May 2025

Seasonal Living – Spring

• Spring Into Spring – The Energetic Of Spring
• Leaves Medicine For Spring
• From Weed To Table
• Apple Cider Vinegar Medicine For Spring

In New Hampshire, where I live, spring is teasing us with not one but several mud seasons. But when May arrives, and the sun is shining, you can feel the energy shift in your bones.

Spring Into Spring

The Energetics

Healers from all over the world observed nature, looking for patterns that described how the life forces manifest in different natural phenomena.

As a traditional Western herbalist, I adhere to the Western energetic system that grew from the four elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.

Further observation brought forth three qualities that are described as a spectrum.

The form – Form gives natural phenomena their boundaries. Phenomena can manifest in too much form, rigidity, or in insufficient form, or lax. Think about how a guitar string needs to be in the right length and tightness to produce a harmonious sound. A string that is too lax can’t produce any sound. A string bound too tightly makes a shrieking, painful sound.

The fluidity – Fluids are the foundation of life. They carry nourishment and toxins and promote vitality. All natural phenomena need fluids, but too much dampness and congestion create stagnation. Bogginess attracted bacteria and mosquitoes. On the other hand, dryness can’t support life. In a healthy being, the fluids move but don’t overflow or leak.

The temperature – A phenomenon can be either hot or cold. Too hot is like fire, all-consuming. Extreme cold, like in the poles, inhibits all movement and growth. Extremes are a sign of imbalance that needs our support.

These three qualities created the six tissue states that can be applied to nature, plants, people, and conditions.

The energy of spring

Spring is an in-between season, not winter, but not summer yet. It is not the cocoon anymore, but neither is it the butterfly. As the snow melts, the soil is muddy, which means it loses some of its solid form, making spring a damp and relaxed season.

The Taste Of Spring

The taste of food is important because it can inform us about the phytochemicals in the food or medicine and how they affect the body.

Spring is associated with the bitter taste. The bitter taste is generated by a set of chemicals, mainly derived from plants, that either once were, or are still now, toxic to a certain degree. Those plants developed the bitter compounds to protect themselves from insects, animals, and humans. What they are actually telling us is: consume in small amounts and be ready to digest fast. Therefore, the bitter taste is associated with the liver and is known to stimulate liver enzymes and bile production.

All traditional diets included all five flavors in a well-balanced way. It is only in the last 100 years in Western culture that sweet and salt flavors have become so much more prevalent in most, if not all, people’s diets, and bitter-tasting food and herbs have become absent from the diet. The Western aversion to bitters is so deep that it is reflected in the language. Saying such as “until the bitter end” or “bitter pill to swallow” demonstrates how much, as a culture, we link the bitter taste to negative emotions.

Bitter deficiency syndrome

Herbalist Jim McDonald wrote about bitter deficiency syndrome. If each taste is vital in stimulating or sedating a process in the body, once you avoid a flavor, the body is out of balance. Jim believes, and I totally second his understanding, that in many cases where we recommend using herbs to stimulate and correct digestive issues, bitters work because these are cases of people with bitter deficiency syndrome.

Spring gives us many opportunities to consume bitter-tasting herbs and foods, as young fresh leaves that emerge from the ground in early spring are bitter. Herbs like Dandelion, wild lettuce, sorrel, chickory, and foods (the line between food and medicine is an artificial one) like spinach, arugula, and mustard greens are some of the bitters to add to your plate in the spring.

The Bitter Liver

In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), anger is the emotion associated with the liver. When the liver is stagnant, toxins overflow back from the liver into the blood, initiating rage, anger, and frustration. But the pattern can be reversed, too; anger that is not processed can fester, leading to a stagnant liver.

Studies found among 18 liver-associated patterns involving anger symptoms from two data sources, 12 were associated with outward-focused anger (tendency to express anger verbally and/or behaviorally), four with inward-focused anger (tendency to suppress anger), and two with both outward-focused and inward-focused anger (a problem of anger control). The review suggests that using liver-associated patterns in TCM may be useful for understanding and managing anger syndromes.

The Element Of Spring

Spring is associated with the rushing water in the river after the snow has melted.

The water element relates to the kidneys and the lymphatic system. While the liver recycles toxins, hormones, and medicines, it transforms them into water-soluble compounds that the kidneys can eliminate.

The kidney functions as a water filter that filters about 50 gallons of fluids daily, most of which are reabsorbed, but around one to two quarts are extracted as urine.

By governing the water element in the body, the kidneys play a vital role in:

• Waste product filtering – The kidneys filter waste products urea (a nitrogenous waste from protein breakdown) and creatinine (a byproduct of muscle metabolism)
• Fluid balance – Weak kidneys mean water retention, which leads to high blood pressure and edema. The blood vessels lose their integrity and become too lax and damp.
• Electrolyte balance – The kidneys are tuned to the levels of the electrolytes in your blood and constantly “decide” how much electrolytes to extract in your urine and how much to reabsorb.

Electrolytes, or salts, are hardening; in Paracelsus, three alchemical processes, salt represents the contractive force, condensing, and crystallizing, keeping the integrity or form of the body. These are the forces that balance the damp, lax states associated with spring.

With rushing water and muddy trails, spring needs the form created by the salt processes. After a long winter spent mostly reclining indoors and eating heavy meals, there is a need to remove excess toxins and fluids and bring some form to the body.

Herbs For Spring

Herbs that affect the water element in the body are either diuretics, encouraging urine production, or alteratives, herbs that alter metabolic processes and promote detoxification. 

Diuretic herbs are primarily salty. They promote urination by increasing the minerals in the blood. Some diuretic herbs common in the spring are nettle, chickweed, cleavers, and Dandelion.

Alterative herbs that are common in the spring are violet and nettles.

These herbs can shine in sun infusion, pesto, or fresh salad (not the nettle)

Just before summer arrives and we lose ourselves in the warmth and color of nature, spring is here to remind us not to muddy the boundaries and to keep the integrity of the body and soul by letting go of excess and embracing simplicity.