Respiratory Herbs For Wildfire Smoke

Join me on a personal journey, from the tranquil Oregon coast to the jarring reality of wildfires and their environmental toll.

I'll delve into the healing embrace of herbal allies like Mullein, Marshmallow, Elecampane, and Licorice Root for easing smoke-irritated lungs. We'll also explore familiar remedies like Thyme,

🌼Wondering what medicinal herbs you should grow for your family?
Grab this guide, Medicinal Herbs Every Mom Must Know & Grow! 
You'll learn how to grow them, and how you can use them. Time to start diggin' in the dirt momma!

🤧Allergy Season BITES! But with WishGarden Herbs Kick As* Allergy, it's a lot cooler!
They've blended the best herbs to help get rid of those itchy watery eyes, the sneezing, the coughing, and the wheezing, so you can go outside, and enjoy Spring again! Head to this link, and use code: ALLERGY20 for 20% off Kick As* Allergy products from WishGarden Herbs!

🍄Medicinal mushrooms have the power to completely transform your health, and our planet. But, quality does matter when you're seeking these fungi as medicine, and unfortunately, much of what's on the market today, isn't such great quality.  But, WholeSun Wellness is the best of the best out there. Try a tin of their Mycolites or any of their other top quality mushroom products here.

Transcript

Mel Mutterspaugh  00:04

Today's episode, goodness gracious, I think it just rings a little bit too true and close for comfort for me. So I actually am just returning from a wonderful week off where I went camping with my mom and my nieces and nephews and brother and sister and like the whole big family camp out shebang. And we were on the beautiful Oregon coast. It was nice and cool. The air was fresh and crisp. It was wonderful to check out tide pools and just watch all the kids play and giggle and laugh, and all of us adults too, it was really a great time. And then as we were driving back home, we decided to drive it north up Highway 101 and just cruise around the coast for a while. And then we went east towards where I live on Mount Hood and as we got further inland, we could feel the temperatures rising and the haze in the air from various wildfires from all around the west coast and definitely beyond. It just gave me this unsettling feeling. We were driving back on Thursday night and Friday, we had a little late night thunder and lightning storm around where I live that happened to ignite a big wildfire about five miles from my home. So I posted some stories on social media just showing the vision from behind my house, like blue sky on one side of the river and then like this massive plume of smoke and just the fire building. I'll say I do think that we're going to be okay and we're safe. But as far as losing our home and everything burning down around us, it is still  a few ridge ways away and they have all of their people on it because this particular forest area is a major watershed for Portland, Oregon for the Bull Run watershed. So they're putting all of their resources on this particular fire. So that being said, I do believe my family and I are safe. But the air is just gross. It is so gross. It is so thick, and it is hot, and it hurts to breathe. I just took a little drive to the store with my family today before recording this podcast and I could look at the trees and the leaves on the trees and I can see them speaking to each other and I can see them in pain and the leaves are already brown, which doesn't usually happen yet. It's like a quick turn of a brown not like a beautiful fall, color change. The ferns are dying off. And it's just so sad because I can see those trees, breathing in the smoke also and just saying oh my gosh, this is happening.  I know they are communicating about it. It is amazing and beautiful that they can communicate in such ways. And I get so stinking heartbroken about this wildfire season stuff.  I know that fire is an important part of what happens with this earth. But I can also say that it has just grown exponentially in the last decade or so. I remember a decade ago, I could have campfires for the majority of the summer and for the last five years we're not allowed to have campfires after June and it's not like I'm bummed out about not having a campfire right, like that's fine if it's going to do my part to make sure that our forests stay intact and no homes are burning down and cities aren't burning down, but it's just the fact that like, wow, that's how drastically things are changing. So where I live has always been known for being just incredibly luscious, and wet and moist and green and I'm watching that go away. It hurts my heart, it hurts my soul. It totally makes me want to cry. And I'm not going to cry on you in this episode, I promise, at least I think I promise. But what I am going to do is talk about herbs that we can use to support the respiratory tract if we are having to breathe in smoke from wildfires, or any kind of fire or other kinds of dry, irritating respiratory conditions that may happen. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  05:55

