Oakria Wellness

🌿 Meet My Herbal Ally: Elder (Sambucus nigra)

Stained fingers and little helpers. 💜

Today we harvested over 3 pounds of Elderberries. Some went into fresh tincture, and the rest are tucked into the freezer, waiting to become syrup for the colder months.

This is how I love teaching my children about herbs.

Not only from books or by memorizing what an herb is “good for,” but by meeting the plant, watching her through the seasons, harvesting together, and making our own medicine.

🌼 Elderflower is traditionally used for its cooling, relaxing qualities, particularly during hot, tense fevers and upper respiratory congestion.

🫐 Elderberries are rich in anthocyanins and other flavonoids and have a long history of use for supporting the immune and respiratory systems.

But Elder offers us something beyond her herbal actions. She has long been associated with wisdom, protection, and the Elder Mother.

Maybe that's part of what I'm hoping to pass along to these little helpers too.

Curiosity. Observation. Respect for the plants. And the wisdom to listen.

I'm excited to share some of this harvest with you too. 🌿 Freshly made Elderberry tincture will be available for purchase through Oakria Wellness. Send me a message if you'd like a bottle.

Someday my kids may not remember every herbal action I taught them, but perhaps they'll remember sitting around a bowl of Elderberries together with purple stained fingers. 💜

Rooted in Wisdom, Nurtured in Healing.
Oakria Wellness

🌿 Meet My Herbal Ally: Motherwort 🌿
Leonurus cardiaca 🦁💚

Have you ever met an herb that feels like a warm hug?

That's Motherwort.

Many herbalists describe Motherwort as the herb for people who just need a hug. It's the kind of plant that gently reminds you to slow down, soften, and come back home to your heart.

Its botanical name, Leonurus cardiaca, means "lion hearted," and I think that's fitting.

Motherwort teaches us that courage isn't about pushing harder. It's about having the courage to let go of old fears, habits, and conditioned patterns so we can return to our true selves. When we soften the mind and reconnect with the heart, we begin living from our deepest wisdom instead of simply reacting from old stories.

It's easy to see how this herb earned its common name. Motherwort has long been considered one of the great women's herbs, offering gentle support through menstruation, menopause, and the many seasons of motherhood. Whether you're raising children, caring for others, or simply carrying the weight of everyday life, Motherwort reminds you to care for your own heart, too.

✨ Energetics
❄️ Cooling
🌾 Drying
🕊️ Relaxing

✨ Taste
🌿 Intensely Bitter
🌶️ Slightly Acrid

😖 Fair Warning...

Motherwort is VERY bitter. In fact, it's considered one of the most bitter herbs in Western herbalism! Because of that, it's usually not the best choice for tea. Most herbalists prefer working with it as a fresh plant tincture, making it much easier to enjoy its many gifts.

✨ Traditional Herbal Actions

💚 Nervine sedative (especially when anxiety is felt in the chest)
❤️ Cardiovascular trophorestorative
🌸 Emmenagogue (supports healthy menstrual flow and cycle balance; not recommended during pregnancy)
🌿 Bitter digestive tonic (supports the liver, gallbladder, and healthy bile flow)
🌬️ Antispasmodic
🔥 Relaxing diaphoretic

🌿 Traditionally Used For

❤️ Supporting the heart and cardiovascular system
💓 Heart palpitations related to stress and anxiety
🌬️ Wind and tension tissue states
🔥 Chronic heat and excitation patterns
🌸 Menstrual support and women's wellness
🌡️ Hot flashes and menopausal transitions
🦋 Hyperthyroid patterns with excess heat, anxiety, and palpitations
🌿 Bitter support for healthy liver function, bile flow, and digestion
🌱 Nervous digestion and emotional overwhelm

One of my favorite ways to work with Motherwort is alongside Lemon Balm. Motherwort settles the heart while Lemon Balm gently lifts the spirits and soothes the nervous system. Together they make a beautiful pair during stressful seasons of life.

💚 Plant Wisdom

"You've got this. Take a deep breath. Come back to your heart. You're stronger than you know."

🌱 I'd love to hear from you...

What helps you return to your true self when life feels overwhelming? 🌿

👇 Share in the comments!

