Kitchen Witch

A Blog is Born

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!



My #1 Herbal Buddy Amber has started her own Official Blog, Nourished Mother. (She used to blog exclusively on Myspace, but that wasn't nearly as accessible!) There are so many reasons you will want to check out her beautiful new blog, not the least of which is her fascinating story about her unassisted (that's right, not even with a midwife) homebirth.

She is also an amazing herbalist, deep thinker, and of course the first person I would turn to for a question about conscious parenting. Check it out and tell all your mamma friends!

Gummy, Glorious Grindelia

I admit it, I am showing off: my Mulleins are the biggest around! (insert bad joke here...) That's level ground right there, which makes the Mullein several feet above my head! (And I'm 5 foot 8!)

Speaking of lung herbs (I've got some fast segue ways today, eh!)-- the smoke left Nevada County for three blissful days, only to come poking its head around again this afternoon. Yech! Luckily I've been making up some very potent lung medicine-- my friend Grindelia, or Gumweed, is in full bloom.

Grindelia likes to grow in--well, CRAPPY is the word for it-- soil. The more disturbed, rocky, neglected, the better! You can get a good idea from this picture here what Grindelia considers a happy home-- she's growing in the triangular patch in the middle!:



This tough herb is best harvested on a scorching summer day, when the centers of her yellow flowers are filled with a gooey, sticky substance that is only slightly less tacky than sap. Grindelia's medicine is easy to remember, because if you get sick and end up with lungs that are filled with stringy, sticky, gooey stuff that's hard to cough up, she is the plant ally you want to turn to! Kind of gross, I know, but you won't forget her now... (And I should add that if your lungs are filled with yellow or green stuff, you better get your butt to a professional STAT!)

Grindelia is a plant that was used by Indigenous North Americans, in a typically multi-dimensional fashion. According to my teacher Karyn Sanders (a Native Choctaw) of The Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine, Grindelia has applications not just for lung issues, but for various problems of the urinary tract and the nervous system. It is also a popular ingredient in topical Poison Oak remedies, where it is used for its drawing and drying qualities.



Thick, resinous material like the goo in these flower heads doesn't break down in water, so I used nearly full-strength 190 proof organic grape alcohol as my menstrum. (Now I will reveal the embarrassing fact that I desperately need to get more mason jars, by showing you my medicine in a jar that has already lived at LEAST three lives. Give me points for conserving resources, at least!)



Isn't that a gorgeous color??? I am excited to make a combo of Grindelia, Mullein, and Yerba Santa. I wonder what my fourth herb will be? Making formulas is so exciting! There is always a high demand for my lung medicine in the fall and winter, and I love the feeling that this medicine will be making its way into many grateful hands. Speaking of grateful hands (ha ha! Another witty segue way! aren't I fresh?) check out the treasure that I'm holding here: yes, it's the one and only Zou Zou!



Happy harvesting!

Sasha

An Awesome Medicine Woman's Gathering in the Southwest!

You ladies who live in the Southwest-- or can get yourself there!-- will seriously want to know about this event. It's a week long Medicine Woman's Gathering taught by the fabulous Herbalist Kiva Rose. The link to The Anime Center, where you can find out more info and register, is here.

Medicine Making Party!

One of the particular blessings of Nevada County, California, is our amazing community of herby-minded folk. This Saturday a friend invited Amber and I to come and make medicine from her fabulous garden. And when I say fabulous... dearest readers, I do not exaggerate!:





Now that we are all twitching with jealousy, let me reassure you that Jaime, the mistress of this garden, fully deserves this blessing. She has one of the biggest hearts in Nevada City-- she's the kind of groovy lady that always gives you a hug when you see her, and colicky babies coo and giggle in her arms. You just know the kind of woman I am talking about! Here she is with a portion of the bounty:



Here are some pretty pictures to whet your appetite, starting with our friend Borage. You may know the old herbalist's ryhme, "Borage for Courage"! This is a trick to remember that Borage flowers, energetically speaking, lift up and strengthen the heart, readying it for the daring feats of courage required in everyday life. On the physical level, they tone the adrenal glands; aid in treatment for depression; and are used in diaphoretic (sweat-inducing) teas to break fevers. Borage flowers are also used for increasing mother's milk, and in some PMS formulas. More often they end up as delicious edible flowers (make sure the fuzzy part stays behind!) in summer salads and drinks. These babies are small and sweet, and if you have the patience to gather enough for a really significant amount of medicine, I applaud you! As for me, I usually just eat my fill right there in the garden... but I AM part goat, after all.



Vites, getting ready to flower! See my detailed post about Vitex here...



A genuine Fairy Garden, indeed:







Amber, hard at work harvesting:



You wonder how I could concentrate at all! Everything seemed to be calling to me on this sunny July day. First of all, this wall of Hops stopped me in my tracks:



We learned that these are a very special variety of Hops, dearly beloved in German beer brewing for purposes of flavor and aroma. Now I must apologize to the Alewives among you, I didn't write down their (German) name! Maybe that's because I was in a heady stupor from handling these sweet green flowers. They were in full perfect bloom and potent.. whew! ...potent.



