Hawthorn- Faery Guardian of the Heart

I'm participating in the Tree Year.  http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/.  I'll be following a hawthorn tree in my fields this year.




Species:  Hawthorn, Whitethorn, Thorn, Haw Whiteblossom  (Crataegus oxycantha and other spp.)

Parts used: Fruits, leaf, flower

Energetic: cool, dry to neutral

Taste: sweet, sour, astringent

Actions: cardiotonic, nervine, astringent, nutritive, tonic, stimulant, relaxant, antioxidant

Botanical/Ecological description:

Hawthorn, in the rose family, is a small tree or shrub, that tends to grow in hedges, on the edges of roads or open fields.  It is rarely more than 12-15 ft tall, and the bark is rough and grey.  It has thorns anywhere from ½ inc to 2 inches long, which are dark colored.  In May it blooms with a profusion of white 5 petaled flowers that have a particular, rank or foetid smell.  Some people describe it as the smell of sex, and others, the smell of death.  Either way, they certainly aren’t sweet smelling!  Flowers ripen into small red drupes about ¼ in in diameter, with one large hard seed.  
It is often planted as a landscape tree in yards and along roadsides.  There are many species of hawthorns, on various continents.  Most of which are highly hybrized and interbreed freely.  It is often difficult to get it down to species.  There are some herbalists who have said only the official crataegus oxycantha is valuable medicine, and others who say that all species are somewhat medicinal.  I think the brighter, deeper colored red the fruits, the more antioxidant flavanoids are present, which will be medicinally active.  I can’t speak with authority on all species of hawthorns and medicinal value, as I have not tried very many!  But since they interbreed so readily, it seems unlikely to find the “official” hawthorn in a pure form, and I just do not think that it would lessen the medicinal value that much.  Many of the properties of the hawthorn are universal to rose family plants to some degree or another.

Symbolic/spiritual description:  The hawthorn is deeply associated with the Fae, Faery, the Good People.  It is said in Celtic lands where knowledge of the Fae is common, that to cut down an hawthorn tree will anger the Fae and cause bad luck.  Hawthorn blooms around May day and as such is associated with fertility and sex/lust, but on the flipside its rank smelling flowers and thorns and association with spirit worlds make Hawthorn a tree of “death” and transformation, and also of protection and caution.  Folklore of hawthorn is rich and deep.  In Western herbalism hawthorn is closely associated with the heart, energetically and physically, and many people use hawthorn to protect and soothe their emotional heart.  The beautiful fierce thorns coupled with soft delicate flowers speak to us of being tender and showing our inner beauty, our flower so to speak, but with strong defenses to guard the way.  You can’t really push past a hawthorn without getting caught up by the thorny branches.  But I do not find the hawthorn, with all its fierce thorns to be rough or unforgiving.  She teaches us awareness of where to place ourselves to avoid being hurt, of how to move carefully, and of the rewards of sweetness, transformation, and connection with powerful spiritual forces of the land and the Fae.  

If you are lucky enough to live near a hawthorn tree, be aware that the Fae may be near. Often times they will trick you, hide things or borrow things, in order to get your attention.  Try leaving small offerings for the Fae ones in or near your hawthorn tree.  They like sweets, shiny things, coins, honey, milk, cream or butter and tobacco.  I have found the Fae will generally return “lost’ or “borrowed” items when I ask and leave an offering, and will often help out in other ways in my life when appropriately gifted and asked.  But never break a promise to the Fae, or cut down your hawthorn!  The Fae ones are guardians of the land and the plants, I always leave an offering for them when harvesting plants.

Uses/Applications:  As stated above hawthorn is most famous for its use as a heart tonic, both the physical and emotional heart.   As a general rule of thumb hawthorn is considered a food herb, deeply nourishing, and considered safe. Its fruits are rich in bioflavanoids, vitamins and minerals that nourish the blood and the heart, and protect it from free radicals and oxidative damage, thus has been used traditionally as a tonic for weak hearts, hearts with congenital defects, and folks concerned about cardiovascular health in general.  Modern scientific study of hawthorn indicates it is useful in working with high blood pressure and cholesterol.  I have often used hawthorn in formulas for people working with these conditions, but it is vitally important to realize that these conditions are grossly misrepresented by the modern media and western medical science.  Cholesterol is just a NUMBER, and is not an accurate reading of cardiovascular  health or risk for heart attack.  Cholesterol is a vital nutrient, it builds hormones, immune system components, cell wells, and is involved in Vit D synthesis in the body.  We need cholesterol!  Cardiovascular disease is a real problem, but it is not always reflected by the single number of cholesterol that doctors like to use as scare tactic to get their patients on statin drugs.  Roots of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure are very closely tied with diet and nutrition, especially insulin resistance/syndrome X.  Much to the surprise of many eating a diet rich in animal fats and “cholesterol’ doesn’t impact your blood levels of cholesterol that significantly.  Cholesterol is produced by the liver on demand when your body is under stress or needs to produce sex hormones.  Breast feeding mothers can have cholesterol readings of over 300!  This is not  problematic.  The problems really start when someone is eating a very high carbohydrate, refined food, high sugar diet.  These diets promote insulin resistance- which increases inflammation, which is highly damaging to the cardiovascular system, increase blood pressure, increase triglycerides and increase risk for stroke and heart attack. 

That said, hawthorn is a beautiful ally to protect the heart in these sorts of conditions, but it is not a cure all.  They must be addressed with dietary and nutritional changes and modifying metabolic dysregulation with herbs and exersize.  I feel generally safe recommending and using hawthorn with people on other cardiovascular medications (excluding Coumadin or other blood thinners), as it is a food herb, but it is prudent and important for these folks to monitor their cardio health regularly.  Hawthorn may decrease the need for medications, and thus they should be monitored and adjusted as needed.   

Most people know of using the hawthorn fruit, but hawthorn leaf and flower is just as potent, and in some cases more potent than the fruits themselves.  Leaf and flower also lend themselves readily to tea/infusion, whereas fruits need to be cooked a long time to extract the medicinal benefits.  Many people also like to include hawthorn thorns in their medicine preparations to increase the protective benefits energetically.  This is easy to do when tincturing hawthorn.  I personally like to make a combined medicine with fruit, leaf and flower all in the same bottle.  You may tincture leaf and flower in the spring, and tincture fruit in the fall, and combine the two tinctures, or use dried and combine them in the same tincture jar.  Hawthorn leaf, flower and fruit elixir is devine!

It is important to remember that hawthorn, of the rose family, besides being rich in bioflavanoids and other nourishing nutrients, is very tonic and astringent.  It is generally appropriate for folks who lack tone in the cardiovascular system, or appear soft. (Not talking about fat here.)   It may often show up as a weak heart, either energetically or physically.  They may be pale, easily winded, or have poor circulation to the external parts of the body, because their tissues are flaccid and weak.  Astringent tonics can help to tighten, tone and strengthen the tissues to improve circulation. 

