A little over a year ago I started making fire cider. For those of you who don’t know, it is a vinegar based tonic filled with fruits, vegetables, spices, and herbs that soak for four weeks. It is a laborious process. Every day for four weeks you have to shake the mixture up so all of its goodness is macerated out of what you put in. If you are making one jar at a time, no big deal, but I often have 12 going at once.
When I started this process, I just wanted to be healthier. I wanted an option to starve off colds, to aid in sore muscles, and enjoy the all around benefits of the anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. I learned how to do this from a book on fire cider by the wonderful Rosemary Gladstar. I started with a few of her recipes until I got comfortable to start creating my own recipes. I have several local friends who swear by it for different reasons and I was even able to start selling them at my acupuncture office. Everything I sell goes towards my treatment which is not covered by insurance.
This spring I pitched an idea to my acupuncturist, Dr. Sam Burris at Essence Healing, about creating vinegar based tonics and herbal teas to benefit and support the acupuncture that she is doing for our community. She was all in and helped me obtain the proper information to begin creating this line of products. I have always been a fan of alternative medicine and some part of me wishes I had really pushed myself to go in that direction instead of nursing. There are so many things about traditional medicine that I don’t love and I spend a lot of time and money working with alternative practitioners to be able to keep myself off as many big pharma medications as I can. What I love most about acupuncture and alternative medicine is that it makes me really listen to my body. When I eat or drink something, I pay attention to how it makes me feel and if it doesn’t help, it gets pitched.
This week has been hectic. Gardening is in full swing as we are trying to grow not only food for ourselves and our family but also the ingredients to make fire cider and herbal teas. It is a meditation to grow things, to put your love into them, so that when others eat or drink them, they feel all that goodness. Anyway, hadn’t posted in a while and didn’t want you to think I was losing steam on this old blog like I usually do. I have just been living life and waiting for the full swing of summer. Hope everyone is doing well.
Be kind to each other. Grow things. Talk to your plants like a crazy lady. Spend time with family and friends. Be creative.
Thanks for reading.
Aleathia
Aleathia Drehmer 