Valerian thrives in the cold, sprouting to life before most other garden herbs. With tiny early spring plants, identification can be tricky sometimes because many leaves look similar to each other. Whenever possible, I rely on my sense of smell at these times. In valerian’s case, that means digging my fingers into the soil to gently rub against the roots.

The roots carry the unique aroma of valerian’s medicine, and they are the part most often harvested for medicine. The sweet, complex deep note of the fresh root’s aroma is truly unique and pleasing, and this is what we find when we make contact with the living roots. Once harvested however, the pleasing effect wanes as the aroma slowly turns to something much more akin to putrid—or better yet, stink-foot-like!  Catching a whiff of it can certainly cause one to recoil.

The recoiling effect delivers an important message for us, however.  A message that is specific for a body and a nervous system stuck in a pattern which doesn’t serve us. Valerian is a powerful nervine herb that triggers a shift from tension and anxiety to deep relaxation. While of course it’s true that soothing aromatic herbs like lavender or chamomile can effectively do the same thing, and they are indeed helpful nervine herbs, sometimes their effect can’t be reached because a pattern is so rutted or deep seated in a system that it just won’t easily change. Psychological patterns in the mind, or tension patterns held in tissues can stubbornly hold on, as many of us have witnessed first hand or in others.

The initial response to valerian medicine is a sort of repulsion.   The repulsion triggers a further tensing up, which is then very quickly followed by a deep release. The rutted pattern is then broken by this initial disruptive force.  Repulsion can literally be defined as “re-pulsing”—in other words, changing up the pulse, the current or the pattern that has been dominating the system.  When something is repulsive to us, we want to remove ourselves from it immediately.   In the case of valerian, the dominating pulse in the system carries a frequency of tension.  Valerian helps us to see that frequency, which is not serving us, as “repulsive”.  The system is then quickly triggered to toss it off so that we can shift into a frequency (or current, or pulse) of relaxation instead.

I think of valerian’s action as being similar to a well-known relaxation technique.  You may know of this one: you consciously tense up all your muscles, holding as tightly as you can before releasing with a big exhale into deep relaxation.  The practice of initially conjuring up even more tension than you’re already carrying before releasing it all can bring about a much deeper shift into relaxation. It reveals to your body that which you clearly don’t want.  And it then triggers a recoil as held patterns get shaken up.

I remember finding valerian growing beside a cold, glacier-fed waterfall on Vancouver Island many years ago.  My teacher Sheelagh had just helped me to identify the herb growing in the wild a few days before, and together, our herb study group had marveled at that beautiful, unique scent of the living roots.  On this day, I was climbing up a rock beside the waterfall when I began to smell that incomparable scent of those roots again.  I looked around, and realized that my fingers, gripping between two rocks, had disturbed a colony of tiny valerian plants.  In an effort to minimize damage, I removed three of the tiny plants that I had unwittingly disturbed, patting in and making more room for the rest of the colony to grow more strongly there.

I made a tiny tincture from those tiny fresh roots later that day.  The tincture was so tiny in fact, that it fit into a little glass salve jar, and that was where it stayed, with the roots kept in, until its medicine had been used up.  I used that tincture topically, as though it was a slave.  I found it to be the most effective herbal medicine I had ever experienced when I applied it to the tense muscles of my shoulder blades–the location where I, and other members of my family traditionally tend to hold our patterns of tension.  The effect of recoiling, and then immediately allowing flow was deeply palpable to me, and my ability to release the armored tension I held there felt almost miraculous.  I had the strong sense that growing beside the cascading glacial waterfall significantly helped to enhance the pure action of this medicine as an agent of flow.

That first experience with Valerian taught me so much that has remained with me to this day as I continue to work with this medicine in my practice.  I learned about how the medicine works on a visceral level.  I learned that a little can go a very long way.  I also learned how the environment where a medicine grows can have a profound influence on its character and efficacy.  I learned to use scent as one of my primary identifiers of plants when I am out in the wild.  And I gained some insight into the concept of shifting deep patterning, sometimes through triggering an initial recoil, with the remarkable power of aromatic medicine.

This article is a continuation of a previous article titled Garlic Mustard: Plant Ally of the Moment

One thing I have found to be true in the time that I have spent observing and interacting with the natural world is that very often the plants that we need most for medicine are growing in abundance nearby.  Whenever I notice a proliferation of a particular plant, I’m inclined to ask “what role are you playing in this environment?” And “how might you provide healing in this place and time?”  

