What Is Elecampane?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Inula helenium

Also, Known As

Elecampane
Horseheal
Scabwort

Elecampane (botanical name Inula helenium) is a tall, bristly perennial plant that is native to south-eastern Europe and western Asia. This herb, which bears yellow flowers resembling the daisy, has been naturalized in North America and is found growing in abundance in the moist meadows, fields and along the roads in the central and eastern regions of the United States and neighboring Canada. Elecampane belongs to the Asteraceae family and grows up to a height of four to six feet. The herb has a heavy branching stem that emerges from a basal rosette (a circular arrangement of leaves at the base) with leaves that are large, oval-shaped and pointed at the end. The herb bears vivid yellow flower heads during the period between the middle to the end of the summer. The flower heads of elecampane are generally four inches in diameter…

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What Is Eleuthero Root?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Latin Name

Eleutherococcus senticosus, Acanthopanax senticosus

Common Names

Ci Wu Jia, Devil’s Bush, Eleuthero, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Russian Ginseng, Siberian Ginseng, Russian Root, Shigoka, Taiga, Thorny Pepperbush, Touch-Me-Not, Wild Pepper

Properties

Adaptogenic, anti-aggregatory, anti-diabetic, anti-edema, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative effects on leukemia cells in vitro (Bradley, 1992; Hacker and Medon, 1984), anti-stress (Takasugi, 1985), endocrine, endurance-enhancing, hypoglycaemic, hypertensive, immunomodulator, immunoprotective, immunostimulant, platelet aggregation-inhibiting, radiation protection (Yonezawa, 1989), restorative, stimulant, tonic, vasodilator.

Indicated for

Addictions, Alzheimer’s disease, athletic support, bone cancer, boosting immune system, breast carcinoma, bronchitis, cardiovascular health, chemotherapy support, chronic fatigue syndrome, countering athletic fatigue, depression, diabetes mellitus, energy and vitality, enhancing vision,enhancing resilience, exhaustion and debility, fatigue, fibromyalgia, hantavirus, heart ailments, herpes, HIV support, Hodgkin’s disease, impotence, improving athletic working capacity, general health & mental resilience, increasing stamina, physical endurance under stress & mental alertness, infections, influenza, kidney cancer, lung ailments, maintaining well-being, malignant tumours, memory, myopia, neural diseases, oral cavity…

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What Is Ashwagandha {Withania somnifera}?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Also, Known As:

Ashwagandha
Indian Ginseng
Withania

The herb known as the ashwagandha is a small plant in the same plant family as the common garden tomato. This plant is a stout shrub which can grow to a height of about five feet-170 centimeters when fully matured. The ashwagandha is similar to the tomato, in that it too bears yellow flowers and has a red colored fruit, the fruit is, however, berrylike in size and shape and the resemblance to the berry of tomato is not very easy to recognize. This herb is endemic to South Asia, and the ashwagandha grows abundantly in the wild in countries like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka-all of which are in South Asia and share a similar climate. Herbal remedies make use of all the parts of this particular herb and many different herbal medicines are prepared from this herb.

The meaning of the…

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The Wonders of Mugwort {Artemisia vulgaris}

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Good Witches Homestead

Also, Known As:

Cingulum Sancti Johannis
Mugwort
St. John’s Plant

The mugwort is a shrubby perennial, with dark green deeply indented leaves and with several clusters of small reddish or yellow flower heads. The herb can grow up to three ft, or one m in height.

mugwort

This amazing shrub has been known since the ancient times, and reportedly, Roman centurions used mugwort inside their sandals so that their feet could remain in great shape. The shrub was also used by ancient Europeans and Asians in treating various ailments. The Greek physician Dioscorides of the 1st century AD supposedly stated that the Goddess Artemis, who gave inspiration to the plant’s genus name, used the herb to offer succor to women in the throes of labor and childbirth. The Physicians of Myddfai, a thirteenth-century Welsh herbal remedy collection, contains these important words, “”If a woman is unable to give birth to her child…

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Ashwagandha Root Extract Improves Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Patients Taking Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera, Solanaceae)
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), characterized by stressful, repetitive, and intrusive thoughts or obsessions followed by actions or compulsions, is thought to be linked to a defect in the serotonergic system. A common treatment is the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), but they are considered only mildly effective, with 40-60% of patients failing to respond. In Ayurvedic herbal medicine, ashwagandha (Withania somnifera, Solanaceae) is considered to be a rejuvenating and revitalizing herb. Its roots, which are used to enhance mental and physical health, have anxiolytic and antidepressant properties due to the presence of bioactive glycowithanolides, and the alkaloids withanine and somniferine are used for nervous disorders. Animal studies also have shown it to enhance serotonergic transmission. The goal of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was to verify the efficacy of ashwagandha root extract as an adjunct therapy to treat the…

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Indigenous Mind: Remembering Who We Are

by Ancestral Apothecary

Ancestral Apothecary

Much of the vision of Ancestral Apothecary is inspired and informed by my experience in the Indigenous Mind Program. As the founder of Ancestral Apothecary, I, Atava Garcia Swiecicki, received a graduate degree from from Naropa University in the Indigenous Mind Program in 2003. The Indigenous Mind Program focuses on reconnecting to one’s indigenous ancestors, no matter what their cultural or ethnic background. The program was founded by Dr. Apela Colorado, who also is the founder of the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network.

Heidi Corning, of White Tigress Ancestry, was also a student in the Indigenous Mind Program and created a short film to document the process of the Indigenous Mind students and they reconnected to their ancestral ways of knowing.