A Winter Remedy

This week Emery and I have been busy harvesting herbs to bring in the house to dry. The cedar beam in the living room has many small bundles of herbs hanging from it. Its the perfect place to dry the herbs we grow, since the wood stove is not far from the beam. I used Mullein a lot in winter to chase away coughs and ear aches when the children were little, now we use less, but its still invaluable when you need it.

I decided to get busy and make my supply of herbal cough syrup for the winter. I set the pot on the stove and simmered some horehound, little bit of licorice, mullein, a bit of mint for flavor. After it simmers down to less than half the amount of liquid, I turn off the heat and add some wild cherry bark. I never like to heat up the cherry bark much, it looses its strength I think.. I strain it, and add honey to it. On occasion I have added a bit of rum or whiskey to it, but this time I didn't. It will get better with age and really helps with coughs. Never had a real recipe for it, just learned how from a friend of mine who was raised Amish. I suppose you could look on line and find something very similar. It feels good to be getting things done for the cold season

Herbs for cough syrup on the stove simmering