Oak trees (Quercus spp.) probably aren’t the first plants that come to your mind when you think of herbal medicine. But as today’s guest, Greg Monzel, shares, oak trees are more than bountiful with their gifts!
“Plant x for problem y” is how many people start out thinking about herbal medicine… and oak is not without this type of benefit. To give one example, oak is a powerful astringent that’s helpful as a wound wash and as an ingredient in tooth powder that can help to tighten up your gums.
But oak doesn’t stop there. It gives you an invitation to go deeper.
As a hub in the web of life, oak teaches you about connection… to the land and to the other creatures we share it with. If you have roots in the Northern hemisphere, acorns even give you a way to connect with your ancestors as you fuel your body. And the quiet, stately beauty of oak is a medicine in itself, a pleasure to spend time with.
To quote Greg, “For me, the most important medicine from oak is that giving, nourishing quality. It not only does that for the little bugs but turkey, squirrel, humans… everybody eats [acorns] and benefits.”
By the end of this episode, you’ll know:
► How to process acorns into flour (and why you’d want to)
► How to make a nutrient-dense treat from acorns (be sure to download your recipe card for acorn crackers!)
► When to work with red oak vs. white oak (and why)
At one point during this interview, I forgot I was doing a podcast. Instead I was caught up in all that Greg was sharing and simply there for the conversation. Here’s one of my favorite takeaways:
“We’re disconnected… We don’t feel connected to those same biscuits that you make from wheat flour or from the $.99 a pound bag of wheat compared to those dense acorn muffins that you can make where you know what tree you were under when you gathered those. You can smell the air again. You can see the squirrels scurrying around. You just feel connected to your land and to the place that you’re in.”
For those of you who don’t already know him, Greg Monzel is a student of nature with a gift for nourishing deep connections between people and plants. He first experienced the medicinal power of plants as a teenager when he successfully treated his chronic strep-throat with raw pineapple. He has been a practicing herbal educator, medicine maker, and grower since 2008. Greg and his wife Colleen co-founded Persimmon Herb School in 2015 to hold plant centered space and build a healing community.
If you’d like to hear more from Greg, which I highly recommend, then head to the show notes where you can get easy links for his website and social media. You can also find the transcript for this episode in the show notes.
I’m so happy to share our conversation with you today!
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On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.
Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.
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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.
