Made with a blend of organic herbs: horsetail, oat straw, red clover, sage, raspberry leaf, nettles, blessed thistle, thyme, and rosemary. High in Silica, calcium, iron, selenium, zinc, magnesium, manganese, potassium, copper, niacin, phosphorus, vitamin A, C, K, and E.

We all know our food sources hold less nutrients than they use to. Over time our soils have been depleted. Even if you eat right sometimes you aren’t getting all the right vitamins and minerals. I source my herbs from reputable organic farms or I grow my own. They are loaded with some of the vitamins and minerals that we are lacking. Things to help with hair and nail growth, hormone fluctuations, body aches and more. Vitamins are water soluble so you need to steep your herbs in water in order to pull out vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately things like tinctures don’t work as well for pulling our the vitamins.

1-2 teaspoons in 8-10 oz. of hot water. Let it steep for 10 minutes. Drink 1-2 cups daily.

28 grams

Horsetail (equisetum arvense), also referred to as shave-grass, comes up in the early spring. They have a prehistoric look to them as they date back to the times of the dinosaurs, when it is said that horsetail grew the size of small trees. Now they are much smaller, but some can still reach 1-2 feet tall when fully grown. I think they look like something that the fairies live under. Horsetail in the medieval days were used as scouring tools to clean and polish metal and wood due to the abrasiveness of the silica.

Horsetail has two stems that grow. The first asparagus-like shoot that sprouts in the early spring is a fertile spore bearing stem and the second is the sterile green stem that is mostly hollow, except at the joints where it holds water. We use the green stem before it unfurls for medicine. The key is harvesting it early, before the green fringes droop more than 45 degrees (like an upside-down umbrella) because at that point the silica in it can become less bio-available and harsher on the kidneys, essentially making it toxic. Horsetail can bio-accumulate toxins and heavy metals from the soil so a person should take precautions where they harvest from. I have it growing on our property and have been harvesting it almost daily. I like to tincture it fresh and also dry it to use as tea. I typically harvest it during the first few weeks of May. It can be quite invasive as it spreads underground through its rhizome. Unfortunately, I have it growing next to my greenhouses (not by choice as I didn’t plant it). So, if you do decide to plant them just be cautious about where you put them.

Horsetail is great because of its high mineral content, mostly silica and calcium. This makes it great to use for things like tendon repair, sprains, cartilage, broken bones, and connective tissue. The silica helps to strengthen the muscular skeletal system by building up elasticity in the connective tissue. I used horsetail with a combination of other herbs after foot surgery in tea form to help with the healing process of the bones and tendons. For that same reason horsetail helps strengthen the cardiovascular system by building up the elasticity in connective tissue that makes up our arteries, heart, and veins. There have been some studies that have suggested using horsetail supplementation to help reduce the incidence of osteoporosis and some have seen benefits of using horsetail for brittle nails and hair loss. The silica in horsetail can also help to restore a worn out and depleted nervous system similar to that of milky oat tops (which is also high in silica).

Horsetail has many other uses.It is an excellent wound healer and can be used as a poultice or a wound wash and it can stop both internal and external bleeding. It can help with the expulsion of metabolic waste primarily through the kidneys. I have used it successfully in getting rid of some stubborn skin rashes - I think primarily because of its ability to move stagnation and get rid of the waste. Horsetail has astringent properties helping it to tone tissue and it helps to drain fluid from tissues by increasing urine output. It can be used in bed-wetting for children and also for weak bladder and dribbling. Some herbalists like Matthew Wood like to combine it with other herbs like gravel root for kidney stones. Horsetail is really great for the whole urinary system with its ability to tone and strengthen and it helps to add vitality back to depleted organs.

The silica in horsetail can be irritating on the GI system and the kidneys especially with long term use. It is recommended to use it in shorter duration or at a very low dose or pulse-dosing where you take it for 4 weeks and then take a week off. It is recommended not to eat the plant itself but to have it in tinctured form or in tea. It shouldn’t be used in children under the age of 2, by those with impaired renal and cardiac function, by those with prostate cancer, or by those that are suffering edema due to impaired kidney and heart function. It can deplete thiamine levels in people and livestock, especially horses that eat large amounts of it. You can take a b1 supplement to help with that and also give a B supplement to your livestock to avoid any issues.

