#DIY Gift Idea: #Handmade Tea Bags / Tea Sachets Filled with Organic Tea

Keeping it short this time: I wanted to try making my own tea sachets filling them with homegrown and self-harvested tea. It turned out that making those tea sachets are easier and faster than I thought, and they turned out looking a lot better than I was hoping. 

Materials for a sachet: 

• fabrics, 
• scissors,
• cotton thread and needle.

(I've seen online that people make teabags from coffee filters as well.)

For decorating the free end of a thread - wherever your imagination flows. My imaginations found little black stones from a broken bracelet.

For filling: herbal tea and a teaspoon to make filling a sachet easier.

I put around 1 teaspoon of  herbs (maybe a bit more) in each sachet. My tea bags got filled with the mixture of raspberry leaves, chamomile, peppermint and catnip. 

I guess I know what I'm going to make as Christmas presents for friends this year :) 

I didn't take pictures of the process, but a lot of them of the result :) 

(Click on pictures to enlarge them)

Have you made tea bags at home? Any tips or tricks? 

Sedative Herbal Teas for Restful Sleep

Did you sleep well the last night? Have you ever thought how important sleep is? Do you know what happens to your brain and body when you sleep? Are you mesmerized by all that magic around dreaming? Since childhood I've been experimenting with my own sleep. Of course, firstly I cared about dreams - explaining them, understanding them, learning to master them - that's all because I had some dream interpretation dictionaries and vivid dreams. Basically, I was literally a sleeping psychonaut without really knowing what I'm doing. Later I got into dream periods that started to disturb me and didn't allow me to get restful sleep, so I had to find the way to master my sleep and understand  what happens to my brain and body when I'm asleep and how I could improve my sleep quality.  Sure, I had the answer in my hands even before I turned 20 - sedative, sleep inducing herbs! Herbal tea became my passion. Now I know that there is a lot more to do to improve my sleep quality and herbal tea is just a little piece of the entire puzzle, although a truly helpful and important piece. Sleep truly is a puzzle even when you ask about it to a scientist. 

When it comes to the science of sleep it's clear that sleep has a cyclic form that is related to brainwave activity and your entire body goes through different stages of relaxation. We also know that it's important to get quality sleep to let our brain and body grow, develop, rest and charge for functioning properly and working productively. Basically, that's all what the science actually tells us. Honestly, going through researches and studies conducted by people who are professionally educated in this field I've just found that sleep still is a pretty big mystery - a really charming mystery.

This time - sedative herbs that will help you to sleep better! Nope, that's not about herbs that induce dreams (and remembering them) - we will talk about it some other time. Right now - let's get to peaceful sleep with a cup of herbal tea!

• Meadowsweet - the smell of Meadowsweets alone can take you into relaxed state of mind - it's really sweet and calming, especially if you get into the meadow full of these precious flowers. Meadowsweet tea is a natural  painkiller that soothes your mind as well, helps to calm down, alleviate stress and fall asleep easier. Here is a short, informative article about Meadowsweet I've previously shared on this blog:  Calming and Sweet Scented Meadowsweet

• Chamomile - this little flower is the silent queen and probably the most popular  sedative tea that can be used by each and every one, including very sensitive people and children. It also has pain reliving properties, for example strong chamomile infusion will definitely help women to ease menstrual pain. Muscle spasms, rheumatic pain,  inflammation and insomnia can be treated by help of chamomile. I have never heard of anyone overdosing chamomile or getting sick of it. It really is mild and gentle, and helpful as well. It can be easily combined with other herbs to prepare tasty sedative herbal tea blends.

• Catnip - yes, the same herb that makes our little fellows cats to "get high". It doesn't get people "high" although some people who have tried to smoke it report pretty interesting effects of catnip on their mind. Now we are talking about tea made of catnip - tasty, sedative herb that alleviates headache and migraines, helps to fight cold and flu, reduces stress, anxiety and helps to beat insomnia. You can drink catnip tea or make tasty herbal blend combining catnip with chamomile. Little warning here: catnip also can have diuretic effects on your body. It means - if you are sensitive to diuretic herbs it might disturb your sleeping time as it will make you to wake up to go to the bathroom, but catnip definitely is not on the list of strongest diuretic herbs. It's definitely on the list of best sedative teas. 

