All about the very cool medicinal qualities of chickweed. Plus exciting announcement about the Queer Plants zine!

Links & resources from this episode

• Buy the Queer Plants Zine
• Kes Otter Lieffe
• Anja Van Geert
• Kes's podcast - Margins & Murmurations
• Prisoner’s Herbal Book
• Testimonial form
• Solidarity Apothecary newsletter & wait list for the Herbalism, PTSD & traumatic stress course

Find them all at solidarityapothecary.org/podcast/

Support the show

Music from Sole & DJ Pain – Battle of Humans | Plant illustrations by @amani_writes | In solidarity, please subscribe, rate & review this podcast wherever you listen.

Welcome to the Frontline

Herbalism podcast with your host Nicole

Rose from the Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all

things plants and liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello everyone.

How are you doing?

I'm sorry for my absence.

I've actually had the flu, been in bed

for like five days, had a fever and bad

body aches and sore throat and stuff.

Kept testing negative for covid, but.

Yeah, I think I've just been doing a

classic Nicole of burning the candle

at both ends like I do sometimes.

And with the like changing seasons

and it getting colder and stuff.

I think literally everyone I know

at the moment has say, thankfully I

had my herbs and was able to rest.

So this episode this

week is about chickweed.

It's another chapter from the Prisoner's

Herbal book, and when I was visiting

Ryan Dwyer, who's a prisoner, From the

kill the Bill Riot in Bristol last year.

, he's doing a four and

a half year sentence.

He's an absolute dreamboat babe.

We get on so well, like friendship

wise and politically, he's so kind.

, but when I was visiting him

in HMP Rochester, which is a

very strange prison for me.

Cause I went there when I was like 17

year, 17 years old to visit a ex-boyfriend

when he was in the young offenders.

So it was like, oh my God,

am I still doing this?

Is this still my life?

But it was a really nice visit and when I

was outside I saw some chickweed growing

through the cracks outside the prison.

And I was like, you babe.

, so I took a picture.

But yeah, I mean, everyone looks

to me like, why the hell are you,

like taking photos of the curb?

But, I thought it looked super cute.

So yeah, this episode's

all about chickweed.

As for me, other than being sick, I

had an amazing, , day in Birmingham.

Doing a workshop about herbalism

and sort of traumatic stress and the

nervous system with a group of women

from, the Minerva Community Garden.

And it was just, yeah,

it was just amazing.

We got to talk about just different

things about the nervous system,

giving that stuff a bit of language,

looking at the effects of like sort of

chronic stress on our bodies and like

how herbs can help shape that in terms

of like responding to inflammation

or supporting us to move into.

Parasympathetic nervous system

states and so many other things.

But, , they were, yeah,

a really awesome group.

And, , yeah, it was like

a real pleasure to be.

And it was nice because it was paid.

So that was amazing and I got to see

some amazing friends in Birmingham

who I hadn't seen for a long time.

And then, yeah, came back and had

prison visit with my best friend Sam.

I also saw her yesterday,

so that was really amazing.

I've been working really hard on an

online course about herbalism and PTSD

and traumatic stress , not gonna talk

about it loads because I'm gonna do

like a proper, you know, promotion

thing about it when it's ready.

But it's gonna be a kind of like an

offering, something that I've always

wanted to give to people that I support

one to one or you know, prisoner families.

Like I think we take it for granted

on Instagram or whatever, that

everyone has this like language and

understanding the nervous system and

all this like geeky polyvagal stuff.

But actually like most people like don't

have a fucking clue about that stuff.

Like, you know, I had no idea

about that stuff before I got

chronically sick a few years ago.

And you know, when I was like in

acute PTSD land, like I didn't have

that language of understanding like,

Oh, this is me in this kind of state

and this is me in this state and

this is what moves me to this state.

Like it just wasn't there.

And unless we have that kind of language

and those tools, it's like quite

difficult to understand like the millions

of different options with plants and

how they can support you, you know?

