Elderberry Syrup Virtual Workshop with Linda Black Elk
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EmailJanuary 6, 2022
Elderberry Syrup Virtual Workshop with Linda Black Elk
Learn about making elderberry syrup. Linda Black Elk highlights the wellness supporting plants and fungi relatives as well as honey that make up this flexible Brought to you by Bay Mills Community College, Bay Mills Health Center and Michigan State University Extension.
Video Transcript
00:14
all right
00:19
hello all my relatives um we'd like to
00:22
say meek west thank you to everyone for
00:25
joining us today for this fabulous event
00:28
that's been organized by the bay mills
00:30
community college
00:31
bay mills health center and msu
00:33
extension
00:35
um i'd like to introduce myself
00:38
carol parent healey and dj nakaze
00:40
bead way with them clay and the go
00:47
my name is carol perrin healey um
00:50
my spirit name is she who comes speaking
00:53
i am crane clan and i am from bay mills
00:56
indian community
00:58
i am currently acting at the land grant
01:00
program kuwait coordinator excuse me
01:02
here at bay mills community college so
01:05
for those of you who are receiving the
01:07
elderberry kits
01:09
we just want to say thank you for your
01:11
patience as we wait for those supplies
01:13
to arrive
01:15
they will be mailed out tomorrow so we
01:17
hope that everybody enjoys those and
01:20
gets a chance to utilize those
01:22
i also want to give everybody a heads up
01:24
that we are recording this virtual
01:26
workshop so we will be emailing that out
01:29
to everyone who signed up
01:31
and we will be posting that on our bay
01:34
mills community college land grant
01:36
department youtube page so that will be
01:39
available for you to access
01:42
so
01:43
um without further ado it is now my
01:45
pleasure to introduce our speaker today
01:48
linda black elk we are so extremely
01:51
excited and honored to have her joining
01:53
us and sharing some of her knowledge
01:55
with us
01:56
linda is an ethnobotanist specializing
01:59
in traditional foods and medicines of
02:01
the great plains she is currently the
02:03
director of food sovereignty at united
02:06
tribes technical college in bismarck
02:08
north dakota and she's also the mother
02:10
to three lakota sons
02:12
through the new usda indigenous food
02:15
sovereignty initiative
02:17
linda will be working to make resources
02:20
on sustainable indigenous food foraging
02:23
practices more available for her region
02:26
so we are so honored to have you with us
02:28
today linda um we're looking forward to
02:30
learning from you and with that i will
02:32
say
02:33
chi mig witch for joining us and hand it
02:35
over to you
02:37
thank you so much carol and everybody
02:40
who's here today i'm like so crazy
02:43
honored to be here with you guys uh so
02:46
mcwitch and wolpida to everyone who
02:50
logged on um
02:52
i
02:53
as as carol said this is being recorded
02:56
so um if you get your kit later and you
02:59
need to refer back
03:01
um you know get the recording and refer
03:03
back you you can do that but
03:06
you can also like another little trick
03:08
that i've learned is that you can take
03:09
pictures of the screen when you need to
03:12
um like with your phone if you want to
03:14
because i will be putting uh some
03:16
measurements and directions and things
03:17
like that up um so feel free to to you
03:21
know do what ever you need to um
03:24
in order to to understand uh what i'm
03:27
saying the other thing i wanted to say
03:29
is that i'll try to monitor the chat as
03:30
much as possible um but if you have any
03:33
questions feel free to put it in the
03:35
chat and then carol or or kat um or
03:39
charlie maybe when when i say are there
03:41
any questions at this point you guys can
03:43
feel free if i can't see the chat uh
03:46
feel free to
03:47
to let me know what questions there are
03:50
so i am linda black elk i'm the food
03:52
sovereignty coordinator at united tribes
03:54
technical college which is of course the
03:56
tribal college um on the
03:58
uh in bismarck north dakota on the
04:01
traditional homelands of the mandan
04:04
hidatsa and arikara peoples and also the
04:08
ocheti sakowi
04:09
the lakota dakota nakota peoples i'm
04:12
super honored to live here among these
04:15
guys and um have a lakota husband and
04:18
lakota kids they're amazing and um but
04:22
super happy to see a lot of my
04:24
anishinabe
04:26
family on here as well um and you know
04:29
love you guys too
04:31
um
04:32
i uh i actually want to share my screen
04:35
with you guys and show you some some
04:37
things but
04:38
uh i don't think any of you are cooking
04:40
along with me but just in case i wanted
04:43
to let you know that i even have like a
04:47
kettle of water going here you know i
04:49
used to say a pot of water but um after
04:51
i lived out with my friends in mille
04:53
lacs they always say kettle do you guys
04:56
say it's it's like a regional difference
04:58
i think um so i don't know if you guys
05:00
say kettle or pot but i have a pot here
05:03
and i have four cups of water in here
05:07
and um i'm just gonna get this started
05:09
because it takes time and i want to let
05:11
that elderberry uh the elderberries cook
05:14
down so i'm just going to share my
05:16
screen with you guys and kind of get
05:18
started so hopefully you'll be able to
05:20
see me
05:21
and you'll be able to see
05:23
the screen as well
05:25
and we'll just start that slideshow
05:27
sometimes
05:29
it takes a while for
05:30
for it to get started
05:32
but
05:34
okay from beginning
05:36
ah
05:37
okay it's gonna happen
05:40
i know you guys can can you see the
05:42
powerpoint yet or is it still just a
05:43
blank screen
05:45
so um okay
05:47
i can i can only see like a blank screen
05:49
because it takes a minute to load for me
05:52
but um let's see here
05:55
i'll let you all
05:56
do the admitting
05:58
but um okay well i'm waiting for that to
06:01
load up because it does take a second um
06:04
i wanted to say that
06:06
elderberry elixir is um here we go
06:11
one of my most favorite preparations
06:13
i've been using elderberry elixir for
06:16
over a decade now
06:18
um really using it uh and making it
06:22
every
06:23
um season
06:25
probably for about the last
06:28
eight years or so
06:29
and if any of you guys came to the node
06:32
apple camps um over on standing over
06:35
here uh this direction
06:37
on standing rock i um
06:39
i was making a lot of elderberry elixir
06:41
then we were using tons of it along with
06:43
fire cider
06:45
i wanted to say that elderberries are
06:47
indigenous they are a native plant
06:50
specifically this species sambucus
06:52
canedensis in dakota if any of you
06:56
are dakota or lakota you would call it
06:59
chaputa who
07:00
which um i've been told by elders refers
07:03
to like uh
07:05
the nose of like an animal like the nose
07:08
of a rabbit um and
07:10
the only ojibwe name that i've ever been
07:13
able to find you know i've talked to a
07:15
lot of you folks might know like ralph p
07:17
wash and other people who know plants
07:19
over there and um i've asked for ojibwe
07:22
names and the only one i could find is
07:26
um or be big
07:33
i've been working on that a lot
07:35
so um
07:37
uh you know but i'd love to hear if you
07:39
guys know of other names or if you are
07:42
from a different nation and you know
07:45
your folks name for um
07:48
for elderberry i would love to hear it i
07:51
think it's fantastic you know all the
07:53
different beautiful indigenous language
07:55
names for plants and what they mean are
07:58
so amazing so feel free to add that in
08:00
but it's an indigenous plant and it
08:02
loves to grow i find it a lot over in um
08:07
uh
08:08
minnesota in like roadside ditches and
08:11
places like that
08:12
uh and it's you know really
08:15
um
08:17
really wonderful
08:18
uh to to see it growing over there it
08:20
loves to grow in um
08:22
moist sort of areas
08:25
uh you'll see it in roadside ditches i'm
08:27
not a huge fan of gathering plants and
08:29
roadside ditches uh just because there's
08:31
so much runoff from vehicles
08:34
so i try to look for these more they uh
08:36
elderberry also loves to grow sort of on
08:39
the sides of trails right so like if you
08:41
see a hiking trail you'll often see some
08:43
