winter tea

a recipe for the most wonderful tea made by my teacher corinne.

an equal mix of cinnamon chips, rose hips, spruce tips, dried black elderberries
a little bit less of whole peppercorns, orange peel, a pinch of burdock

(she also puts some devil's club root bark in it but that's harder to find)

i hope everyone's fall is full of leaves and frost and the good kind of heartache.
p.s. you all are welcome to come visit me in olympiaaaa, always and whenever!

i laughed, i cried, i brushed my teeth with nettle tea

"an attitude of gratitude is the beginning of everything." --The Elders

last weekend i went to the southeast women's herbal conference in the beautiful and ancient blue ridge mountains. we registered under our first names, not our patriarchal patrilineage. there was much singing and merrymaking and drumming and walking and listening and laughing and tears. it was basically the herbaculture internship crammed in one weekend, but without the kitty crisis. the conference focused on

simple living
local plants
and
deep nourishment

"we are midwifing each other back into wholeness," we said.

i slept in a cozy tent nest beside a misty lake under a waning moon and woke to wild honking geese. i brushed my teeth with nettle tea. i dreamed of bright birds. i ate acorn/autumn olive/chinese chestnut/sweet potato cornbread. i awoke my venus. i danced around a fire. i slept past 7. i went to a class devoted to burdock root. i never considered a shower. i reconnected with old friends. i held burning mugwort over my leg three miles.

...and other secrets too sacred for a blog, even this one.

love to ally'all

Skullcap + Turtlehead

Skullcap only grows wild in the most beautiful, serene forest streams. Pretty much. Which is why it brings such a sense of peace to many people. This I think, having met the plant in it's native home.

Turtlehead sometimes grows nearby. Its flower is a turtle head - seriously. Sticking its tongue out. And it can be used medicinally - it gives people giggles. Giggleiferous. Haven't tried out my tincture yet... Check it.

summer time

in june, i started going to an herb class being taught by a really wonderful local herbalist, corinne boyer. there are five other people in the class and we meet every week at corinne and her partner's farm in shelton, wa, which is a rural town near olympia. it's sooooo beautiful, she has 40 acres of woods in which to wildcraft, a stream, pastures, the world's most charming milk cow...and i have been learning a lot! it has been keeping me really excited about the millions of ways to interact with and learn about herbs.
yesterday was one of my favorite classes. we learned about and made a bunch of different smoking blends, smoked them out of wooden pipes and drank cherry wine. i was really excited to learn that you can smoke almost any medicinal herb as a way of getting its benefits, and also that when smoking out of a tobacco-style pipe you don't need to inhale to get the benefit of the smoke, you can just puff on it and your mouth's mucous membranes will absorb the properties. which is wonderful for me, the world's most inelegant inhaler of smoke.
i was especially happy about my smoking blend cause everything in it was either wildcrafted by me or hand picked by someone i knew. it had our local and incredibly magical kind of mugwort (artemisia suksdorffi), sweet annie from the herb pharm, ceanothus leaves from williams, mullein from my classmate, and some hops from corinne's friend. it tasted really artemisian and bitter at first, with a magical sweet annie fragrance afterward.

i've also become totally enchanted with yarrow, a plant i never really noticed before, but it's everywhere here and so beautiful. the bitter, sweetly fetid smell is enchanting. i went wildcrafting in a prairie and found bright creamy white yarrow that smells like rotting honey and sunlight. some pink yarrow came up in my backyard too!
in addition to helping external bleeding, yarrow also has an affinity for all kinds of blood-related things, including cramps and stagnant blood. it is a really strongly purifying and healing and protecting plant. it is also one of those plants is a good example of how wise herbs are; it can both cause and stop the same symptoms, depending on who takes it and in what context. i think that is really magical. yarrow knows what it's doing in there. there's a string of seven bundles of yarrow drying next to my bed and it has made my little room feel like the coziest and witchiest spot.

i hope everyone is well, i miss you all like crazy.
<3

found in meadows: RED CLOVER

I spent the morning in meadows, grateful, picking red clover flowers.

Trifolium pratense

According to wikipedia), in Latin, pratense means "found in meadows."