Because you might take one herb and

it calms you down, but actually it has

like a hypnotic feeling and that makes

you feel incredibly unsafe because

you feel kind of like dissociated and

knocked out or drugged or whatever.

So it's.

Yeah, I think it's quite complicated

and I wanted to just do like a quick

little workshop, you know, like I'm

super broke after like, Taylor dying

and like not being able to like open my,

like proper clinic and all these things.

, so I was like, right, I'll just, you

know, I'll try and do like a quick online

workshop up and share it, and it'll

just give me a little boost to keep me

going, and then I'll do a proper thing.

But, you know, as I've been

making it, I just, you just

can't take shortcuts, right?

Like you , you know, even just to

explain like the properties of a

plant is like, involves quite a lot

of like foundational knowledge of.

What do we mean by cooling?

Or what does this constituent

do, or what is a tincture?

Like there's so much stuff there.

So anyway, it's kind of getting bigger

and bigger and bigger as an offering.

And I'm using like, , a kind of

other workshop that I did with

a kind of anarchist network.

About like radical responses

to traumatic stress.

So it's not just about the individual,

it's also about how we organize,

like how we fight to kind of

abolish things that have traumatised

us, like prisons, for example.

, how can we do things like

resting or releasing tension

like in collective spaces?

Like, you know, just like all the

things, like recognizing all the like

systemic factors that drive traumatic

stress or create these nervous systems

and recognizing that like, PTSD is

like a real like western concept.

Like lots of people like are actually not

in places of safety and they're not in a

kind of post stage, if that makes sense.

So anyway, I've blathered about it, but

I think it is gonna be really great and

I'm actually, yeah, it's feeling very

healing, making it and yeah, very, I

dunno, I think I'm hoping people will

like receive it and I think the workshop

at the community garden, like validated

to me that like, it's really needed.

Like, you know, everyone has this

like imposter syndrome stuff, right?

Of I'm not good enough, I don't know

enough, I haven't been practicing long

enough, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But it's like, Yeah, you do.

You know, you can know a lot and you

can be very experienced in different

things with your own body, with friends

and family, with patients or clients

or, you know, whatever language we

use for people that we support, and

I've definitely supported all sorts of

people in like very traumatic, difficult

situations and, , Yeah, I probably still

make a lot of mistakes, , but I would

like to think that, you know, there's

like some level of toolkit at the moment

that I can, can offer with people.

So I really want it to have it launched

by now, but it's just not ready.

So I'm hoping maybe in the new year,

Let me know if you're interested.

I can add you to the waiting list.

, you can also sign up to my newsletter

where I'll like definitely announce it.

It might be that I kind of like

launch it as like a closed group

thing or just like a small group

of people to get their feedback.

So yeah, let me know if you would be keen.

So sadly we had to postpone the interview

because of me having the flu, but I

will, I will try and interview them soon.

But my close friends have

launched this absolutely beautiful

and amazing, little book.

It's kind of like a coloring scene

called Queer Plants, brackets and

Friends, and it's by my friends Kes

Otter Lieffe and Anja Van Geert.

They are an amazing duo.

They made their queer

animals coloring zine.

Maybe you've seen it on my website.

It's just such like a

gorgeous, delicious offering.

Yeah, it's such a gorgeous zine.

I'm just gonna read, , the back cover.

Asexual, dandelions, sex Changing Willows,

boundary, smashing lichens, and a fungus

with over 20,000 sexes (kind of)..

This coloring book celebrates the

diversity of plants, fungi, coral, and

lichens, and the beautiful queerness that

exists even in the places we least expect.

Following on from queer animals

coloring zine, this entertaining

and educational resource created by

ecologists, Kes Otter Lieffe, and

richly illustrated by Anja Van Geert.

Is a cool for us to pay more attention

to the beautiful beings that's around us.

And these two cuties, they've done it as a

fundraiser for the Solidarity Apothecary.

So, , one pound from each scene goes,

goes to the solidarity, pottery, and

last year they raise like 850 quid,

which was just like fucking amazing.

