Exploring Life In The Grit Of The Earth
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Mothering on Jan 29th, 2010
I finally did it! I’m taking sewing lessons! I’ve been wanting to learn how to sew for a long time now. I can do a little on the sewing machine, but I’ve wanted to learn from a professional. Well, as luck would have it, I won a raffle for 7 sewing lessons from a professional [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Mothering on Dec 8th, 2009
OK, I’ve been hearing about this board game for a while now and, I have to admit, I have been very resistant to it! I’m not totally sure why, but I think it has to do with the feeling that if I’m a good herbalist, I shouldn’t need the aid of a board game to [...]
Posted in Do It Yourself, Holistic Medicine, Mothering, building our home on Nov 16th, 2008
Check out what I picked off of the roof yesterday! There are lots of calendula flowering, too… if they don’t freeze tonight, I may harvest them and make a nice oil or something. And, since I begin my third trimester tomorrow (Oh My God!! Where did time go??!!) I thought I’d post a belly picture. [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Sep 17th, 2008
It’s an 1874 edition of John M. Scudder’s Specific Medication and Specific Medicines!!! This may not mean much to some of you, but for those of you who know herbal history, this is a very special find! John Scudder was an Eclectic herbalist who wrote fantastic herbal books, this being one of his better ones! [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Jun 21st, 2008
I harvested the rest of the milky oats today. Almost 3 pounds worth!!! I made a half gallon of milky oat tincture and laid the rest out to dry to use for tea later. Milky oats (Avena sativa)are when the unripe seed heads can be squeezed and a milky juice comes out. At this stage, [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Mothering on Jun 15th, 2008
I’ve been feeling like making things lately. Kaia’s birthday is coming up and I have been wanting to make her a ‘princess canopy’ for her bed for years. So, I finally got around to it. It came out pretty well, but I have to secure the hoop on the inside better so that it hangs [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Jun 9th, 2008
I’ve got a moment of reprieve right now, but it’s been go, go, go! The first weekend in June I spent 4 days at the Medicines from the Earth conference taking classes and assisting Rosita Arvigo. She was the keynote speaker and gave some great classes on fertility enhancement, and spiritual bathing. Then I spent [...]
Posted in Chickens/Ducks, Holistic Medicine, Mothering, Pets on May 7th, 2008
Sorry for the slack in posting. All is well here.. just busy. We are settling into the house and really enjoying the space and amenities! Kaia and I are especially having fun cooking together (something that was really hard to do in the little cabin). We ate so poorly the past two years. I had [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Mar 20th, 2008
Happy Spring Equinox… The first day of Spring!!! YAHOOOOOO!!!! I’ve posted the Spring Newsletter for Viriditas. There are a couple of yummy spring recipes in there! I hope you all enjoy the day!
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Jan 14th, 2008
Last May, when I flew up to NH on a trip, I sat next to a really interesting woman from Paraguay. She was probably in her 80′s, but she was a spry little lady! We talked about family, raising kids, traveling… but mostly we talked herbs. She talked a lot about Mate, which is a [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Dec 22nd, 2007
My Viriditas Winter newsletter is out. There info about Yule logs, Vitamin D, Ear Aches, Clove, recipes, and more… Enjoy!
