John Gallagher:
You're listening to... You are... Wait, wait, wait. You are listening to HerbMentor Radio by LearningHerbs. I'm John Gallagher.
Tara Ruth:
And I'm Tara Ruth. How's it going, John?
John Gallagher:
Well, Tara, I got a little bit of a head cold thing going on.
Tara Ruth:
Oh, bummer.
John Gallagher:
And I can think of a particular remedy I'm going to be making when I go home.
Tara Ruth:
Oh, what is that?
John Gallagher:
Well, I think we're probably going to talk about it a little bit because I think there's this herb we're going to talk about today. And it's just coincidental, but we're just going to do that.
Tara Ruth:
Well done. Your body knew.
John Gallagher:
Yeah, my body knew. I know. Why does this always happen? I think I might let you do most of the talking today, which is kind of what I usually do anyway. But yeah, I'm excited that we're here today. Gosh, we don't have a guest. It's just us.
Tara Ruth:
It's just us.
John Gallagher:
Yes.
Tara Ruth:
It's great.
John Gallagher:
So when it's just us two, we sometimes go to some of those frequently asked questions, the mailbox, the herbal mailbox.
Tara Ruth:
Yes, the herbal mailbox. I like imagining it as a little carved out tree, and then you reach in and there's little notes from the fairies.
John Gallagher:
I think the herb fairies are leaving us notes. I think we've all had TV shows in our childhood that have reminded us of something. When I was a kid in the New Jersey area, there was one called the Magic Garden, and that was like they'd get little letters in the mailbox in the tree or whatever. There was lots of mushrooms and a pink squirrel and hippie chicks. It was great.
Tara Ruth:
That sounds lovely.
John Gallagher:
It was the Magic Garden shown to us children of the '70s. I'm thinking in Rowan's childhood, it was like Blue's Clues. That was the one. How about you? What did you watch? Did you watch anything? Did your parents have a TV?
Tara Ruth:
Oh, yeah. They let me watch TV. What did I... I liked Dragon Tales. I liked the show called PB&J Otter, which was a little niche. I don't really remember it, but there were otters and that was great.
John Gallagher:
Somebody put otters in a children's show and that's probably the only time that's ever happened.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, they should do it more.
John Gallagher:
All right, so what are we going to talk about today?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. Today, we're talking about PB&J Otter and Dragon Tales. We're going to answer some frequently asked questions, and then we're going to talk about one of my favorite herbs, which is chamomile.
John Gallagher:
Chamomile, exactly. I thought that might be on your list.
Tara Ruth:
You had a feeling. Your cold had a feeling.
John Gallagher:
I had a feeling. All right. Well, let's dive in. What's that first question?
Tara Ruth:
Great. The first question we're going to get into is what are the best herbs for hair growth?
John Gallagher:
What are you trying to say here?
Tara Ruth:
It's a frequently asked question, John.
John Gallagher:
If it's a frequently asked question, how come I don't know the answer? I need this for here.
Tara Ruth:
Well, we can help you out today.
John Gallagher:
Probably doesn't help for male pattern, like middle-aged guy hair loss, huh? It doesn't.
Tara Ruth:
I don't think so.
John Gallagher:
Dang.
Tara Ruth:
Unfortunately.
John Gallagher:
Oh, man.
Tara Ruth:
But a lot of these herbs are great in general for other things as well like skin health and circulation and bringing mineral rich content to the body, so.
John Gallagher:
All right. Well, let's get into it. Tell us about it.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, totally.
John Gallagher:
What herbs are good for hair growth because I'm curious myself?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. Well, there's a few factors to consider when we talk about hair growth. I like to think about hydration, iron levels, hair strength, and circulation. So I'm just going to break it down just by piece. So first of all, with hydration, it's really important that our scalp is moisturized and that when our hair is more brittle and dry, it can break more easily. So we want to make sure we're hydrating our scalps, and we can do that in a lot of different ways. One of my favorite herbs to work with is marshmallow. And marshmallow is full of these fun things called mucilaginous polysaccharides, which is a fancy way of saying that this herb-
John Gallagher:
Wait a minute, wait a minute. We have to pretend we're on one of the shows. Like the PB&J, it's like, "Can you say mucilaginous polysaccharides?" Now that's more Mr. Rogers.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, it was great job. You said it.
John Gallagher:
Thank you.
Tara Ruth:
Beautiful. But yeah, it's a fancy way of saying slime. So plants that have a high-
John Gallagher:
Which brings this to Nickelodeon.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, exactly.
