Friday, May 1, 2015

"Homemaker's Helper" Herbal Tea ~ A Tiggy-winkle Tea Blend

"Then Mrs. Tiggy-winkle made tea—a cup for herself and a cup for Lucie. They sat before the fire on a bench and looked sideways at one another. Mrs. Tiggy-winkle's hand, holding the tea-cup, was very very brown, and very very wrinkly with the soap-suds; and all through her gown and her cap, there were hair-pins sticking wrong end out; so that Lucie didn't like to sit too near her."
~ The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter

{Welcome to our "Fun Friday Series" this spring featuring Beatrix Potter Inspired Posts!}

As we all know, Mrs. Tiggy-winkle is an excellent homemaker. One important thing she understood was that the body needed time to rest and nourish itself each day. Perhaps it was only 20 minutes but it makes all the difference to a busy hedgehog homemaker! Would you like to join us for a cup of her nourishing tea? She shares suggestions for each homemaking situation. Some of us need something to strengthen our systems (with a dose of iron and other vitamins and minerals) while others may require something to sooth those strained nerves and calm anxiety. As stress is constantly hard at work depleting our precious store of vitamins and minerals, the homemaker must replenish what we have lost to stay healthy and strong. Herbal tea is an excellent and gentle healer!


Because herbs are natural, your body will recognize and respond to them unlike a synthesized vitamin that may not be so readily absorbed. These are God's healing instruments and I am personally seeing benefits from their restoring abilities.

{Please don't be frightened by my weedy looking blend! It looks a bit more rustic since I dried many of the herbs myself and did not cut them to size.}


For a blend that nourishes the female body, mix together the following herbs (you can adjust amounts/proportions as necessary):

  • 2 c. lemon balm (nerve tonic; high in calcium, magnesium, B vitamins, protein)
  • 2 c. nettle (excellent tonic herb for women; rich source of iron, calcium, vitamin A)
  • 1 1/2 c. spearmint (stimulant; increases circulation, provide nutrients, increases vitality)
  • 1/2 c. peppermint (stimulant; increases circulation, provide nutrients, increases vitality)
  • 2 c. raspberry leaf (excellent tonic herb for women; rich source of vitamins, minerals such as calcium, iron, phosphorous, potassium and vitamins B, C, and E. Tones and nourishes the uterus and pelvic region.)


For a blend to sooth the nerves or alleviate anxiety, consider replacing the mints in the recipe above with some of the following (just keep in mind that the mint does keep it more palatable and less green tasting):

  • milky oats (nerve tonic; relieves anxiety and stress, depression, irritability)
  • borage (relieves anxiety and stress, good for combatting depression)
  • chamomile (nerve tonic; high in calcium, magnesium, B vitamins, protein)
  • lemon verbena (relieves tension, anxiety, stress, antioxidant, digestive tonic)
  • St. Johns-wort (nerve sedative; relaxes the nervous system, eases tension, encourages sleep)

{Note: This may seem pricey to purchase all these teas but keep in mind that I do not purchase expensive vitamins. And remember, you can always start with one herb that really speaks to your needs and begin using it and slowly add in more as your budget allows. Nettle is an excellent start for overall women's health as well as the raspberry leaf. My third choice would be the lemon balm. Also, many of these can be foraged from your back yard (such as the nettle) or consider purposely growing your own herbal tea garden. Mint is an easy one to begin with and quite prolific!}


Add 1/4 cup of your herbal tea blend to a tea pot or quart sized mason jar (I just place a tea strainer directly in my tea pot and brew inside). Pour hot water over herbs and put on the lid. Let mixture steep for at least 30 minutes. Sip this blend during the day or take a 3 o'clock tea time. It is said that for a medicinal tea to be more effective, you must drink it in small doses several times during the day. I try and make a large pot in the morning and drink it throughout the morning and afternoon. In the autumn and winter, you may want to store your infusion in a thermos to keep it nice and hot. In the summer and spring you can refrigerate it for a refreshing iced tea.



Tiggy-winkle Tea Tips:

She likes to add a green tea bag to her teapot of "homemaker's helper" blend in order to get the extra energy boost and antioxidants. She will often include some of her homemade dried lemon peel or citrus slices for flavor and its health properties. When you add a bit of raw honey to this concoction (including the citrus peels or some lemon juice), it is tasty (and similar to the Arizona Green Tea but without the awful high fructose corn syrup)!

Mrs. Tiggy-winkle suggests storing a large jar of this preventative tea blend in your pantry. Consider it a part of your medicinal arsenal to keep your body healthy, nourished and strong.

Give a mason jar of this blend as a gift to a fellow (and perhaps wearied) homemaker.


Here is our label if you would like some whimsy in your cupboard (right click image to copy it). If you enjoyed this tutorial, you may be interested in making Mrs. Tiggy-winkle's spray starch, stain remover spray or her handkerchief tutorial. For more Beatrix Potter inspired projects, visit here (if you please 'm)! Thank you for joining us for another week of "Fun Friday" this spring! Have a lovely day.

