Echinacea Tea for a Rainy Seattle Afternoon

Well, we are having an unusually (don't laugh) rainy August this year in Seattle, so I decided to make a lovely cup of tea from my dried Clover & Echinacea flowers, stems and leaves.

Echinacea, Bees and Pollen.

Dried Echinacea & Clover Tea:

Boil 2-3 quarts of water, add about 12 clover blossoms & 4 Echinacea top (including flower and leaves) & turn the heat down to simmer for about  20 minutes Serve it hot with honey, or after it cools a bit put it in the refrigerator overnight to extract the most potency.  In the morning, strain off and drink daily for the next 4 days, or reheat and add 1-2 cup of sugar for each cup of tea to make a syrup that will last for the flu season. 

Simmer, then Steep Overnight

** If you have an auto-immunity dis-ease, you should not boost your immunity** 

Herb Infused Olive Oil

Well, I can't believe it has been over a month since I have blogged... Wow- the Summer has flown by this year! The light in Seattle has already begun to change, and I just ate my first ripe tomato the other day!

I had my intern Erin come over to help garble the herbs and re-package them into manageable containers. We used the screens I had made last Winter with a clean tablecloth underneath. We rubbed the herbs on the screen and for the most part we were able to keep the stems separate from the herbs. We then put the herbs in mason jars or zipper bags, depending on what was going to happen next to them. We ended up making over 3 gallons of infused oil!  I have lots more to do, especially tincturing.  I have to check inventory and see what I need to make and then what new products I could make and then decide what to do with the rest! I plan on having a sale for friends with the products I don't sell online, and give the rest to the women's shelter. (get on the mailing list by emailing me - sistersageherbs@gmail.com).

The problem with growing herbs that I don't use in my formulas is that if I don't do something with the herbs to further process them, they will loose their potency and I will basically be hanging on to very good compost makings... The herbs themselves are good for up to about a year depending on how much light and/or moisture they have received, but the products I make will preserve the potency even longer (from 1 year to 10 or more!) A couple of weeks ago I consolidated of all the herbs in paper bags that were stored in little plastic tubs all over the place and composted the rest. Then, I used all the empty plastic tubs to hold my finished products. I now have all the products in their own tubs- labeled, and soon to be inventoried before making more with the herbs from this season!