Sharing the Knowledge

Vol.2 21 November 2015

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Dear Friends,

As You know, the Wild herbs have not only applications in cooking.
For thousands of years, people knew and continuously used these for medical and pharmaceutical purposes.
Apart from Chinese and more generally Asian medicine, the ancient Greeks, the Romans but also the subsequent civilizations through the centuries till the present day, had recognized and used the wild herbs in thousands of treatments.
Therefore, we will try - through the books we have - to gather the most of the basic information and details on the use and application of the wild herbs from our mythical land.
Please excuse any spelling and translation errors.
If you know more information and details about the wild herbs and if You 'ld like to share, please contact us!
We 'ld love to incorporate these in the existing ones and share further.

Wild Oregano from Taygetus Mountain

Oregano - Everything You need to know about

Oregano ,
Wild oregano, Rio, origan
Origanum Vulgare.
For dental pain and rheumatism.
The Greeks knew over thousands of years about the therapeutic value of oregano and used it internally by drinking the decoction of, for convulsions, poisoning, colic.
Externally used it to relief swellings that ached.
When hunters have killed a hare, always put on its belly a few sprigs of oregano in order not to smell until they 'll be back home.

During the years botanists and doctors discovered that Oregano has many interesting and very useful properties so in nowdays we know that it's an amazing herb!

The Useful parts of oregano: Whole plant while it's blooming.

We find it mainly in the wild landscapes and the appropriate time to the pick is from late May to September (depending always the altitude which it grows)
Then we just let it dry in a dark and dry place and store in glass jars.

Because Oregano has many uses, if You love this plant You 'll use it many times during the year.

You can find cultivated oregano in many stores.
But if you try - just once - wild oregano (as well as thyme and savory) then You 'll never return to the cultivated one!

Oregano 's substances: essential oil, thymol, carvacrol, Tannin, resin.
Properties and indications: tonic, appetizer, stimulant.
Sedative and antispasmodic in the pains of muscles and lung diseases.
Valuable for many problems of the stomach, particularly gastric atony.
Also stops diarrhea if you drink 1-2 cups of coffee of oregano decoction without honey.
The decoction of oregano combined with anise seeds (boiling a half teaspoon of each kind and adding half cup teaspoon honey) is the most effective drug when we aerophagy, bloating, and gasses in the stomach.
Analgesic in acute or chronic rheumatism, pains in muscles and joints (then we need to drink three cups with infusions a day and put warm poultices) and toothache (gargling or chewing a small sprig).
Expectorant (fluidizes sputum) and especially useful in chronic bronchitis and pertussis.
Antiseptic of the airways in asthma and tuberculosis of the lungs.
Astringent in intestinal disorders and abdominal pains.
Emmenagogue, in cases of amenorrhea (without being abortifacient).

Gathering by hand on avg altitude of 5500 ft on Taygetus mountain

How to use
As a decoction: Boil a teaspoon in a pot of water. Drink a cup at each meal or after.
Especially for gasses difficult to go, you should boil half teaspoon oregano and half teaspoon anise and start to drink when becoming lukewarm adding half a teaspoon of honey (it will help if immediately after circular caress our belly, in the opposite direction This clockwise).
Essential oil: Pour 2 -3 drops in a spoonful of honey, 2 -3 times a day.

For your bathroom is soothing and stimulant in whatever way you use it. You can or add twigs in the warm bath water, or boil a handful (30 grams - 1oz) oregano in a liter of water and add it in the warm bath water.
For pain in muscles and joints, you can put local hot poultices boiled oregano, which cover with warm bran.

An ideal lotion pains of rheumatism and general joint is as follows: 5ml of oregano essential oil and 95 ml of alcohol from rosemary. You can ask to prepare it in a homeopathic pharmacy (prescription by French Physician Valnet).

And don't forget:
Oregano is one of the most popular herbs in the Greek and Cypriot cuisine. Fresh or dried stems of oregano give the Mediterranean delicacies a wonderful flavor as they are one basic ingredients of Italian and French mixtures of herbs.
Oregano is very popular plant for its culinary properties, fits in most meats and fish, giving them a unique taste. It is among the best herbs for the kitchen as well as the core of any botanical collection.