And it's true!red clover

On the last day of June, I drove out to a friend's farm here in central Kentucky. There are a few old horse pasture fields where now chicory, clover, daisies, thistle, poison ivy, etc. grow.

old tobacco/horse barn & daisies

Red clover is the first flower I ever harvested at herb pharm, and for that I feel a special connection to it. It's a warm, nourishing herb, and a delicious tea. I like it for menstrual cramps (sometimes with a shot of brandy) and Rosemary Gladstar says it's an 'excellent detoxifier or blood purifier,' and is used also for respiratory problems. It's a very strong, feminine herb, and the bees like it too.

Another thing I like about red clover is that it grows everywhere. Good medicine from the good earth! It's easy to find, especially on farms and in pastures. On my friend's organic farm there was so much I was able to easily follow overharvesting wildcrafting guidelines and leave plenty for the earth. I mostly stayed away from tractor paths, too.

inspired by m. blankets' 'harvesting apron' and my wildwoman ancestors
who have for eons gathered flowers in their skirts as they roamed

I also had for company Luna who has taught me how to live with abandon, leap through fields, follow my nose, and smile into the wind.

luna: LA LOBA

The days have been hot, and since I'm still sojourning and don't have my own herb shed [yet!], the best place to dry these flowers, I figured, was my car.

north lexington's favorite place to dry herbs

And then we'll have tea.

M. Bankets vs Staph

So this story is kind of gross, but if you push through, there's a happy ending.

There is a show space here in Columbus that is practically a superfund sight (really really dirty and nasty). My boyfriend returned home one night from said space with a medium sized gash on the front of his leg close to the ankle. Being a terrible herbalist, and also drunk, I didn't clean it out or anything. One night later he got a fever. We took his temperature at 101. I remember something about fevers being the bodys way of trying to fight infection. Most herbalists ive talked to are against suppressing fevers unless the person with one is a baby or an old sick person. Instead a lot of people talk about helping the fever untill it breaks itself. this sounded like a good idea to us because his ankle was clearly infected and that was the only reason we could figure for a random fever. I know yarrow is good for this but i didnt have any so we used wild ginger. a dropper full in some water. a half hour later his fever was 102! I dont know if the ginger did it, but i like to think so.
The next morning he woke up totally fine but said to me " i had this really weird zit on my foot this morning" Hmm.. thats funny I dont think ive ever had a zit on my foot. The "zit" was about three inches away from the original wound which was looking really really bad. I've had staph before and knew right away thats what it was. We started spraying goldenseal on the wounds and i had him take it internally 4 X's a day. We also tried using lemmongrass essential oil topically and internally (just one drop in some water) because we had some stuff in our notes about that being the best essential oil for staph but about 5 days after starting the lemmon grass he overdosed on (just felt sick and somehow knew it was the lemmongrass) so we stopped taking it internally and just stuck with golden seal and oregon grape. We also cleaned it as much as possible.
its a week and a couple days now and that shit's almost gone! I'm sure antibiotics would have done the trick a little sooner but staph cant become immune to herbs because every batch of herbal medicine has tons of variables that make it diffrent everytime whereas pharmacuticals are chemical identical batch to batch so the virus can "figure them out".
If i had it to do over i think i would have not sprayed tincture directly on the wound because alchohol kills healthy tissue too, maybe instead burned out the booze or put it in a little water.
Can anyone remember what the deal with activated charcoal and staph was? i didnt have it in my notes but remember Tyler talking about it.
now if only i could figure this cough i have out...

Lets hear about other peoples herbal triumphs!

friday night

what's your favorite latin name for an herb?
right now mine is definitely
OPLOPANAX HORRIDUM (devil's club)
i really hope i see one of these somedayyyy.

love,
nicole (kind of drunk in a coffee shop that feels like the inside of a ship)

p.s. does anyone wanna move to the bay area with me next year? i might be goin to herb school!!

in the club

Sisters and brother!

I just ran across a file in my itunes that made me laugh and miss you all so much...

"if we close our eyes, it could just be me and you..."

<3 thanks for the smiles...

lyss - i hope you're rockin' the fiddle right now...

my trip to the natural doctor in mexico

...and on the Eighth Day, I hungered.

i know these posts of mine describing my central american health can be a bit self-indulgent, but this one will make you laugh. *sneak preview: i vomit at a waterfall and get a shot in my rear!

also, to make up for it, i will share a sexy poem that is slightly related to the topic at hand.

