Tea, Tinctures & Immunity: Herbalist’s Remedies for Winter Wellness with Amanda of The Happy Homestead
#17 Tea, Tinctures & Immunity: Herbalist’s Remedies for Winter Wellness with Amanda of The Happy Homestead
In this episode, we’re diving into nature’s medicine cabinet with homesteader & herbalist extroidinaire, Amanda, owner of The Happy Homestead. Amanda has over a decade of hands-on experience in plant medicine. Her love for herbalism started in her garden and grew from a desire to move beyond quick fixes; especially after becoming a mother. Now, through her clinical practice and apothecary, she helps people reconnect with natural wellness through personalized herbal care.
Today we’ll be talking about :
+ power-player herbs for immune support
+ some underrated herbs you need to know about
+ kid-safe herbal remedies
+ herbal medicine vs traditional medicine
+ why prevention might just be the real medicine
And, she even drops her go-to recipe for staying healthy during cold season!
Let’s get into it!
🚫 this is not medical advice; always consult your doctor before implementing any changes to your lifestyle.
Chapters
[01:29] Amanda’s journey into herbalism
[03:50] Discussing the differences between herbal medicine and traditional medicine
[05:00] Top three herbs to keep in the medicine cabinet for cold & flu season
[06:28] Difference between a tea vs tincture
[07:44] Is there a difference between roasted dandelion tea and raw dandelion tea?
[08:05] Underrated herbs that deserve a little more attention in cold & flu season
[09:30] Combining different types of tinctures
[10:13] Talking about fermented honey garlic
[12:40] Why is it important to buy raw, local honey thats not pasteurized?
[13:41] Taking elderberry everyday or just when we start to feel sick
[15:40] Cold & flu remedy that we wish wasn’t trending
[16:04] Tips for preventing sickness during cold & flu season
[18:02] Go-to herbal recipes to make during cold & flu season
[18:48] Things to look out for while purchasing herbs, tinctures and teas
[19:57] Discussing potential herbal reactions with prescription medication
[23:11] Safe herbs and tea for children
[24:54] Creative ways to get herbs into kids diet
[25:47] Proper dosages of tea for children
[26:26] Herbal remedies for children during cold & flu season
[28:36] Discussing herbal remedies to add into coffee for immunity
[30:30] Is it ok to give lavender to boys?
[31:06] Herbal first-aid kit
[33:18] Amanda’s homestead and apothecary - The Happy Homestead
[35:44] Tips for a starter garden; growing herbs in your backyard
[38:19] Reputable places to purchase high quality herbs
[39:05] Easy ways to preserve herbs
[39:55] How Amanda maintains her homestead
[41:20] Amanda’s favorite herbal product to make for her apothecary, The Happy Homestead
[42:27] Using essential oils for headaches
[42:49] Best herbs for different symptoms
[44:38] Best herbs for children dealing with sick symptoms
[45:38] An herbalist’s morning routine
Mentions
Transcript
0:02 Welcome back to Unapologetically Crunchy. In this episode, Karl and I are diving into nature's medicine cabinet with homesteader and herbalist extraordinaire Amanda. Owner of The Happy Homestead, Amanda has over a decade of hands on experience in plant medicine. Her love for herbalism started in her garden and grew from a desire to move beyond quick fixes, especially after becoming a mother. 0:24 Now, through her clinical practice and apothecary, she helps people reconnect with natural Wellness through personalized herbal care. Carl and I had such a fun time recording with Amanda. She is so knowledgeable, and I actually took a class with her. I think it was last year. Yeah, I think it was last year. 0:41 Last fall, I took a class with her. It was intro to Herbalism, and I learned so much. She just explains things really clearly and she's really helpful. So I know that you guys are going to learn a lot from this episode today. Some of the things that we'll be hitting on are some power player herbs for immune support, which we all know we need right now, right? 1:00 Some underrated herbs that we need to know about kids, safe herbal remedies, herbal medicine versus traditional medicine. Why prevention might just be the real medicine. And guess what guys? She even drops her go to recipe for staying healthy during cold season. 1:17 All right, let's get into it. Amanda, thank you so much for coming to the show. Thank you for having me. We're very excited to have you here, so let's start off with talking a little bit about how you got interested in herbalism in the first place. So plants have always been ingrained in me, like a deep love for that, but it didn't actually bubble up until I was probably in my early 30s, I was pregnant and that's when I was really super concerned with what am I putting on my body? 1:45 What am I putting in my body? But you know, prior to that, I grew up with a mom and a grandmother that loved to garden with flowers. And so that was something that I always was aware of. And to me, it was like, why are we growing flowers? Why aren't we growing food? Yeah, so. When I kind of got my own place in my early 20s, that's where I started really kind of getting into gardening with herbs and plants for food production. 2:08 And then as I've gone older, I've kind of expanded back to to my mom and my grandmother's heritage with the flowers and everything in between. So it's always been in me and doing things with the plants like making oils or making salves or tinctures, but not really knowing what I'm doing in those earlier days. 2:28 And I was always the weird friend, right? Like you should try this or hey what about this and? Always. Really. One of the family events, Yep, totally get that. But you know, as time went on, I would say over the last 15 years, it really has come up in a way that's just been so beautiful and something that is just so part of my own journey and I love it. 2:49 I love that. It's so interesting to me too, when people are doing something that they're passionate about. It's always seems like it's always kind of been a little bit a part of their lives, but they just didn't realize it yet. That's how things are with me too, a little bit. That and I always hear the same like when women get pregnant with children, it like changes the entire mindset and you start looking for those more natural remedies and pay more attention to what goes on your body. 3:13 And that that happened with me because of her awareness. I I picked it up as well. Yeah, when you're younger and it's just you, you think you're invincible. Yeah, you're really not. Yeah, but you think you are. And it doesn't matter what you do as far as in or on your body. 3:28 But yeah, I think the older we get, we become more aware. And so that's it's always something I say to to young people is like, you're not invincible, right? Like start now because it does matter. Yeah, things build up and then all of a sudden you're like, hey, how did this happen? Mm. 3:43 Hmm. So for some of the listeners that are like, wait, herbal medicine, like I don't know about this. What would you say are some of the differences between herbal medicine and conventional medicine? Yeah, great question. I would say for conventional medicine, and this is just my opinion, this content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. 4:06 Listeners should consult A qualified health care provider for any health concerns. I am not a medical professional and I am not intending to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented should not be construed as medical advice. 