This is our fourth wintertime CSA. Below you will find a list of all the products that were available in the 2018-19 winter CSA. First a little info about caring for yourself in the cold months.
Winter time is cozy time. Time to eat warm soup and curl up with hot tea by the wood stove. It’s also hectic holiday time and dreary grey slushy time with cold that clings to your bones long after you’ve come inside. In Chinese medicine, winter is the time of the kidneys, bladder and bones, a time for introspection, for storing up physical energy (sometimes in the form of extra body weight), and for receptivity. Nourishing ourselves during this time includes eating whole grains, baked squash and roots, roasted nuts, steamed winter greens. It also includes staying active to keep our joints and spines loose, allowing our energy to remain fluid.
The foods that help us stay vibrant and balanced in the winter are those with salty and bitter favors. Many foods have their own natural salty flavor without the need to add excess salt. These include miso, tamari, seaweeds, millet, and barley. In Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford says that small, regular amounts of bitter foods, especially in the winter “nurture deep inner experiences and preserve joy in the heart.” These foods include lettuce, watercress, endive, escarole, turnip, celery, asparagus, alfalfa, carrot top, rye, oats, quinoa, and amaranth. The strongest bitter flavors are in the herbal realm are: chicory root, burdock root, horsetail, Oregon grape, and chaparral. Some more mild bitters are: chamomile, dandelion, coriander, peppermint, catnip. Many times, adding some of these foods to your diet can help keep your body feeling warm. When a person is still often feeling cold, adding some warming foods and spices to your diet will be a helpful addition.
I hope that the medicine in this wintertime B. Tree Apothecary CSA share will be a nourishing, warming and delightful addition to your self-care practice this wintertime. Please always let me know if you have questions or comments about the products, your experience, or anything else!
So here’s to cozy nights, peaceful days and healthy bodies, minds and spirits!
And here are the products:
B. Dreamy Tea Blend
This is my daughter’s favorite tea. It has warming spices in it, making it a perfect blend for the cold weather. The rooibos adds a full richness to the flavor and a big antioxidant boost. Then I added sleepy time herbs to make it a relaxing end of the day way to unwind. It is very soothing to the nerves, calming to the belly and yummy to the taste buds! Plus I put in mugwort to enhance dreams and aid in remembering them. So sweet dreams, friends!
Suggested Use: Steep 1 Tbsp per cup of hot water for at least 20 minutes. Adjust amount of tea and time to taste. Spice increases with time!
Ingredients:
cinnamon, ginger, rooibos, skullcap, catnip, chamomile, mugwort, rose. 16oz
Fire Cider
This is a blend of spicy and pungent foods and herbs that are powerful anti-microbials, decongestants, circulatory stimulants and immune supporters. These ingredients are infused into raw apple cider vinegar, creating a delicious, warming liquid to sip on cold mornings with honey and hot water, or sprinkle on salads, stir-fries or stews.
Suggested Use:
Start with 1 teaspoon per day either straight or mixed into water, juice or tea. Then gradually increase the amount you take each day until you are using 1-2 Tbsp. My favorite way is as soon as I wake up to put 1 Tbsp into a cup of warm water with honey. We call it morning tea, and it is a great way to wake up your belly and break your nightly fast. You can also try sprinkling this on stir-fry, stews, salads, beans and grains.
Ingredients:
onions, garlic, horseradish, ginger, cayenne, turmeric, parsley, lemon juice and peel in raw organic apple cider vinegar. All fresh, all RI grown (except the lemon).
Golden Paste
Turmeric is called “the golden goddess” in India, where it is a common cooking herb and also revered as a powerful healing medicine. Its list medicinal properties is extensive, ranging from anti-inflammatory to anti-tumor and anti-carcinagenic. Used regularly, it can help with any inflammatory disease such as arthritis, auto-immune diseases and cancer. What a powerful herbal ally! The main constituent, curcumin, is activated with heat or with hot spices and is more easily absorbed with fat. For this reason, golden paste is made with black pepper and coconut oil to ensure optimal bio-availability.
Suggested Use:
Use up to 2 tsp as often as you want it. I put a spoonful in hot water with two drops of stevia and a splash of milk. It’s divine. It’s also good in smoothies, tea, warm milk or even soup. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger organic powders, water, organic coconut oil, freshly ground black pepper
Immune System Tonic
Echinacea is a strong and effective immune system support herb, that is still for children and elderly, having no known side-effects. It is fascinating how this plant works; it is actually increasing the T-cell (white blood cell) activity in the body, thereby boosting the body’s first line of defense against colds, flus and other illnesses. It is used preventatively and curatively with wonderful success.
I added astragalus and tulsi to this blend because they boost the immune system in different ways than echinacea. They are both immunomodulators, meaning they nourish and strengthen over-all immune system function and also have specific properties that support different body systems.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine astragalus is a Spleen Qi tonic, bringing energy, stamina, improved digestion. It is also a Lung Qi tonic, strengthening the gateway to the body (our lungs), thus protecting us from invading viruses and bacteria. Plus, it stimulates the production of various components of the immune system.
