Dancing in a Field of Tansy

Preparedness: Water

2012-01-25T13:41:00.000-06:00

Water is the number 1 necessity of life so it's important to have a good supply or readily available source. I have off and on stored water for years and one thing on our 'to do' list for the homestead is an underground cistern to store water. Instead of the usual large plastic tanks though, we've been looking into investing in a large culvert and burying it in the ground as a storage tank.

On our property we have a few cisterns and wells already in place. My plan this summer is to have the water tested. Also on my to purchase list is a new hand pump or replacement parts for our existing hand well as it is broken (notice the missing handle above...).

In addition to these existing promising storage areas, I also store water in the basement in heavy plastic vinegar bottles. In fact, it's time to empty out the water and refill with fresh so I'll use the water to water plants around the house until they are all refilled. I meant to do this last summer for the garden but it slipped my mind...These count mostly towards our 72 hour stash of water. Unfortunately, this water ONLY covers for the members in our house and not our livestock. I am still working on a system for them. On our homestead, we have 2 small ponds that contain a bit of water storage. We have talked of enlarging the pond in the pasture to provide more water. We also have an old bathtub out there that we hope to convert into a water trough. Lots of plans around here but so little time to actually implement them.

Other plans on the homestead include a solar shower for bathing during warmer months as well as a solar system or wood burning system to heat water for the boiler.

In addition to storing water, it's good to store ways to purify the water, especially if you have open sources that can become polluted. We have ways to purify on hand:

~micropur tablets
~various water filters (big berkey, seychelle water bottles, aquamira water straw, aquamira frontier pro water filter)
~bleach
~iodine
~boiling

It's good to have several ways to purify on hand, that way you can cross purify if necessary.

Do you store water? If so, what do you store it in? Do you have special considerations such as animals? How do you plan to provide water for them? Do you store methods of purifying water as well? What types of purification do you prefer? Do you take into consideration other water needs such as heating for bathing or household heat?

Homestead Plans 2012

2012-01-22T14:47:00.000-06:00

Looking ahead to our plans for this year and what I'd like for us to accomplish. This list will be updated/added to as things pop into my head.

Grain production:
-grow oats again, for both milky oats and dried for consumption
-grow millet for consumption

Animal feed production:
-grow alfalfa and red clover for medicinal and for hay
-fence in pasture #2
-mend fences for orchard for kids pasture (we did this temporarily last year and it worked well to keep the kids separated from their mamas and kept the orchard from becoming overgrown w/o damaging the trees)

Winter gardening:
-finish greenhouse

Food storage:
-old freezer root cellar (i wanted to do this with both our dead deep freeze and fridge but it seems the fridge succumbed to target practice)

Water storage:
-get rain barrels set up
-cistern

Garden production:
-up production of sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips and carrots
-work on fall gardening crops
-incorporating more permaculture concepts

Homestead purge:
-clean out the spare shed completely
-butcher old hens that are no longer laying (some we will use for stewing, some will become dog/cat feed)

Misc:
-create outdoor sleeping area for summertime

Preparedness: 72 Hour Personal Kit

2012-01-18T22:22:00.002-06:00

(photo from http://www.thereadystore.com/survival-kits/ultimate-ready-evac-kit-4-person)

"Every survival kit should have a sense of humor!" - Author unknown

One thing I've been doing for several years now is creating a 72 hour personal kit, sometimes known as a BOB which stands for Bug Out Bag. Mostly I assemble them in the winter months to put in the truck in case we break down so we can have a change of clothes, food and water, warmth and entertainment. They've come in handy a few times to keep the kids entertained and happy while we waited for a tow.

I change mine out every 6 months: one for colder months and one for warmer months. I prepare them for emergency purposes such as tornadoes, earthquakes, fire, etc. They are currently stored in the house but I plan to store them outside. Once I get my own vehicle again, they will be stored in the back as I used to do. Since we are down to 1 vehicle, I don't have them in the truck although we do have some emergency supplies in there.

Most states have their own emergency management page with recommendations for what to store. They are all basically the same but it's interesting to view various ones and get different perspectives on what is needed. Don't just stick with what your state recommends, seek out other states as well. Missouri has a good one. There are federal websites as well. This website is a great site for finding out information about natural disasters that could happen in your own state. They even have a section for kids.

There are several sections to each personal bag: clothing, personal hygiene, food/water, survival and entertainment. Each person gets a back pack. I am in the process of trying to find some internal frame back packs for my partner, myself and the older 2 kids and will upgrade as funds allow.

Each pack contains:

Winter Clothing:
1 set long underwear bottoms
2 pairs wool socks
1 pair jeans (mine also includes a skirt since I usually only wear skirts)
1 long sleeved shirt
1 short sleeved shirt or tank top
1 pair underwear for those who wear them
1 hooded sweatshirt
1 pair gloves/mittens combo
1 stocking hat
1 raincoat
1 pair heavy work gloves

Summer Clothing:
1 pair shorts (1 shortish skirt for mine)
1 tank top
1 long sleeved shirt
1 pair long pants (love zip off short pants for kids)
1 pair cotton socks
1 raincoat
1 pair heavy work gloves

Personal hygiene:
1 toothbrush in a ziplock bag
1/4 bar homemade soap in a ziplock bag
1 wash cloth in a ziplock bag
1 comb or brush (none for me)
1 piece flannel
4 hair ties for long haired members
1 roll toilet paper
1 container homemade tooth powder
1 sponge in ziplock bag(for menstruating members of the household)
1 extra pair of contacts and contact case (me only)
1 stick lip balm
1 travel towel

Food/Water:
(this counts as part of our 72 food kit)
Various methods for purifying water**:
1 package micropur water tablets PLUS

1 water straw

or 1 frontier pro water filter

plus 2 platypus water bags (see jason klass video on how-to make a filtration system)

or seychelle water bottle

plus 1 water bottle - klean kanteen

1 bag beef jerky
2 lara bars
1 bag dried fruit
1 bag nuts
1 can meat
1 bottle vitamin d3
1 oz. iosol iodine

Entertainment:
1 notebook

1 pencil or pen
1 pack crayons or other coloring tools (pencils/watercolors)

1 book (activity for smaller, reading or sudoku puzzle for older)

Various game creators (go fish for art deck, pyramath deck, gypsy deck of cards, set of dice, travel mancala, tangram game, etc) plus game book. Other travel games we may get: go, sudoku

Survival:
2 handwarmer packets (4 total)

1 small LED flashlight (with batteries removed)
6 AAA batteries (for the flashlight, enough for 2 sets)
1 bandana
2 emergency blankets (1 for laying on, 1 for wrapping up in)

1 fleece blanket
1 pocket knife and/or multi-tool (depending on age of person)
1 whistle (and I've got extras of these for the kids to wear when they go out to play in the woods behind our house)

1 firesteel miniature (bought off their website for .99)

1 lighter
20 dollars
1 emergency candle
1 mini compass (also from firesteel.com)

1 dust mask
1 laminated morse code sheet (that website has a fun way to learn morse code)

In most cases, we would not be leaving our home. We have more than enough here to keep us sustained and even if our house were leveled, we have several outbuildings and ways to build temporary shelters. We also have an old fashioned phone that plugs into the wall and is corded. I need to find an adapter for it as it is currently wired to be hard wired into the phone line but if push came to shove, we could just hard wire it into the telephone line.

Common Bag:
In one bag, most likely mine or the food box, the following items will be placed:
*1 copy of important papers (housing paperwork, drivers licenses, car registration, divorce papers, copy of my eye glass prescription, etc.)
*1 rechargeable radio/NOAA - I am considering the Freeplay Eyemax radio with weatherband

*1 manual can opener
*3 garbage bags
*1 bottle sea salt in grinder

*list of address/phone numbers of out of state friends/family
*maps, local and state for navigating in case roads are messed up from natural disasters

*1 roll duct tape
*First Aid Kit (one for the truck, one larger one for the home/camping)

Also, separately I have a bag with metal plates, bowls and silverware along with cloth napkins. We take this with us whenever we go to potlucks, etc. where we will be eating away from home so we don't have to use styrofoam, plastic or paper items. It is easy to grab as well although if we were grabbing our camping equipment we wouldn't need it. During the summer it is often already in the truck.

Also ready to grab:
Sleeping bags
Thermarest matts
Tarps
Rope
gas can
water cans (5 gallon containers)**

**A note on water:
I store water and use old vinegar bottles to do it. But, if we had to leave, I most likely would not take much ready to use water with me although we do have 2 or 3 5 gallon camping containers that we could fill up if need be. We would probably to start off with but water is pretty abundant in this area and we have iodine and water filters plus we could boil water and grab a bottle of bleach as well. If you are in a drier area (sw) you might consider having more portable potable water on hand. We also have a Berkey water filter that we could take if need be or use here (it is a daily use item).

Have you built a 72 hour personal bag or BOB? What do you carry in yours? How do you handle bags for smaller children who cannot carry as much as older children or adults in case you had to walk to somewhere? Where do you store your BOB?

You can see all the posts in this series through my page tab at the top: preparedness. As I write more posts, I will update the page with the links.

Have Your Lost Your Senses?

2012-01-17T11:19:00.000-06:00

Herbs play a large role in my life. I've been studying them for many years now but one thing I just started learning about a few years ago was the energetics of herbs. I wish I had been taught this from day one, it's such a great learning tool with herbal medicine.

Want to see how easy it is to learn about the energetics of herbs and their tastes? Watch this video of Rhiannon, Kiva Rose's daughter, demonstrating just that!

Regain your senses through the use of energetics and herbs!

Preparedness: Gluten Free 72 Hour Food Kit

2012-01-13T13:31:00.008-06:00

I'm a big fan of preparedness, food storage and creating 72 hour kits for emergencies. I mean, seriously, we're on a major fault line and in the tornado zone plus we can get some pretty nasty winter weather which could result in power outages. So, we've got a few things to be ready for.

One thing I'm not a fan of is the recommendation to store up foods that are full of preservatives, nitrates, food dyes and such. I have a chemical sensitive kid and as an extra precaution, we decided to go gluten free as a family this year. I am fearing I may have to add corn and pasteurized dairy to that list as well. I already avoid hfcs and other processed corn but popcorn, cornmeal and fresh/frozen corn may have to go as well. Hopefully this is only temporary to heal him but one day at a time.

So, back to my quandary. Reading these charts of what to store. The suggested items for the most part are NOT a part of our daily diet. And well, since everyone who is into food storage knows the food storage motto 'store what you eat and eat what you store' that just won't fly for us. Not to mention I wouldn't want to store a bunch of food that would cause us gastric/emotional/physical distress during our normal lives let alone when we could possibly be stressed about a local natural disaster as well.

So, recently, I've started researching alternative things to put into my 72 hour kits for my family. While I wouldn't buy this to work towards long term storage for several reasons, I think it is a good compromise for an emergency kit to get us through a few rocky days or weeks. I feel good about the items I've assembled for our kit knowing our family can eat them and not get sick from eating them.

I first started with this suggested list of food items:
1 lb dried fruit or trail mix per person
2 pkg soda crackers AND graham crackers per person (there are 4 pkgs per box)
4 granola bars per person
2 cans meat per person and 2 cans beans per person (chicken, tuna, etc and chili, etc.)
4 sticks beef jerky per person
1 pkg chewing gum per person
2 packets hot chocolate mix per person
2 instant soup packets per person
1 roll of toilet paper per person (tip: unroll the t.p. and put it into a ziploc bag. This way, it won't get crushed and it will stay clean. It also takes up less room)
1/2 lb dried milk per person
hard candy / lollipops

and tweaked it to suit us (number in parenthesis is how many we need total):

(06) 1 bag trail mix per person (1# each) - Rainbow's End from Trader Joe's
(06) 1 bag nuts per person (various weights) - Trader Joe's: Raw Almonds and Cashews, Pistashios, Macadamia nuts
(24) 12 oz. dried fruit per person - Mix from Aldi and Trader Joe's: Mangos, Apple rings, cranberries, apricots

We eat Trader Joe's trail mix, nuts and dried fruit regularly. Some of the dried fried I also got from Aldi who is owned by Trader Joe's (or vice versa). All that I buy are preservative and dye free.

(12) 2 pkg crackers per person

Blue Diamond makes a variety of crackers that are fairly good. Still looking for other alternatives but for the price, they are the best so far.

(48) 8 lara bars per person

I bought 3-16 packs of 3 different flavors. These are delicious, preservative free and filling. My co-op offered the best price for the case that I've found so far though Amazon is close.

(12) 2 cans meat per person (3 - chicken, 3 - tuna, 6 - salmon)

Trader Joe's sells bpa free cans of preservative free meat

(12) 2 cans beans per person
Eden Brand's cans are organic, bpa free and amazon sells cases for a very good price. I got a couple of different kinds: black beans, red beans, garbanzo

(6) 2 pkts per day variety heat-n-eat vegetable blends

Tasty Bites have sealed packages of Indian foods that are good and don't have preservatives. I'll stash at least 3 different kinds of packages, most likely 2 of each to add flavor to beans and meats. While I don't normally like cooking foods in plastic, for an emergency I would use them. For everyday cooking, I'll remove them from the packets.

UPDATE: Trader Joe's, bless their hearts, has a comparable version called Indian Fare that are in foil packets. I've not researched the foil packets yet so I have no idea if they are better for storing food than the plastic packages but they are a bit less expensive. I may do a mix of these and the Tasty Bites packages.

(12) 2 pkg beef jerky per person

Once again, from Trader Joe's as they are preservative free, gluten free, msg free...a lot of people who review them online don't like them but our family does. Only the organic is gluten free though which is a bummer because I like their Buffalo Jerky.

(12) 2 pkg chewing gum per person

Glee Gum rocks! Gluten free, preservative free, aspartame free, made with sustainably harvested rainforest chicle. We usually get cinnamon and bubble gum flavor.

(12) 3 packets hot chocolate mix per kid
Still looking for a mix. I may have to package my own (we make it from scratch anyway for daily consumption).

(01) 1 lb. coffee beans

Just bought 1 bag of beans from Shop-n-Save for my partner, he's the only coffee drinker. Normally I buy him the Trader Joe's coffee because it's fair trade, organic and inexpensive.

(01) 1 box tea bags

I am the tea drinker (herbal). I opened a box of India Spice and left 6 bags in then added 6 bags peppermint and 6 bags chamomile so we have some for the kids too.

