What herbal projects are you working on this Fall?

[Owl Eye]

Now that the growing season is winding down for many of us, what Fall activities are you up to? Harvesting, preserving...?

I had to be indoors most of the summer and missed opportunities to gather any herbs. I was going to harvest Gumweed to tincture this Fall for the first time but I'm just a little bit too late. They still smell awesome though! Looks like the critters have already ate most of the Rose Hips in my area. So I'm gonna turn my attention to digging up some Dandelion roots, and also whipping up a batch of body cream and Fire Cider before Winter hits.

[ItalianBee]

I have my eye on those dandelion roots too. I want to gather some burdock root as well, but my landlady seems to have had waged war successfully on the burdock "weeds" in our back yard... at least that's the only reason I can think of that there aren't any this year. I found some luscious large plants but they were in areas where I am not sure it's OK to gather them and I'm shy about asking permission.

I've got some tinctures going that are close to ready, so I will strain those soon. And I made candied angelica stems from my one huge and generous plant. Plus, my husband is harvesting apples so I'm doing a lot of baking!

[Melissa Doordaughter]

Last week I went for a walk with the dog and was pleased to see there is still some healthy burdock growing here, so added a few to a sneaky soup..... I have been listening to some of Susun's podcasts, and was really intrigued by the one called 'nettle, seed and sting'..... The nettle here is mostly on the edge of cultivated fields, so one of my goals for this season is to collect some seeds and cultivate a little nettle in an out of the way spot where I can be sure it isn't sprayed with anything unappetizing. Actually, the podcast about urtication got me thinking about the fairytale 'the 12 swans', where the girl has to pick nettle in the churchyard at midnight to break an enchantment on her brothers.... and wondering if there was some hidden message for those who try picking their nettle barehanded....

I have also been experiementing with honeys, I made a sage honey and a garlic honey.... the sage honey is not so great in tea... because the pieces of leaf get stuck in the throat.... I guess next time I 'll have to either macerate them very finely, or perhaps leave the leaves whole so I can pick them out once the tea has steeped....

Also I am waiting til my potted echinacea has died back plenty, to separate the plants, and hopefully double them for spring....

And I keep eyeing my sage and wondering when I should pick the leaves for drying, it's such a beauutiful plant I'm a bit reluctant to give it a hair cut!

[bluebirdmama]

Just dug up valerian root for tincturing for the first time. Those little tendrils are sure full of dirt.

I usually make a 1/2 gallon each of dandelion and burdock.

I have been tending to a small patch of echinacea for the past 3years (started from seed), and my plan was to make my first fresh tincture of it this fall. I dug one plant up and the roots were so small. It seems I may have to dig the whole patch to get a pint. Should I wait another year?

[Lady Alinor]

bluebirdmama...tough decision, I would probably leave the Echinacea... figuring that should I need it I could dig it and use it in tea form.

I also dug Valerian, found some while hiking, dug it and placed it in a bag which I tied to my backpack, it wasn't but a few minutes that I recalled Michael Moore saying that cats LOVE Valerian...Cats? We're hiking in the Oregon wilderness which has plenty of Mountain Lions...big CATS! I knew that at any moment we'd be pounced for our Valerian and was very hopeful we didn't come on any Osha Root...Bears LOVE Osha Root.
Perhaps I shouldn't wild-harvest while hiking the wilds of Oregon. Safety First

I've been keeping my eye on the Rosehips here on the farm and down along a secluded shore along the Willamette River...HUGE Rosehips...DIVINE!!! I want to dry the large hips and make some syrup with the smaller hips. I imagine the syrup will be not only tasty but beautiful, jewel-toned and fragrant! (too lovely to hid away in my herb cupboard)

Our rains have finally come which means the Dandelions have begun to put on more leaf...leaves that will find their way into the freezer. (I blanche the leaves, place into a freezer bag, cover with water, seal and freeze. By freezing the leaves in water, the greens never taste like freezer)

Black Walnuts....I LOVE the smell of Black Walnut husks! I've been making dye from the husks and I just love the scent!
Goldenrod....Lovely scent as well!!
Hawthorn...tasty Looking forward to picking the berries, rain, woodsmoke and hawthorn berries...LOVE Autumn!

[ItalianBee]

Lady Alinor, what great ideas!

Do you actually eat the hawthorn berries? I have not actually used them because I am on medication for heart arrhythmia and I am cautious about combining the two. But I never thought of eating the berries fresh.

And about cats and valerian - funny story - one time years ago I was taking a bath and my cat came into the bathroom and dug her nose into the armpit of the sweaty shirt I had taken off, just loved it. I told my parents about it and my father said that human sweat smells like valerian, which cats love as much as catnip!

[Melissa Doordaughter]

I've been thinking about harvesting some hawthorn berries too.... I saw a lovely article on them https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... 96I4yI5UZA
and they look beautiful.... but not sure what the herbal value is exactly?????

[ItalianBee]

I've mostly heard of hawthorn berries being used to benefit the heart - high blood pressure and rhythm problems in particular.