Tulsi (aka Holy Basil) is an incredible ally during times of stress, helping our body adapt, stay healthy and balanced. Tulsi is also an anti-bacterial, anti-viral immune supportive herb that has range of actions, supporting the lungs and regulating cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Suggested Use: 15 drops every 2-3 hours or 1-3 dropperfuls 3 times per day. (A dropperful is equivalent to ¼ tsp or 35 drops) Use at the first signs of illness. Best to use in rotation: 5 days on, then 2 days off until sickness has passed. Then take a break until you need extra immune support again.
Ingredients:
echinacea leaf, flower, roots and seeds, astragalus root, tulsi leaf, stem and flowers in grain alcohol and water
Super Vitamin C Bites
These tiny little nibblets are packed with Vitamin C, as well as other vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The raw honey is antibacterial and antiviral, containing vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants that are destroyed in the pasteurization process, but retained when honey is raw. It is also anti-inflammatory and an expectorant, soothing bronchial passageways and respiratory distress.
Suggested Use: Eat 2-4 per day. Be sure to drink lots of water, especially when eating dehydrated foods to help your body re-hydrate.
Ingredients:
rosehip, pomegranate, goji berry organic powders, raw honey, cinnamon, coconut flour.
Salt Scrub
The exfoliating action of this scrub helps your largest organ of elimination (your skin) to get rid of your body’s toxins more easily, as well as removing dead skin and dirt. The oils help to moisturize your skin, leaving you silky soft and smooth.
Suggested Use: Take a scoop with your hands in the shower or bath, scrubbing it all over your body after you wash. Then just rinse it off. It’s better to use after soap so you don’t wash away all the healing oils. It leaves your body silky smooth with no oily residue (this sounds just like a commercial for a skin care product 🙂
Ingredients:
almond oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, sea salt, pink Himalayan salt, Vitamin E, essential oils
Sore Muscle Soak
The borax and clay in this remedy might sound weird, but they are actually full of minerals that soak back into your skin as you bathe. Plus, the clay has drawing properties that help to pull toxins from the body. The minerals from the epsom salt and sea salt soak in as well, and the essential oil blend is made with anti-inflammatory, pain relieving oils.
Suggested Use: Put 4-6 Tbsp in hot bathwater and let it fully dissolve. Soak in the calm.
Ingredients:
epsom salt, borax, sea salt, kaolin clay, essential oil blend
Breath Deep Chest Rub
First, I visited some very special spruce trees on very special land. The place where hundreds of sweet children have played for the past 30 years, bringing so much joy, laughter and love. It’s the land of Anne Monaghan’s Nursery Garden, lovingly tended by Anne and Russell and all the families who have been blessed to visit there.
So I took these spruce needles, plus some eucalyptus from my birthday bouquet (the best bouquet ever!), plus some chamomile from my garden that was meticulously gathered and dried by my garden goddess helpers. I infused these special herbs in olive and coconut oil. Then I added local, RI beeswax to harden it. The essential oil blend is formulated to support your body through your sense of smell, as well as soaking straight into your skin. When you breathe a strong smell it goes straight into your limbic system and then into your bloodstream. It’s a great way to get herbs into your body! This blend opens airways for deeper, easier breathing.
Suggested Use:
Rub on your chest, neck and the soles of your feet as often as you like.
Ingredients:
spruce needles, eucalyptus leaves, chamomile flowers infused in organic olive oil, RI beeswax, essential oil blend
Shea Butter Calendula Soap
This is an awesome, creamy soap full of skin nourishment. I infused the fresh calendula flowers in olive oil last summer and am so glad for a chance to use more of it! This bright and sunny flower is an amazing herb for the skin, Used topically it is soothing to itchy rashes including eczema, wounds and burns, including sunburn, pimples, herpes sores, and fever blisters. It is also anti-fungal and helps relieve athlete’s foot, jock itch, yeast and other fungal infections. All this added to the creamy nourishment fair trade shea butter and cocoa butter makes a yummy skin experience.
Ingredients:
shea butter, cocoa butter, calendula infused olive oil, castor oil, coconut oil, lye (saponifying agent), water, powdered oats, essential oils
Lip Balms
As part of our workshops in December, we made three delightful lip balm flavors. And for this option, you get to choose two! We made my classic lip balm that I’ve made in the past: calendula infused olive oil with and a hint of citrus. We made a peppermint cocoa with a hint of honey. And then we have a red tinted lip balm made with beet powder and a little peppermint
Ingredients:
All in a base of shea butter, coconut oil and RI beeswax. Calendula: Calendula infused olive oil, orange essential oil. Hot Cocoa: organic cocoa powder, raw honey, peppermint essential oil. Red Tinted: organic beet powder, peppermint essential oil.
B. Tree Apothecary 