Hm. Temperature drops in Yokohama. COVID-19 has been back in honest. Although there is no strict regulation about our movement here unlike some other parts of the world, we feel something foreboding to travel. Naomi, wearing mask of course, has resumed regular visit to the neighborhood greenery, rather than entering deep mountains. In the end, we must use some form of crowded public space to move long distance from the metropolis. Besides, nature my next door continues giving me a surprise. I’ve found the way making personal care products out of wild plants in forests. It is a fun! I tell you, I have a definite success with my potion made of bishop’s weed from backyard (my post on July 1, 2016). Since then, I’m using the toner for more than 4 years, and my skin keeps VERY good condition! Why not trying to get another win?
First, returning to Japanese mugwort (Artemisia princeps Pampanini), I noticed there are many products for skin toner made of mugwort. Well, I have more than enough harvest of mugwort tea this year. So I put some mugwort bunch in a glass jar and poured 35° liquor, like this.
I waited for one month, and the jar yields the mugwort tincture. The standard of such tincture for skin toner is diluting it with at least the same amount of glycerol water, unless you’re allergic to it. I have not yet tried the tincture for my skin. But, with my experience with bishop’s weed, I’m optimistic about the result with this lotion.
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| Mugwort tincture, made by Naomi. |
Speaking of lotion, I’ve found ubiquitous Goldenrod (Solidago altissima), which is officially designated invasive species in Japan, is a medicinal plant for native culture of North America. With some reason, in Japanese cyberspace, it is commonly talked its “detox” power especially when we harvest the most matured buds of it. So, this year with COVID-19, I watched the buds of Goldenrod for several weeks, and harvested it when they’ve almost started to open, hoping the detox effect.
Goldenrod
whose buds are swelling out …
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| This is already opened. So I skipped it. |
I washed and dried them planning to use it as a sort of bath salt. Then, one of my Niiharu Senior volunteer ladies told me. “Oh, Naomi. Goldenrod is uber strong! I had a problem with my face when I applied it. You’d better be careful with them.” Hmmmmmm, that’s why Japanese cyberspace recommends it as a detox herb, I guess. I decided to play it safe. I’m using it for my foot bath. So far, no harm done to my toes. Rather, it seems to me, anti-inflammatory effects from its saponin works well for my callus …
Drying
washed Goldenrods
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| Dried Goldenrods for me. |
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| I cram
some of them in a tea filter bag and made “tea.” I stored this tea for my foot bath. For about 2 tablespoons of dried Goldenrods, I made about 600cc of Goldenrod “tisane,” and used it up in 3 days. I don’t think it can last more than that. |
And here comes saponin. Traditionally, Japanese villagers used nuts of Indian soapberry for washing. Indian soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi) is tree for tropics or subtropics, but some wild specimen live in the region west of Niigata 新潟 and Ibaraki 茨城 Prefectures of Japan. The tree we normally find in Yokohama is in a park or a sanctuary of shrines or temples. They are well-taken care of, and yield lots of nuts. The flesh of the nut contains lots of saponin. When we put them in a well-secured cheesecloth and throw it in a washing machine with dirty clothes, the laundry comes out sparklingly clean, they say. Oh, is that so? I’ve found a large Indian soapberry tree near my house and waited late fall when their nuts were matured enough to fall off. Bingo. One morning after a windy night, the foot of the tree had lots of nuts!
One of
them must be a tree of Indian soapberry,
near my home …
Indian
soapberries I’ve found. 
My
catch!
We can use the nuts as it is for washing, but I had another idea. (More to it, next week.) So, I opened the nuts and separate flesh and seed. What is effective for washing is the flesh of soapberries. I first rinsed them with running tap water for removing dirt and the other debris of the ground. It was amazing! They became soapy and blew lots of bubble. I then dried them under direct sunshine in order to store. For washing, it is said that 10 or so nuts would be enough for 30-40kg of washing load. Moreover, the bag of berries can be used for 3-4 times. It does not use any fossil-based ingredients to be washing agent. i.e. The ultimate eco-friendly product. I haven’t used them for my washing yet. But I know after preparing the berries to dry, my hands certainly become clean, and keeping the moisture unlike the other chemically processed hand-washing materials. I don’t know if Indian soapberry is effective for sanitization against COVID-19. If so, it should be very good news for us these days damaging our hands many times a day with soaps and sanitizing alcohol. Is there anybody who can scientifically prove the sanitizing power of soapberry?
Separating
flesh and seed of soapberries
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| Just rinsing lightly the flesh yields this much of soapy bubble. |
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| Drying the flesh |
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| Flesh
and seeds of Indian soapberry. Oh, by the way, I’m nurturing moss in my room that is in the bottom of this photo. |
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| Fully
opened Osmanthus. For making tincture, we need to pick them at this stage. |
I’ve found lots of recipes for Osmanthus adventure (like here), but without fail, they demand lots of fully bloomed flowers to make. In Yokohama, Osmanthus are in our private gardens or public parks, which I find it unethical to collect substantial amounts of flowers at their peak. So, I picked flowers from my garden for the half full of a small glass jar, gently washed them with running tap water and steeped them in 35° liquor enough to fill the container. Next morning, the contents of my jar had color of flower like this.
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| In less than 24 hours, the flowers made this color. |
Leaving the jar for 2 months and we have fragrant tincture. Add 1 tbsp of tincture to 100cc distilled water and spray it in the room. The sweet smell of Osmanthus will waft in our cloistered room running away from COVID-19. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … We’re entering a strangely restricted festive season. At least the smell of Osmanthus is so delightful ...
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| 2 months later. |
If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
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