Tengo hambre de tu boca, de tu voz, de tu pelo
y por las calles voy sin nutrirme, callado,
no me sostiene el pan, el alba me desquiciar,
busco el sonido líquido de tus pies en el día.

Estoy hambriento de tu risa resbalada,
de tus manos color de furioso granero,
tengo hambre de la pálida piedra de tus uñas,
quiero comer tu piel como una intacta almendra.

Quiero comer el rayo quemado en tu hermosura,
la nariz soberana del arrogante rostro,
quiero comer la sombra fugaz de tus pestañas

Y hambriente vengo y voy olfateando el crepúsculo
buscándote, buscando tu corazón caliente
como un puma en la soledad de Quitratúe.

(Pablo Neruda, Soneto XI)

(unfortunately, i couldn´t find an official translation in english. but if you want you could probably google translate it.)

so. it has been more than a week that i have been sick with an intestinal bacterial infection. i confess. i had become complacent--even lazy, overadmiring street food and eating with unwashed hands. but then i vomited, publicly, while enjoying a nice day at a waterfall, and for a week i wasn´t hungry, so i didn´t eat.

finally, eight days later, i awoke with a craving for cake. i´m a lucky girl with good friends so no sooner was my wish expressed, it was granted, thanks to my good friend jessica, who whipped up a chocolate vegan cake in mere moments. after the cake, i went to the doctor. but first i had to find him.

a friend had drawn a map in my journal of where to find the office--through a door between a clothing store and a music store. i found the door and began to ascend the stairs when someone asked me what i sought. when i told him, he said, "he´s not here, mi amor. he´s there, behind the cd store.") perfect! another opportunity to browse the bootlegged reggaeton cds. but, my priorities straight, i instead breezed past enrique iglesias, prince royce and pitbull and up the red staircase to the clínica medica naturista.

i found him (not prince royce), the only person in the office, a calm, intelligent médico naturista in a white linen shirt with a sunlit office full of herbal tinctures on glass shelves and white walls with faded posters. he took my temperature under my arm, asked me what i´d been eating (the culprit, he surmised, the fresh coconut water (and, sometimes, fresh bacteria, too) i´d grown so fond of--sold in plastic bags with ice and a straw from trays balanced on ladies´ heads at the bustling market).

he asked me how i´d been feeling, if i´d taken any medicines (i´d taken hp´s willow/meadowsweet for the fever, and i´d even let my doctor friend give me a shot in the rear to reduce the inflammation of my stomach. apparently butt shots are all the rage in mexico.) but, wanting to avoid antibiotics, i opted for another route.

then he listened to my intestines (which were probably quite talkative), and, after a few friendly questions about what i was doing in mexico, gave me some herbs (tinctures) and a list of foods to avoid, including a stern admonishment to avoid all street foods ("no bolsitas de agua de coco!" he wagged his finger and smiled), which i know i must oblige, at least until i feel better.

THE HERBS
(take 25 drops every six hours in 1/4 cup of water)
Castellia (Castellia Texana)
Ceratophillia (Chaparro Amargo) Castella Emoryi (CRUCIFIXION THORN--ay!)

i´m not sure what they are in english. one of them smells like valerian.
*EDIT: i went back two days later to have a chat with the doc. he was watching tv (either a documentary or a telenovela, i couldn't tell...) when i came in, and politely turned it off and invited me to sit down. we chatted for twenty minutes about herbs, mexico, tourism, health, and i even schooled him on all the vegetarian restaurants in the city.

i asked him to clarify his doctor's handwriting so i could decipher exactly what the herbs are. ceratophillia is chaparro amargo, native to northern mexico, but still don't have much more information about the other.*
FOODS TO AVOID:
beans, radishes, cauliflower, watermelon, melon, raw salads and uncooked vegetables, papaya (but the seeds are okay!), spicy food, and, in capital letters, ALIMENTOS CALLEJEROS (street food)

the entire thing--consultation, tinctures--cost less than fifteen dollars, which, though a lot of pesos, is pretty good considering what natural medicine can cost in the us.

so, for one week, this is my treatment. in seven days´ time, i will comment on my condition. it certainly feels good to be hungry again!

a few words of wisdom.

"¡¡como bien,
me siento bien!!"

