Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Goldenrod Oil









I first read about goldenrod oil at Witchen Kitchen and at Medicine Woman's Roots. Both of these excellent herbalists/wise women mentioned that goldenrod oil was good for achy muscles among other things. Since I have a bad shoulder (chronic) and nowadays a muscle spasm in my back when standing at the sink cleaning plants, and Michael has a carpal tunnel thumb problem from shelling zillions of beans, I decided to make some myself. That, of course, was earlier in the year, back in August/September when the goldenrod was goldening heartily.

Here's what Tammy of Witchen Kitchen has to say about it:

In addition to its use as a bath oil, I have also found Goldenrod oil to be a wonderful oil for working out tight, spasmed muscles and relieving pain. My neck tends to spasm from an old whiplash injury, so when it starts cramping really bad, giving me a headache, I just rub the oil deeply into the tissues and I am usually pain free soon after. And the pain doesn’t return for a long while. The drops of oil in the bath water just enhance this relaxing, pain-relieving effect all through the body.

And Kiva Rose of Medicine Woman's Roots:

Another resoundingly effective treatment has been with Goldenrod liniment/oil for muscular cramps. This has a wide range of external uses, from eyelid twitches to severe uterine cramps to separated muscles. I make a pain liniment with Goldenrod and Cottonwood/Poplar as primary ingredients that’s so effective and popular with clients that I can hardly keep it stocked . Again, take note, these are incredibly common plants that are easily used by anyone.

So I went out and collected goldenrod flowers, enough to make about a pint of the oil. Making an infused oil is easy. Place the flowers (or plant or root) into a clean, sterilized mason jar. Pour extra virgin olive oil over it to cover it thoroughly. Make sure you get all the air bubbles out by mixing up the plant and oil with a wooden spoon or something. Cap it and you're done.

For the goldenrod oil, I put the jar in the sun and let it work for 6 weeks, enough time for the oil to absorb the flower's properties. Then strain it carefully through a sieve and cheesecloth, and voila, goldenrod oil.

The first time I had Michael rub it on my spasming back, I was surprised--it worked! It stopped the spasm right away. From an awful pain to feeling good in seconds. Honestly, I never expected anything to work so fast. Then I put it on Michael's thumb and he said it felt better. We've been doing this daily, or whenever my back spasms and it seems to both of us to be pretty effective.

A friend was over last Friday, and he had a sore knuckle from the cold rainy weather. I told him I didn't know if it would work since it was more for muscles, and sure enough, it didn't work, at least not right away. About 15 minutes later, though, he told me it was better. The pain was not completely gone, but better. Hey, it's an herb, growing wild and free to me, so I'll settle for better! I gave him some to take home, as he said his wife has neck muscles soreness.

The constituents of goldenrod are as follows: Flavonoids, including kaempferol, rhamnetin, quercetin, quercitrin, astragalin, and afzetin; also saponins, essential oil, germacrene, pinene, limonene, hydoxycinnamic acid, caffeic acid, and tannins.

I don't know what all those things are, but some of them must be good, for this oil works for us. In an email with Tammy she mentioned mixing yarrow oil with the goldenrod oil, that the two oils work together and improve the resulting oil. Excellent! I'll make some goldenrod/yarrow oil next season.

Using the plants, hell, the "weeds" growing all around you is easy. All it takes is a bit of effort to learn the plants and what they are and do. Making your own simple medicines is also easy and cheap as the plants are readily available most of the year. Give it a try.

HM

7 comments:

Staying Alive said...

My favorite remedy. I could not belive how much this oil worked to relieve the pain in the joint of my thumb. I will talk people into using it as much as possible.

Michael

Patricia said...

Remind me, next year, when the goldenrod is lush again. :)
I'll surely make more than I did this year.
HM

Stephanie in AR said...

Wow, we could use some of that around here. Does the plant have to be a peak blossom? If so it may be too late.

Patricia said...

Hey Stephanie,

I don't know if it HAS to be peak, but obviously it would be better if it was. I got some slightly past peak, so I'd say go ahead and make it and see. Logic says it won't be as effective, if at all, but you won't know until you try.

I WISH I'd made more of this oil. I may have to order some goldenrod flowers from an herb supplier--Mountain Rose Herbs, or Penn Herb Co. or just check online if you're interested.

As folks say, your milage may vary. I am still surprised as how quickly and well it works. An herbalist friend says it might be the placebo effect. I said fine! :)
Good luck!
HM

Anonymous said...

Definitely NOT the placebo effect, otherwise it wouldn't work so well on small children, animals and unbelieving spouses ;)

I'm happy to see this use finally getting around, when I first introduced it a few years ago most people just stared at me as if I had three eyes LOL but jim mcdonald was kind enough to spread it around and other herbalists like Tammy (and you) have picked it up since then and passed it on. Yay for goldenrod!

Patricia said...

Bless you, Kiva Rose, for putting it out there in the first place! I think it is a remarkable remedy and next year I plan on making LOTS more of it. Just about everyone I know over 50 has aches and pains, and this would work for them. Thank you!
HM

Tina Philipa said...

I am very much happy to share to every viewers that is reading this,I want to inform the whole public of how I got help for my herpes, I wanted this since 6 months ago, I have also taken treatment from some doctor,few weeks back I came on the net to see if I will be able to get any information as to cure my herpes, on my search I saw various testimony of people who was helped by a great man called Dr Akhigbe and without any hesitation, I contacted him, I wrote to him and and he guided me, I asked him for solutions and he started the remedies for me and indeed 3 weeks after I started using the medicine, I was completely happy as it worked for me.I went to the hospital for check up and indeed I was declared negative from my disease, and I also waited again for two weeks and went back to another hospital for check up to be fully sure and to my great surprise I was still declared negative, and I decided to share this great opportunity to those people out there fighting this sickness, You can contact him now for your medicine to cure your diseases, contact his Email;  drrealakhigbe@gmail.com     or     Whatsapp     +2349010754824    website. http://drrealakhigbe.weebly.comDr  Akhigbe also cure diseases like..
HIV,  Herpes , Cancer,  Chronic Disease,  Asthma ,  Parkinson's disease,  External infection,  Als, progeria, common cold,  multiple sclerosis disease,   Nausea, Vomiting or Diarrhea, Heart Disease, meningitis, Esquizofrenia, Toxoplasmosis, Pulmonary Fibrosis,Diabetes,  Kidney Disease,  Lupus,  Epilepsy,   Stroke,Eczema, Erysipelas, Tetanus,  Eating Disorder,  Back Pain. Osteoporosis etccontact him for your solution.