4:23 It's more symptom focused, right? So when we're going with those over the counter antihistamines, decongestants, sore throat things, pain relievers, it's really tackling the symptom. Whereas with my practice with herbal medicine and my clients, I really try to get to the source. 4:41 So certainly we'll we'll attack some of those symptoms if they're really bothersome, but by going to the source in a much more natural and holistic way, I believe it's more effective. I do too. That's a very common theme, too, on this podcast in general, is the root cause. 4:56 Yeah. Not just covering up symptoms, Yes. So what are your top three? Go to herbs in your cabinet, especially around cold season. So that is such a hard question. I know you're probably like where do I? Start them all, but for cold and flu season, I would definitely say echinacea. 5:15 I mean, that's a very common one, but it is very powerful. And so that's probably #1 oregano is also really powerful. So certainly cooking with it helps, but much more in a therapeutic dose, like as a tincture or in the tea. It's really antiviral and it's all good for your immune system, just helping boost it. 5:34 And nettle, I love stinging nettle and I do nettle year round, but nettle is so high in minerals that it actually just kind of helps replenish your body, right? So again, kind of starting with the root cause, like making sure that we are at our best to fight whatever comes at us. 5:54 Yeah. So it's really helping to support your immune system to fight off whatever comes at you. So would you say you take those three on a daily basis? I take nettle on a daily basis, yeah. I would not do echinacea on a daily basis. That's something that you want to do if you're starting to feel a little off, right? 6:10 You wake up in the morning and you're like, something's not right. That's when I would start doing an immune stimulating herb like echinacea or elderberry, but not daily by any means. Oregano you could do daily in a tea, but maybe not a tincture. So tincture is much more concentrated than AT. 6:28 So for people just starting out, I would start out with AT because it's more gentle, it's more assimilated into the body, especially with the whole behavior around T, it's much more common and understood right than a tincture would be OK. I'm glad you bring up that point too because I always looked at TS and tinctures kind of like oh I'll do one or the other. 6:47 I didn't even realize there was really a difference in strength, but it makes total sense. Yeah. So a tincture, you take your plant material, which is known as the mark, and it's infused into the Menstrom. And the menstrom is usually alcohol. It can be glyceride, it can be honey, it can be water, really. 7:06 That's technically the T, right? The infusion. But alcohol is probably one of the most common. It's the one I work with the most. And you can go down a wormhole depending upon if you're extracting from seeds, bark, roots, aerial parts. 7:22 But don't do that. Like I just stick with kind of a basic 100 proof organic vodka. And so I let it macerate within the vodka for about 8 weeks and then you strain it and you have a really potent medicine. Nice. Yeah, that's cool. 7:38 Yeah, that's amazing. Actually. This is kind of random but you just made me think of this. I drink dandelion tea a lot. Is there a difference between roasted dandelion tea and the efficacy or just like raw? Just the flavor. OK. Yep. Gotcha. Yeah, dandelions are great. 7:53 Is it dandelion root? I'm guessing? Yes, Yes, that's a fantastic alternative. It's really good for your liver. It's very safe daily. So that's a great option daily. Are there any underrated herbs that you think kind of deserve a little bit more attention? 8:10 Again. How about? How about for cold? Season OK for cold and flu season. Astragalus root is something that maybe not everyone's familiar. With never heard of. It yeah, it's a Chinese herb. So it's a, it's a plant, but you harvest the root and astragalus root is an immune stimulant. 8:31 It's also antiviral. So that is something I will put in a tincture when we're talking about cold and flu season as well. I think that's really good. Licorice root is also another one of my favourites. So many benefits of licorice, root and again antiviral and helping with the immune system during cold and flu season. 8:49 It's amazing how many antiviral and antibacterial, all of these types of herbs or even something like honey. It's amazing how it's just given to us on Earth. Yes, I, I really feel that if we were to kind of just open our eyes a bit and see what's given to us and around us, right, it's, it's quite amazing and fascinating because what we really need is in front of us. 9:16 That's that's another trend that we see too. We say it a lot is like just go back 5000 years to where we were before, right, to see what's around you utilize the the resources that we have in our own backyard. Yeah, because it's there. Exactly, Yeah, for all the the tinctures, especially in thinking about cold and flu season, do you always do it individually or is there ever a combination that you create like specific for some sort of time or? 9:41 Event it is perfectly fine to do a combination right? And again, you can go down these wormholes if it's seeds, bark, roots, aerial parts because they will extract differently. But for ease and simplicity, it's OK to mix and just let it macerate. 9:56 You want to shake it daily to really trying to get everything out. But I personally tincture individually and that's only because I am crafting and formulating and mixing for my clients, right? So I need to have those individual tinctures, right? OK, that's cool. 10:11 So what do you think of honey garlic? Oh my gosh, it's. There's another one I've never heard of. No, but. I'm not familiar with. I know that, of course I know what you think, but it was trending so much in the last few years, so. Yeah, it's very beneficial. So it's a fermented honey or fermented garlic? 10:30 Honey, fermented honey, garlic. Either way, you basically take organic garlic and you want to make sure it's organic, that it hasn't been sprayed with any kind of sprouting inhibitors, right? You need the organic garlic and you just kind of crush it. You don't have to chop it. You throw it in with some local raw honey and again, local and raw is of utmost importance. 10:52 Put a really good lid on there and similar to the tinctures, you're going to shake it and you're going to shake it every day. In the first few days it's going to be really hard to shake because it's going to be so slow moving and it's not. Going to do honey. Yes, but over time it becomes much more liquefied and it's so much easier to shake and kind of impart the garlic properties into the honey. 11:14 And so that is a really good remedy during cold and flu season. You can mix your honey in with tea if you wanted to, but it will be garlicky. I personally am not a fan of that in my tea, but I will take a spoonful of honey again if I'm just starting to feel like something's off, and I'll do it a few times a day. 11:33 I will also actually eat the garlic cloves, which are delicious. They're almost candied after a while and it will last a very long time in your pantry. So usually around the six week mark you can say it's done, but it's never done. 11:49 It'll constantly keep fermenting and just getting more potent. I really enjoy using the honey in with fire cider olive oil to make a salad dressing, like a really potent salad dressing that I will feed my family unbeknownst to them. 12:06 Like all of the benefits. You gotta do what you gotta do all the. Time, but that's one of my favorite ways to use it too. That's a really good way. Yeah. You know, I actually really love raw garlic. Yes. So I'll make spaghetti and it's all cooked and I'll mince up just like a raw garlic clove and stick it in there. 