Sleep Aids From the Creek Edge; Wild Hops

With most of the wild edibles and medicinals running early for harvest this hot, dry year, it makes sense that it would be wild hops that runs contrary to the rest of the harvest.  The wild hops are actually running a bit late for picking but finally they took on their characteristic dryness with their lovely golden powder rubbing off on my hands as I harvested it.

 

Hops are actually not a "wild" plant of Wisconsin but a feral one.  They are escapees of our rampant German beer industry.  Yep, here in Wisconsin we love our beer.  We grow our own barley, use some of the purest spring water known to the world, and grow our own hops.  Some of those hops have "gone wild" or began to grow where they were not planted.  Often this happens because hops like to grow near water, it likes it feet wet, so farmers plant it near creeks.  If those creeks flood they will carry the roots of the hops plant down stream where they plant themselves and start to grow.  More than likely this is where my wild hops come from.  They grow right on the edge of Rocky Hollow Creek, downstream of where my grandfathers raised their supply of hops for their beers.

 

Hops grow on annual vines that start from the roots every spring and die back to the roots every fall.  They are fast growing vines that can actually tear down weak trees and bushes.  Their leaves look like a cartoon version of the hemp leaf, fat and curvy instead of spiky with fingers.  This is because hops and marijuana belong to the same family.  The flowers are what are really noticeable though when it comes to hops.  They take on the appearance of papery pine cones, staying green right up to the moment of harvest.  You can check on your patch often and the green seems to last and last, then one day you go out and look at them and boom, they are tan and dry, no longer green.  That tiny window of time, before they become nothing more than brown husks, is when they should be harvested.

Hops have a long history of healing and preserving.  The oil from hops is a great killer of bacteria. This is why it was first used in beer, not as a flavor but as a preservative in times where there was no refrigeration.  This anti-bacteria action can still be used if there is nothing else.  A wash of hops water can be used to clean out a wound and kill off any bacteria that may have gotten into it.

Because hops are a bitter, they can be used to aid in digestion by forcing the body to create more bile.  If you suffer from gall bladder problems this might be a very good medicinal for you to use at night.

This is not what hops as a medicinal is known for though.  First, hops contains a volatile oil that can be absorbed through the mucus membranes, through the skin, and through digestion.  This oil has a soporific effects, or it helps you fall asleep.  In fact, except for Valerian it is considered to be the best plant based sleep aid there is.  Often just by breathing in the scent of the flowers a person can drift off to sleep easily.  Hops pillows are made for children who suffer from nightmares as it helps them fall into a deep sleep.  Some people cannot drive after picking hops because the oil absorbed through their skin during the harvest makes them too drowsy to drive. 

The other healing aid that hops provide is it is VERY high in a plant based estrogen.  Harvesting it alone can bring on menstruation in women and men who harvest hops often cannot perform sexually until the oil has worn off.  This phenomenon actually has a name; "the brewer's droop".  Brewers who worked with hops often were not able to achieve an erection for days if not weeks after they had been handling their hops.  This makes it a good choice for women who are suffering through their menopause.  While estrogen must be used sparingly, sometimes hops are the best way to get through those days when our estrogen is so low we cannot function properly without it.

Hops should not be used by those who suffer from depression as too much estrogen can lead to sever depression.

 

Hops have an interesting part to play in human history.  In many countries, ale was the drink of choice for the masses.  Their grain harvest could be preserved in the fermented drink and with their water sources so polluted, fermented drinks helped purify it and make is safe to drink.  The only problem was that ale was a short term preservation technique.  Within a month the ale had gone bad.  So people began to use preserving plants in it to make it keep longer.  With these preserving plants, ale became beer.  Mugwort, yarrow, and hops were all used to make the beer last longer.  Rulers would not drink the bitter beer, however, and some even outlawed it to be brewed within their country's borders.

 

Other rulers found out though that people who drank beer preserved with hops tended to lose their will to fight.  Hops, being high in estrogen, calms people down, makes them less willing to cause trouble.  These rulers found that the masses that drank beer made from hops were less likely to rise up and fight against tyranny.  And so laws were created that beer could ONLY be made with hops.  It is considered to be the first and largest drugging of the masses in history.

 

Because of these laws we still use hops today as our flavoring in our beers instead of some of the other plants that were once used.  Most people are unaware that the hops they are drinking is actually a depressant that makes them less willing to fight (and even have sex--too much beer with hops makes a man unable to perform).  They only know that they like the bitter flavor hops impart to the beer they are use to drinking.  That flavor was given to us by laws meant to control our ancestors.

 

As crazy as this all is, hops are still a great medicinal for those occasional nights that we find it hard to get to sleep.  A tea of hops and wintergreen can help us relax after a hard day's work when our muscles are tight and in pain.  A pillow of hops and lavender is a great stress reliever if we've had a tough day at the office.  And for a woman who is suffering through the loss of the estrogen they have grown to live with since puberty, hops is THE medicinal to replace it and help us through those hard times.

 



Just remember to use it sparingly and always remember that whatever we take into ourselves can change who we are.  Kings learned this ages ago and used it against us.  We can now use to help ourselves through the rough patches of life.

This is linked through WildCrafting Wednesday.  If you want to learn some more amazing things to do, check out the other authors at:
http://mindbodyandsoleonline.com/herbal-information/57th-wildcrafting-wednesday/comment-page-1/#comment-14074