(6) 1 instant soup packets per person

Frontier Soups. I am excited to find this brand! I have only bought 1 bag so far and am going to try it out before buying for our kit but the blends are all natural, no preservatives, no gluten in a lot of them and they have something like 31 different flavors that are gluten free.

UPDATE: I changed the amount we need of this brand as 1 packet makes enough to feed all 6 of us for 1 meal. 6 packets would make 6 meals for us or 2 a day. I'm keeping it at 2 a day as the soups call for additional ingredients but if all we had available was water, we could make do so I'd possibly make 2 packets for 1 meal. The flavor we tried was the Potato Leek soup.

(36) 6 packs instant oatmeal per person

It is hard to find instant oatmeal without preservatives locally but found some I did! Glutenfreeda's and Nature's Path! I still need to double check Trader Joe's, I think they may be good too. If so, I will definitely go with them for the price. We haven't tried our glutenfreeda oatmeal yet but the tj oatmeal has been taste tested and passed with flying colors.

UPDATE: Trader Joe's are preservative free and most are gluten free. I have also found Nature's Path brand, again most are gluten free but not all. All are preservative free. Glutenfreda, for us is out, not because of taste but because of price.

(04) 1/2 lb dried milk per person

Not sure I'll stick to this recommendation. This is one of those things I dislike about food storage recommendation because we have dairy goats. We don't use a lot of milk from the store though we love ice cream, cheese, yogurt and butter. I buy raw cream to make our own butter/ghee and we use our own goat's milk to make yogurt, soft cheese and ice cream. but, it would be nice to have some on hand in case it's the off season (like right now) while our goats are gestating. I may go with only 2 packages instead of 4.

(24)1 pkg. hard candy / lollipops

I buy the 5# package of Yummy Earth lollipops then we have a great time working our math skills to separate all the flavors and divide them up into ziplock bags for long term storage. The kids love them and I love that they are free of food dyes, corn syrup and other nasty stuff. I added 3 of each flavor into a quart size ziplock bag for our 72 hour food kit. They also make gummy bears and small fruit candies.

So that currently comprises our 72 hour food kit. It's packed in a plastic bin that can be thrown in the back of the truck in case we have to leave home and stay with friends or family for awhile. We'll have enough food to keep us fed and not be a burden on our friends/family while eating what we are used to eating and not having to go off our diet. It is currently in the house but will be stored in an outbuilding when I'm finished assembling it.

This kit will be rotated every 6 months, we'll eat the food in the kit and I'll repack with fresh food. Since I usually buy this food at the grocery stores and from amazon, it's no big deal to rotate out twice a year.

In case of lack of electricity, if we were stuck at home, we could use our wood stove to cook on and often do anyway just to save on propane (I've even baked in it). In case we had to leave and the place we go to doesn't have electricity, we would include our camp kit which has 2 2burner gas stoves, several single burner stoves plus all the cooking equipment (pans, bowls, plates, etc) we would need (look for a future post on our camp kit).

For water I plan to get enough aquamira straws for every person in the household and maybe a few more Seychelle water bottles. They come in 4 different colors so maybe one of each color for the kids. (For a more thorough list of our water filtration, see the 72 hour family kit post).

Have you created a 72 hour food kit? Do you have any special considerations in your diet that you've had to work around? How have you adjusted the 'typical' 72 hour food kit to accommodate your needs? I'd love to hear all about any changes you've made!

Next time I'll discuss the rest of our 72 hour kit and how we customize it to our family.

You can see all the posts in this series through my page tab at the top: preparedness. As I write more posts, I will update the page with the links.

Animal Totems

2011-12-19T15:18:00.001-06:00

It is said that we have several animal protectors that come to us in times of need to teach us lessons in life. These totems can be found through meditation or through the frequent appearance of them in your life. If you keep stumbling across an animal, either in real life or virtual life, it could be that totem is trying to tell you something. Pay attention!

Skunk has been with me since childhood. I never paid much attention to him until a few years ago. I stumbled across the meaning of a skunk totem and I was taken by him:

The skunk is a very powerful totem with mystical and magical associations. It teaches how to give respect, expect respect and demand respect. This totem helps you recognize your own qualities and assert them. Skunks are fearless but very peaceful. These are two wonderful qualities that you can learn from your skunk totem. If you have skunk medicine will find that the use of fragrances will elicit dynamic responses in the people around you. Your sexual response will be heightened and you will have a greater ability to attract people. Individuals with a skunk totem must learn to balance the ability to draw and repel people. Skunks remind us that there is a time to be with people and a time for solitude. Skunks are silent animals and through their silence, they teach us not to brag --it will push people away rather than attract. People will notice you without any help.

A few years ago I saw a dead skunk on the side of the road. I pulled over and made my daughter pick him up for me. He's in my freezer right now but in a few weeks I am going to a brain tanning workshop and he's going with me. I WILL come home with a tanned skunk pelt to put on my altar. I cannot wait!

Swallow has flown into and out of my life since childhood as well. Every spring I eagerly await their arrival and the day they no longer fly through the air around our barn my heart feels a little heavy. I could just stand and watch them fly around for hours. They are so carefee and joyful, dipping and swooping. Their ability to take bits of mud and dried grass to build a nest on the rafters is amazing.

This totem heralds the arrival of summer and brings warmth and protection to your home. It also tells you to pay close attention to conversations - are you saying more than you should? Are you listening closely to what others have to say? Swallow also brings a warning to not let small things get to you - don't let the mundane activities of life take up all you time and prevent you from moving forward. Rise above the small stuff and you will gain a better perspective on your life. The key is objectivity.

Our cat once caught a swallow. He was still alive so I was able to rescue him and let him fly away. The colors of his dark feathers was brilliant and iridescent. Nature has a way with colors! This month I am pondering the meaning of these two totems and seeing what lessons I can learn from them. Learning and accepting their medicine brings me closer to my true self.

What totems are you learning from?

descriptions from: http://www.linsdomain.com/totems-s.htm

Plant Healer Anniversary Edition

2011-12-05T15:33:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe it's already been 1 year since my friend Kiva started the Plant Healer Magazine yet, this issue marks the 1 year anniversary!

This issue is 264 amazing pages of articles from well known herbalists, up and coming herbalists and even kid herbalists! There are lots of drawings, color photographs and art work pertaining to herbs. It is published quarterly and features a variety of articles including monographs about plants, herbal marketing, herbal medicine making, herbal birthing, the roots of herbalism, herbal botany and many more topics that are of interest to the traditional herbalist.

You'll also find stories, cartoons, poetry and a variety of herbal posters to amuse and delight yourself!

I had the pleasure to write 2 articles for this issue in addition to offering a full paged drawing titled 'Harvest' to contribute to this beautiful publication. It has to be one of the most beautiful and informative herbal publications that can be found.

To celebrate the anniversary issue, Kiva and her partner Jesse Wolf Hardin are offering some amazing bonuses to go along with the usual subscription rate, including a discount to attend the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference in September 2012 at Mormon Lake in Arizona! The discount will only be available for the next few weeks though so if you're interested, you need to grab it up soon. Click on the banner to head on over there:

Winterizing

2011-11-17T12:38:00.000-06:00

Whether I like it or not, Winter is knocking on our back door. We've already had the wood burning stove heating us for the last month or so, sooner than I remember in past years. We rely on the heat from this little stove to keep us warm in the winter. We supplement with some kerosene heaters, one in the basement and one upstairs to keep the pipes from freezing. The main level stays nice and toasty but the house is 2000 square feet.

A recent article over at Natural Home magazine's blog inspired this post as most of their Winterizing tips won't really work for us:
~we turn our water heater on for 1 hour each day to heat water. Twice in the coldest part of winter if we need to shower that day.

~we don't have a thermostat because of the wood stove

So, here are our Winterizing techniques:

~Cover windows with the plastic film to keep out drafts upstairs

~Cover windows with wool blankets at night to keep out cold air. During sunny days we open some of them up to let light/warmth in.

~Seal off the upstairs and use only for showering

~Sleep down in the warmest part of the house during the coldest parts of winter

~wear lots of layers: 2-3 skirts, leggings, 3-4 shirts, hat, fingerless gloves

~roll up towels to place at bottoms of doors to keep out drafts

~hang curtains in doorways at night to trap all the warmth in our sleeping area

~use ceiling fans to circulate warm air

~layer our bedding: flannel sheet, fuzzy blanket, down comforter, wool blanket (helps to trap in heat)

~sleeping with hats on our heads

What are ways you keep your house and self warm during the winter?

Lady's Slipper Ring

2011-11-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

I want to introduce to you a wonderful new monthly program a friend of mine created, the Lady Slipper's Ring. In Ananda's own words:

I have just *two* sets left for the mystery Lady's Slipper ring Members who would like to start now - all others will begin with December's herbals and practices.

This month is Luscious! - and you'd get to be on the same page with the members who have begun already. Annual payments get a whole month FREE and the first two annuals get the LINDEN set!!
(Easy monthly payments are still available though!)

Are you ready for bliss with no apologies?♥ ♥ ♥

All Lady's Slipper Members receive:

~ One complete three piece herbal collection every month

~ Rich and Engaging Support Content each month regarding the collection, the self care invitations that accompany the theme, and activities to awaken your conscious body. (via PDF)

~ One Q&A/Support email exchange per month

~ Accountability through mirroring: intention exercises which will be returned/mirrored to you periodically during the year, reflecting to you your beauty and purposes, and reminding you of your deeper self.

~ Pre-public notice of all offerings from Plant Journeys/Amrita Apothecary

BONUS PLUS ~ One jar of decadent face cream each season especially designed for the Lady's Slipper Ring!! That's four jars per year - enough to keep you well hydrated and pampered!

SUPER BONUS ~ I already have an incredible *Linden blossom - Neroli Cream and Facial Therapy Oil set* ready to be delivered to the *FIRST TWO* MEMBERS of the Lady's Slipper Ring to pay for the full year's registration today!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have just joined the ring and all I can say is WOW! I am excited and thrilled to be a part of this! Each month is packed full of simple, rewarding things to do to make you feel better about yourself and open yourself up to the true potential you really have. It's like a big hug delivered to your mailbox, followed by a gentle massage and a light, loving caress. Each month you'll receive suggestions and tasks to do that open up your mind and heart without being overwhelming. I'm already in love with this amazing journey of self worth and herbal love. If you are feeling a bit down, lost, misguided or burnt out, the Lady's Slipper Ring is perfect for you!

Hurry over before she fills up and grab yourself a slot! You won't regret it.

garlic

2011-10-27T11:03:00.001-05:00

garlic, originally uploaded by herbalrootszine.

it's something at least!

2011-10-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

i posted on our homeschool blog, brown school of life.

Practical Primrose

2011-10-06T04:32:00.000-05:00

The October newsletter for Herbal Roots zine is up:

Practical Primrose

If you subscribe to the free monthly newsletter you'll receive a free issue of Herbal Roots zine as well.

And, in case you missed it, Homeschool Freebies spotlighted Herbal Roots zine on Tuesday:

Gotta Love Garlic

Hurry, I'm leaving the link up a few extra days due to the high demand!

2012 Wall Calendars are Available!

2011-10-05T16:30:00.000-05:00

i had a lot of fun creating these for next year! each month features the corresponding herb for herbal roots zine with a watercolor drawing of the herb, a bit about the plant and a craft, recipe or remedy that won't be found in that issue.

show your love of herbs and herbal learning with this beautiful calendar! pictures of each month and full details can be found on my website.

Fall Issue of Crone's Gazette

2011-09-23T09:27:00.000-05:00

My good friend Kathie at Two Frog Home created a little publication titled The Crone's Gazette back this spring. The fall issue has just come out and she is offering a crazy promotion: the first 20 issues given out are FREE! Hurry on over and snag yourself an issue. I have a column in it titled the Foraging Crone which is full of seasonal herbs and recipes. This issue also has articles about Aprons, Herbs, Canning, Rainwater Harvesting and more!

She is also accepting submissions for writers for the Winter issue which is due out on December 21. If you're interested in writing, see the writer's guidelines.

Whirlwind!

2011-09-21T12:38:00.000-05:00

so, it seems that i have just dropped off the face of the internet but in fact, i am still around, just overwhelmed with everything in my life!

facebook also makes me lazy, it's so easy to just pop a one-liner in my status bar and instantly upload photos from my iphoto to there that i don't have the energy to put into regularly updating my blog. i hope to change this as the weather cools off and my life slows down a bit, perhaps in another month or two!

in the meantime, i wanted to let everyone who's been inquiring know that we are well and busy and just so full of gratitude and love. we just returned from the traditions in western herbalism conference and it was just as amazing as last year. i was lucky to be able to take my partner (he hates that i call him that, wishes i'd call him my old man...) and my youngest 2 kids. i so wish i could have taken my older daughter, she so wanted to go but it fell on her dad's weekend. i hope to be able to take her along next year though.

so, here are the whooping 5 photos i took at the conference this year! i'm so bad about breaking out the camera and snapping photos.

from top to bottom:

1. view of campground from top of mountain...the white speck of a van in the far righthand side was our van. we hiked from there, up the side of the mountain and back several times a day. oh and down the other side of the mountain too occasionally...

2. chuck garcia, such an amazing curandero from california. loved his class immensely! very heart felt and emotional. i would love to be an apprentice with him.

3. jaden posing with chloe and leah of rising appalachia. it was love at first site for her, she followed them all around camp and even drew them a picture.

4. rosalee de la foret and me. rosalee labels herself as my number one fan. i can't think of a sweeter person to have for that role so i'll go with it! she's pretty amazing herself.

5. john gallagher, the mastermind behind learningherbs.com and herbmentor.com and me. john has dubbed herbal roots zine as 'the most bad-ass herbal publication'! flattery will get you everywhere! :D i was sporting quite the sunburn from our final day at camp....the only day it didn't rain while we were there.

The Tree Year - June

2011-06-15T15:05:00.001-05:00

It's been several months since I've had a chance to update the Tree Year but since my cedar has berries on it, I wanted to update.

Herbal Ally Challenge #12: Make a Salve

2011-05-04T12:03:00.000-05:00

The next challenge is to use some of your oil to make a salve. Salves are great for applying your ally where you need him without a huge mess. They are compact and can be traveled with easily and ready to use when the fresh herb isn’t around.

