Preparation and application of herbs
Every autumn, when the hawthorn fruit turns red and ripe, the tribesmen go to the mountains to pick this precious fruit. After picking, the hawthorn fruit is dried or roasted over fire and preserved. The tribal herbalists use hawthorn in different ways according to the season and the disease.
For those who are weak and sick all year round and have indigestion, the herbalists will cook hawthorn with other local herbs such as wolfberry and licorice into a decoction. This decoction helps to dredge the qi and blood in the body, enhance the digestive function of the stomach and intestines, and help remove toxins and stagnation in the body.
Nature's Blessing
A young man named Li Wen felt a heaviness in his chest, indigestion, and loss of appetite after working in the autumn. He was exhausted from long hours of work and overeating, and even had abdominal bloating. Li Wen's parents took him to see the tribe's herbalist.
After diagnosis, the herbalist found that Li Wen's qi and blood were stagnant, causing indigestion. So the doctor decided to use hawthorn as a treatment. He boiled dried hawthorn fruits with wolfberry and licorice into a soup and gave it to Li Wen to drink every day.
After a few days, Li Wen began to feel less heavy in his stomach, his appetite returned, and his abdominal bloating problem was relieved. After a few weeks, Li Wen's mental state became fuller, his physical strength recovered a lot, and he felt rejuvenated.