Making fermented Chokecherry Bark
Winter is the time to be focusing our wild hearts on resting, nourishing our bodies and planning for the coming growing season. I do indeed spend a lot of time doing just that, and in the end, I am so ready for spring time, that my heart bounds out the door in layers and muck boots to get the early garden jobs done. AND. I love a few select herbs for harvesting in the winter time, and very early spring. Choke Cherry Bark is one of those winter harvests. The fermentation process is fun, and light and it gets the apothecary teeming with medicine making energy, my soul stirs too. It is super easy to make, though relatively tedious to harvest. Let’s get into the details here, as to how you can make your own fermented choke cherry bark juice to add to tinctures, and if you are doing it, syrups for coughs.
Wind for this winter harvest, amongst others, is the que, fallen branches and even sometimes with Choke Cherries, fallen tress, are perfect harvesting specimens as the forest has granted full permission. When I was a young herbalist, I was drilled about sustainability by my mentors when it comes to wild harvesting, and I am absolutely so grateful for that advice. I was taught and teach now, to make root crowns to bury when digging root medicine in the fall, to wait for wind storms for buds and barks of trees, and the perfect time to harvest after a light frost in the high country, making sure seeds are fully mature and ready to be spread. Choke cherry is one of these plants to mind, because hey, we love nature right? It would be horrible to harm trees just to bring home a year’s supply of medicine.
That Wyoming Wind
Lately I have been peeling the resin off my fingers from harvesting Poplar Buds in the FREEZING cold. As the winter time is when the resin is surrounding the buds of the poplar trees at its height. The resin encases the little buds protecting them from falling off in the frigid temperatures. And this is a powerful plant medicine. In the spring time, they will pop so fast. We hardly realize the equinox has come then we see the fuzz floating in the air showing summer is soon up ahead. These poplar bud days are spent gathering buds here and there. Jumping up and down to get the circulation going, then getting back in the truck to warm up on the heater. Getting going for the harvest before the sunshine was up over the mountains.
Once the light hit the valley, the thermal energies woke the wind up, and man, out here in Yellowstone Country, in January, the wind cuts right through my quilted bibs, and base layer like I were winter harvesting in the nude… This is why early morning and late afternoon is the best for winter harvesting in Wyoming, allowing for the bite of the breeze to calm down and then head outside. AND when the wind really gets ripping, you can simply wait, and then gather the buds from the branches that were broken off.
Choke cherry trees are usually pretty small, and they are greatly affected by the wind storms we get out here in Wyoming. Gathering branches, and small trees tends to the deadwood of the forests, and really, for me, creates a time of prayer for honoring of what nature does for herself. We can help her to clean up, and take the barks and buds home, sit by the fire and process our medicine, nice and slow, deeply resting and tuning into the subtle energies of what nature has to offer in a Winter Wind storm.
Tree Wisdom
Again, before any sort of harvest time, I always check in on the health and vitality of of the grove of plants. The roses that were surrounding this grove were a brilliant red. The Balsam covered the ground surrounding them. And the buds of the choke cherry were softening up. They tasted strongly of that almond flavoring, and I asked for their guidance in the best way to harvest. When I turned around I nearly fell over a fallen Cherry Tree with in the grove. There was my answer, and I gave thanks to the blessings of a wind storm. It was still fresh and thriving with life in the buds, so I examined further with my knife and found the glorious amaretto scent was released. Again, I gave thanks to the forest for this offering of medicine to my family, and community.
This is how we tend to the forest through wild harvesting, this is how we honor the relationship that is built between herbalist and wild lands. Each of the components of our home Apothecary, when tended to with mindful practice, honoring the subtle energies, will hold the power of reciprocity and respect within the final tincture, salve or tea. You will be able to hold mother earth, just as she holds you, and the vibration of respect you hone when you are harvesting will vibrate throughout your entire being, thorough the chemicals and waters of the plants in your medicines, and thus your entire family who ingests them.
For nature to be vitally well, we need to be too.
Sustainable Harvesting
The tree was busted right at the ground. So I dismantled it from the grove so that my harvesting would not affect any of the other trees poorly. As I was getting the tree away, I found two more branches that were freshly fallen, so I clipped them as well. Their bark was still vibrant and teaming with healing energies that are a part of this lovely tree. This day wasn’t too cold, it was early enough in the spring to be outside, so I sat in the sun with my knife and stripped the bark. Taking every bud along with it and leaving only my energies of gratitude in the forest.
I managed to gather nearly 2 pounds of bark from this one tree and couple of branches. This amount of medicine would last a family many years. For the apothecary, I am able to share this amount with many people, spreading the vibration of healing throughout the community. It is a great honor to be holding this knowledge and spreading the healing powers of nature through a broken down tree, 2 pounds of bark and a joy of being in the forest, soaking up the sunshine.
Harvesting From Tradition
This process is delicate. It is sacred and is a part of a tradition that has nearly been lost in our culture. We think that if we leave the forest alone it will thrive. We harbor the fear that our society has developed of being in the trees, staying away, that the forest will be OK.