                                                       

All the fine print. This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making MondaysModest Mom Monday'sMonday's MusingsMake Your Home Sing MondayGood Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Tuesdays with a TwistRaising HomemakersWise Woman Link UpHomestead Blog Hop Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and ConversationHomemaking ThursdaysHome Sweet HomeOur Simple HomesteadAwesome Life Friday Link Up and Create, Bake, Grow & Gather. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post may contain affiliate links (which are merchant links that help to support this site at no additional cost to you if you purchase an item through them). Illustrations are by Beatrix Potter.  Note: Mrs. Tiggy-winkle found her herbal information here.

41 comments:

  1. Oh, I like herbal tea very much!
    Lovely post!

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  2. Would you consider packaging some of this tea up and selling it? I'd love to try some. It is too expensive though to buy the ingredients individually. I understand if you can't but I thought I'd ask ;)

    Love from Maryland,
    Angela

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    1. I completely understand that... It is an investment! That is actually a great idea Angela and something I would consider if/when time ever grows a bit more in this area of the woods :) If I had to choose from a few of these teas for women's health (and to be budget friendly), I would opt for the nettle and the raspberry leaf. Or for your specific needs, read the general descriptions next to each herb and purchase the plain tea bags of that kind in order to give yourself some benefits. You could probably find them for a few dollars at Target or someplace convenient like that. Every little bit of nutrition you can implement helps! :)

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    2. And like Gill mentioned below, you can grow your own! I was able to procure the raspberry leaves, nettles and chamomile from our land...

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  3. Very interesting...I love tea and try to drink the decaf most of the time...
    Thanks so much for coming by and ....just so ya know...I'm having a piece of strawberry pie WITH WHIPPED CREAM for breakfast this morning. lol

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  4. Many of these herbs are easy to grow in the garden, and can be dried at home. I fact I am going to go straight out and cut some of the first nettles that have appeared in the garden this week. I have lemon balm dried from last summer and peppermint, and the raspberry bushes are greening up nicely too. This tea sounds exactly what I need today:) thank you Jes!

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  5. Lovely! Thanks for the tips and recipes, JES!

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  6. Such a sweet, beautiful post! I'm excited about your Beatrix Potter themed posts :) Thank you!

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  7. I could sure use a good cup of homemaker's helper tea after running errands all morning. It sounds wonderful. Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle may be all prickles on the outside, but she is all heart and goodness on the inside. Do tell her we are appreciative of her recipes.
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  8. How wonderful that you harvest a lot of this Jes! I love herbal teas.
    Lori

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  9. I have all of these herbs on hand or growing, I can't wait to brew up a pot. Love this series!

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    1. Very carefully! :) I don't know the "professional" way but I put on my leather work gloves and clip them directly into a bowl. Then I rinse them directly in the bowl to clean them up and pop them in the salad spinner to remove water. Using tongs to hold the stinging plant, I snip them into pieces with my other hand using my kitchen scissors and dry them in the dehydrator. You can also place them on a screen until dry (we just live in a humid climate so that doesn't work well for us). Hope this helps!

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  11. I just found a Bodum french press coffee maker at a thrift store for a couple of dollars. It would be perfect for making a tea like this! You could make it, let it sit for 30 minutes, and then drink as you need. When you pour the drink out, it has a strainer, so it keeps all leaves inside the pot. I have dried my own spearmint, lemon balm, and have them sitting in my cupboard. Thanks for inspiring me to mix them up with the raspberry leaves I purchased, and some organic green tea leaves to make this wonderful sounding tea! As always, your posts are thoughtful, beautiful to read, and always inspiring!

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  12. Dear Jes,
    This is just lovely. I will be making this up. I need to find nettles but I will, plenty of people have nettles in the garden. I have mint (lots) and I think I will just plant the things I need as I seem to go ok growing herbs. I have thyme, oregano, parsley and rosemary all well established and sage just taking off.
    I love the label. This would make a gorgeous gift!
    Thank you so much,
    love Annabel.xxx

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  13. This blend sounds so yummy I want to go mix some up right now. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Great recipes for tea blends. I live on 2 acres with a lot of wild plants so I actually have most of these, though it takes some work and space to dry to get them turned into tea. Last fall my basement was covered with drying plants. But I didn't think of the combinations, they sound great.

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  15. JES this is just gorgeous. We have dedicated Tea Salons where I live, and you can buy the tiniest amounts of these sorts of ingredients, by weight. I'll be trying your Mrs Tiggywinkle blend for sure. What a gorgeous theme for a series of posts. Mimi xxx

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  16. Oh, I love this post JES .. Thanks so much and the label is perfect... xo

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  17. Mmmm, great blend, JES. I am planning to add lemon balm to my herb garden this year, so am looking forward to using it more. Also.... I LOVE the homemade herbal blends... they are so nutritious and tasty.... and they can be tailored to fit the need. :)

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  18. Love this tea mixture. My husband always said that his grandma gathered herbs to use for tea and medicine. We have talked about how nice it would be to know what herbs do. Thanks so much for sharing this post. Blessings.

