Floracopeia Essential Oils

I wanted to make an announcement to my friends and followers who use essential oils in their work and life.  I've recently become an affiliate of Floracopeia.  Floracopeia is an amazing company run by David Crow, which produces the finest quality essential oils I've ever come across.  In addition to the amazing quality all of these essential oils are sustainably & ecologically produced, supporting communities and farmers around the world with fair pay and sustainable economic development.  If you use essential oils this is the place to get them!

There are your everyday useful oils like lavender, rosemary, and mint to the finest rose attar, unique perfumes, and rare essential oils not available anywhere else (blue lotus anyone?)

As an affiliate of Floracopeia, I get a small portion of sales when purchased through the link below or on the side bar of my blog.  Please consider supporting me and Floracopeia's mission and amazing products next time you are shopping for essential oils!




As a bonus, if you are a new to Floracopeia's products, you can get a one time discount of 25% off by visiting Floracopeia's website and entering "shamanaflora" in the code box.  (Note you must follow the link here to get the special discount.)

Thank you for your continued support and many blessings in 2011!

Shifting Moon, Love Moon

"Moon in my hand", photo: Sage Wilson age 11

My dear friend, Ji-Ling, reminds me of the sacred practice of naming our Moons each time she becomes full again. In fact, as I begin this post, a beautiful (I'm sure of it) email awaits my eyes, certainly about this moon and her poetic and personal interpretations of it. I anticipate the read and the closeness I feel when I read other's lunar whims.

This Moon for me is the love moon.

I'm re-learning to love from a deeper place - I'm re-learning what it means to be a friend, a support, an open ear, and a member of a family. I'm learning bit by bit how to help my children learn, too. These are vulnerable and tender lessons but so very worthy. I trust that, like the grinch, my heart pangs are merely from growing, and sure enough - soon enough - the love will be even more than I imagined.

In my waiting, I ponder and dream. I am temporarily homebound without a car and simultaneously iced and snowed in, awaiting the completion of more arduous tasks which await my attendance. In the meantime, I deepen my quietness, make dense teas, and ask questions. How can I be a better friend? How can I speak my truth and leave judgement behind? How can I reach out and tell my distant family members that I care, despite never being able to travel to see them. I long to make heart connections with the people who mean so much to me, in an overly-busy and stoic world.

In my waiting and shifting I play with my blog colors, like a painter might paint the background of a new picture, or a dancer might change costumes for a new piece. I try little things to encourage my creativity.

I long to heal the suffering body and spirit of my dear family friend. I long to sooth the fear and longing of his wife. I nourish myself so I may nourish others.

My practice for this moon is to activate love.

What is your Full Moon moon this month, dear readers?

Craving Killer Cocoa

So, you know how it goes...holiday craziness ensues and the sugar monster comes out to bite...
it's a real pain to get free of the sugar cravings once you cave in ....

I spent all day today desperately craving things I shouldn't eat...and not even hungry, rather stuffed full of vindaloo roast, farm eggs, tea and more...but none the less...I was aching for a morsel of something sweet.

Willpower withstood while at work, but came home and whipped up this totally sugar free cocoa drink to kill the craving...complete with protein, minerals, and tastiness!

Heat water in a tea kettle to boiling.
In a mug whip together:
2 tbsp cocoa,
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp mild chile powder
pinch of sea salt and/or 10 trace minerals drops
two or three tbsp of piima cream or whipped coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

Slowly pour hot water over the whipped cocoa piima egg 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!

The Incredible Edible Egg Yolk

  The incredible edible egg. Breakfast staple, bakers friend, chicken embryo.  If you are like me, following a whole foods, healthy protein and fat rich diet, while restricting your sugars, grains, and starches- you probably eat a lot of eggs.  Sometimes, even I get tired of eggs at breakfast.  Sure you can scramble, you can fry (in bacon grease even), you can poach, boil, or make an omelette or frittata.  But if that variety isn't cutting it anymore- here's a few more ways to incorporate the nutrient rich egg yolk into your daily life.

Egg yolks are the most nutrient dense part of the egg, weather it be chicken, duck, goose, quail or any other kind of egg you like to eat.  Egg yolks are rich in B vitamins, folate, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Calcium, Phosphorus and Selenium plus loads of brain nutrients choline and lecithin. The yellower the better, so get your yolks from happy chickens that root around eating bugs, seeds and things, not soy feed.  Bonus, eggs from birds fed their natural diet (not soy or corn feed) are rich in omega 3 fatty acids.

