A Slow & Soft January: Elderberry, Business Planning & More
I genuinely love the month of January. Climate shifts in my little corner of the world seem to have pushed winter back by a month or more. The last few years, December has been mild, wet, brown and gloomy: an extended fall that kind of bums me out.
January this year has come with snowstorms, temperatures in the minus 10s- 20s (celsius), cold and dark nights, but also those perfect brilliantly sunny and crispy cold days that make you want to walk for ages through the new snow, or on paths others have already trod. Ahri is aging and slowing down, but she still loves a wintry day.
I am working on my business and farm plan these days, mapping out the year and what it will look like, what projects I will put forth. It’s exciting, and it feels clearer and closer finally. Like I have some idea of what I’m doing, I’m not afraid of the spreadsheets, and my brain is cooperating and functioning. I can think and strategize and plan and make to-do lists and goals, and know what to do to follow through with them. It’s hard to explain how happy this makes me, after several years (pre-COVID too) of feeling like I couldn’t trust my brain. I feel competent and have some confidence and some stability, and that is a huge deal to me.
However, it’s also the sleepy season, and I am also trying to get lots of rest, eat well and enough and move my body in ways that feel good. Creating moments of spaciousness and softness in a world that is getting louder, harder, sharper: a tremendous privilege, to be sure, but one that I want for every body.
Some plant medicines I’ve been loving lately have been elderberry (Sambucus nigra) syrup mixed with hot water as a warming and sweet drink. A few weeks ago I had a nasty, lingering cold: I tested negative repeatedly for COVID, but still felt run-down and full of snuffles.
Elderberry syrup has been used for years as a traditional cold and flu remedy, and there has been some research into its use for COVID-19 patients. One randomized trial found that elderberry extracts reduced the severity and duration of common cold symptoms after air travel. (Tiralongo et al, 2016). There was concern during the early days of the pandemic that elderberry might overstimulate the immune system, leading to an over production of inflammatory cytokines, “a cytokine storm”, which can in extreme cases cause organ failure and even death (Jarczak et al, 2022) . However, follow-up systematic reviews have not found this to be the case (Wieland et al, 2021) and it is generally considered a safe (and delicious) and at least somewhat effective treatment for improving the symptoms and reducing the duration of respiratory viruses.
A Simple Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Approximately 4 cups of Elderberries (Sambucus nigra), Fresh or Frozen
Approximately 4 cups of Water
1 cup of Honey
2 Cinnamon Sticks (Cinnamomum verum)
A few chopped slices of Ginger Root (Zingiber officinale)
Other woody herbs as desired (Astragalus membranaceus might be a nice addition)
Add all ingredients except for the honey to a stove top pot. Bring to a gentle boil, and simmer covered for at least 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add honey while the mixture is still warm. Strain and remove the plant material, squeezing to get all the liquid out from the elderberries. Freeze large batches, keep for 3 months in the fridge.
I’ve also been making bone broth using vegetable scraps (onion and garlic skins, carrot tops, celery and other vegetable ends) I save in the freezer and rotisserie chicken carcasses or beef bones. An instant pot or crock pot does this easily for you, and you can throw in some apple cider vinegar to help break down the bones even more. You can use mushrooms instead of meat if you like. Adding this bone broth to rice that I cook, or making congee (east Asian savory rice pudding) has been an easy and nourishing meal for illness and convalescence.
Additionally, many years ago, one of my herbal mentors introduced me to the concept of bed rest: as a means of convalescence, deep rest and slowing down. She wrote an excellent article on it that I still refer back to often, and I’m looking forward to scheduling my own period of bed rest over the next few weeks.
I’m hoping to apply for a few maker’s markets in the next few weeks. I am setting up a schedule of workshops and plant walks for the year and thinking of new products for markets this year, as well as determining what seedlings to grow and sell. More info coming soon!
Finally, I’m working through my clinical hours and taking practice clients, so please get in touch with me if you’d like to help me practice my clinical skills and complete my hours.
Hoping you get a chance this month for a good rest, and are able to find some softness and some courage in these times.
Sources
Jarczak, D., & Nierhaus, A. (2022). Cytokine Storm—Definition, Causes, and Implications. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(19), 11740. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231911740
Tiralongo, E., Wee, S., & Lea, R. A. (2016). Elderberry supplementation reduces cold duration and symptoms in Air-Travellers: a randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled clinical trial. Nutrients, 8(4), 182. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8040182
Wieland, L. S., Piechotta, V., Feinberg, T., Ludeman, E., Hutton, B., Kanji, S., Seely, D., & Garritty, C. (2021). Elderberry for prevention and treatment of viral respiratory illnesses: a systematic review. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-021-03283-5