In deep gratitude to all of you for being you.
Saturday 31 December 2011
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Christmas Quickie! (an Easy Oxymel Recipe)
A blog post especially for Poppy Swappers!
~~~~~
Rushing at the last second? I won't even keep you with long-winded writing. My kids and I whipped up this beautiful, delicious, and easy oxymel yesterday for neighbors and friends ..... you can too! It took us less than an hour.
{An oxymel is an herbal preparation using a combination of vinegar and honey as the menstruum. It's delicious and very useful, as well as being a very forgiving recipe to make - anyone can make an oxymel (also known as "shrub" by some) at home}
Here's what to grab at the store:
- 1 case (one dozen) 8oz food grade sauce jars or canning jars
- 2 bottles of Apple Cider Vinegar, 32 ounces each (a total of 64 ounces)
- 32oz (4 cups) by volume of Honey
- One large-ish chunk of ginger, enough for about 2 slices per jar (total of 24 slices)
- One lemon (we used an in season Meyer lemon - yum!)
- You will need dried (or frozen if you gather) elderberries, about half a cup's worth (maybe less). If you don't have some at home, see if your health food store has them in their bulk herb section. If you're stuck and cannot find them, don't fret - use little frozen blueberries or dried cherries! Oxymels are super-versatile - and for skeptical neighbors, they'll be healthy without even knowing why ;)
TO MAKE:
Add to each bottle/jar:
- 3 tsp berries
- one slice lemon
- two slices ginger
Mix the honey and vinegar together in a large container, and after thoroughly combined, pour it into each bottle, giving some head room at the top for a little swelling action from the herbs.
Label and give! Your recipient can opt to wait until it gets stronger and use it in a couple weeks, but with the fresh ingredients there will be a lovely taste after just one day.
Q: "What the heck is this for?" (Likely the very words from my neighbors lips when they get this)
A: "It's excellent for curing heartburn; take a little spoonful before and after your meal. It's also delicious on salads, and is a wondrous cough and cold remedy; sip a tablespoon in a cup of hot water! Feel free to strain out the herbs if you wish. Happy Holidays!"
 |
| My silly monkeys :) |
Ta-Da!!
xoxoxo
Saturday 10 December 2011
Early Registration for Weaving the Wheel of the Year is Dec 15!
"The mother of us all, the oldest of us all, Hard, splendid as rock, let the beauty you love, be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth"~ Rumi ~
The Early Bird registration date for Weaving the Wheel of the Year is approaching this week! Anyone who registers by Dec 15 is going to receive a sweet welcome gift package right around Yule time! If you've been thinking of joining in for the journey, don't wait, and get started with your connection to yourself- to the Earth- and to Spirit in the season of Yule!
Weaving the Wheel of the Year
Do you feel the seasonal shifts of the Earth in your heart, bones, and spirit?
Are you yearning to find meaningful ways to connect with and honor these energies of the Earth and your spirit?
Do you have a sense that the power and magic of the Earth and the plants is something you could tap into for your healing and well being?
Do you notice the ways that certain plants seem to become more vibrant and powerful at different times of the year?
Would you like to learn practical and effective ways to nourish and prepare your body, your home, and your spirit to live in tune with these seasonal cycles and shifts through food, herbal medicine, ritual, and community?
Do you feel like a kitchen goddess, who enjoys brewing up pots of soup, creative meals, herbal brews, and magical potions for your family and friends?
Are you ready to dive whole-heartedly into all this and more?
In this unique program you will receive an in-depth, hands on and heart-centered lesson and herbal medicine for each quarter and cross quarter day for a full year. That is 8 lessons and 8 seasonally appropriate herbal medicines to help you balance and attune to the energies of the earth happening around you and within you. Plus access to a community of like minded spirits, and specific practices and suggestions for you from me as you explore!
Then join me on a powerful journey deep into the medicine and power of the seasonal shifts that our beloved home, Earth, moves through each year. I have spent many years as an herbalist wandering the wild lands of the west- the deserts and mountains, and the east- forests and fields, watching, sensing, and learning about how the seasons, and the seasonal shifts effect our biology, our spirits, and our life journey. I have sat with the plants and learned so much from them through personal experience and communion. They have shared how to spiral into the energy of each season with plant medicine, with appropriate foods, with ritual and ceremony, and nature awareness. My life has been deeply changed and fully nourished by sitting on the Earth and feeling her power and her moods. Now I would like to share this experience and journey with you- so that you too may be deeply nourished from Gaia’s healing plants, foods and energies.