So as we go into it, I want to encourage you to think about the respiratory tract and the way herbs can work on the respiratory tract. It can get pretty deep and uncover it in some of my programs. But we'll do a little overview for today. So when we think about the respiratory tract, we're thinking about coughs, right and sometimes you can have a productive cough and that's when you are producing a lot of that like gnarly, nasty phlegmy stuff, right? Which actually that phlegm stuff getting out of you is really great. It's your body's way of getting rid of whatever pathogens may be inside invading your body. It's like, Hey, you don't belong in my lungs, get the heck out, I'm gonna trap you in this mucus. And then I'm gonna force you to cough it out. Pretty, pretty cool system that our body has created for that. But when we have that kind of productive cough and all of that phlegm, we're looking for more like expectorant herbs. Herbs that are going to loosen up the mucus and loosen up the phlegm and just help you expel all of that yuckiness out. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  07:03

We can also have an unproductive cough or a very dry, irritated, really scratchy sore throat, there is not much phlegm involved, but it's just very uncomfortable. It's very hot, it can be very painful, it can be very inflamed. And I am starting to feel this now as I was just out and about running errands today. And just even walking from the car to the store had to breathe in that air. And I can feel it right now. So this is definitely what will happen with all this smoke and it's not fun. So when this happens, this is when you want to consider a more demulcent or a cooling herb that will come in and soothe and coat your sore throat. So you could also consider things that are going to act as an antispasmodic for the cough reflex specifically, or like a suppressant of sorts, that are just going to help tone down the spasms that might happen if you are having a cough along with that dry raspy sore throat. So there's a few herbs that I really love to turn to in these situations. So we'll definitely cover them and then we'll cover some like, Hey, I have this on hand right now I don't have to like to go out and order it or anything crazy like that. What you could do from what might be in your kitchen cabinet right now. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  08:26

But before I get into the herbs, and my favorite herbs for the respiratory system, I kind of felt the desire to share this lovely quote that is from David Hoffman. He is an incredible herbalist and has one of my favorite books ever. It's Medical Herbalism. And I just love this quote, because it really speaks to the relationship we have to the plants and to this planet. And how it's really important that we start to wake up to this level of awareness and to our relationship with our ecosystem. "When we draw in a breath, we share that air with all other human beings and all other life on our planet. Through respiration, our oneness with trees becomes a manifest fact, and our communion with the oceans has an immediate impact. The reality of the planetary hole reveals itself with implications for all human life through the circulation of the gasses and the energy of the atmosphere. This vision underlies holistic healing as much as it does ecology. The anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system is a complex and beautiful embodiment of integration and wholeness." So, I just love that I think it is really, really beautiful. I often think of trees, as you know, they are our lungs. Right, so let's talk about the herbs that can help us with our own lungs. And collectively, the lungs have this beautiful and precious planet that is so mad at us these days. So I'll start with one that I think really gets all the claims to fame these days. I see it a lot on social media. And it's great because it is a magnificent herb to use. And we'll talk a little bit about certain ways you can prepare it. It's absolutely lovely and tends to grow in great abundance all over the place. So it's Mullein or Verbascum densiflorum.  I really do appreciate this plant and the ways that it can do so much work to soothe our respiratory system and just really ease that whole sore throat process. It's also great for just relaxing, that coughing reflex that I was talking about. So kind of being an antispasmodic for the respiratory tract. It's very, very nice. So when it comes to Mullein, you're going to use the flowers and the leaf for this particular kind of medicine. Of course, it's got many other medicinal properties throughout the whole plant. But that's a whole nother story to talk about. But when I'm using Mullein specifically for the respiratory tract, I prefer to drink tea over making a tincture and I've been seeing a lot of people making tincture and so excited because they're like, Yeah, I've got my sore throat tincture for the year. And it's kind of a bummer. Because what makes Mullein so great is the saponins and the mucilage that are inside of the plant and they are what is responsible for that like cooling, coating kind of feeling that you're going to get and when it's been made into a tincture. The problem is that tinctures are an alcohol based extract right and it is not able to extract the mucilage from a plant. And as far as the saponins go, it's like you have to have a very, very low alcohol percentage to extract the mucilage to be able to get that cooling kind of slimy or effect on your throat that we're looking for after a wildfire. So I dive so much deeper into what medicinal constituents and properties are soluble or extractable in what kind of solvents like alcohol and tinctures. That's one solvent. Water is another solvent in tea. Honey is a solvent, glycerin, and vinegar. Like there's, there's so many other ways that you can make medicines. But you do need to pair those particular constituents with what they're soluble in to make your medicines work well. So that's what I teach in Medicine Makin' Mammas for sure, if you want to check that out, you're welcome to if not just keep tuning in to this episode. And before I move on to another herb, I do want to talk about a little warning with Mullein and its leaves. So the leaves are really, really fuzzy, like they're so fuzzy, you almost want to snuggle them. But when I ran my herbal product line, we would make our respiratory rescue tea, which featured Mullein and a few other herbs we're going to talk about today. It was really irritating before the pandemic hit, we always had to wear respiratory masks when we made this tea, because all of that fuzz would get caught into our respiratory tract and cause a really irritating cough for the next few days. Or we'd wear long sleeves because that same fuzz would make your skin really, really itchy. And mind you we were making them on a you know, fairly decently large scale not like a huge scale but bigger than most people out there. So we do many pounds at a time of this particular blend. Yeah, so anyways, just be careful when you are making tea with Mullen if you've got a lot of it and you have a sensitive respiratory tract that those little fuzzy wuzzy guys might get caught in there. So be careful. Yeah, so I do love mullein. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  14:46