Disclaimer
Although oregano has been used for centuries as both a culinary and medicinal herb,as
with any treatment or medication, oregano is a potent herb and should be used judiciously in consultation with your health care provider. It can interact with other medicines and when used as a medicine should be used only after consulting your pharmacist.

Wild Oregano blossoming between rocks at 5500ft.

Ways to use the Wild herbs

Decoction: We take the therapeutic part of the plant and boil with water. Usually, boil hard plant parts (roots, bark, stems, seeds).If is chopped need to boil only five minutes.The hard roots or peels should boil 15-20 minutes to give us all their beneficial properties.
Generally, for the herbs that you will not have special instructions, the time boil depends on the strength of plant tissues to heat.
Usually, boil 3 tablespoons to 2 cups water.
Then pass from the strainer and should be drunk within 12 hours, because after deteriorates and loses its therapeutic power.

Inject: It is the best method to obtain the pharmaceutical properties of the sensitive parts of the plants, flowers, and their leaves.
Once it starts water to boil, remove from heat and pour in the therapeutic part of the herb.
Leave it there from 10-20 minutes and then strain and use.
Alternatively, we can take boiling water over the herbs in a teapot that closes well and after 10-20 minutes filter and drink (not maintained).The conventional proportions (where there are no specific instructions for a herb) is from 1 to 3 teaspoons in a cup of water.

Tincture: Alcohol is the element which use as the solvent.
Alcohol dissolves the components without heating or boiling.
The tincture is maintained at glass tightly closed container away from heat light and air.
To make the tincture, take the therapeutic part of the herb and put it in a bottle with alcohol in a ratio generally 5 parts of white spirit 70 points for each plant part (which we will grind to a small mixer).
Let soak 5 to 15 days, and often shake the container.
After filter the tincture with a filter paper or blotting paper or with the filter for a French / American coffee and put into another bottle, where we can keep it for some time.
Tinctures should be used only in certain cases or for external use only.

Gargling: For irritations in the mouth, the tonsils, pharynx, and larynx made with infusion or decoction, but should not be too hot to have the desired results.

Extract: occurs when to evaporate a solution of the components, ie after putting medicinal plants to soak in water or alcohol, concentrated by evaporation and keep in a glass bottle.
When we want to use them pour a teaspoon in a cup of water.

Compress: To make a compress take a diluted piece of cloth or cotton and dip in the infusion, decoction, tincture, lotion etc and touching the part that we want from 5-15 minutes depending on the properties of the plant and the severity of the health problem .

Lotion: Becomes as infusion or decoction is used externally to the part needing treatment with gentle massage movements so that the skin can absorb it.
We even with lotions do liniments for the treatment of dermatoses and the scalp of the head (for example, hair loss or dandruff)

Bathrooms: Bathroom with herbs is usually very effective means of treatment because it allows the therapeutic properties of herbs and plants to have direct contact with the sore part.
But if something prevents us to go and stay whole for some time in the bathroom, then we can only immerse the hands or feet in water with the same beneficial effects on our body.
A practical way to prepare a bath for the feet and hands are: Boil 2 liters of water.Then, remove the water from the fire, put the herbs and wait 4-5 hours.
When you want to make the hand or foot bath, boil an additional 2 liters of water, which add to the previous infusion.
You can keep it in your refrigerator for a week and heat it daily, but without extra boil.
The best stuff is porcelain.Use plastic only if you don't have something else.

The best time for the bath feet is the morning on an empty stomach and the duration of 5-10 minutes.
The best temperature is what you can tolerate.
For the bath of hands the best time is in the evening before meals.
For the whole body, may prefer the more hot water you can tolerate.
Add the infusion into a full bathtub.
The English method recommends that you put the herbs in a small bag of white linen cloth and the tie under the tap of the bathtub, so when you open the hot water to fill the tub, the water passes through it.

Wild Oregano handpicked, washed on a mountain spring and dried naturally.

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