12:24 And I'm just like, yes, this is so good. It is so. Good. It's so good for you. And it's antiviral. Garlic is antiviral in itself, right? It's very potent. Yeah. And so this is something too that I feel like a lot of people don't really have the awareness of. 12:39 You mentioned when you're making this use raw local honey, not pasteurized. And can you explain why? Because it has all of the beneficial properties, right? Honey is beneficial medicine in itself because of everything that the bees are doing and all of the different pollen they're getting. 12:58 But it's also just full of really good bacteria. And so when you're heating just like anything else, right, Fermented, if you're heating it, you're killing all of the good things. We don't want to do that. Right, And this is something that I'm personally wondering too, 'cause it, I feel like I've read different things online, is when I go to scoop honey out of the jar, is it bad to use a stainless steel spoon? 13:23 No. OK, good. So that's a myth. OK, 'cause I'm like, what am I Like? I can't just like, have a whole thing of wooden spoons here and hand wash them all every day, no. It's OK. OK, good. That's a good question though. Definitely. Yeah. 13:38 So back to Elderberry quickly. I learned this a couple years ago that you should not take it everyday kind of like you had mentioned, because it's immune stimulating and it's one of those herbs flowers, right, that you should just take when you're starting to feel sick, kind of like what you mentioned with Echinacea. 13:59 Would you agree with that? Is that correct? I would say if you were taking high doses, yes, what you mentioned is correct, right? You wanna take it when you're starting to feel off to really help stimulate your immune system to start to get to battle. I would not recommend elderberry syrup if it's very strong on a daily basis. 14:16 Now, if you can make it and you're including cinnamon and clove and ginger, right? All of the other things and maybe even some astragalus root or echinacea, but it's at a much more diluted concentration, then I would say that's OK, right? But it's really in those concentrated kind of more potent forms. 14:35 You don't want to keep your immune system up and ready for battle at every given moment, because that can wear you down, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah, I was, I was just thinking about it, I guess cold seasons here, right. So it's relevant should you, if you're not feeling sick, like take it every once a week or something just for that little extra boost? 14:55 I think with general and elderberry syrup, if you're taking like, you know, between 2 1/2 milliliters to 5 milliliters, which is like, you know, maybe like 1/2 of a shot glass to a 3/4 of a shot glass, that's OK. Yeah, right. But we're not going to be drinking like 1/2 a cup every day, right? If you're taking little doses, I think that's fine. 15:12 Every day, OK. But again during cold and flu season. Right. Yeah. And would that be the same for kids or probably a smaller dose? A little smaller dose, but yes, that is OK. Yeah, because remember, elderberry syrup, it's not just the elderberry, it is usually the cinnamon, the clove, ginger, sometimes other things, and then the honey, right? 15:30 So you get the benefit of the raw honey in there too. So in that regard, I would say it's OK in small doses every day. Cool. Yeah, that's. Great. All right, So is there a trendy cold or flu remedy that you wish people would stop falling for? The flu shot. 15:47 Yeah, I love it. How? Funny because when I was writing this out, no, when I was writing this out, I literally thought the exact same thing. I was like the flu shot. The flu shot, yes, no, it's OK. OK, so let's talk remedies. 16:04 Well, we'd have a little bit, but do you have any go to recipes that you love to make this time of year? Other than honey garlic, of course. I really like to keep it simple right, So I will always have some sort of and again, well let me back up on a day-to-day basis. 16:24 The most important thing a person can do is prevention, right? So I try to really operate in a proactive manner rather than reactive. So if we're talking about prevention, we're talking about making sure you're hydrated, right, with good, clean drinking water and herbal tea can contribute to that amount. 16:44 But the goal is half of your weight in ounces. So if a person weighs 150 lbs, they need 75 ounces of good, clean drinking water every day. And so staying hydrated really helps kind of keep things moving and flushes things out so things aren't sitting stagnant in your body. 17:03 So I would also say rest, right? So when we're not rested the way we should be, our immune system is a little bit weaker and overall things can get a hold a little bit better. Stress. I mean, these are age-old things that people talk about, but it's again, so important, right? 17:21 Kind of keeping your stress level down, doing breathing exercises, meditation, exercise every day, You know, all of these things really help kind of mitigate what could happen with cold and flu season. And then not to be dismissed is really clean food, right? 17:39 So healthy eating and not eating all the sugars and not eating all the processed junk and the sodas and 10 cups of coffee a day, right? All of these things can actually really deplete you so that when you come in proximity with someone that is sick or with a virus in general, it doesn't have the ability to take hold. 17:59 So in those moments that you're starting to feel like something could happen, that's when I really amp up the elderberry and the Echinacea tincture and maybe an antiviral tea, fermented garlic, honey Firesider. I will throw everything at it as I'm going throughout my day and trying to stay hydrated, trying to rest and usually within one to two days hopefully it's gone. 18:23 Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's better than four or five days of. Right, right. So having all of these kind of things in your backpack, your armor, is not necessarily going to prevent you from getting sick, but it could absolutely lessen the severity and the duration. 18:39 I'll take it. Yeah. Because, I mean, it's also good to get a little bit sick sometimes too, just so your antibodies are right there. So. Awesome. So if somebody isn't into making remedies themselves, what do you think that they should look for when they're looking at herbal products? I would say always local, right? 18:55 Absolutely. You want, you want to make sure that you're purchasing your product from either a reputable business, right? Maybe like a brick and mortar store or from a local person that actually knows what they're doing to like a local herbalist. 19:12 If you're in Raleigh. You know where to go. Yeah. I don't know, but yeah, you want to make sure that you're looking for products that are grown organically, regeneratively, right? Because you don't want to have all of those extra chemicals in your body to begin with. 19:28 And maybe even from someone, whether it's local or not, that you actually can reach out to and ask questions. I find that really important because if you're picking up something and it's like, I think I need this, but you don't know, being able to reach out to the company or the person who crafted it to say, what am I doing? 