Nettles (Urtica dioica)

I am sure there are some of you who know nettles as stinging nettles. Maybe you have walked through a patch of it or stuck your hand in some. That stinging, burning sensation that engulfs the area that it touched can’t be missed or forgotten. As a kid, I remember being out in the fields with the sheep and horses and it was one of the few plants that was never eaten - there it was in a clump all by itself.

Nettles grows in many conditions and places – it really isn’t limited.  You can find it where there was an old abandoned building, in fields, next to barns, in the garden, on the trail while hiking, or on the edge of compost piles. A lot of times you find it because you have bumped into it and feel the sting.  The stinging sensation and skin irritation can last for a few hours and sometimes you still feel it the next day or two. Herbs like jewelweed and plantain can help reduce the pain from the nettles’ sting; if any happens to be growing nearby you can bruise the leaves and rub it onto the affected area. The sting is caused from the formic acid that is in the tiny hairs that grow on the stem. Those tiny hairs penetrate the skin, break off from the plant, and then release their chemicals. Ouch!

Despite the sting, nettles are a great medicinal herb to use for a variety of purposes. Nettles has antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties making it great for seasonal allergies, hay fever, and asthma sufferers. Nettles is a good herb to start taking in the early spring, about 4-6 weeks before everything starts to go into bloom. The benefits of doing this is that you have a buildup in your body before the pollen from plants starts to show itself. I have also found it beneficial for dogs that suffer from allergies. The dried herb can be sprinkled into their food and consumed directly. Nettles is a good alterative which means it helps to purify the blood and eliminates waste so in turn it helps to detox the body. It is especially useful after a long winter of eating heavy food and not exercising as much. This makes drinking the tea or cooking with the young greens a great option in the early spring when using as a detox.

Nettles is an amazing herb used to support and strengthen the kidneys, adrenals, and prostate. It is highly nourishing to the blood and is beneficial for anemia. Because of the nutritional content and its ability to strengthen the adrenals it is good for afternoon lulls and can give you an energy boost when feeling fatigued. There have been some studies done using nettles for relief of lower urinary tract problems that have shown good results. Herbalist use nettles to help with reducing urinary frequency, strengthening kidney function, and to help decrease prostate size.  Nettles drunk as an infusion or used as a hair rinse, acts as a restorative for weak hair and to promote hair growth where there is hair loss. Nettles is also good after pregnancy as it helps to increase breast milk. Because of its astringent properties it can also help with the uterine bleeding. It can be used any time there is excessive bleeding in the body.

Nettles can also be used for gout and arthritis. If you are brave and purposely want to try rubbing nettles up against the skin it has been used by many cultures to help with gout and arthritis pain. In the case of gout, it helps to break up that uric acid that has formed into clusters in the joints.  There have been some beneficial clinical trials done using nettles cream for pain relief for osteoarthritis. During the summer I have purposely rubbed nettles onto my big toe for some gout pain and I have found relief - that doesn’t mean everyone should do it.

Nettles is best when harvested in the early spring. Using gloves and wearing a long sleeve shirt is recommended if you are going to try and harvest some yourself. Before harvesting make sure you are 100% certain what nettles looks like. Maybe take a foraging class or find a trained herbalist to help you identify it.  (This goes for any herbs that you are interested in foraging yourself.) You can harvest the leaves, stem, and roots. When you harvest the leaves and stem in the spring you can sauté or steam it just like you would spinach – personally I have a hard time doing this. I do add the dried leaf to my soup broths and will consume it like that. I really love nettles because of its medicinal properties but that it can also be used as a food, and it can be consumed daily. Some like to juice the new spring greens. It is high in minerals and vitamins like chlorophyll, iron, silica, and calcium. Nettles is best used as a tea, infusion, food, or tincture. The mineral and vitamin content of the plant is best utilized when used as a food or an infusion/tea as the water helps to draw out these properties. The seeds are also used and can be eaten directly. I typically harvest those at the end of August and into September. Honest weight sells nettles tea and the dried herb in the bulk section. You can also find the tincture and capsules in the wellness section.