Hawthorn is a remarkable ally for what the Chinese call “disturbed shen.”  Shen is the word used for spirit, the spirit that resides in the heart, and makes up our mental/emotional/spiritual state of mind.  We understand this in the west as well, as we speak of heartbreak and heart sickness.  Physically our emotions may come from our minds, but we feel things deeply with our hearts.  It can result in a strong physical sensation in our heart area as well, an ache, palpitations, emptiness, or pressure.  When our spirit or shen is disturbed the signs are anxiety, restlessness, nightmares, dreaminess/fantasy, insomnia, heartsickness or heartache, fear, panic, trauma, or susto.  Hawthorn is a wonderful remedy in these cases.   Often in cases of childhood (or adult) asthma there is a realm of disturbed shen or heartsickness.  Hawthorn is extremely useful both to strengthen the physical action of the heart in asthmatics to improve oxygenation of the blood, and breath strength, and to soothe and calm the shen.  An asthma attack is clearly associated with disturbed shen or can result in such.  There is panic, fear, poor sleep, pressure, and often a disembodiment or tendency to get lost in ‘other worlds” or appear to be “taken by the Faerie.” And so, along with other botanicals, we use hawthorn in chronic cases of asthma.

This disturbed shen also is associated with heartache and heartbreak.  Hawthorn is an immense ally to anyone suffering from heartbreak, or a situation where their heart needs extra protection emotionally and spiritually.  Hawthorn is calming and nervine- not in the direct acute sense, but over time brings the heart and spirit back into alignment, improves circulation of blood, oxygen and chi, and restores balance and strength to the spirit and the heart.  Next time you are feeling heartache, add some hawthorn leaf and flower to your infusions (it does retain some of that strange rank smell, so I like to mix it with something extra sweet smelling, like linden, rose, or lavender.)  It soothes and comforts and heals the ache.  You can also sip a hawthorn berry cordial, or use small doses of the elixir or even hawthorn flower essence.

 

Harvesting:

Leaves and flowers:  Should be gathered in spring in full bloom.  Always  ask permission from the Fae before harvesting hawthorn!  Work very carefully around the thorns.  Listen closely to the way the hawthorn teaches you to be present to your body and your movements as you work. I like to gather flower clusters with leaves, snipping close to the branch with a sharp fingernail or clippers.  Always leave enough flowers on the tree for the bees, and reproduction.  Leaves may additionally be harvested once the tree is past flowering, but earlier in the season is preferable to late.  They become richer in tannins later in the season, and more astringent.  These may be dried by laying flat in a single layer in a basket or box or on newsprint. 

Fruits:  Likewise fruits must be harvested in fall when ripe.  They do tend to hang on the tree into winter, but traditional lore of the harvest states that anything not harvested by Samhain (Halloween) is to be left for the Fae.  I will harvest single fruits from clusters by hand, always leaving plenty for the birds and the Fae.  Fruits are more difficult to dry, and are prone to mold and rot if not fully dried.  In our moist climate it is difficult to air dry fruit, and I generally suggest a dehydrator, or drying in the oven with the light on.  I will often split the fruits in half to facilitate complete drying.  Otherwise tincture fresh.

Preparations & Dosage:

Fresh tincture is a marvelous way to work with hawthorn. 

1:2 fresh plant tincture in 50% alcohol, tincture different parts and mix together

Dry plant tincture is also lovely. 

1:5, 50% alcohol, blend fruits, flowers and leaves together

Either way, fresh or dried, you may turn it into an elixir with the addition of honey, and using sweet brandy if desired.

2- 30 drops 3x day.  Many herbalists have noted that small doses (8-10 drops) are just as or even more effective than large doses of hawthorn. 

Infusion/decoction:  16 oz/day.  Take in small frequent doses (4 oz ).

You may make jelly with hawthorn berries, infuse them in wine or add to kombucha

Resources:

A Modern Herbal- Maude Grieve

Kings American Dispensatory- Felter and Lloyd

The Physiomedical Dispensatory- William Cook

Personal Conversation  w/ Sean Donahue  http://greenmanramblings.blogspot.com/

Discovering Herbalism :Classes in Avon, Maine

January 29-30, February 19-20, March 12-13, April 23-24, May 14-15

Summer and Autumn Dates TBA

$100 - $150/month, payment plans and thoughtful barter proposals will gladly be considered.

Sean Donahue and Darcey Blue French are offering an opportunity for beginning and intermediate herbalists to develop or deepen their relationships with the healing plants of New England through a series of weekend intensives at our home in Avon, ME.

Through lectures and discussions, readings, meditations, ceremony, and direct experience, participants will learn about:

* Listening to and learning directly from the plants themselves

* The art and ethics of wildcrafting

* Making herbal medicines

* Understanding the energetics of herbal medicine and of the human body

* Nourishing the body, mind, and spirit

* Therapies for chronic and acute injury and disease

* Working with plants in ceremony and magic

* Plant identification and Materia Medica

* Establishing herb gardens

For more information or to register, e-mail herbalists@brighidswellherbs.com

Floor space and limited couch or bed space will be available for those traveling. 

Breakfast will be provided.  Lunch and dinner will be potluck.

Healing Foods : Medicinal Mushroom Gravy

Yes, gravy!
Several weeks ago I had dinner with Margi Flint in Marblehead, MA and she made a lovely roast chicken stuffed with herbs, and a most delicious medicinal mushroom gravy.  So she gets credit for the idea, but here's my version that I made to dress our pork roast the other night.

Mushroom teas and extracts take a lot of work to prepare, and aren't always very delicious, but lucky for us Mushroom Harvest has a wonderful ready made, pre-cooked blend of 14 deeply healing medicinal mushrooms as a powder, ready to use in various ways.  Not only is it tasty (much like shitake in flavor- which it contains in spades), but very versatile and easy to use.

Here's the gravy that can be used for roasted veggies, roasted meats, potatoes, rice, or what ever you like gravy on.  Bonus is- it's gluten and dairy free!!


1 c roasted meat drippings
(or sub 1 cup of warm bone broth or seaweed broth and a couple of spoonfuls of fat of choice- butter, ghee, coconut, olive, lard)
3 tbsp cold water or broth
1 heaping tbsp 14 mushroom blend powder
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients except cold water, egg yolk, and tapioca.  Warm until bubbling gently.
Mix tapioca starch, egg yolk and cold water in a cup until dissolved.  Pour slowly while stirring briskly into the bubbling gravy.
Gravy will thicken quickly.  Remove from heat and serve!



Delicious medicine fit for everyday table use!

(edited to add the suggested egg yolk. it is MUCH BETTER with egg yolk!!)

The Gifting Season ~ The Underbelly of Yuletime

For many including myself, The holiday season is a challenge. From the over commercialization, mass spending, circulation of toxic toys, useless gadgets, empty foods, and immense garbage. The expectation whether self imposed or externally commanded, often leaves us simple Earthy folk feeling drained and defeated.

