This spring and summer have been plenty bountiful harvest-wise. We’ve been loving the rain as much as we’ve been loving the sunshine. From harvesting tree medicines to herbs from our Holler gardens, it’s been a busy time for us here in Toronto. Here’s a peek into some of the herbs we’ve been working with.
In May we harvested some lovely spruce tips. Though spruce tips are edible and have been used teas, tinctures, vinegars and ferments, we love their resinous smell and prefer to distill them into a hydrosol (aka an herbal mist) to preserve the spirit of a spring forest. It takes hundreds of spruce tips to make a hydrosol, but luckily they are abundant, especially this year, and we always make sure each tree still has lots leftover.
Elderflower
We were lucky enough to harvest some Elderflower from our friend’s property in Toronto. We love the beautiful aroma and delicate nature of these flowers. It never ceases to amaze us that a flower so lovely can have such strong medicinal powers. Elderflower, like its older sibling the Elderberry, is often used to support the immune system to prevent and fight colds and flu. Elderflower has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties and is often used in both upper and lower respiratory conditions. We plan to tincture the elderflower to add to our At Bay Immune Support tincture.
Chamomile
This lovely flower blooms all summer long, and that’s good for us because it takes a lot of chamomile to make a tincture. We love its plentiful cheerful blooms and love that it aids in lowering stress, anxiety, and supports digestive health. This year we’re aiming to yield enough to make a hydrosol as its so beneficial for the skin. It’s often used for eczema, psoriasis, sunburns and cuts and generally as a facial toner. We’ll keep you posted to let you know how it goes!
