Cue the birds and the Bunnies, It's Spring!

Well, the calendar says spring is almost here. Even though here in the great north woods, the only thing happening is that the slightly warmer temperatures melt a little of the snow and at night, it re-freezes, allowing the resident predators to walk on top of it, thus making the local deer more skittish and nervous. But I digress.

It seems most of my herbal cohorts south of the 45th parallel are enjoying the delights of winter’s end. Ah spring. Birds chirping, flowers pushing up, green buds everywhere, sneezing, watery eyes, allergies. Ok, so maybe it’s not as pleasant as it seems after the long, cold winter.

As the weather warms and the rains come, the body is actually going through seasonal changes as well. During the winter, our bodies become increasingly dried out and have produced excessive mucus. As we move into spring, we need to counteract the excessive moisture that will plague us. This means eating more cold vegetables, bitter and astringent foods like peas, leafy greens and root vegetables that help clean and detoxify the body.

The moisture of spring also softens and opens up the tissues of the body. That makes this the ideal season to cleanse and detoxify. Native Americans traditionally go on spring fasts and the fasting of the Christian Lenten season both relate to this time of year.

If you are in tune with your body, you may notice that suddenly, the thick soups and stews you craved during the winter months have given way to yearnings for fresh greens, salads, sprouts, fruits etc. Your body is in sync with the seasons and will crave the appropriate foods to help it.

I hear you all saying “Get to the HERBS!! That’s why we’re here!” OK. Here we go. Detoxification is the elimination of poisons or toxins. So we need some chlorophyll-rich foods, sea plants and seaweeds like dulse, kelp, nori and wakame. Also good green tea. Make sure it is camellia sinensis and that it is caffeine free.

Milk thistle is my personal favorite herb for cleansing and toning the liver, so that should be a part of your “spring cleaning” rituals. Also burdock. This is THE best herbal blood purifier, in my never to be humble opinion. It is also known as the plant of longevity, so a good herb to be used on a regular basis, but especially now.

This is also the season of Passover, and the Jewish families will be celebrating with the traditional Seder, (pronounced Say – der) which is the ritual feast held on the first night of Passover. One of the elements of the Seder is bitter herbs.

Bitter herbs are essential this time of year and the list is endless, but here are some of my favorites: Dandelion, nettle, licorice root, devil’s claw, catnip and echinacea. These can be taken as infusions, teas, and tinctures or in whatever form you will most likely take them. But TAKE THEM! If you’re drinking teas, be sure to drink slowly so the body can absorb as much of the medicinal nutrients as possible.

As part of your spring-cleaning, don’t forget the essentials like exercise, deep breathing and some sort of meditation and dry brush massage. Dry brush massage not only helps remove toxins accumulated in dead skin cells, but also increases and encourages circulation so we can get all those winter blahs expelled. Also saunas or sweats. This is an excellent way to assist the body in purging the toxins.

All this cleaning and wonderful nourishment is going to help build up your body and keep you healthy, but I don’t want to forget one of my favorite spring allergy antidotes – pure, raw, LOCAL honey.

Bees are wonderful little creations, and they will travel up to 5 miles from the hive to find what they need to make this wonderful healing nectar. Make sure your honey is as local as you can find because the trees and plants can vary, and you want something to provide an antidote to the plants in your immediate area. If you are traveling, get local honey from that area to help with the plant allergies you may not have built up immunity to.

So there you have it. Some practical ways to make the transition and avoid some of the less joyful “rites” of spring.

And to those of you who share my Irish heritage:

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Don't forget to check out our Spring Break Survival Pak for your college kids. Also, the allergies are coming whether we like it or not, so get your allergy inhalers in the Apothecary right now! Summer's Coming! Let's Get Better!

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