Teeter Creek Herbs

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) is a late-summer bloomer. It grows on ground that is marshy-wet at least part of the year. Another of the flower havens for butterflies. One of its identifying features are the double-lanced leaves that are "perforated" by the stem. Once found drying in the rafters in most every cabin of the Ozark pioneers; another gift from the Native people's. It had quite a reputation as an aid in the epidemic fevers that were so prevalent then. ...The origin of the name is in some dispute; some maintaining that it refers to the Natives use as a poultice for bones; others that it refers to what was called "break bone fever"; fever accompanied by muscle ache that hurts to the bone! It's considered one of the prime "sweating out" herbs. Other indications based on folk uses were developed by the Eclectic and other botanic doctors of the 19th century that emphasized its good effects during a fever and after for cough, and where the lungs and chest are sore. It also tones up the digestion and aids overall recovery. An herb with a lot of potential, especially these days.... "I sympathize with weeds perhaps more than with the crop they choke; they express so much vigor. They are the truer crop which the earth more willingly bears." Henry David Thoreau, Journals (who else in the 1850's was praising weeds!)

A little something different. A couple of poems, a bit of nostalgia, a bit of Zen, and a good recipe from Ted Kooser, poet laureate from Nebraska: HOW TO MAKE RHUBARB WINE Go to the patch some afternoon... in early summer, fuzzy with beer and sunlight, and pick a sack of rhubarb (red or green will do) and God knows watch out for rattlesnakes or better, listen, they make a sound like an old lawn mower rolled downhill. Wear a hat. A straw hats best for the heat, but let's the gnats in. Bunch up the stalks and chop the leaves off With a buck knife and be careful. You need ten pounds, a grocery bag packed full will do it. Then go home and sit barefoot in the shade behind the house with a can of beer. Spread out the rhubarb in the grass And wash it with cold water from the garden hose, washing your feet as well. Then take a nap. That evening, dice the rhubarb up And put it in a crock. Then pour eight quarts of boiling water in, cover it with a checkered cloth to keep the fruit flies out and let it stand for five days or so. Take time each day to think of it. Ferment ten days, under the cloth, sniffing of it from time to time, then siphon it off, swallowing some, and bottle it. Sit back and watch the liquid clear to honey yellow, bottled and ready for the years, and smile. You've done it awfully well. DISHWATER Slap of the screen door, flat knock of my grandmother's boxy black shoes on the wooden stoop, the hush and sweep of her knob-kneed, cotton-aproned stride out to the edge and then, toed in with a furious twist and heave, a bridge that leaps from her hot red hands and hangs there shining for fifty years over the mystified chickens, over the swaying nettles, the ragweed, the clay slope down to the creek, over the redwing blackbirds in the tops of the willows, a glorious rainbow with an empty dishpan swinging at one end.

Another of the beautiful wildflowers that the butterflies are flocking to now is the prolific Horsemint, also known as Bee Balm and Wild Bergamot (Monarda spp.), found in old fields, gladey areas and along roadsides. The leaves and flowers make a pungent, minty tea that people always valued as a stimulating beverage, for which it is infused (not boiled). Ozarkers and Native Americans both valued it highly. Species are found from the eastern US, to the Plains and Southwe...st. It was valued for its stimulating properties from everything to "sweating out" colds and fevers to fainting spells, a bath for weak children, and by Plains tribes for making horses lively. I have seen the leaves chewed at Sun Dances and Pow Wows to strengthen the singers and dancers. For coughs, lung congestion and swollen glands. The tea used on the sweat lodge rocks for incense and for physical healing. Poultices of the flowers and leaves were applied for headache (on the head or leaves in the nose), for nosebleed and other bleeding. Poultice for blisters and skin blemishes. Many peoples liked to hang it around their homes and tipis for the fragrance and the long-lasting flowers. Widely popular as a perfume applied to clothes and wove into mats and placed in pillows. Perfumes were often added to the oil of the castor glands of animals for a long-lasting perfume for the body, hair and clothes. Take a little home and dry it for a great strengthening winter tea. The flowers will brighten up a winter day. See more

Pleurisy Root, also known as Butterfly Weed has been blooming for a few weeks now. There is nothing quite like the orange of the flowers. It is in the Milkweed family, and like Milkweed, is a favorite of many varieties of butterflies. Easily grown from any part of the root. Missouri Wildflower Nursery in Jeff. City has starts for the Butterfly Weed and many other native flowers and plants. The root was highly valued by the Native tribes and by the pioneers for acut...e and irritative lung conditions. Resolves fever and was used especially for fever, pain, fluid in the lungs and cough, as in the pleurisy it was named for. Also for lingering irritating coughs. Also for eruptive fevers like measles. Among other Native uses, the Omaha dug the root with much ceremony, and it had important ritual uses. No doubt their cousins, the Osage did as well. Also mentioned is the fact that it was eaten raw for its medicine uses. I can testify that sometimes eating the raw root can put you right in touch with the energy of the plant in a big way. Long ago my first real encounter with Echinacea was digging the raw root and chewing it, instantly resolving a case of sore throat I had been carrying around for days. See more

. Black Cohosh is blooming now with its plume of white flowers like a sparkler. Found in the rich or rocky woods and at the base of bluffs. Like it's cousin, Blue Cohosh, there is the pattern of leaflets of three from a three-pronged stem. It is one the roots handed to the forebears of Ozark granny women by the midwives of such eastern tribes as the Cherokee. Best known as a female hormonal balancer, promoting estrogen. Used for hot flashes, hard to start per...iods, cramps with backache and/or leg cramps. Hormonal depression,gloom, weepiness. And indeed used as a labor promoter. The Eclectic doctors, in their provings, brought out its anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic effects esp. involving muscles, as in fibromyalgia, rheumatism, tendonitis, neck pain, muscle spasm,spasmodic cough. "Not till June can the grass be said to be waving in the fields. When the frogs dream and the grass waves, and the buttercups toss their heads, and the heat disposes one to bathe in the ponds and streams, then is summer begun." Henry David Thoreau. Journals "Common Medicinal Herbs of the Ozarks": By Bob Liebert. A valuable, information-packed booklet on the herbs of the Ozarks and surrounding regions: their uses by modern herbalists, as well as traditional uses by Native Peoples and the pioneers of the Ozarks. Info on gathering and storing of herbs. Nice pen and ink illustrations by Kevin Mc Williams, and detailed sketches of many of the plants. To order: www.teetercreekherbs.com