We have also taken brave steps towards insisting on a season of nourishment rather than disdain. Many of us have taken bold steps in asking our families to downsize gifts, making them homemade or more personal, such as gifts of time spent together, planting trees in our children's names, giving gifts of health such as massages or yoga retreats, and focusing more intently on each others' passions in life as inspiration for these gifts.

There is also this funny thing we feel called reciprocity. I know I'm not the only one who feels this intense, burning requirement for equality. Although I'm immensely grateful for the many gifts that come my way in general, specifically at Yule I feel anxiety around the exchange; whether I will leave feeling as though I gave as much (or as good quality) as I received. These expectations are daunting.

I have not found a solution, but little by little I work towards a more empowering time. I want to see joy in my children's eyes, not because they have just opened a wii or a wad of cash, but because I finally had time to make cookies with them. Or because we chose a little tree together and cut it down in the freezing cold and drove back with it nearly flying off the car.

These are cliche - I know - the moments we look for on TV and give lots of lip about. But they're harder to get than we think. We cover them up with icing and candy canes and ribbon - for what reason?

Perhaps because we can't achieve our deeper expectation, our deeper hope, and the failure is unbearable. We feel cheated out of enough time or money or creativity to make it happen. Or perhaps because when we do reach it, it is so powerful it nearly hurts. Perhaps because the feelings available to us at times of truthful giving and receiving, should we be willing to feel them, open rivers of unshed heartache and longing for love and connection in it's many forms.

Yule morning for me is painful and beautiful. It brings me face to face with my unmet goals, my growing children, my aging eyes. It's also humbling; the sweetness of colored pencil cards, feathers wrapped in cloth, coupons for snuggling up and reading together. Long, intentional hugs.

When I melt all the overly sweet, fake frosting of the holidays away, I'm left with something just sweet enough, and just filling enough, without the sugar crash.

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

In light of gifts for plant lovers, consider these valuable resources for the tree-hugger in your life......

Beautiful Handmade Herbals from:

Blissful Botanicals (My Mama:)

Blue Turtle Botanicals (amazing Darcey Blue)

DreamSeeds (Teton Herbalist Kristena Haslam)

Invaluable reading/resources:

Plant Healer Magazine (which includes yours truly, waxing poetic about Witch Hazel)

Herbal Roots Zine (a resource I favor for myself and students alike)

Herb Mentor Membership (endless applicable information for all herbal people!)

We'Moon Calendar (My all-time favorite datebook and daily inspiration)

Mountain Rose Herbs (for bulk herbs and herbal supplies)

Of course - finding local farms for things like winter CSA memeberships, wilderness programs for nature awareness and primitive skills, an invitation to a local Red Tent Temple or drum circle, or fresh organic meat from a nearby farm, are incredibly valuable gifts which directly reflect original meanings and traditions of this season.

May you come closer to your heart, your truth, and satisfy your deepest needs for connection this holiday.

