Herbal Skills Share

Our local Herbal Skills share group thinning Arnica

I am so happy to have found a local Herbal Skills Share group. Tuesday afternoon we all converged on one of Vivi's (our local herbalist of Tallwoman Tonics) herb plots to thin her Arnica plants. I have only lived on the Northern Oregon Coast for just over two years so I am still learning what grows here and what is available in our local growing region.
We were all a bit surprised at how interwoven the Arnica roots were. They made a thick mat in the soil and thinning was no easy task. We all tackled it as you can see in the above photo and it got done. We all took home Arnica plants for our gardens. My personal garden is all in pots as the house we rent has its own lovely landscaping. I will take some a picture of the plants and report on how well they are doing.
Vivi started us out with a talk on the properties and uses of Arnica. She always has several cross-references on hand in addition to her own knowledge so we get a good bit of information. Everyone chips in any additional knowledge as well. She did mention which variety she is growing which I neglected to write down but I found it on her blog! It is Arnica chamissonis.  At the moment she has a picture of the plant and flower on her current post.
I personally have used Arnica as a topical lotion or oil to heal bumps and bruises and blunt trauma injuries. Being an outdoorswoman I usually collect my fair share of these type of injuries, mostly minor. Arnica speeds healing and reduces inflammation and pain.
I have also taken it homeopathically for trauma injuries. My dearest friend is a Naturopathic doctor and I learned about using the simple homeopathic remedies from her. Please use professional guidance before treating yourself with anything you are not familiar with internally.

I am hoping I will be able to grow enough of the Arnica to make my own oil and tinctures for injury. This is a great one to have in your basic herbal first aid kit.

Vivi also let us take some Dyers Camomile plants that were straying out of bounds in her garden. I am thrilled with this one too as I plan to do some natural dyeing this summer over on the Artful Stitch blog. 
It is very important to me to learn these skills. I have an underlying sense of urgency to learn to be as self/community sufficient as possible. This may just be my own response to the turmoil in our country and world these days or perhaps something else. I really don't know. I have a decent set of skills at the moment but need to add a lot more.
On the food front, I still haven't started the rejuvelac but will do that now. I am sending the payment for our Spring CSA today so well have a steady supply of great spring veggies starting next month until the Farmers Market opens. The pantry and refrigerator got stocked up yesterday as we have a few spring storms on their way today. Off to paint in the studio now!

-Renee