Community Supported Herbalism
DETOX Spring Basket Program
Prepared by Amber Friedman
DETOX time. Springtime is known in the herbal kingdom as the time to DETOX. If you listen to the plants, they are all inviting you in to eat bitter roots, strengthen up with nettles, cleanse for the new season. Every item in this month’s basket was created to support you in your cleaning up process. Detoxing can sometimes make you feel a little off, because the toxins are all pouring out of your body. Be gentle with yourself as you begin your DETOX journey.
Dead Sea Salt Soak is a filled with natural healing elements. Dead Sea Salt contains 21 minerals including magnesium, calcium, sulfur, bromide, iodine, sodium, zinc, potassium. Magnesium is important for both combating stress and fluid retention, slowing skin aging, and calming the nervous system. Calcium is effective at preventing water retention, increasing circulation, and strengthening bones and nails. Potassium energizes the body, helps to balance skin moisture, and is a crucial mineral to replenish following intense exercise. Bromides act to ease muscle stiffness and relax muscles. In this DETOX bath salt soak there is the cleansing energy from powdered Douglas Fir Needles and Cypress essential oil.
DETOX Tea is a combination of Yellow Dock, Wild Yam, Vitex Berries, Sassafras, Dandelion Root + Leaf, Alfalfa Leaf and Lemon Balm. This is a liver based formula to flush out toxins, it also has some great bitter properties and hormone balancing support. This tea is made up from a lot of roots, when you are making tea from roots it is best to place 1 tbsp herbs to 1 cup water bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. I like to make it in big batches and keep some in the fridge to drink as iced tea.
Using Activated Charcoal in soap has a lot of amazing skin benefits. Charcoal soap has the ability to control facial oil and draw away the impurities that build up in the pores while removing dead cells. This is a great soap to help fights odours, soften and condition your skin, reduce pigmentation and draw out dirt and oil. Give this bar of DETOX soap a try on your face and the rest of your body. It has a bit of Tea Tree essential oil for added benefits.
Burdock + Dandelion Bitters was inspired by an orange bitters that I made last Spring. I made it with coconut sugar because that’s all I had in the house and the warm spicy sweet taste of the coconut sugar was just delicious. This year I mixed tinctures of Yellow Dock, Burdock Root and Dandelion Root together with a simple syrup made from coconut sugar and molasses. I wanted to use molasses because it aids the benefits of Yellow Dock. Yellow dock is an abundant weed and possibly one of the best herbs for the digestive system and liver. It contains biochelated iron which is readily absorbed thus making it a top notch herb for anemia and fatigue. This tincture is best taken before meals or in cocktails to help support the liver. You can take a dropperful a couple times a day, everyday, until it is gone.