• Hops - the same magic ingredient that's used to make beer, but it doesn't mean that beer would help you to get better night's sleep. Alcohol can make you to fall asleep faster, but it doesn't help your body to rest fully and peacefully while you are sleeping, not even that famous glass of wine right before bedtime. Beer won't help, while hops will do! Muscle spasms and cramps, anxiety and insomnia - hops tea can deal with them all. 

• St. John's Wort - effective (and scientifically recognized) natural anti-depressant that helps to fight appetite loss, tiredness, migraines, mood swings, muscle and nerve pains. This is interesting how one herb can be sedative and uplifting at the same time, but nature knows what it does. St. John's wort is balancing herb, but lack of  inner balance is the biggest trouble nowadays that cause insomnia and other sleeping disorders for people around the world. 

• Lemon Balm/Melissa - another calming, anxiety reducing and sleep quality improving herb. You can also combine lemon balm with other sleep improving herbs mentioned here. Besides helping you to sleep better, lemon balm improves digestion, decreases anxiety and, accordingly to scientific studies, helps to treat Alzheimer's disease.

• Valerian root - very strong natural sedative. So strong that it's not advised to use it too often. Stress, anxiety, insomnia - they really should get taken away by help of Valerian root tea as it works on your central nervous system. Basically if you are looking for sleep aid because you can't calm down your mind, stop worrying about past or future or have gone through very strong emotional experiences during the day etc. - reach our for Valerian root. I just wouldn't advice to make it a part of your daily before-sleep ritual - for that you have other herbs that are sedative, but not that strong that this one. If you are very sensitive  to different natural remedies, try it using a really small dose. Valerian root provides deep and restful sleep, although many users also report pretty crazy, vivid dreams after using it before bedtime. 

Any other tea? 

If you have some other natural, herbal tea at home and you are not sure if that wouldn't disturb your night's sleep there are some questions to ask (ask your tea and if it doesn't answer - probably Google search might help): 

1) Is it diuretic? If yes, don't drink before bedtime or you will have to wake up to run to the toilet. For example, dandelion and stinging nettle are well know diuretic herbs.

2) Does it contain caffeine? For example, green tea contains it. Caffeine is stimulant that can increase blood pressure and heart rate - such stimulants are good for your mornings, but definitely not an option for bedtime - they make it hard to fall asleep, not to mention that they might make you to wake up during the night.

That's my catnip and lemon balm growing indoors :)

Sleep is important. Take care of quality of your sleep, and your sleep will take care of reduced stress levels, increased energy, better health and productive brain! 

If you want to share your stories about these or some other herbal teas that you have tried for improving sleep, feel free to comment below the article! 

Nettle: Vitamin Dose On Your Dinner Table, in a Cup of Tea & in Bathroom

It's hard to get rid of them where they grow, you can't easily pick them, nor they have beautiful flowers, yet there is something to love them for: the health benefits they give. 

My mom used to make nettle soup early on spring when nothing is out of the ground yet, except little nettle heads, and this still is my favorite soup - always the first vitamin boost in spring I get from nettles.They are natural vitamin packages where you can find vitamins K and B2, iron, proteins, potassium, ascorbic acid, carotin, lecithin, histamine and others, and besides that this combination of good things into nettles has antimicrobial activity.

Get to know 

Urtica Dioica

Names: common nettle, stinging nettle

Where to find? Naturally grows in Europe, North America, Asia and some northern parts in Africa. They grow in forests and gardens, you can find them in backyards and around farmsteads. 

How to harvest? If you want to use fresh, raw nettles in your food, the best time for harvesting them is early on spring when they are almost the first plants that get out of the ground after the snow melts. The best time to harvest leaves or tops of nettles is when the plant is in flowers - from June to October (depending on the area, weather and other factors).You can use fresh nettles getting them right from the wilderness on your plate, you can keep them frozen in a cold storage or dry them. Use gloves and scissors to collect nettles, because even young nettles are stinging. 

What for?

