Herb of The Day
Horsetail
Made a decoction of horsetail, although not recommended, just to get the tea done more quickly. Was going through some of my herbs to make a hair rinse and one of the herbs was horsetail, which is good for hair because it is rich in natural silica & minerals, sulfer, amino acids (valine, paraginic acid, lucine, serine and citruline), contains high amounts of silicic acid, cystine, flavone, glycosides and saponine. Silica strengthens hair, prevents split ends and increases shine. I smelled the herb and my body said "I need this". This happens often, and I'm not even sure why all of the time, but if my body says YES then I go ahead and make a tea of it. There is a reason you respond to the smell of something. The chemical constituents of a particular plant are much needed by your body at the time. So, I followed my body & made a decoction (15 minutes simmer & 15 minutes steep), strained and now I'm drinking it.
To be quite honest, its a bit hard to pinpoint since I was munching on licorice only moments before drinking the tea. How do I really separate this at the moment? Well... I can't. But i'm waiting for the enzymes in my saliva to slowly eat away at the licorice stuck in my teeth so that with every sip, perhaps I could get closer to the true taste of horsetail.
I went through this process with my housemate last week. He is a chiropractor and told me that horsetail was an ingredient in many of the arthritis combatting formulas he has seen throughout the years, and so he was eager to try the tea on its own, and see what it had in mind for him. He commented that it was light and somewhat flavorless, pleasantly, compared to many teas he considered to be a bit more bitter or "medicinal" tasting.
Yes, I find this to be true. Perhaps I made the tea too weak, but I am finding that it has very mild taste, quite like Green Tea, as he had commented. So, why does my body crave this tea? Well, let's look at what it is good for and solve the mystery:
So... the energetics are COOLING, DRYING & EARTHEN
The medicinal Actions are:
ASTRINGENT
DIURETIC
VULNERARY (WOUND HEALING)
INCREASES CONNECTIVE TISSUE TONE & RESISTACE
SYPTIC (STOPS BLEEDING)
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
ANTISEPTIC
Well it's not much of a mystery anymore. My ankle has been bothering me a lot over the past few days, the ligament (connective tissue) has been feeling like an old worn out rubber band, and as I bounced down the stairs to the kitchen I had just thought to myself, oh my goodness, I need to tone up that ligament I never took seriously enough when I sprained my ankle, it feels like steamed calamari instead of the tight, correct tone that it normally has when its in reasonable shape. So, body says horsetail and there is the explanation.
Since I'm still getting over a cold, and it was due to a travelling virus that is going around the area, I also instinctively threw in lemon balm (anti-viral) and rose hips (high in vitamin C) for the 2nd batch of tea.
I have two projects in the works for horsetail:
#1. It will be an ingredient in a salve for arthritis that my roomie will give to his patients, since it assists in bone & joint repair, heals wounds & tissue repair, and helps to rebuild damaged cartilage & structures.
#2. It will be an ingredient in a hair rinse that I will use tonight, since it strengthens hair (and nails) & I just dyed my roots and my hair needs a savior right now, and a hair oil that I will eventually sell on the internet.
Formula for tonight's hair rinse:
A decoction of:
Horsetail
Nettle Leaves
Marshmallow
Slippery Elm
Chamomile
Catnip
Rosemary
Strain & pour over hair to nourish & strengthen. Too many split ends, as well. Hoping to do something about that. We shall see.
Just took the tea off of the stove. It's awesome, it tastes REALLY good! So, I'm going to go ahead and recommend this tea for general immune boosting, allergies, respiratory infections & susceptibility & asthma (all treated with horsetail).
Horsetail (upper respiratory)
Lemon Balm (anti-viral)
Rose Hips (vitamin C)
Plus it tastes really really good! I don't usually sweeten the herbal teas I make, but if you do, I would recommend putting some agave syrup in it (my favorite! But also especially good in certain teas, like this one). Of course, honey or maple syrup would also do.