Another one that I love a lot. I talk about her a lot on this show because she's just got so many amazing medicinal properties and I hope that if you've been listening to The Herbalist's Path for a while, you're really starting to catch on to  how one herb can do so many different things for you beyond it's one claim to fame. Like Mullein its claim to fame is for the lungs, but it does do a lot more for the human body. And when you start to get to know those plants on that kind of level, you just have another level of empowerment and a much better toolbox, right? You have much better tools to work with when you know how to work with them really well. So that's kind of what we do in Kid Safe Herb Club like we dive deep for the month and just like really dig in on it. So that is pretty cool. Anyways, let's talk about Althaea officinalis or Marshmallow, which is in the Malvacea family.  It is in the Malva family, right? It's a Malva species. So that includes things like Hollyhocks and all the mallows out there. You can use them all medicinally I just love to speak about Althaea officinalis because it's got the highest concentration of these mucilaginous polysaccharides that are going to provide that cooling coating, soothing relief for the dry sore throat that gets really, really irritated by all this stinking smoke. So yeah, if you've got a common Mallow growing in your yard, you could totally use its leaves or its roots. And Hollyhocks, all those kinds of things. They're really, really beautiful plants to grow in your yard. So I highly recommend it if you don't already. But yes, the main reason again is because it is mucilaginous. So it's very cooling encoding and soothing for the respiratory tract specifically in this case, and is just going to work wonders right now. I love it so much. So this is another one where I did talk about the mucilage and the polysaccharides. The mucilaginous polysaccharides are soluble in water. So tea is my favorite vessel here. You can also add in like honey to all of these teas or you could infuse these herbs into the honey which is even better like a fresh marshmallow root honey is going to rock your world when it comes to any kind of dry sore throat I mean think about somebody who might have like emphysema or chronic bronchitis or something like that they'd probably be pretty darn happy with something like that. But you would want to try and use the fresh root so that's a whole nother artwork balance to work with. But I also know honey is delicious. So it adds that sweeter flavor but it also does a great job of cooling and coating the dry respiratory tract and other mucosal tissues. So it can be so helpful in this particular case.

Mel Mutterspaugh  14:46

And yeah, it's easy too. I will say to try to focus on a local raw honey, you're just gonna get a much better quality that way. Okay, another beautiful herb that will be really, really wonderful to have around when you are breathing wildfire smoke is elecampane. It can come in and do a really great job of just soothing the respiratory tract. It is more of an expectorant herb for that congested cough, the really phlegmy cough, but it's also really commonly used as a long term helper for people that are dealing with chronic coughing spasms or things like asthma or emphysema or smoker's cough. For this plant, I love to use the root. I will decoct it and turn it into tea. You can chew on the root if you want, you can infuse it in honey if you want, and it'll really, really enhance the value of whatever kind of respiratory blend you're making. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  19:12

