Usnea

 

I processed quite a lot of usnea today, also called "Old Man's Beard". Four jars of cleaned, dried usnea ready to be made into salve, soap and tincture. I gathered it from the wild about a week ago. It was very dry when I brought it home, so it didn't need weeks of drying time. I have put a small silica pack into each large jar of usnea. The small jars are immediately being infused in oil to make salve.

Usnea is antifungal, antibiotic, antiviral and antiseptic. It is a strong antibiotic internal medicine, but those phytochemicals are not water soluble, so it needs to be made into a tincture to use it this way.

It is also strongly antifungal and is a good help in healing any
fungal infection, and it is antiseptic and antiviral. These properties, along with the antibiotic, make it a good addition to any healing salve.

Usnea is a good hair rinse for growing and dandruff. Combine it with rosemary and catnip (nepeta) for a hair treatment that will help it to grow faster, help make it healthy and add shine.

I sell usnea soap and salve at the Farmer's Market in Fort Nelson, every Saturday. It's one of my favourite herbs!