And just, yeah, it enables like

so much medicine making for people

experiencing state violence.

So yeah, it's like super

kind of them and yeah.

Yeah, I'm really sad to not

release an interview this week.

But, , yeah, it's really gorgeous.

There's amazing things to color in.

There's like, , texts about different

plants and trees and mushrooms and

how they, you know, they change sex

or they're bisexual or, you know,

just, just really validating the fact

that like, The world is not straight.

The world is not binary, like queerness

exists everywhere in animal kingdom.

In the plant kingdom, you know,

every man in his dog left, right

and center is changing sex.

Like it is natural and it's

part of our world, and that

is beautiful and incredible.

, Yeah, so you can, I'll put

links, , both to the, where you can

order the zine and the show notes.

Yeah.

I also wanna say that Kes Otter

is like the most amazing writer.

She writes like, trans speculative

fiction, published I think three books

by now that are just like beautiful

adventures and novels with like trans

women in the centers, the kind of

protagonist and tales of resistance

and ecology and herbalism and yeah,

it's just, Such beautiful books.

She's also caught a podcast, called

Margins and Memorizations, and there's

interviews with different people about

queer ecology, trans herbalism, community

healing, loads of amazing things.

So I will put a link to

that in the show notes.

Please check it out.

and Anja does like incredible

breathwork sessions, supporting people.

Yeah.

As like, again, like a nervous

system tool for kind of healing and,

you know, surviving in this world.

So, yeah, I'll put, I'll put

both their websites in the

show notes again, very long.

So the other thing is I have

created like a way that people

can give testimonials on my books.

So if you have read Overcoming Burnout

or the Prisoner's Herbal, or you've

used the coloring book, or you've done

my Glycerine course, I would love it if

you could just spend like two minutes,

like writing a little testimonial for

my website, just like a little bit about

like, you know, what, what impact the

books had on you, like how you find

it, any kind of key learnings from

it, how you've used it in your life.

That would really, really help me.

Like, you know, like I'm not , I'm not

like an NGO or an organization like I just

like a single person, if that makes sense.

And I'm trying really hard to like

build a livelihood from this stuff and

trying to sell books so that we can

get more books to prisoners and trying

to, you know, spend my time doing,

like, work with the clinic in Calais

and in Poland and yeah, it's a lot.

And I would just really

value people's support.

So if you can fill that

in, that would be amazing.

Anyway, onto the gorgeous chickweed.

And the final thing is I'm not actually

gonna be at home the next three weeks.

So today and tomorrow is the last

chance to order anything of me before

Christmas , sorry for the short notice.

I wanted to like, you know, share

this last week, but we're sick.

, So yeah, if you wanna order a book, I can

post it out tomorrow or Wednesday morning.

But other than that, I'm not gonna

be back till the end of the month.

So I am shooting myself in the foot, like

missing the whole Christmas season thing.

But , yeah, I also will be sharing

what I'm doing like in the next

episode, hopefully so yeah.

Anyway, on with the show and this

is all about the amazing Chickweed.

The gorgeous Chickweed.

Okay, so Latin names Stellaria media.

Plant family is Caria the Carnation

family identification, small white style

like flowers that have five petals,

a single line of hairs on the stems.

Low growing clumps form

from 10 to 40 centimeters.

The herb blooms from March until November.

However, in our changing climate, I

found it in flower in early January.

Other species.

There are lots of similar

chickweeds and stitchworts.

Mouse ears have similar flowers

and petals but are hairy all over.

Folk names in English.

Starweed, fliodh in Irish.

Sorry if I miss pronounce that.

cosmopolitan weed, chick

wittles, clucken wort.

chickney weed, tongue grass,

winterweed, satinflower.

white birds eye, adder’s mouth,

stichwort and shirt buttons.

Stellar means star in Latin, as seen in

the gorgeous, tiny star shaped flowers.

This plant has chemical constituents,

minerals, including silica, vitamin C,

a, b, mucilage, saponins and fatty acids.