--the shirts at the local vegetarian restaurant
(i eat well, i feel well!)

por todo mal...mezcal!
por todo bien...también!

--a favorite saying
(for everything bad, mezcal! for everything good, the same!)

may you be well, and hungry.
xoxo

this place.

hey babies, i just found the most inspiring and beautiful thing i've seen in so long...i think i am in love!
dorilandia.com
midnightapothecary.blogspot.com

dori midnight is a radical witch healerrrrr and she makes all kinds of magic things like charmed honey and her own tarot cards and i am just thinking of all the things i wanna do but somehow cannot find the energy to in this long damp winter. thinking about finding meaning in everything, nurturing your power, the sacred things that give you strength. how you can use herbs for their "material" properties as well as the invisible secret magic of them, and how both are equally powerful and valid, i just read the andrew weil article jaime sent me, everything is coming together in a weird sparkling way.

also...i found another herb school in california, why do they get all of them down there? sheesh. new life project, starting an herb school in washington?! anyway, it's called ohlone herbal center and it's in berkeley and looks pretty amazing......ohlonecenter.org

i love all of you, and miss you, and hope you are well!
xxxxxxxooooooo nicole

Flu lessons

I've had the flu or something the past few days, and have learned some things that seem useful - thanks flu! When feeling weak or achy, boneset helps me feel strong and relieved of pain (thank you sCarrie for the tincture!). Maybe a little too much so, because then I think I have energy to do things, and that is not true! When feeling tense and overheated, yarrow helps me feel relaxed and cooled, like being wrapped in comfort - thank you yarrow! All makes me think more, as I've been thinking already, that the seeming need to understand things in a scientific way is seeming funnier and funnier to me when contrasted with personal experience. And in reality, how medicinal plants work is admittedly beyond scientific conception, because only a select few isolated constituents have been proven to do things in even the most studied plants. They're simply too complex for science to fully grasp the interaction with the human body. So why science? Well, ok, yes, it helps to understand things (at least partially) in that way too, and to communicate in an understandable way to the wider culture. But for me it's just far easier to accept that boneset gives strength, yarrow gives comfort, and I give them appreciation (and hopefully some help propagation help).

Hmmmm.....

cough cough

hey friends.
what do you know about lung health?

i am writing to ask for some guidance/advice/ideas. i just got back from quetzaltenango, guatemala, a wonderful place but a city polluted with diesel exhaust and the dust from a nearby active volcano. hot during the day's sun, and quite cold at night. and now i have (my third) bronchial issue in four months. (remember portland/seattle in november? or mexico last month?) it's productive and rumbly, but still small.

a fellow traveler and i mused recently about the connections between emotional/spiritual conflicts and their manifestations in physiological illnesses. a friend pointed out that this could be a dangerous thing to accept too wholeheartedly, as it could lead to needless blame for circumstances beyond one's control. still, i wonder what it means to have such sensitive lungs in an otherwise quite hardy body (nice curves too). its persistence reminds me of my own struggle with holding onto things (mostly emotionally, not materialistically), and with rushing myself--rushing myself to make decisions, and to get better, for example, often neglecting giving myself time to recover and rest.

anyway, i am only traveling with one book, and it's not about herbs or healing, so if you have any ideas (food, herbs, color meditations) about both how to treat and prevent this, i'd be happy to hear 'em.

grande love, scarrie sann

nicole gets athlete's foot: the year's most compelling drama

about a week and a half ago, one of my toes was feeling weird and itchy and hot. when i looked at it, it was really red and the skin was peeling off. after some internet research, i discovered i probably had athlete's foot (tinea pedis). gross! i decided to try some essential oils to get rid of it, since it is a fungal infection. i had some eucalyptus and clary sage, which apparently & luckily are some of the most anti-fungal essential oils of all.
at first i mixed them into some drops of the only oil i had, organic canola oil, and put it on my toe twice a day, then covered it with a bandaid. within a few hours the itching had been greatly reduced. also i took some goldenseal tincture the first day, but forgot to after that. after a few days i had an intuition that the canola oil probably wasn't helping very much, oil being so prone to hosting molds. so i just started putting one drop of each essential oil on my toe. within a few days my infection had vanished. raising my fist to the night sky, i rejoiced, crying out - A POX ON YOU, LAMISIL A.T.! ONE MORE VICTORY FOR HERBAL MEDICINE!