Assignment 1:
Read a few different perspectives on salve making:

Healing Wise by Susun Weed pages 273. Similar excerpt can be found at this online article: Be Your Own Herbal Expert part 6 by Susun Weed

Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech pages 87 - 88 (Second part of Chapter 10)

The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook by James Green Chapter 18: Ointments, Salves & Balms pages 201 - 208 (click to see online...5 pages are missing from this version)

Assignment 2:
Make a salve using any oil(s) you have previously infused with your ally. If you have an oil for each part of the plant, make a salve out of each.

To make a salve, you will need your infused oils, beeswax and vitamin E. You can purchase vitamin E capsules at your local drugstore. You’ll only need a few drops.

Measure your oil and place it in the top of a double burner. For every 4 parts oil, add 1 part beeswax. For instance if you have 4 oz. of oil, you’ll add 1 oz. of beeswax.

Gently heat until the beeswax is melted. Dip a teaspoon into the salve and bring out, shake off. Let it set up either at room temperature or in the freezer for quicker results. When it has hardened, you can tell how thick the salve is. If you think it’s going to be too hard, add a bit more oil. If you’d like it harder, add a bit more beeswax. It will become a bit harder than it is on the spoon so keep that in mind when you make any adjustments.

When it is the consistency you want it, use the tip of a sharp knife to poke a hole in the vitamin E capsule and squeeze it into the salve. Stir and pour your salve into a wide mouthed jar or metal container.

Assignment 3:
Journal any thoughts you have on salve making. Write about why you think salves will be a good mix with your herbal ally (or why not).

Take a moment to write down any uses you might have for a salve with your herb. Does he have an affinity for muscles? If so, he may be useful for rubbing on sore muscles after a long day in the garden. Does he stop bleeding? Then his salve is a great addition to the first aid kit to staunch bleeding. Salves can be used for healing sore or damaged muscles, nerves, bones, cuts, stings, insect bites, animal bites, diaper rash, mild burns and much more.

After making a list of the obvious uses for your salve, make a second list of possible uses for the salve, whether or not you have ever read about the oil being used for these ailments. Part of exploring your ally is to learn new things, so trial and error will help you discover new uses.

Assignment 4:
Continue meditating with your plant and journal your experiences. Note any changes to your plant in size, color, bloom cycle, etc. Pay attention to your ally’s journey of life. You’ll want to continue doing this throughout the lifecycle of your ally.

Assignment 5:
Catch up on any other Challenges you’ve fallen behind in. It’s always good to go back and review what you’ve been doing just to refresh your memory.

Herbal Ally Updates and Survey

2011-05-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lack of Herbal Ally updates. Spring is catching up with me!

I promise to continue offering them and I will have the next one posted shortly. In the meantime, I wanted to take a survey for those participating in the Challenges. If you could answer the questions in comments, that would be helpful for me.

1. How often do you feel you can manage to get a new challenge? once a week, once every 2 weeks, once a month? What pace works best for you?

2. Do you feel you are benefitting from the amount of challenge that is offered each time? Is it too much? Not enough? Anything I could improve upon?

3. Are there any specific challenges you'd like to see offered/covered in the future? Do the challenges seem balanced enough between the emotional/creative side and the practical/knowledge side?

4. Would you be interested in creating a challenge and offering it on your blog as sort of a herbal ally challenge blog post party, similar to past herbal blog posting parties? This is an idea Ananda suggested as a way to help me out when I get to bogged down to do the challenges myself: different people would volunteer to post upcoming challenges, either those they made up or from a list I'd provide.

5. How would you feel if the challenge took that direction and was co-hosted?

6. Anything else you'd like to add, suggest or say?

I truly appreciate your feedback on this! I want this challenge to continue and I have enjoyed doing what I've offered so far, I just feel I am letting everyone down by not being able to post them in a timely manner at the moment. Please be honest, you won't hurt my feelings! This is exactly why I started the challenge because I knew if I didn't host it publicly, I'd personally not follow through. :) I am thrilled so many have joined in and I don't want to let you down!

Update: Spring is Raining Deadlines and Tornados

2011-04-25T14:26:00.000-05:00

"...the sky is a poisonous garden tonight..."

-Concrete Blonde

Thanks to everyone who signed up for the Culinary Herbalism course! I've only begun the first lesson but I know I'm going to love working through it.

Right now I am swamped in deadlines: Herbal Roots zine issues, an article for Rhythm of the Home, a handout for a presentation on Wednesday about Herbs for Children, trying to get soap made for the upcoming market season (starts in less than 2 weeks!!!) and so on. Then there's everyday stuff such as dishes, laundry (which is hard to do while dodging thunderstorms and tornados), cleaning house, milking the goats, tethering the goats (again when weather is cooperative), schooling the kids....deep breath!

So, unfortunately, something has to slide and right now it is the Herbal Ally year. I promise to add another challenge as soon as I can, I am not abandoning it, nor have I forgotten about it! If I can get through this next week or two, I will hopefully reach a plateau and can breathe a bit....hopefully.

The garden that has been planted so far is doing well. Onions are sprouting, garlic is filling in, strawberries are blooming (it is SO hard to pinch those blooms off but I'm determined to do it right), and lettuce is growing like crazy. Unfortunately, so are the weeds. And with the rain, I haven't been able to get out there regularly to weed.

We've had lots of crazy weather lately. A tornado ripped through the St. Louis airport Friday night and did lots of damage. There were also several communities damaged, we lucked out and it went south of us. There's more of that predicted for tonight.

This spring has been cold and wet and gloomy. Unusual and that's the description I'm seeing all around the country from others who pay attention to that sort of stuff. I have a feeling that this is going to be the new norm unfortunately.

I have a ton of planting to do: 10 flowering trees (2 each: crabapple, dogwood, redbud, hawthorne, goldenraintree), 3 each: hawthorn, witch hazel and crampbark plus 8 cranberry bushes. The cranberries will be the most intensive since I have to amend a bed for them with peat moss, sand and other additives. I'm looking forward to having fresh cranberries though!

Herbal Ally Challenge #11 Completed

2011-04-25T13:23:00.000-05:00

Love letter to my ally, Nettles:

Final Day for Sign Up!

2011-04-23T08:43:00.000-05:00

Today's the final day to sign up for K.P. Kalsa's Culinary Herbalism course on Learning Herbs. If you are wanting to sign up for the course but can't afford to pay all at once, they are now offering a payment plan. The details are at the bottom of the page.

I've had a chance to check out the first lesson and I am loving this course! I know I'm going to learn a lot about using my food as medicine and I'm excited for this because sometimes my family is not always on board with taking the weird concoctions I offer up to them when they are feeling a bit under the weather. Any chance I can get to play a bit of kitchen witchery and create a meal that not only tastes spectacular but is healing is well, well, I'm all over that!

If you've taken any of the past courses John has put together at Learning Herbs then you KNOW this course is going to be amazing. K.P. himself will be on the website for the first week of the course but it will remain open to all of those who signed up indefinitely so if you're like me and finding time to do something can be difficult and weather based, you can tuck it away for a rainy day.

The sign ups close around midnight tonight unless it fills to capacity before then. There was a glitch in the system a few days ago which wouldn't allow anyone to sign up so it has not filled as quickly as it should have so there's still lots of openings left!

Winner of Crone's Gazette

2011-04-22T23:21:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Karisma! Her comment was selected via the random.org generator to win a year's subscription to the Crone's Gazette!

Karisma, I'll be in touch shortly to get your information for the subscription.

Thanks to everyone who signed up!

Culinary Herbalism Enrollment Now Open!

2011-04-19T12:25:00.000-05:00

I'm excited to announce that K.P. Kalsa's course Culinary Herbalism through Learningherbs.com is now open! Enrollment will only be open through Saturday, April 23 so if you're interested in taking this course, sign up now! For the first 6 weeks of availability, K.P. Kalsa will personally be on the website answering any questions you may have. After that, access to the course will still be open but K.P. will no longer be personally available.

I am completely excited about taking this course and have already been enjoying the recipes offered from the first two videos. The great thing about this course is there is no time limit on how long it takes you to go through the course so you can work at your own pace while learning to create meals for yourself and your family that are not only healthful but healing as well.

Here is a list of the 10 lessons. Each lesson has a video, mp3 (of the video), transcript and homework page (in the form of recipes! sounds like excellent homework to me!):

1. Herbs as Food
Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food. Natural healing systems from around the world use food as a way to keep healthy and use taking herbal medicine as a way to concoct tasty, healing meals.

• Herbs are foods
• Include healing herbs in your foods
• Healthy individualized eating
• Food and herb potency spectrum
• Food as medicine dining
• Culinary herbalism recommended books

2. Preparations
Many delicious foods are also healing. Therapeutic herbs can be cooked into tasty soups, breads and beverages. It takes creativity and a little know-how to decide how to best prepare each culinary herb.
Kitcharee, the famous healing food from Ayurveda

• Healing bean dishes from around the world
• Herbal soups and broths
• Congee, the culinary herbalism superstar from Asia
• Herbs in bread
• Herbs as juice
• Healing herbal yogurt drinks from India

3. Basic Recipes
Onion, garlic and ginger form the “trinity roots” healing trio from Ayurveda. Healing herbs taste great in puréed green vegetables. Healing herbs make great pesto.

• The healing properties of onion, garlic and ginger
• Prepare puréed green vegetables blended with healing herbs
• Healing, delicious herbal appetizers and party snacks

4. Skin
Herbal medicine is a treasure trove of healing for the skin. Tasty culinary herbalism recipes make medicine delicious.

• Vegetables for skin inflammation
• Culinary herbs as skin healers
• Root vegetables for liver and skin health

5. Digestion
Fragrant culinary spices are big medicine in Asian herbalism. Use appetizing herbs to treat gas, indigestion, heartburn, ulcer, nausea and constipation. Enjoy your food while you heal your digestion.

• Tasty aromatic spices for gas
• Teas and soups for digestive disorders
• Spices warm up slow digestion
• Soothing herbal food recipes heal a hot tummy
• Heal even tough digestive issues with culinary herbalism remedies

6. Immune system
Culinary herbalism heals the flu. Use yummy herbal teas for fever. Berries and medicinal mushrooms create a strong immune system.

• Chilies for cold and flu
• Culinary herbalism for children’s immune systems
• Chinese herbs for flu and fever

7. Respiratory system
Culinary herbalism can support long term respiratory health, and effectively treat respiratory disorders. Use a potent Chinese herb for postnasal drip and an Ayurvedic herb to release sinus congestion. Clear your breathing with herbal soups.

• Treat sinus infections with culinary herbs
• Herbs for asthma and sore throat
• Food and herbs for runny nose

8. Tonics
In every herbal system, tonic herbs are the secret to staying healthy for life, and many are also tasty culinary herbs. Learn about health building foods and how to incorporate tonic herbs into your cooking.
• Food and herb recipes for hormone balance
• Ginseng soup for stamina
• Herbal tonic soups
• Culinary herbalism sleep remedies
• Culinary herbalism for diabetes
• Chinese curative dessert soups

9. Musculoskeletal  and Cardiovascular
Food and culinary herbs can keep your skeleton strong and your joints moving. Tasty recipes balance your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. You will want to eat them every day.

• Fruit soup for healthy joints
• Common kitchen spices for a healthy nervous system
• Herbal soups for a healthy heart

10.   Detoxification
It’s the basis of every natural healing system. Culinary herbalism can make detoxification tasty and enjoyable. Use selected root vegetable foods to heal your liver. Prepare soups and curries to support your kidneys.

• Asian culinary herbal vegetables for blood sugar & cellular
   detoxification
• Common kitchen spices for cleansing
• Culinary herb teas and soups for the kidneys
• Selected grains for weight loss and kidney health

Hurry because they can only accept a limited number of enrollments and if enough people sign up before Saturday, enrollment will close early. It will be a long time if ever this course is offered again so sign up while you can!

For more information and to enroll, go here. And remember, if you do sign up, you'll also be helping to support my baby, Herbal Roots zine as I receive a commission for each sale which I am putting back into making my zine even better through better technology.

Thank you and I hope to see you there!

Announcing the Crone's Gazette and a Giveaway!

2011-04-18T13:08:00.005-05:00

A good friend of mine, Kathie from Two Frog Home has been working hard for the past few months to put together a new online quarterly publication titled the Crone's Gazette. In her words:

"The Crones Gazette will be a quarterly magazine focused on sharing seasonal wisdom for folks who want to do-it-themselves. We’ll be focusing on things like self-sufficiency, building community, crafts, gardening, raising livestock, cooking, making herbal medicine and much more. The magazine will be available for subscription via e-mail (pdf download) or through a print publication based on subscriber choice.

We look forward to putting together this magazine and working with all the wonderful writers, resources, and readers that will bless this magazine."

I am one of several writers in this publication, writing a column titled The Foraging Crone and this issue's article is all about harvesting the herbs of spring.

To kick off this great new little publication, Kathie has generously offered to give away a year's subscription to the Crone's Gazette. The first issue is 48 pages long and features all sorts of great articles including recipes, how-to's, stories and more.

The first issue is being sold for $4.50 and after that, single issues will be $7.00. Annual subscriptions are $25.00. For more information, to subscribe or if you are interested in submitting an article for an upcoming issue, go to: cronesgazette.com.

To sign up for a chance to win a free subscription, leave a comment on this post. For more chances, leave A SEPARATE comment each time you do one of the following:

-facebook/myspace/tweet about this giveaway and the premiere issue
-blog about this giveaway and the premiere issue
-become a fan on facebook and tell them tansy sent you

Sign up by Friday, April 22 at 5pm cst. I'll announce the winner that will be randomly drawn using random.org's calculator shortly after that. Thanks and good luck!

New Morning Tea

2011-04-15T09:26:00.000-05:00

John has posted another quicky video over at Culinary Herbalism, this time on making yogi tea, a recipe given to K.P. Kalsa by his mentor.

I used to make a similar tea but it had more ingredients than the ones listed and I never got around to mixing it because of the length of the ingredient list. I just brewed up this tea this am and it is very similar in taste (delicious!) but with fewer ingredients is much easier to make. I like mine sweet so I add honey.

Check out the video and try it for yourself. There's even a downloadable file with the recipe on it so you can print and hang it on your fridge or where ever you can conveniently store it for using. And if you missed the first video that includes 2 yummy recipes for a completely nourishing and healing meal, you can click on the tab at the upper left side of the page to get back to that video.

Curious About Making Your Food Your Medicine?

2011-04-12T06:00:00.004-05:00

One of the best things about herbs is their ability to heal, even when used as food. This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart and one I have recently begun embracing wholeheartedly, so much so that when I heard my good friend John over at LearningHerbs.com had created a Culinary Herbalism Course with natural healing specialist K. P. Kalsa, I got very excited.