elderberries growing there and of course
08:45
if you have received your elderberries
08:47
yet um i don't know if you guys can see
08:49
me but elderberries are super tiny right
08:52
so there's one do you see that that i'm
08:55
holding up they're really really tiny
08:58
they're really delicious
09:00
when they're dried like this they kind
09:01
of taste like a cross between
09:04
like a blackberry a dried blackberry and
09:07
a raisin you know really good
09:10
um and and you can eat them dried you
09:12
can just put them into trail mix and
09:13
things like that and they uh you know
09:16
put them into
09:17
um
09:18
like if you make cookies for kids throw
09:20
some elderberries in there and they turn
09:23
things purple which is a lot of fun um
09:25
put them on top of yogurt or something
09:27
like that but you know even just in this
09:29
state you know dried elderberries are
09:31
very very immune boosting so great to
09:34
have around um the other thing i wanted
09:37
to say is if you see in that bottom
09:38
left-hand photo there
09:40
those are elder flowers
09:43
right so so the tree is actually called
09:46
an elder tree or an elder shrub
09:48
the berries are called elderberries
09:51
and the flowers are called elder flowers
09:53
okay
09:54
so i have a bag of dried elder flower
09:57
here so these are those little white
10:00
flowers and if you have ever seen um or
10:03
if you have elder flowers um
10:06
you know they have the most gorgeous
10:08
floral
10:10
perfumey fragrance to them it's
10:12
beautiful and the flowers are also
10:15
really high in
10:17
immune boosting properties and and
10:19
they're also very antiviral um
10:22
not quite as antiviral as the berries uh
10:25
but if you if it's tough for you to get
10:29
young people to eat the berries it's
10:32
usually pretty simple to get
10:35
young people to to drink elderflower tea
10:38
okay so it's a good alternative and
10:40
sometimes just because the
10:43
properties are slightly different
10:45
i will um sometimes add elderflower to
10:48
my elder berry elixir okay so it's just
10:51
just another option there but um i have
10:54
my kettle of water here with four cups
10:56
of water let me show you guys
10:59
let's see here
11:01
okay so these are just some of the
11:03
directions that i'll go through
11:05
um i have my one cup of elderberries
11:08
right here that i'm putting in four cups
11:12
of water
11:13
okay and i'm going to you know get that
11:15
started
11:16
cooking
11:18
um on my little i have a little hot
11:20
plate here right next to right next to
11:23
me
11:23
so i'm going to get that going um at
11:26
this point you can add all kinds of
11:28
antiviral spices or other herbs okay and
11:33
we'll talk more and more about those
11:35
um but like for example i'm going to add
11:39
and you guys are gonna get in your kit
11:41
you're going to get a cinnamon stick i'm
11:43
going to add that to my kettle
11:45
you all are going to get some of these
11:46
beautiful little do you see these
11:49
star anise or star anise
11:51
okay you can get some of those they're
11:53
gorgeous i'm going to add those
11:56
and um you're i i i think you're gonna
11:59
get some clothes too if i remember
12:02
correctly and i have some clothes here
12:04
um
12:05
and we'll talk about how many you add
12:08
but i'm gonna add some of those i'm also
12:10
gonna i you know do you guys buy fresh
12:13
ginger
12:14
okay this is not what fresh ginger is
12:16
supposed to look like um this has been
12:18
sitting around and it's kind of dried
12:20
and dehydrated on my kitchen counter for
12:22
a few weeks um but these are perfect
12:25
these these old pieces of ginger root
12:29
that you know you don't want to use them
12:31
for stir fry because it's not quite
12:33
fresh anymore but you don't want to
12:35
throw it away either because this
12:36
stuff's kind of expensive
12:38
so a great way to use these
12:40
is to use them in your elderberry elixir
12:42
so i just usually break it up into
12:44
pieces
12:45
um and and put it in there and you know
12:48
i'll talk about measurements and like
12:50
how much ginger you should add or
12:52
whatever uh in a second but you know i
12:55
also have some beautiful fresh turmeric
12:58
well that's that's still beautiful but
13:01
maybe not quite so fresh anymore
13:04
um i i i love using this in firesider if
13:08
you guys are familiar with firesider if
13:10
not uh you guys should definitely do a
13:12
firesider workshop at some point if you
13:14
can but i'm just gonna take that and
13:16
break it into pieces and put it in you
13:18
know why why am i doing this this isn't
13:20
on your recipe i just have these laying
13:22
around and elderberry is totally a
13:25
personal thing
13:27
i have friends who don't even put um
13:30
they don't even just put elderberries in
13:32
there they put chokecherries in as well
13:35
because they love chokecherries right so
13:37
so once you get your recipe down your
13:39
personal preferences you know it might
13:42
be totally different from mine you know
13:44
and so when i make elderberry elixir i
13:46
add in you know all the cool antiviral
13:48
stuff i have sitting around that might
13:50
you know maybe isn't going to last as
13:52
long i put those in um
13:55
as well you know and i had that ginger
13:57
and that turmeric laying around so i
13:59
thought oh i better use those okay
14:02
um so we'll talk about the other
14:04
optional ingredients i also wanted to
14:06
say a word about using non-stick pans
14:09
how many of you guys have heard the
14:10
story about the guy who was cooking with
14:13
his pet parrot on his shoulder
14:15
anybody
14:16
um this is true you can look it up he
14:19
was stir-frying some stuff in a
14:21
non-stick pan a teflon pan on on his
14:25
stove and he happened to have um his pet
14:28
parrot sitting on his shoulder no lie
14:30
sounds crazy like a pirate story
14:44
okay someone muted me for a second so
14:47
um
14:48
okay uh but it's not a pirate story i
14:51
promise um so he was cooking with his
14:53
pet parrot on his shoulder
14:55
and um all of a sudden really sad his
14:57
his
14:58
parrot
14:59
fell off his shoulder and died
15:01
okay
15:02
and what they found it was one of the
15:04
first instances where they really found
15:07
that
15:07
um
15:08
teflon and non-stick coatings when
15:11
they're heated to a certain temperature
15:13
they give off a toxic uh a toxic fume
15:17
a toxic compound into the air
15:20
and it's very bad for human beings
15:22
especially in the long term
15:25
but it's really bad for like pets and
15:27
smaller animals uh so
15:30
i and and a lot of that non stuff in the
15:32
non-stick coating will come out into
15:34
your food if it's heated above a certain
15:36
temperature so i prefer to use stainless
15:40
steel
15:41
enamel glass you know uh any other
15:45
material that that is i don't even use
15:47
aluminum because i don't know how it
15:49
will react with a lot of the herbs that
15:51
i use like aluminum and swamp tea a lot
15:54
of you guys use swamp tea right um uh
15:57
aluminum and swamp tea will react with
16:00
each other so if you're making swamp tea
16:02
try to make it in stainless steel and
16:04
things like that okay
16:05
try uh cast iron you can use cast iron
16:08
and things like that um uh
16:11
and but you know think about uh the
16:12
long-term reactions of those as well
16:15
um so we have our ingredients in here
16:18
i'm gonna add more ingredients as we
16:20
talk about them but i'm basically going
16:22
to bring this to just a really low
16:24
simmer i'm going to reduce the heat down
16:27
uh and i'm just going to let it cook
16:29
while we're visiting with each other
16:31
okay i'm just going to let it kind of um
16:33
you know all of that meld together and
16:35
reduce down okay and you as as i say in
16:38
here you want the liquid to get black
16:40
and shiny and a bit thicker uh and and
16:43
by the time that we're done with this it
16:45
should reduce down we started with four
16:48
cups of water we'll probably end up with
16:51
about two two and a half cups of water
16:54
okay
16:55
of liquid
16:57
okay so next
17:01
um
17:02
we're we'll we'll finish this up but i'm
17:04
gonna smash the berries to release all
17:06
the juices
17:07
um i wanted to say that sometimes you
17:09
can purchase elderberry powder so you
17:12
can purchase the elderberries that are
17:14
already ground up