In this unique program you will receive an in-depth, hands on and heart-centered lesson and herbal medicine for each quarter and cross quarter day for a full year. That is 8 lessons and 8 seasonally appropriate herbal medicines to help you balance and attune to the energies of the earth happening around you and within you. Plus access to a community of like minded spirits, and specific practices and suggestions for you from me as you explore!You will recieve every 6 weeks (8 times per year):
- 1 seasonally appropriate herbal medicine to help you attune and adjust to the seasonal energy (2 oz tincture, 2 oz tea, 1 plant or flower essence, 2 oz oil or salve)
- 1 surprise gift for your ceremony, practice or celebration of each season
- A lesson jam packed with information about the seasonal energies present at each quarter and cross quarter day, plants and herbal medicines that can support you in each seasons energy and work, seasonally appropriate activities to do alone or with your family, journaling questions and more.
- Periodic emails highlighting special natural events, shifts, and resources as you work within the program.
- Access to a private community web space to share your discoveries, challenges and inspirations and stay in touch through the years changes.
- A private teleconference for participants only each 6 weeks with Darcey on a seasonally appropriate topic and Q&A session.
If you are ready to discover your deep and powerful connections with the rhythms of the Earth and her seasons through herbal medicine, healing foods, and time spent on the Earth, then join me today for this amazing journey!
Program begins on Imbolc/St. Brighid’s Day, February 1, 2012 and continues through mid January 2013. Space is limited in this unique and transformative journey, and will close early if all the spaces fill before the deadline!
Registrations accepted through Jan 15, 2012.
Ready to sign up right now!?
Class: Love Medicines: Herbs for the Heart, Love, & Romance
The Power of 9
Join herbalist Darcey Blue for an evening exploring and experiencing the plants that serve us in our LOVE. Plants can help us center our consciousness in the heart, open the heart to love, heal and soothe heartaches, stoke the fires of love and passion, and increase the power of the senses.
Come learn about these special plants, essences, aromas and foods that are heart healers, heart allies & aphrodisiacs and how they can support your heart in Love and beyond. We will be tasting and experiencing the herbs first hand! Be prepared for a sensual treat! 
$35
Prepayment and register by contacting Darcey Blue -shamana.flora@gmail.com
Friday 9 December 2011
Class:The Art of Healing Herbal Tea
The Power of 9
Join herbalist Darcey Blue for an afternoon learning the secrets of blending delicious and effective herbal tea blends for daily nourishment, family wellness, acute care, and pure pleasure!
We will learn about what kinds of plants are best used in tea form, various tea preparation methods, how to blend for taste, recipes, basic formulation techniques, herbal energetics and each student will get to take home a tea blend that we make during the workshop!
Plus we'll get a chance to taste various herbs and tea blends! An herbal tea party! Tea making supplies provided at the workshop, please bring your own mug for our tea tasting party!
$35, includes tea making supplies
Prepayment and register by contacting Darcey Blue -shamana.flora@gmail.com
Saturday 3 December 2011
Home is where the Heart is....
Here I sit- on the verge of embarking on another cross country journey (in winter no less), another move (the 5th in the last two years), and another resettling, resetting, creating, crafting, dreaming of my life. I'm going home.
For many years I hesitated to call the desert land I lived in for almost 10 years home. I told myself that I didn't want to stay there forever. But, I did everything I knew how to root myself deeply in that land- learning the wild medicines, the wild foods, the plants that stood sentinel in the desert valleys and mountain peaks, drinking the rain water, returning to the same tree and same exposed mountain top to outpour my sorrows, and to receive the life flow from the Earth. Because as an Earth daughter- that is what makes me whole, this is what keeps me sane in this insane time.
And then I left it all behind- for love, for learning, for a journey that would take me deep into the depths of despair, take me to the breaking point, and that would leave me totally empty and drained- and that would fill me up with new loves, the sweetest friendships, the beginning understanding of all the ways I can share what I love with the world, the ways that i have the power to create everything i need and want- the miraculous embrace of green, wet, fertile earth and tree guardians all around. Sweet birch trees- sexy, gentle, vibrant ladies of the wood - insisted on living inside me, in my head all the time. Wild secluded river sanctuaries begging me to bare skin and surrender to cold, cleansing flow.
And as I sit today- all my possessions, all my medicines packed away in giant box to be shipped cross country,
I'm crying for what I am choosing to leave behind again. I know that none of it is lost to me, I carry it in my heart. This is home too.
But I long for the land I am native to, that grew me into the plant whisperer I am today, that holds my life history, my heart history.
To some it might seem silly to feel attatched to a place. I could make my life wherever I choose. In time.
but i'm choosing- because its what my heart cried out for for months and months on end. I belong to the Earth- no matter where I am, but my soul longs for that deepest, wildest connection with the land I love.