See, although I fully believe in using my herbs in cooking, I never know if I'm "doing it right" or if I'm using enough herbs or the right herbs. And then, along comes this course! If you are interested in learning more about healing your family and loved ones through food, this is definitely the course for you!

Culinary Herbalism

I for one will be there, learning all I can to incorporate herbs in my food. This course is pre-launching this week and there will be lots of videos and recipes shared over the next week for you to decide if you'd like to take the actual course or not. The previews are no obligation so head over and check out the first video to see what it's all about!

This course takes herbalism to a whole new level. I know you won't be disappointed in what you see with the first video, I myself learned something new while watching it. I am thrilled and am going to be trying out my own versions of the recipes later this week.

What are you waiting for? Head on over to the Culinary Herbalism website right now and check it out!

P.S. I'm an affiliate of Culinary Herbalism and will receive a commission if you sign up through me but even if I wasn't, I'd still be recommending this course because I have seen the amazing courses John offers and I know this course is going to be just as amazing, if not more so, just from previewing the first video. My commissions I earn through this course go to a good cause...improving Herbal Roots zine through better technology and tools.

Catching My Breath

2011-04-05T07:47:00.000-05:00

March? Where did it go?! I cannot believe it is April already. I apologize for the lagging on the Herbal Ally posts, even with cutting back to every 2 weeks I find myself not able to keep up with my own assignments or postings. And now here we are in April and I have a list of deadlines for articles and such out the door, all standing in line along with the bag of potatoes and onions that need to be planted, the seeds that need to be tended, the children than need to be schooled and mothered and a whole list of other to do's.

Sigh.

Mother's mood swings have got me in a tizzy. Commit to warmer weather already, please!!! I realize spring is about going between warm and cold but really, I need warmth. Not to whine or anything.

I posted up the next ally post, yay me! Now to get caught up in my own challenges and report them on here. I'll work hard on that in the next 2 weeks. How is everyone else doing with their challenges? I promise to come around to everyone's blogs and get caught up reading about your own personal experiences, i truly enjoy reading about them! I have some new folks to add to the mix as well, welcome aboard to those who have joined in the last month.

All of our goats have kidded, we have 5 beautiful healthy kids, 2 doelings and 3 bucklings (why do we always get more bucks than does?!). I plan on keeping the girls for future milkers but hope to sell the boys. They are all handsome little devils and I think will throw good kids of their own someday. I'm also starting to look for a new buck as I cannot breed him to these sweet girls in a year. I've been milking one of the mamas daily and will start with the second doe next week. The 3rd doe, my first to kid this year has not been milked yet even though her kids will be 2 months old and ready to wean in 2 weeks as she has been ill. I was worried I was going to lose her for awhile but she seems to be slowly bouncing back. I hope so because she is my favorite doe and I've grown quite attached to her. I've treated her for just about every little thing I can think of and others suggested with no idea what was wrong. Humans are so much easier to treat than animals, at least they can tell you where it hurts.

We have wwoofers coming in the beginning of May this year, our earliest arrivals yet but I'm glad because May is typically busy with weeding so it will be wonderful to have help with that. I just may stay on top of the garden this year (fingers crossed).

The dreads are over 5 months old now and starting to shrink up a bit. This picture was actually taken at the 4 month mark, I need to get a 5 month picture taken. My dad asked me if I was going to brush my hair and if I COULD brush my hair if I wanted to, hahaha. He asked me 'what do you call that?' about my hair. He had no idea what dreadlocks are. I mentioned to him that Samson had locks. I don't think he appreciated my biblical reference. I like not having to use a comb or brush anymore. I like just wrapping them in a scarf or a bandana and not worrying about them. At times I'm wistful for my long curly hair, but then I remember how much it tangled and how it was breaking off from trying to keep the dreads out of it. Then I don't miss it anymore.

A good friend was visiting last week and we started talking about mixing herbs into our meals, intentionally placing nourishment in our foods, secretly, so the picky eaters would not notice but so we could still get the nourishment into their bodies. We talked of how this kitchen witchery herbalism crept into our lives without us noticing and how it felt good to naturally incorporate herbs into our foods as medicine without even thinking about it. For me, the challenge is to get kelp, mushrooms and other important herbs into our bodies right now in light of the tragedies that have struck Japan which is indirectly affecting us. At the same time, my family has been raving about how wonderful the meals taste. What is it exactly that I'm putting in to them that they are noticing? Is it the herbs? The intention? The love? All of the above I hope.

Today is supposed to be back up to 60 which still seems cold after the beautiful 80's weather we had Sunday but definitely better than the 48 degrees weather we had yesterday. Hopefully some onions will get planted, some time will be spent with nettles (or at least more regular time, I've visited the patch several times this past week and harvested some already too), and I'll be able to cross off one more deadline I have listed on my writing to do list.

How is your spring treating you?

Herbal Ally Challenge #9 Completed

2011-04-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

I've been going through my Ally journal to review for my self and for writing next month's Herbal Roots zine issue which is on Nettles. It has been great refreshing my memory on everything I've read and learned about and discovered in the past 3 months with Nettles.

My seedlings sadly aren't doing too well. There may be 1-2 seedlings that have actually sprouted. I'm not giving up on them yet though. I continue to water them and hope they will sprout. Time will tell.

I use the vinegar when I can to incorporate it into meals. I tried doing the spoonful in water but it was harsh. It made my stomach turn so I stopped because I truly do not want to turn myself off to the powers of vinegar. Instead, I turned to salad dressing making.

I used a basic method of simply splashing olive oil and nettle vinegar directly on a salad to eat. It was alright but nothing spectacular.

This weekend, I made some delicious spring salads that the family raved over. I took to the yard and harvested burdock, violet and lamb's quarters sprouts which I thoroughly rinsed and added to a spring salad mix. I chopped up strawberries and orange slices (leftover from a kid who didn't finish them off) and tossed them in the salad along with almonds and gorgonzola cheese. Then I mixed together some homemade apricot jam and nettles vinegar for a dressing.

Oh My Yum, was it good!

I'll continue adding nettles vinegar to dishes to try whenever possible. I've just started harvesting nettles so I'll be adding the vinegar to steamed nettles soon.

Herbal Ally Challenge #11: Write A Story

2011-04-04T22:41:00.000-05:00

For the next two weeks, we are going to imagine what it’s like to be our ally and write a story about our ally. Susun Weed suggests:

“Write a story from the point of view of your green ally. If you’re having trouble getting started, write a warm up page praising your green ally and telling him how much you like him and why.”

Assignment 1:
To get started, write a love letter to your ally. Tell him or her how you first met, when you first fell in love with him and what it was about your ally that made you feel this way. List any details about how or when you first realized you were smitten and what you did to get closer to your ally. Write about how he makes your feel when you are around him or under his influence.

Assignment 2:
Make a list of everything you like about your ally: his personality, his strong points, how he works, what makes him tick.

Assignment 3:
If you are still at a loss of what to write, look to Susun Weed’s book Healing Wise for inspiration. Read a few or all of the beginning entries titled “_________ Speaks” in each section to get a feel for how you would write from your ally’s point of view. Write what you think your ally would like to tell you if he or she could speak and what he would want to tell you or anyone else interested in him.

Share one or more of your writings on your blog if you feel comfortable doing so.

Assignment 4:
Continue meditating with your plant and journal your experiences. Note any changes to your plant in size, color, bloom cycle, etc. Pay attention to your ally’s journey of life.

Assignment 5:
Continue with your infusions, using your oils and vinegars and journaling about your experiences.

(herbal faeries are made by my good friend rebekah of mulberry mudd. i think she captures their essence perfectly!)

Herbal Ally Challenge #10: Ally Meditation

2011-03-20T12:35:00.000-05:00

Spring is here! Now is the time to get outside as much as possible and exploring your herbal ally is the perfect excuse to be outside.

For the next two weeks, we will be visiting our herbal ally daily if possible, sitting and meditating for 5-10 minutes.

In Susun Weed’s article You Can Have a Green Ally (http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/December04/healingwise.htm) her first exercise is:

Sit and breathe with your green ally for 3-10 minutes a day. You breathe out and the plant breathes in; the plant breathes out and you breathe in.

We are going to progress our daily meditation with our ally over the course of two weeks.

Further Reading:

http://www.herbalallies.com/communicating.htm

The Lost Language of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner (online article: http://www.gaianstudies.org/articles2.htm)

The Lost Language of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner (you can see excerpts of the book here: http://www.susunweed.com/Excerpt_Language_of_plants.htm) or see on google reader: Lost Language of Plants

Assignment 1:
Sit with your herbal ally for 5-10 minutes each day. Expect nothing, offer nothing but your gratitude for this ally. Close your eyes, clear your mind and picture your ally. Breathe in, picturing your ally breathing out. Breathe out, picturing your ally breathing in. As you breathe out carbon dioxide, your ally breathes in carbon dioxide. As you breathe in oxygen, you ally breathes out oxygen. Realize that you and your ally have a dependency on each other for life. You share each others resources so that you both may live. Feel this in your heart as you focus on your ally you are sitting next to.

Assignment 2:
Each day after your 5-10 minute meditation, journal any experiences you had during this exercise. It’s best to take your journal with you so you can sit and write before getting up and being distracted by other thoughts. This can be just a few words, a drawing or a story, anything that comes to your mind after exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide with your ally. How do you feel? What did you see in your visualization with your ally?

Continue Assignments 1 and 2 for 7 days. After 7 days, continue on to the next assignments:

Assignment 3:
Sit with your ally as before. Greet your ally and thank him for his herbal wisdom he is offering to you. Start your meditation with the first exercise, breathing in and out while visualizing your ally doing the same and sharing resources with you. After becoming focused, ask your ally why he chose you or why you were drawn to him. Stay aware of your breath and try to keep your mind clear. Your ally may or may not choose to share wisdom. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get any answers at first. Your answer may come in the form of a thought, an emotion or an impression. After a few minutes, whether or not you have any communication with your ally, thank your ally for his wisdom and offer gratitude for him.

Assignment 4:
Again, journal any thoughts you have from your daily meditation.

Continue Assignments 3 and 4 for the next 7 days.

After two weeks of daily meditation, compare your journal entries and see if you notice any changes with your thoughts, feelings and impressions you’ve kept track of.

Assignment 5:

Continue with your infusions, using your oils and vinegars and journaling about your experiences.

Updated: Herbal First Aid Kit for the Car

2011-03-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

ETA: I've added some links to my Master List PDF, Suture Cheat Sheet and some YouTube instructional videos on suturing below.

Next week I'm teaching a basic Herbal First Aid class at the library so it's causing me to clean out my kits and restock them which is a good thing! I'm not good at restocking supplies and replacing old ingredients so this was a great time to do so.

For my truck, I purchased a pouch at a thrift store that cost me 69 cents. It is vinyl lined on the inside making it a tad bit water proof and nylon on the outside. Lightweight and durable. I plan to purchase some iron on fabric in green and white to cut out a first aid kit emblem to iron on to the outside. Until then, this will be fine. (For my reason behind using green and white instead of red and white, read this article).

The bag itself measures 11 inches X 7 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 inches wide when full.

Everything is sectioned off into individual packages, mostly arranged by category. The band-aids are placed in an old altoid tin which I might switch out for the misc. things that include tweezers (they will poke a hole in the bag), fingernail clippers, safety pins and a razor blade.

While I am not a big fan of plastic, I like to be able to see what's in each packet, plus it gives the items a bit more waterproofing. I labelled each bag with contents and taped it across the seal for 2 reasons: 1). if it is opened, it most likely won't be resealed the same and I'll know I need to go into that section and re-stock and 2). to give a list of items so people won't go unnecessarily rummaging through each packet searching for what they need.

This first picture shows the tin of assorted size and shapes of band-aids, a bag containing 4 vinyl gloves and a bag containing peppermint and ginger candies. The candies are a great for helping with upset stomachs, nausea and motion sickness.

The next bag contains 1 tube of lip balm, 1 - 1/2 oz. plantain salve and 1 - 1/2 oz. goldenseal salve. Plantain is great for bug bites, to stop bleeding, bee stings and general wound care. Goldenseal is great for treating more nasty wounds.

Next is the misc. bag. This is the bag I might switch out a bit with the band-aid tin.

It contains: 1 mini multi-tool, 1 pair nail clippers, 1 tweezers, 1 lighter, 1 razor blade, 8 assorted sizes safety pins, 10 alcohol swabs and 3 blister treatment pads.

This next bag is for more serious cuts that band-aids won't handle.

It contains: 4 butterfly closures, 5 steri strips (similar to butterfly but longer), 1 bottle super glue and as a last resort, 1 4-0 suture kit and 1 3-0 suture kit. I have never sutured but I have watched videos and have a copy of instructions to remind me. I have several of these and I might open one up to practice with on a bit of meat. While I don't foresee ever being in a situation to require using these, if something were to happen, I'd rather be prepared than not.

This next bag contains 3 types of tape: a bandage type adhesive, duck tape and the self sticking wrap that has no adhesive on it.

This bag contains gauze pads: 4 x 4, 3 x 3 and non-stick.

This last bag is the medicine portion of the bag.

It contains the rest of my herbal medicines:

~1 flannel to be used for compresses, etc.

~10 papaya enzyme tablets, great for upset stomachs when the ginger or peppermint don't seem to be working (but not to be used if you suspect an ulcer)

~3 teaspoon portioned bags of cayenne to be used for a heart attack (1 bag/teaspoon in a cup of warm water drank will keep the heart attack victim alive. if they have passed out, trickle some in their mouth slowly, wait a bit and repeat until they come to then have them drink the rest). The cayenne can also be poured into a wound that is bleeding profusely (or you can have the victim drink the same water formula as the heart attack victim) to stop the bleeding. Yes, this seems insane and painful but it will save lives. You can read more about using cayenne for heart attacks and bleeding on Dr. John Christopher's website.

~lavender essential oil for burns, insect bites, to calm
~tea tree essential oil for mosquito bites, disinfectant
~rosemary essential oil for waking up a sleepy driver, calming irritated children, clearing sinuses
~peach elixir for bee stings, coughs
~cherry elixir for coughs, anxiety, stress
~plantain tincture for bee stings, bleeding, allergies, help draw splinters out
~willow tincture for headaches, inflammation, etc. (use like aspirin)
The flannel is wrapped around the tincture and essential oil bottles to keep them from breaking.