With garlic mustard these days, the answers seem rather clear.  

Its virtues were well known by the people in its native lands.  Garlic mustard was originally brought to North America in the mid 19th century by the English settlers who made regular use of it as an edible and medicinal plant.  I imagine they viewed it as a suitable plant to cultivate here due to its ability to thrive in colder climates.  It was desirable also because of its high vitamin C content.  It was known as an antiscorbutic (scurvy preventative) agent.  In order to have access to garlic mustard throughout the year, the plant was commonly preserved in vinegar to have on hand as a nutritive and antiseptic agent. 

What the settlers did not realize of course, was how eagerly it would grow here.   When it moves into an area, garlic mustard easily and quickly seeds itself, spreading and replacing many native species.   As part of the takeover, it emits chemical compounds in the soil that destroy the mycorrhizal fungi.  These soil microbes are a key aspect of the health and immunity of many woodland plants and trees.  Without them, it is that much more difficult for other plant life to compete against the garlic mustard, and the garlic mustard often wins.   

Ironically, these chemical compounds are the same sulphur compounds I discussed in my previous post on garlic mustard.  Known as glucosinolates (and their derivatives), they support our immunity while helping to ward off bacterial and fungal growth in our bodies.  What we’re seeing therefore, is that the very compounds from this plant that pose a threat to our native flora can meanwhile help to support our wellness in the face of infection.

While it is clear to see why garlic mustard’s aggressive growth habits are much maligned by concerned naturalists wanting to protect native ecosystems,  the most sensible response to this situation seems to be for us to harvest the plant, and make use of the medicine it provides.   Some plant medicines are endangered, and their harvest is outlawed or strongly discouraged.  We’re watching the endangerment of more and more wild plants and animals as the biodiversity of our planet diminishes.  Other plant medicines however are newly emerging in places they have not grown before.  Their harvest not only poses no risk to their survival, but it may significantly help to protect the damaged ecosystems where they thrive.

The ability of an invasive species to take over an ecosystem is contingent on the resilience of that ecosystem. Many of the word’s ecosystems have been weakened already by other disturbances like chemical runoff, deforestation, excavation and nearby development.  Weakness creates an opening for opportunistic species.  These days, there are few habitats on earth that have not been so disturbed, and we now find ourselves faced with the infiltration of invasives en masse.  In a sense, we could say that the immunity of many ecosystems is not strong enough to withstand invasion. 

We see this same encroachment happening on macro and microcosmic levels throughout our world.  Much like the ecosystems of the earth, human immunity and resilience have also been weakened by chemical and electromagnetic pollutants in our field.  These, combined with nutrient deficiencies from a food supply grown on depleted soil, make us open to invasion by opportunistic super bugs that threaten to take down the very fabric of our societies…..And here we are in the spring of 2020.

Fortunately, natural processes tend to be cyclical.  While garlic mustard is currently enjoying a population boom, the compounds it emits have been shown to peak and decline within a 25-30 year period.  Following that, the soil mycorrhiza tend to return, along with other plant species to replace the excess garlic mustard.  Even while it’s booming, it is also not solely problematic.  Its warming sulphur compounds seem to speed up leaf breakdown and metabolism in the soil, making nutrients more quickly available to the flora of the area, and ultimately feeding the soil for future plant life.  As for the infiltration of viruses, humanity has endured many and our species has not only survived, but our immune intelligence has strengthened and wizened through the experience of meeting them.

So when I look to a patch of garlic mustard on a forest edge, and ask “what role are you playing in this environment?”, what seems to be true to me is that it is resiliently holding a place for plant life within a climate that is increasingly challenging to the survival of many plants. And in response to the question “how might you provide healing in this place and time?”, I see it on a long term path towards restoring the land, while on a short term path towards contributing to human health and resilience.  

  CLICK HERE for Part I: Garlic Mustard, Plant Ally of the Moment

Scott, Timothy Lee; Invasive Plant Medicine; Healing Arts Press; Rochester Vermont; 2010

Evans, Lankau, Davis, Raghu, Landis; “Soil mediated eco-evolutionary feedbacks in the invasive plant Alliaria petiolatata”; Functional Ecology Vol. 30 Issue no. 7; British Ecological Society; May 2016

Rodgers, Wolfe, Werden et al; “The Invasive Species Alliaria pertiolata (Garlic Mustard) Increases Soil Nutrient Availalbility in Northern Hardwood-conifer Forests”; Oecologia 157. no. 3: September 15 2008

Part II of this blog post, titled Garlic Mustard as an Invasive Plant Medicine can be read HERE

During this period of uncertainty and transformation, I would like to shine some light on one of our local wild plants.  Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a nutritious early spring green, and a remarkable healing agent whose leaves are currently emerging.  Its nutritional and medicinal benefits are particularly indicated for many of us at this time, as they contribute to immune integrity and respiratory health.  