17:16
and that's really nice too you're you're
17:18
free to do that you can use powdered
17:20
spices as well like powdered cinnamon
17:23
and powdered clove but it does make the
17:26
elderberry elixir very
17:28
strongly flavored
17:31
so i find that when i use things like
17:33
powdered cinnamon and things like that
17:35
it's very difficult to get my children
17:38
young children to take it okay because
17:41
they're like oh my gosh that powdered
17:43
cinnamon flavors and and powdered uh
17:45
star anise flavor which tastes like
17:47
black jelly beans which you know a lot
17:49
of kids aren't crazy about anyway um
17:52
it becomes very strong so that's why i
17:56
prefer to use the whole
17:57
uh whole herbs uh instead okay but later
18:01
on we're gonna uh strain our mixture
18:03
with cheesecloth i'll go back to these
18:05
directions so so don't don't worry um
18:09
and then i'm gonna add my honey
18:11
uh if you if you don't have really good
18:14
raw honey like i i have honey here
18:18
that was literally scraped out of a hive
18:22
and
18:23
um you know filtered through some cloth
18:25
to get all the little b parts and solids
18:28
out
18:28
and that's what this is
18:30
that's all this that you know i mean it
18:32
came right from the hive and i love that
18:34
that's what i prefer so try to look for
18:36
raw unfiltered honey
18:39
um
18:40
but if you can't find that you can use
18:42
whatever if if you want to use uh you
18:45
guys have a lot of access to your
18:47
beautiful maple syrup up there um you
18:50
know my friend jerry jondru he uh uh
18:53
always gets me some some of his syrup
18:55
and i i get it from other
18:57
friends over there
18:59
you know who have their sugar bush and
19:02
it's delicious
19:03
and and maple is medicine as well i
19:06
think a lot of you already know that but
19:08
it makes a wonderful cough medicine all
19:10
by itself um
19:12
we can also talk about the fact that you
19:14
don't have to add any sweetener to this
19:16
if you have someone who's diabetic okay
19:20
you don't have to add any maple syrup
19:21
you don't have to add any honey you can
19:24
just serve this as is okay
19:27
all right
19:28
um
19:29
we'll come back to these okay so i
19:32
wanted to talk just for a minute about
19:34
oh let me ask first are there any
19:37
questions
19:40
can i see the chat let's see
19:42
see if i can get it pulled up here i
19:44
don't see it are there any questions for
19:46
for me carol
19:52
i don't think we're seeing oh go ahead
19:55
carol don't go ahead i'm just peeking
19:57
with you to see
19:59
we got lots of comments so far
20:01
um
20:04
i think folks were asking about getting
20:06
a copy of the powerpoint i know yes
20:08
linda said that she's happy to share
20:09
that with us um and we'll be sending
20:11
that out along with the recording um
20:16
yes i definitely will send the the
20:18
powerpoint out um and so that you can
20:21
all have access to it and it'll have the
20:23
recipes on here it'll have all these
20:25
plants on here which is a lot of fun and
20:27
i tried to put um the
20:29
the
20:30
ojibwe um names on all of these for you
20:33
guys so um like for example we this
20:36
isn't one of the herbs that you're going
20:37
to be receiving in your kit but i wanted
20:39
to talk about it for a second because
20:42
elderberry elixir like okay i just want
20:44
to show you guys i have a bottle of
20:46
elderberry elixir just sitting a foot
20:49
and a half away from me not in and not
20:52
because i wanted to show you guys like
20:53
we use this every single day you know um
20:57
especially during this covid19 pandemic
21:00
and all of these new
21:02
um
21:03
types of covid
21:05
um it's it's been crazy and one thing
21:08
that we have um oh perfect i can see the
21:11
chat now
21:12
um one of the things that we have found
21:15
out is that kovid
21:17
you know if if any of you guys know
21:19
someone with long covid
21:21
you probably have found out that it's
21:23
not that their lungs get filled up with
21:25
gunk right coughs on kovid don't tend to
21:29
be very productive it's not like you're
21:31
able to cough stuff up and spit it out
21:33
right kind of gross but important to
21:36
talk about
21:37
um
21:38
what's happening is our our lungs on
21:41
kovid
21:42
feel like they're full of stuff
21:44
but
21:45
they're actually highly inflamed
21:48
so our breathing passages go from this
21:51
to this
21:52
right
21:53
and um and and it's because covid causes
21:56
damage to the epithelial lining of your
22:00
blood vessels in your lungs so you have
22:02
all these beautiful vessels in your
22:04
lungs and breathing passages and the
22:06
blood vessels become damaged and
22:08
inflamed and then your breathing
22:10
passages become smaller and it's hard to
22:12
breathe
22:13
yarrow or agitamozo is wonderful for
22:18
healing blood vessels okay
22:20
and we so i've been using a lot of gyro
22:23
in my elderberry elixir um it's just one
22:26
more you know beautiful
22:29
medicine traditional medicine that we
22:31
have uh that's great so if you know
22:33
someone with long covid and you want to
22:35
make some elderberry elixir for them or
22:37
if you know someone who has covid um or
22:40
or someone who you know if you just want
22:42
to keep it around just in case uh this
22:45
is a great herb you know one option to
22:47
add to it um of course it grows
22:49
everywhere i always talk about the fact
22:50
that it's great for stopping bleeding
22:52
that's why that picture in the bottom
22:54
left hand or right hand corner and then
22:56
it's also it's it's edible and safe you
22:58
can cook with it um that's a pasta that
23:00
my friend uh chef alan burgo made um
23:03
he's a
23:04
he's a chef out in um
23:07
uh
23:08
wisconsin and he works with powdered
23:11
dried in powdered yarrow uh when he
23:13
makes certain pasta dishes and it's
23:15
delicious so it's it's a wonderful uh
23:18
medicine to to use so so someone asked
23:21
about red and yellow yellow yarrow are
23:24
they the same so the indigenous variety
23:26
of yarrow achillea millifolium here
23:28
ajito mosel is always white okay always
23:32
but there are varieties that people grow
23:34
in their gardens that are red and yellow
23:36
and pink they're gorgeous
23:38
um those varieties we have found are not
23:41
as medicinal as the wild yarrow they're
23:44
still medicine okay and you can still
23:46
use them you just might have to use a
23:49
little more to really get the effects
23:51
because the medicinal compounds are
23:53
lower
23:54
in in those um cultivated varieties of
23:58
yarrow okay
23:59
so it's just one
24:01
one plant that you can
24:03
use in your elderberry elixir
24:06
um i also wanted to talk about some of
24:08
the spices that i've used in here
24:11
or herbs you know uh whatever you want
24:13
to call them um
24:14
so i used cinnamon i put a cinnamon
24:17
stick a whole cinnamon stick into mine
24:19
i'm gonna stir mine here real quick
24:20
right now starting to come up to a boil
24:22
here um
24:24
i used a cinnamon stick cinnamon is so
24:27
antiviral you guys we really
24:30
underestimate it because we think of it
24:32
as something that we like put in a
24:33
pumpkin pie right
24:35
i mean we don't we think of it as a
24:37
culinary herb we don't think of cinnamon
24:39
as a medicine but a lot of these spices
24:41
that are not indigenous to here like
24:44
cinnamon and clove and the starness um
24:46
they are indigenous medicines over in
24:49
places in the middle east so like in
24:51
india they're in cinnamon is an
24:54
important medicine and it's used for
24:56
diabetes
24:57
you know um it's used for inflammation
25:00
it's antiviral it's antimicrobial um we
25:03
use cinnamon you can use cinnamon in
25:05
household cleaners
25:07
you know that's how anti-microbial it is
25:10
so uh very powerful
25:12
star and nice is one i love to talk
25:14
about that star-shaped pod there uh
25:17
beautiful and just such a wonderful
25:20
medicine you know that stuff that um
25:22
when people get sick
25:24
uh they're given an anti-viral medicine
25:27
that they like kind of shove up their
25:28
nose have you guys seen that stuff it's
25:30
called tamiflu right um
25:34
and tamiflu is an antiviral medicine
25:37
that actually has some weird side
25:38
effects to it but
25:41
uh it is actually its active ingredient
25:45
comes from star anise
25:47