I still need to add a few items to my kit to make it complete: strike anywhere matches (they were left behind in the truck), a quick clot to stop severe bleeding (a maxi pad can be used as well) and a sewing kit that I am still assembling with thread, needles and buttons.

Here is a PDF of my Master List which I laminated and placed in my bag. On the back I placed a sketch of how to suture along with reminder notes. You can find my version here. If you wish to include sutures, I highly recommend watching these 4 videos for a complete instructional. My notes are based off this video and the sketch is embellished from his handout (a link is under his videos). He also has a lot of videos about building First Aid kits which is useful but he is strictly a conventional MD when it comes to medicine (no herbal info).

Do you have a first aid kit in your car? Did you purchase a ready made kit, create your own or customize a ready made kit with your own items?

Alternative Radiation Protection

2011-03-14T15:41:00.007-05:00

With the threat of the nuclear reactor meltdown, many people are now fearing fall out on the northwestern coastline of America. The typical recommendation is to take iodine tablets or dip your finger in liquid iodine or betadine (NEVER ingest it). Those living a more natural lifestyle may wonder what they can do naturally to increase their iodine intake without iodine tablets or liquid iodine.

There are several great articles floating around on the internet that have been composed recently and in the past on what you can do naturally. Here is a list of my favorites:

Sean over at Greenman Ramblings

Laura Bruno

Dixie Pauline

Ingrid Naiman

Todd Caldecott

Susun Weed

Margi Flint

MeditationExpert.com

At the moment, I have little to fear about radiation from this event due to my geographical location. However, there are nuclear plants all around me and we live on a major fault line that could go at any time. This leads to the potential for a nuclear disaster. Because I take a natural approach and feel I can safely and effectively combat radiation with natural products, here is a list of what I am stocking my pantry with:

Kelp from Ryan Drum - I have a pound stored away that I like to add to food

Miso - due to concerns about soy, I'll most likely stick with alternate forms of miso. you can find a wealth of recipes for using miso here.

14 Mushroom blend (thanks to Sean and Margi for this source, mine is in the mail)

Herbs: Calendula, Clover, Burdock, Nettles, Oatstraw (see Sean's article for reasons behind this) - consumed in infusion form

Epsom salts and baking soda - there are so many uses for these 2 items, we always have extra on hand

Niacin supplements - blocks receptor sites that hold onto radiation

If the first 3 items are consumed on a daily basis, there will be little to fear about radiation from fall out, xrays, plane rides and more.

Darcey posted a delicious sounding recipe on her blog. I'll be adding this to my recipe book! As a side benefit to eating these foods daily, we'll be more healthy, have stronger immune systems and be able to combat all types of cancer. Seems like as good as reason as any to increase them in our daily diet.

Herbal Ally Challenges

2011-03-14T06:46:00.000-05:00

This week I am going to take a breather on the challenges. I am still working with nettles and using my vinegar and oil and drinking my infusions but I'm behind myself on the challenges and I've noticed others are having a time keeping up as well. I may slow it down to a challenge every 2 weeks for awhile just to give everyone a chance to catch up.

During this week off of new challenges, keep up with your previous challenges, finish ones you haven't been able to and continue to observe your growing seedlings.

Ready?

2011-03-13T18:53:00.001-05:00

In light of the situation in Japan, I thought it would be timely to write about the benefits of preparedness. I am not an alarmist, I live my life but I also plan and prepare "in case of an emergency."

Certainly Japan's situation is severe but being that it is a natural disaster, it proves that anything can happen anywhere.

Take a look at your geographical region. There is some kind of natural disaster that can happen at any time...earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes and unfortunately, as we've seen in Japan with the natural disasters, they can also lead to man-made disasters such as the nuclear plant threatening to melt down.

Being an herbalist, I lean towards the medical side of preparedness and tend to have all sorts of medical equipment available. Sutures, dental tools, gauze pads, tape, hot water bottles, ice pack containers, blood pressure cuffs, syringes, etc. are all available in my home. I use some of them every day for small emergencies and some are put away for severe emergencies but knowing I have them available if need be is comforting. If something were to happen, I hope I would be able to provide my community with medical care if needed.

I have gallons of water stored away in the basement and it's been awhile since they have been filled so I plan to rotate them out this summer with fresh water, using the old water for my garden as needed. I cannot stress the importance of having fresh water saved back as well as water filters. We have a Berky water filter for every day use and I'm in the process of purchasing a compact Katadyn water filter to store in my truck.

At the very minimum, you should store 2 weeks worth of water for each member of your family and pets too. The recommendation is 2 gallons per person. It may seem silly now but consider this statement:

"By Monday, officials were clearly overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis, with millions of people having spent three nights without water, food or heat in near-freezing temperatures. At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 1.9 million households were without electricity." - http://www.ketv.com/r/27184574/detail.html

It would be good to store a minimum of 2 weeks worth of food as well. Mormons are required to store 1 year's worth of food for their family. Again, this may seem extreme but wouldn't be comforting to know if you lost your job you'd still know how you were going to feed your kids? The rule of thumb for storing food is "Store What You Eat and Eat What You Store." The Mormons have great guides available to help you get started with food storage, including food calculators to determine how much you need to store and local Canneries to help you can your bulk foods.

I have been perusing youtube prepper videos to refresh my mind on preparedness tactics. While I feel they are a bit fanatical, I enjoy learning about others point of views in regards to storage and preparing.

We typically garden every year, raise animals for food (eggs, milk, honey, meat) and have an orchard. herb garden and I buy grains in bulk. We are also trying to grow enough grain to feed our animals in the winter though we have not been successful yet.

All my kids have throwing knives. Under supervision, they practice their throwing skills. I believe everyone should know how to protect themselves and learning to throw knives can help with that skill as well as killing wild animals if the need should arise.

My kids also know wild plants, edible plants and practice survival days to work on their skills. They view it as fun, I view it as security.

I introduce weeds into our diet on a regular basis and teach my kids what is edible. This is invaluable information. Knowing we can eat the plants that grow around us and thrive is helpful if we have to leave our homestead.

Another item we focus on is heating. Our home is strictly heated with wood now and we have 3 kerosene back-up heaters. We store bulk kerosene and have easy access to free wood. Our heating bills are minimal and if the electricity goes off, it will not affect our warmth. Being warm is comforting in times of distress and if something happened, knowing we were warm would help us deal with the other problems at hand.

We have plenty of back up lighting too. I love my Aladdin lamp and hope to get another one. This runs off of kerosene or lamp oil. We also have a few other oil lamps though they are not nearly as nice as the Aladdin. A lot of people are wary about using oil lamps, especially with kids but ours have learned to respect the lamps and stay clear of them. We also use candles a lot and have many stored away. I think part of preparing for an emergency is to not only to store away these things and eat the food you store but to also be comfortable and familiar with using alternate lighting sources. Things tend to be more shadowed in candle light and if children, especially small children are used to it, it will not make the lack of electricity more traumatizing. They are used to seeing the rooms lit with candles and oil lamps so they are comfortable with the flickering shadows.

I have back packs for each kid, also known as bug-out-bags in case we have to get out of here. I am working on re-packing them as it's been awhile and they are outdated (don't need diapers anymore!).

My kids love to ride bikes and I encourage it. Bikes can be an alternate form of transportation if need be and the more they ride, the better their stamina will be. I hope to encourage them to ride with back packs on so they can get used to the weight. Even my 4 year old is good on a bike which pleases me because even the littlest needs to be strong.

What scares me most about TEOTWAWKI, WTSHTF and/or WROL is not that life as we know it is ending but the the people who are NOT prepared, mainly our neighbors in the subdivision. Their life is SO different than ours and I've tried to friend them in the past but we are so different, they treat us coldly. IF something happens, I know whos animals are going to be in jeopardy, who they are going to look to for security, food, life and that worries me. I don't mind teaching them skills, but I don't want to be taken advantage of or robbed after my hard work of balancing my every day life with preparing while they live a carefree life. It's not fair and I won't stand for it, if the time comes, to give up my hard work to lazy, unforseeing people who are more interested in stocking their homes with the latest WII, tvs, gadgets, etc.

Sharon Astyk writes about being prepared all the time. She started Independence Days a few years back as a way to encourage people to prepare and learn. While I don't have time to actively participate anymore, I am continually preparing and stocking away as much as possible.

Today I made soil blocks to start seeds in. This will eventually become our garden that will give us food for the spring, summer and fall. I hope to also put away food to get us through the winter. We are spoiled and will not be 100% self sustained unless TSHTF and we have no other choice and I'm OK with that. I like my chocolate and my Kahlua and other privileges I can pick up from the grocery store. At the same time, I know if something happens, whether it lasts a week, month or the rest of our lives, I will be prepared and ready to provide for my children the best I can because I've been working on it all these years. (And yes, I have directions on how to make our own whiskey, wine and brandy in case we can't buy it from the store anymore....in fact, I make my own wine now...).

I have many topics I could cover on this subject. What are you doing to prepare? What do you need to know, what do you need to do to furture prepare? It's never too late to get started, it's better to start preparing now than to never be prepared at all, Japan has proved that over the past few days...

Vinegar Note

2011-03-07T08:39:00.000-06:00

For everyone working with their vinegars this week, Heal Thyself has created an acv challenge. There are 2 experiments, the first being to take acv before bed 4 times in a week and the 2nd is to take it 4 mornings in a week. The 2nd challenge started today so I think I'm going to start there and then next week go back and revisit experiment 1.

Solstice 2011 Gift Ideas

2011-03-07T07:34:00.011-06:00

It's never too early to start coming up with gift ideas for the holidays! I've learned the sooner I start on them, the less of a hassle November and December are for me. Simplifying my expectations and gifts has helped a lot too. I now only purchase 1 gift for each kid plus stocking stuffers and everyone else gets handmade.

I like to mix it up and try to give everyone a basket of goodies. This year, I have started dabbling in making homemade raw chocolate and all I can say is YUM! I also and in love with elixirs thanks to Kiva and Ananda and some local friends who made a very inspiring black walnut elixir.

Planning ahead not only saves a lot of headaches but it allows for a lot of room for coming up with the results. For instance, in the past I have filled paper bags with goodies but this year I think I'd like to give actual baskets that can be reused. I can pick up baskets for $.50 - $2.00 at thrift shops so I'll be accumulating baskets over the coming year. I'll also grab cloth napkins at .50 each to line the baskets with. If I wanted to make this a no-cost Solstice, I could start dabbling in basket making as we have lots of honeysuckle and sew simple square linings out of scraps of fabric I have lying about for previous crafts but I think I'll pass this year. And, since I know I'll be giving elixirs and chocolates, I am thinking about packaging that is reusable. I have lots of altoid tins and other tins that I can decoupage for the chocolates and/or I can purchase some larger ones at the thrift shops, also for about $1-2 each. Elixirs taste fine out of a jar but are extra special if they are in a pretty bottle. I'll be saving old bottles such as salad dressing bottles, olive oil bottles and anything else that has a long skinny neck, such as a vinegar bottle. Occasionally I find pretty decanter bottles for $1-3 as well, I may grab a few for those extra special people in my life. Once the elixirs are made, I can dip the lid in melted beeswax to seal it off.

I plan to dedicate a shelf in the basement for storing baskets, bottles and tins so I can quickly see what I've got and remember where I've stashed them all. As for the tins, I hope to use rainy days to have the kids help me decoupage them so that I have a ready supply ready to be used come December.

My goal this year is to have the majority of my gifts made by the end of October. That will leave making the chocolate at the last minute but chocolate is really quick and simple to make so that won't be a problem.

Have you begun thinking about the holidays this year and what you'll be making for them? In what ways have you begun to prepare?

Herbal Ally Challenge #9: Review and Vinegars Part 2

2011-03-06T10:34:00.001-06:00

This week we will be revisiting some challenges we started earlier. It is easy to make your herbal medicine and then let it sit and forget about it so we’ll be focusing on a few herbal medicines we made as well as reviewing our research.

Assignment 1:

Take a moment to read through your journal from start to finish. Reflect on everything you have learned about your ally up to now and make note of anything you’ve written down previously and forgotten about. Reread any herbal books you feel necessary or pertinent to helping you remember this forgotten information. Jot down any lessons you have learned about your ally up to this point.

Assignment 2:

Your vinegar should be ready to use now. Try it out at least once a day and record your experiences. You can use it simply by taking a tablespoon in a glass of water at night before bed or if you are having digestive issues, 20 minutes before eating or be more elaborate and sprinkle it on food, mix with your herbal oil to make salad dressing or more. Refer back to the first Vinegar challenge (Challenge #5) for more ideas on uses.

For the first time when using your vinegar, taste your vinegar with a clean pallet. Focus on the taste of your vinegar and record anything you notice, such as an opening in the chest, a soothing of the stomach and so on. Make note of how you felt before and after tasting the vinegar, physically and mentally. You can choose to continue this step each day or not, but try to be aware of any changes you feel.

Assignment 3:

Record anything noticeable, large or small in using your ally vinegar.

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Don't forget to check on your seedlings, making sure they are still damp and getting plenty of sunlight!

If your ally is a nourishing herb, keep taking your infusions and record any changes you are feeling after having taken them for 2 months.

Coming up in the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our tinctures, oils and adding a daily meditation to our challenges. If you are new to this challenge, you are welcome to work at your own pace from the beginning or go back to lessons 5 - 8 to get up to speed to where we are now. Lessons 1-4 can be done at any time and can be intertwined with the other lessons.

Herbal Ally Challenge #8 Completed

2011-03-05T01:38:00.000-06:00

Urtica dioica seeds

This week I started my nettle seeds. I could not find my packet of seeds I purchased last year so I harvested seeds off of the dead plants from last year's growth.

I love to use paper egg cartons to start my seeds. I filled the entire 18 holes with seed, broadcast across the moistened compost mix I used. I spread them thickly as I have no idea how viable these seeds are.

I placed the carton in a ziploc bag to help keep the air humid and the soil moist until they germinate. According to this research article from Portugal, seeds began germinating at 6 days when receiving 12 hours of light. Since we are almost to the Spring Equinox, we are getting about 11 1/2 hours of daylight and I use a full spectrum bulb in the evening so hopefully they will start germinating in about 6-7 days.

Urtica dioica

In my research of nettles, I discovered that although Urtica dioica is a perennial, U. urens is an annual. I am not sure if my wild nettles are U. dioica but I do know they are perennial based on their emergence. I hope to be able to positively identify the species by the end of the growing season this year.