Not to worry about the cholesterol and saturated fats in egg yolks, modern science is telling us that sugar, refined carbohydrates and transfats are a more deadly culprit in causing heart disease.

Studies have shown that eating a breakfast high in protein, especially with eggs, can help with weight loss, and a high protein breakfast will set you up for a day without sugar & carb cravings and crashes, full of healthy energy, clear thinking mind and even blood sugar, but don't stop at breakfast.  Eat your yolks any time of day.

here's some ideas to get you started.  Have others? Please share!

1. Make Mushroom Gravy (or add it to any gravy you like)
2.  Make Craving Killer Hot Cocoa- whip up an egg yolk with your cocoa powder, add hot milk or water and a splash of coconut oil! Frothy chocolatey goodness- kills a sugar craving in a hurry.
3.Make Egg Nog- not just for the holidays anymore!
         And you don't need to add the alcohol if you just want a  nourishing delicious drink.  I prefer my nog warm, but I think I'm the only person who does.  But here's a quick and dirty and delicious dairy free nog.
                              Warm in a sauce pan:
                                2 c almond milk
                                1/2 c coconut milk or cream
                              Whisk in 4 egg yolks
                                Beat 2 egg whites until soft peaks form, and fold those into the nog just before serving.
                                Top with generous and fresh ground nutmeg, clove and cinnamon to taste.
                                 You may sweeten this if you like with stevia, honey, cane sugar etc.
4. Stir into soup!
           Any soup is enhanced by dropping a fresh egg yolk into the steaming hot bowl of broth.  Stir it around, or leave it be.  It adds body, flavor and nutrients to any soup.  Here's a recipe for Avgolemono soup- Greek egg and lemon soup.
5.  Make hollandaise sauce.  Top veggies with this deliciate and delicious and nutritious sauce.
6. Make custard- pumpkin or coconut, or even herbal infused custard (lavender is delicious!)
7.  Stir into hot cereal.  If you still like a hot bowl of 7 grain cereal on cold winter mornings, one way to up the  nutrient content and protein content of your breakfast is to stir that yolk right into the hot steaming cereal in the bowl.  One or two yolks according to taste.  You can do this with whole beaten eggs as well.
8.  Make mayonnaise.  Bacon mayo is even better than regular, or lard.  Just don't use corn, soy or canola oil to make it.  If you like, you can be creative and add garlic, black pepper, basil or lemon and mint for delicious flavored aioli.

or you can put it in your hair.  Yup, thats right. Egg yolks in your hair.  It makes an amazingly conditioning hair treatment all on its own, but I like to add some honey, and a touch of coconut or jojoba oil to the egg, whip well, and apply generously to damp hair and leave on for an hour or so  (you can add a drop of lavender, rosemary or other essential oil if you desire.)  Rinse thoroughly, but don't shampoo it out, else you loose many of the conditioning benefits of the treatment.

Now, enjoy your eggs!

                                

Winter thorns

Hawthorn in winter, Maine

Here is my wild thorny hawthorn tree friend I'm tracking through the year.  Its been cold and windy for weeks, a little snow, but mostly blown away.
She lives in a hedge row in the fields below my house, wedged between her kin, and apple, cherry and maple trees.  There are grape vines growing up into the trees.  Probably another 10 to 15 hawthorns in this hedge row- of small and large stature, they grow as multiple limbed small brushy trees, with 3-7 trunks, making a very tricky to penetrate thorny tangle of branches.  A good place to hide.  Safe. Protected.

The Tree Year ~ Winter Birch

As part of my devotion to mother nature and my love for plants and trees, I am participating in a wonderful project. This year is the UN International Year of the Forests, and this weblog project, The Tree Year, is a beautiful way to get people to pay attention to the trees and to share their findings.

A whole year of observing one tree? Oh my. That is a very tall order. Not because I don't want to spend all year observing trees - its just that only one tree would be near impossible for me. So while I will forgive myself if this expounds into a forest itself, I will, at least, begin with one kind of tree. Sort of.

I have spend my fair share of time devoted to the Black Birch tree, because it was abundant where I was living. In my new abode, there are less black birches, but copious amounts of white, paper, and grey birches. They are absolutely stunning to me, and I know I will naturally be watching them each day and hopefully learning a bit about their magic and medicine. I have paid tribute in my title photograph. I intend to keep the title photo reserved for these trees for the duration of the tree year, and will be posting observations and learnings from time to time. I hope you will be inspired to be a part of the tree year, too.

