Our hands are red from hypericin, and our organic St John’s Wort is in high demand.
This unusually rainy week marked our first St John’s Wort harvest of the year. We know summer solstice is upon us when this herb is just on the edge of flowering. Named for St John the Baptist, whose feast is traditionally celebrated on June 24th, St John’s Wort is a signature of midsummer. Their bright yellow flowers open, guiding us across the threshold of spring into summer. The small bright blooms are reminiscent of the peak of the midsummer summer sun. The deep red color of hypericin, its main active constituent, is left behind on your fingers when you rub a flower bud and reminds us of the penetrating heat of fire.
Hypericum perforatum, the latin name for St John’s Wort, has a long history as a healing plant. Most people know St John’s Wort as a powerful herb for depression, even beating SSRIs in clinical trials for efficacy when taken internally.
Around here since we have limited amounts, most of what we reserve for our own use goes into making our organic St John’s Wort infused oil. This is the only infused oil we make which requires fresh herbs instead of dried. When we run out of St John’s Wort oil, we are all out till another summer solstice comes along! We think of this herb as a nervous system soother, both inside and out. For topical use, it is our go-to herb for nerve pain. Put it on burns (sunburns, stove burns, radiation treatment, burns, etc.) and you will experience surprising relief, as well as expedited healing. We combine it with other vulnerary and antimicrobial herbs to make our well-loved salves.
Though St John’s Wort (also called Klamath Weed in our region) has an invasive nature and is quite common along roadsides, it’s not always easy to find a clean place to harvest. If you want a reliable source of organic St John’s Wort for making your own medicine, sign up for our waitlist next January so you can be guaranteed of some of our fresh harvest next June.
Don’t want to do the work? Then snag some of our certified organic St John’s Wort oil, lovingly prepared in small batches and solar infused using cold pressed organic olive oil from California.