Hops are used for-- maybe you have guessed this already-- relaxation. Tea or tincture works great internally, and Amber loves to use an infused oil of Hops on her toddler in the evening, and for pain relief. And yes, part of that beer buzz may be more than just the alcohol! If there's Hops in your brewskie, you are feeling her soporific effects.

Honestly, this is the first year I have really connected with Hops. I was inspired to pick and pick and pick until we had nearly a half of a grocery bag full. When no one was listening (very important!) I made up a medicine song for Hops, which goes something like this:

We are the ones who send you off to sleep
Life is uncertain, but this promise we will keep
For when you sleep, you are made anew
And when you dream, all good magic comes to you.

I look forward to the day when Disney makes an animated movie about a Green Witch. Heck, maybe I'm gonna have to make it myself!



(The shoe is NOT part of the medicine, by the way.)
Now I was pretty well looped after 45 minutes of handling sleepy Hoppy flowers, but I had another mission: the gorgeous Red Raspberry leaves. A traditional tonic during pregnancy, Red Raspberry is said to "strengthen" and "soften" the womb, making for an easy delivery. If you don't believe me, ask any Mamma who had one pregnancy WITH Red Raspberry, and one WITHOUT. The "Old Wives" passed this one down and it's a goodie!

Now I'm not on that baby train , and I admit that I may have ignored Red Raspberry because I considered her part of the whole pregnancy matrix. But standing in Jaime's garden, I had a "duh" moment. I'd done an herbal tarot reading the day before, and gotten Red Raspberry. Playfulness, Creativity, the Inner Child. The womb is nothing less than the center of our creativity, whether you've got a bun in the oven or not. Duh. I am having a creative Renaissance-- devouring Fantasy literature; writing down my (very vivid) dreams every morning; nurturing the seeds of my business (a vision forming from the ether, somehow involving herbs, writing, and this good old Interweb)-- Duh!

I love you, Duh. (:



I finished off my harvest with Strawberry leaves. I decided to combine them with the Raspberry on a kind of hunch... I have often heard of their value as a mild tummy tea; as a vitamin C-rich infusion; and as a topical treatment for irritated skin... but occasionally one does read that Strawberry leaf is used as Woman's medicine. VERY occasionally, but... I was feeling their call!



So what does a medicine-making party look like? Well, luckily, Jaime has a really wide countertop!:



I hereby give you all permission to clutter things up and make a royal mess!

Happy hands at work:





Smudge stick by Jaime, woven with Lavender, Mugwort, Helichrysum, and love:



Amber does quick work! Here are some of her concoctions:



On the way over to the party, I passed a liquor store, and was inspired to stop and buy a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin. When I do have an "adult beverage", this is my drink of choice. Once upon a time, it was actually a medicine, and the herbs that are in it (today, in trace amounts) are embossed on the side of the bottle! I was hoping I would find a plant that called to me to make a Gin extract. It turned out that my nose loved the smell of the Hops with Juniper-y tartness of the Gin. And I love it SO much, in fact, that I keep popping open my mason jar every night to take a little spoonful... so much for waiting a month for the medicine to "put up". But I'm sure the Gin has already extracted a lot of goodness from the Hops, and at least it's being used! Irresistible!

I dried a good amount of the Red Raspberry and Strawberry leaves for use in infusion... in fact, they're ready to go. Things dry really fast in our low-humidity climate-- that means both Herbs AND my Celtic skin-- but you can't have it all!

Lastly, I made a Women's Blend using some Damiana and Peach-infused brandy as the menstrum ("menstrum"= the liquid you tincture your herbs in). This had been languishing, unused, in my fridge-- I'd always felt like this potion needed an extra dimension. Well, the magical garden provided it! I filled the jar with Red Raspberry Leaf, Mugwort, and Lavender, to make a tincture that will

A. Get You In League With The Moon (Mugwort),
B. Get You In The Mood (Damiana),
C. Smell Divine (Lavender),
and D. Taste Sassy (peaches and brandy).

...I can't wait til the flavors and magics marry...!

Thanks to Jaime, for sharing her herb harvest with us! And thanks to Nature, the Artful Lady who makes it very easy to take good pictures:





STOP THE PRESSES: This just in from Yahoo news!:

AP - Pope Benedict XVI says the world's natural resources are being squandered by "insatiable" consumption and urges people to care more for the environment.

I never thought I'd see the day! Makes me think of the Dar Williams song about the Christians and the Pagans sitting down to Solstice/Christmas dinner together. (Tears. I'm a sucker.) And on that hopeful note...

xoxoxo

Sasha

Sunshine In a Jar: St. John's Wort Tincture

All week long I have been hearing "St. John's Wort" on everyone's lips. Folks at lower elevations have already put their medicine up, and proudly tell me "we'll be happy at our house all winter!" and "my fingers were stained red for three days!"

