Lemon Balm Tincture ~ Echinacea Tincture ~ Sage Tincture

Remember all of that lemon balm I grew?   I dehydrated it for teas and tincture making.   Well it's tincture time.  I'm making all three mentioned.  Only one will be made later, as it is currently out of stock and I did not grow it this year (echinacea).

Not only will they be utilized individually, but together.  I have a daughter who often gets canker sores in the fall, after school starts, and this combination is said to work.

You can read about the canker sore relief at LearningHerbs.

The lemon balm tincture can be helpful as a sleep aid, and a lemon balm tea can be used to help sweat out a fever. Lemon balm is soothing and also an astringent.  It helps relieve colds and flu.  It's also known for helping reduce a headache, and an aid to reduce or prevent cold sores.

The sage tincture aids healing sort throats and mouth irritations due to it's antiseptic and astringent qualities.

The echinacea tincture aids the healing process of wounds.  Echinacea has been known to purify the blood.

Random Tidbits

It cooled down quickly (woke up to the 40's) here, so home grown sweet potatoes, green bell peppers and garlic went into good use - sweet potato chili.  

After running into the basket in the kitchen too many times, my extent of "fall" decor was placing those hard-as-a-rock pie pumpkins on the porch ledge.  

The dead bolt on one of the doors broke.  I had to gently lay that news on Hubby.  It was stuck locked, and the latch to turn it broke.  Good thing I have another door to use. 

Avoiding the garden for the most part of the day, I baked some flourless brownies...

Whipped up some more whiskey butterscotch sauce....

Made a jar of homemade pumpkin pie spice.

Homemade pumpkin pie spice

3 Tbsp. organic ground cinnamon

2 tsp. organic ground ginger

2 tsp. organic ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. organic ground all-spice

1 1/2 tsp. organic ground cloves

Mix and store in an airtight container.  I used a recycled baby food jar that was given to me.

I baked my first pumpkin poke cake, making the cake mix from scratch and using homegrown pumpkin puree.  Oh, and used homemade whiskey butterscotch sauce for the filler.  I'll have another post with the recipe.

I lied about the tomatoes.  I went out to pull stakes and plants and ended up picking another 6#.  

I made more homemade "lysol" wipes.  I have a big cleaning day in my bedroom and just about anywhere else after that.

I planted parsley and basil seeds in my kitchen window pots.

Emptied the dehydrator of lemon balm and filled it up with parsley.  I love the smell of fresh parsley.  The stems went into the freezer for future broth/stock recipes.  Tip:  Tie the stems together and simply toss them into the pot or roaster pan you making your broth/stock in.

I whipped up some organic buttermilk corn bread.  I make my own buttermilk by measuring 1 cup of organic milk and adding 1 Tbsp. of organic lemon juice.  

Today's plan?  It all depends on the weather.  We woke up to a chilly 42°F.