My gift to you, dear reader, is a little poem of Witch Hazel which didn't make it's way into Plant Healer Magazine. (consider it a teaser for the article that did get published ;) enjoy......

~~~~~~~

Witch of the Woods

Ahhh the sun in my eyes

Through eyelashes of Hazel

She

The Witch of the woods

Winking at me, flirting I think

With her coppiced heart

And divided wholeness

Whose reckless ways

In tandem bloom and fruit and flower

And when ready

Explode

So far as to reach the riverbank

On the opposite side

With her I go

Through the veil of October

Riding the winds of the wrinkles in time

As I laugh through my lines

And I see anew through the gauzy tricks

Of Fall and of Fey

And her mischievous way

Wands of witch, divine waters

Flowering pretty, her petals cool

I am taken to dreaming

In my hazel-eyed mind

Holding the hands of change

I sip a sunlit cordial of wishes

Of rolling like her wavy margins

In the wake of summer

In the wake of unrealized hopes

In the wake of release

I float along in her astringency

And wit

And wait for ripening time

When I can explode

And reach the other side

Too

Chicken Pot Pie- Gluten Free

I have fond memories of those individual sized frozen pot pies on cold winter nights as a child.  They way the smell baking in the oven, the fun of a pie all my own, the savory taste of chicken, buttery crust, and sweet carrots.  I started having a bit of a craving for this childhood favorite while visiting family over Thanksgiving. 

Here's the grown up version I came up with tonight- gluten free!  You can make it dairy free as well using coconut oil or lard in place of butter.  I used homemade chicken bone broth that I had cooked with healing herbs like astragalus and burdock, for extra deliciousness and health. 

Crust
2 cups Bobs Red Mill GF Biscuit and Baking Mix 
1 stick of butter or 1/2 c coconut oil or lard
8 tbsp cold water

Cut the butter into the mix until grainy, add water and just bring the dough together.  Roll out on a wax sheet dusted with tapioca flour.


Filling:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 large carrot
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup cubed butternut squash
1/2 c chopped mushrooms

10 oz chicken stock (prefer homemade bone broth infused with herbs)
3 tbsp tapioca starch (dissolved in 1/4 c cold stock)
1 tbsp butter or lard
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lovage leaf
1 tsp sage leaf

Mix tapioca starch with 1/4 c cold stock.  Warm remainder of stock in a sauce pan with herbs and fat.  Not to boiling, but just to hot.  Add the tapioca starch mixture to the stock to make a thick gravy.

Add chopped chicken and veggies to a large pie pan.  Drizzle the gravy over the veggies. Lay the crust over the chicken and veggies and pinch shut around the edges.  Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork.

Bake at 350 for 1 hr.
Let cool for 30 min before serving. 
Serves a family of 4 generously. 
YUM!

Turkey Day Medicine Bag

On Turkey Day I'm grateful that I'm not the one cooking the meal. I will be contributing my spiced-apple salad (previous post) and some gourmet cheeses. But really what I'm packing up this morning are a slew of remedies for Holiday's inevitable maladies. 

Here's what I'll be toting in my medicine bag......

Black Cherry Elixir ~ For those with the nagging cough, and those with hot burny digestions. I use black cherry quite often to steady my heart rate and settle my nerves.

Kava ~ For my son mostly, who's indigestion is also nervous and painful, accompanied by a frustration of having to socialize. I combine it with the black cherry elixir, and sometimes peach.

Peach Elixir ~ Also for hot, irritating digestive complaints and temperamental personalities. For those who just feel pissed off most of the time, and if they don't express it outwardly, they end up with UT problems or ulcers.

(for an exquisite profile on peach, please visit Kiva :http://animacenter.org/persica.html )

Black Birch ~ For the people who feel uprooted, not "at home" and are finicky about getting around to putting some kind of food on their plate and then maybe even into their mouths. Great for teens and Elders. (Birch plays a key role in forest succession. Think of it as a transition remedy) Also for tension headaches.

Crystallized Ginger ~ For the unmoving, tired, slump on the couch after eating. Along with a hot cup of:

Dandy-Blend ~ An easy way to get dandelion root into people who would not otherwise take the tincture. It's a super yummy beverage that's easy to make and does the trick. Sweeten it with just a little honey instead of sugar, but don't drown out the bitter flavor - that is the medicine!

Echinacea elixir ~ There is always someone who is ill with something they don't understand. It's a little insurance for this statement "I don't know! It's weird. Its like... (---insert strange metaphor) .... and I just can't get rid of it."

St. Johnswort ~ For the blues, for the bruises, for the teary-eyed. For the nerve pains in the hip and back. For my own sanity.

Mugwort ~ Artemisia vulgaris ~ This one for cold, crampy digestion, especially liver stagnation, or anyone who can't get warm but shouldn't take ginger for it's too hot and dry. Mugwort is a woman's best friend :) Mugwort is also supreme as a pre-digestive bitter before a meal.

Alder ~ A new plant ally for me this year, I've been using it for lymph congestion with great results. So this will go for anyone who shouldn't eat that gluten filled biscuit, but does anyway. It will also go onto my poor daughters face which is swollen to the hilt with a wicked case of poison ivy.

Peppermint elixir ~ for teas or stuffy noses and little ones.

White Fir Elixir ~ purely for pleasure. I like it in my coffee.

For external use, I'm packing Witch Hazel tincture, Chaparral oil, Pain killer salve, and lip balm.

I already have a basic first aid kit in the car, so I usually have Osha and Yarrow already.

Need to grab a few survival items for your 

Blessings on this day to all of you, and may you have very happy tummies.

I am the Hawk, Soaring Over the Land

It is the second day of snow here on our land on Whidbey Island. Sometimes the cold, dark rainy weather keeps me inside most of the day. The snow lures me outside, to explore the landscape. I noticed the other day that there were still some wild rose hips that looked beautifully red and plump down in the thicket. Today I venture down there to harvest some, knowing full well that the Vitamin C in them is potent because of the cold.

They are so easy to pluck. And the blood red color stands brillant against the white snow and grayish red stalks. I start out gathering rose hips and think I will get bored easily. But there is something about rose that lures me into another realm. I forget this truth until I am here in this expanded version of life, where love and beauty reign.

There are at least three different species of wild rose that I am noticing. The very hard, small fruit are the most vibrant at this time of year. But I venture over to the place where the large, plump hips are hanging. As I am almost to the edge of our land, I look up and overhead comes a very large hawk in its winter garb. Mostly white, with flecks of brown.

I can tell the time by this hawk. It comes in the afternoon about 2:30 pm. It flies over the land and over the garden. I am fortunate to be here at this moment to witness its flight.