But- I know that my heart is in so many places- all at once. it lives in the wild trees of eastern forests, it lives on that ravaged and rewilding piece of land protected by hawthorn and fae in maine, it lives in the most precious friendships i've known, it lives in desert peaks, it lives in saguaro flowers and cactus fruits, it lives in a wild southwestern canyon, in lives in the lovers i have known, near and far, old and new, it lives in the moonlight that shines down on the fecund body of Gaia each night.
I almost don't know how to hold it all...how to breathe with my heart living in so many places, so many people, so many lands, so many rivers, so many plants. So i guess that means my home is everywhere....maybe it really doesn't matter where i go. my heart is of the earth...it lives everywhere that i have loved, lived and been authentically me.
I shall build a temple
to every land I have loved with my deepest heart
to every water course that has caressed my skin
to every fallen trunk I have straddled between my legs
to each wild tree that has beckoned me to press my breast
against their firm body
to every lover’s skin I have tasted
to each steamy breath exhaled in reverence for beauty before me
to every anguished cry uttered to the wind to carry away
to every ardent kiss of warm sun on my body
to each rock that has begged to be touched with tender lust.
I shall build this temple in bones
with walls of muscle and sinew
with fountains overflowing with fertile blood
with my voice in song
and passionate drum throbbing of my heart.
My tears to purify, my breath to stoke the sacred fire
Each moment of blissful ecstasy the daily prayers
each agonizing moment of grief the offering and sacrifice.
I shall build this temple in my living body
that each cell become a testament to holy presence
that each morsel, each thought, each memory
be sanctified in its consumption.
That when I die my temple will live on in the fecund Earth
live on in the song in tree leaves
live on in the mystery of blooming flowers
live on in the magic of rapturous lovers in the moonlight.
I shall build a temple to a sacred
Life.
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Herbal Simple Syrups: Easy, Delicious Gifts!
Yuletide is different for everyone. Some of us get excited and filled with joy at the many ways we can give, exchange, share, and create.
And some of us feel tired. Perhaps we have worked all year long and not gotten ahead yet, or perhaps we have a large family with all different personalities.
Perhaps we are stumped at what to offer our neighbors that would be lovely, personal, simple, yet not too freaky-deaky!
Herbal Syrups can provide a beautiful nature-connected gift that is simple, easy, versatile, and extremely cheap to make.
Yes, it has sugar. White sugar. So it's no good for those struggling with blood sugar issues. For them .... infuse the herbs into vinegar, oil, or butter ;)
Herbal Syrup
~ Start with a simple syrup in a non-reactive pot. A simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar. For proportion's sake, lets say we put 4 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar into the pot.
~ Next, add your herbs! Don't worry about exact amounts, just use common sense.
~ Add 1/2 - 1 cup of herb if it's really strong, like Nutmeg, Clove, Hot Pepper, or Garlic.
~ Add about 1-2 cups of herb if it's on the strong side, like Ginger root.
~ Add about 3-4 cups of herb if it's a medium and palatable strength herb, like Pine Needles, Peppermint, Cinnamon, or Licorice.
~ Gently keep the syrup at medium heat (always keep under boiling) until you reach the desired strength of flavor. This may take 20-40 minutes depending on the plant you've chosen.
~ Strain carefully (simple syrups can seriously burn) through a cheesecloth lined strainer into a large pyrex with a pour spout.
~ Bottle into food-grade bottles and label as desired.
Citrus Fruits are also fun to experiment with. I'm doing Meyer lemons this week! Keep in mind the sugar ratio though - if your fruit is going to add a lot more water content, you'll want to match that with more sugar. Otherwise it will not have the same preserving capability and will grow mold.
Traditional syrups are still valuable. If you have Elder berries, they make a wonderful purple syrup with flu-fighting properties. Pine needle syrup is excellent for lung congestion, and Peppermint is festive and helpful after a big meal. Ginger syrup is one of my favorites, and usually is a by-product of making crystallized ginger. However the syrup is soooo wonderful and appreciated at the holidays that now I make it for gifts!
Floral syrups are also lovely. Roses, Lavender, Jasmine, or Bee Balm flower syrups are all a welcome drizzle on ice cream, cake, or in a dessert cordial. How romantic!
Blends: Play around! Orange and clove make a classic pairing. Roses and Cocoa bits are decadent together, and traditional Chai spices can be combined to impress your Barista friends. (Ginger, Black Tea, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Clove, and a little Nutmeg)
Vanilla Bean is perhaps, the shining star of all things lovely in the kitchen, and makes the rounds as a welcomed gift for all tastes. Pair with homemade vanilla extract, of course.