Food and nutrition.

Chickweed was once sold as a

vegetable on the streets of London,

is delicious, raw and in salads,

but can also be added to dishes like

tabul, soups, pestos, and curry.

Chickweed can be very high in

aluminium, iron, magnesium,

manganese, silicon, and zinc.

It is also high in calcium,

cobalt, phosphorous, potassium,

protein, sodium and vitamin A.

I commonly make chickweed

vinegar as vinegar is a great

way to extract minerals.

Ecological role.

Chickweed is an annual plant.

Ben Averis references Chickweed

is being found mainly on nutrient

rich soils and disturbed places.

Waste ground, road size,

field margins, gardens, stony

Seashores, and seabird cliffs.

In my experience, Chickweed

mostly grows on bare soils.

Where the soil is likely

contaminated or low, nutrient

chickweed will be sparse and small.

When it's in a garden bed with

a with a soil rich and organic

matter chickweed will grow across

like a carpet and be incredibly

happy, spreading wider and wider

. Folklore.

In Hatfield's Herbal, chickweed is

described as a weather forecaster

when it's flowers and leaves open

fully, good weather can be expected.

If it should shut up, the traveler

is to put on his great coat.

Apparently, even the seed capsules close

up tightly in wet weather cultivation.

I have never grown chickweed from seed,

as it always brings up everywhere.

If you want to introduce it, then it

is best directly sewing by seed into

the soil, ideally with some compost.

Once you have it, it will self sow.

Energetics, temperature, cool.

Moisture, moist.

Tissue states dry atrophy

and damp stagnation.

Taste chickweed, tastes very grassy.

It is quite sweet and moist

with a very gentle bitterness.

Herbal actions.

Alterative, anti-inflammatory,

antipruritic, antiseptic,

astringent, carminative, demulcent,

discutient,diuretic, emollient,

expectorant, febrifuge, hepatic,

laxative, mucolytic, nutritive,

pectoral, refrigerant, vulnerary.

Health challenges supported by chickweed.

Skin complaints externally.

Chickweed has been used to

sooth it, itches bites, stings,

inflammations, burns, swelling,

sunburn, bruises, and splinters.

It can be made into a skin lotion

or infused oil for itching and

inflamed skin, as well as being

mold made into a poultice.

Chickweed has a cooling and drawing

action when made into a poultice.

Chickweed can be used for its drawing

function on boils and abscesses.

Be sure to replace every few hours.

Chickweed can be added to bath

and soaks and soaks if the area

of inflamed skin is extensive.

Herbalist Mark Pedersen describes

how externally these saponins help

solubilize toxins in abscesses and rashes

and helps increase the effectiveness

of bacteria size by increasing the

permeability of the cell walls.

In their incredible overview of medicinal

plant records in Britain and Ireland.

David E.

Allen and Gabrielle Hatfield

described the many uses of chickweed

referencing historical documents.

By far, the commonest of those is

in the form of a mat as a hot and

relaxing poultice to reduce swellings,

including those sprains and mumps

and other forms of inflammation.

Most records share similar uses

of chickweed for, for the skin

and inflammation, however, is

described as a significant remedy for

insomnia in the Scottish Highlands.

Irritated and hot conditions.

Chickweed's primary cooling and anti-itch

actions can be used for absolutely

any hot, irritated, itchy conditions.

This includes thrash,

hemorrhoids, rashes, and eczema.

It can also be a very cooling plant

for hot and fiery people in general

who need to cool and channel their fire

. For inflamed eyes.

Chickweed is an ally for eye

inflammation, including itchiness

as a cleanser and restorer.

Chickweed can also support

inflammatory conditions internally.

Herbalist, Julie Bruton-Seal and

Matthew Seal say that Saponins work

at a cellular level to increase

absorption and permeability.

What this means is that inflamed

organ membranes as in the liver,

kidney, and lungs, are helped by

saponins to absorb healing nutrients

as well as allowing their waste and

blockages to be more easily removed.