Out there on the land, as the sun is ending its fullness and beginning to wane, I feel a sense of connectedness with everything. I am the hawk, soaring over the land. I am the ruby red rose hips. I am the snow, the frozen cold. I am the sun waning and the darkness approaching. I am the earth mother old and dying and the gestating infant earth, held inside the deep dark holy womb.

I remember as I write this that I am held in total darkness as the light of my existence prepares for birth. I am thankful for this vision that peace is felt first before it is seen.

May it be in Beauty.

Plant Healer ~ A Journal of Traditional Western Herbalism ~ Open for Subscriptions!

I'm immensely honored and inspired to be a contributing writer for the premier issue of Plant Healer Journal. This promises to be an articulate, rooted, and outspoken voice for us Plant People, as well as a calling to the world at large who suffers at the hand of profound disconnection. My hope for this journal is many-fold. I hope people with flora curiosity will dive in head first. I hope that us herbalists will finally have informative, dynamic, applicable, and delicious reading we can count on. And daringly I hope that some people in a little corner of the political box, will close their greedy wallet and go eat some weeds, and realize that we are more sane than anyone for doing so. And maybe pull some strings on our behalf.

But back to the simple hopes ~ I feel really lucky to be a part of a resurgence of home and community herbalists who are so passionate about plants and healing, and who are getting back to the ground in their practices. I hope that this magazine, in it's unprecedented content, sells wildly.

Below is a clip and link for the original article.

~Ananda

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

Subscriptions Open Today For

Plant Healer:
A Journal of Traditional Western Herbalism

Get the Premier December Issue
& 5 Exclusive, Free Video, Audio & Visual Bonuses!
$37 yr.(4 Issues) – Go To:
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please continue reading this article at it's original source:

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Spiced Apple Salad and the Healing of Food

Obviously it's been a long time since I wrote about herbal medicine or plants in general. It isn't because I have not been working with them, in fact I've learned monumental amounts. It's just, as my mom would say, 'anacana' - translation: on account of nothing. In other words, it's just because that's how the cards have fallen.

Often in life I feel like the ideas I have are brilliant, but then I'm not fast enough at pursuing them and they get used up by someone more savvy or opportunistic than I. Such is life.

In addition, I'm time compromised. And we all know how that goes, I don't have to explain.

So my post today is a little different but every bit relevant. It's about food.

As long as I can remember I've dubbed myself as "hating to cook". Which has made it exceedingly difficult to feed two growing children, a husband on occasion, and daily, myself. Growing up I learned simple basics to my benefit: how to cook soup, eggs, and make a great sandwich or salad. But that's it. Jump forward to having two small children and absolutely no idea how to not burn meat, shop frugally at a grocery store, or make a meal while managing children, you've got a recipe for a dis-empowered kitchen wishes-she-were-a-goddess woman.

I've burnt countless chicken breasts. I've ruined plenty of rice. I've eaten dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner. It wasn't until I made a commitment to cooking that anything changed.

But it wasn't easy. I'm a very busy woman! I work part time, take my children to learning co-op, I teach plants, I teach dance, and I try to write now and again, and I've got an apothecary and a household to manage. So you can see it's additional pressure to feed good meals to my loved ones.

But... I love food. I've never had any "food issue", so I don't have any eating stuff to deal with. I love food of all kinds and have always had the taste for healthy, well rounded foods. I love to eat and have always been active and never had any weight issues. So again, my problem was solely the fact that I HATED COOKING.

It was arduous. Laborious. Boring. Painful. Hopeless. Confusing. A waste of time.

And while I cannot say it's all better now, I can say I've come a very, very long way.

I'll mention here my Medicine Woman Mentorship. I'll mention it because one of the main thrusts is being in touch with one's senses and the birthright to take good care of ones self. Within my lesson work (and I'm still near the beginning) I am asked about my commitment to myself. It was clear to me that by not feeding myself, not engaging my senses and nourishment through the very basic human actions and needs, I was avoiding nourishment, pleasure, and pro-active healing.

The other note I'll make here is that my husband, as well as my children - miraculously - have a gift in the kitchen! Yes, my kids have been lucky to receive amazing cooking lessons from close friends/chefs in my community, and to learn plenty from Dad, but they just have it - the patience, the instinct, the love, and the uncanny ability to read and understand a written recipe from a cookbook. This has been (while slightly frustrating) an unsuspected inspiration.

And so within both my MWM as well as my monthly women's circle, I declared that I needed to both embrace and cultivate my inner Kitchen Goddess. I needed to find the woman in me that could infuse my food with both magic and skill. This was couple of years ago.

It's been a long journey and I'm still at it. I have a lot to learn. I've held to a Soup-Monday tradition for a while now, which helps keep me learning new recipes and by making it a routine I can count it as a required activity rather than something unimportant. I have tried my best to invite my hunter friends to feed me locally hunted venison, teach me about the animal and the different cuts, and had some healthfully harvested roadkill such as groundhog which was hit cleanly by an employee while I was at work. I've tried with the help of a talking thermometer to learn how long to cook meats, and I've enjoyed the benefit of finally cooking chicken well even if I'm not spoken to. I've cooked roasts, fish, acorn oatmeal, roasted potatoes, and many other dishes to a "T".

I'm proud of myself. While I cannot say I want to spend every day in the kitchen, I can say I'm no longer scared of it, and sometimes even really love it. Like today when I invented this spiced apple salad to take along for lunch tomorrow.

Sometimes eating disorders are not about getting fat or skinny, they are about not knowing how to cook, and not having the time in this fast forward life to do it. Sometimes they are about fearing the GMO's and learning to get outside to forage and to find local CSA's, farmers, or hunting. They really are about healing our relationship to eating, nourishing, taking, feeling, life, death, growth, creativity, and the intimacy therein. They are about consuming - the kind of consuming that was known before it was evil.

The moments I take in the kitchen, when given the time and spark, are sensual moments not too unlike my herbal potions or dance movements. They are moments that use to deplete me, and now feed me. And my family. They are organic, sensory, delicious moments.