John Gallagher:
Sorry. Okay. Okay, go ahead.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, we're in the Nickelodeon era right now. So yeah, marshmallow. When you make a strong tea with it, you'll notice that the tea is a little bit thicker and viscous than just regular water, and that's from the mucilaginous polysaccharides.
John Gallagher:
Polysaccharides.
Tara Ruth:
And they're very moisturizing.
John Gallagher:
WE should have a little sound that goes off in-
Tara Ruth:
Exactly, yeah.
John Gallagher:
The word of the day, the herbal phrase of the day is mucilaginous polysaccharides.
Tara Ruth:
We should create a theme song about it.
John Gallagher:
(singing)
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. But yeah, that's marshmallow, and you can drink it internally for internal hydration. It's really helpful for healing the gut lining if there's inflammation in the gut lining for that epithelial tissue, but then it's also really helpful topically. So I like to make a strong infusion with marshmallow. I actually make a cold infusion because the heat can make that slime kind of break up and dissipate. But when you do a cold infusion over the course of... I do it for about four to eight hours, so you can do it overnight if you want while you're sleeping. By infusing that marshmallow, you can then take that tea and use it as a hair rinse or scrub it on into your scalp. And it's just really balancing and hydrating for the scalp, and that's a more simple way to do it.
John Gallagher:
Now, are you taking dried root or a handful and putting it in a mason jar or how actually are you using or getting the marshmallow root?
Tara Ruth:
Great question, John. So I take a quart-sized mason jar, and I add a handful of the dried root. You could also do fresh if you have access to it. This also works with mallow root as well, which is... It's very closely related to marshmallow. So I take a handful of the root, and then I just add a pour cold water over it to the top of the jar, and then I let it sit on my countertop for those four to eight hours. Then I strain it, and then either after I am done showering or unrelated to a shower, I'll just pour it over my hair. It's easiest in the shower. But if you have a yard, you can also do it in your yard and then water the plants as it's flowing through your hair.
John Gallagher:
Especially us in the Western US, have a lot of drier climate where this is probably pretty important to do. And marshmallow as well, it's not like you're always using a ton of it. So it's actually a pretty easy one to grow in the garden and harvest roots in the fall and chop it up and dry yourself, right?
Tara Ruth:
Exactly, yeah. It's a very prolific plant too. Yeah. You can also work with the leaves of the marshmallow plant, so if you don't want to dig up the whole root, you could harvest the leaves, and they also have that mucilaginous quality to them, so that's the moisturizing hair rinse. And then if you really want to go to town on deep conditioning, you could make a hair mask or a scalp mask. And I like to do that by grinding up dried marshmallow and then mixing it with some common ingredients I have in my kitchen like honey and avocado and olive oil.
John Gallagher:
Nice.
Tara Ruth:
And I don't have a recipe for it. I just kind of make a... I smash up one avocado, and then I just add some olive oil and honey and marshmallow until I just get this kind of mushy paste. And then I work it all into my scalp when my hair is damp, and then I let it sit for about 30 minutes, and then I gingerly rinse it out. It's helpful to rinse it out in the kitchen sink if you can because you don't want to clog your bathroom drain.
John Gallagher:
That's what Kimberly's putting on her hair. You got to do a video. We got to see this.
Tara Ruth:
A very flattering video, me putting this mashed up food in my hair, but it is deeply nourishing, and I love doing a hair mask on my hair. I have very curly hair that can get kind of dry and frizzy, so it's really helpful to make sure I'm moisturizing it, and it helps prevent that breakage, that can be frustrating when you're wanting to grow your hair.
John Gallagher:
Ooh, this is great information. And so is marshmallow our main herb there? Is there something else you might use for hair strength or...
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. Well, marshmallow is the main thing I use for moisturizing. You could also experiment with some aloe gel as well, the inner filet of aloe, and then any other plants that have those, that kind of mucilaginous quality. So plantain also has this mucilaginous quality. You could experiment with that. The herb plantain rather than the fruit.
John Gallagher:
Right. Well, you could rub the banana peels in your head.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, totally.
John Gallagher:
Come on. That would be great. It might as well, I mean...
