Violets to Counter the Madness

Early spring can be a bit overwhelming for me. This March, in particular, is feeling more crazy than usual in a more global sense. But the change of the season has always been hard for me. As someone with a hyperactive mind who is also hypersensitive and autistic, I thrive in the quieter, slower pace of winter. It helps mellow me out a bit. 

When spring jumps into the scene, it can quickly feel like too much. Too many smells, too much new stuff, everything suddenly moving so fast and feeling impossible to keep up with. March madness, indeed!

Nettles appear in early spring and it is a narrow window for harvesting, so there is a push to get while the getting is good. I love them, but they are easier for me to love at a distance or in small doses. 

Simply put, too many nettles in the house at once can be overstimulating. Processing the plant after picking it amps me up, sometimes to the point of agitation. I don’t usually have anything scented in the house, and although they smell just fine to me, it can quickly become too much. And I have injured myself on more than one occasion trying to harvest more than my body was ready to harvest (I have EDS so I get injured pretty easily). 

Violets, however, are another matter entirely. They also start to appear in early spring, but there is a much bigger window for harvest, so there isn’t the mad rush to go after them all at once. I have all sorts of violets in my backyard, and am fortunate to have a home that was previously owned by master gardeners who never put any pesticides on anything, so I am able to harvest freely. 

It’s so interesting to me that you pick up so much about a plant from harvesting it. As I said earlier, nettles are quite invigorating, and you don’t have to drink nettle tea to experience that. Simply harvesting and then processing the herb will have that effect on you. To me, violets are the opposite–picking them, washing dirt from the leaves, spreading them out evenly on a tray, all of these steps are quite calming and regulating to me. 

Violet is a nervine, so it is helpful in soothing the nerves, meaning it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that it has a calming effect. I just find it fascinating that you don’t have to consume the plant to experience this.

I enjoy the presence of violets so much that I will pick a small amount every week throughout the spring (it’s also the amount my back can handle before injury), and then spread them out on a huge tray and put them next to my bed to dry. They are my spring companions! I really feel calmed and comforted by their presence throughout our time together. 

Violets  have a very mild, light fragrance that is lovely, and is one of the only flowers that is mild enough that I can keep it indoors with me continuously without it ever becoming too much.

Harvesting slowly and steadily throughout the spring means I end up with enough to get me through the year. That’s particularly important because it has been almost impossible to find violets in commerce in recent years, which is a shame. If I had to live with only one herb, it would probably be violet, and it makes me sad that not everyone has access to it. But it does grow almost everywhere so there may be more access than you think…

So what is so great about violet? Well, for one thing, they are one of those rare moistening herbs. All medications and most plants actually dry you out to varying degrees, which can lead to conditions that range between a bit uncomfortable to downright painful. Severely dry eyes, for example,  are more on the excruciating end (it feels constantly like you have sand in your eyes you can’t get out), and rinsing your eyes in some violet tea with a bit of saline is the most soothing thing ever.

Violet is also a lymphatic herb, meaning it helps move stuck fluids out of the body (like taking out the trash). It is especially good at doing this in the chest area and in the head. So the tincture can be marvelous for certain kinds of headaches, especially because it also lowers inflammation. I particularly like it for sinus headaches combined with ground ivy (where there is stuck fluid and inflammation) and hot, stabby kinds of headaches or for times when too much energy is stuck in your head.

If, on the other hand, you’re having brain fog and have the kind of headaches that coffee helps, violet is not likely for you. I’ve given the tincture to a number of folks and I often get asked later “So…what all was in that?” and people are pretty astonished when I tell them it was only violet. Sometimes one herb is enough to get the job done!

Violet as a long infusion has additional benefits. That’s where you’re really going to see that moistening action–it can get pretty goopy if you let it sit long enough! That can really vary though depending on violet, if it was fresh vs. dried, etc. 

It’s also really high in minerals. You do have to let the infusion sit for at least 4 hours to extract all those minerals (that’s what I mean about a ‘long infusion,’ so sometimes I prepare it the night before and then start drinking it in the morning. People often drink nettles this way as an alternative to a multivitamin, but it’s nice to have an alternative to nettles if people can’t work with nettles for whatever reason.

And then there’s those nervine aspects! I find it very soothing to frazzled nerves. If you don’t have access to it locally, linden would provide a lot of those same moistening and nervine actions. 

Although it can’t usually be bought commercially these days, it does grow all over the place and you might be able to harvest it yourself if you trust the soil quality. One thing I get really irked about though is all these people on the internet posting pictures of all the violet flowers they harvested. You know what? The leaves are every bit as potent as medicine, and once you make a tea or tincture you can’t see the pretty flowers anyhow.

I try to leave as many flowers as possible for the pollinators, who absolutely need them in order to survive. I know the flowers are pretty, but so are butterflies. Spare the flowers and maybe you will be lucky enough to draw some rare butterfly beauties to your little patch. 

If you do not feel comfortable harvesting in your area, you are not out of luck. Violet medicine can still be for you–try sitting with a patch of violets and allow them to calm you the f*ck down. Believe me, they can do it. The world may have gone mad, but the violets are here to help us through it.

DISCLAIMER: This is for educational purposes only. Herbalists do not diagnose or treat any medical condition.