Relax, it's not that kind of May Day.

Chamomile.

The Romans called it ground apple, for its apple-y scent.

Personally, I think their noses were broken. I’ve never smelled apple from chamomile before. But I did smell something. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's just chamomile smell. But who am I to argue with Cesars, I'll just keep my opinions to myself.

The Germans called it something else, probably something hard to pronounce. Both varieties are nearly identical.

Chamomile is known as a soothing herb. It is effective for those with anxiety and nervous tension who just can’t relax, who are overly sensitive, or rarely satisfied.

I don’t know about you, but when I imagine the kind of person sipping chamomile tea, this is the image that comes to mind. I think of my 90 year old neighbor lady in the evening sipping a cup of tea next to a lamp as needlework is spread pleasingly across her lap. She sips the last of it, then turns off the radio that was playing Billie Holiday quietly beside her. She rises, and heads to a sweet, picturesque sleep under a colorful perfectly stitched quilt and a feather tick mattress.

It’s a great picture, isn’t it? But what does that have to do with our lives?

Chamomile helps soothe… duh.

But what do we, in the real world, need soothing for?

There is no time! There is too much stuff that we have to do!

Get the dishes out of the dishwasher, make the kid’s lunches for tomorrow, make sure everyone gets a shower, except for the dog, “Hey, get that dog out of the shower! That’s the last time I told you!” Turn off the TV, which mysteriously turns itself back on, fold clothes; find your car keys. Make sure you have food for dinner tomorrow, pull your sheets out of the dryer, along with your daughter’s Barbie dolls that her brother hid.

And then we wonder why when we collapse in bed we are tense as walnuts with lists and lists running through our minds and sleep far behind. 

What happens in our bodies when we are stressed and running around satisfying these task-master lists of ours?

Well the secondary functions take a back seat, while the primary ones get more blood.

Your brain, and heart are primary.

Fight or flight says that you have to think, and you have to run. But you don’t have to eat.

But things like you stomach, that’s secondary. So when you eat in stressed out mode, your stomach can’t break it down like it should. Now multiply this by all the times you are overtaxed and you wolf something down on the run.

Your stomach can’t digest it as well as it could. Neither can the rest of your organs that gets those vital stuffs from our food into our bodies. Liver, pancreas, gall bladder, small intestines, large intestines they all get the short end of the stick.

So chamomile is kind of like a reset button. It is a voice that says to your body,

“Well done, but now you can let go. Just live.”

It increases blood flow to your secondary systems that have been shoved on the back burner. Which translates to a whole bunch of digestive eases, like relieving;

• Mouth inflammations
• Stomach cramping and pain
• Bloating
• Irritable bowels (hey, what goes in, must come out)

Good things!

It also relaxes things that are constricted like muscles and blood vessels. 

What can de-constricted blood vessels relieve? 

Oh, not much… just stuff like headaches, stomach cramps, as well as menstrual cramps.

What about on the skin? Well thanks to German scientists, they discovered that chamomile is just a little bit antimicrobial. So put it on wounds, insect bites, or even eczema and it soothes while killing anything that may cause an infection (without the horrible pain of rubbing alcohol. Ow, Ow, Ow!).It’s also good for preventing swelling from bruises as well as soothing sunburned skin.

Chamomile is mild enough for babies. Chamomile in a nighttime bath helps baby sleep better. Chamomile can be used for babies who are teething, as well as colic-y.  

Moms to be, watch out for chamomile essential oil (which is actually a deep shade of blue!), it may send you running to the potty more if you take it while expecting.

But new moms who are dealing with the post-baby blues, drink lots of it, it is said to adhere to the same receptors in the brain as valium, but is milder and in no way addicting!

If you are deathly allergic to ragweed, there is a slight chance you may be allergic to chamomile too. 

Real, non processed chamomile is very potent. If you are able to harvest it yourself, dry it, and use it. It’ll be way more effective than store bought ones that you don’t know how old they are. 

Does age really make a difference? I'm glad you asked!

Think of herbs like bread, Fresh baked bread is great! Day old bread is ok. But two week/month/year old bread is sketchy.

Unfortunately herb companies are not bakers and don’t always say how old its been since the herb was harvested. But if you go wandering and pick the flower heads yourself (anytime in the summer that they are flowering) then you know exactly how they are dried, how they are stored, and how old are they. Rather than having that nagging thought of who is older, you or the herb

Wanna go flower picking?.

Chamomile flowers look like tiny daisies with a yellow disk and white small petals. . Most are smaller than the size of your pinky nail. The yellow part is typically rounded and the petals, rather than coming straight out from the flower, go back and point toward the stem. The flower heads are the most medicinally potent part of the plant, and scent filled too! There are many flowers on a plant

When gathering please show respect for the plant by not taking ever single flower Give the plant a chance to reproduce and live out it life. How would you like it if someone took all your flowers, huh?

Dry them by setting them on a cookie sheet, or other flat surface away from sunlight for up to two weeks. Make sure they are spread out and have room for air to circulate And don’t hesitate to swirl them around with your fingers as they dry. You’ll get that great apple smell. Or chamomile smell, depending on how your nose works.

Store in a zip-lock bag, or other container after the chamomile is dry and crumbly between your fingers. As it ages, keep in mind it'll lose it's potency. I have some that is 3 years old that still smells and works. But not nearly as well as freshly dried stuff. 

Until next week, may you take care of yourself happily.