Well today the moon is almost new (I like to make medicine on the waxing moon, or as close as possible) and the St. John's Wort in shady Frog Holler is at a perfect stage for harvest: about one third in bloom, two thirds in bud. Yum! Now I don't have a ton of this sunny herb in my garden, but I have about ten times more than I did when I moved in. I attribute that to good watering, weeding, and focusing my love and attention on the St. John's plant community-- plants really respond well when someone cares about them!

There is another patch of St. John's on the property, and after I've taken my harvest from my garden, me and Zouzou go on a short journey through the woods to check it out:



Passing through the "gate" of Elder to get to our destination:





Here it is... we call it, fondly, "St. John's Meadow":



And here's why:



They're not getting nearly as much water as my St. John's in the garden, so they are shorter and tend to be single-stemmed instead of bushy. But since they have to fight a little harder to survive, their medicine is sure to be strong!



I cut the flower tops and about an inch of the stem. St. John's spreads mainly by it's root system, but I always leave at least half of the flowers to go to seed, and for the bees to enjoy:



I cut the plant material up right inside the jar, for convenience-- and also because my hubby is busy in the kitchen at this moment!:



As I harvest, I make up a little song for the St. John's. In the past I've tried offering medicine plants gifts of tobacco, cookies, and locks of hair, but a song works best of all for me to connect with the plant, and with its purpose. First I sit with the St. John's for a few minutes, tuning into my task and into the spirit of the herb. I realize that as I sit in my garden, easy and free in shorts and t-shirt in the 80 degree evening light, I am full to the brim with glorious Summer. Though my week has thus far traversed the full gamut of emotion-- and I wouldn't say it was all good!-- I am still just bursting with the feeling of endless possibilities and expansive horizons. THIS is what I will be capturing in my mason jar, and this is the true spirit of this special plant of mid-summer. Hence the song:

Saint John's of the Summertime
Keep me warm when winter is nigh
Keep me sunny, keep me bright
When the tide of darkness is high



I use the "folk method" of tincture making today, so when the jar is completely full of plant matter-- gently packed down, but not stuffed-- I fill it with water and alcohol. Since flowers and leaves break down fairly easily in alcohol, I don't need much. I use 70 percent water, which I add first, and measure by eyeballing the level in the jar:



My preferred alcohol is in that bottle beside the mason jar. It's organic grape alcohol from Alchemical Solutions in Ashland, Oregon, and it tastes so so fine! Now watch what happens when I pour in the alcohol:



Yes, it's turning deep red! That's the medicine, the hypericum, and it makes me very happy to see that I've timed my harvest just right!:



Now I label my jar with the plant, the date, and where the sun and moon are at astrologically (both in Cancer!), and wait a moon cycle to strain... oh, it feels so good to prepare for a dimly imagined winter during the height of summer, eating grapes and cherries and walking around in sandals all day. I'll leave you with some shots from the garden:

Feverfew!:



Lovely Lemon Balm:



Nettle in flower:



Beauty, Beauty, everywhere I look!:





...and one last "firework" (for "Inter-dependence" Day)!!!

Smoke, Meet Mullein.

The wildfires continue to burn in California, and the smoke is not letting up one bit. Like everyone else, I've been avoiding the out-of-doors, and exercise, and to tell the truth I'm not feeling too badly on the Respiration front. Yesterday, however, we were passing a breath-test gadget around work, and I blew into it as hard as I could, only to score a pitiful 250. Apparently some three year olds are do better then me-- I am, technically, asthmatic! What a surprise. I know that my lungs are my constitutional "weak link"-- I had more bouts of croup and bronchitis as a child than I can count-- and ever since moving from the fresh ocean air of the San Francisco Bay Area to the hot, dry, pollen-y (in spring), polluted (by ozone in the summer, which travels up from the cities below us and sits in the bowl of our valley) climate of Grass Valley, I have had a hard time with my lungs.

Singing helps, avoiding irritants helps, and of course HERBS help. Herbs helped a lot this allergy season; though by pollen count standards it was a real douzy, it was my easiest one yet. Of course I worked hard, starting in February-- I did a blood test for food allergies, which resulted in removing eggs entirely from my diet, along with most dairy and wheat, for good measure. I drank nettle infusion daily, kept up good exercise habits, and started juicing and eating bitter greens like a mad rabbit when spring actually hit. I also took a very special tincture from fall through spring: homemade Mullein and Yerba Santa. Both of these herbs are famous lung allies, and both grow in abundance in Grass Valley. I still have a little tincture left, which I'm going to use up now. Here it is next to a second year Mullein-- you can see the flower stalk forming at the top. For medicine, the leaves of the first year (non-flowering) Mullein are used. Mullein is considered a lung tonic for long-term use. Since we are in an acutely smoky situation, I am glad I have paired it with Yerba Santa, which seems to work more quickly. Yerba Santa has been described in literature as being specific for damp and cold lung conditions, but it has worked well for my friends of all constitutions and lung complaints thus far. That said, people who run hot by nature may want to try it with caution at first! (And if anyone has any more specific experience with Yerba Santa I'd LOVE to hear it!) Here's that friend Mullein:



By the way, someone reminded me that I ought to mention California's "other" Elder, the Pacific Coast Red Elder, or Sambucus callicarpa. This Elder has red berries and is widely thought to be toxic, though anecdotal evidence may suggest otherwise. (Apparently several jams of Red Elder jam were consumed with nary a stomachache resulting from the accident, but this may have been someone with an ironclad tummy, or they may have been mistaken!) In any case, don't fool around with it, or make medicine from this variety! If you've got the Elder with dusky, blue-black berries (Sambucus cerulea in California), you're on the right track-- and most likely this is the Elder that lives in your neighborhood, unless you're in certain isolated pockets of California or are associating with a tree planted for ornamental value. If it is just in flower, and you've never seen the berry, best not to experiment until you can gather more evidence. There, I've fulfilled my civic duty! Here is that Elderflower from our local tree, drying and getting ready to become a cup of tea tonight:



Ooo! Guess who got that Comfrey again? (Hint- they are big. They are brown. They move by night.)



That's okay- I was ready for those deer this year-- I planted a backup on my porch! You've heard of backing up files on the computer-- well, in the land of no deer fence, we have to back up our medicine, too...

By the way, there is a new and lovely post about Comfrey by the Southwestern Herbalist Kiva Rose. You'll fall in love with her!



Also on my porch (from front to back): that's two baby Hawthorne trees, Mugwort, and Burdock. Deer hate climbing stairs!:



This colorful sunscreen is decorative, but also a function of economy: shadecloth is thirty dollars a roll at the hardware store, and this fabric from a yard sales was twenty-five cents! This is my Lemon Verbena (yum!) and Elders intertwining. I put some of my Elders in the full sun, some in the shade, to see which they like better.



You gotta have one of these guys somewhere in your garden! (Did I mention I'm Irish?):



More beauty every day-- here is a Rose Geranium flower. Rose Geranium is used, among other things, as a bug repellent. It's the best smelling bug-repellent out there, for sure!



California Poppy-- our State Flower!-- and one of my favorites. Besides being one of the coolest delicate-yet-tough flowers out there (I admit it, I kind of think of it as my mascot, as a delicate-yet-tough California native myself!) it is a supreme nervine... and it's safe and effective for kids. It's especially effective in those cases of over-excited mind, exhausted body. Sound familiar, toddler parents?



Another case of "now what did I plant here?" It looks like I am just about to find out! It's kind of like waiting for a Christmas present to open itself...



That Self Heal is really starting to do it's thing here:



And finally my beautiful Nasturtiums, come in at last. These are naturalized in the Bay Area, and you couldn't get rid of them in your yard there if you tried. Here it is a little more challenging to grow them, as the profuse seeds don't seem to overwinter outdoors. But they will grow from seed in spring with no trouble at all-- a child could grow them, easily. They are deliciously spicy in salads (leaves and flowers) and I just learned from an old French Herbal that they are used topically to increase the growth of hair on your head-- even to cure baldness! Could it be true? I am wonderfully vain and I will be giving this a try ASAP! Meanwhile aren't they just sooooo delightfully vibrant?



Vibrantly Yours,

Sasha

Motherwort and Elder

Good morning from the smoky haze that is Northern California! For those of you who haven't been following the news, our tinder-dry state is now lit with 800 wildfires, most started by a dry lightening storm last weekend. The air has been choked with smoke in Nevada County all week long, and everything is bathed in a surreal orange light. Though we are not among those unlucky ones who have to worry about our homes going up in flames, we (I will speak for the collective) are grumpy, irritable, and sick of being trapped inside hiding out with the air conditioner when we should be enjoying the lovely summer days! The news is advising everyone to avoid exercising outside, and many people are wearing masks. Now I especially hate being stuck indoors... it's just not in my nature. Add to that a nasty case of PMS, which is just begging for a long hike or a swim in the river, to massage that liver and get those stagnant hormones moving along... even the inside of our house is smoky, so I am hardly inspired to disco dance to my favorite 45s. Grrrrrr!



One unexpected benefit is that the smoky skies are tempering the blazing sun, and all my plants are doing just dandy! Those of you reading this on the East Coast or in the Midwest take your humid, overcast summers for granted; but those of us in inland California negotiate with a powerful, sometimes deadly sun, and no rainfall from May til October... at least! That intensity does make for some awesome wild medicine plants-- like the tough-as-nails Grindelia or Yerba Santa-- but it is a force to be reckoned with in the domesticated garden.

And speaking of plants (aren't I always?) I wanted to add a note to my last posting, on the topic of Motherwort. The blogger Wife Mother Maniac" (I love it!) shared this with me:

"Motherwort is really good for mothers who are feeling psycho, impatient, overwhelmed, and who need a quick but gentle relaxing type of mood adjustment. A blessed plant indeed."



I know there'e someone out there who needs to hear that right now!!! Maybe you have a to-do list a mile long AND a willful two-and-a-half-year-old? Or a colicky newborn? (How do you ladies do it?!?!)