🌿 Meet My Herbal Ally: Wood Betony (Stachys officinalis) 🌿

Wood Betony has been cherished for centuries as one of Europe's great healing herbs. Revered by herbalists from ancient Rome through the Middle Ages, it was once said, "Sell your coat and buy betony." It was considered a plant of protection for both the body and the spirit.

One of Wood Betony's greatest gifts is its deep affinity for the nervous system. It helps settle an overstimulated nervous system, encouraging the body to shift into its parasympathetic "rest and digest" state, where digestion, repair, and healing can take place. Wood Betony reminds us that the body heals when it feels safe.

Wood Betony also has a special affinity for the head. It has traditionally been used for headaches, migraines, and lingering effects of head trauma. It is a beautiful herb for those who feel scattered, disconnected, or like they're living too much in their heads. I think of Wood Betony as a plant that gently brings us back into our bodies. It offers a steady grounding when the mind is spiraling, helping us reconnect to the present moment.

This plant has become one of my cherished herbal allies. What began as a few small plants in my garden has grown into a flourishing patch, and with each passing season my relationship with it continues to deepen. I look forward to seeing what it has to teach me this year.

🌿 What plant has become an ally in your life?

🌫️ The wildfire smoke is back... let's support our bodies the best we can.

Even if the fires are hundreds of miles away, the tiny particles in wildfire smoke can still irritate our eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. While herbs cannot eliminate smoke exposure, they can offer gentle support while our bodies do the hard work of protecting us.

Here are a few of my favorite herbal allies during smoky days:

🌿 Mullein is one of my go to herbs for soothing dry, irritated lungs and supporting healthy respiratory function. I love it as a tea or tincture.

🌱 Plantain is often thought of as a skin herb, but it is also wonderful for irritated respiratory tissues. Herbalists have long valued plantain for its drawing qualities, helping to draw out irritants while soothing inflamed tissues. I like applying a tiny amount of plantain salve just inside the nostrils to help moisturize dry nasal passages, support the body's natural clearing processes, and create a protective barrier that can trap some airborne particles before they travel deeper into the respiratory tract. It is not a replacement for reducing smoke exposure, but it can be incredibly comforting.

💚 If you have purchased one of my Healing Salves, you already have plantain on hand. It works beautifully for this purpose.

🌲 White Pine is another favorite for opening the breath and supporting healthy respiratory function.

🌸 If the smoke has left your nose, throat, or lungs feeling dry, reach for marshmallow root, linden, or hibiscus. These moistening herbs are rich in mucilage and help soothe irritated tissues.

🌿 Fire season can also take a toll on our nervous system. Tulsi, chamomile, lemon balm, lavender, rose, and skullcap are wonderful allies for helping us stay calm and grounded during stressful times.

A few practical things I am doing:

🍃 Running air purifiers throughout the house.

🏡 Keeping the windows closed.

🚶‍♀️ Limiting outdoor activity when the air quality is poor.

💧 Staying extra hydrated with water, nourishing soups, and herbal teas. I am also focusing on colorful fruits and vegetables that provide antioxidants to support my body during smoke exposure.

Herbs are one piece of the puzzle, but reducing your exposure is still the most important step when the air quality is unhealthy.

If you are looking for more herbal ideas, these are two excellent resources:

🌿 Herbal Remedies Advice
https://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/herbs-for-wildfire-smoke.html

🌿 Mountain Rose Herbs
https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/herbs-for-fire-and-smoke

✨ What are you doing to support yourself and your family through the smoky days? I would love to hear your favorite herbal allies or simple practices in the comments!

🌿 Meet My Beloved Herbal Ally: Monarda 🌿(Monarda fistulosa & Monarda didyma)
Aka Bee Balm, Sweet Leaf, Wild Oregano, Oswego Tea

Every year I look forward to this harvest, and I'm so grateful to have this beautiful herbal ally back in my apothecary. 💜❤️

With so many incredible uses, it's no wonder I completely ran out of my Monarda last year!

A member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), Monarda carries many of the gifts we often associate with mints. It has cooling, aromatic qualities and has long been used by herbalists to support both the nervous and digestive systems.

Some of the ways I reach for Monarda include:
🌿 Supporting burning or hot, irritated discomfort
🌿 Helping support a healthy balance of yeast/Candida With it's antifungal properties
🌿 A favorite herb for supporting scar tissue and burning pain patterns
🌿 Easing upset stomachs with its carminative action
🌿 Including it in salves for ye**ty diaper rashes
🌿 Supporting ear health and occasionally using it in protocols for tinnitus
🌿 Traditionally used by some clinical herbalists to support Bartonella, a common Lyme disease co-infection.