Garlic mustard can be found around our region in such great abundance that it is regarded by conservation bodies as an invasive plant.  

Here I would like to illustrate the ways in which this plant can serve our resilience at this time, in the hopes that more of us will take advantage of the opportunity that it brings.  Since it is an area of particular interest to me, I've also created a second post (part II) where I share some of my ideas around the plant's "invasive" tendencies, and what they seem to teach us about resilience and the nature of invasion.

HEALING & NUTRITION

In the face of COVID19, we're hearing from numerous sources about the importance of vitamin C as well as vitamin A intake.   In addition to their well-known ability to stimulate and strengthen the immune system, vitamins C and A support the structure and integrity of the membranes that protect our respiratory and digestive tracts as well as our blood vessels.  The damage caused to these membranes with virus' entrance into our cells seems to lead to a cascading immune response that brings an overwhelming flood of mucus and inflammatory agents to the area of infiltration.  The blockages that result pose significant challenges to breathing, metabolism, and removal of wastes from the system--some of the major (sometimes life threatening) symptoms we're now seeing.  Vitamins A and C not only help to prevent the virus' entry into our cells by strengthening the membranes, and not only do they help to fortify immune cell production and immune response in the case of entry, but they also support the blood vessel walls and the mucus membranes that line our respiratory and digestive tracts so that if the virus does enter, the damage it can cause is significantly reduced, and more quickly repaired.  

Garlic mustard is known for its impressive vitamin A levels, and it has been shown to contain 3-4 times as much vitamin C as oranges.

Various mustard family plants infusing in raw apple cider vinegar

Not only does it strengthen immunity and support tissue integrity, garlic mustard is a potent antimicrobial agent as well.  This is due in part, to its many sulphur compounds.  These can be detected in the sulphury smell that we find in most Mustard (or Cabbage) family plants.  Their presence creates a less-than-hospitable environment for bacterial and fungal growth (see more on this in part II of this article), while also stimulating immune function in a number of ways.  One of those ways is by gently increasing heat in the body.  This makes the immune cells work, and reproduce more quickly.  Generally speaking, maintaining a higher temperature will increase the body's immune capacity (which is why we may develop a fever when we get an infection).   In the early days of spring, when the  damp & cold weather can easily permeate us, garlic mustard's contribution of warmth helps to protect the body (and particularly the lungs) from infection.   

Many descriptions of COVID19 in the lungs characterize it as having a profoundly "cold" effect.  The respiratory passages are stuck, not only because of a buildup of mucus and fluids, but also because there is not enough heat to move things through, so the fluids congeal.   Hot drinks are encouraged, as well as warming herbs like ginger, onions, garlic and thyme.  Once again, the warming action of garlic mustard fits this indication to a tee.

Like all Mustard family plants, garlic mustard is known to encourage the clearance of phlegm build up in the lungs.  We can feel this when we taste the spicy leaves, roots and seeds, which tend to "cut" mucus and move it out of the system.  When I work with clients who tend towards lots of mucus build up, I encourage them to eat radishes, turnips, horseradish and mustard greens regularly.  (While on the subject of clearing mucus, I will mention that avoiding dairy and other creamy/fatty foods will often significantly help to reduce build up as well)

The thin, edible taproots of garlic mustard taste like radishes

In addition to its spiciness, garlic mustard also has a slightly bitter flavour.  The mild bitterness is helpful because it gently but effectively stimulates all aspects of the digestive function.  Improved digestion means improved absorption of many the nutrients provided by the plant, as well as those we take in from all the other foods & supplements we ingest.    

The bitter flavour also supports the liver in its clearance of wastes and toxic elements from the system.  Liver clearance is a crucial aspect of fighting off pathogens.  A system overburdened with wastes and toxicity is an immuno-compromised system.  Also, when the body is fighting infection, lots of waste is continually generated by the immune system, and this can cause further damage and invite in more infection if the liver fails to clear it out fast enough.  

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF GARLIC MUSTARD'S OFFERINGS

So how do we work with this abundant plant to make use of its offerings?   