Someone commented that they had never seen an Elder, and I felt I should do a little better then just showing a picture of my baby plant. so I walked up the hill and took a picture of our local Queen Elder. She's kind of... I can't really think of a nicer word than "shrubby"!... which is typical of Elders, although sometimes you'll see ones that look like nice neat little trees.



She is in full bloom right now. Her flowers heads have an unusual, sweet, slightly medicinal scent, which I've grown to adore-- and she is excellent medicine, as I mentioned previously. Funny thing that she is blooming right now, in the middle of all of our smoke, because she has a special affinity with the lungs. Elder flowers are a key ingredient in the diaphoretic (sweat-inducing) tea I talked about in my previous posting (Elder, Yarrow, and Peppermint, drank hot when a fever is coming on); she is also used as a steam for the lungs or for working with chronic lung issues. I read she is very effective with infants and lung issues, although I don't have any personal experience in this area: does anyone have any stories to share???



Elder flowers are also used cosmetically, for toning and softening the skin of the face. You can steep the fresh or dried blooms in Witch Hazel to make a Beauty Potion fit for a princess. They are absolutely bursting with magic, as our ancestors (both European and Native American) knew well, and I like to incorporate things both practical and magical into my beauty routines. Beauty, after all, is not merely the sum of refined pores + a flawless T-Zone; it takes an extra dose if je-ne-sais-quoi to really charm that mirror!

On the subject of Beauty, I just devoured a fantastic book this weekend: Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. It's about a young girl born into a society which appreciates two things above all: a fine voice and a pretty face. Her voice is the loveliest in the whole kingdom of Ayortha, but her face is repulsive to everyone except the Gnomes! She ends up falling into the life of the Court and getting into a whole mess of intrigue there... princes, princesses, and a very perplexing Magic Mirror... an enchanting page turner with real heart.



It's been a while since I wandered into the Young Adult Section, and boy howdy have I been missing out some great books! It seems like Harry Potter is only the tip of the iceberg of new magical literature for young people... Many thanks to my friend Daphne, whose voracious appetite for books, and titillating reviews, re-ignited my hunger to read.

Here's wishing you clear skies for summer adventures, and clear eyes to see Truth from Fiction!

Garden Tour!

Ahh yes, a typical Summer evening in Frog Holler... and Summer is really here! I know it's not technical until tomorrow, but last weekend it just sort of... came on/ descended /flipped over /arrived. There was no question, the feeling in the air just changed.

Now I'm no fan of blistering sun-- and Grass Valley does blistering sun like nobody's business-- but I like what happens as a result of a scorching day: yes, the Balmy Night! Today the Yahoo weather report said "Low of 70 degrees" (LOW???) and something deep inside of me that had been clenched up tight since that first icy breeze in October just released and went... ahhhhhhhhhh. I promptly bought (yet another) bag of organic Bing cherries, intending to enjoy an all-fruit "dinner"...after all, now that we all know now that dark red and purple fruits are unbeatable for maintaining vascular integrity (that's happy hearts and veins, ya'll) there's no excuse not to gorge! Life-- and summer-- is too short, it seems, so I'm gonna eat cherries while I can.

A typical scene: tall grass, daisies, a swamp cooler, and a hose:



While we're outside, let me boast for a little while about This Year's Garden. Now I know it may look like a big mess of weeds to some people, but hang on and let me explain!:

When we moved into our rental, the only thing the gully behind our house had going for it was Potential. We had to drag out blackberry vines, rusty bedsprings, and heaps of mysterious country trash just to reveal the humble little stream whose only foliage was a few wild rushes. Over the years I bought some herbs to plant when I had the dough, but since I was mostly flat broke I learned the art of "transplanting" plants from the surrounding area. (I remember one particular afternoon when I'd climbed through a hole in a barbed wire fence and was knee-deep in mud, tugging for all I was worth at the roots of these irresistible wild yellow stream irises... In my defense, they were in a stream at the edge of a 100 acre property, and there were thousands of them-- no one even knew they existed!) Well, now finally my work has paid off, and this year it's a real garden-- so lush, in fact, that now it actually needs a manicure! Look at the stream now-- chock full of mint and horsetail and watercress!:





Now let's get up close and personal: first off, the Self- Heal, just beginning to flower. This grows wild all over Nevada County- I didn't have to "import" it from anywhere! The local Flower Essence Society has embraced the Self-Heal flower as a sort of spiritual-balm-for-all-occasions, which is consistent with the experience of my teacher Karyn Sanders at the Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine, who humorously compared this little plant to "duct tape"!!! Medicinally, it covers territory from alleviating laryngitis to strengthening the kidneys. Frankly, my relationship with Self-Heal has been thus far limited to salves, where it's a great skin healer! Maybe I will branch out (har dee har har, is that a plant joke???) this year.



Speaking of salves, here's the number one topical cell-knitter, Comfrey. Miraculously, the deer haven't found her yet this year. Last year, a deer with obvious structural deformities came and ate her all up-- not that I could begrudge the deer for eating good medicine, especially since this is the plant that it clearly needed the most! Some humans do take Comfrey internally, but that's a huge controversy (involving potentially toxic alkaloids) which I am not prepared to address here. Let's just say there are strong feelings an both sides, and you can research it in depth if you are interested; meanwhile, use Comfrey freely as a poultice on superficial wounds or as an ingredient in skin care products-- she makes your cells "knit" together faster and stronger!