19:46 Is this right for me? I think that's really important as well. Right, because everybody has different needs. Yes, yeah. Could there ever be a, I'm trying to think the right word, but a contradiction between if somebody is on a medicine actually like pharmaceutical medicine and then they start taking some herbs? I know we don't get into any advice or anything like that here, but is that something that questions should be asked? 20:05 Absolutely, yes. And so the very most important thing is for you to know your own body, right? Know your own habits, know your behaviors. And so if a person is taking a prescription medications or even over the counter medications, right, it's their responsibility to understand, are there contraindications with an herbal type of medicine? 20:26 So for instance, if someone has some sort of autoimmune disorder, you probably don't want to take elderberry and echinacea, right? Right. So you kind of have to really think through things. I believe that one of the pandemics in our society is to really not think for ourselves when it comes to our health, but rather just rely on what someone tells us, which is a huge pet peeve of mine, right? 20:49 I want to empower people and my clients to really make their own decision, be self aware and understand what's going on in their body because no one understands their body better than themselves, right? And so asking those questions to a healthcare provider to say, hey, I'm on this, but I'm, I'm thinking about doing this, do that, but also do their own research. 21:10 Yeah, I think it's really important to take that into their own account. And then the other thing that's important is allergies. You know I was. Just thinking that people are on this allergy medicine especially. This time of year, well, I'm even just thinking allergic reaction. Oh, right, right. Yeah. So I always ask my clients, are you allergic to foods, herbs, like plants, like seasonal allergies or medications, right? 21:33 Any of the three categories, what are you allergic to? Because that does make a difference as well. If someone's allergic to the Astor family, then you don't want to give them either echinacea or chamomile, right? Because those things are part of that family. So those are really important indications as well. And then lastly is again, people need to be their own advocate. 21:52 Like it's just, I can't stress that enough, right? Yeah. So it is important to know what are you taking, what are you on, if you have any type of diseases, high blood pressure, you know those types of things, cardiovascular disease, etcetera. Yeah, and that's also why it's so important to find somebody who knows what they're doing. 22:09 Absolutely. So you can ask those questions somebody's accessible like yourself. Yes, absolutely perfect. Thank you. I love that you mentioned that too, because that's something that comes up on so many of our episodes too, when we're talking about health and Wellness is just, you know, it's OK to go outside of the box and do your own research. 22:26 You don't, you don't have to necessarily just be told something by a doctor and then just that's it. You know, I think a big thing too that I wish people would rely on a little bit more is some of the tips that you had given can help people connect with their bodies more. 22:41 It's just their intuition. And if something is telling you like, I don't know, you know, if you're not like really feeling some advice that somebody gives you, just look into it and see how you feel. But it doesn't have to just like end it someone's answer. 22:57 Right, right. Just as if a doctor were to prescribe a medication for something, you should still question that, right? You should question everything and do your own research to making sure that you are taking care of you. Absolutely, I agree with that. I. Totally agree. Yeah. So, so children, yes, I'm really extra curious about this because I have children and I also thought I always, because I just don't know. 23:19 I always was like, oh, I don't know if like children, I don't think children can have tea. And that's not right. And I learned that from you when I took the class with you. So for children, what are some of the safest herbs that you could start with children? Any that should like completely be avoided if somebody's kind of looking into that. 23:37 With their kids, and I would say, again, going back to knowing what you're taking, yeah, if you're pregnant, if you're nursing or you're trying to become pregnant, that's also really important that you understand what you're taking and if it's safe. And so when we're talking about kids, there are a lot of safe herbs out there. 23:54 One of my favorite books is by Rosemary Gladstar, and she wrote an entire book about herbs for kids. And so I would recommend that because that's a really good place to start. But chamomile is very safe and that is alternative. 24:09 So it actually can help with colic upset stomach type things. And then if we're talking about cold and flu season, diaphoretic for a kid, a diaphoretic tea is really helpful. And what a diaphoretic is, is it helps move blood, move warmth to kind of help throw off viruses or bacteria that are not yet settled interior, right? 24:32 Because when we're getting sick, it's still somewhat exterior before it really lodges itself in. So you can do a diaphoretic, which is also helps reduce fevers. And that would be something like Yarrow, catnip, mint, an elderflower, right? 24:50 I think that's a really good blend that is safe for children. And people always think my kids not going to drink tea. But you can make it an iced tea and add a little bit of honey, right? I always tell people like, it doesn't have to be hot tea. It can be an iced tea if that's easier, or make it into a popsicle, right? 25:08 You kind of get creative with kids in that way. That's a cool idea. Make it into a popsicle or something like that. I. Throw everything into popsicle molds. Yeah, my children, yeah. It's one of the ways that I am really able to sneak all kinds of things in for them. 25:23 Yeah, that's a great idea. I was thinking that with smoothies, too. Yes, that's I I like to sneak in a lot of stuff in smoothies. Like our daughter, for some reason, she just decided she doesn't like honey and I'm like, no, so I'll just put it in a smoothie. Right, Right. Yeah, You got to get those good nutrients. 25:38 This is a three-year old thing too, because she's loved honey for the last two years or whatever it is, and. She'll come back to. It she'll come back to it, yeah. Yeah. So how would you adjust like the dosage and prep when you're making like if you're making a tincture for a child? I would not actually start with tincture for. 25:54 Children. Yeah. Yeah, so for tea, you don't really have to worry too much, right? You're just giving them probably a lesser amount, right? As an adult, I try to drink about a quart of tea a day, and that's probably a good amount if you're trying to start battling something that might be setting in. 26:10 So for kids, I would probably go to 8 to 10 oz a day, right? Depending on how old the child is, how much the child weighs. But again, we're just talking a tea, so you don't have to worry too much because now we're also pumping the fluids in and that helps too. OK, cool. And OK, so for right now, I know we're dealing with this a little bit. 26:27 So kids right now and adults too. But especially with the kids, they're back in school now. And so they're kind of bringing home some sicknesses, but not even like a sickness, you know, like how sometimes they just have like these runny noses and coughs that are lingering. But outside of that, they're completely fine. 26:45 Would you recommend anything specific for that are kind of like what the general teas were you were just talking about? But so for kind of like the the sniffles, the runny nose, maybe some sort of sore throat, I would probably do a tea, but I would also go back to like maybe some elderberry, right. I always used to do elderberry shots with my kids. 27:02 Yeah. And so I think that could help. So the other thing is, is when a virus is coming, hopefully as long as our mucous membranes aren't too dried out, which is sometimes a symptom of the cold weather, right, They get too dried out. The whole purpose of the mucous membranes is that it traps the bacteria, the virus. 