if you want to say star anise or sound
25:49
fancy and say start a nice that's fine
25:52
whatever
25:53
um
25:55
so so star anise is like
25:58
you know it's it's like black jelly
26:00
beans it has that really anisette type
26:02
of flavor like black jelly beans or you
26:05
guys um out there uh around bay mills
26:08
you have that beautiful
26:10
anise flavored mint with the purple
26:13
flower on top people call it um
26:16
uh oh
26:18
a gaster keyfuniculum i can't remember
26:21
the english name of it um
26:25
and it's hyssop okay my husband's over
26:27
there and he he reminded me so it's
26:29
anna's hyssop hyssop
26:31
um uh beautiful medicine as well that is
26:35
not quite the same antiviral punch
26:38
that start a nice has okay
26:40
um
26:41
cloves also i believe you're getting
26:43
cloves um in your kit cloves actually
26:47
are wonderful you can put a pot of water
26:50
on the stove and start boiling cloves
26:52
and it will actually help to clean the
26:54
air of of uh airborne
26:57
bacteria and viruses and things like
27:00
that
27:01
cardamom are those cute little green
27:03
pods uh you know we use them in a lot of
27:06
cooking like when we make pho broth
27:09
here at our house we use cardamom pods
27:11
very anti-viral and then in the bottom
27:13
right hand corner um something that
27:16
doesn't really grow around you all but
27:18
that i know is the traditional medicine
27:20
for you guys as well as um uh all the
27:23
people out here in the dakotas
27:25
is bare root
27:26
right so that is um legusticum porterai
27:30
if you if you're into scientific names
27:32
um that is actually related to celery
27:36
um in carrots
27:38
and uh has a very strong sort of
27:40
celery-like aroma to it but it is so
27:44
good for the lungs and so anti-microbial
27:46
and antiviral uh we love to put bare
27:49
root into our elderberry elixir it's
27:52
like my it's it's probably my husband's
27:54
favorite ingredient for elderberry
27:56
elixir just because we we have a lot of
27:58
asthma and other lung issues in our
28:00
family and bare root is really fantastic
28:02
for for those issues
28:04
okay um i better speed up here in your
28:07
kit you are actually going to also get
28:09
some rose hips and i want to talk about
28:11
um the rose uh for just a second ogin um
28:17
so uh
28:19
i i'm not sure
28:20
and cat or carol one of you guys might
28:22
know did you get rose hips that were
28:25
have no seeds or did you get the whole
28:27
rose hips that still have the seeds in
28:28
them does anyone know
28:32
we will have to check uh they just came
28:34
in late yesterday so i'm picking them up
28:37
after the webinar
28:38
awesome okay so
28:40
sometimes you'll get whole rows hits
28:43
okay uh here let me get one of these out
28:45
of here so just right off the shrub just
28:48
like you see in that photo there right
28:50
so so that's a wild rose bush which i
28:52
know they do grow out by you guys um and
28:55
and you can just harvest them right off
28:56
the shrub you guys
28:58
winter foraging is the thing you could
29:00
still go out right now and find some
29:03
beautiful rose hips they'll look kind of
29:05
dried up
29:07
um right now to me yeah we were saying
29:10
right now is the best time to get rose
29:12
tips really because they're really ripe
29:14
and sweet because they've they've kind
29:16
of frozen a couple times and you know so
29:19
they're really really sweet so right now
29:20
is a great time to go out and harvest
29:22
rose hips okay that's the berries off of
29:24
the rose bush and you can use any rose
29:27
hips even off the rose bushes that grow
29:29
in your yard okay as long as you don't
29:32
spray them uh they don't have to be wild
29:35
rose hips to be medicine all rose hips
29:38
have really really high vitamin c
29:40
content okay but so much vitamin c that
29:44
that anyone i know who's going through
29:46
surgery
29:47
i have them drink rosehip tea for a
29:50
whole week before surgery and a whole
29:52
week after surgery because there's so
29:54
much vitamin c in these rose rose hips
29:57
rose berries that they actually um will
30:00
boost someone's immune system and help
30:02
to fight off infection
30:04
okay so also i love putting them in my
30:07
elderberry elixir because if you're
30:08
someone who
30:09
uh so so my son who's 18 now pz
30:13
um any time he gets sick it turns into
30:16
this horrible it doesn't matter if it's
30:19
strep it doesn't matter if it's the flu
30:21
it doesn't matter if it's the common
30:22
goal he gets this terrible cough that
30:26
eventually turns into pneumonia if we
30:28
don't treat it i don't know if any of
30:30
you guys have that experience but
30:32
it's it's terrible to see that you know
30:35
that happen um because of course it
30:37
affects uh their breathing right
30:39
um so what we have started to do is any
30:42
time he gets sick we boost his immune
30:44
system with lots of vitamin c uh from
30:48
rose hips
30:49
orange juice things like that actually
30:51
don't have that much vitamin c right so
30:54
so um you know it's kind of a rumor
30:57
uh that was started by the orange juice
30:59
industry like hey how can we market you
31:01
know we have all these oranges how can
31:03
we market them well let's tell people
31:05
that they're super high in vitamin c and
31:07
they're okay but they have you know
31:09
three little tiny rose hips
31:11
um like three of these have more vitamin
31:14
c than a grapefruit
31:16
you know so very very high in vitamin c
31:18
now let me just say really quickly these
31:20
are whole rose hips okay and if you
31:22
break open a rose hip
31:25
you will see on the inside and i don't
31:26
know how well you guys can see that from
31:28
there
31:30
you will see that these seeds are
31:32
covered
31:33
in tiny little hairs
31:35
okay
31:37
now
31:38
you want to take those hairs out okay
31:41
and you can you can you can like if i
31:43
wanted to put these whole rose hips in
31:44
my elderberry elixir i can
31:47
i'm just gonna have to make sure i
31:49
filter my elderberry elixir later
31:51
through some really nice cheesecloth
31:54
right to get those hairs out and uh some
31:57
of you guys have heard me tell the story
31:58
before about ikedomi
32:00
um and and the rose hips the roseberries
32:03
ikedomi is our trickster you know kind
32:05
of like nana boujou or winneboujou um uh
32:09
domi is a trickster who you kind of
32:11
learn from you know and so um domi was
32:14
going around eating all the rose hips
32:16
off the bushes and everyone was saying
32:18
hey quit being so greedy uh you know you
32:21
shouldn't be eating those rose hips
32:22
whole like that because of all those
32:24
little hairs you're gonna have some
32:26
problems leader if you know what i mean
32:29
and indeed when those little hairs get
32:31
kind of trapped in your intestinal tract
32:34
they are very very irritating and itchy
32:37
and um it's it's a very graphic story
32:41
about you know ikedomi's butt itching
32:43
really bad and if you want to look up
32:45
that story it's actually called ikdomi
32:48
and the itchy ass berries um you can
32:51
find it on on google and uh you can find
32:54
the whole story so so you want to remove
32:57
the hairs you either want to remove them
32:59
before you put them in
33:01
your tea or or whatever um or you want
33:04
to make sure you filter your tea or your
33:07
elderberry elixir very well okay or
33:11
if you know maybe you guys ordered
33:14
you know who whoever deseeds these roses
33:17
at the herb store i love them
33:20
uh these came from mountain rose herbs
33:23
and they are pre-seeded rose hips i just
33:25
love them um and and you know you can
33:28
deseed rose hips by yourselves but this
33:31
is just the red part of the rose hip and
33:33
they're great because you can just
33:35
eat them straight up they're delicious
33:38
they taste
33:39
like a cross between a cranberry and an
33:41
apple
33:42
uh very sweet and delicious
33:44
and um you know even right now
33:46
i'm going to add
33:48
just a quarter cup of these just a
33:50
quarter cup to my elderberry elixir
33:53
because i really want that immune
33:55
boosting vitamin c
33:56
um from those rose hips and they taste
33:59
really good so they're really nice in
34:01
there um i have my elderberry elixir
34:03
kind of boiling up here simmering on a
34:06
low simmer getting nice and thick and
34:08