 

With relative ease.  The entire plant is edible, from root all the way up to seed.  It is safe to consume in abundance (although I would recommend that folks with low thyroid function eat it cooked more often than raw---and the same goes for all foods in this family).  It can be easily dug up, and either consumed fresh, dried for future use or preserved in vinegar (or in vodka if you want to make an herbal tincture).

 

Garlic mustard leaves on toast . Tastes like garlic toast!

We love to include it in our meals as a fresh spring green vegetable.  The young leaves, stalks and roots can be added to stir fries, pastas or blended into pesto.  They're also delicious pan cooked on their own with lemon juice and soy sauce.  They do have a garlicky flavour as the name suggests, and their mild bitterness resembles that of rapini.  In fact, when the stems grow tall and immature buds develop, the bitterness is slightly reduced, and the plant is almost identical to rapini.  Fresh leaves can be added to raw salads, and they blend nicely in potato salads where a mustard dressing might enhance the flavour nicely.   More recently I've experimented with adding the roots to some home-made kimchi and saurkraut.  The enzymes and beneficial bacteria on these fermented foods should help to make the nutrients in the roots that much more accessible.  A spicy condiment similar to horseradish can also be made from the roots.  

 

Garlic mustard pesto with lemon juice, fresh garlic and olive oil. A tasty immune boosting sauce that helps to clear your pipes.

One of my favourite ways to preserve the healing properties of garlic mustard is steeped in vinegar.  Its spicy garlicky flavour comes through, along with the plant's myriad trace minerals.  I use apple cider vinegar for its numerous health benefits.  The method is simple.  I fill a jar half full with the chopped up plant, and then pour cider vinegar in, filling it to the top.  The plant infuses in the vinegar, out of direct light, for 3-4 weeks.   I then add this vinegar to my salad dressings regularly, and take it by the teaspoonful if I need an immune boost.

To use it as an expectorant to help clear phlegm from the lungs, I would also take a teaspoon of this infused vinegar, or make a tea using a handful of fresh leaves and roots per cup (if it's too bitter, the tea could be blended with mint, or honey could be added).  It would also be effective just eat the the fresh leaves and roots as they are.  

 

Bringing its rich green and bold flavour to a spring salad

HOW TO FIND IT

Garlic mustard can be found growing in woodlands, tree lines and other shaded or partly shaded areas including lawns and gardens.  It has heart shaped leaves with prominent veins, and serrated edges.  The leaves have smooth stems which come up in a basal rosette from a single white tap root.  The plants tend to grow in clusters, and they may have a slight purple-green colour in colder weather.  When the leaves are crushed, they give off a garlic smell.  This is a key identifying feature of the plant.  In its second year of growth, garlic mustard sends up flowering stalks in late May-June. At this stage they resemble broccolini or rapini florets until they open into small, four-petaled white flowers.  After flowering, they produce long seed pods around early-mid July, and these are edible as well (though significantly spicier than the rest of the plant).  In fall, newly seeded growth returns and the plant is at a similar stage to that of early spring.

  

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in flower

 

The plant seeds itself with vigour, so harvesting before seeds are mature is a way to help keep its invasive tendencies in check.  When harvesting garlic mustard, I encourage digging it out from the root whenever possible.  As with all harvests, before taking the plant I encourage taking a moment to be mindful of the plant, and of the environment we're in.  With this mindfulness, I encourage clarifying our intentions for how we would like to make use of the plant's benefits.  And finally, I ask that we harvest with respect, acknowledging with gratitude this gift of the earth.

For a discussion on the plant's invasive tendencies, and how we might view these too as a vehicle for healing CLICK HERE to read Part II: Garlic Mustard as an Invasive Plant Medicine

 

http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Garlic_mustard_spring.html

https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mustar65.html#gar

Scott, Timothy Lee; Invasive Plant Medicine; Healing Arts Press, Rochester Vermont, 2010

Thayer, Samuel, Nautre's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting and Preparing Edible Wild Plants; Foragers' Harvest; Birchwood WI, 2010

 

 

Read More

In my previous post, I talked about ways to boost the immune system to prevent infection.   Since sometimes it gets its way in, even despite the best of our efforts, I’ve created this follow up post to talk about the three main things I like to do to fight a cold or flu in its very early stages, as soon as I feel that tickle in the throat…

That feeling in the throat comes from a conglomeration of bacteria and immune cells, creating inflammation and subsequent irritation on the membranes between your nose and chest (where the bacteria are generally looking to invade).  At this stage of infection, your immune cells are just beginning to respond to live invading bacteria.  Your body is very vulnerable at this stage, and your infection is very contagious to others.  However, if you can respond quickly enough, and with sufficient potency, you can stop the invasion here, before you experience any more symptoms.