Urtica dioica seed head

In my observations of the wild nettles, I've noticed the sprouts are very purply. I remember reading about a species being purple and I need to consult my notes to refresh my memory on that.

Urtica - wild grown nettles sprouting from last year's growth

I have been using my nettles oil in cooking and hope to get some use on aches and pains as well or perhaps a rash. Just waiting for the right moment (let this be notice to all my family!). The vinegar is looking great and I plan to start using it soon. My tincture has 1 more week to go but I don't have any use for it yet although I'd like to play around with taking dosages to help increase energy levels, I'm not sure if it will work that way or not as it does for infusions. I'm thinking not but one never knows until they try.

Herbal Ally Challenge #8: Starting Seeds

2011-02-27T13:59:00.000-06:00

We are a short 3 weeks away from spring and with it comes the return of the green landscape for many. On this year long journey of getting to know your herbal ally, watching your ally's life cycle is a wonderful way to become intimately familiar with your ally.

While you may have your ally growing in your garden or nearby in the yard, woods or another wild area, do you really know what the sprouts of your ally look like? This challenge is a way to really get to know your ally from his birth.

Assignment 1:

If you are unsure about how to grow your ally, research through various resources to find out growing instructions. There are many wonderful books on growing plants out there and most seed packets will come with instructions on the best way to start your seeds.

Planting the Future: Saving Our Medicinal Herbs by Rosemary Gladstar http://books.google.com/books?id=ndk42wxMBzUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Planting+the+Future:+Saving+Our+Medicinal+Herbs&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=pKVqTbLdLYH_8AbP0J3gCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)

The Medicinal Herb Grower - Volume I by Richo Cech http://www.horizonherbs.com/product.asp?specific=2319

Often herbal seed companies list great growing instructions. Try finding your herb at one of these sites:

Horizon Herbs

Johnny's Selected Seeds

The Herb Guide

If you haven't purchased your seeds yet, now's the time to do it! Thyme Garden, Horizon Herbs, Richters and Johnny's are all great sources to purchase your seeds. I have purchased from all in the past and have been happy with the results.

Assignment 2:

Start your seeds. You don't need an elaborate greenhouse or set up to get started, a simple clay pot will do. If you have compost, use that to fill your pot, if not either dig up some nice soil from your own garden or go to a local garden center and pick up a bag of compost mix. You may wish to mix that with sand, peat or other mediums based on your plant's needs.

Watch for your seeds to sprout, which should happen in about 7-10 days or longer depending on your ally. As they start to sprout, pay attention to the size, shape, color and height of your sprouts. Sketch them daily in your notebook, observing any physical changes that occur over the course of days. Be sure to list:

1. size, color and shape of cotyledon leaves

2. size of emerging sprout

3. height of sprout

4. how many days it takes for true leaves to appear

5. what true leaves look like and how they differ or are the same as the mature leaves that appear later

6. list any similarities or differences to the plant as you know it as a mature plant

7. record anything that will remind you of what the sprout looks like so you can find it in the future

This exercise may take a few weeks or more to complete. Try to sketch it every day in the beginning as you notice changes and every 2-3 days as the plant grows larger and changes in appearance or starts to bloom.

Assignment 3:

If you have your ally growing in your yard, be sure to observe any growth that has occurred. If you have newly emerging growth, compare and contrast this growth with your seedlings.

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How are your previous challenges going? Have you tested your vinegar(s) and tincture(s) lately? They should be getting pretty strong now. We will be revisiting them soon!

Herbal Ally Challenge #7: Completed

2011-02-26T13:49:00.000-06:00

Just so ya'll didn't think I was superwoman or anything, I fell behind in my own challenges, lol. I was still studying Nettle, I just didn't get a chance to make an oil until this week.

I chose the stove top method for making my oil this time round because the weather outside is still cool and unpredictable. I added a handful of dried nettle then covered with olive oil. I let the oil infuse on low heat for about 2 hours and when I strained off the oil and the nettles were crispy. Done!

This oil I placed next to our regular cooking oil and I will use it in our meals for the next few weeks as well as with the nettle vinegar as a salad dressing.

How did your oils turn out?

Urban Homesteaders Day of Action

2011-02-21T20:32:00.000-06:00

I'm not even sure I can qualify myself as an Urban Homesteader but the recent debacle over the trademarking of the words 'urban homestead' and 'urban homesteading' has got my panties in a bunch and I don't even wear panties!

I grew up on a small farm outside of town...14 acres, a garden, orchard, chickens, cows, horses plus an occasional oddball animal such as a goat or pig. When I left home, I lived in Los Angeles a few years then moved back to the area and lived in a suburban home.

I started reading the Dervaes family blog around 2000 or so, I don't remember the exact year but it was early in the 2000's. I admired them and they inspired me to start living simply where I was and question everything I did. I installed an umbrella clothesline, mowed my lawn with a reel mower, started a small garden, collected water in rain barrels and much more.

I was recently divorced and I had a plan. I wanted to be self sufficient, including a fully paid off home. I managed to pay off my car and started applying those payments to my mortgage, essentially doubling my mortgage payments.

I ground wheat with the grain grinder I bought, learned to make soap, started sewing clothes, and heightened my interest in herbal medicine.

When Greg and I took the plunge and moved in together, we knew my tiny 900 square foot house just wouldn't cut it for our 5 kids. We found our current homestead which is 2 miles outside of town but next door to a subdivision now (which sprouted up after we moved here). Our urban homestead grew from a small town lot to 4.5 acres.

While the Dervaes were inspiring, I hardly feel they were the ones to coin the term urban homestead or urban homesteading since the term has been used for decades. Even if I had not stumbled across them years back, I would have ended up on this path at some point because it is in my nature. It really saddens me to think they are attacking the very people who were inspired by their work and supported their work (they have shamelessly taken donations for years now even before they became non-profit) and have spent so much of that donated money on a myriad of trademarks (they have around 19 registered trademarks to date) when they could have been using it to further the cause. In my eyes, this is not saving the names from big corporations, this is pure greed. They are turning their backs on the people who helped them get where they are today and I can't help but wonder how much their livelihood is going to be hurt because of this. I feel bad for them for putting themselves in this predicament and truly hope they can make good with it.

Herbal Ally Challenge #7: Oil Infusions Part 1

2011-02-19T15:15:00.000-06:00

This is our 3rd week of infusions. Oil infusions are great because they are extremely versatile. They can be used internally, externally, as is or turned into a salve. There are several ways to make oils: stove top, solar and crock pot. The important thing about making your oil is to be sure and strain off all plant material and water or your oil will go rancid quickly.

You can use many kinds of oils to make an infusion. Olive oil is a standard, all purpose base and works well as a massage oil, salve base or salad dressing. If you want to make an oil specifically for a massage oil, almond oil, apricot kernel oil and grapeseed oil are all lighter and work especially well for this task. Coconut oil is also a great base, especially if you will be using it in your hair. Be aware that coconut oil generally solidifies at temperatures cooler than 76 degrees fahrenheit. Don’t limit your oils to vegetable oils. Animal oils can be used as well: emu oil, lanolin, lard, tallow, butter and ghee are all excellent oils to use.

Assignment 1:

Read a few different perspectives on tincture making:

Healing Wise by Susun Weed pages 271 - 273 (Similar version taken from Breast Cancer? Breast Health! can be found online here: http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/July09/breasthealth.htm )

Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech pages 81 - 86 (First part of Chapter 10)

The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook by James Green Chapter 17: Oil Infusion pages 193 - 200 (click to see online...3 pages are missing from this version but you can see most of this chapter)

Journal any thoughts you have on oil making. Write about why you think oil infusions will be a good mix with your herbal ally (or why not).

Assignment 2:

Make an Oil Infusion from 3 different types of oils. Use 1 form of animal fat. You may wish to make more than one version of each oil to compare differences in methods. For instance, do 2 olive oils, one on the stove top, the other sitting in the sun.

To make an oil, place a handful of oil in the top of a double boiler. Pour enough oil to cover, bring the water below to a boil then turn down and gently heat for 2-3 hours. Turn off the heat and strain out the herbs from the oil by pouring it through a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze the cloth to get the final bits of oil out of the plants.

Pour your oil into a jar and cap it. After 48 hours, check to see if anything has settled to the bottom. Usually when using dried material, there will not be anything settling but when your plants are fresh, water can sometimes mix with the oil during the infusion process and will settle to the bottom. If this happens, you will want to strain off the oil from the sediment at the bottom as the sediment will cause the oil to go rancid.

There are alternative methods for oil infusions. The basic premise of oil infusions is to heat the plant material at a level that the pores open and release the medicinal constituents but not so much that you cook the plant material. Any heat source is acceptable although a continuous heat source is best.

Sun Method:

Fill a jar about 1/2 full of dried plant material in a jar and fill to the top with oil. Stir with a chopstick to get air bubbles out and put on the lid. Set jar outside in the sun for about 2 weeks. Bring inside and follow instructions for straining and settling.

Crock Pot Method:

If you are making a larger quantity of oil, you can heat it in a crock pot. Place the desired amount of herb and oil into the pot, set on low and let heat overnight. Follow instructions for straining and settling.

Assignment 3:

Make a list of ways you might use your oils. Think about what your herbal ally’s actions and come up as many ideas as possible. Try at least 2 of these uses this week and record your discoveries.

Ideas include: Hot oil treatment for your hair, massage oil, muscle rub, chest rub, salad dressing (combine with your herbal vinegar!), salve base (we will make salves later...)

Assignment 4: (Optional)

Obtain some essential oil of your herbal ally and compare the differences between their scents and strengths. When using as a muscle rub for instance, rub one part with the infused oil and another with the essential oil. Journal about the experience. (Note: do not ingest essential oils!)

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How are your vinegars and tinctures doing? Be sure to check on them and taste them! Your vinegars may be getting strong enough to use by now. If they are, try them with your oil on a salad!

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Next week we will be starting seeds of our herbal ally so we can watch them grow from sprouts. If you do not have any seeds, refer back to my seed starting post for sources of seeds. We will discuss other options next week but if you are wanting to start some indoors to watch from their sprouting stage (highly recommended) order some seeds!

Herbal Ally Challenge #6: Completed

2011-02-19T03:49:00.000-06:00

"Nettles are so well known, that they need no description; they may be found by feeling, in the darkest night."

-Nicholas Culpeper

This week brought us balmy days. The snow and ice started melting right away and hopeful, I struck out to my wild patches of nettles in search of life. Sure enough, I found 2 tiny plants, braving the colds to come alive. The babies were stocky, thick looking and extremely bristly as if bracing themselves against any cold that may come back in the future days of late winter and spring.

For my tincture, I chose to use Everclear as I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet. I'm sure I'll find plenty of uses for it and will probably even make a second tincture with the appropriate alcohol.

Richo has suggestions for making the leaf fresh and dried, the root fresh and the seeds dried. I have been unable to locate a source for dried seeds (other than for planting purposes) so I'll have to wait and harvest them this fall.

Roots should be harvested when they are dormant. Since the weather has improved considerably this week I'm hoping to be able to dig some roots and tincture them up soon.

According to Richo, dried nettles should be tinctured 1:5 (1 part nettles to 5 parts menstrum) in 50:50 alcohol/water. Not being a purest, I estimated 1/5 of the jar and added the appropriate amount of nettles, eyeballed a bit over 50% to account for the fact that Everclear is not 100% alcohol, added the Everclear then topped it off with filtered water. If I had been thinking ahead, I would have used some of the rainwater I have stored in bottles in the basement for soap making purposes or melted some of the remaining snow.

I gave the jar a good shake and labeled it. I'll shake and check up on it every day for the next 3 weeks or so. Once a week I'll taste it and note the changes in flavor.

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I'm still drinking infusions. My latest stash of dried leaves are from Mountain Rose Herbs. They taste much better than my previous purchase from my local health food store which are from Frontier Herbs. They still don't compare to my own harvest though. Come on April so I can harvest them! I'm lucky enough to have access to a field of them at a local conservation area. They think I'm nuts to want to harvest them but welcome me doing it since they grow everywhere and don't like spraying (and I was crushed when I saw them spraying a section of them last year!)

First Kids at Luna Farm

2011-02-15T16:53:00.000-06:00

There's something special about the first kids born every year. Perhaps it's the anticipation that in just 2 short weeks I'll be collecting fresh milk again, or the playfulness that comes with kids, or the sweetness of their smell...whatever it is, one thing is for sure, SPRING is here!!

Herbal Ally Challenge #6: Tinctures Part 1

2011-02-12T08:07:00.022-06:00

Last week we started our section on Alternative Infusions by starting a vinegar infusion. This week, we will continue with our Infusion lessons by tincturing our allies. We'll be using dried materials and later in the season, we'll add fresh tinctures to the mix so that we can compare them.

Before we get started, I wanted to say a bit about tincture making. Just as our lives can take many journeys, there is no one way to make a tincture. Some herbalists such as Susun Weed use only vodka to make their tinctures. This is the simplest way and a great way to start your journey in tincture making. I stuck with this method for years! Some herbalists such as Heather Nic an Fhleisdeir match their herbal tinctures to the remedies they'll provide. For instance, if making a tincture such as Blackberry that will be used mainly for the digestive system, she will tincture it in brandy because brandy is made from fruit which is good for the digestive system. Gin might be used to tincture herbs such as cleavers as it contains Juniper which is good for the kidneys, bladder and urinary system. Other herbalists such as Richo Cech use grain alcohol such as Everclear because they can control the water percentage based on the type of herbs being tinctured. I use this method most often now and if you are interested in learning more about it, I highly recommend buying Richo Cech's book Making Plant Medicine. This book is very informative and Richo has already done the trouble of researching a good deal of herbs and how they best break down when tinctured. If you cannot find your herb in this book, simply find another herb that has a similar chemical make up and follow the directions for that herb.

Assignment 1:

Before you jump into making a tincture with your ally, think about what you'll be using this ally for. Is there an alcohol that would be most appropriate for your ally? Perhaps gin would be a good match for your Dandelion tinctures? While this is not necessary for making a good tincture, it is fun to think about.