• Nettles are among the greatest blood cleansers, they also help to get rid of physical weakness, tiredness, avitaminosis, they are stimulant and restorative remedies. 
• They are used to strengthen hair and treat dandruff. 
• In folk medicine nettles are well known for treating rheumatism, arthritis, hemorrhage, kidney disorders, internal bleeding, joint pain  and cough. 
• Due to high iron content nettles are also recommended to pregnant women. It's also known to increase fertility in both genders and increase the amount of milk in breastfeeding women.
• And one more thing: this is one of the top herbs to use for weight loss!

How to use?

• Fresh baby nettles make great vitamin tea with deep green color for spring avitaminosis and blood cleansing. You can use also dried herbs for making tea.
• Nettle extracts and infusions can be added to bath water to tone up the entire body, it can also be added to shampoos or simply hair rinsing water to strengthen hair and make it more glossy or applied on skin to relieve joint and muscle pain. 
• Fresh (or frozen) nettle leaves are good for salad (especially baby nettles), soups and stews. If you want to cut or add fresh nettles to salad, pour hot water over them to make them gentle and remove virulence.
• You can also make healthy, vitamin packed puree and pesto from nettle leaves.

Want to know how to harvest and store stinging nettle and other wild herbs? Check this article: Guide To Harvesting Wild Herbs

Natural Remedies For Cold and Cough

The cold winter already is gone this year, but the beginning of spring still is tricky. If you want to reach for pills when you have caught cold - stop it now! There are natural remedies that can help in a gentle way without harming your body and disrupting its natural balance. Yes, it has its own natural balance even when you have caught cold. Sometimes that's the only way your body can tell you "Please, stop for a minute!" We run, run, run and forget to take care of ourselves and our immune system, we catch cold and are forced to stop. By drugging yourself and eating pills one after another you don't help yourself. Here are some popular natural remedies that will help!

Firstly: protect yourself before you get hit by cold! Eat fresh, natural food as much as you can all year round and it will help to strengthen your immunity and pack you with vitamins for other seasons as well.

What you should include in your menu for cold season? My mom always taught me that garlic scares away not just vampires, but cold and viruses as well. She was right - smelly garlic and onions really don't let the cold come in. She also taught me that herbal teas with or without honey should be consumed daily in winter. Once again, she was right. Have you heard about the power of pine cone syrup? Well, let the summer come and I'll teach you have to make one - it's a great help if you want to get rid of cough, but this time about other things my mom taught me, I've learnt on my own and checked in practice. Nope, I'm to a "picture-perfect" and I catch cold as well from times to times, so here are my natural remedies:

Honey - if you have a sweet tooth, forget about sugar - add honey! Honey has its own healing powers already ancient Egyptians knew and appreciated. While honey is not recommended for infants, it's great for kids and adults. And when it comes to cough - honey has convincingly proved itself. Here are some options to make honey more powerful - infused honey:

• with ginger, lemon, cloves, cinnamon and cranberries. Cut ginger in small pieces, slice lemon, put in a jar cinnamon sticks, some cloves or cranberries and pour honey over it. You can use just one of these ingredients or combine together several of them depending on your taste, but they all make really healthy and tasty supplement for your tea or simply hot water. So choose whichever ingredients you want to mix with honey, cover the jar with a lid and let it rest for at least 3 days before using, but you can successfully keep this mixture in the fridge for up to 6 months. By the way, little jars with honey and other healthy pieces in it look great enough to make holiday gifts. 
• with onion. Really healthy option that fights cold and cough, although not that tasty one. Chop onion, mix with honey and give it some days for honey to squeeze the best out of onions before using.
• with Aloe Vera. Aloe Vera is another magical plant that should be grown in every home. Cut a leaf from Aloe Vera, with a spoon or knife take out the soft part and cut it in smaller pieces, pour over honey and give it at least a day to turn into healing infusion.
• with radish. This one smells really bad and tastes pretty disgusting, but it's the most powerful honey infusion for cough you would ever get. Honestly, some people simply can't get it inside because of its bad smell, but it has helped me to get rid of cough that didn't leave me for a month, so you also deserve to know how to make this natural remedy. Grate radish, mix with honey and leave for 1-2 days before using. Don't try to smell this mixture when you open the jar before using it, better hold your breath in, take one full tablespoon of this mixture 3 times a day and wash it down with water, tea or any juice. 