Love,
Ananda
This article was released for Poppy Swap! Where People and Herbs come together. Check it out!
And some of us feel tired. Perhaps we have worked all year long and not gotten ahead yet, or perhaps we have a large family with all different personalities.
Perhaps we are stumped at what to offer our neighbors that would be lovely, personal, simple, yet not too freaky-deaky!
Herbal Syrups can provide a beautiful nature-connected gift that is simple, easy, versatile, and extremely cheap to make.
Yes, it has sugar. White sugar. So it's no good for those struggling with blood sugar issues. For them .... infuse the herbs into vinegar, oil, or butter ;)
~ Start with a simple syrup in a non-reactive pot. A simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar. For proportion's sake, lets say we put 4 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar into the pot.
~ Next, add your herbs! Don't worry about exact amounts, just use common sense.
~ Add 1/2 - 1 cup of herb if it's really strong, like Nutmeg, Clove, Hot Pepper, or Garlic.
~ Add about 1-2 cups of herb if it's on the strong side, like Ginger root.
~ Add about 3-4 cups of herb if it's a medium and palatable strength herb, like Pine Needles, Peppermint, Cinnamon, or Licorice.
~ Gently keep the syrup at medium heat (always keep under boiling) until you reach the desired strength of flavor. This may take 20-40 minutes depending on the plant you've chosen.
~ Strain carefully (simple syrups can seriously burn) through a cheesecloth lined strainer into a large pyrex with a pour spout.
~ Bottle into food-grade bottles and label as desired.
 |
| White Pine Needle Syrup |
Citrus Fruits are also fun to experiment with. I'm doing Meyer lemons this week! Keep in mind the sugar ratio though - if your fruit is going to add a lot more water content, you'll want to match that with more sugar. Otherwise it will not have the same preserving capability and will grow mold.
Traditional syrups are still valuable. If you have Elder berries, they make a wonderful purple syrup with flu-fighting properties. Pine needle syrup is excellent for lung congestion, and Peppermint is festive and helpful after a big meal. Ginger syrup is one of my favorites, and usually is a by-product of making crystallized ginger. However the syrup is soooo wonderful and appreciated at the holidays that now I make it for gifts!
Floral syrups are also lovely. Roses, Lavender, Jasmine, or Bee Balm flower syrups are all a welcome drizzle on ice cream, cake, or in a dessert cordial. How romantic!
Blends: Play around! Orange and clove make a classic pairing. Roses and Cocoa bits are decadent together, and traditional Chai spices can be combined to impress your Barista friends. (Ginger, Black Tea, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Clove, and a little Nutmeg)
Vanilla Bean is perhaps, the shining star of all things lovely in the kitchen, and makes the rounds as a welcomed gift for all tastes. Pair with homemade vanilla extract, of course.
Love,
Ananda
 |
| Foraged Autumn Olives and Rose Hips, on their way to syrup together |
This article was released for Poppy Swap! Where People and Herbs come together. Check it out!
Monday 28 November 2011
Plant Medicine Journey Circle - January 26, 2012
Plant Medicine Journey Circle - January 26, 2012- 7pm
Join Herbalist and Plant Whisperer Darcey Blue for an evening exploring the world of the plant spirits. Learn about communicating with and understanding the messages and guidance the plants have for us, and using the plants as spiritual healing allies. We will use various techniques to guide us into the ways of the plant spirits, including drum journey, plant essences, sensory experience, and plant oracles. No experience necessary, this circle is open to all, regardless of experience with plants, herbalism or shamanism. We will explore and experience the plants together. We will delve deeply in how to approach and use plant spirit medicine as a healing tool for yourself and loved ones, including how to prepare plant essences, work with plant spirits in journey work, medicine bags, oracles and more. We will work with a new plant each (monthly) session, no two will be alike! Focus will be on plants growing in the Sonoran desert bioregion and Sky Islands
Offered by Spirit guided donation.
At the Institute for Shamanic Arts in Tucson, AZ
Medicine of the Heart: Cacao Ceremony and Journey
Medicine of the Heart: Cacao Ceremony and Journey
Jan 21, 2012 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Sunday 27 November 2011
Acorn - Rosemary Johnnycakes, A Simple Delicacy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November brings a nice bumper crop of wild nettles. Which, in my house, gets to become one with homemade chicken soup. And to accompany the soup, what could be more appropriate for this season of nuts? Acorn Johnnycakes!
