Herbs in the Garden

Archive for the ‘Make Your Own Herbal Remedies’ Category

What’s mine?

When my gang gets sick I break out the Buck Tea!

I know that doesn’t sound very herbal.

It is, and I’ll share the easy recipe below. It’s really a lemony hot, spicy herb tea.

So why do we call it Buck Tea?

Years ago my older kids gave it that name in order to terrorize their younger siblings.

We raise goats and know very well the gross behaviors that bucks(intact male goats) engage in.

OK, they urinate all over themselves and drink it-leaving a stinky mess running down their beards and legs. Evidently this drives the girls wild. Go figure.

Knowing this and being threatened with having to drink something called ‘Buck Tea’ you’d have been terrorized too. As soon as someone felt rotten, or started with a cough or runny nose I made a batch of tea up.The kid’s conversations usually went something like this:

” You’re sick? Ha! Now YOU have to drink Buck Tea, muaahhhahaha”!

Followed by the victim’s sobs,weeping, mild hysteria, then sniffcoughwhimpersniff…sniff…

Thankfully they have all outgrown that stage.

If you want to make your own Buck Tea you’ll need just three ingredients:

A lemon.

some Dried Sage -Salvia officinalis:

and Cayenne Pepper power…I mean powder

Here we go-

You can make a cup at a time, or a pot full. I’ve listed approximate amounts of each ingredient for different quantities. I usually make it up in pots, but I make everyone drink it. You know-just to be on the safe side

To make a Mug:

1 TB dried sage

a wedge of lemon

Shake of cayenne

Honey or Stevia to sweeten

~~~~*~~~~

To make a jar…

1/2 cup dried sage

1/4 or 1/2 of a lemon (more cuts the sage flavor and makes it more lemony.

Dash or two..or three of Cayenne pepper

Honey or Stevia to sweeten your cup

~~~~*~~~~

For a pot (usually a 2-3 quart pot)

3/4 to 1 cup dried sage

1 or 2 lemons. If I have them I’ll use two for a full pot, I like the lemony flavor.

Shake-shake-shake-shake in your Cayenne*

*You want the tea ‘hot’ enough to clear sinuses, but not so spicy that your taste buds go up in flames.

“How To Make Buck Tea” for Mugs and Jars:

Put your sage into jar…you can use a strainer or tea ball if making yours in a mug.

Heat water to just boiling and pour hot water into mug, or jar.You can also be smart and lazy and just microwave the water in your mug or jar.

With a tea ball- load it up with sage, drop it in the hot water and bounce it up and down a lot to wet the sage.

In a jar you will mix the loose sage into the hot water. It will not want to mix in and will tend to float. Just keep pushing it down with a spoon. Within a minute or so it will start to absorb the water and settle down nicely. Squeeze in the lemon juice and toss the lemon rind into the jar. Really. Then poke it down.

Add the Cayenne and mix it.  Cover it. Let site for at least 15 minutes, longer if possible.

If the taste is too strong, add some water to your mug. Everyone here does that-except me. I’m a tough old bird.

Strain or remove tea ball.

Sweeten to taste.

“How to Make Buck Tea” by the Pot:

Add your sage to the pot, and then add about 5 or 6 times the water…so 1 cup of sage to 5 or 6 cups of water.

Add your cut lemons-squeezing in the juice and tossing the rinds into the pot.

Heat to almost boiling and add your Cayenne. Turn off heat,cover and let sit as long as possible before drinking-but 15 minutes anyway.

Strain

Sweeten to taste and water down if needed.

~~~~*~~~~

You can drink this through out the day whenever you feel a cold coming on-which is why I make big batches of it. We find when you first feel ill and begin drinking Buck Tea, it seems to completely knock out or at least slow down a virus.

You can also freeze Buck Tea!

I use small containers-one serving size each- and keep a few on hand. It saves time when someone needs it and I don’t have time to mix up a batch. Simply thaw, heat, and drink!

* This recipe is NOT set in stone! You just need the three components but if you want more lemon, use it! More Cayenne? Sure, go ahead! Want to make it in a Teletubbies Tea Cup? Why not!

If you try it, I hope this recipe helps you and your family feel better.

I’d love to hear about it…unless you have a horrible reaction to Sage, or peppers, or lemons, or something.

It started snowing earlier so I took a few shots of these Echinacea (or Purple Cone Flower) seeds heads before the snow got heavy.

I like to leave the seed heads on a lot of my flowers and herbs out in the garden. Birds and other creatures eat the seeds during the winter and then in the spring I always find lots of these little starts under my pine trees.  Why?

The birds nest in the pines! After the birds have eaten the Echinacea seeds, they get “gift wrapped” in bird poop and deposited beneath the trees.  It’s a sort of  messy little fertilizer package !

Since Echinacea won’t thrive on the heavy shade of the pine trees I end up yanking most of the volunteer starts, but occasionally I’ll replant some of them into a new herb bed. When the Echinacea plants are three years old I dig up the roots for tincture making. These plants will be dug up next fall.