Well, it's almost St. John's Day, yet another Catholic holiday built on the foundations of our pagan past. (Those clever Catholics, they even transmuted the Summer Solstice!) And this is the official plant of the Solstice, St. John's Wort! ("Wort"= "herb", by the way.) It's a very famous little flowers these days, as it is one of the most widely used herbs in the U.S. If you haven't heard yet, St. John's Wort can be used to treat mild depression and seasonal affective disorder (aka the winter blues). People in Portland and Seattle, perk your ears up! This sunny flower, which blooms at summer solstice, can be an ally for you! And if Newsweek or some other such unreliable source is disputing it's effectiveness, take it from me-- nothing is gonna work for everyone, but a high quality St. John's tincture or capsule in sufficient quantity is just the ticket for a LOT of folks.



My Mulleins are actually going to win a prize. They came with the place, so I can't take credit, but aren't they just so perfectly soft and lovely and Dr. Suess-y? And a supreme lung tonic, most effective with long-term use. Those crazy weeds!



Thinking about growing a flower stalk...



...And doing it! These little yellow flowers, incidentally, are used in combination with garlic as an ear oil for relieving ear ache and removing wax build up. I confess to being very lucky in the ear department, I haven't had to use this remedy, but it is incredibly popular with the Earth Mammas of Nevada County.



Here's our friend poke, just growing along merrily here. Poke root is used-- with extreme caution-- for blocked lymph nodes. I don't have any problem taking a drop or two, and even use it as an aid to going into trance when I want to do creative writing, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I don't know well, anyone with serious lymph issues, or anyone who is a puker! If any of you nursing mothers know my friend Amber Magnolia (or want to! She's super friendly!) you can ask her about its use in mastitis (inflamed milk ducts).



Do you ever have to ask yourself, "did I really plant that???" Somehow I forgot that this Motherwort made her way into my garden! But those gorgeous purple flowers at the base of the leaves sure called my attention today. Motherwort is a favorite of the Menopausal Woman with hot flashes and night sweats. She's also a great heart tonic, especially for those who get heart palpitations from tension-- her Latin name, Leonurus cardiaca, means "lion-hearted"! I am excited to harvest her this week and make her into a tincture, maybe with some Hawthorne and a nervine. I have just the person in mind who could use her... lucky thing she "snuck" into my life!



I spied this little flower on a walk last year around this time. She was hanging out with her sisters waaaaay at the top of an embankment. I gingerly dug up one of the family, and I was rewarded this year with these incomparable purple cups! I'm not a big flower key person, so I don't know her name, but she is adding so much to the garden with her beauty.



And while we're on the subject of beauty... is there no limit to my love for Lavender? I love her everywhere... and all the time. Sprayed on my skin, sprayed in every room, in the bath, in the car, at work, in my hair, on my friends, on my enemies, and peeking out between every grass blade in the garden!



In truth I don't remember where this Catnip came from-- but I do recall that it was scrawny, a bit worse for the wear, and I didn't have too much confidence in its future. Now, within a season, I have a whole Catnip PATCH! Maybe I'll dry some and test it out on my cats-- they didn't respond at all to it when they were 6 months old, but I hear sometimes they need to be full-grown to really get loopy. Another use of Catnip is as a tea for children-- apparently it works wonders at calming down those hyper tykes. I imagine it would be great in combination with California Poppy... As toddlers are coming into my life more and more often, I might want to dry some of this and keep it around!



I was gifted a whole bunch of Yarrow from a friend's garden, and this is the first time I've actually grown her. I am so happy that she is here, and thriving! Yarrow is another "general balm"-- what other plant can stop or promote bleeding depending on what the individual's body needs? She's good for fighting colds and flu, stopping nosebleeds, and toning the uterus; magically speaking, she is used for creating boundaries and ensuring protection. In China, her stalks were the traditional divining tools used in the I Ching! Her Latin name is Achillea millefolium, which refers to Achilles, the Greek hero supposedly baptized in a bath of Yarrow. So what's up with that famous weak heel? Well, come to find out that Achilles was held onto by the ankle when he was dipped into the protective Yarrow bath, and so that part of his body never touched the magic water! What luck!

I planted Yarrow at the edge of the stream because I consider that the energetic "edge of the garden"... I also hoped it would offer some "spiritual protection" from the deer! So far so good!



So much has changed in this little corner of the world. The only insects that used to call the stream side home were the crickets-- I guess they're not very particular! Now I see new insects and arachnids every time I am down there-- there must be a hundred different kinds, including this beauty from tonight, a blue-black moth... hard to see here since I don't have a macro lens (yet!) but you get the idea:



Here's my cat ZouZou, who thinks he's a monkey:









Over in the woods, I planted some nettles from my old garden, and they finally took off this year! I feel my work here is done-- spreading Nettles throughout the land! It's a little pricklier than Johnny Appleseed's job, but I'll take it! See my post about Nettles here.