27:19 And so when kids are constantly sniffing everything back up, they're not really doing themselves a favor. Yeah, right. So we need to expel as much of that as possible because it that's what it's designed to do, is trap and then expel. I encourage kids to keep blowing, keep getting it out. 27:34 And then I would do some sort of antiviral as well. OK, that reminds me of this. Not sucker for babies, Yes. I love that thing, yeah. That's that's important that people probably don't think about it, but you have to blow your nose as much as possible. I remember my grandpa or he said it to me a couple times and I just never forgot because I was, you know, sucking it back up or whatever. 27:52 He's like, why are you doing that? Get it out. You know, that's the problem. Get the problem out. Yeah. It's like the Curious Storage episode. Yeah, that's. Right, right. Got to sneeze the germs out, get them out. And you know what? I guess you could probably make gummies too for kids, right? Absolutely, yes, People do elderberry gummies, but you could do a tea gummy. 28:11 And So what you would do is kind of make your hot tea and then maybe make half cold tea, and then you add your gelatin in like a natural gelatin and then you can make all kinds of fun shapes. Yeah, that's a really good idea cuz we, we love that. Like we just like we'll do like an organic juice with the gelatin. 28:27 Yeah, that's a really good idea to put tea in there. Yeah, again, sneaking it in, yes. I have a question on the adult side. So is there how can I add something to my coffee or can I to help myself? And help yourself in which way? 28:43 Just to be I have a stronger immune system, make sure I'm feeling good through through the cold season especially. Yeah, I there are a lot of good I'm sure you've seen like mushroom powders. Yeah, Yeah, I actually probably probably do something like that because reishi reishi mushroom is antiviral. 28:58 It's an immune modulator. It's a little bit of a stimulant, but more of a modulator, which helps kind of regulate your immune system as well. But yeah, a lot of those mushroom powders, I would say it would be a good thing to add. OK. Yeah, I drink coffee every morning. I'm thinking about teas, right? And like, could I add some a couple drops into the coffee or something like that? 29:17 Yeah. And it's OK to have your morning coffee, right? Like I'm, I'm not dissing coffee. I love coffee too Yeah, but throughout the day, right. If you. So I make my tea in a French press. I I find it is the most easiest way to do it because then I'm not trying to measure out little individual cups worth of tea throughout the day. 29:34 So I will just do a French press worth and like a 34 oz. So it's just about a quarts worth of liquid when you're set and done, and then you can sip on it throughout the day, either cold or hot, and it's easy. Cool. Yeah, good idea. Do you drink different teas every day or do you stick to the same like daily favorite? 29:52 I usually stick to a certain kind of blend that I like, which is always nettle, alfalfa and horsetail. Those three things are very high in minerals. And then I love Tulsi holy basil because it's it's an immune immunatory herb, but it's also an adaptogen. 30:12 And so it really kind of helps keep you even not stressed out too much. But I also then will do alternatives for the liver like either burdock root, dandelion root or yellow dock. Something I see a lot in like the crunchy mom groups is lavender with boys. 30:28 A lot of people think that it's not good to give to boys and I wanted to know if that was even true because I thought that would be a nice thing to put in their bath. Have you ever heard that? I have not heard that, but in the bath would be perfectly fine. You're not talking about ingesting in any way, so I don't know if there's a concern with estrogenic effects. 30:48 I'm not actually entirely sure, but as a bath I think that's a fantastic idea and it's very cool. OK, good. There's a myth, guys. You hear that? Just kidding. OK, this is a little bit off of the cold season, but I was curious about this is like, do you have like an herbal first aid kit if there's like scrapes? 31:08 We use honey a lot, manuka honey. But I thought, you know what, it might be good to incorporate some herbs if there would be some good ones. Absolutely, Yeah. We do have a little bit of first aid kit. So one of my favorite go TOS is a salve I make. It's called comfrey salve. So miracle comfrey Sabin, it's made with comfrey leaves and plantain infused into a really clean organic olive oil. 31:31 And then I add vitamin E and beeswax and so it becomes this kind of all-purpose kind of. I hate to use the word Neosporin, but it's an all-purpose type of thing, rather for Boo boos, cuts, scrapes, anything because plantain is very soothing and the comfrey is helps with the alatonin in the comfrey to help heal. 31:51 Oh, I love it. So that's one of my favorite things. And then I will also do a liniment to like a disinfecting liniment. Yeah. OK, interesting. What is the liniment? So a liniment is made with either some sort of rubbing alcohol or regular alcohol, and you're infusing a bunch of herbs into that as well, and it's used topically, right? 32:13 Whereas A tincture could be used topically, but internally a liniment is topical only. OK. And so I do see two sometimes. I don't know a lot about it because it like for me it doesn't matter, but some people like to put vegetable glycerin instead of alcohol. Is there anything to say there? 32:30 Is it just preference? For tinctures. Yeah, or anything like salves too, I think. It's a glycerite is usually an alternative to alcohol for tinctures. And so yes, you can absolutely make a remedy a glyceride with glycerin and herbs, right? 32:49 You could just very slowly heat the glycerin up with the herbs in it, kind of like in a crock pot type thing for many hours and just let it infuse that way. And that way you can give that to children and it's a much more sweet medicine compared to a tincture. 33:05 I don't work with glycerin all that much only because I don't find it as potent. It doesn't mean it doesn't work because they're very successful, but it's just not my preference. OK, gotcha. Good to know. Let's talk about the happy Homestead. So if you have a homestead, you grow most of your own herbs that you can here in North Carolina, which I think is really awesome. 33:27 So how did you decide which herbs to grow in your garden? Oh, wow. It just keeps expanding every like it really does. So, yeah, we live in the suburban area, right? But we purchased 10 acres back in 2019. 33:46 And so for the last six years we've been growing a lot of our food there and now a lot of our medicine and the medicine that I use for the community in my practice. And every year I'm just constantly adding what I can because the property has a field with full sun, but it also has woods. 