Tara Ruth:
I think it's a little more astringent, but licorice is also another one that could be experimented with here. And then there's lots of other herbs we can get into for hair strength and circulation. But before I say that, I just want to talk about iron levels a little bit. So sometimes when folks are asking questions about hair growth, they're not actually wondering about the pace of their hair growing. They're actually thinking about the hair that they're losing, and we can lose hair for so many different reasons. Sometimes it can be from stress, sometimes it's just genetic. And then for some folks, it can be that they have lower iron levels, so that can be a great thing to ask your doctor about. And if you are experiencing a lot of inexplicable hair loss, that's also a great thing just to check in with your physician about because it can be related to lots of different things.
John Gallagher:
Yeah, that's true. Yes, I will test to that. I wish I knew about all this in my early 40s. That's why you see me wear a baseball hat more and more.
Tara Ruth:
Baseball hats are great.
John Gallagher:
Thank you.
Tara Ruth:
Yes. Yeah.
John Gallagher:
Going back to the mucilaginous, I'm thinking oats, oat straw, I mean, or just oats in general would be-
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. I could imagine even making a oat milk and applying that to your scalp in one of these deep conditioning masks. That could totally work.
John Gallagher:
Make a giant vat of oat milk and just dip your head in it.
Tara Ruth:
Oh, yeah. Official recommendation from John.
John Gallagher:
I'm sorry.
Tara Ruth:
Ask for that at the coffee shop.
John Gallagher:
I have a vat of oat milk.
Tara Ruth:
Do you have a larger cup I could use?
John Gallagher:
Larger. Venti? No larger.
Tara Ruth:
Totally. Oh, my gosh. That's great. Love it.
John Gallagher:
What's your favorite for iron then?
Tara Ruth:
For iron, I mean, I usually just use iron supplements like Floradix, but I always want to make sure that I get my iron levels checked. I've had anemia at various times in life, and it's always important to get them checked. You don't want too much iron, so that's what I opt for. There are herbs like yellow dock that can help the body with intaking iron more efficiently. But when you're iron deficient, at least I'll speak for myself. It's hard for me to get the iron that I need just from working with herbs.
John Gallagher:
So even say nettle is the highest source of plant iron. So I've heard, I don't know, reading that throughout the years, just if you have a nourishing herbal infusion every day as part of your herbalist routine, would that help our iron?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, totally. It can help with so many minerals. Like you were saying, nettle is a really mineral-rich herb. And that brings me to hair strength in general.
John Gallagher:
Oh, right.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah.
John Gallagher:
Okay. Okay. Because sometimes those nettle infusions go bad, and you didn't strain it in time, and this is what you can use it for.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, exactly.
John Gallagher:
All right.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. And so another factor with hair loss is hair strength. So our hair can become brittle and break if it's not strong. And it's important that our bodies are really mineralized that really supports hair strength and a few different herbs we can work with for their mineral-rich content include nettle and oat straw. Oat straw is the stock of the oat plant. So after you make your oat milk, you can use the stock of the oat plant to make a nourishing herbal infusion. And these nettle and oat straw both help with hair strength and then also nail strength and are really supportive for skin health as well, and that's all through their mineral-rich content.
And like you're saying, nettle particularly has an affinity for iron, which is great, has a good iron content. And then oat straw is one of my favorite herbs because for whatever reason, mineral-rich content is a perfect match for our nervous systems. So those minerals really help if we're ever feeling burnt out or our nerves are shot, our nerves are fried. These are some common sayings. The oats help go in and nourish with their moisturizing mineral rich content, help nourish our nerve cells, and that can be really helpful when you're experiencing hair challenges because it can be stressful or fueled by stress. So it can be great to attend to the nervous system with some oat straw.
John Gallagher:
And if you are kind of new to the learning herbs community and haven't heard about nourishing herbal infusions, this is when you take a quart jar and you put an ounce of dried plant material in a jar like the nettle or the oat straw, and you pour hot water over it, let it sit for at least four hours, strain it out and drink it or use it externally in this case.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly, yeah. I love working with them both internally and externally. They're lovely plants to work with.
John Gallagher:
Yes. A lot of herbs you can use for infusions, you'll learn more if you're going down the journey a little more if this is early first time listening to a lot of this sort of thing, but it's a little stronger than just putting a tea bag or just making a simple cup of tea. And usually, with the nourishing herbs, and that's what we're talking about, nurture and nourish our hair.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, exactly. And these nourishing herbs, if you make an infusion with them, you'll notice that they don't have a very strong pungent or aromatic quality to them. And when you're making nourishing infusions, it's great to focus on these ones that aren't as aromatic because if you extract herbs that are more aromatic over a longer period of time, those volatile oils that give them the aroma can be a little irritating on our kidneys. So it's great to work with these gentle and nourishing herbs and that more high dosage infusion way.
