AHHHHH Ragweed!

My savior

My savior

After a rather mild allergy year, the last couple of nights I have been waking up with a heavy chest, itchy eyes, scratchy throat and a congested head. No worries, all I needed to do is stumble to the bathroom and find my trusty Goldenrod tincture and within a couple of minutes I was able to fall back to sleep. I suspect the culprit of my discomfort is RAGWEED (Ambrosia psilostachya). It’s a rather unobtrusive weed that wreaks havoc with 30% of the human population. It really does not stand out very much as it is a little green plant with green flowers. Since Goldenrod is a much showier plant and comes out at the same time as Ragweed, it is unfairly blamed for late summer allergies. The big difference is that Ragweed’s pollen is dispersed by the wind, while Goldenrod (Solidago, spp.) has sticky pollen and relies on critters for pollination.

There it is hiding among the other plants. It looks quite innocent , but, oh no, don't be fooled.

There it is hiding among the other plants. It looks quite innocent , but, oh no, don’t be fooled.

Ragweed is very adept at wind pollination. Scientists estimate that a single Ragweed plant can release one billion grains of pollen over the course of a single Ragweed season. In addition, the grains are so light that they float easily even on gentle breezes. Pollen has been detected as far as 400 miles out to sea and up to two miles up in the atmosphere. There are a few of things a person can do to try to protect themselves from all that pollen floating around:

  • Close the windows
  • Do not use window fans
  • Use air conditioners
  • Limit time outside
  • Take a shower before bed
  • Don’t hang laundry on clotheslines
  • Use a neti pot to clean out your sinuses

I do not know about you but even though all the items above will help with my allergies, I will probably only do one or two on the list. Take a shower before bed and use the neti pot. So what do I do? Thank goodness for Goldenrod, my allergy savior. During very difficult days, I will do one of two things, depending on my mood. Add 30-60 drops of Goldenrod tincture in my water bottle, that way I will be slowly getting some all day long. Alternatively, I’ll make a quart of infused Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica) and Goldenrod to sip throughout the day. Sometimes I add Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculumthat I have in the garden to improve the taste. It has a nice licorice taste and helps aids my respiratory system to boot.

How do you deal with your seasonal allergies? Please share and I will continue to share.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Know Your Roots found a new home!

Spring is a time for new beginnings, and so it is appropriate that early this past spring we found our new home. Finding a home for our multigenerational family and business was no easy task. It took almost two years. Our list of needs and wants was great and nothing seemed to fit the bill until we walked into the house on Brook Road. It simply felt right, as if we always belonged there ~ home. Although it was very painful saying farewell to the land we nurtured for almost 7 year; it was clear that we were making the right move.

There are many wonderful features to our new home but the one that is hard to miss, are the gardens. The previous owners had cultivated the landscape for over 23 years with lots of love and intention ~ not to mention, hard work. As an herbalist and forager, the land will present many amazing learning opportunities for me. There are so many cultivated plants that I have never come across before. Some plant varieties are familiar, as I know their wild relative but others are quite foreign to me. It will be wonderful experimenting and learning from all my new green allies.

The land does have some of my favorites, while others are not to be found, so I did my best to transplant my dear plants into the nursery Mike built for them. Folks, let me be honest, this was very difficult for the forager in me. I felt like a fish out of water, I am not sure I did it right, but I do visit them a lot, ask them to grow and water them with lots of love and intentions. I hope they feel comfortable and will flourish on their new land.

Interestingly, Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) did not come back in abundance on the land at my old house this year. Therefore, I only took one small plant. Sadly, it wilted within the 2 mile drive to the new house. I was very nervous and planted it on the edge of our little stream bed in the back, as it likes wet feet. To my surprise, it is doing the best out of all the transplants and has already started to produce buds.

I am eager to teach and share our new land with you. My first class “The Golden Answer,” will held be on September 2nd. It will be fun exploring the Golden Goddess on our new land. I am particularly, curious to see how many different varieties of Solidago we will find. There are over 130 different species in North America. Our old land had huge stands of Goldenrod, which predominately 5 species. A time of new beginnings begins…

I am looking forward to sharing and exploring our new land with you.