34:03 I have pretty good selection between the types of herbs that we can grow and plants we can grow, whether it depends on, you know, a woodland type setting like nettle or open and field like Mullin. Yeah. So how do you ever go foraging too all the? 34:20 Time. That is awesome. What do you find? What have you found? So Usnia is one of, and that's the, my, my 9 year old daughter. That's one of the herbs that she is now able to totally recognize as we're walking through the woods. Usnia is actually a lichen. It's also known as old man's beard. 34:35 And it kind of looks like a Moss that could be kind of attached to a branch. But you know, it's ostia when you take it and kind of start breaking it. And inside there's like a white elastic type of stem, right? So the greenish will pull apart and inside is an elastic white stem. 34:52 That's Ostia, and ostia is antiviral and it's really good for sore throats. I use a tincture of Osnia for sore throat spray. It's extremely medicinal and it only grows with really clean air. So if you find Osnia growing, you know you have really clean air around you. 35:10 Oh, that's awesome. That's so good to know, especially with all the chemtrails everywhere. Sorry. Yeah, it's true. It's. True. So that means that you're in a very that your land is in a good space. Yeah. So yes, it's the one thing that one of the first things we found, we have more asthena that we could ever need. 35:28 It's it's abundant. And Turkey tail mushrooms, tremendous versicolor, they are everywhere as well and they're very good. They're immunomodulator, but they're also anti cancer and sometimes they're in the mushroom powders as well. Yeah. Nice. OK. What would you say for like just a typical house, like maybe think of ours right in a neighborhood, If we wanted to start growing our own herbs, where would what would you recommend as like the starter herbs? 35:52 Yeah, like good to have, easy enough to grow, low maintenance kind of thing. Absolutely. Great question. And so this is where I would start with a lot of the culinary herbs because they do dual purpose. Yeah, right. And so I'm a huge fan of perennials. We all love the annuals, but perennials require a little less work and they'll come back you every year. 36:10 So your ROI, general investments. Better Mint. Mint to it as well. Just contain it because it will take over. But in the mint family, lemon balm, lemon balm tea, it's a nervine. It's very relaxing. It's a diaphoretic. That's delicious and really helpful. 36:26 Oregano, right? Oregano is really good for cold and flu season. And thyme, Thyme actually really helps with expectorant, getting some of that mucus out too. So I would do oregano, thyme, lemon balm, mint. Is holy basil easy enough to do? 36:42 Holy basil is so easy, but it's not a perennial. But it will it will reseed itself and it is delicious. Holy basil tea is the best. We have a ton of that in the backyard. I know, I know. Has it reseeded? It was the first year that was in the spring when I planted it, OK. 36:58 Did that. I I grew some mint and I just have that sprouting every year. Yeah, I try to control it, but I also let it spread a little bit just to help. I heard it helps control mosquitoes a little bit. Yeah. And it actually has helped. Yeah, I think it's right by our deck. And we had really bad mosquitoes because there's a river back there. 37:15 I haven't really noticed it lately. So it's doing the right thing. Yeah. And plantain, I would do plantain because it's something that if your kids are out in the yard, you can teach them that if something happens, you can actually take a plantain leaf and just slap it on the Boo Boo or on the wound, or chew it up a little bit to macerate it as a poultice and put that on. 37:34 It's really fun for kids to do that because they kind of see how it helps them feel better as well. I definitely want to do that. That sounds cool. That's a great idea. And when you say like, I could be totally wrong here, but when you say plantain, I'm thinking of like bananas, so that grows here. Different variety, a different plant. 37:50 Yeah, same name. Yeah. So plantain, there is kind of a narrow leaf plantain and then there's a broad leaf plantain. And oftentimes it's growing in fields and yards and it's thought of as a weed. Most weeds are very beneficial, like dandelion, chickweed, cleavers. 38:07 Also nutritious and good for us. But yeah, it's much different than the banana plant. Gotcha, that's interesting when there are any herbs that are tricky for you to grow or maybe just don't grow here in this area, Is there somewhere that you go to order them? 38:23 I prefer mountain rose herbs. That is my go to for things that either I can't grow or like licorice root or astrogalus root when I'm growing roots, you want to harvest in the second or third year. And so you need to grow a lot, right, depending on how much you're using. And so for those types of things, I leave that to mountain rose herbs and then I get my stuff from there. 38:42 So it's very reputable. I love mountain Rose too. They're trustworthy. They are, they're great and they do the right thing for the plants as well. Like they only work with farmers that are really actually growing quality plants and taking care of the soil and the environment. Right. 38:57 So do you ever, like I'm sure you have an abundance of herbs when you're growing them. So do you ever freeze dry them and just try to preserve loaders in different ways that you preserve them? So the easiest way for people is dehydrating, drying, right? You don't have to have a dehydrator to do so. 39:13 That helps speed up the process. But if you wanted to dry mint, for example, you can take a screen. Sometimes I tell people to go to like a Habitat for Humanity, right? And just go find a salvage screen. And you want to make sure that you kind of loosely put your herbs on the screen in a very well ventilated cool area. 39:33 So not out where it's going to get rained and not anywhere where there's no airflow and you just want to fluff them around each day. But they will dehydrate. And then you can preserve them in a jar to use. For tea, that's great. Yeah, you need to start doing that with their mint. 39:49 Yes, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, mints great in tea too. How about on the homestead? Do you have any good practice just for maintaining it? Like do you harvest rainwater? Yeah. So what we grow there right now it's all raw land, OK. There is no well yet. 40:05 There is no septic like so. So it's all natural. It is, yeah. I am hauling water, yeah. So I have like the big 5 gallon buckets with the the gamma lids that kind of seal shut and I will drive up there with 30 gallons of water in the back of my car and I will water because that's the only way we can do it. 40:23 So we don't have any structures there to do rain encatchment. I do have, like, really big garbage cans, like, you know, just with their open lid to hopefully catch some rain. Yeah. But we're not everything is like truly raw. And so I would say that if people are just starting out, it can be very hard and demotivating if they don't think they've got all of the systems in place. 40:50 But it's not impossible. It can totally be done. Yeah, I agree. I mean the few herbs that we do have in the backyard, we don't have any systems in place. They just grow natural as they would any other time. Isn't that amazing? Right. Imagine that. We start out with high hopes and then. We don't need the you don't need all the systems and the huge boxes and everything else. 41:09 You can actually just grow things outside. Exactly. Basil's another one that was easy for me to grow out in their back. Yeah, definitely. So you have a variety of herbal products on your website. You make throat sprays, you make teas, tinctures. 