Read a few different perspectives on tincture making:

Homemade Medicine article on Herb Companion: http://www.herbcompanion.com/Health/Homemade-Medicine.aspx

Healing Wise by Susun Weed pages 267-271 (Can be found online here: http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/October07/wisewoman.htm)

Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech pages 9 - 52 but especially Chapter 3: Tincturing Made Easy pages 17 - 26 (you can see chapter 2 of this book here: http://www.horizonherbs.com/pilot.asp?pg=medicinal_herb_book)

The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook by James Green Chapter 12: Tincturing by Maceration pages 146 - 156 (click to see online)

Assignment 2:

Start a tincture of your ally. If you are working with an ally such as dandelion that has several useable parts, make separate tinctures of each part.

To make a tincture, fill your jar about 1/5 full with your ally. Fill the jar full with brandy, gin, vodka or 3/4 full with grain alcohol (such as Everclear) and top off with filtered water. Cap and shake well. For more extracting power, dump the entire contents of the jar into a blender and blend for a few seconds. Let settle then pour back into the jar.

Shake daily for about 3-4 weeks. It is not necessary to strain off the plant material, the tincture will continue to strengthen over time, especially when tincturing roots, barks and seeds.

Journal about your tincture making experience. Be sure to list the source of your herbs, parts used, alcohol used, proportions, etc.

Optional: Make tinctures out of different alcohols to compare. Gin, brandy, whiskey, vodka and everclear all make great tinctures. Down the road we will explore wines.

Assignment 3:

Observe the changes your tincture makes over the next 3 weeks as you shake it daily. Make note of any color changes and occasionally taste your tincture to see if you can taste a difference. Note any changes in your journal.

Assignment 4:

Are you still drinking infusions? (You may not want to depending on your ally but if it's a tonic herb, continue as long as you can.) If you are, can you feel any differences? Is your level of energy rising? Skin problems clearing up? Nails and hair getting stronger? Be sure to journal about any changes, subtle or otherwise.

Herbal Ally Challenge #5: Completed

2011-02-12T07:20:00.000-06:00

I always enjoy reading up on processes. Even though I've made vinegars, tinctures, oils, etc. for years, when I read another herbalist's perspective, I always learn something new. While reading James Green's The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook chapter on Vinegars, I learned vinegars used to be the menstrum of choice before Pharmaceuticals took over and started creating tinctures in alcohol so they could have longer shelf life.

I also learned that women used to apply herbal vinegars to their faces as a tonic and facial cleanser. I've long used vinegar as a hair rinse but never thought to try it on my face! I'll be trying that with some soon.

I shall be using my vinegar on foods mostly. It will be a base for my oil and vinegar salad dressings as well as sprinkled on beans and eggs (I love poached eggs with vinegar!) I'm sure I'll find other ways to play with my vinegar, perhaps as a facial tonic, a soother for sunburns and hives and to treat poison ivy. Who knows what this summer will bring!

How was your week with acetum making?

Herbal Ally Challenge #5: Vinegars Part 1

2011-02-06T20:21:00.001-06:00

Over the next few weeks, we are going to work with our ally directly again. Since most of us are under snow and don’t have the ability to harvest fresh plant parts, we will be working with dried parts. Later in the year when our allies are growing, we’ll harvest them and compare the difference between dried and fresh.

This week, we will be starting a vinegar infusion. Over the next few weeks, we’ll also be infusing our allies in oils and alcohol.

You don’t need to make a whole lot of each, a couple ounces will do. With the vinegar and oil you might want to make more if you will be using it for consumption. Make enough that you can experiment with it and compare it later in the season with freshly made versions.

Herbal Vinegars

Herbal Vinegars are a great way to extract minerals from your ally. Once a preferred form of medicine making, Herbal vinegars have sadly fallen by the wayside, giving way to alcohol tinctures and glycerin tinctures. The famous Four Thieves Vinegar was an official medicine in many countries’ pharmacopoeias. This vinegar was an infusion of a variety of herbs including cinnamon, clove, garlic, nutmeg, rosemary, rue, peppermint, sage, wormwood, calamus and camphor.

Herbal vinegars can be used for salad dressings, a tablespoon at a time for combating digestive ailments (1 tablespoon 20 minutes before a meal can help you avoid indigestion and heart burn), a hair rinse (great for relieving dandruff, removing the last of the shampoo in the hair and making the hair shiny) and more. They are an excellent tonic for the entire digestive tract and can assist your body to regulate its acid/alkaline balance. Externally, they can be applied to the skin as a fomentation to soothe irritated, burned, itching or feverish skin. They are typically added 1:3 with water (1 part vinegar to 3 parts water).

Vinegars are sometimes mixed with alcohol to enhance the preservation qualities but for simplicity sake, we are going to focus on making pure acetum infusions. Later, we will discuss converting our vinegar infusions into oxymels.

Assignment 1:

Herbal Ally Challenge #4: Impressions Completed

2011-02-06T20:20:00.000-06:00

This has been a crazy week, I apologize for the lateness of this post and the next challenge! We've had way too many snow days this week and it threw my entire schedule off.

I've had an enjoyable time playing around with different mediums to create my impressions of nettle this week. I decided to only do my art work on the right side pages and leave the left side blank for writing in for the next challenges so I could have the art work to look at in between the writing to sort of break it up a bit.

Besides working on the impressions this week I continued with my infusions. I have an order in to Mountain Rose for more nettles which should arrive in 2 more days. In light of the snow, I don't think we'll be seeing any live nettles here for quite awhile much to my dismay!

How did your impressions turn out? Share a few of your favorites!

Tree Year 2011 - February: Ice Storm Part 2

2011-02-03T14:43:00.000-06:00

Winter Wonderland

2011-02-02T22:17:00.000-06:00

We haven't had a winter this beautiful in years! I've been outside 3 different times these past few days photographing the beautiful scenery.

The Tree Year - February

2011-02-01T12:09:00.000-06:00

February is blasting in with a doozy of an ice storm. While I hate the damage the ice can do to the trees, I love the look of everything covered in ice. A few years ago, the ice storm we had took out the top of our cedar. I hope he weathers this one better.

Seed Starting Time

2011-01-31T10:18:00.000-06:00

It's almost time to start some seeds! If you don't have your ally growing in your own yard, you might consider ordering some seeds and starting from the beginning. In fact, further down the road on our year long journey we will be doing just that, observing our ally from seedling so even if you do have it growing, you might consider starting a pot so you can watch it from day one!

Here are some tried and true seed sources I like:

Horizon Herbs

The Thyme Garden

Botanical Interests

Transition

2011-01-30T22:17:00.000-06:00

Ugh. I ran out of my homegrown nettles and purchased some from the local health food store. I believe they get theirs from Frontier and I have to say, the taste is NOTHING like the previous batches. If this were my first experience with nettles, I don't think I'd like it very much.

In their defense, this has steeped longer than 8 hours, probably more like 12 hours but still, I've over steeped the stuff growing in my backyard several times and the taste wasn't even close to this.

Just goes to show, try several sources because not all plant sources taste the same!

Herbal Ally Challenge #4: Impressions

2011-01-29T10:58:00.000-06:00

How is everyone doing? Have you been making infusions with your ally? Noticing any benefits from doing so? I've noticed a slight increase in my energy level. My family has noticed it too, as I "feel" like cleaning house more often, lol!

This week's challenge is going to take us away from the books again and back into our hearts and minds. Read over everything you wrote down about your ally last week and get a picture of your ally in your mind.

Over the course of the next week, do a series of impressionistic drawings, sketches, paintings of your herb. I realize this can be hard without having an actual plant nearby but the internet is a wealth of photographs! Use what you know about your ally, what you remember about him from previous experience and a few photographs you may have or find online.

Try to do 1 drawing a day if possible. Use a different medium each time: pencil, charcoal, pastels, crayons, watercolors, acrylics, colored pencils, markers, whatever you have on hand or can pick up locally. You are not going for perfection and details, just your impression of your ally.

Don't confuse your impression with the famous art period "Impressionism." What you are going for is your feelings about your ally, your impression of his personality, his uses, etc. If there is a doctrine of signatures associated with your plant, accentuate that. For instance, Nettles has a way of causing irritations, his sting causes a reaction of rashiness when you touch him. Therefore, he can be applied to treat rashes. Another example of this would be yellow flowers of Dandelion represent the liver. You don't have to limit your drawings to just pictures either. Feel free to add any words to each piece that you feel necessary. If you have photo editing software such as photoshop, upload a few pictures of your ally and play with the features to transform your ally as well. Print them off and add them to your journal. Have fun with it! Think about your ally and how he is with you on this journey and how he is working with you.

Share some of your creations at the end of the week for us to see!

Herbal Ally Challenge #3 Complete

2011-01-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

One of the most fascinating things I learned this week about Nettles was that she is considered a specific herb to use for LOW BLOOD PRESSURE by an Australian herbalist and an American nutritionist. All my life I have had low blood pressure so it seems fitting that I'm drawn to this herb and she is reaching out to me.

There are several species of nettles that can be used medicinally. Urtica dioica gets most of the attention but there's U. urens, U. gracilis, U. procera, U. canadensis, U. pilulifera and U. holosericea. I have no idea how to tell the difference between them but I plan to find out this summer.

Nettle is in his own family, Urticaceae and is native to Europe, Asia, Northern Aftrica and North America. He has naturalized all over, including Australia and New Zealand.

Nettles is very nourishing and is great taken long term as a tonic. He has an affinity for the liver, kidneys and muscles.

He can be used to treat hives, low blood pressure, kidney problems, asthma, diabetes, promotes milk production, anemia in pregnancy, diarrhea, arthritis and gout, hypothyroid and his roots have been used to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy.

He is great for all constitutions and will play his part accordingly. According to Matthew Wood, he feeds and builds up the thin and undernourished; counteracts the protein-sensitivity (allergies) of the medium pitta constitution and helps remove excess stagnation of water and mucus in the thick kapha types. Funny, because I suffer from all three of those problems: I'm abnormally thin, have allergies and problems with excess dampness and moisture in my body (think candida although I haven't suffered from that in a few years now but also mucus, sinus, lung congestion).

As a nourishing herb, Nettles is best taken as a food although he works great in infusions, teas, powders, elixirs, tinctures and cordials too. And don't forget Nettles BEER!! (although if you are using Nettles to de-tox your liver, I'd stick to the infusions, teas and food).

All parts of Nettle are useful, the roots, stalks, leaves, flowers and seeds. Although the leaves/tops are most often used, each has it's own place medicinally.

Nettles has also been used as a fiber. His stalks are processed very similarly to flax, stalks are allowed to soak and rot, the outer fiber is removed and then the strands are set aside to dry. Then they are separated and spun into yarn. Something I've wanted to try for years, I'll be doing this for sure this year!

How did everyone else do on their research challenge?

Note Tab Idea

2011-01-27T13:44:00.000-06:00

Just a quick tip:

I wanted to add a tab to my journal but didn't want to use sticky notes so I drew, watercolored and cut out several nettles leaves. I placed a pocket in the back to store the extras in.

Viola! Quick and cute tabs. Now when I want to record my blood pressure, I can quickly flip to that tab and write the information down. I used a glue stick to add the tab to the page.

Midweek

2011-01-26T14:47:00.000-06:00

How is everyone's research going? Are you finding out lots of fascinating things? I sure am. And not just in my research (which I'll share later in the week) but also in my infusions.

My infusions of late are quite green! I had 2 separate jars of nettles stored away from last year's harvest, one from the spring, sometime between mid-April and mid-May and the other harvested in September, both from young plants that had not yet flowered.

The difference was more than noticeable. The color, flavor and aroma were very drastic. I thought I could get away with harvesting in the fall from new plants but after seeing the above infusions, I'll only harvest for food in the future!

Herbal Ally Challenge #3: Research

2011-01-22T15:31:00.003-06:00

This challenge will be an ongoing challenge that I'll refer back during the course of the year. You can never research your herb too much! We'll keep expanding upon it as the year progresses.

With the resurgence of herbal medicine over the past few decades, a whole variety of herbals have become available. I love having herbals from all sorts of herbalists as it gives me a wide perspective. There are so many styles and traditions and each one offers a unique perspective.

Some of my favorite herbals are:

Gail Faith Edwards
Opening our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs
Through the Wild Heart of Mary
She also has a third book which I have not read yet but I imagine it is just as wonderful as these two!

Susun Weed
Healing Wise
I also have Breast Cancer? Breast Health!, The Menopausal Years and The Childbearing Years

Matthew Wood
the Book of Herbal Wisdom
The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism - I just received this one in the mail today and I'm looking forward to diving into it tonight after the kids go to bed!
The Earthwise Herbal Volume I and II - This is next on my list to get!

Timothy Lee Scott
Invasive Plant Medicine

These herbalists do not have books out yet but I love to read their articles and videos they post on their blogs and elsewhere in the Herbal Community such as Herbmentor.com:

Jim McDonald
Kiva Rose

What are your favorite herbals?

Assignment 1:
This week it is time to read up on your herbal ally and write down notes in your journal. If you don't know already, make a point to learn:

1. The botanical name of all species used
2. The plant family your ally is from
3. Where your plant is native to and where it has naturalized
4. If you plant is an annual, perennial or biennial (if it's a tree, deciduous or conifer)
5. The primary actions of your herb (the main use)
6. Secondary actions (other known and/or lesser known uses)
7. Forms used (teas, tinctures, poultices, powders, syrups, elixirs, lozenges, etc)
8. Parts used, seasons to harvest (roots, aerial parts, bark, leaves, flowers, seeds)
9. Edibility, seasons to harvest for eating
10. Organ/system affinities (which body organs/systems does your ally affect the most)
11. Other uses for your ally ie: dye, paper, fiber, etc.

Write all this information down in your journal. Make any notes of anything interesting you might find about your herbs. I recommend looking through at least 4 different herbals and/or online articles about your herbs.

Also, get in the practice of writing down your sources when you write down information. You can create a system and use the back page to list your resources so you can just write down a number or letter code that correlates to the herbal next to your notes or you can choose to write out each herbal as you write it. You might also choose to write down the page number(s) for easy reference.

This doesn't have to be an elaborate monologue on your herbal ally at this point. This challenge is to just get you familiar with your herb, a sort of introduction of sorts.

Assignment 2:
After you've learned the actions (both primary and secondary) of your ally, make a point to write down each action and its definition in your journal. This will help remind you what each action is and you'll have a quick reference back in case you forget in the future. As a bonus, write down other herbs that share this action if you know of any. Another bonus: compare and contract your ally with these other herbs.

Jim McDonald has a great article about herbal properties and actions. There's also a list of actions and what they do.