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Dec 1st, 2007
You know you want one!! I can’t wait to see the reactions in my rear view mirror I’ve posted on Hildegard before, but here’s more if you want to learn more about her…
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine, Mothering on Nov 1st, 2007
Things have been cruising along busily for the past few weeks. I spent much of last week in Columbia, MD at the American Herbalist’s Guild Symposium, which was fantastic, as usual! I spent most of the time in Paul Bergner’s classes. He’s got a fantastic way of explaining things in a way I understand. First [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Oct 14th, 2007
One of the things I see in almost all of my clients (and that I have been working with in my own self) is an endocrine system that has been over taxed. Many of us live in a state of ‘fight or flight’… driving at high speeds to work, eating highly processed foods while on [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Aug 7th, 2007
A good friend of mine called me this morning. She said she and her two boys were out mushroom hunting and found some Ganoderma tsugae (or Hemlock Varnish Shelf). It’s closely related to the Reishi mushrooms and is used in a similar way medicinally. So, she asked if I would like it. I said of [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine, Mothering on Jun 20th, 2007
Happy (almost) first day of Summer everyone!! I always love the longest day of the year, but it also comes to me with some sadness. ‘Cause that means every day after it is getting shorter Things are going well here at the homestead. The chickens are happy, Suki is enjoying time in the shade with [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on May 25th, 2007
I also get furious about mandatory vaccinations. I think we need to invest more money into education of the public and less into things like a mandatory HPV (herpes) vaccination for teen and preteen girls. Especially when the results of the vaccination are like this:
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on May 22nd, 2007
It’s hard enough trying to fight the current stereotypes of todays world when trying to help my clients feel positive about their femininity and their monthly cycles… now we have this. Tell me why I would want to stop myself from ever bleeding again, forcing my body to constantly think I am pregnant, and pretending [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Mothering, Organic Gardening, Sustainable Living on May 4th, 2007
Would everyone please mark you calendars to email me next year to make sure I get my butt into the woods the first week in May. The woods are bustin’ out!! Kaia and I went to the annual WNC Herb Festival today and shopped for 4 hours! I gave her 25 one-dollar bill in a [...]
Posted in Do It Yourself, General, Holistic Medicine, Sustainable Living, building our home on Apr 15th, 2007
Once the Dandelions started flowering all around, I planned on making a dandelion mead. But, when I went out the other day to gather dandelion flowers, I also found a field full of violets, a wild patch of lemon balm, a huge amount of nettles, and a few other yumminesses. Above is a picture of [...]
Posted in General, Holistic Medicine on Apr 2nd, 2007
I have had some very vivid dreams in my life, but I have only recently started paying attention to them… Two nights ago, I woke up to the doorbell. I sat up and looked over at Toby, who was sitting up too. I thought, “why would someone be coming out to see us at this [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Mar 22nd, 2007
Check this out! One of my ‘fun’ products made it into the regional paper! This is something I put together for fun and everyone loved it. So, I bottled it up for sale. Someone from the paper came by last week to see if we had any cool products to feature in the paper and [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Dec 28th, 2006
www.viriditashealing.com
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Mothering, Sustainable Living on Nov 5th, 2006
I’ve taken a little while to catch up after being gone last weekend! I spent 5 days in Boulder, CO at the American Herbalist’s Guild Symposium. It was fantastic!! My head was so full of information when I left that I had a hard time relaxing! The first day I went to an intensive with [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Mothering, Sustainable Living, building our home on Oct 21st, 2006
It’s been a fun filled few days! Toby is away at a wedding, so Kaia and I have taken the time alone to do anything but house projects! We have played, gone to the mall(!), snuggled up in bed and watched movies! It’s been really nice for both of us to have a little down [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Sustainable Living, building our home on Oct 8th, 2006
Kaia and I spent today preparing for next weekends “RootsFest!” that I am helping with. In celebration of the first annual National Herb Day (Oct. 14th), we (the NC chapter of the American Herbalists Guild) are putting on a festival. I am working the kids booth for a little while and wanted to do more [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Aug 17th, 2006
The herbalists here in Asheville are putting on a Roots Festival for National Herb Day on October 14th. We are making t-shirts that will say “Root Diggin’ Herbalist” on it and will have this picture (painted by one of our own!) If anyone would like a t-shirt, let me know and I can order one [...]
Posted in Do It Yourself, Holistic Medicine on Jul 4th, 2006
June asked about herbal books for house pets. Juliette Levy also has one on this subject. Haven’t read it, but I would bet it is good. I also have The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care and Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, both of which I like. There are [...]
Posted in Holistic Medicine on Jun 21st, 2006
Here’s a short list of the plants I have identified out on the land so far. I’m sure I will be adding lots more as the days go on.
Posted in Holistic Medicine, Sustainable Living on May 4th, 2006
My class came up to the land today for an herb walk. We identified lots of beautiful plants, but check out what we found!! Huge Morels!! Spotting more morels I love this picture! Patrick is such a forest man! And we found a little patch of baby ginseng. There should have been a mama somewhere… [...]