Maintain your Health with Evergreens

Here in Auburn, Maine, it is snowing on frozen ground and the next week will feature frigid temperatures.  Winter is here and the evergreens will reign supreme for the next 5 months. 

I am blessed with several Fir trees; a Balsam Fir among them, and a Spruce tree in my back yard. I have cut them for decorative boughs every year I've worked this property as an urban farm but this is the first year I've made herbal tea from them. I'm extremely cautious as I explore nontoxic, sustainable ways to maintain our homes and ourselves and do not share information in my blog or my class unless I've verified information and ideas from two trusted sources. I first learned about the healthful benefits of evergreens from a trusted local herbalist, Jane Kuntz and then read about healing with evergreens in an article written by herbalist Barbara MacPherson in the Winter 2013 edition of Herb Quarterly; so last night I made a tea of Balsam Fir. 

One word of caution, pregnant women and those with kidney disease should not drink evergreen teas nor eat the needles at all and moderation is suggested in general for using evergreen preparations as they can irritate the kidneys in high concentrations. Using evergreen teas to wash your floors or in potpourri is not dangerous in any way.   

I added 2 tablespoons of fresh Balsam Fir needles and a couple twigs to 4 cups of boiling water in a metal bowl.  I leaned my face over the bowl with a towel over my head and inhaled the fragrant steam.  My sinuses were soothed and the moist warmth felt great on my face. (I'll be doing this often during the dry winter months.) After about 10 minutes, I dipped my teacup into the tea and drank it. It was awesome. Then, I put one drop of dish soap in the remaining tea, mixed it in well and used it to wash my kitchen and bathroom floors. 

 Balsam Fir makes a particularly healthful tea and is a traditional favorite among herbalists, having antibacterial (meaning kills bacteria on nonliving surfaces) and antiseptic (meaning stops sepsis or infection on living tissue) properties and is helpful in curing urinary tract infections and respiratory problems, not to mention the wonderful scent. 

All evergreen trees share similar healthful chemistry; the needles, sap and inner bark are high in Vitamin C, work well when combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the sap is a handy antiseptic, useful indeed when out in the woods and you cut or bruise yourself. The trees themselves gently dose the forest with antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral oils called phytoncides. They are released into the air, having a calming effect on our breathing and reducing our stress. What a beautiful gift.  

These recipes are from the Herb Quarterly article I mentioned above.

Evergreen Needle Tea
(infusion)
1 tsp evergreen needles
2 cups water
Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes

Evergreen Bark Decoction
(a bit stronger than the infusion)
1/2 cup chopped bark
1 pint water
Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, then cool for several hours. Strain and drink.

Evergreen Needle and Bark Decoction
1/2 cup chopped bark
1/2 cup fresh needles
1 quart water
Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain, cool and drink.

 Evergreen Salve
1 cup dried chopped bark
1 cup dried needles
1 quart olive oil
chop the bark when it's fresh. Dry the bark and the needles. Place in a jar with the olive oil and let sit for about two weeks in a sunny place. When ready, strain through cheesecloth and discard the solids. Add an ounce of beeswax for every 5 ounces of oil. Heat the oil and wax together in the top of a double boiler until well mixed. Pour into jars and seal. (To make an even more effective salve, add a tablespoon of the sap when you heat the oil and wax together.)

If you don't have evergreens in your yard and are cautious about using evergreens from the neighborhood or local woods to make a drinking tea because your aren't sure if they have been sprayed with pesticides etc, or you're just not sure you want to drink evergreen tea, do try it as a nontoxic antibacterial cleaning solution. It will certainly not do your floors any harm and those phytoncides can only help make the long cold winter easier to bear.  Be well, my darlings and enjoy the winter holidays!