I can't take a whole lot of credit for these, however I will say that I am proud of helping to cultivate a wee bit of primitive skill and resourcefulness in my kiddos. My twelve year old son came up with these luscious and simple cracker-cakes. We were completely blown away by how delicious they were, with the richness of the acorn meal, the crispy fried outside, and the soft, warm inside. The crunchy texture of the yellowdock seeds adds another layer of interest and wild nutrition.
Acorn Rosemary Johnnycake Recipe:
(Makes about 10-14 cakes)
- 3 C Flour (of choice - whole wheat, almond, etc)
- 1/2 C ground Acorn Four/Meal
- 1/2 C Yellow Dock seeds, whizzed in a food processor
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- oregano and/or rosemary to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
- 1 tsp, approx, of Salt
- 1 tsp approx, of baking soda
Add enough filtered or well water, or almond milk, to create a malleable dough, like play dough
Create thin patties, as though you were going for crackers. Fry them in a cast iron pan with a layer of unrefined coconut oil, on medium heat. Flip them once like you would a pancake. They will get toasty on the outsides and rise a little bit due to the baking soda. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on the tops just before removing them from the pan.
Eat them warm! They are not so good once they have rested. But when they are warm ... ooohh la la so delicious! We ate them with big globs of goat cheese. m m m
 |
| Foraging friends ;) |
Wednesday 23 November 2011
2012 Blue Turtle Botanicals CSA
It’s that time! The Blue Turtle Botanicals Basic CSA program is accepting new members for 2012 for a limited time only! If you’ve been waiting to get in on the CSA fun, now is the time join in!
EARLY BIRD BONUS: And as an extra thank you, new members who join the CSA before December 15, 2011 will receive a free jar of Darcey’s highly prized Chaparral Salve in early spring 2012!
EARLY BIRD BONUS: And as an extra thank you, new members who join the CSA before December 15, 2011 will receive a free jar of Darcey’s highly prized Chaparral Salve in early spring 2012!
Space is limited in the CSA each year so make sure to act quickly before all the spots fill up!
Do you like delicious freshly blended teas, handcrafted medicinal quality tinctures and elixirs, healing natural salves, luscious nourishing face creams and wildcrafted herbs? Join the Blue Turtle Botanicals CSA!
Darcey Blue is the clinical herbalist, wildcrafter, plant whisperer, medicine maker and owner of Blue Turtle Botanicals. In recent years, the development of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA's) has blossomed all across the country. In this unique partnership, communities support their local farms, business and ecosystems by purchasing a share at the beginning of the season, and are rewarded with rich, healthy, locally grown food and products for a specific amount of time.
In light of this development, Darcey Blue has created a unique Herbal CSA! Much like farming, earth centered herbalism is based on long term relationships with the land and the plants harvested, and the skill and art of making medicines, formulas and finished products from the raw plants. Herbal products have become widely available in health food stores across the nation, allowing more people more access to natural plant medicines, but what is lacking from this model, is precisely what the Community Supported Agriculture movement has done for farming, and what it can do for herbalism! It provides sustainable, healthy, locally produced plant medicines made by with the skill, knowledge, intention, love and magic of your herbalist. And now, the Herbal CSA!
The Blue Turtle Botanicals Herbal CSA is:
- a year round program with potent herbal medicines delivered to your door spring, summer, fall & winter
- delivery to your home each month through the mail- you never have to go anywhere to pick up your share
- offers multiple share sizes, share lengths, and payment plans (see below for details)
- affordable
- provides the freshest, most potent plant medicine and products for your personal use (products are made seasonally, and fresh- nothing sitting on a shelf for months on end!)
- supplies you with seasonally appropriate medicines and products (elderberry for cold & flu season, cooling tea blends for summer iced infusions, soup herbs to infuse your fall soups with healing plants)
- offers a wide variety of medicines and product types for all tastes- including tinctures, elixirs, medicinal tea blends, infused healing oils, salves, luscious body care, flower essences, vinegars and more!
- free e mail newsletter with educational information each month about each of the products included in your share, and suggestions on how to use the products
- supports the skills, experience, knowledge, and heartfelt connection of your herbalist, Darcey, with the plants and land she works from
The Herbal CSA makes a wonderful gift to yourself each month, with a new product to nourish your well being arriving every month. It is ideal for the herbal enthusiast who would like to learn more about new plants and herbal products, the family building their natural medicine cabinet, the herbal student, and anyone who would like to use natural healing on a more regular basis, and those who support the local, sustainable and community based product model (like CSA's!)
Your options for joining the CSA are many:
- 6 month or 12 month duration
- Small share (1 product per month) or Large share (2 products per month)
- Monthly payment plan subscription or pay up front for the entire share duration.
Registration is open from Nov 25, 2011 until Jan 15, 2012
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