infused which is so fun
34:10
um
34:11
i uh i'm gonna
34:13
go on to the next slide here if you guys
34:15
have any questions let me know um
34:17
i also want to talk about medicinal
34:19
mushrooms because in your kits you are
34:22
going to get some gorgeous mushroom
34:24
powders okay
34:26
some of you may not have access to all
34:28
of these mushrooms and that's okay
34:30
um
34:31
it is so important to remember that like
34:34
remember the mushrooms you know because
34:37
we sometimes sometimes i think we forget
34:39
about them because a lot of people don't
34:41
like their texture
34:43
right and so like they were like i don't
34:45
want mushrooms on my pizza and i don't
34:46
want mushrooms you know we we have to
34:49
stop thinking about that you know stop
34:51
thinking of them that way because
34:53
mushrooms are so incredibly medicinal
34:56
right um
34:58
if if someone tells me that they were
34:59
diagnosed with cancer
35:01
even before i know what type of cancer
35:04
it is
35:05
i immediately recommend mushrooms to
35:07
them because they are so full of
35:09
antioxidants they destroy free radicals
35:12
and they can often shrink tumors or you
35:15
know stop them in their tracks
35:17
so i love using um medicinal mushrooms
35:20
and and you know out there where you
35:22
guys are oh my gosh you just have so
35:24
many gorgeous medicinal mushrooms you
35:26
have the chaga like in the bottom left
35:29
and if you look in the top left that's
35:31
just my grinding stone where i'm
35:32
grinding up some chaga um you know
35:35
powdering it myself you don't you know
35:37
you don't you don't have to buy them
35:39
pre-powdered you can do it yourself in a
35:41
food processor or if you have a grinding
35:43
stone you can do that too um
35:46
up in the top right that's rishi
35:48
mushroom um and uh you know you can
35:52
i always hate to buy herbs online
35:54
because i don't think that you know like
35:56
when you when you go out and get things
35:58
yourself
35:59
you're able to pray with the plants and
36:01
the mushrooms you know you're able to
36:03
like make your offerings put down your
36:05
sema and and and you know make your
36:07
offerings and and talk to the talk to
36:10
them you know these are our relatives
36:12
right and so you're able to talk to them
36:14
but if you don't have access to rishi
36:17
which i don't hear in the dakotas
36:19
i buy it online or i ask friends to send
36:22
it to me and so i am very lucky i do
36:25
have um rishi powder uh it is such a
36:29
fantastic medicine um it is so healing
36:32
it is so
36:33
like i said full of antioxidants but
36:35
also so anti-viral and so healing um you
36:40
guys just have to
36:42
you know you have to get a hold of these
36:43
if you can you guys do have lots of
36:45
those beautiful turkey tail mushrooms
36:47
out there and um i love gathering those
36:50
and then powdering them if you don't
36:52
have access to these you can use
36:54
shiitake you can use maitaki um you know
36:58
there are other beautiful the lion's
36:59
mane you guys have lions main mushrooms
37:02
out there beautiful medicine um and you
37:05
guys are gonna be getting some mushroom
37:07
powders
37:08
what i like to do is i just mix them all
37:10
together so i do like a cup of chaga and
37:13
a cup of rishi and a cup of turkey tail
37:16
and i just i keep them in a jar
37:18
so here's my powdered mushroom jar and
37:21
i'm going to add a full
37:23
quarter cup of this to my elderberry
37:26
elixir okay and um
37:32
okay i've added that in um
37:35
you can add more you can add less
37:38
you don't have to add them at all
37:41
but i really highly recommend
37:43
incorporating mushroom uh into your life
37:46
as much as possible um one thing that
37:49
that my cousin does because she hates
37:52
mushrooms um and even knowing that
37:54
they're in her elderberry elixir bothers
37:57
her
37:58
um so one thing that she does and i
38:01
don't know why this is any different she
38:04
actually takes a spoonful of mushroom
38:06
powder
38:07
mixes them in with a spoonful of honey
38:10
and just downs that in the morning and
38:12
follows it up with some of her coffee
38:15
right so so you know it's just mushroom
38:18
powder and honey even that is amazing
38:21
medicine and we actually uh we've been
38:23
in our medicine kits that we give to
38:25
people for kovid we've been using a lot
38:27
of mushroom powders because mushroom is
38:29
very anti-covered and we've been giving
38:31
a lot of that out um and we've been
38:33
doing infused honeys as well so uh
38:37
mushroom-infused honey is a is a thing
38:39
it is a wonderful medicine
38:41
um so i highly recommend that okay and
38:44
so we've been putting that in there how
38:45
am i doing on time okay i don't have
38:47
tons of time left other i'll go through
38:49
them kind of fast other herbs that you
38:52
can add are the beautiful uh bee balm
38:55
um you know very uh antimicrobial
38:59
uh you can you know it's a member of the
39:01
mint family kind of tastes like oregano
39:04
um so it adds a really interesting
39:06
flavor to your elderberry elixir um but
39:09
it's very very uh uh you know
39:12
very immune boosting um there's more of
39:15
the bare root i just wanted to show you
39:17
what the plant looked like i showed you
39:19
the root we've been giving out a lot of
39:20
this
39:21
bare root infused honey
39:23
um you know so if you don't want to put
39:26
it in your elderberry elixir you can
39:28
grind it up and mix it with honey as
39:29
well
39:30
um and then hawthorne
39:33
um
39:34
wow hawthorne is so wonderful for your
39:37
heart if you know someone who has some
39:40
issues going on with their heart
39:42
uh
39:43
hawthorne is their friend hawthorne
39:45
berries hawthorne leaves hawthorne
39:47
flowers they lower blood pressure they
39:50
lower cholesterol they improve muscle
39:52
function
39:54
so um have you do you have friends who
39:56
maybe have long covered and they're
39:58
tired all the time and they just feel
40:00
like their muscles are getting weak
40:02
um or do you know someone with something
40:04
like ms multiple sclerosis and it's
40:06
having an effect on their muscles
40:09
this is the herb for them okay and i i
40:12
put a picture of hawthorne berry ketchup
40:14
there in the top left hand corner just
40:15
to show you guys that like we make
40:17
ketchup out of these berries it is
40:19
incredibly an incredibly safe medicine
40:22
to use um and so we love putting
40:25
hawthorne into our elderberry elixir uh
40:27
because it's so so good it especially
40:30
the combination of the yarrow and the
40:32
hawthorne are wonderful postcovid
40:35
so putting that in your elderberry
40:37
elixir is always a really nice idea okay
40:40
so i'm i'm actually not at the end i
40:42
want to
40:44
um go back to the directions a little
40:47
bit here
40:49
so we can start to finish up before i do
40:52
that though um let me see if i can see
40:54
the chat okay i can't see the chat again
40:56
um are there any questions right right
40:58
now at this point that you might wanna
41:01
we do have a few questions linda um
41:04
first one let me go back uh
41:07
can you describe a little bit more about
41:08
bare root or what it is
41:10
yep sure so so actually let me you guys
41:13
can kind of see these
41:15
the slides still right
41:17
can you see that
41:18
okay good so so uh
41:23
bare root
41:24
um is a plant that grows in the
41:27
mountains and i usually find it above
41:29
six thousand to seven thousand feet in
41:32
the mountains um in the rockies in
41:34
particular
41:35
but um so so
41:37
actually my uh like you know the
41:39
anishinabe who live in northern montana
41:41
um
41:43
i get a lot of times there that's who i
41:45
trade with from friends of mine up there
41:48
you have to be really careful because
41:50
there are actually if you don't know
41:52
what this looks like and you have not
41:54
harvested it before
41:56
um
41:57
there are poisonous look like lookalikes
42:00
to bear root okay it's also known as
42:02
osha in english um osha root
42:06
but be very careful because um
42:08
uh uh
42:10
let's see um
42:12
hemlock like the poison hemlock
42:15
looks a lot like this
42:17
okay
42:18
they don't tend to grow in the same
42:19
places and they don't smell the same and
42:22
all of that
42:23
but learn you know i guess what i'm
42:25
saying it's not going to be growing