So far, I am mostly just absorbing their presence: they rarely get gigantic like the mighty oaks, but some of them do manage to get pretty muscular and big. I think my first order will be to learn more clearly the difference between the species, as they are more tricky to identify in real life than they are when looking at pictures in a book or on a website. Especially considering it is winter here, with no leaves to assist me. Many of them grow in groves along the edges of mixed woods, where there is dappled sunlight and usually good water supply somewhere near, like a river, although they don't seem to like wet feet as the willows and alders do, but more the rocky hillsides and clearings. Some of them stand alone as ornamental trees, highlighting colonial homes in the area.

The decomposing birches offer plentiful food for a variety of woodpeckers. As you can see, the different shaped holes indicate different types of woodpeckers. The rectangle shape in particular is that of my favorite, the grand pileated woodpecker. Little ladderbacks and downy woodpeckers look at home with their matching colors of grey, black, and white.

        

And although I haven't come across any yet, birches are the main host for a wonderful medicinal mushroom known as chaga. These winter colored trees seem to take good company with the scrub pine, beech, hemlock, oak, and maple trees. There is plenty of moss and a beautiful red soil I am learning is a red sandstone.

The birches I see here, in Massachusetts, are so elegant. They stand with this delicate snowy skin as if the North Winds are never far behind. Like the bones of the forest, all wise and standing strong like Grandmother. I know this tree - this trio - has much to teach me. And so I watch and listen.

Nourishing the Wild You- Food, Energetics and Nourishment Online Intensive

Back by popular demand in 2011!  I will only offer this course once this year, so get in while the getting is good!
Class size is strictly limited to 20 students!  Last year 45 students enrolled!  Don't miss out!

Join Herbalist, Nutritionist, and food lover, Darcey Blue French of Brighid's Well Herbs (www.brighidswellherbs.com), for an  8 week online intensive course on the energetics of food, true nourishment, nutrition, relationship with place and food, nutritional healing and more.

*Learn about the ways traditional healing systems such as Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine see food energetics, and use food as healing tools on a day to day basis.

* Explore your relationship with food, your body, what you eat and why.

* Discover your natural physical constitution, and how you can use food to help you stay balanced.

* Be prepared for a deep exploration of food and our relationship to it, this can be uncomfortable and emotional, as well as enlightening and sensual. Food is a deeply influential factor in our psyche, social interactions, and cultures. All students are expected to be sensitive to others and compassionate and respectful.

*Appropriate for food enthusiasts & practitioners alike.

*Very HANDS ON, expect to be preparing foods, meals and weekly assignments for the duration of the course. This is an EXPERIENTIAL class, not just book work. I will provide resources and readings, but the bulk of the work will require the actual preparation and consumption of food.

* This is not a cooking how to class. You should feel comfortable cooking and working in your kitchen. There will be recipes and ideas shared during class discussion, and pointers and questions are always acceptable.

*Requires access to e mail and the internet on a weekly basis. Class discussion is a part of the learning process.

*Weekly telephone conference session with Darcey and other students for discussion, questions and sharing.  

*some additional texts/books suggested in addition to course fee

Arrangements may be available for those with limited access. Please inquire.

 Payment in installments is available by request.

Please register by emailing Darcey at shamana.flora@gmail.com or calling 520 429 2654.

About the Instructor:

Darcey Blue French is an herbalist and food lover, who has over the years explored various ways of eating, interacting with food and preparing food. Educated as a Clinical Nutritionist at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism in 2008, she has been in private practice since that time. She has experience in Ayurvedic Cooking, Vegetarian, Allergen Free, Primal/Paleo diets and the philosophies of Dr. Weston Price. Food is far more than fuel, and Darcey is passionate about food that not only nourishes the body, but also the spirit, and tastes wonderful too. She works closely with plants, both wild and cultivated that provide both food and medicine. She is an avid forager of wild foods, gardener of organic vegetables, and is passionate about local and sustainable food systems, and how our relationship with the land, nature and wilderness impacts our physical and spiritual health and wellbeing. She truly believes that one cannot separate the health of the people from the health of the ecosystem in which they live.

Intense, vibrantly wild and alive!

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