Love in the Time of Coronavirus Part II

 

This is the place on my website where I share/have shared, for the past 10 years, words on art and ecology, healing and nature.  At least bi-annually I write on the process of making art as a sacred practice, my inspirations in nature, experiences as an artist and something about the ecology of the places where I hike.  Especially in regard to special places along my beloved Rio Grande and in the mountains of Albuquerque, the Sandias, the ever changing, often at sunset watermelon- colored mountains, I like to visit them in words as well.  

A gorgeous warm November day, the sun a white presence behind thin clouds, I have been like many, reflecting on this year, these quarantine days. What a strange year it has been. But in the midst of all that is irregular, I find myself repeating a gathering, for the second year in a row. Patches of Yerba Mansa in the woods are small offerings of calm.  I have collected a few dark pieces of the mansa root and started one batch of brew in October and will start another on the New Moon this coming Sunday.  The first one that I made is already dark and rich, I sampled a bit last night but thought it may be premature. I will keep that little jar in the dark for a couple more weeks at least.  This second one will be interesting to compare to the first and see if there is a difference in the harvest.  It’s recommmended that the roots soak in alcohol, in the dark, for a month or six weeks before it is ready to be a healing tincture. 

This patch is a place near to me, on the east side of the river where I often walk with my golden dog, Belle. The low growing plants are endangered due to lack of healthy habitat and so I have watched this patch for several years reluctant to take any of the roots. But last year a friend took me to a larger patch a bit farther south and on the other side of the river.  I have been grateful for that brew this year in 2020. Many evenings when I needed to settle my anxiety, and there was much this year, I would make a micro- cocktail with a teaspoon of the tincture and a little cherry juice. Like an aperitif, it would settle me down just a bit. I love the Yerba Mansa- especially its indescribable scent, a rich earthy smell, unique with a bit of a spicy high note. As a healing remedy it has been used for generations, this plant medicine also known as lizard tail, swamp root, manza, Anemopsis de Californie, and Anemia Californica.

Digging with a sturdy stick I find a place where the root is close to the surface and take a piece about three inches long, leaving some of it still hidden underground.  I re-cover what is exposed with some leaves that fell upon the area. A forest of bliss this place is for me, thin but full with many stories: coyote sightings, sandhill cranes in the winter, once a rare bobcat passed through and now, the cottonwoods ever magical presence a yellow canopy overhead just starting to fade. I have been walking through this bosque along the river for almost thirty years. 

Mansa prefers very wet soil or shallow water and I imagine the bosque floor must have been covered with it when the river was allowed to flood each spring.  Now the flood plain is controlled and there is little to no water in the river and very rarely flooding in the spring. In the three decades I have lived here, I have only seen a flood in spring twice.

I have been under the impression, perhaps the false impression, that the Yerba Mansa was used traditionally as a sedative but looking up the medicinal uses that is not how it is listed. Interesting, as I have been feeling that it is helpful in that regard but perhaps it was the Sotol, the agave nectar that it was made with, that actually settled me.  I find that it has been used to treat inflammation, so in that way, it is calming; as an antimicrobial; to treat gout; an excess of uric acid and as a poultice to relieve muscle swelling.  

Another source lists it as a remedy for the common cold, a pain-killer, for digestive problems and tuberculosis. There is a long list of medicinal uses listed by Michael Moore and other herbalists including chronic bronchitis, cough, anorexia, used in the forms of oils, tinctures and topical doses. Yerba mansa leaf tea and the root is used to treat uterine cancer, ease menstrual cramps, induce conception, and staunch excessive bleeding after childbirth (Bocek, 1984; Artschwager-Kay, 1996); as a treatment for other gynecological conditions including yeast infection, and vaginitis (Moore, 1989; Davidow, 1999); or to treat venereal sores and ulcers (Bean and Saubel, 1972) 

Michael Cottingham, clinical herbalist, says you can use Fresh Root Extract, which contains more medicinal aromatics. Make a “ 1:2 Fresh Root Extract, using at least 70% Alcohol as your menstrum or solvent. You can also, make a Dry Root Extract, using a 1:5 ratio, and at least 60% Alcohol as your solvent. There have been times when I have made a Whole Fresh Plant Extract, using Fresh Roots, Leaf, and Flower.” *

He says, “Yerba Mansa is so good at treating bacterial and viral infections, but excels at bacterial infections in ANY of the mucous membranes, especially when there is a lot of inflammation present!”

Use for:

#1  Rhinitis, sinusitis, or upper respiratory, inflamed and infected (bacteria) situations - 

Adult Dosage: 25 to 50 drops, up to 5 times a day. Add drops to big glasses of water for more effectiveness. Remember water is a vehicle and substance that creates movement. Water is an important remedy when treating inflamed and infected mucous membranes. 

#2 Joint Inflammation - Any kind, but if there is a suspected bacteria origin, even better! In Lyme Disease, the bacteria often lives in the joints of its host, causing super inflammation and pain. Yerba Mansa is well known in the Mexican Herbal Tradition for treating gout, arthritis, and just about any type of joint inflammation. 

Adult Dosage: 30 drops, up to 5 times a day. Again, always add to a big glass of water.

#3 Gum Inflammation, receding gums, periodontal disease, especially if from a bacterial presence. 

Adult Dosage: As a Mouth Rinse - add  30 drops of Yerba Mansa extract to a cup of saline (salt) water, and rinse and spit. Do this 2 times a day.  You can also take internally, an additional dose of 20 drops, up to 3 times a day, especially if your gum or mouth trouble is from a suspected bacterial infection (which most are!).

#4  Subacute head cold, with thick mucus. 

Adult Dosage: 30 drops of Fresh Root Extract in a warm glass of water, up to 5 times a day. Sometimes, a warm cup of Fresh Ginger Root Tea, with drops added is spectacular in its relief!

Good for what ails us during the time of the coronavirus. We are living through such uncertain times and it is comforting to me to find solace in the forest, through the rhythms of nature. At the changing of the leaves on the cottonwoods, the stillness of the Yerba Mansa plants below offer many different shades of brown as they transform in fall. A few sandhill cranes pass over us the next day when we return, a lone Great Blue Heron makes the screeching sound of a dinosaur and ducks squeek on the ponds. 

*Note: See September 17, 2015 at www.voyagebotanica.net Part 2, January 3, 2019 and January 30, 2020, The Spice of Life Tea by Michael Cottingham, clinical herbalist