I also recommend Kiva Rose's article on Terms of the Trade: An Introduction to Herbal Actions

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Continue to do your infusions as often as you see fit. Be sure to write down any new observances you may have about drinking your daily infusions. Have you gotten into a routine of making a daily infusion? Do you have a preference for temperature or does it vary daily with your mood/the weather?

If you are blogging about your experience, be sure to update your blog with the past challenges and leave a comment on my blog and I'll add your post to the appropriate completed challenge posts.

How is everyone doing with their journals?

Herbal Ally Challenge #2 Completed

2011-01-22T14:36:00.001-06:00

Every day this past week I made nettle infusions to drink. I drank them warm, I drank them cold and I drank them at room temperature.

I had one noticeable difference in energy levels after drinking the infusion, a day when I was extremely tired. I drank the nettles within a half hour and then felt a boost in my energy. Not large but enough that I didn't feel the need to lay my head down and take a nap.

The nettles I am using were wildcrafted from my property over the past growing season. The first batch I used was harvested later in the summer, early fall. I had found a late patch starting so I harvested it. Even though it hadn't gone to seed, the difference between that and the second batch I used when that one ran out was amazing!

The second batch I harvested in the spring. The dried leaves were darker green than the previous batch and when I brewed the infusions, the color of the infusion was more green and darker.

In addition, the taste was different as well. There was a fresh, green taste to the infusion. Much more flavorful. Great lesson in harvesting time periods!

The infusions themselves were mild with a metallic/bitter aftertaste. It was cooling and astringent.

As a slow acting tonic, I didn't expect to feel much of a change after this week. I will continue to drink infusions as often as possible. I do feel a slight upgrade to my energy level but I wouldn't say it was drastic.

How were your infusions this week? Did you have anything noticeable happen while using them?

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Other notes about nettles this week:

As part of my anima medicine woman tradition mentorship, one of my assignments is to spend time in nature daily. I made it a point to go out and photograph herbs in winter. I found my stand of nettles next to the garage still erect, with dried seeds still dangling. It was neat to be able to observe them in winter.

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Challenge #3 will be posted shortly.

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Karisma's post on her week of infusions with Tansy

free owl printable calendar

2011-01-22T09:43:00.000-06:00

how adorable! i found this link through another blogger, piper and had to share:

http://www.myowlbarn.com/p/owl-lover-2011-calendar.html

i know my 13 yo will be printing it off!

Spiderwort

2011-01-21T07:14:00.000-06:00

I just found a new plant to study this year, lol! As if I didn't have enough to do!

I planted Spiderwort fall 2009 and all last summer, I was rewarded with pretty blue flowers on a daily basis. They would bloom in the morning and be done by afternoon.

I found this website when I was looking up more information after I discovered they are also edible through a friend's posting on facebook:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/906/

I'm looking forward to trying out these for eating and dying!

Dye recipe for future reference:

8 cups of water

8 cups of blue flowers, no green

Combine flowers with water and bring to boil, then set away from heat and let set overnight.

Come morning, strain the plant out, and save the blue water.

Dissolve 1 tablespoon alum with 1 teaspoon cream of tarter in a small amount of hot water, and stir into dye. Use a long wooden spoon and be sure it dissolves good.

Add white fabric, soak over nite or till it is as dark as you want.

The alum sets the dye in the fabric and the cream of tarter makes the dye a brighter color and softens the fabric.

first lambs of the season 2011

2011-01-20T12:33:00.000-06:00

we got about 9" of snow (and still falling over the past 12 hours and lost our elder ewe to age and cold. my sweet angelica, the one who had coriander last year died.

and, with sorrow comes joy, peppermint lambed twins first thing this morning, a boy and a girl. we brought the boy in to warm him up because he's not nursing so great and was shivering. i milked out some colostrom and spoon fed him.

honeysuckle

horehound

moondog loves the snow (doing snow angel doggies in the snow...)

more snowy pictures

the hazards of living with an herbalist

2011-01-18T23:23:00.000-06:00

repost from my old xanga blog dated april 9, 2006

(inspired by greg's comment this morning as he peered into a pan simmering on the stove "what is this?!")

herbs can be found growing in all sorts of places in the house

there's always something brewing on the stove

jars and jars and jars of dried herbs take over the pantry shelves and products too!

no matter what the season, there are herbs hanging around, drying

the counters are inevitably covered with jars of tinctures and other forms of herbal preservation

you can usually find fresh herbs in a basket that are waiting to be used or processed or dried

herbal books and recipes are always piled up within easy reach

mortar and pestles are tucked into nooks and crannies

and they tend to live by the seasons instead of the gregorian calendar

Spending Time in Nature on a Daily Basis

2011-01-16T19:42:00.002-06:00

Assignment:
Give time every day to be in nature, to purposefully deepen my connection to the Anima, to the plants and all the forms and powers of the living Earth. Describe any significant experiences of feeling directed, nourished, healed or inspired.

(1/11)Today, I had to get outside was last week when it snowed. The flakes were so pretty coming down and when I gazed out into the back yard, the snow covered cedar tree beckoned and i had to go out and photograph him. I was drawn in by the snow gathering on the rough bark and watched patterns forming on the branches and needles as the snow thickened on the tree. I felt more alive when I came inside after spending that quiet moment under the tree.

(1/15)Today I made a point to go outside and enjoy a few minutes, even though day was waning and it was below freezing. The snow on the ground and the skeletons of plants inspired me to get my camera and take a few moments photographing them. Evening Primrose, Nettles and Wild Cherry all caught my fancy and I took delight in examining them closely in their naked glory. The open pods of the evening primrose, the dried seeds of the nettles, the snow covered bark of the Wild Cherry were all naked and waiting in anticipation of the longer days and warmer sun to return in all their glory.

Snow is so much fun because I can see what animals have come and gone...i saw rabbit tracks, deer tracks, chicken tracks (ha!) and cat tracks. I love to watch them meander in the snow, wondering what their destination was as they passed through our strip of land.

(1/16) greg and i walked through a local park to collect cottonwood buds today. as i was picking them up, i felt compelled to break a twig and inhale the amazing smell. we were mostly alone, no one really goes to a park when it’s cold and snowy outside, at least not around here. it was peaceful and i started to observe. birds chirping, lots of them, almost like spring or summertime. tracks in the snow, a larger bird, maybe a wild turkey? although it seemed smaller. a smaller 4 footed animal such as a raccoon or possum that was walking a wavy path and left drag marks in the snow...rabbits, deer.

i looked up at the Cottonwoods, so tall and mighty, their limbs arching down while the buds pointed up to the sky that was blue. i laid against a cottonwood and felt his energy melting in to me. i kissed the tree and thanked him for his generosity. looking down, i noticed the moss on the tree, clinging, green, fresh in this moment of cold and snow.

the cold was getting to me, my hands were painful and numb, my body chilled but my spirit refreshed and my mind wide open.

(This post to be updated as necessary as it is a journal of my activities for my mentorship with Kiva Rose)

Herbal Ally Challenge #2: Infusions

2011-01-15T10:02:00.002-06:00

Hopefully you've done a bit of research by now and know whether or not your herbal ally is safe to consume in large quantities. If not, take a moment to research it.

If your herb is safe, start by making 1 infusion a day for a week to drink. To make an infusion you will need:

1 quart jar with lid
a metal knife or spoon
dried herbal ally
boiling water

Note: if you can use more than 1 part of your ally (ie. aerial parts, roots, flowers), try this exercise with each part individually and combined to see which experiences work best. You may need to space this out over the course of the next month to complete it, if so, that's perfectly fine.

To begin, place a handful of your dried herbal ally in the jar and add the knife or spoon (this will keep the jar from shattering from the heat of the water). Pour boiling water in to fill to the top. Let it sit for a few minutes then remove the knife/spoon and put the lid on.

Let this sit for 4-8 hours. Some herbs don't need to infuse as long such as chamomile. If you are unsure how long your herb should steep for, ask me in comments and I'll let you know. For the majority of the herbs, 8 hours or overnight is perfectly fine. I like to make my infusions right before bed and then they are ready to drink the next day.

Once the herb is infused, strain out the infusion and drink within 24 hours. You can chill it, heat it or drink it as is. Try to drink it straight, at least for the first day just so you can really taste the flavors and feel the reactions. After the first day, you can add a bit of honey to sweeten or other herbs (peppermint and licorice are great at masking bitter flavors) if you need but do so in moderation. You are wanting to get the full effect of your herb. Try it hot, chilled and room temperature to see which flavor you like best.

Each day as you drink this infusion (you don't have to drink it all at once, you can drink it over the course of the day), pay attention and write in your journal about the following:

1. how you feel before you drink it
2. how you feel while you are drinking it
3. how you feel 30 minutes after drinking it
4. what your herbal ally tastes like
5. any after tastes
6. what it feels like going down, if you can feel any part of you opening, such as your chest, lungs, heart, or more peripheral
7. notice if it is drying (think banana peels) or moistening to your mouth...does it make you pucker or make you drool?
8. does it warm you up (think ginger, cinnamon, cayennes) or cool you down (think cucumbers, avocados)

Don't worry if you have troubles identifying these things at first...you'll be doing this exercise over and over periodically throughout the year. The idea is to get yourself familiar with your herbal ally.

Continue doing this every day for a week and record your experience every day. At the end of the week, review your past 7 days' experiences and write a summary of your experience with your ally.

Did anything change for you over the course of the week?
Did you find a bad tasting herb start to taste better?
Did you find your senses sharpened over the course of the week to your reactions?
Did you notice any changes in your body such as energy changes, appetite changes, digestion changes, etc?

If your herb is generally regarded as safe to take long term, you can continue to do this exercise daily as you see fit. Otherwise, try to do it once a week or every other week throughout the course of the year. You can also add your infusions to soups as part of the broth if your herb is a nourishing one such as burdock, dandelion, comfrey, chicory and nettles. adjust for taste as some infusions are more bitter than others. Susun Weed lists several herbal allies and their safe dosage amounts here.

Post your experiences on your blog and leave a comment here and I'll add your post to the end of my post on January 22.

If your ally is not safe in large dosages, do this exercise in moderation, 1/4 - 1 cup of tea a day, infused 30 minutes - 2 hours depending on the herb. If you are doing an extreme low dose botanical such as poke, do a dilute portion of tea, say 1 teaspoon of tea to 1 cup of water. Proceed with caution.

If you have any adverse effects at any time during this exercise, STOP. This goes for any type of herb, not just the low dose botanicals. You may be allergic if you are having a reaction. If you are, you may choose to switch to another ally or continue observe the herb without consuming it. You can still learn a lot about your ally without ingesting it.

Please also note that not all challenges may pertain to your herbal ally. If you find a challenge to be too extreme for your herb, skip it or adjust it as necessary. The point is to fully immerse yourself in your ally and learn all you can about him. Since different herbs have different healing methods, these challenges are not a one size fits all. On challenges that you don't feel you can do with your herb, spend the week doing alternate challenges such as:

-writing poems and/or songs about the ally
-drawing the ally with all types of mediums and all styles you can: colored pencils, water colors, pastels, ink, cartoon, impressionistic, realistic, etc.
-reading about the ally
-writing a story about the ally
-meditating with the ally

If you do not have your ally growing nearby for observation, you might want to consider purchasing some seeds to start some to grow in your garden or a pot. I've had great luck with these seed sources:

thyme garden
horizon herbs
richters

Although you can also get some plants to start growing, seeds are the best to watch the growth cycle from the beginning since we'll be observing the growth cycle of our allies.

To get ready for the next challenge, gather as many herbals as you can that have information about your plant including field guides, wild food cook books and herb books. Go through your library loan system, they are often a wealth of book collections.

PS. When you are writing in your journal, you can make it extra special by adding borders, sketches of your ally and anything else that strikes your fancy. Also, creating elaborate fonts for your titles or journal entry headers makes it extra special too. For great tips and help on creating beautiful journals, check out Irene Brady's ebooks. I have purchased a few in the past and really like them for helping to spark my creative side.

First Herbal Ally Challenge Completed

2011-01-15T09:48:00.005-06:00

I decided to go minimal with my cover for the moment. As the year progresses, I may add to it if the muse hits but I like the simplistic look.

I started with 2 coats of white acrylic paint to block out the blue background and black writing. Then I coated it with a coat of thick gold acrylic paint. This essentially waterproofed the cover as well.

I had recently learned a new technique of transferring images using a laser printer print out, some modge podge and water. I transferred a picture of nettles on there then added "Herbal Ally", "2011" and "Urtica dioica".

After that, I let it sit for a few days, unsure of how I wanted to decorate it. I wanted color on it but didn't want to use acrylic paint. I broke out my colored pencils and liked the effect. I may or may not add other layers, pictures, etc. but if I don't, I'm happy with how it looks for how.

I'll post the next challenge in just a bit. In the meantime, take a moment to print off this page and fill it out about your herb. Place it in your journal when you are finished. I've made it small enough that you should be able to cut it out and glue it to the first page of your journal. If you need one smaller, let me know and I'll shrink it down further.

Here are some more Herbal Ally covers:

Karisma did a beautiful cross-stitch cover along with a pressing of her ally that will double as a bookmark

Christine created a lovely cover with an amazing drawing of nettle

JoyceAnn's cover is a beautiful tribute to dandelion

Stephany created an amazing needle felted binder cover

anticipation

2011-01-14T17:19:00.001-06:00

tomorrow i'll be posting my journal cover and linking to anyone else who has a posting about their cover as well. if you'd like me to add you to the blog roll, leave me a link!

i'll be posting challenge #2 as well.

i'm enjoying this journey already. knowing other people are following along and participating is helping me to focus on it and actually do it instead of just thinking about it. thank you to everyone who is taking this journey with me! you were the kick in the butt i needed! :D

i'm also working on more creative journaling by using my watercolor pencils and doing borders and color washes and sketches to make it more flavorful. my reason for doing this is because this is a year long journey of discovery and learning, i want the memory of it to be as beautiful as the actual journey. it will be a memory book of sorts, something to look back upon over the years. and, it's more fun too!

a few months ago i found irene brady through another blog, i believe handbook of nature study's blog. irene offers ebooks that range from $10-25 and have lessons in sketching nature, art journaling and using watercolor pencils that i highly recommend if you are wanting to work on your art journaling skills. i just reviewed them again and picked a few new tricks that i had already forgotten about. i definitely need to review it more in detail when i'm working on my sketches for herbal roots zine! (the sketch above is one of my cover designs for next month's issue.)

anyway, i'm looking forward to everyone's cover designs tomorrow!