Steam inhalations are great to fight cough and rhinitis. When I was a child my mom used to boil potatoes with parings and when I was sick I had to cover my head with towel and inhale the steam for several minutes right after straining potatoes. I almost hated this procedure, but it helped. Well, now I've found some steam inhalations that are enjoyable a bit more than potato steam: 

• hot water with essential oils. Boil water, transfer it into a bowl and add into it some drops of eucalyptus or rosemary essential oils. Put your face over the bowl with water and oils, cover your head with a towel to keep the steam not going away from your face and inhale, if cough goes out, don't keep it inside - let it get out of you. Breathe deeply, and for rhinitis - breathe in only through your nose.
• hot herb infusions. Make strong, hot chamomile or rosemary tea and inhale the steam of it covering your head with a towel and breathing deeply.

Feet baths: 

• with sea salt. Bath your feet in hot water with sea salt while enjoying some herbal tea or reading a book! If you don't have any wounds or cuts, your feet will thank you for this procedure.
• with essential oils, especially good for colds are eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils, so add in a hot water a few drops of these and immerse your feet in there. 

Herbal teas:

• peppermint, chamomile, meadowsweet, coltsfoot, or waybread in any combination with honey and ginger root will keep cold away, but if you are already sick before sleep make a tea with valerian root and you can add also a bit of wormwood. Just a little warning about wormwood: add really just a little bit or your tea will be too bitter to drink it enjoying. 

Home made syrups: 

• So far I've discovered pine cone and waybread syrups. They taste good, you can intake them in spoons or add to hot drinks. I'm just waiting for summer now to show you how to make them at home. 

Clove essential oil on your feet:

• dilute clove essential oil with a carrier oil (olive, grapeseed, almond or coconut oils work well) approximately 1-2 drops of essential oil on 1 teaspoon carrier oil and apply on the bottom of your feet to keep them warm and comfortable. 

Additional reads: 

• You can also check my article I've previously shared on Leafshare: Natural Remedies to Keep Cold Away and Stay Healthy in Cold Season

• Here is another article I've shared 3 years ago: a little bit about honey, herbs, Riga Black Balsam and the magic of country where I live
• And another my article on "Be Natural, Stay Healthy" : 7 Ways to Treat Sore Throat With Natural Remedies

I hope you found something useful here! What are your favorite natural remedies for cold and cough? 

Calming and Sweet Scented Meadowsweet

Since childhood meadowsweet tea has been on the top of my favorite herbal teas. Firstly because I usually was the one to harvest meadowsweet flowers enjoying their truly sweet scent and they grew close to my home. Secondly, that's a tea even people with sweet-tooth can drink without adding any sweeteners. And thirdly, it has always helped to calm down my mind and get a good night's sleep. 

Obviously, I'm not the only one who loves this flower. Bees love to visit this flower to gather pollen, and this herb got almost a sacred place in pagan rituals. In those stinky centuries behind us when people had problems with hygiene due to the lack of clean water, meadowsweet was one of the most popular strewing herbs to improve the scent in rooms of aristocracy (as it contains aromatic essential oils). It's also used as a spice for food, added to jams, wines and beer and used to make medicine, for example, it contains substances that are used to make aspirin.

Get to know this sweet lady from countryside: 

Filipendula Ulmaria

Names: Mead Wort or Meadowsweet, Bridewort, Meadow Queen, Dropwort, Lady of the Meadow.

Where to find? It is native in Europe and Western Asia, but has been introduced and grows naturally in Northern America as well. It usually grows in moist meadows, forests and slopes and blooms in June-July with white-yellow flowers.

How to harvest? Harvest meadowseet flowers and dry them in warm, shadowy places avoiding direct sunlight. 

What for? Helpful to fight cold, flu, fever and bronchitis, get rid of bladder infections (due to it's diuretic qualities), relieves rheumatism, arthritis and joint pain. Meadowsweet is also well known for its' digestive properties, but sailicylic acid in its' content is a natural painkiller. It's a herb to use externally as well for irritated skin and fresh stalk and leaf infusion is used to wash hair to improve hair growth. One more great benefit of meadowsweet is its calming properties making it a perfect evening tea to ensure a good night's sleep (in case if it doesn't have too strong diuretic effects on you!). 