41:24 Which product is your favorite to make? Do you have a favorite? Tinctures, yeah, I love especially custom blends, but I love being able to like craft different variations that are very unique and custom for the person. I don't know why, but that brings me so much joy. 41:41 Oh, I get that. It's like so helpful for the person. Yeah. And then when I, when I take the jar off the shelf right of the of the tincture, so like I'll do like an Echinacea, what I call Echinacea Ultra. So it's the aerial parts as well as the root because right, there's some plants that you only want the root that you only want the aerial and there's some that it can be both. 41:57 And so for that I do what's called an Echinacea Ultra. And so when I pull that off of the shelf and I start, you know, measuring out the milliliters that I need in my tincture bottle, there is so much gratitude in my heart for the plant, for what it's given us and what it's going to help do. 42:15 But also just for the fact that I'm able to assist someone in the community to hopefully on their own health journey. It just brings me so much joy. So fulfilling it is. I have a question about a specific because we're talking about mint, like, I don't know, peppermint is a little different, I suppose, right. 42:33 For use on headaches, like just put a little bit of peppermint oil on by your, what is that called? The temple. The temple, right. And it helps with the headache, I guess, because you're breathing it in and kind of calms the brain. Do you agree with that? Yeah. Is that a good practice? Yeah, too before. OK, Yeah, cool. Let's play a little game. 42:49 Generally speaking, what is your first thought of an herb that you would take for the brain? Brain fog. Ginkgo. How about sore throat? Osnia. How about insomnia? 43:07 There's a couple, but skullcap. Oh, skullcap, that's a good one because I would have thought chamomile or lavender. Skullcap or hops or passion flower are the three that come to mind. Oh good. What about for like, just pain, you know, like body pain or body fatigue, that kind of thing? 43:23 Yeah, so a couple of the different things. Meadow Suite is really good. White Willow bark and wild lettuce are the three that I would go with. Yeah, I. Haven't heard of it either. Any of those. So white Willow bark is kind of the Willow tree and the bark actually has the salacin in it. 43:42 If I'm saying that correctly. That's the property that was used to make aspirin back in the day. Oh, wow. OK. And Meadow suite is very similar. And wild lettuce is a obnoxious weed that grows on the side of the road. But again, so helpful. It's the weeds usually are the ones and when you break the leaves it has kind of like a white Milky latex content and that is really good for pain. 44:03 Oh, interesting. Actually, we have some. I was just thinking that I think I know what it looks like just by the way you you explained it there. Yeah, I think we have some. And how about for gut health? Like GI issues? Yeah, or how about let's say 'cause this can cause things that gut health, high cortisol, like stress? 44:22 And Irvine. So lemon balm, Tulsi, something that's calming. Yeah. So for children, back to children, what is the first thing that comes to your mind for an ear infection? Garlic. Mullen oil? What about? A cough this be the same for an adult as a child, like for a cough or a sore throat. 44:41 I would probably do a tea with like Ella campaign, licorice root, fennel seed, those types of things, yeah. So you mentioned you have a cell, so if somebody like if a child has a rash or diaper rash, what would you first go to that's? A good one. Yeah, it. Would be some kind of topical, right? 44:58 It would be. And so something really easy, I would do coconut oil, right? So it doesn't always have to be like an herb, right? Just a very natural, simple product. We used coconut oil and we used tallow too. That would be a good choice, yeah, yeah. What about if the child is having trouble sleeping? 45:16 Then I would do chamomile. Yes. And is there one? Meal and catnip, I'm sorry. And catnip, Yes, that would be really safe. That's good. And then can you mix them? Absolutely. But what about a child that's having temper tantrums? Emotional regulation. And irvines. 45:32 So lemon balm, Tulsi, those types of things, yeah. Cool. OK, so fun questions. What does your morning routine look like as an herbalist? Yeah, I work out in the morning, so I get up super early and I, I prefer to get it done first thing. 45:48 So I go to like a 6:00 AM class. But I feel like exercise is so important for setting the tone of the day because it helps to regulate your nervous system, right? Just kind of makes you feel better and gets the blood moving. And it should never be underestimated at any age. 46:05 And then after that, come home, you know, get ready for the day. And I always get my tea going because I want to make sure I have that going for the day. Throughout the day. I do take tinctures, usually lemon balm or tulsi just through the stress of the day. 46:22 I can find that they calm me down a little bit sometimes. Mother wart is also a good calming cardiovascular one too and nourishing your body. Clean water, clean food, meditation, go for a walk, those types of things. 46:38 I love it. That's what we try and do too. Yeah, people always thinking, well, I shouldn't say I always think, but there could be a misnomer, right, That as an herbalist that I'm doing and taking all of these different concoctions all day long. And it's not. It's just about healthy living and just doing the right thing every day. 46:56 Right. That makes sense. I mean, just because you know how to make all, all of these types of things, it doesn't mean that you're just pounding them down all day. No, no. And that would be overwhelming to the body. Yeah, right. We can't just keep putting 10 or 20 different herbs in my body every time, right? And they could counteract each other. 47:12 So you have to be very methodical with what you do. I used to do that too. I used to drink like and I still do, but not as much. I used to drink like 5 or 6 cups of different teas a day because I thought, oh, it's all this, all these different herbs are giving my body different benefits. 47:28 And then I thought, I don't know, it could be like a little bit too much 'cause some I kind of try to bring myself back to earth and I'm like, sometimes you just need simple things like, And I also drink matcha, which, by the way, what do you think about matcha? I think it's great. It is caffeine, right? So I would just be careful, right, with anyone who has caffeine aversion or issues. 47:45 But it's delicious. I love matcha. I, I very rare that I go a day without it. Yeah, but I just stick to that and green tea. And then it's like, I'll take dandelion tea every day. So you're stranded on a desert island and you can only bring one herb with you? 48:02 Only one. What is it? Nettle because it's safe enough to take every day. It is very nourishing and balancing to the body and it loaded with minerals, yeah. 48:19 Good answer. What is 1 herbal remedy that you love love love but your family and friends think you're crazy? If there is one, it's OK if there's not. Yeah, let me think about that. They think I'm crazy in general. It shows how far we've been programmed in the wrong direction, right? 