i've got sunshine on a rainy day...

this has been a non-stop week for me...on the road 3 times this week, 2 more than usual for me.

i have lots of photos to upload, i'll have to break them up in posts. i also have some exciting news for some partnerships with herbal roots and some other local mamas. i'll be announcing the first one tomorrow!

yesterday was my birthday and i was given some of the most creative wonderful gifts...

this was a card nina made for me...the cake is mud, decorated with dianthus blossoms, the candle stems are violet blossom stems and the flames are dandelion blossoms...the wishes are dandelion seeds. isn't is beautiful? i'm going to try to frame it.

this is a drawing rebekah made of me. isn't it amazing? she is so talented. it's full of symbols all about me. the herbs at the bottom are chickweed, bluebells, yarrow, motherwort, violet and dandelion.
she also makes these awesome pendants. this one i picked out. it has a forest scene with mushrooms on the front:
and a darling owl on the back:
jaden picked out this beautiful butterfly:she sells these in her etsy shop. she's out of town this weekend but she'll be back online on monday.
greg got me a really neat spirally windchime. i need to put a hook up so i can hang it and photograph it.

what i like about you...contest winner

jaden drew a name and this month's contest winner to receive a free copy of may's herbal roots is leslie and evan at comfrey cottages! congratulations!

leslie wrote about her experience with violets:

this weekend 3 of my grandchildren and i spent the day gathering violets. wish i could post pics here, but since i can't here is the link to the picture of evan, age 8 gathering
http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s25/lesliepostin/april2009/?action=view&current=HPIM3397.jpg
he ended up being my most diligent picker. anyway, i guess we have enjoyed the comraderie of working together harvesting and then making the beautiful violet jelly! the stories have been a huge hit also, and i am sure none of the kids can walk by violets without viewing them with a new eye. an eye like a budding herbalist kristine. so i guess my favorite thing about violets as they have been an easy way to get the kids involved in learning to gather wild plants for food and medicine. we love herbal roots!!! thank you so much for the time and effort that goes into creating each issue! great big hugs to you:)

scowl...computers!

for some reason, the color settings are off when i scan in the images for my herbal roots packet. i am not very computer literate, i know just enough to be dangerous. it appears the blue and red are not picking up.

anybody know if this would be a scanner issue or a computer issue? or how i would go about getting it fixed. it seems to have just gone wonky on me in the past day. grrr!

Herbal Roots - May 2009 Issue

may's edition is finished and ready to go! this month, is all about that infamous 'weed' dandelion. just in time since they are popping up like crazy!

this is such a great herb, i could have written twice as much about his many virtues. i hope this edition will give you enough of a taste of dandelion that you'll seek out more information, uses and recipes. the resource section is crammed full of links for extra crafts, recipes and lore!
all the recipes this month are food oriented. dandelion is so versatile, his medicine is best taken in food form. but don't worry, there is such a wide array of uses for him that you'll not be disappointed...chai, coffee substitute, syrup, fritters, soup, wine...the list goes on and on.

as usual, there are fun activities to make learning exciting. a word search, maze, crafts, stories and much more are all waiting to help with the discovery of this wonderful herb, one of nature's best gifts!

a great little book to get you started, most likely available through your library, is dandelion adventures by l. patricia kite. it's a fun little story about how the seeds of the dandelion travel and end up in 7 different landscapes and flourish, regardless of the life they are given. great food for thought!

as usual, you can order herbal roots directly from my website!

not buying it - week 7

thanks again kathie for the button/banner!

this week found me spending more than i have in awhile but mostly on gardening goods which i see as an investment in my food and medicine future. i need to start filling this out daily because by the end of the week, my brain is mush and i can't remember what i did all week.

clothing
-started a mend pile. need to get busy.

food
-harvested morels, asparagus, weeds! for salad...

household
-reusing plastic bags for trash bags

utilities
-diligently shutting off power strips each night for computer/dsl and tv/dvd player (this is especially important right now while we are incubating eggs and raising chicks with grow lights which sucks the electricity)
-making sure lights are off when we are not in the room

gifts
-

exercise/self improvement
-knife throwing
-hooping
-saw krishna das in person. normally, i would put this under weaknesses but it was such a spiritual experience for me that i think it was very worth the 25$. i wish he'd visit every week, or month at least!

homestead
-

education
-

weaknesses
-bought dinner at whole foods. $21 for the two of us the night of krishna das (see i had to fit it in as a weakness somehow!!)
-bought herbs: rosemary, sage, lavender, pansies plus pansy and poppy seeds

purging
-packed up a box of books to get rid of, misc. other items as i cleaned
-signed up for paperbackswap and cdswap so i can get rid of books and cds i don't want anymore and get some i do want!

independence days - week 51

since i'm struggling to get the garden in again this year due to my rambunctious toddler, i thought taking the id challenge would be a good moral booster for me. i try to practice this idea anyway during the growing seasons so it's a great reminder of how much i really do even when it feels like i do nothing.

thanks to gina for prodding me back into this challenge! i believe sharon (the creator of this great challenge) is starting up again too at her blog.



1. plant something
~planted raspberries given to me by a friend
~planted sage, rosemary, lavender and pansies

2. harvest something:
~eggs (chicken and turkey)
~dandelions
~violets
~various leaves for making my morning tea: sage, bergamot, thyme, oregano, echinacea, motherwort, dandelion, lemon balm, peppermint, spearmint, rosemary
~grass from the lawn to feed to the sheep and goats
~milk
~morels
~asparagus

3. preserve something:
~

4. prep something:
~working on the newest flower bed by the house
~planning out living tipi for kids and flower/herb beds and walkway leading to the tipi
~planning out sand pit for kids

5. cook something:
~asparagus and morels

6. manage your reserves:
~weeded garlic bed and mulched heavily with weeds
~weeded asparagus and strawberries
~weeded and thinned/relocated chard and cabbages

7. work on local food systems:
~eggs and milk to friends for barter
~worked on my herbal roots to teach children about using herbs medicinally and for food

8. reduce waste:
~use canvas bags at grocery store
~re-use egg cartons for our nest run eggs
~use plastic shopping bags for trash bags

9. Learned a skill:
~

when i need inspiration...

i read rhonda's blog.

here's some food for thought.