Another one, I'm just rolling right on through these, that I love so much is licorice root or Glycyrrhiza glabra. Gosh, licorice has so many incredible medicinal properties to it, but for today's episode, we'll focus on how it's really great as a another demulcent herbs specific for the respiratory tract so it's going to soothe and coat and protect that more raspy sore throat that comes along with a wildfire smoke. When you drink Traditional Medicinals tea Throat Coat, you're often feeling some licorice in there. It's got a very nice, sweet flavor to it. Not like a Twizzlers, licorice but a much more delightful flavor to it. It is just incredible for sore throats. I love it, it really can harmonize a whole blend and make the rest of the blend taste great and amplify so many other medicinal properties as well. I will say if you're somebody that is dealing with high blood pressure or edema, or if you're on blood pressure lowering medications, or dealing with kidney failure, you want to avoid using licorice root. And for those in pregnancy, I would work with a practitioner that knows well what to do. You really need to be very specific on the dosage and pregnancy. So be cautious on those things. But if you're none of those other things, use the heck out of licorice because it is just an amazing plant it is so cool. And when you start to learn more about this particular plant, you'll just be like, Oh my gosh, I love licorice. Or maybe that's just me, I don't know. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  21:04

Okay, so those were four, like pretty powerful, herb geek herbs to talk about. So we talked about Mullein. We talked about the mallow family plans, or Althaea officinalis, we talked about elecampane and licorice root. And I just want to mention some of the herbs that might be really, really fantastic for you that are really easy to find, like things that you aren't going to have to go out on the hunt for and you're gonna be like, Oh, I have this in my kitchen cabinet. Things like thyme, a simple little thyme can help to ease the cough reflex and all of those spasms that can happen if you're inhaling smoke, or just have anything else disturbing the respiratory tract. It is an expectorant also, so it's going to loosen any stuck mucus or phlegm. But it is going to be helpful for you if that's what you have on hand and there's a wildfire going on around you and you're like I cannot hang with this. You could also do some herbal steams with it. That would be really nice. With thyme and a tea I would add as much honey as possible for the extra soothing because time can be a little bit drying and we don't really want the drying on a dry throat. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  22:24

So another one that's easy to come by fennel seed. Fennel seed has excellent mucilaginous properties, it's going to sweeten your tea right up, it's going to be delicious. It is specific for the respiratory tract as well. Also anise seed tastes a lot like phenol even more potent for the respiratory tract. Easy to find. It's in your grocery store. It's really nice and sweet. It's super palatable, the kiddos can hang with it, you're gonna be good to go with it. And then you know the herb that I love to talk about so darn much or the wild weed, plantain. Plantago majora or the lanceolata both have mucilaginous properties that can be quite beneficial when it comes to soothing a dry raspy sore throat. 

Mel Mutterspaugh  23:17

Okay, I feel like I've just been rambling about herbs, right, I guess that's what I chose to do for a living. But I do hope that if you are being affected by these wildfires that you and your family stay incredibly safe. I hope that the powers that be really finally wake up to the fact that climate change is real and we need to take action several decades ago. For me, that's why I came to herbalism. It was one way that I could do my part to make this world a better place to teach more people how to use plants as medicine for people like you. So thank you so much for tuning in to my podcast and listening to me ramble about herbs. I do believe that it is a way that we can all become more connected to nature and feel the importance of doing our part to protect and preserve this precious planet to make the shifts and the changes or the so called sacrifices necessary for all of the modern conveniences. We've all gotten so comfortable and cozy with like what changes and shifts can you make with yourself and your family? I'm doing as much as I can on my part so far, I'm sure actually there's probably more that I can do. And if you have recommendations, and you want to share them with me, I would love to hear from you. But yeah, yeah, I hope you guys are well. I pray for our beautiful earth and these trees and plants out there that are communicating with one another, and basically choking. Okay, thank you so much again for listening. If this episode taught you anything, please please share it with your friends and please leave me a review on Apple iTunes or wherever you listen to a podcast so that other people will see that you can get good information here. And yeah, when you share it, you're just helping make herbalism spread like wildflowers. And that is one tiny, tiny part to make this world a better place. Thank you again. Have an absolutely wonderful week. Bye.

Mel Mutterspaugh  25:47

Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the herbalist path. Being on this journey with you is absolutely incredible. If you dig this episode, please leave me a review on your favorite podcast player and share it with your friends so that together we can make herbalism #spreadlikewildflowers. On another note, I must mention that while I know you're getting some good info here, it's important to remember that this podcast is purely for entertainment and educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. While the information in this podcast is absolutely relevant. Herbs were different for each person and each condition. That's why I recommend you work with a qualified practitioner, whether that be another herbalist and naturopath or your doctor. So thank you again. I am truly honored that you're tuning into these episodes and on the path with me to make sure that there's an herbalist in every home again, don't forget to share this episode with your friends so that we can make herbalism #spreadlikewildflowers.