Here's the Hops my neighbor gave us, racing up the posts to the second story-- these are the same Hops used in beer-making, also used by Herbalists as a sedating tea or tincture:



Yum yum... yes, I do kvetch about wrestling with Blackberry vines, but you'll never hear me complain about the berries! Every flower means a juicy purple fruit, and more water means more flowers; so I've been taking advantage of our free well water and keeping these FULLY hydrated!



Some of you might remember my love affair with Vitex. But did you know that I am growing my very own plant, just to increase the bonding experience? I'm actually surprised how high she's grown this year-- she's already a miniature tree! Here are her tops-- and I think we'll have flowers this year!



This is beautiful Clary Sage, whose scent has been revered for thousands of years. Her essential oil is used to help balance female hormones, and to "clear" energy and skin (hence the name, "Clary") This is my first time growing her and I am just delighted by her psychedelic flower formations!



Elder is considered "The Queen of the Garden" and has been particularly sacred to Europeans and Native Americans alike since the dawn of humankind. I gathered seeds from my local Elder last summer and they took off amazingly well--- I am keeping her in pots because I can't bear to sacrifice her to those hungry deer! Her berries are gaining a lot of fame these days for their strong anti-viral and immune system-stimulating properties, useful in the fight against influenza and conditions seated deep in the lungs.

An Old Wive's recipe for sweating out the flu calls for equal parts Yarrow, Elder, and Peppermint, made into a hot tea and drunk beneath a pile of blankets. The idea is to crank up the heat and drive out the poison! Do this when you feel the very first sign of a funky flu... like anything, the sooner you hit it, the more effective it will be.

Who knows what happened way back in my family line--- a dangerous influenza may well have threatened my great great great grandmother, and it may have been Elder that saved her life. I always make sure to give proper respect to all the Elder trees I meet!



Lastly, another seasonally appropriate plant-- Foxglove, or Fairy Hat, a favorite of the Little People and the star of many a magic spell. The Fairies are supposed to come out for a mischievous romp on Midsummer's Night/Summer Solstice-- think Shakespeare!-- and they may very well be wearing Foxglove headgear. Called Digitalis in Latin, Foxglove is the source of some very strong heart medications. Only very skilled and knowledgeable Herbalists play with the plant itself! I'm happy just to enjoy her magic...



Well, it's been quite a tour! ZouZou is resting on the lanai. I wish you all the happiest of Midsummers-- may you laugh until you fall down, may you dance until you are satisfied, and your cup overfloweth like a river of honey! And when you've got that love and joy in your heart, spread it all around!!!

xoxox

Sasha

Lucky 13

Didja know.....??????

Like black cats and sex, Friday the 13th used to be considered cool and lucky before the Church got involved! Europeans back in the Day (as in, the really Olde Day) used to celebrate today as the super-fortuitous conjunction of two Wonderful Things: Friday (sacred to the Goddess Venus, or Freya, a hell of a good looking woman if there ever was one), and the number Thirteen (the number sacred to the Goddess and all things feminine and lovely, due to 13 happening to be the number of moon cycles in the year).

The People of Olde LOVED themselves a holiday, so Friday the 13th was the best excuse in the world to leave off plowing their field and make love all day long!

Well, the Church being the biggest party-pooper and buzz kill in all of history decided to squash THAT tradition dead-- and the best way they knew how was to make 13 evil and unlucky. And their P.R. campaign has been remarkably long-lived and successful... Til Now!

Do humanity a favor-- kiss the office goodbye and go find somebody to love! (Preferably someone cute) And May the Goddess be with you!!!!

xoxox

Your Lucky Clover

A Witch Among Witches!

Well holy moley-- it's been a while, ya'll! So many people have told me in the past few weeks how much they enjoy my blog... but for one reason or another I couldn't make time to catch up with my writing til now. The main reason being utter exhaustion-- I WAY overdid it during May! I remember several of my herbal teachers (Kami McBride and Candis Cantin-Packard especially!) warning of the temptation to over-exert in the Spring-- after all, we can barely help ourselves after a long winter cramped indoors and stuffed inside heavy coats-- the sensation of sunshine on bare arms and a warm breeze in your hair is enough to tempt the wisest soul to Overbook. And so, utterly human, I did!

Last weekend was my first weekend at home in almost a month, and I had my Moon on top of that-- ah, yes, our Moons, time to cash that check that we've been writing all month. Mine played out in a sensation of utter gravity-- the complete opposite of the preceding four weeks, which had seen me flying around the state of California weightless as an astronaut. All things must return to the earth and so I did, lying on the couch, heavy as a boulder sinking to the bottom of a lake. My Most Psychic Friend, Terese, came to visit me in a dream in which she diagnosed me with "adrenal burnout", and so I listened up and said NO to everything for a few days-- including nurturing my "online presence"!