However, there are studies on stimulation of growth. That when the Natives were harvesting certain plots of Sweetgrass. It was thriving, there was so much Sweetgrass. It seemed to take over the planes of the areas it was in. When the people were shut out of their lands, we created man made boundaries of property lines, the Sweetgrass stands started to die off. The plants are there for us, to be our allies, and our teachers.
They have taught me so much in my 20 years of working with them. The lessons go on and on. But what I can put a finger on and share in confidence is this… Where I plant, where I spread seed, and where I mindfully harvest. These are the stands that are thriving. They are beaming with light and vibrancy that I cannot deny. one can feel, a subtle realm of vibrational reciprocity and gratitude, I for them, them for me. Relationship is how this is born, when I harvest, or go to spread seed, I bring them water as offerings, and they bless me and my community with medicine. The plants have been our allies since the beginning, for sustaining life, and health they are there for us, and WE need to be as much a part of that relationship as we can.
Early Spring…
The plants hold so much for our physical and spiritual bodies. We are chemical beings, just as they are. They have chemicals that react with our physiology to maintain a state of homeostasis, and vitality, over the long haul especially. When we master the heart, mind connection, or even just being to tap into the possibility of this state of awareness, so much information is out there, ready to be felt and integrated into our lives. Our heart, literally, speaks…
Home From the Forest
It is in my practice and I encourage all of you who will venture into the forest for your medcines, to be sure to process the herbs you gathered FRESH and quickly. A wild harvesting adventure is not over when you drive home, this is where the alchemy is created. Dive in, some preparation helps beforehand, have your jars ready, your menstruum, and time set aside beyond that of the hike you just enjoyed. That way, after a day of being in the forest, you are ready to close with the best part… bringing your home apothecary to life.
I have tweaked a couple of recipes that I have learned over the years with this process, one from Matthew Becker who takes the bark of the tree and ferments it in water for 24 hours, he calls it a juice then adds brandy to preserve the juice. I love this method, but also am one who follows Michael Moore’s books as the sacred written word I see them as. So with these two mentors of mine, mixed with my absolute love of fermentation… the recipe for Fermented Choke Cherry Juice is as follows…
Fermented Choke Cherry Juice
1-2 pounds of Wild Cherry Bark
1 pound of Aaron Leaf Balsam Root
¼ Pound Winter Poplar Buds (or tincture of the buds from previous harvest)
Water, Strong Alcohol, in the apothecary I use an alcohol that is blended for me, at 84%. You can use ever clear, or find a local distillery that might let you purchase direct from their pre bottled prdocut.
Fermenting The Bark
I take a cookie sheet and lay the bark out as flat as I can,it is best to use a heavy lipped cookie sheet, one of those more ‘professional’ bakers ones that is sturdy, and won’t flex, then has a nice pool to soak your bark.
When the bark is flat and happy in the cookie sheet, soak the bark with water. I like to use filtered water from the fridge, so it is nice and cold and nearly fill the cookie sheet, the bark will soak it all up, and will release more of its water by the next morning. Cover this lovely mixture with saran wrap as tight as you can, and place in a sunny south facing window.
This will create a double greenhouse effect and start the cooking process of fermentation. You could probably put it on top of the fridge or hot water tank if there is room, but I like the solar energies added into the mix, and then my bark is soaking along with my wild harvested herbs and plants who are inside for the winter as well!
Making and Mascerating
Get your roots prepped by cutting and sorting them now, so they are all ready to roll the next day into jars.
After 24 hours of fermenting, simply divide out the mixture of bark, roots, herbs, and buds to the size of your jar. There is no need to be particular here. In the apothecary I have batch recipes that I must follow because of FDA guidelines, and use gallon jars, 4 gallon fermentation crocks and massive pots. For larger batches like this, you might want to invest in something, but for keeping it simple, wide mouth mason jars work just fine.
When your herb is stuffed into the jar divide the juice evenly 4 ways. This time I got 6 cups of liquid from my bark, so each jar got 1 and ½cups of bark juice, then I topped it all off with vodka. Secured the lid and macerated for the first time of many over the next few weeks.
The Final Product
This is where I blend Moore and Becker’s recipes. I like to treat it like a tincture after the water ferment bath and let everything soak and marinate for the next few weeks. I will turn some of this goodness into a Syrup and the rest will remain Tincture.
If you feel that there needs to be more alcohol added when the Hydrometer reads lower than 35%, I would just do that, add more Vodka to the mixture until that marker is reached. If you’re more of a purist than I, leave the bark and roots in the jars, add more alcohol and let sit a couple more weeks or until you are satisfied with your reading. This is one of my favorite remedies to make. I am thinking that is because it is the first wild harvest of the year!
zMy fingers get all sorts of muddy and caked with dirt, me callouses are realized again for the first time since fall harvest, and I get to sit on the warm ground of the forest. Between al lthese reasons, I can see why I love this one so much. The smells are coming alive again, and life is about to spring forth, my heart once again, is overflowing with gratitude…
Blessings my friends