42:27
around bay mills
42:28
so don't go out and try to harvest um
42:31
uh bare root around bay mills and think
42:33
that you've found it
42:35
you know maybe someone's growing it out
42:36
there in a garden i don't know but you
42:39
will definitely want to
42:41
you know have me or someone else take
42:43
you out and show you what it looks like
42:45
before you start to harvest it but it's
42:46
a fantastic medicine
42:48
next question
42:51
okay
42:52
uh we had a question fresh versus dry
42:54
berries and
42:56
the quantities and technique differences
42:58
for the elderberries
43:00
and then kind of a follow-up if we don't
43:02
have a full cup of the elderberries how
43:04
will it affect the strength of the syrup
43:06
okay great great questions there um so
43:10
fresh yes absolutely um when i can get
43:13
fresh elderberries which is not very
43:15
often um
43:17
you know the thing is is we'll go
43:19
harvest elderberries and they dry really
43:21
fast like in two days so but you can use
43:24
fresh elderberries you just probably
43:27
want to use a little more so instead of
43:29
just using one cup of elderberries uh
43:31
you'll want to use like a cup and a half
43:33
of fresh just because you know the the
43:35
dried elderberries are so condensed and
43:38
all that water is out of there already
43:40
so um uh the fresh are not as strong
43:43
okay um so but you can definitely use
43:46
them uh and and you can
43:49
um
43:50
like harvesting elderberries is a thing
43:52
in and of itself because they have all
43:54
these tiny little stems on them so one
43:56
of the easiest way to get the stems off
43:59
is to freeze them first and then
44:03
the stems come off very easily
44:05
um
44:06
after the elderberries have been frozen
44:09
okay
44:10
um
44:11
so i'm not sure what was meant like by
44:13
different techniques and things like
44:14
that but um
44:17
you know there you you if you don't have
44:19
a full cup of elderberries it's totally
44:22
fine totally fine uh it it you know
44:26
you could even add some choke berries
44:29
which you guys have out there not choked
44:31
cherries but choke berries but you could
44:33
also add choke cherries
44:35
you know you can add all different sorts
44:37
of herbs to up the antimicrobial
44:40
antiviral properties but you know
44:43
elderberry is just so amazing um and for
44:47
its antiviral properties so if you don't
44:50
have a cup just lessen a full cup of
44:52
elderberries just lessen the amount of
44:54
water
44:55
right
44:56
the traditional medicine doesn't have to
44:58
be this super difficult thing um some of
45:00
you might have heard me tell the story
45:02
about my dear friend robin who is a very
45:05
famous herbalist in montana she's
45:07
amazing and knowledgeable but when she
45:09
and i first started communicating
45:12
she she
45:13
asked me she sent me this email um
45:16
talking all about um purple coneflower
45:19
you guys know purple coneflower also
45:21
called echinacea which by the way i have
45:23
some
45:24
gorgeous uh purple coneflower
45:27
flowers and leaves here
45:29
that a friend sent me um you can use
45:31
this in your elderberry elixir as well
45:33
but she my friend robin years and years
45:35
ago 20 years ago emailed me about
45:37
echinacea and when i looked at her email
45:40
it was three pages long giving me
45:42
directions on how to use
45:44
echinacea
45:46
and she was like how do you guys use it
45:47
and i emailed her back and i was like we
45:49
dig it up and then we chew it
45:53
you know i mean it's really it's it's a
45:55
totally different world view um
45:58
you know making elderberry elixir is not
46:01
you know like like let's say that you
46:03
didn't add enough elderberries it's
46:04
still gonna have antiviral properties
46:06
it's just gonna be a little weaker um
46:09
let's say you didn't have staranese oh
46:12
well don't add the star nice even just
46:14
the elderberries like i said eating a
46:16
few of them you know even that gives you
46:19
lots of beautiful antiviral medicine
46:22
okay so so it's it's more about you know
46:25
making sure that you're incorporating
46:27
these beautiful traditional medicines
46:29
into your life every day um uh and you
46:32
know incorporating them into your diet
46:34
you know i i have um friends who are
46:37
amish who make elderberry pie
46:40
and so like that's their way
46:43
of getting this antiviral ingredient
46:45
into their life they make elderberry pie
46:48
i'm not the biggest fan of it um if you
46:51
like raisin pie you'll like elderberry
46:53
pie i'm not a fan of raisin pie either
46:55
but uh there are good recipes for it
46:58
online you know and and you know
47:00
whatever you have to do uh you know you
47:02
do it because that's you know you want
47:04
to use these medicines right
47:06
so um let me let me talk a little bit
47:09
more uh about the directions and finish
47:12
this up and then i can uh hopefully have
47:13
some time to answer uh and answer any
47:16
last questions so so here um do you guys
47:19
know
47:20
you know carol hernandez from
47:22
mille lacs she makes these gorgeous
47:25
potholders
47:26
and bowl holders like for bowls of soup
47:28
and they're perfect for for
47:29
demonstrations like this but i have i
47:31
have a bowl here
47:33
and then i have a strainer okay
47:35
you guys are gonna get a strainer i
47:37
think in your kit
47:38
um
47:39
if you are using rose hips that still
47:42
have the seeds
47:43
do me a favor and put a towel in here or
47:46
put a piece of cheesecloth or put a
47:48
piece of an old t-shirt don't over
47:50
complicate it just you know make a good
47:53
filter so that you can get the
47:55
the the um hairs out okay
47:58
i'm using this okay it's not all that
48:01
fine and the reason i'm using this is
48:03
because i actually want the mushroom
48:05
powder to come out into my elderberry
48:07
elixir i want to put those mushrooms
48:10
into my body okay i don't i don't want
48:13
to necessarily strain those mushrooms
48:14
out that's why they're we're using the
48:16
powder okay dear can you come help me
48:18
strain this
48:20
i'm gonna have my husband come pour this
48:23
off for you guys real quick
48:25
um and so i'll hold this up just yeah
48:29
okay thank you
48:32
okay so don't wear a white shirt when
48:34
you do this
48:35
i just want you here to change the angle
48:37
so they can kind of see the the liquid
48:40
beautiful
48:42
see how pretty that is
48:44
it's thickened up a lot it's gorgeous
48:47
we're just straining it in here pouring
48:49
it through okay and then all i have to
48:51
do is
48:53
lift my strainer here dear take this
48:56
lift my strainer out of here
48:59
put it back into the pot
49:01
okay now
49:03
this elderberry elixir
49:05
okay i can stop here let me see if i can
49:08
i don't want to pour it onto my laptop
49:09
but i want you guys to be able to see it
49:11
um
49:13
it it
49:14
it looks a little different than than
49:17
you know a lot of elderberry elixir is
49:18
like bright purple
49:20
this isn't quite as bright purple
49:22
because of that mushroom powder and
49:24
that's a good thing right that's a
49:26
really good thing
49:27
if i am giving this to someone who's
49:29
diabetic i'm gonna stop now
49:31
i i would stop here
49:33
oh my gosh you guys the smell is just
49:36
gorgeous but um i would stop here but
49:39
i actually am using this for my family
49:42
so not only do i want the honey
49:45
because it tastes great but i want the
49:48
honey
49:49
because it is so medicinal as well
49:52
good honey is medicine all by itself
49:56
numerous clinical trials that should
49:58
have shown that plain honey
50:00
works better at controlling a cough
50:03
than over-the-counter cough syrup plus
50:05
over-the-counter cough syrup has
50:06
horrible horrible things in it um it you
50:09
know it has dextromethorphin in it dm
50:12
that's why when you see like robitussin
50:14
or dynatap it's robitussin dm or dx or
50:17
whatever don't use that stuff especially
50:20
not with your kids for goodness sake um
50:22
they've shown that long-term use of
50:23
over-the-counter cough syrup can
50:25
actually um dampen your ability to feel
50:28
emotions in the long term because of
50:30
that dextromethorphan it works as a
50:32
hallucinogen it doesn't even help to
50:34
control cough it actually dampens the
50:37
cough response it works on your brain to