48:35 Yeah, my family thinks I'm crazy too. Not dig. Into societal norms, it's. The same. Probably. I mean, this isn't even crazy, but probably the garlic honey because I will literally just take a clove of the garlic and just chew it. Yeah. And my kids will be like, you know, all of the faces and how could you do that? 48:55 But no, that's probably the craziest thing I could get at this point. They all are so used to me taking tinctures and teas. Yeah. It's a very second nature to them to see that. Yeah. But the garlic honey is probably something that they have more recognition around what that taste could be like. 49:14 That makes total sense, because that does seem weird. Yeah. Especially if it's new to someone like. Why would you do that? Well, that I forget though, is it? It's like the little clove that you have that's kind of crystallized with the honey and everything, so. It's like a whole clove. A whole clove? 49:29 Yeah, but it is. It's candied. Almost. Yeah. Because it's been sitting in the honey for so long. It's so good. Do you make like jars of that? Like a? Yes, a jar of what do you call it? A honey. Honey garlic cloves. Yeah, yeah. We got some. Yeah, we do. Yeah, cool. All right. I will definitely try it. 49:45 Oh, and that actually I do have a question about that too because I see this a lot. A lot of people get scared. I don't know if I'm pronouncing this right, but Botulism do you? What are your thoughts on that? Any tips to avoid it or just calm people's nerves? When it comes to honey, I would say it's very, you just need to make sure you're getting honey from your reputable source, right? 50:06 But honey is one of those foods that it doesn't. It's it's literally I think the only food that never goes bad. Yep. Right. So it's not a concern for me. I'd be more worried about that with other things. OK, have you ever tried an alternative remedy that totally surprised you? 50:22 Like good or bad, it could be in the beginning of your herbalism journey or even like recent. I would say in the beginning it was probably just about everything, right that I couldn't believe like, wow, that actually worked. One of the things that is my favorite now is I make a like a herbal powder for cuts. 50:44 And so it has Yarrow, it has garlic, it has myrrh, like all of these things that really help stop the bleeding. And so when my children or myself get a cut, so literally a couple of months ago, I was in the kitchen making dinner and I, I did, I cut my finger. I was like, oh, this is a perfect. 51:01 Yeah. So I stuck my finger in the powder and it literally stopped the bleeding. And so while I had expected that because that's what I designed it for, being able to truly try it out on myself or on my daughter when she had a bad knee injury, I was like, oh. 51:19 My gosh, this is so worked. Yeah. I'm really interested in that too, especially the little kids because they run around scraping their knees and getting cuts all the time. Yeah, and do the same outside myself. It helps because let's face it, when kids get hurt, it's not only a physical pain, but it's just, it can be scary, right? 51:37 So a lot of it is emotional. And so being able to do something a little bit different to help distract them, like, hey, let's put this powder on. And they kind of find it fascinating. It helps even just distract and calm the situation a little bit too. Yeah. 51:53 That's a great point and it shows them too that it works for them and kind of gets that in their head as a young child too, which is really good. I always thought it was so interesting. I had gotten AI had to have like a mole. It was a precancerous mole removed probably like 3 years ago. 52:12 And I was it just like a normal dermatologist. I wish there was a holistic dermatologist in the area, but there's not that I know of. This is a normal dermatologist and they, you know, wanted me to put on whatever the creams are, you know, and I didn't want to And so I just was like, I'm just going to do my own thing. 52:27 Oh, oh, it ended up getting infected. So I was like, I'm going to do my own thing. And I put on honey just like regular honey. And then I, I can't remember if it was regular Manuka honey. And it healed up so fast. And I even went in there and told them that. 52:43 And the girl was shocked. She was like, I just learned something today. Like I have my opinions about that. You just learned this, but we won't go there. But yeah, like, it's amazing how these remedies do work. And that's what worked for centuries, right, long before modern medicine. 53:02 And I think, I think modern medicine is a gift. I mean, we live in a time where people's lives are truly enriched and lengthened. And so many wonderful things can happen with modern medicine. But I also believe that there's complacency and there's a lot that we can do for ourselves to help alleviate the burden on the modern medicine system, right? 53:23 Because it is burdened. And so the more that we can take and save for when we really need that, the better. I, I love that perspective. I'm very thankful for you because you are making these products that are so amazing. Thank you. And if you guys are in the Raleigh area, please check out the Happy Homestead and where can everybody find you? 53:43 So on Instagram we are the Happy Homestead, NC and then I'm actually on YouTube as well as the Happy Homestead and then our website is the Happy homestead.net. Amazing. And you know what, I just thought of it doesn't somebody doesn't have to be local to order on your website. 53:59 Yeah. So it doesn't even matter if you're in the Raleigh area, guys. I shipped nationwide. Yeah, I ship all over. Awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show. We loved having you. Thanks for. Having me, Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing all the information. Thanks so much for listening. 54:15 If you'd like to follow along with us, you can find us on Instagram at Crunchypod and at Unapologetically Crunchy. We have the same handles on Tiktok too. And check out our websites at crunchypod.com and unapologeticallycrunchy.com. And if you have some tips and tricks you'd like to share with us, feel free to DM us or contact us on the website. 54:35 And one more thing, if you love our podcast, please consider sharing with every single person you know who would love it and leave us a review. Oh, and you can tell them to read a review too. We are so beyond grateful for your support. Thank you so much. Peace, love and crunch.
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Amanda is a dedicated herbalist with over a decade of study and hands-on experience in the world of plant medicine. Her journey into herbalism began with a deep-rooted love for plants and gardening, while also wanting to opt out of conventional treatment of symptoms rather than addressing the source. This became even more important after her first child was born.
After more than 10 years of intensive learning, training, and personal exploration, Amanda launched her clinical practice, where she works one-on-one with clients to support their health and wellness goals through personalized herbal care.
Amanda is an Associate Member of the American Herbalists Guild, and is currently working towards Registered Herbalist status, which is considered the highest standard in clinical herbalism in the United States. She is also a member of the United Plant Savers Organization, which focuses on the research, education and conservation of native medicinal plants, fungi and their habitats.
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