So.. all in all, horsetail was not the best choice for me to make a tea of today. I can say this a few hours after the fact, since i am now feeling the full force of its astringent action/drying properties. Today just happens to be one of the hottest days, if not the very hottest that I have felt so far in New Mexico, I made a comment on my facebook about desert heat for the very first time, which means, okay wow, now I'm starting to feel it, i get it, okay here we are, THIS is the desert. Of course, i am aware, that it gets hotter than this, but this is the first time it was just too hot out for me. And that's saying a lot, because I like it HOT. But anyways, my point is, that horsetail is not the best herb for a hot day in a dry climate (like the desert) because it is extremely DRYING (antiseptic, astringent, diuretic). This is a good thing, for many reasons, when treating certain ailments, of course, especially if those people have a wet/heat related condition, and are living in humid, cold climates. perfect. But today... hmmmm, perhaps not. I can feel my pores, literally and I kid you not, tightening, my skin feels like its tightening up, which is okay, but not the most desirable thing at the moment. My breathing has improved a bit, I feel a strange emptiness in my chest, perhaps that's the strengthening of the mucosa in there, which would be great, but my throat feels a bit dry and my skin has that tingling sensation you get when it's dry. My nose feels almost on the verge of a nosebleed. So, my conclusion is, horsetail is not the best tea for a hot day in a dry climate. However, the positive results could definitely outweigh the negative, if you are suffering from joint pain, for example or allergies/upper respiratory issues. Also, I can imagine, that this tea would be a great one, and horsetail and great ingredient in an herb mixture for a tea to combat acne. That's my guess. At this point, I'm going to leave horsetail for the external applications, I know it will be great in any formula for injuries and will be great to apply externally to my sprained ankle in a salve, as well as the arthritis formula I am making for my roomie, the chiropractor.
Another afterthought: This would have been a perfect addition to my patient Miguel's abscess healing salve, since it is super astringent and antisceptic. I can definitely feel it working, so now, from personal experience, I would know that this would be an excellent addition to any external salve that needs to fight infection and have a drying action (draining pus from the abscess in Miguel's case). However, I am quite fine with the salve as I made it, it contains enough drying herbs that are also antiseptic and astringent. This would just be a helpful other one, an alternative or addition in another formula.
So.. all in all, horsetail was not the best choice for me to make a tea of today. I can say this a few hours after the fact, since i am now feeling the full force of its astringent action/drying properties. Today just happens to be one of the hottest days, if not the very hottest that I have felt so far in New Mexico, I made a comment on my facebook about desert heat for the very first time, which means, okay wow, now I'm starting to feel it, i get it, okay here we are, THIS is the desert. Of course, i am aware, that it gets hotter than this, but this is the first time it was just too hot out for me. And that's saying a lot, because I like it HOT. But anyways, my point is, that horsetail is not the best herb for a hot day in a dry climate (like the desert) because it is extremely DRYING (antiseptic, astringent, diuretic). This is a good thing, for many reasons, when treating certain ailments, of course, especially if those people have a wet/heat related condition, and are living in humid, cold climates. perfect. But today... hmmmm, perhaps not. I can feel my pores, literally and I kid you not, tightening, my skin feels like its tightening up, which is okay, but not the most desirable thing at the moment. My breathing has improved a bit, I feel a strange emptiness in my chest, perhaps that's the strengthening of the mucosa in there, which would be great, but my throat feels a bit dry and my skin has that tingling sensation you get when it's dry. My nose feels almost on the verge of a nosebleed. So, my conclusion is, horsetail is not the best tea for a hot day in a dry climate. However, the positive results could definitely outweigh the negative, if you are suffering from joint pain, for example or allergies/upper respiratory issues. Also, I can imagine, that this tea would be a great one, and horsetail and great ingredient in an herb mixture for a tea to combat acne. That's my guess. At this point, I'm going to leave horsetail for the external applications, I know it will be great in any formula for injuries and will be great to apply externally to my sprained ankle in a salve, as well as the arthritis formula I am making for my roomie, the chiropractor.
Another afterthought: This would have been a perfect addition to my patient Miguel's abscess healing salve, since it is super astringent and antisceptic. I can definitely feel it working, so now, from personal experience, I would know that this would be an excellent addition to any external salve that needs to fight infection and have a drying action (draining pus from the abscess in Miguel's case). However, I am quite fine with the salve as I made it, it contains enough drying herbs that are also antiseptic and astringent. This would just be a helpful other one, an alternative or addition in another formula.
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