One area of research I find especially fascinating is Monarda's potential role in supporting brain health and Alzheimer's disease. While we're still learning, it reminds me that our herbal allies continue to reveal new gifts alongside their long history of traditional use.

This season I made fresh tinctures of both Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) and Monarda didyma (Bee Balm). Traditionally, they're often used in very similar ways, but I'm curious to see whether they muscle test or resonate differently for different people in my practice.

As a bodyworker, Monarda is one of the herbs I reach for most often when working with burning pain patterns and supporting healthy tissue recovery around areas of scarring.

Every plant has a story, and every season brings another opportunity to deepen that relationship. 🌿✨

Have you ever grown Monarda in your garden? Which one do you have, Wild Bergamot or Bee Balm? I'd love to hear! 💜❤️

🌿 Beat the Heat with Bee Balm 🌺

When the summer sun has you feeling flushed, overheated, or sluggish, nature has a beautiful remedy growing right in the garden.

Bee balm (Monarda spp.) isn't just a favorite of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, it's also a wonderful cooling herb for people.

Like many members of the mint family, bee balm helps dispel excess heat from the body. While its flavor is warm, aromatic, and slightly spicy, its energetic action encourages the body to release heat by supporting gentle perspiration and opening the pores. This makes it especially lovely during hot summer days when you're feeling overheated or after spending time in the sun.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy it is as a cold herbal infusion.

🌺 Bee Balm Summer Infusion
A generous handful of fresh bee balm flowers and leaves (or 1–2 tablespoons dried)
Pour hot water over the herbs.
Cover and steep for 20–30 minutes.
Strain and chill.
Serve over ice with a slice of lemon or a few fresh berries for a refreshing herbal cooler.

Not only is it delicious, but bee balm also supports healthy digestion, soothes tension, and offers gentle antimicrobial properties. It's one of those herbs that nourishes both body and spirit while inviting us to slow down and savor the season.

As always, remember that herbs work best when we build a relationship with them. Take time to notice its vibrant crimson blossoms, breathe in its citrusy aroma, watch the pollinators gather, and then enjoy a cup yourself.

Sometimes the best way to cool off is from the inside out. 🌿💚

Do you have bee balm blooming in your garden? I'd love to hear your favorite way to enjoy it!

🌿 When the body is dry, the medicine is often moisture 💦

Have your kids ever had that dry, scratchy throat that’s worse at night… then turns into a barky little cough by morning?

That’s what we’ve been navigating this week.

After a long stretch of dry air and outdoor play, my kids started feeling it. That dry, scratchy throat, a barky cough… that slightly raw, irritated feeling that shows up at night and first thing in the morning.

Even their lips and skin were dry, it wasn’t just a sore throat, it was a whole dry, irritated tissue state.

Instead of jumping straight to “what kills this?”
I paused and asked:
👉 What do their tissues actually need?

The answer felt simple: soothing + moisture

So we turned to marshmallow root
a gentle, powerful demulcent that works by:
→ coating the throat
→ hydrating irritated tissues
→ calming inflammation without shutting the body down

I made a cold infusion
just fresh root + water, left to sit for a few hours

And when you strain it… it’s slightly silky
almost slippery

That’s the medicine ✨

Why cold instead of hot?
Because marshmallow is rich in mucilage, and heat can break some of that down
cool water helps preserve that soothing, coating quality

And tinctures don’t quite capture that same effect.

So the kids & I have been sipping it throughout the day with a little honey 💛

This is the kind of herbalism I teach:
🌱 not just “what herb for what symptom”
🌱 but learning to read patterns, like dry vs. moist, hot vs. cold
🌱 and choosing plants that restore balance, not override it

In this case:
dry environment + irritated throat = demulcent support

Simple. Effective. Rooted in nature.

💛 And maybe my favorite part…
This plant was growing right in our garden
and my child asked about it the day before we needed it

That’s how connection begins.

If you’re a mama wanting to learn how to use herbs like this at home, I’d love to connect with you 💛

What’s something your body has been asking for lately?

Have you ever worked with marshmallow root before?