Today I woke up refreshed, ready to take on the world again, though tempered by this reminder of my limits. I will at least take on this blog, which I must warn you right now, will be the longest one I have ever written! I have so much to tell!



That's me and Linda as the Sunday night ceremony begins at the Northern California Women's Herbal Symposium. If you were wondering if I had a good time, just one look at our faces will tell you. Oh girls, I had an amazing adventure, full of love and epiphanies and deep knowledge! I knew I'd be blogging about my weekend for all of you, but in fact i am overwhelmed about where to even START. Hopefully those if you reading this out of state have something similar in your area that you like to go to.. or will dare to go to... a magic place created by women and for women where you can go to learn not just book knowledge but about life and time and what is real.



To start with the basics, well, it's a camp-- tents (or teepees) on the ground, which is not so comfortable when it pours rain, as it did our first day-- and the irony, it was a rain that broke a two-month drought! We needed it so much, but it took me totally out of my comfort zone. But the glory of Sunday morning when that sun came out.. never was it more appreciated.



So, like at any camp, there are kids (and kids at heart) running around laughing and hula hooping and playing games and making new friends, you get fed three times a day, there is a talent show and wacky songs around the campfire, and during the day of course there are classes, like this one about "The Unconscious Messages of Plants" by Linda Emashowski:



...or "Aphrodite's Boudoir" by Rabbit:



This was a class all about, well, amour, and Rabbit passed around a "love cordial" and got the class VERY steamed up-- I don't know when I've ever heard so much giggling!!! I wish I could have a class by Rabbit EVERY day!



This is my friend Amanda Lyon teaching us about "Marma Facial: Ayurvedic Energy Points for Radiant Skin and Emotional Balance". I know Amanda actually has both radiant skin and emotional balance, so I had to take this one and learn her tricks. We each did full six-step facial on each other... it was so relaxing, it makes me sleepy just thinking about it... mmmm.....



If all this isn't girly enough, on Sunday there is a three hour Marketplace where gals pull out their handmade goodies and sell and barter. It's basically the mall of your dreams: you've got your bloomers stall, your seaweed vendor, your handcrafted fairy teacup stand... Here's my friend Nacoa selling her homemade cordials-- the hit of the weekend, I assure you!



Me and Linda showing off our swanky new dresses:



The heart of Symposium, however, lies in the Sunday night Ceremony. This is a time to bless ourselves and honor ourselves as the women that we are and the women that we are continually becoming. We sing a very special song about our love and beauty, and walk under a bridge made of each others arms:





These are the Crones with their magic broomsticks (yes, really) at the very end:



Part of the ceremony involves calling forth the young girls who have started their first Moon and have decided to go through the very serious and very public ritual of leaving their "maiden time" behind. I want to cry just thinking about this; it is one of the most profoundly moving things I have ever experienced. The "maidens" are so palpably on the cusp of two worlds; so gawky, so shy, and so child-like; yet at the same time brimming with a powerful lioness-like energy that demands unwavering respect. Standing in the larger circle as they go through their ceremony, I see the looks on the younger girls faces and hear their whispered comments: they are in awe of the Maidens, these powerful girls who are holding the complete attention of 300 adults. They know that one day they will be in the center of this circle, and at 8 and 10 years old they already connect a woman's Moontime with this special power and magic. So many of us did not have an experience even remotely like this one, to say the least! I do grieve for the little girl in me who went so far as to hide her first blood, feeling only shame and confusion at its arrival-- nothing can change the whole screwed-up, Irish Catholic way that I bumbled into womanhood!-- but to see this wrong so completely and utterly righted is deeply healing. Don't believe what they tell you-- those darn hippies did change the world!

The Maidens, of course, represent but one part of the cycle of a woman's life. In the middle, we are Mothers-- Mothers to children, to friends, to creative endeavors, social causes, Mothers to the World-- and then there is a time when this, too, shifts.

The word "Crone" has been reclaimed from the trash-heap of insults and is now used as a term of respect for a woman who is past the time of her Bloods. And there is a ceremony to honor the Crones, as well-- as you would expect, it's slightly rowdier, bawdier, and involves a goblet of Magic Brew. Here they are, out Grandmothers, honoring one of the eldest among them as she performs a dance to bless us all (yes, she IS at least 80 years old and yes she IS dancing her heart out!):





It all ends with "Merry Meet, and Merry Part, and Merry Meet Again..." and a swirl of dancing colors at twilight. Even if you couldn't be there, I feel that you can still understand the spirit of the thing:









It was the shortest and yet the longest three and a half days of the year: I came back feeling as if I'd been on another planet (Venus?) and had that return-from-a-long-trip urge to re-evaluate my whole life path. Of course I am leaving out so much here... but I hope you can read between the lines a little. That's where the real Magic can be found, after all...



That's me and my gang. We're a pretty spunky bunch, ain't we? I'll tell you what, I decided that I love myself so much that I deserve to go back for the last session on Labor Day weekend. I'll scrape the money together from somewhere! Meanwhile, all of us are back in our regular lives, living them a little more fully for the time we spent together at Witch Camp. Hope you all can join me then!!!