John Gallagher:
So you're talking about strength and we're talking about nourishment, but if we're talking about one of the things you're talking about with the main factors here to consider, we've talked about hydration and iron levels and hair strength and next one's circulation. So it's a little different kind of herb. It's like you're talking about here, we're talking about one with some more volatile oils in it.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. Speaking of volatile oils-
John Gallagher:
Volatile.
Tara Ruth:
Yes. Yeah, so another factor with hair growth is making sure that you have good circulation in your scalp. Circulation that brings blood flow and gets rid of waste in any area in your body. And when you're wanting to promote growth in an area, it's important to bring nourishment and blood flow to that area. So by promoting circulation to the scalp, we can help promote hair growth potentially. And one of my favorite herbs to work with for hair growth from a circulation standpoint is rosemary. (singing) Rosemary is a-
John Gallagher:
Rosemary needs a theme song too.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. Rosemary is a circulatory stimulant, which is just a fancy way of saying that it promotes circulation. So that's how it mostly helps with hair growth. And it's so lovely to make a rosemary infused oil and then lovingly scrub it into your scalp because that oil is also really nourishing for the scalp and the hair, and then the rosemary helps bring that circulation.
John Gallagher:
Is that the same as an essential oil?
Tara Ruth:
Such a good question.
John Gallagher:
Thank you.
Tara Ruth:
An infused oil is when you take dry or wilted herb and you put it in oil and you infuse it into the oil, and then you strain it out. And essential oil is much stronger, and it's a distillation of a large quantity of plant material. It's all those volatile oils distilled into those tiny essential oil bottles we use. And it's a lot more strong and a lot more intense on the body. I love working with essential oils in moderation, but right now I'm talking about an infused oil, which will be more gentle as well.
John Gallagher:
Right, right. Okay. So that's just like because you can make... I mean, you can, but you can't really. Everyone just make essential oils in their house because it involves equipment and massive amounts of plant materials where this, we're just talking about sort of like we talked about the infusion earlier. You're taking some fresh or dried plant material and a jar, in this case, putting some sort of oil in. It could be olive oil, could be something else, and you can make it yourself in the kitchen.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. And we even have a recipe on LearningHerbs.com on our blog on how to make an infused oil. And this recipe specifically is a nourishing oil for hair growth, and it includes rosemary and nettle and hibiscus.
John Gallagher:
Wow. Wow. That's wonderful.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. How convenient.
John Gallagher:
How convenient, yeah. Just go on to the blog and type in whatever you're searching for, and it should give you the answer hopefully. So this is great. We're talking about remedies we're using internally and externally, and we were talking about a little earlier one that I love to work that way with is chamomile.
Tara Ruth:
Chamomile, our herb of the day.
John Gallagher:
Oh, we have an herb of the day. Yay. Let's dive in.
Tara Ruth:
Let's do it. So I'm just going to break down some of the foundational things that you should know.
John Gallagher:
Wait, a theme song? Do we have a theme song? (Singing) I don't know. We got to work on these.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, we'll consult AI for that.
John Gallagher:
We'll consult. I'm feeling we need a music composer.
Tara Ruth:
Yes. I have heard some wildly good AI-produced songs lately, and it freaks me out.
John Gallagher:
Oh yeah, me too.
Tara Ruth:
Oh, my gosh. But I haven't found an AI-produced herb yet, so.
John Gallagher:
But we're not. We're actually speaking, I think.
Tara Ruth:
Yes.
John Gallagher:
Are we though?
Tara Ruth:
That's the question. Oh, my gosh. But yes, chamomile. So with chamomile, I'm just going to break down some of the fundamental things to know about this herb, and then we'll dive into some of our favorite ways to work with it. Does that sound good, John?
John Gallagher:
It sounds great.
Tara Ruth:
Great. So chamomile, one of the best ways to get to know an herb is to. If it's a gentle herb, is to taste it
John Gallagher:
As our very good friend, Rosalee de la Foret often says.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. Yeah. And by tasting an herb, we get to understand its flavor profile. And those flavors tell us a lot about how to work with that herb, which I'll dive into more in just a bit. So chamomile is mildly bitter and a little pungent. And I also find that it has some sweetness to it as well. And on an energetic level, and when I say energetics, I'm talking about if this herb promotes more heat in the body or a more cooling effect, or a more moisturizing effect, or more drying effect. So on an energetic level, chamomile is slightly drying and slightly warming.