~~~~~

Apple~ Spice Salad

5 ripe cubed apples

1/3 cup slices almonds

1/3 cup chopped dried cherries

1 Tbsp chopped crystallized ginger

1 whole fresh squeezed lemon, or more if desired

3 Tbs herbal infused honey (I used sage and monarda, you can use what you like)

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Stir well and enjoy

~~~~~

Holiday Goodies and Craving Killer Cocoa Recipe!!

I've got some new goodies available at my Etsy store for the holiday season!!  Chocolate Pomander Lip Balm, Chocolate Mint Lip Balm.  Soon we'll have Spicy Hot Cocoa and her new tasty side kick- Orange Energy Hot Cocoa- with Maca, Ashwaganda and Orange peel for a tasty holiday treat that treats you well on all levels.   These cocoas are made with fair trade organic cocoa, organic cane juice and spices. NO dairy, no gluten!  This is a low sugar blend- just a hint of sweetness to complement the spices and herbs in each blend!  Brew it with your favorite milk (dairy or non) whisk in an egg yolk for extra staying power and enjoy! If you prefer a sugar free version, please just send me a message I'll be happy to whip it up for you!

Try this simple recipe below for the kind of cocoa that kills your cravings and satisfies for hours!

Craving Killer Cocoa

Heat water in a tea kettle to boiling.

In a mug whip together:

• 2 tbsp Spicy Hot cocoa or Orange Energy Hot Cocoa mix,

• pinch of sea salt and/or 10 trace minerals drops

• two or three tbsp of piima cream or other non dairy milk (coconut works especially well)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil or ghee

Slowly pour hot water over the whipped cocoa,c ream, egg  and oil mix gently stirring as you do. Out comes a frothy, foamy, deeply chocolate, creamy delight.

If you want, you can add some stevia to the mix for a slightly sweeter drink, but remember those bitter flavors are there to help you with your sugar cravings!

Yum!

Birch- The lady of the woods

Species: Birch- White Birch, Cherry Birch, Black Birch, Sweet Birch, Golden Birch, Paper Birch (Betula alba, B. lenta, B. allaghaniensis, B. papyrifera, b. populifolia)

Parts used: Leaves, bark, twigs, buds, sap
Energetic: Cool, dry
Taste: sweet, aromatic, astringent, bitter
Actions: stimulant, relaxant, diuretic, diaphoretic, tonic, anodyne, vulnerary

Botanical/Ecological description:
Birch- as a tree, is a deceptive name. There are at least 4 species of birch growing in New England, and beyond, with some overlapping and some unique uses, and the White Birch, of Europe, has long been considered the “official” medicine. But, as far as I know all the birch species I’ve listed above are useful medicinally some degree or another. Birches are colonizing trees, and often grow in areas where soil has been disturbed, forests have been logged, along the edges of streams and bogs. It comes in to “heal” the land, hold the soil, and begin the process of ecological succession. Many birch species are not long lived, as soon as other trees grow tall enough to shade them out, the birches decline and begin to die off, leaving their bodies to mulch, and nourish the soil for the next generation of forest trees and plants.
White and paper birch have white papery bark that peels in layers easily. The twigs are dark, and leaves are resinous and triangular shaped.
Grey birch also has white bark, but doesn’t readily peel as does the paper birch.
Black and Yellow birch are both characterized by leaves that grow in pairs from the axils, smooth dark red to yellow bark with lenticels in the twigs and young saplings. Both have the sweet wintergreen smell and flavor to the inner bark. Black birch bark does not peel, but on older trees does begin to crack in to thick plates. Yellow birch bark does begin to peel off in layers, but the layers are finer, golden, and not as paper like as the white paper birch bark. Black birch is extremely common in the east stretching south from SW Maine to Alabama and east to Ohio. Yellow birch tends to grow in more Northern climates- its range extending north into Canada & Nova Scotia. Paper birch grows in northern regions, including to the pacific NW and into Canada. Almost all birch species have strong relationships with fungi of varying kinds- including medicinal Chaga (inodotorus obliqua) and Birch Polypore ( ) found in Europe and one of the medicines Otzi the Ice Man carried with him. Birch wood is not at all rot resistant, but the bark is, and you can often find empty hollow shells of birch bark from which the wood has rotted littering the forest floor.


Symbolic/spiritual description: Birch is known as the “Lady of the Woods.” I do believe this term is most often attributed to the graceful white and grey birches with their branches that lean over gracefully, drooping green sprays of leaves. But I also find the energy of Golden birch as well to be especially feminine- more along the lines of the strong, vibrant, huntress energy of Artemis, with a strength in sexuality and independence, yet still fiercely protective and nurturing when needed. Black or Cherry birch is a bit more ambiguous in its “gender” nature. Some people feeling it to be feminine in energy, others to be more like a young adolescent male (especially in the young saplings.) Birch, as it is a colonizing tree, is the symbol of beginnings, rebirth, birth & labor, and of motherhood. She has also spoken to me deeply about nourishment, motherhood, sacrifice and going down to the BONES of a matter. Her sap (in all species) flows freely and richly in spring- almost like the milk from the breast of the mother, and this sap is deeply nourishing, rich in vitamins and minerals. In addition, the many boney white bodies of birches that often litter the forest floor, to me, look like bones, and also remind me of the self sacrifice the birches make of their bodies to fertilize and nourish the soil for the future. I also find it extremely interesting the birch relationship with fungi, especially medicinal fungi. She gives of her life blood and bones to support these organisms, which in turn provide us with some of the most deeply healing, strengthening and remarkable medicinal properties (Chaga is especially wonderful- read up on it.) These fungi carry the life force of the birches within them, even after the host tree has passed on. Chaga mead is rich with the taste of sweet birch- giving us a reminder of her long lasting nourishment.


Uses/Applications:
The uses of birch are myriad, they vary from species to species somewhat, so it is important to know what properties you are after, and which species you are using. I will start with Black and Yellow birch, which are very similar medicinally speaking. Both contain the aromatic wintergreen smelling methyl salycilate. The bark of both can be used specifically for this compound as a pain relieving ally. Infusion of the bark, elixir or tincture, and infused oil all capture this property of the birch use for muscle soreness, achy joints, mild headaches, sprains and bruises. The bark of cherry and yellow birch is also a tonic and astringent, and is excellent used for loose bowels with nausea, sour stomach, or weak digestion. I use the warm infusion of the bark primarily for this, often mixed with a warming stimulant like ginger or cinnamon depending on the situation. It is also somewhat diaphoretic, and will stimulate a gentle sweat by increasing circulation from the core to the surface and relaxing tension in the tissues of the skin and capillaries. The tincture of the bark itself is nice for mild nausea or gas, but you really need the infusion of the bark to get the most benefit of the tonic properties for weak and watery digestive problems like diarrhea. The bark harvested in the spring is most certainly a stimulating spring tonic- to enliven the blood after a long, sleepy winter. It is rich in mineral nutrients from the running sap, and energetically has an upward moving tendency. It will increase circulation from the core to the surface, tonify the digestive organs and kidneys and nourish the blood with its nutrients.
The inner bark is also considered a tonic for the skin and hair, and helpful to heal & soothe itchy, irritated and weepy sores and rashes. An infusion of birch bark can be used as a wash for poison ivy rash, chicken pox/measles, herpes/shingles, or other slow to heal sores. As oils can sometimes spread these types of rashes around, I’d be cautious with the use of infused oil here, but the infusion as a wash or bath will be pain relieving and healing. I have included black birch bark and leaf infused oil in salve for cold sores, along with some other herbs, and have received very good feedback.
Note: the essential oil of sweet birch is available, and is an excellent pain reliever when used topically. Please note that the essential oil is EXTREMELY concentrated and has high levels of methyl salycilates in it, which can be toxic in moderate doses, even topically. Please use the essential oil only topically, and never directly on the skin undiluted. And probably a good idea not to use it daily for extended periods of time over large portions of the body. (I.e point tenderness vs taking a bath in it!) There have been cases of illness and even death from young people using excessive amounts of an icy hot rub for muscle soreness which contained methyl salycilates. Granted this is usually a synthetic concentrated form, but methyl salycilates are significantly toxic enough to warrant a warning in all the old literature on the plants containing them, and so I pass that on to you.

The leaves of both black and yellow birch are a specific and effective remedy for the kidneys, being both diuretic and soothing to irritation. It is used to mitigate a tendency to form kidney stones and gravel. Large kidney stones with pain, fever and blood in the urine need to be addressed by a medical professional, but birch leaves can be used as a preventive for those who tend to gravel formation, and a soothing tea for the remaining irritation. Useful and soothing also in cystitis and irritation of bladder, urethra and kidneys in self limiting UTI. Should be combined with other anti-infective herbs to address the infection.

