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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Drying Echinacea for Tea Bag




I have been stupid for 5 years. I had believed that the only effective parts of the echinacea plant are the roots. Once you harvest its roots, the whole plant dies. It takes about 3 years to get an echinacea plant mature enough to use as medicine for flu. Growing and harvesting echinacea was an exercise in patience. I have been nursing a few plants to standby for Little Boy's PSLE. If he falls sick, I want everything I can use to manage the flu. I pay special attention to the echinacea plants to ensure that by the time Little Boy takes his PSLE, they are healthy and potent medicinal plants.

Yeah... I am Petunia Kiasu Lee.

Only just did I learn that the flowers, leaves and stems are effective against flus too, as long as you take the tea at the very first sign of a scratchy throat or itchy nose. See previous post here. Only last month I uprooted and killed a beautiful echinacea plant because Little Boy had flu. Little Boy's flu went away in 12 hours but my plant was dead.

Now that I know that flowers, leaves and stems too can be brewed into a Flu Warrior Tea, I've started to dry and freeze them in bags. I suddenly feel very rich in echinacea tea. Right now, I have about 16 echinacea blooms on the way. Green flower buds that look like hedgehogs on a stalk. I have too much for our family alone. I'm selling these tea bags of one fresh flower each... completely organic.

Each bag sells for $5, which is a steal compared to the price of a medical consultation. They've been harvested in their prime (and most potent), thoroughly dried in my dehydrator and frozen. They'll keep a long time in your freezer, and you can take 'em out and make a Flu Warrior Tea anytime. Leave me a comment if you wanna buy 'em. We can figure out a way to make a transaction.

6 comments:

parodyionic said...

hi Petunia

would like to ask how u got these wonderful plants. would love to grow it too! =)

Petunia Lee said...

parodyionic - I grew mine from seed that someone gave me 3 years ago...

Petunia Lee said...

parodyionic - I've not been able to get viable seeds from my plants. This time, I am gonna leave 1 bloom out for the bees. Maybe that'll help the seeds become viable. If I get viable seeds, I'll blog about it.

parodyionic said...

hihi! thanks! will look forward to that! =)

Wen-ai said...

Hi Petunia, can I buy 2 packets from you? I'm on the verge of a flu... scratchy throat and a bit of headache... Ugh. My mom said I'm just heaty and Liang Teh should suffice. It has been 3 days and the throat is still scratchy and head still hurts.

Petunia Lee said...

Wen-Ai: I've sold all current stock at present. I dunno when new flowers will grow. But I'll reserve 2 for ya when they do grow.