And if we think back to those tastes, I said that it was a little pungent and a little bitter. Things that are pungent, which is another way you could say spicy. Things that are more pungent tend to be a little more warming, which makes intuitive sense to a lot of people. If they eat a hot pepper, they tend to feel warm in their bodies. And then things that are bitter tend to be a little more drying and a little more cooling. So if you eat a dandelion leaf, you might notice a little bit of an astringent feeling in your mouth, like a little drying.
John Gallagher:
Moisture's leaving.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. And sometimes if I eat things that are super bitter, I'll even get a chill all of a sudden down my spine. So yeah, things that are bitter can promote that more drying and cooling effect. And then we're going to talk about some of the actions of chamomile. Another great way to get to know herbs is to understand their herbal actions. Basically, the main things that they can do in the body.
John Gallagher:
These are the fancy names. When you look at herbal books, your eye just kind of glaze over, like what do those mean?
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. So I have some of those fancy words, but I'll break all of them down.
John Gallagher:
It's fancy word time.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. Another fancy word time. So the first fancy term I'm going to say is relaxing nervine. So people understand-
John Gallagher:
That's east. Relaxing, the nervous system. Relaxing nervine.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly, yeah. It's relaxing to the nervous system. And a nervine just means that it has an effect on the nervous system, and then you modify it with an adjective before. Is it a relaxing nervine? Yes, it is. It's also a sedative, which means it helps promote restful and deep sleep. A lot of people may have grown up drinking some chamomile tea before going to bed if they're feeling... If their parents wanted them to chill out a little bit. So it's a sedative, and then it's also a carminative. What does that mean? So basically, herbs that have a lot of volatile oils, herbs that are aromatic are generally carminatives, and they have an effect on the digestive system. Carminatives help with bloating and gas and mild pain in the digestive tract, and it's also an antispasmodic. So if we break that term down, anti-
John Gallagher:
Against.
Tara Ruth:
... the opposite, against.
John Gallagher:
Against spasms.
Tara Ruth:
Against spasms, exactly. So it helps with spasming, especially in the digestive tract as well. It's also a vulnerary.
John Gallagher:
What's that one? That always confuse me.
Tara Ruth:
Such a good question. A vulnerary is a type of herb that helps promote tissue repair when there's a wound. It can help with mild little cuts and scrapes and just help promote the healing of those wounds. And then it's also a diaphoretic.
John Gallagher:
Oh, that one helps you sweat.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. It helps you sweat. And this comes in handy when someone has a fever, especially a mild fever. And then the last thing I want to note is that it helps modulate inflammation. So it basically helps bring inflammation into balance in the body.
John Gallagher:
Okay. Wow. That does a lot. That's much more powerful of an herb than the little cup of tea to help you relax at night than people think it is.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. It's full of so many gifts. And another thing I really like to talk about when I'm diving deep into an herb is the herb's personality. Every person has a personality, and every herb has an urbanality.
John Gallagher:
Urbanality. I like that.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah.
John Gallagher:
What's the urbanality?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, exactly. We're really into jingles today.
John Gallagher:
Yes. I don't know why.
Tara Ruth:
I love it. So chamomile has this really sweet mothering quality to it or nurturing, nourishing quality that a lot of people associate with it. And when I've read about chamomile, I've seen this theme over and over again of this nurturing, gentle quality. And I've also experienced it when I take it. And one of my teachers in herb school, I think it was Bryan Bowen, talked about chamomile being specifically indicated when you're feeling just like a whiny, fussy baby.
John Gallagher:
Nice.
Tara Ruth:
so it's really helpful when you're just feeling like a baby.
John Gallagher:
That's all the time for me.
Tara Ruth:
Great. Yeah. So that's a little bit about the personality of chamomile, and the more you get to work with the plant, the more it will reveal its personality to you.
John Gallagher:
Yes. The only way to know that is to have relationships with plants by making them part of your lives and trying them out and spending time with them.
Tara Ruth:
So sweet and chamomile is such a great plant to work with internally and externally, and it's also pretty easy and very fun to grow, and it's just beautiful. One of my favorite memories at herb school was harvesting from the huge bed of chamomile blossoms. It was amazing.
John Gallagher:
It was only harder to grow in gardens up in the wetter regions where like I am, but-
Tara Ruth:
Oh, I see.
John Gallagher:
... it's a little bit drier where I live now. And so we do get... Yeah, it's been able to grow. Okay.