White and paper birch – also has a long history in Europe as a kidney remedy, much as explained above for black and yellow birch. Here again, it is the leaves used for kidney irritation and gravel. The bark of the white and paper birches contains betulin, a substance being studied in many places for its immune boosting effects, its activity against viral and bacterial organisms, and is especially helpful in skin disorders when used topically. Here you would use the bark tea (inner and outer barks) or decoction as a wash and internally. The bark of these species is diuretic and acts on the kidneys as the leaves do, being soothing and softening to gravel. It is mentioned for “dropsy” which is essential water retention and edema. Matt Wood mentions its use as a hair tonic- a young woman who used nettle and birch bark tea as a hair wash improved the texture, thickness and health of the hair. I haven’t tried this, but certainly worth giving a whirl. Birch bark is also toning and astringent topically, and while being most well known for skin disorders, rashes, eczema, herpes/pox, I have also seen it used in formulas (commericial) for cellulite.

Sap of the birches is well known as a nutritive tonic- and is tapped in the spring from the trees, which run after the maples. Black and golden birch will have a stronger wintergreen flavor, but all the birches may be tapped. The sap is often fermented, but can be boiled into syrup, but requires more sap per gallon of syrup than does maple.

Fungus: Keep in mind that the fungi that grow on birches concentrate many of the compounds in birch, including betulin. These mushrooms are particularly strong medicines for the immune system. If you are lucky enough to find them growing on birches in significant quantity, they are beautiful medicines. Chaga and birch polypore are easy to ID and are safe to use. But do go with someone familiar with them to learn about them in detail.

October Hips

October hips have ripened

They'll go into jars and bottles and liquids to soak

in a honey-brandy cloak

but others are not to be harnessed for such uses.

They dangle on canes and wave temptingly

slow with a seasoned swagger like Marilyn

wearing flame red

on a bed of blue sky sheets with white fluffy

pillows and spooky moon nightcaps.

From arms in the wind they shimmy

in rhythms from the far east

with bronzed skin and burgundy skirts

they quiver in Autumn induced showers

and sighs

with long legged undressing thighs

of cherry bark trunks

and spellbinding skies.

October's sweet bribes

like a wine tasting for my eyes

and reprieve from redundancy

gemstones on mountains

elixirs of beauty..

On tiptoes of petioles

hips ripen sweet after frost

into memories and jars they will go

to be sipped, and savored,

forever not lost to my taste

for lusty sips of earth on my lips;

October's hips

Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

Dress up your dish with this simple, gluten and dairy free delicious sauce.  Perfect on sauteed greens, scrambled eggs, on meats, as a dip for veggies, or a salad dressing!

1 - 12 oz jar or 3 roasted red peppers, drained
3 cloves garlic
1/3 c olive oil
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp balsamic or apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp sweet paprika powder

Put it all in the blender!  Serve immediately or keep cool to use later.
Yum!

Nourishing the Wild Self: Part 4 -Wild Foods and Community

Eat Wild

"Once we have tasted wildness, we begin to hunger for a food long denied us, and the more we eat the more we will awaken." -- Stephen Harrod Buhner

An even deeper way of connecting with and nourishing your wild self is to consume wild food!  For millions of years humans have foraged and hunted everything they ate directly from the wild.  Eating from the wild requires even more consciousness and effort, and deepens our connections with the wild land, and our wild body and heart in a way that nothing else can.  Once you tap into the sources of wild food available to you, you become more aware of the fact that we are OF this EARTH, and she provides everything for us- air, water, food.    Eating from the wild season after season allows you to begin to see the larger patterns in ecosystem well-being, and fluctuations that are normal, or those which are the result of human interaction.  When you have this kind of relationship with the land you live on, weather it be an urban park, the edges of the community garden or the wild lands in the hills, you can become a caretaker and spokesperson for the well-being of that land, and the communities, human and non-human alike, that depend on it.  By seeing the wild plants, animals and places as a resource to be cared for, respected and used for food, you can prevent them from becoming parking lots, or shopping malls, or dog parks.  If you and your loved ones depend on those places and resources, you will want to defend and protect them.

 Eating wild makes you more self reliant and confident, as you become aware of what is available to you beyond what others provide.  Wild foods can include wild plants growing in abandoned lots, on the edges of farmers fields, wild berries, wild nuts and seeds, animals that are hunted for food, or fresh roadkill.  The benefits of tapping into wild food sources are many.  Plants grown on wild soils that haven’t been depleted by extended periods of agriculture are richer in nutrients, and wild animals eating the diet they evolved with, and moving about the landscape on a daily basis are healthier, happier and more nutrient rich.     

The very act of harvesting wild foods reconnects YOU with your wild self and wild body.  What does it feel like to lay stretched in a sandy river bottom picking up acorns for hours?  Do you notice how your senses sharpen, you notice every breath of wind, water tastes that much sweeter, you take in deep nourishment from the land and creatures around you, weather you see it that way or not.  Many studies have shown that time in nature improves peoples physical health, and emotional/spiritual health as well.  The wild self needs to be nourished in this way.  This goes for those who gather wild plants, and those who hunt animals for food.  Putting yourself face to face with the reality of what it means to live on this earth, and what “food” really is.  Food is far more than a plastic wrapped hamburger patty or salad in a plastic box.  Food is our relationship with the land, and a source of nourishment on multiple levels.   And how does it feel to your wild self to be able to provide sustenance and nourishment to your loved ones and community?  How does nourishing others nourish you? 

How can wild foods nourish our communities as well?  It is easy to imagine a community of women going out to gather the wild weeds, fruits, and nuts together, and returning to the community to process, store and prepare these foods.  This isn’t just an actitivy for tribes of old.  We modern humans need to nourish and strengthen our bonds to our communities, and community harvesting is a beautiful way to do that.  The same thing goes for hunting parties of men and women, and even children.  Entire families join in the hunting trip, getting out into wilder places, and can take part in the butchering and processing of any animal taken.  This kind of community work increases our sense of connection with our neighbors and friends, and our sense of interdependence.  We come to know who and how we can rely on in times of need.  People can come together to protect resources that serve the community. 

 

Food as Sacred

It is also wise for us to remember that our wild selves need to be connected with “the sacred.”  For some that means joining a religious community, others find it in private meditation.  But the sacrament of food is something many people have forgotten and should be brought back into our daily lives.

  Food brings people together- both to prepare it, and to eat it. Many family traditions revolve around special holiday meals, or traditional dishes.  The kinds of foods we eat are deeply connected with our social heritage and culture, and food is deeply rooted in our emotional sphere and limbic systems.  Eating food, no matter with whom, how we eat it or what we eat should be a sacred act.  The act of taking life- no matter how large or small, plant or animal, into our body to sustain us, requires deep responsibility, gratitude and presence.   Food is a sensual experience, and we should make an effort to fully take in all the nourishment that food provides- on that sacred level.  This means not watching TV while eating, paying attention to every bite, eating peacefully and joyously with others we share our meals with, giving gratitude to the creatures that gave themselves for our nourishment, and anyone else involved in the procurement of our food: farmers, workers, market vendors, hunters, gatherers etc.

No matter where your food comes from it should be eaten in the spirit of gratitude and peace.  If you feel guilty over what you are eating, or where it came from, and can’t eat without those feelings of remorse, it is time to rethink.  What is most nourishing to you?  What nourishes your community and your land base?  Are there ways you can obtain food that will fill you joy and gratitude?  Many people have chosen to refrain from eating certain foods for the guilt or environmental destruction it causes, but no longer nourish themselves completely.  It is a two way street, you both nourish your wild self deeply, and make choices which nourish the communities and land around you.  Choose to get your meat from a local rancher who treats his/her animals with love, respect and a good living.  Grow your tomatoes in a pot on your patio if you can’t get tomatoes that haven’t been raised with pesticides and slave labor.  Find or develop a community garden to allow your community to grow their own produce.  Harvest fruit from trees planted in your city that fall to the ground and rot otherwise.  Find a hunter who is willing to share his/her meat with you, or take you along and teach you to hunt your own.  Join a CSA or get to a farmer’s market.   Realize that every step you take, no matter how small it seems, to free yourself from the industrial food system that damages not only our environment, but our communities and our own personal health, serves to nourish the wild on many levels.  Find just one thing you can start doing today, or when you get home.  What will it take? Find ways to juggle your finances, or work together with others to make it easier to acquire good food.  Ride share to the farmers market each week, buy a grass fed cow and split it with your neighbors, grow a garden.  Realize that things can NOT go on the way they are in our culture- and we are responsible for making the changes happen we want to see in the world.