They continue to say that Chickweed

works well on hot inflammatory

conditions and problems like gastritis,

colitis, congested chest block,

kidneys, and gallbladder, and piles.

They say it has an affinity for the

lungs for sore throats, bronchitis,

asthma, irritable dry coughs,

and other respiratory conditions.

According to herbalist, Zoe Hawes

Chickweed can also be dried and made

into infusions for rheumatic conditions.

An old wives tale is that chickweed

can be used as an ally to loose weight.

Some herbalist attribute to how

it stimulates the metabolism

and the breakdown of fat cysts.

Chickweed can also be made into a fresh

herb tincture, chickweed tincture when

used for extended periods can dissolve

cysts, especially ovarian cysts.

I mean, yeah, bit of caution with that.

Like I said, like the first section

is all about like diverse kind of

uses of chickweed through history.

But for something like cyst, you'd

really wanna be working with like

a clinical herbalist, , and having

regular checkups and scans and.

But yeah, the kind of like chickweed

in prison section is the more like

DIY section, if that makes sense

of things you can do yourself.

Okay.

Cautions.

Zoe Hawes says, do not take

chickweed if you have bleeding of the

stomach or intestines as chickweed

may aggravate this condition.

An extreme or excessive intake can

cause vomiting or diarrhea, which I've

never heard of, but you never know.

Right?

Better be on the safe.

Combines well with a really

nice salve for eczema.

Skin rushes and psoriasis can be made

with chickweed, chamomile and plantain.

Chickweed also combines well with nettle

and meadowsweet for rheumatic diseases.

How to practically use

chickweed in prison?

Where you might find chickweed.

Chickweed is going to be growing

on the soil rather than in a

path or in a crack in the wall.

You might find it living

under other plants.

It's very low growing.

It will like to be on bare

soil rather than in grass.

Nutrition.

Add chickweed to your food, whether it's

raw and salads or sandwiches or thrown

in when you were eating curries or stews

or whatever gloop you were served up.

I remember being given a single bread roll

with a packet of Marmite, which I hate.

Like I really fucking hate Marmite.

Sorry to swear, but it's just so gross.

Anyway, , for dinner over the weekends

in prison when we have had early

bang ups, like when you're locked in,

so it would be a good time to whip

out the greens I had saved from the

prison garden and eat them with bread.

I can now realize I'm actually

quite severely gluten intolerant.

, anyway.

Make a vinegar.

In some prisons, malt vinegar is

available to buy on the canteen.

Vinegar has an amazing ability to extract

minerals from plants, see guidelines

for how to make a herbal vinegar.

In the medicine making section, you'll

be left with vinegar that is full of

minerals, which you can use on food

or add a splash of it to hot water.

Boils and abscesses.

Generally on the outside,

ointments would be made up of

chickweed for skin conditions.

However, in prison you can make

fresh, fresh poultices and apply to

boils and absences, rashes, and skin

complaints like sunburn or eczema.

You can add chickweed to your bath

and or make a strong infusion of

chickweed and then add it to your

bath if a bath is not possible.

You can also place it on wherever

is affected with a compress.

Soak some material in the infusion

and place it over the area.

The juice pulp can also be

applied to any area of the skin

to soothe irritation sprains.

Soak a compress in a strong chickweed

infusion and wrap around the

sprain, itchy, or inflamed eyes.

Mash up the fresh plant and apply

the juicy pulp to a closed eye.

After 10 to 20 minutes, or when

the poultice becomes warm, remove

the poultice and and apply a

fresh poultice of chickweed.

For best results, this can be

re repeated multiple times and

over the course of several days.

Joint pain and rheumatism.

Drink chickweed tea internally, chest

infections, sore throats and dry coughs.

Drink a strong chickweed tea.

You can also use the tea as a

mouthwash to squish and spit.

Thanks so much for listening to

the Frontline Herbalism podcast.

You can find the transcript, the

links, all the resources from the show