Tara Ruth:
Nice. Yeah. But yeah, that's the personality of chamomile, and it's also just important to note a quick contraindication.
John Gallagher:
Which means?
Tara Ruth:
Great question. That means that a contraindication is a reason that this herb might not be the best for your body, whether it's an allergy or medication, interaction, whatever it may be, or a condition you have that's just not compatible with that herb. And in this case, so chamomile is in the Asteraceae family, otherwise known as the daisy family. And for folks, it's actually pretty common for folks to have an allergy to the Aster family. So if you do have an allergy to this family, this plant family, then you don't want to work with chamomile, which makes sense.
John Gallagher:
There you go. Exactly.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. But now, I want to dive into a few ways I like to use or not use, I don't want to use that word. I don't want to use that word. Three ways I like to get to know and work with chamomile. So three of the main ways are for relaxation, for digestive support, and then topically for skincare. So I'll start with relaxation. As we already noted, chamomile is a relaxing nervine helps relax the nervous system, and it's also a sedative. It helps promote restful and deep sleep. And I really like to work with chamomile. I mean, you can just do a classic chamomile tea, especially before you go to bed, but I was really surprised how much more effective for my body the chamomile tincture is. I only take a drop of the tincture. Granted I'm very sensitive, and I'll feel it so much more than a whole cup of the tea.
John Gallagher:
Wow.
Tara Ruth:
I'll feel my nervous system just relaxing. My breath can deepen, and it's pretty remarkable.
John Gallagher:
It is.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. So I have a big bottle of it in my apothecary. And how do you like to work with it for relaxation, John?
John Gallagher:
Well, a cup of tea is probably the way I've used it the most that way. I mean, I have made the tincture, but I haven't experimented like that. I think I need to try that. That would be wonderful, but I'll tell you the way that... Well, I told you earlier, there's an herb I'm going to go home and use, not use.
Tara Ruth:
Wow. John, you're going to use it. Okay.
John Gallagher:
No. You're right. We use that word all the time, and it's just like... It just feels so... I don't know.
Tara Ruth:
Exploited.
John Gallagher:
Yeah, exactly. So I'm going to go home, and I'm going to take a large pot. It could be a sauce pan, but also just a little bit larger of a pot and put a few inches of water in it, three, four inches. And I'm going to boil that water. And then when it's finished boiling, I'm going to take off that lid, and I'm going to put in a whole handful of chamomile, dried chamomile flowers. That is a plant dried chamomile that we keep in the kitchen in a large jar because we have always go through some. So that way if I want to make a little bit of tea, I can, I have it right there. If you want to make tincture, you could make it with that too.
But in this case, I just take a big handful, and I put it in there. I cover it right up and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. And then what I'm going to do here is as a chamomile steam, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to put this on a hot pad or something right there, and I'm going to have a towel and a box of tissues next to me. And I am going to take that lid off and make a tent with the towel over the steam. And I'm just going to breathe that in and not too hard to figure out what the tissues are for, and then it'll just clear you out. Now, some of you may have done this by doing a similar thing and putting a drop or two of essential oil in like a eucalyptus or something, but I think that that can be a little too much.
And I really find the chamomile works really well, and I kind of like to use less herbs and things that I can either grow or easily get myself versus relying on things like the essential oil or whatnot. So chamomile is a great herb to know about for so many things and so many children's remedies as well that we've used over the years. So that is what I'm going to do. I'm going to make that chamomile steam because I'm a bit stuffy. You probably can hear it in my voice right now versus if you haven't heard me before. So yeah, this chamomile steam for congestion.
Tara Ruth:
That's great, yeah. I actually did that two weeks ago when I had COVID. I got a sinus headache, which I've never had before. I was like, "What is happening?" And I wearily went into my kitchen and grabbed the chamomile and made a chamomile steam, and it was really helpful for my sinuses as well. And another great reason to make a steam is to support the skin health of your face because the beautiful, vulnerary, anti-inflammatory soothing properties of chamomile are really helpful topically. And that steam helps open up your pores and then lovingly drive in those volatile oils, those anti-inflammatory oils to your skin.
John Gallagher:
Gosh.
Tara Ruth:
And you can also work with chamomile as an infused oil, and you can use that as a serum or add it to a lotion or whatever kind of skin care products you like to make for yourself if you're into that. And it's also nice in a salve for first aid purposes, or if you're having some muscle pain and spasming, it's really nice in a salve as well.