If you've enjoyed this series, please be aware that I gave this as a class at the 2010 Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference, and recordings will be available in the near future!  Check out this years conference! You won't want to miss it!  Traditions in Western Herbalism Sept 15- 18, 2011

Storm

Living at the tip of the lighthouse

on the edge of a crashing ocean

I shut my eyes tight and hold on

to the salty metal bars of the balcony

and face the stormy slap

I hold my breath

push my feet into the concrete

and imagine I'm a lightning bolt

A part of the storm itself

absorbing the charge like a battery

and storing up strength

For the long and thrashing ride

Nourishing the Wild: Part 3- nourishing foods and local food

The human body is an amazing system that runs, heals itself and prospers when given all the right tools or nutrients to do so.  Many of our herbal therapies revolve around NOURISHING herbs like Nettles, oatstraw or rosehips.  The wild body is made up of all that you eat.  Shouldn’t the food we consume be firstly, nourishing?  The wild body needs NUTRIENT DENSE foods.  This excludes foods that have little nutrient content.  This includes processed foods, especially those which have to be fortified to have any nutrition.  White flours, sugars, sodas, chips, cakes, pastas.  I tend to think of industrial foods, foods which come in a fancy box or bag, and bear little or no resemblance to the original plant or animal from which it came.    Nutrient dense foods are whole, unmodified, and vital.  This includes fresh produce picked at peak ripeness (not artificially ripened with chemicals in shipment from two continents away), animal foods from healthy, free range, wild sources, nuts/seeds.

Modern vs Traditional Foods

  The work of people like Weston Pricehave brought to the forefront the fact that for much of history, and prehistory, the diet that humans ate served them well, and we were free of most chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, autoimmune conditions).  These types of diseases are known as the diseases of civilization, and only showed up in societies after the introduction of widespread consumption of grains, and worsened dramatically with the introduction of modern processed foods and sugar.  Many traditional peoples living on their traditional diets into the early 1900’s suddenly were found to have “modern” diseases shortly after the introduction of these modern foods by colonizing societies.  Doctors who worked in colonies traced the appearance of these diseases.  The human species literally ‘grew up’ on foods that consisted of wild or pastured meats, seafood, eggs, nuts and seeds when available, wild fruits like berries and wild plant foods. 

Our modern food system has further decreased the nutrient content of our food by depleting the soil, and feeding animals inappropriately, and in both cases growing the ‘product’ in a way that is not in line with the needs of that organisms biology.  Soils that have been under cultivation for any extended period of time gradually get depleted of minerals, through uptake into the plants grown there.  Modern industrial agriculture only replenishes the soil with three nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium), that are required for plants to survive, but neglect to replenish the soil with other minerals like magnesium, calcium or other trace elements.  This is including all the soil that runs off in irrigation ditches, or blows away as dust in drought years.  Thus- an apple is not what it was 100 or even 50 years ago.  The nutrient content has decreased by leaps and bounds.

Likewise animals raised for meat are confined and fed corn and soy (much of which has been genetically modified), which disrupts the delicate balance of gut flora, increases the incidence of e. coli, and completely changes the fat profile of the animal, favoring the production of Omega 6 fatty acids vs Omega 3 fatty acids, unlike their wild and grass-fed cousins.

So the wild body needs and desires nourishment- what precisely do we need to feed our wild body in the most optimal way? 

Minerals- minerals are abundant in plant foods like greens and fruits.  Grains and legumes tend to prevent the absorption of minerals unless fermented and sprouted.

Seafoods like kelp, oysters, etc are rich sources of many minerals, including the precious trace minerals that are no longer found in our agricultural soils.   Certain minerals are richer in animal foods like zinc and iron.

Healthy Fats- Contrary to what “modern’ knowledge has been telling us for the last 50 years, fat is an essential nutrient.  Fat phobia is rampant in all circles, but fat is not our foe.  Fat is a dense source of energy, rich in fat soluble vitamins that are hard to get otherwise in the diet, fat makes up our cell walls, 70% of our brain tissue, is the precursor for hormone synthesis.  Most commonly Americans are deficient in the Omega 3 fatty acids, which for much of history we got from eating wild, grass-fed animals and fish.  Modern meat production practices have virtually eliminated this from our food.  Eat wild fish and grass fed meat.  Many fat soluble vitamins (A, E, D) are deficient in folks who avoid healthy fats.

Vitamin D – Though present in small amounts in fatty animal foods like fish, liver, full fat dairy products and eggs, adequate vitamin D intake has most often come from our skins ability to make it when we are exposed to sunlight.  The wild human optimally spends time outside in the sun everyday.  To fully nourish your wild body – you need to get outside.  Go out and forage some wild foods, grow a garden, and take off the long sleeves and sunscreen for a little while. Make some Vitamin Sunshine D.  For many of us  who live in cold climates in winter, or who work inside all day, getting enough Vitamin D can be downright impossible.  Many practitioners of all walks (natural and allopathic) are beginning to see the importance of Vit D in all sorts of chronic ‘modern’ diseases, and recommending to their clients/patients to supplement with Vit D.  Range can vary between 2000 i.u. to 10,000 i.u. per day.  You can get your Vit D levels checked with a simple blood test (25(OH) vitamin D) and it should be somewhere between 50–80 ng/mL.  For most people this requires at least 4000 i.u. per day.  Nursing or pregnant mothers may need more, as do those with serious health issues (cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis etc).

Eating Local:

Eating locally is all the rage these days, for many reasons. The food tastes better, is more nutritious, supports local economies and puts us in contact with the people and the land producing our food.  In what ways does this nourish our communities and land bases? And how does it nourish our wild selves more deeply?

Food grown and produced locally is generally fresher, more nutritious, and most often grown in a sustainable way.  When you buy food from local farmers, markets and vendors you support the right livelihood of those people in your community.  You give these people who love the land, and who love what they do a chance to do just that, and a way of nourishing THEIR wild self. When supported by a community that values what they provide, and asks for what they want, these people can become important stewards of the land base which the community depends.  It becomes less about how much money, and growing more and more, and more about what is valued by the community, and how to sustain the land, and the community.

 When you support local growers/ranchers/farmers you can also ask them for what YOU want.  Knowing that they are supported by their community, they can respond and provide for what the community asks for.   

By sourcing your food locally you can also disengage from the industrial food system which is so damaging to the environment, local economies and our health.  Another important aspect of this disengagement from a very unsustainable industrial food system, is peak oil.  I don’t know when we will run out of oil, and if we’ll have developed an alternative energy source, but at the very least, the reduction in cheap oil availability is going to seriously impact how food is delivered.  No more oranges from Chile in December or lamb from New Zealand.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you and your family will still have access to nourishing food sources that are local if and when that happens?  And by engaging in the local food market you also strengthen your ties and relationships with the community, the community that you may be dependent on in an emergency, or when things go awry.

Places to get your local food include farmer’s markets, which are springing up all over the country, both urban and rural.  CSA’s (community supported agriculture) where your dollars go directly to the farmer to produce food for you over the season.  I’ve lived in many places, and have found that local ranchers and farmers often sell their products right at their home.  Ask around in the community- chances are someone knows someone who is selling their eggs, or raising their own grass fed bison.    Local co-ops often are full of local products as the local movement gains strength.  Make sure to ASK for it!

Of course, the most obvious way to eat locally is to grow your own food.  It is true that many of us live in apartments in the city with no garden space so to speak of.  Many urban areas have thriving community garden organizations that will rent you a small plot for a fraction of the cost it would be to buy that much organic produce at the market.  When I was a member of the community gardens I paid somewhere between $30- $200 for an entire season/year of garden space and water.  Add another $100 for seeds and plants and soil amendments.  You’ll pay for that in a month of buying produce at the market. In addition, community gardens have a unique mix of beginning and well seasoned experienced gardeners, who are all eager to help each other, and learn from each other.  Even if you’ve never gardened before, the community garden will have someone who can answer your questions.   Learning to feed yourself and your family from work and love you put into a seed and the earth is an incredibly nourishing experience for the wild self.  It provides freedom, confidence in yourself and deepening connection with the land and ecosystem you live in.  You become closer to understanding that plants are living beings no different than animals, and the finer nuances of what each individual plant needs, and where the water comes from, where the nutrients for the soil comes from, how often it is raining, and what the seasons are asking of you in tending your food garden.