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  19. Hi JES! Your tea blend sounds so enticing to me. I would love to try a cup. The label is adorable!

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  20. I could go for a cup of hot tea! This blend sounds yummy and healthy!

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  21. My sweet friend, how I love your posts! Your blog is such a lovely place to visit. I am so glad you shared this, dear JES, and I will be making the tea that you mentioned.... Thank you for sharing with Roses of Inspiration. Blessings to you!

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  22. Thank you Jes for sharing your wisdom on health with us at Good Morning Mondays. I appreciate all the work you do to help us keep well. Thanks and blessings

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  23. Hello Jes! Thank you so much for this website. It has been such an encouragement and blessing to me! I was very excited when I saw this recipe. I've never been a fan of vitamin supplements and instead have always tried to "eat" my vitamins by having healthy non-processed meals but I appreciate the boost I would have mentally and physically by incorporating this tea. I followed your links to the herbs and found that making this tea would be out of range for my budget based off the amazon prices and your recipe so I decided to investigate some other sources and wanted to share with everyone who I found. I checked Mountain Rose and learned they were out of stock on several of the herbs so then I went on Etsy to see if I could find someone selling bulk herbs on there. I found a few people that looked promising and sent them all a private message with the recipe asking if they could make a custom order for me and how much would it cost. Only one person was able to provide the amounts in the recipe immediately. Her name on Etsy is Mountain Maus and she has a really cute mouse logo for her shop. She gave me the whole order for about 43$ which is really good based off my calculations. Shipping was kind of expensive at 12$ but it is a very large order. My husband was sweet and allowed me to purchase the herbs from her as a Mothers Day present. I just received the order today and everything was packaged really well. The herbs smell very fresh. Another bonus; she is a believer and included a gospel tract in my order. I don't come across that much in my experiences with Etsy sellers so I was excited about that. Anyways, sorry for the long comment but I hope this makes things more affordable for those who wish to try the recipe!

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    1. Thank you for this information Kimberly!!! How kind of you to share with us! :)

      Hopefully this will be a blessing to someone!

      Have a lovely weekend :)

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  24. Wow, I just realized I made a big mistake. I gave the Etsy seller oz measurements instead of cups such as are in the recipe. In case my last post confused anyone, I was going by oz and instead of asking for 2 cups of lemon balm, etc. I asked for 16oz so I ended up getting a pound each of nettle, lemon balm, and raspberry leaf as well as a large amount of the other ingredients. That is why the cost was 43$, which is an amazing deal still. I'll have tea on hand for a long time. Haha.

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    1. It does seem like a lot of money but a quality and "raw" multivitamin bottle for women easily goes for $45 (Vitamin Code for women comes to mind)! I would just make sure to keep the tea in airtight containers if possible and in a cool dark area to maintain freshness. You will have a wonderful food storage of nutrients in your pantry now :) Thank you for taking the time to share with us Kimberly!

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  25. Well I know Herbal tea or Green drink is really beneficial in losing weight in best and healthiest way. I take green tea in morning and Green drink in evening daily and I am getting great results. I just love lemon flavour green tea.

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  26. Love this tea, Jes! The label is wonderful. I was just going to ask about nettles (as we have a paddock full!) but someone has already asked. So thanks for the harvesting and drying advice. I will give it a go.

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  27. How wonderful, thank you so much for this post I'll definitely be trying out these teas!

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  28. First, thank you for this information; I thought since I no longer have a uterus there was not any benefit to raspberry tea, but since it has so many nutrients I'll keep drinking it. :-)
    Second, you can get some medicinal teas in the grocery store. Also, some local health food stores and online herbal sellers let you purchase by the ounce or 4 ounces, (PennHerb.com is one), if you have budget concerns. HTH

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    1. Very true! Thank you for sharing Davette! :)

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  29. Also, double checking the directions - 1/4 cup herb mix makes 1 quart of tea?
    Trying to make sure I keep the ratio correct if I add green tea.
    Thanks

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    1. Yes, for a good nutritional dose! :) However, if you find the flavor too strong, you can always add less (as it is better to drink some than none). Hope you enjoy! P.S. The citrus peel addition makes a new flavor too...

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  30. Hello Ms.Jes 😊 Do you think it would be okay to add milky oats to the blend instead of replacing the mint? I didn't know if it would make things taste odd or if that combination wouldn't work.

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    1. No, that would be just fine! The milky oats will just add its excellent properties to the blend! :)

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  31. I just found and love, love, love your blog! So informative, and right up my alley with the sweet, pretty themes/ideas from some of my favorite authors! Keep up the good work! 💗

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