John Gallagher:
Chamomile is one of those plants. If you're learning about herbs, a great thing to do is every year choose a plant and just learn about it and make everything you can possibly imagine to really understand it. Chamomile is a great one for that. Some plants, it's like, yeah, you can only go so far, like certain things you can do with them and whatnot, but chamomile is one of those that you can just explore forever, so yeah.
Tara Ruth:
It's so true. It has so many different gifts to offer and such a layered personality.
John Gallagher:
If you just go to our blog over on LearningHerbs, type in chamomile, you'll see all kinds of recipes, syrup, oil, tea, what have you, lots of things.
Tara Ruth:
Absolutely, yeah. And I love working with all of those things for chamomile, for digestive support. So I'll make a chamomile tea, I'll use the tincture, or I'll rub my tummy with a chamomile infused oil if I'm just having some digestive upset or my stomach hurts a little bit. It's very helpful.
John Gallagher:
This has been amazing. Well, should we just take one more question out of the mail bag before we wrap it up?
Tara Ruth:
You mean the mail tree?
John Gallagher:
The mail tree?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah.
John Gallagher:
The herbal garden of delights. I don't know. We're going to have to work on this.
Tara Ruth:
Totally, yeah. We'll talk to our marketing team.
John Gallagher:
Yeah. Hey, marketing team. Where are they? I think it's us. Yeah, let's do another question. What was the next one that you got?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, so another question we often get asked, and this is totally different than the first one-
John Gallagher:
Totally.
Tara Ruth:
... is what herbs grow best together? And this is something I was really curious about when I first got excited about working with herbs, I really wanted to grow herbs too. And I was so lucky in herb school that I got to be an apprentice in our garden and learn about how to grow hundreds of different species of medicinal herbs. It was an incredible experience. And during that time, I learned so much from my mentor, Bryan Bowen, about what kind of herbs to grow together and just so many of the different growing needs plants. So let's dive on in. So a few things to keep in mind when you're wondering what herbs grow best together is, first of all, what herbs you want to grow.
John Gallagher:
Right because you don't have to grow hundreds of herbs. You can grow five.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. And yeah, it can be easy just to google what herbs grow best together, but you might just see a lot of lists of herbs that you don't actually want to grow. So yeah, really keep that in mind. And then take stock of the space that you have. Do you have a super large yard with empty garden beds that are waiting to be planted? Or do you have a little balcony? Do you have a stoop? Do you just have indoor space? Whatever kind of space you have, there are herbs that can work for your home. And then another factor is your climate. Where you live really impacts how the plants grow around you.
John Gallagher:
Of course.
Tara Ruth:
And so you just want to make sure... For example, let me think, herbs that would grow super well in a desert environment might not grow well where I am because there's more moisture here. So that's helpful to keep in mind. And then lastly, your budget. What kind of budget are you working with? Do you have the budget to grow a huge garden or are you just wanting to start small and keep it simple and learn that way? I really like to start small and then also assess my capacity. Do I have time to water all these plants and tend to them, et cetera? So keep all that in mind.
And when we think about herbs that grow well together, I mean, there's an endless list of herbs in the world, but some common herbs that grow very well together include basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, and dill. These all probably sound familiar because they're culinary herbs as well, which is so convenient. And a great thing about herbs is that a lot of them have antimicrobial properties in themselves, so they can help repel pests from more pest-attracting plants like vegetables that you might grow. It's way easier to grow herbs generally than it is to grow vegetables because they repel pests.
John Gallagher:
Absolutely. Yes. And they often need a lot more babying the vegetables.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly.
John Gallagher:
And that's why I don't grow vegetables. I just put the herbs in the ground and just need some weeding and watering.
Tara Ruth:
Those vegetables are just fussy babies. They need some chamomile. And another herb that I really like to grow in my garden is calendula because it works so well growing on the edges of garden beds. It doesn't take them over, but it is prolific, and it's easy to weed out if you need to. I mean, if you've seen a calendula flower, it's just like the most heartening, brightening, dazzling flower to look at and is uplifting for the mood. And it's when you harvest them, they'll just grow back so prolifically. So I love adding calendula to any kind of garden.
John Gallagher:
That's a must.
Tara Ruth:
Exactly. And then of course, chamomile. If you are in an environment where chamomile can thrive, it grows well with all these plants and with calendula its flowers can help attract beneficial pollinators.
John Gallagher:
And that is very important as well.