How to use? Make infusions to add to bath water, mix it in calming teas, add dried meadowsweet to home made soap  and dream pillows.

Take a note:

People with asthma shouldn't use this herb due to it's contents similarities with aspirin. 

Want to know how to harvest and store meadowsweet and other wild herbs? Check this article: Guide To Harvesting Wild Herbs

Mugwort - Simple, Yet Very Special Plant

There is a reason why mugwort has got a place on the title of this entire blog, so pretty obvious that the first post here should be dedicated to mugwort. 

I'm a dreamer, so the aromatic plant mugwort is. It's one of the most well-known dream herbs that enhance vivid dreams and lucid dreaming. I always loved mugwort whisks for sauna - it's a really gentle plant to birch your body with when you are going into sauna. After it I've always had very vivid dreams with bright pictures, and it happened before I got to know that this plant really has the magical power to influence dreaming process while you are asleep. The knowledge made me to love this plant even more, so I started to dig into information to get to know more. And that's what I got: already many centuries ago shamans and sorcerers used this herb in rituals to get messages from gods or guidance from higher powers while sleeping. Mugwort was considered the plant that carries feminine power and is related to Moon, so they smoked it, burned and smudged, drank its tea and slept on it - and magic happened. As scientists say, it's because within active ingredients in this plant there is a sedative - thujone. Well, thujone is in many other plants like sage as well, but I guess the key of why it works on our brain on such a way is not because of this one ingredient, but combination of ingredients what are in this plant.

The second reason why this herb got my attention is that it grows almost everywhere, it's easy to find it, it's pretty big, it doesn't have anything special to attract people, for example, no bright flowers, and mostly people consider it is a weed not a healing plant. 

So, get to know it:

Artemisia Vulgaris 

Names: Mugwort, St. John's Plant, Cronewort, Wild Wormwood, Sailors Tobacco and probably it has got even a lot more other names.

Where to find? It loves sun and nitrogenous, yet not too soggy soil, spreads by the root system, blooms from mid-summer until almost mid-autumn (of course, depending on the location and weather) and grows tall if the conditions are right. 

How to harvest? Harvesting mugwort is really easy: if you want to use it as a seasoning for food - harvest when it flowers, but if you are looking for it's healing powers - cut it shortly before flowering. Dry the plant tied in thin whisks simply hanging upside down in a dry warm place, but not in the direct sunlight. 

What for? Already long time it has been used for it's sedative powers for easing hysteria and epilepsy. It's anti-spasmodic pain reliever. It's a pretty helpful herb for women because it regulates menstrual cycle and eases menstrual pain, but it also is known as womb tonic, so pregnant women shouldn't use this herb because it can cause contractions. This herb eases digestive issues, removes stomach pain and is traditionally well known to help to get rid of intestine parasites, but baths with this plant, infused oils or tinctures will relieve joint pain.

How to use: Use mugwort for tea, dream pillows, make mugwort infused oils or tinctures, add it to soap if making it at home, apply fresh leaves on your body, take fresh mugwort with you into sauna or hot shower to release it's healing powers in heat. By the way, if you like the flavor of fresh mugwort sprouts - the first leaves of the young plant on spring, add a bit of them to salad! I have heard of mugwort's essential oil as well, just haven't found it yet, so if you have any experience with that, tell in comments! I'll definitely share some mugwort DIY recipes in this blog as well!

Remember: 

1. Do not use during pregnancy, while trying to get pregnant or breastfeeding!

2. Nothing does good to you if you use it too much. Sedative mugwort used in too big amounts can irritate nerves. Simply do not take it internally every day and if you chose to put it in a dream pillow, remember that very vivid dreams and lucid dreaming is nice, but doesn't let your brain to fully get its' rest time while you are sleeping.

3. If you want balance in your daily life, use everything in moderation - that's the wisdom from our ancestors who knew what their instincts told them.

Enjoy this simple, yet very special plant - mugwort really is worth to give it a try at least for a night filled with vivid dreams. Who knows - maybe it really might bring out life-changing messages from your own sub-consciousness that you can't access in other ways!

Update:
Want to know how to harvest and store mugwort? Check this article: Guide To Harvesting Wild Herbs