be included in any talk about plant allies. She is cleansing, sacred,
and protecting and an important ingredient in many of our Maya herbal baths
and teas. Rosemary is a good one to put in the postpartum womb steam bath and
to wash the lactating breasts to help bring the milk down. We use rosemary to
bathe with, or to burn as incense after visiting a cemetery. Rosemary is burned
right before the birth of a child and in the baby's room where he is sleeping with
his mother, as a way of blessing and protecting the child.

Do You Need a Mayan Uterine Massage?

5/7/2017

Uterine Bodywork facilitates the healing of numerous emotional, menstrual, spiritual, and physical conditions.
The solar plexus is known in the Wise Woman, Chinese and other indigenous traditions to be our "power center", the center of our personal power source.
Incidents such as rape, incest, abuse, abortion, infertility, and traumatic childbirth can restrict the flow of necessary energy movement in the area and as a result we lose our sense of power. One very common side effect is poor digestion, this is an indication that our power source is lacking energy. Mayan uterine massage is a simple and effective therapy that shifts stagnation into positive flow once again.

Physically speaking, when the uterus is displaced oxygenated blood (arterial flow) coming to the uterus is sluggish and venous blood flow moving out of the uterus is restricted, This sluggish condition hinders outward flow and results in the buildup of carbonic acid and other toxins in the tissues. Without being able to excrete or dispose of these acids can lead to unpleasant symptoms and over a period of years, serious illness. Another symptom of a displaced uterus is clotting and brown blood during our moontime or monthly bloods. If this is something you are experiencing then circulation is stunted.

Stress is a HUGE factor in all of stagnation. Any one of the instances above precipitates an interruption of relaxation where metabolism and absorption function improperly. In a chaotic stressful environment, your energy also becomes chaotic, Your cells absorb the energy of your environment and this can lead to a digestive disaster. This stress-filled environment hinders one's ability to connect with a basic source of self love. Eating healthy food and absorbing the nutrition therein is an elemental task that so many people cannot manifest. Massaging the digestive organs brings blood and warmth with vital nutrients into these places whereas before they were cold and stagnant. Penetrating those dormant areas moves energy, blood, and body fluid, and also releases that chaotic (stressful) energy. This motion can release and breakdown negative thoughts stored in the tissue, a liberation related to this intense powerful healing.

When you come to see me for uterine bodywork and a vaginal steam, an individual's ceremony emerges. I hold the container so you can open your heart and release what does not serve your highest good any longer. I want you to engage in your healing journey feeling supported and nourished. I uphold the safe place, so that 'she who is healing' can shine.

Simple Herbs to Use for Food and Medicine

4/30/2017

Oregano
Origanum vulga
Lamiaceae Family

Oregano is related to the herb marjoram sometimes referred to as wild marjoram. It is a perennial herb,with creeping roots, sending up woody stems about a foot high, branched above, often purplish.
The name Origanum is derived from two Greek words oros (mountain) and ganos (joy).
The leaves are opposite, petiolate, about an inch long, nearly entirely hairy beneath. This is the wild variety. When cultivated, the leaves are more elliptical in shape than the wild marjoram, and the flower-spikes are thinner and more compact. The whole plant has a strong, fragrant, balsamic odor and a warm, bitterish, spicy, aromatic taste, both of which properties are preserved when the herb is dry. Two percent (2%) of this plant is made up of its essential oil, so it is rightly used for its very particular and unique flavor.

Medicinal Properties:
Oregano properties are very similar to those of all mint family plants: helps increase digestion,relieve gas pain, and is a nervine (soothing to the nervous system).
— The cultivated herb is used as the culinary spice but can be used for medicinal remedies as well.
— has a vast history of medicinal uses, more so than for its culinary purposes
— anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-septic
— diaphoretic, stimulant used to bring on stalled menses
— used as a tea for colds and flus
— used topically and internally to fight infections, especially toothaches, ear infections
— oregano oil is used topically on the skin for sore throat, ear infections, on the temples for headaches
— can be used in a steam to breathe in to help with a cough, ear infection, sore throat, blocked sinus, and also used in a vaginal steam for vaginitis and bladder infections.
I like to use Oreganol Super Strength P73 oil for topical applications. This is very strong and should be used with caution and diluted.
— the oil also helps ease the pain of said infections of the throat and ears

Oregano Tea
1 tbsp dried oregano
8 oz boiling water
Cover and let sit about 15 minutes before drinking.

Oregano Tea for the Bath
1 large handful of dried herb about a half cup
1 large soup pot of boiling water

Throw dried herb loose into the boiling water and cover immediately. Turn the temperature down to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Let it sit another 5 minutes and strain the tea into your bath water. Please mix the water before getting into the tub to prevent burning yourself. Drink oregano tea while in the tub. Make sure to sit in the tub for 20 minutes in order to re-moisturize the skin so the tea can be absorbed into the body. Drinking the tea while taking a bath in an infusion of the plant is extremely relaxing to sore muscles. You can do this to ease the ache of the flu.