Tara Ruth:
Yes. So convenient.
John Gallagher:
It's great. So wow. So definitely grow some herbs, that's important.
Tara Ruth:
I highly recommend.
John Gallagher:
I think I need to go make that steam, Tara. And also, I'm thinking probably, I wish I brought some honey with me like some herbal-infused honeys. That would've been really handy even a chamomile-infused honey would've been really nice, wouldn't it?
Tara Ruth:
That'd be so nice.
John Gallagher:
Yeah, yeah. I've never done that, but it sounds great. Have you?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. I haven't. The most recent honey I made was a fresh lemongrass-infused honey. It was really nice.
John Gallagher:
Yeah. Rose petals are going to be coming out in another... Well, gosh. Yeah, pretty soon when you see rose petals out, wild roses, that makes a... That's my favorite honey.
Tara Ruth:
So good.
John Gallagher:
So Tara, folks want to learn a little bit more about plants and dive in, take some courses that might involve some gardening, learn a little bit more about chamomile and making medicines, how can people do that?
Tara Ruth:
Yeah, people can go to HerbMentor, herbmentor.com.
John Gallagher:
That's right.
Tara Ruth:
We've got in-depth plant profiles there. And so many great courses like Cultivating Wellness, which teaches folks how to easily grow herbs. And it just offers you a really helpful blueprint for getting started. Or if you're a more seasoned gardener for deepening your garden process. Yeah, there's just so many resources there. It's pretty magical.
John Gallagher:
I put together a cultivation chart, which is really helpful and handy as well. It's in HerbMentor. And if you're not yet, remember, you might want to also go check out HerbMentor Radio, that is the podcast you're listening to, herbmentorradio.com. Listeners get a discount. So go on there first, check that out.
Tara Ruth:
Yes, discount.
John Gallagher:
So we've been doing this podcast for a little while now. We've got a lot of episodes. I'm so glad y'all have been joined us today and listening, and we'll have many more great episodes and guests in the future. And gosh, I'm just really grateful. And as you can tell, I'm like, "Okay, it's time for John to go home." I'm like, "What did I just say?"
Tara Ruth:
It was great.
John Gallagher:
But before you go, stick around for a quick herb note on a wonderful plant that Tara is now going to tell you about.
Tara Ruth:
Yeah. Herb Note time. Yay. Woo-hoo. Go, team.
Welcome to HerbNotes, I'm Tara Ruth. When it comes to hawthorn, the first thing herbalists tend to think about is the organ that pumps blood throughout our bodies, the heart. And while hawthorn can be a wonderful herbal ally for the heart, there's so much more to know about hawthorn's benefits beyond its affinity for the cardiovascular system.
So let's dive into three benefits of hawthorn.
1. Hawthorn for heart health
As a flavonoid rich herb, hawthorn leaf, flower, and berry can all help support general heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels. And it's important to note two key contraindications here.
First, people taking heart medications such as digitalis and beta blockers should consult with an experienced practitioner before taking hawthorn.
And two, hawthorn should not be used with people who have diastolic congestive heart failure.
Now let's talk about the next benefit of hawthorn. Hawthorn for the nervous system and emotional heart. Just as hawthorn can support physical heart health, hawthorne can also support emotional heart health.
When I have experienced heartbreak of grief, I reach for hawthorn to help sooth my nervous system and it has been incredibly helpful.
And three, hawthorn for stagnant digestion. Hawthorn berries are specifically indicated for indigestion caused by food stagnation, especially after heavy meals with greasy food. And another important note of caution here is that large amounts of hawthorn leaf and flower can cause upset stomach for some folks. If that happens, simply decrease the amount.
Want to learn more about the benefits of some of our other favorite common herbs?
Is it herb notes? Cards to grab a deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You'll learn all about herbs like chamomile, elderberry, yarrow, and more. This has been Herb Notes with me, Tara, Ruth. Catch ya next time!
John Gallagher:
Try to work on these theme songs. HerbMentor Radio and Herb Notes are 100% sustainably, well-crafted podcasts, written, performed, and produced by Tara Ruth and me, John Gallagher, sound engineering by Zack Frank. Can you do us a quick favor? Look up Herbmentor Radio on your favorite podcast app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and rate and review us. We'd really appreciate it. Also, visit herbmentorradio.com to find out how you can be part of HerbMentor, which is a site you must see to believe. HerbMentor Radio is a production of LearningHerbs.com LLC, all rights reserved. And thank you very, very, very much for listening.