The three things necessary to do this are: 

killing off the invading bacteria

clearing the debris out of the body

restoring and strengthening the immune system before and after the battle

One safe, easily accessible herb that addresses all three of these necessities is garlic.  I like to take garlic immediately when I feel a cold coming on.  A good way to take it is to chop it up or mince it, put it on a spoon and swallow it down in small amounts with water.  You don’t have to chew it, just swallow it like a pill.  This way you hardly taste it, and it hardly affects your breath but goes directly to your digestive tract where it can be absorbed into the bloodstream.  You want to take at least three tablespoons of minced garlic, or about 5 or 6 cloves minced.  You need the garlic to be fresh and raw in order to be most effective.  Garlic kills off bacteria and reduces inflammation while supporting immune cell production and action.  It is also cleansing to the body, helping to clear out wastes (from killed off bacteria and their waste products) so that there is less chance of infection taking hold.  One way that garlic helps to clear out wastes is via the sweat glands.  Garlic is known as a diaphoretic herb, meaning that it induces sweating. 

Sweating is a relatively quick and easy method of clearing out wastes when fighting infection.  It is another thing that I try to do when I feel like I’m getting sick.  Building up body heat through saunas, baths, perhaps exercising and/or wearing lots of warm clothing will help to induce a cleansing sweat.  We have other diaphoretic herbs in additions to garlic that can help to encourage sweating.  Some of my favourites are ginger, elder flowers and yarrow.   I like to make a tea with chopped up ginger, elder flowers and/or yarrow flowers and steep it with a lid on for at least 10 minutes.  I will often pour a hot bath while the tea steeps, and then strain the tea and drink it in the bath.  This raises the body temperature (which activates immune cells) and triggers sweating which helps to clear out bacteria and infective toxins through the pores of the skin.  I like to use fresh ginger generously for this, but if all I have is dried powdered ginger, I will put a pinch of that into my cup of tea.  Powdered ginger is stronger than fresh, so a little goes a long way.  Elder flowers grow wild in our area, and I harvest them from the elder trees (Sambucas spp.) in June.  I then dry them to be stored and used in tea throughout the year.  Yarrow (Achillea millefollium) also grows wild in our area, found in fields, lawns and trail sides.  I harvest the flowering heads in early July, dry them like the elder flowers and store them for future use as well. (Both elder and yarrow are tremendously healing plants with many uses–this is but one of them).

Elder flower Sambucas canadensis

Another quick and easy method of clearing out waste products from fighting infection is through the urinary tract.  The kidneys and bladder will quickly and easily clear out wastes as long as there is enough fluid in the body to create urine.  This means, we need to drink lots of water!  If the throat is irritated, you might find that drinking warm or hot water is nicer than cold water, and this is fine.  The yarrow and elderflower are also good diuretic herbs, so drinking tea with them will encourage urination.  However, in order to be sure you’re clearing out all the wastes you no longer need, you want to have lots of fluid moving through your system.  And the best, cleanest most beneficial fluid is water.  Nature’s gift to us.  So I make sure I am drinking way more than I normally would whenever I’m feeling the throat tickle.

Yarrow Achillea millefolium

The final necessary piece in all of this is to ensure that the body is supported with proper restoration while your immune system fights the good battle.  The most important thing to do is very little!  Resting and better yet, sleeping will allow all of your healthy cells to regenerate, healing the damage caused by the invading pathogens, so that any remaining infection is easily fought off, and any bacteria hanging around looking for an opportunity to invade will not find one in you!  Staying home, putting extra blankets on the bed, wearing extra warm pajamas and avoiding anything that demands a lot of energy (both physical and mental) will all help to prevent the onset of illness or at least encourage a quick recovery.  Drinking tea without caffeine, but with chamomile, lemon balm, hops, passion flower or other soothing, tranquilizing herbs can help you to have a long, much needed restorative sleep.

Of course there are many tips to fighting off a cold or flu, and I’ve only touched on a few here.  I’m sure you have some of your own.  If you feel like sharing any of them in the comments here, I’d love to hear about them.  I hope the general concepts and suggestions I am offering here are of some value to you, however.  And I wish you warmth and vibrant health this winter!