The rise and fall of autumn
Nov 16, 2022An update to yesterdays post on blood cleaners and bitters. Today i include antioxidants and more on the lymphatics :) π
To put things into context. π
ππ«ππ₯All autumn seasonal forage takes the form of being something rooty, or something fruity. There are also fungi but rarely do our animals select these - unless dried :) There are also evergreen herbs but that's another story.
π«Everything that has fruit is by its nature packed full of flavonoids, all in varying forms and quantities. This naturally occurring constituent means all fruits have an antioxidant nature because flavonoids are antioxidants. But what does that mean?
Well, antioxidants are scavengers of free radicals, free radicals are, put simply, the harmful by-product of a physiological breakdown in the body. Free radicals are unstable and unbalanced, they steal electrons from other atoms causing inflammation to build, ageing to accelerate, they cause illness, compromising the immune system and having a jolly good time going around damaging cells. π©Έ
Autumn fruits and berries have the ability to mop up these free radicals helping them to be escorted out of the body, via the liver, lymphatics, urinary system, skin etc. Antioxidants help free radicals to be evicted. π
It's why our animals are supposed to eat a variety of colours and associated fruits. π΄
But why Autumn? π
Because our animals are experiencing a myriad of physiological changes with the transition of the season. They have come out of summer gorged and plump heady on its abundant offerings. They have, as nature intends, arrived from summer full of damaging free radicals. ππ΄
We are now in Autumn and there's a host of metabolic processes that need to be activated in order to prevent disorder and disease from taking hold- our animals need to clear out all the free radicals that have been building. π΄πΎππ
And beautiful nature provides the autumn fruits needed at the exact right time.
But it has to be multi-dimensional. You cant help eliminate free radicals without supporting the elimination pathways.πΎ
Hawthorn is a great example - Hawthorn is such a good circulatory tonic, it helps protect the vessels the blood is flowing through, while the fruity antioxidants work at mopping up the free radicals in the blood. cleanse and protect.π
Milk thistle nourishes and supports the liver, it's a liver restorative so although it doesn't increase detoxification its ability to protect the organ means it works better anyway. Milk thistle helps cleans the blood too and if you have a nursing mare or bitch, milk thistle helps regulate milk production (i digress again). Anyways it's good. And thistles arrive in autumn to support these delicate metabolic pathways. πΏ
As for calendula, the last of the flowers will be available now - if it's mild they will even overwinter well. It a reliable, round, and suitable for every season of herb. πΌ
What Calendula does is nothing short of miraculous. This gorgeous flower supports the lymphatic system, the lymphatic system is a major organ of elimination and immunity building. So Calendula takes the crap from the blood and delivers it to the liver at the thoracic ducts. It's a neat and clever system that runs alongside the blood vessels.
Calendula not only boosts the immunity within the lymph it also helps reduce swelling and oedema anywhere in the body. Its also a reliable topical herb for rashes, bites, stings and wounds ohh and the gut, again I digress :) πΏ
The point is, calendula and milk thistle will support the elimination pathways so that your animal will feel renewed, cleansed and cleared before winter arrives.
When winter arrives we don't want our horses to be detoxifying and eliminating - winter is for nourishing and restoring and remaining still. Another story entirely.
https://animalbotanical.myshopify.com/products/calendula