50:40
make you think you don't have to cough
50:42
so don't use over-the-counter cough
50:43
syrup especially not when plain honey
50:46
works better to control a cough okay um
50:50
so this is raw honey um you know like i
50:52
said just straight from the hive and i'm
50:54
just going to um you know not on the
50:56
heat don't do this over the heat you
50:58
don't want to cook your honey you just
51:00
want to gently melt it into your warm
51:03
elderberry elixir okay so i'm going to
51:06
pour this in
51:09
okay
51:11
and i'm just gonna stir it around till
51:13
it melts into my beautiful elderberry
51:16
elixir
51:17
i'm gonna get all that honey out it's
51:19
too good to waste
51:21
okay
51:22
um
51:24
and then once it melts into there you
51:26
know just stir it around a little bit
51:28
and let it melt into there
51:30
then you're done
51:31
you're just completely done
51:33
okay so let me let me just you know just
51:35
listen listen to me just for a second in
51:37
fact i'm gonna stop sharing for a second
51:39
i'll reshare but um if you guys want but
51:42
let me stop sharing for a second because
51:44
let me tell you how simple this is you
51:46
put water and elderberries in a pot on
51:48
the stove
51:49
you let them boil for a little while
51:51
simmer for a little while okay and then
51:53
you strain them and you add honey
51:55
that's it guys that's it that's really
51:57
all that it is if you if you want to do
52:00
more than that you can everything else
52:02
is extra adding the star anise adding
52:04
the rose hips adding the mushroom
52:06
powders great that's wonderful and i
52:08
hope you do that but that's extra you
52:11
know what i mean and it's it's not 100
52:14
necessary for you to do that it's really
52:16
all about the elderberries you know um
52:19
cooking down in the water
52:21
straining them out and adding the honey
52:23
that's the foundation for your um for
52:25
your recipe
52:27
um this elderberry elixir especially
52:30
with the mushroom powder all by itself
52:32
is so wonderful for coughs uh
52:35
if you are working with someone who is
52:37
diabetic um and you know you want the
52:39
medicinal property of the honey but you
52:42
don't want to up their blood sugar too
52:44
much
52:45
you can um
52:46
make a syrup with like stevia
52:50
right so so you can use like um you can
52:53
make it like into a syrup stevia is good
52:56
for coughs as well but not as good as
52:59
honey or maple syrup um so
53:02
uh you can you know just just use a tiny
53:05
bit even of maple just enough to kind of
53:08
coat their throat or or honey okay but
53:11
if you don't want to use that at all
53:13
just your elderberry elixir with no
53:14
honey is wonderful for cops as well so
53:17
my sis holly is asking how much elixir
53:19
should people take each day okay so
53:22
that's a great question
53:23
um we in our family
53:26
in order like as a prevention every
53:28
evening um uh we set up our little
53:32
glasses i hate to say it but we use shot
53:34
glasses
53:35
with fire cider and elderberry elixir we
53:38
actually mix them together we're kind of
53:40
used to that flavor um but we just we
53:43
just set those up and even our
53:45
six-year-old you know he takes that as
53:47
well um so we do about a tablespoon um
53:52
each day okay for prevention
53:54
if you are sick
53:56
okay
53:57
you can literally do like five
53:59
tablespoons every day and and like if my
54:02
kids get sick and they have a cough like
54:05
let's say they're up at night and they
54:06
start coughing we actually put a little
54:09
um a little cup and a spoon of
54:11
elderberry elixir next to their bed and
54:14
they can wake up
54:15
uh you know if they're coughing take a
54:17
spoonful of it and go back to sleep and
54:20
it really helps them you know because it
54:22
stops them from coughing uh
54:26
coughing coughing coughing all evening
54:29
yes um quick question that is a good
54:31
segue from that i think uh before people
54:34
have to jump off for their next meetings
54:36
or um if they have to leave right by one
54:39
uh do we refrigerate this after we make
54:42
it or is that
54:43
the table and then um what is the shelf
54:45
life
54:46
okay so um in the fridge this will keep
54:49
for pretty much ever um i i have had
54:52
jars in my fridge for like years that
54:54
i've still used um uh you know you just
54:58
want to look for mold and you know i'll
55:00
be honest i spoon the mold off and then
55:02
i still use it but
55:04
you might not want to do that you know
55:06
um and that's fine so let's let's talk
55:08
about this why do i keep it in the
55:10
fridge
55:11
this elderberry elixir
55:13
will ferment into elderberry mead
55:16
do you know what meat is it's like it's
55:18
like a honey wine it will ferment if i
55:20
leave this on the counter and one time
55:22
my husband and i accidentally left a big
55:24
jar of elderberry elixir we closed it
55:27
and we totally forgot i think one of us
55:28
thought it was jelly or something and we
55:30
put it in our cabinet um and like a week
55:33
later or it might have even just been a
55:35
few days later we heard this huge
55:38
explosion in the kitchen and we were
55:40
like oh my god what was that we went we
55:42
looked around couldn't figure it out we
55:44
were kind of scared that that someone
55:45
had shot at our house you know we opened
55:48
up a cabinet and there was elderberry
55:49
elixir and glass everywhere um and and
55:53
so it will ferment and and explode in
55:56
the jar
55:57
so if you want it to ferment you can
55:59
actually don't don't put the lid on
56:01
tight go ahead let it ferment but but
56:04
don't put a tight lid on just kind of
56:06
cover it okay
56:08
um if you are worried uh if you don't
56:10
want it to ferment you can actually add
56:13
also a spoonful of lemon juice to each
56:16
jar
56:17
you can add like a tablespoon of lemon
56:18
juice it it adds a delicious flavor it
56:21
kind of tastes like elderberry lemonade
56:23
at that point um and it also will
56:26
slow down the fermentation process
56:29
because of all the acid in there and
56:31
then you can still keep it in the fridge
56:33
okay
56:34
um now if you buy elderberry elixir from
56:36
the store
56:37
oftentimes they prevent fermentation by
56:40
adding alcohol to it they'll add like
56:42
just a little bit like a teaspoon of
56:45
brandy or bourbon or something like that
56:48
um i know a lot of us want to avoid
56:50
alcohol and that's great so you don't
56:53
have to add that just keep it in the
56:54
fridge add some lemon juice if you want
56:56
okay
56:59
all right and i can stay but i know um
57:02
it's it's time for some of y'all to
57:04
go and um i just wanted to say if you
57:06
have to go i'll see you later and thank
57:08
you very much and um i've had a great
57:10
time but i can stay and answer more
57:12
questions as well
57:14
okay uh we do have a few more questions
57:17
um
57:18
so i'm gonna group a few of them
57:20
together uh because they all kind of
57:22
pertain to measurements ratio of
57:24
ingredients um copy of the recipe
57:27
so we had when do we add rosehips
57:30
and then people are asking for the again
57:32
the measurements and the the recipe
57:34
which we'll send out along with the
57:36
powerpoint some of that information is
57:38
in the powerpoint
57:39
uh and then let's see
57:43
um
57:44
for for the yarrow plant uh
57:46
somebody asked is it the whole plant
57:49
okay great question so for the yarrow
57:51
it's the flowers and leaves the whole
57:53
top of the plant just not the roots
57:56
okay
57:57
um
57:58
and and i always love to leave the roots
57:59
in the ground because then the arrow
58:01
will come back up from those roots it's
58:03
a perennial um but uh then let me let me
58:07
just say that um the measurements are
58:10
really personal preference but i know i
58:12
know how it is some people just really
58:14
desperately need precise measurements
58:16
and that's okay
58:18
okay so i do about one cup of
58:21
elderberries as you uh you'll get the
58:22
powerpoint that has the recipe in there
58:24
um uh about one cup of elderberries in
58:28
four cups of water and then i let that
58:30
cook down right um so i'm probably going
58:32
to end up with about two and a half cups
58:35
of of liquid then i added my one cup of
58:37
honey so you know i'm kind of back up to
58:39
about three and a half cups or so
58:42
um
58:42
and that's great
58:44
um
58:45
when do you add things like rose hips
58:47
and yarrow and and the mushroom powders
58:49
and things like that
58:51
when i get i put my petal on the stove
58:54
i put my ingredients in there all of
58:56
them at the same time then i pour my
58:58
water over it and i let them all cook
59:00
down together okay i didn't do that for
59:03
you guys just because i wanted to talk
59:05
about the plant some but really that's
59:07
what i do
59:08
um
59:09
when with you um if you are uh
59:13
using any of these ingredients it's
59:15
really personal preference how much you
59:16
want to add in there but i used about a
59:20
quarter cup total of mushroom powder
59:23
um
59:24
so i did like in my jar this was um like
59:28
a
59:29
half a cup
59:30
of chaga half a cup of rishi
59:33
um and half a cup of um
59:37
chaga rishi and turkey tail okay and
59:40
then i just took a quarter cup of that
59:42
and put it into my elderberry elixir
59:44
it's personal preference but you can add
59:46
more or less i would say minimum for the
59:49
real medicinal effects you want to add
59:52
at least a tablespoon of each mushroom
59:54
powder to your elderberry elixir a
59:56
tablespoon each okay
59:58
um the rose hips the yarrow i usually do
60:01
like a quarter cup of those um those are
60:04
strong medicines so i i usually add
60:07
about a quarter cup of those uh you can
60:09
add mint if you want um for its good
60:13
properties for the lungs you know all
60:15
they're all hibiscus flowers if you have
60:17
some hibiscus flowers laying around is
60:19
another option very high in vitamin c
60:21
all kinds of stuff that you can add but
60:23
i just add it all in the beginning and
60:25
let it all cook down together okay
60:29
awesome
60:30
uh okay next question uh can you harvest
60:33
turkey tail in the fall or winter and
60:35
then are oysters medicinal
60:39
um the answer to both questions is yes
60:41
absolutely turkey tails in the winter
60:43
it's a great time to harvest them
60:44
because they're kind of already dried
60:46
right um and so uh we were actually
60:49
harvesting turkey tail
60:50
uh
60:52
last week you know and and you can like
60:54
you can do that too harvest it any time
60:56
of year that you can find them um you
60:59
know you can tell if they're fresh like
61:01
you don't want to get the ones that have
61:02
a bunch of moss growing on them and
61:04
stuff like that um you know try to get
61:06
the ones that are a little more fresh
61:07
than that but yeah you can harvest them
61:08
any time of year
61:10
um
61:11
and then uh i think i answered the other
61:13
question oh oyster mushrooms yes they
61:16
are medicinal as well super high in
61:18
antioxidants very good for you um uh i
61:21
can't find them out here as much as you
61:23
guys can find them over there uh the
61:25
yellow oysters um are one of my favorite
61:28
foods in the whole universe um that you
61:30
guys have out there and i love stir
61:32
frying with them and everything and i
61:33
always just feel so good after i eat
61:35
them because they are are very full of
61:38
antioxidants and good good medicine
61:42
awesome
61:43
uh next question is red bee balm okay to
61:46
use or just purple somebody has both
61:48
planted in their yard great question um
61:51
yeah so it's kind of like with the
61:52
yarrow right uh you know how there's
61:54
like yellow and red and pink yarrow and
61:57
they're not quite as medicinal those
61:59
cultivated ones the red monarda actually
62:02
is is a native bee bomb and um uh i've
62:06
found it to be very very medicinal i've
62:09
never like looked at measurements on it
62:11
or measured the medicinal properties of
62:13
it um but it is beautiful and and highly
62:17
medicinal
62:19
so yeah i say go ahead and use it
62:22
awesome
62:24
uh okay just a few more questions and
62:26
then kat is going to share some
62:28
information about sourcing ingredients
62:29
and things like that
62:31
is it better to chop up the ginger and
62:33
turmeric for more surface area when you
62:36
are boiling it down
62:38
great question um yes i i love okay so
62:41
my friend tpz i don't know if any of you
62:43
guys know her she has that beautiful
62:45
soap company she's lakota and she has a
62:47
beautiful soap company called
62:50
um and and when she makes fire cider and
62:53
elderberry elixir sometimes she just if
62:55
she's wanting to make it kind of fast
62:57
she'll blend everything up in a blender
62:59
and then boil it together um and and
63:02
that's good that's you know fast um you
63:05
know i ain't got time for that
63:07
so sometimes i just throw stuff in right
63:10
uh you just saw me break it up with my
63:11
hands and throw it in
63:13
um but i do love to use like sometimes
63:15
i'll even use powdered turmeric instead
63:17
of whole but i just happen to have those
63:19
around um so yes you can chop them up
63:23
and it it does uh it gets stronger
63:27
faster so that's nice awesome me glitch
63:31
uh
63:32
so we had somebody ask about
63:34
recommendations for diabetics with cough
63:37
and i do want to go back here just a
63:40
little bit we did have somebody
63:42
share in
63:43
the chat box uh regarding persons with
63:45
diabetes the total honey added divided
63:48
into the total of the finished product
63:50
needs to be considered that honey in the
63:51
recipe is likely not of concern for
63:53
blood sugar weight etc besides it's
63:56
honey a real food thoughts comments
64:00
love that love it so so much um
64:03
i you know i tend to be someone who airs
64:06
very much on the side of caution
64:09
because i'm not like a diabetes
64:11
coordinator or anything like that but i
64:14
will just tell you guys that
64:16
my
64:17
relatives who are diabetic um will use
64:20
small amounts of honey and small amounts
64:22
of real maple um because
64:25
the fact is maple
64:26
is very good for pancreas function and
64:29
very good for improving the release of
64:31
insulin
64:32
and you know i i mean we use dandelion
64:34
root which is high in inulin and things
64:36
like that too i mean there's all kinds
64:38
of medicines you can use but we do you
64:40
know honey is a real food i love that
64:42
statement and and it's a great medicine
64:45
all by itself so if if um
64:49
you know i i have a lot of friends who
64:51
are diabetic who are kind of scared of
64:53
it
64:54
so basically what i have them do is i
64:56
have them try it
64:58
and then see
64:59
thank you so much gail and greg uh
65:02
appreciate that
65:04
um
65:05
i i just love it so um i basically what
65:09
i have uh my friends do is i have them
65:10
try it
65:11
you know try i try a little bit of the
65:13
elderberry elixir with the honey or try
65:15
a little bit of the honey by itself see
65:17
how it affects their blood sugar see how
65:19
long it affects their blood sugar you
65:21
know and then um they can make their own
65:24
determination right kind of kind of test
65:26
it test it a little bit um but you know
65:29
it's it's such a wonderful medicine by
65:31
itself that uh you know i i use it and i
65:36
i let my friends and clients use it as
65:39
well so
65:40
awesome perfect okay one last question
65:43
uh how cool
65:44
should you let your uh elixir cool off
65:47
before adding in the honey great
65:49
question so it's personal preference
65:51
again um i didn't let my elderberry
65:53
elixir cool off all that much today
65:55
before i added the honey in but that's
65:58
you know that's okay um
66:01
you know
66:02
you have to think the elderberry elixir
66:03
that you're getting from the store or a
66:05
lot of times that's sent through the
66:06
mail has been water bath canned with the
66:09
honey in there
66:11
um and and so it's killed a lot of the
66:13
medicinal properties of the honey but
66:15
that's okay because you're still eating
66:17
some of the medicinal properties from it
66:18
right and as long as you're using it
66:21
that's really what matters but i usually
66:23
let mine cool off
66:25
almost to the point i i usually let my
66:28
elixir cool off to the point almost
66:30
where the honey doesn't melt very fast
66:33
you know what i mean i i don't know i've
66:35
never tried to see what temperature that
66:37
is but i usually wait a while before i
66:39
add the um the honey and let it cool off
66:42
just because i
66:44
i
66:44
i want the honey to basically be alive