Herb Class

Since I'm in Mexico with the specific intent both to learn Spanish and to learn about traditional medicine, I decided to take a three-day medicinal herb class (in Spanish!) at the Botanical Garden in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas.

The class was very informal and fun. (Sound familiar?) During our breaks we ate fresh fruit (mangoes, jicama, melon--all with chili salt), cheese (Chiapas is like the Wisconsin of Mexico...'the dairyland'...), and we drank pozol, a corn-based chocolate drink served in half a dried gourd. If you drink it you are destined to return to Chiapas. I have, so far, had many cups.



Here's a quick description of what we made and the ingredients we used. And no, I didn't catch everything. Or most things. Remember in my past life as an herbal student when I could make jokes during class?

On Day One, we made a salve and a massage oil.

Salve: aloe, purple agave, camphor, Peruvian Balsam, beeswax, oil (we used vegetable cooking oil)
Oil: rosemary, the skin of a grapefruit, oil

On Day Two, we made a revitalizing, anti-dandruff shampoo.

Shampoo: some soap base that I don't know how to translate (texapon and dehiton), mamey seeds, avocado seeds, ginger, guava leaves, two whole jalapeno chiles

And, on Day Three, we made a cough syrup.

Cough Syrup: bugambilia flowers, ginger, Mexican oregano, one head of garlic, one purple onion, water, honey, the insides of a gourd (?)
You can add tequila or posh to the syrup to conserve it.



It was an interesting experience; my first formal herbal class outside of the United States. It reminds me how lucky we were at the Pharm; everything was glass or wooden or steel, organic and local and pure. Here in Mexico the ingredients I'm used to using are expensive or unavailable, and learning to make do without things is a good lesson.

Also, in the US, because of a messed-up healthcare system and an excessively capitalistic definition of wellness, herbalism can seem like an expensive route for most people. Big corprate stores sell expensive remedies that cater to wealthier people who can afford to shop there. Here, it seems that wealthier people use pharmaceuticals because they can afford them, and poorer people use herbs because it's what's available.

I think it's important that "traditional" and herbal medicine and knowledge is made avaible to everyone.

The class instructors were nutritionists and ethnobotanists who go to tiny indigenous villages to have people point out medicinal plants to them, and describe how they use them. The information is compiled and re-distributed to younger generations and to people who haven't been taught this ancestral knowledge. Like us.



I'm really grateful to be able to pursue herbal education while I'm traveling in a new place. I'm also grateful to have found a good resource for materials in downtown Tuxtla. And I'm grateful for all of you, for your inspiration and encouragement.

Sending you good vibes, and letters if you email your address. Just bought loads of wonderful stamps (Mexican flowers/revolution/dance).

love, moonrose
xoxo

PS: Did you feel that full moon yesterday? Yow!

10th International Herb Symposium

Hey east-coasters! Holla' back now!

I'm thinking about attending this symposium with a portion of the profit I earn from my minimum wage job this summer...

Wanted to post it in case others are interested. Check out the topics and see if they wet your appetites.

Also, there is a Women's Herbal Conference: http://www.womensherbalconference.com/, which sounds pretty awesome as well. Don't know if I can attend that one, but thought I should include it in this post.

Another idea: What if we all went to Burning Man this year and had our own tent? Our trade item could be home-made medicinals.

Comments?

Only love!

BREAD!

Hey Folks! Want to bake? You know I do! ;-)

Kripalu Herb Cheese Bread

2 3/4 C very warm water

1 T active dry yeast

3 T honey

1 C unbleached white flour

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C canola oil (or butter, or olive oil)

1 T salt

1 t dried oregano (any of these fresh is great, just add more, like a T)

1 t dried basil

1 t dried thyme

1 t dried dill

1 t dried marjoram

1/2 C grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 C grated cheddar cheese

1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

1) Mix honey with warm water and add yeast, let sit for 2-3 min. If it bubbles and foams in the middle, you know you're yeast is good.

2) Add flour, oil, and salt. Let stand 10 min.

3) Lightly flour a surface (and have some spare flour in a bowl if dough is too wet) and knead dough for 10 min. (yeah, it's a work-out)

-after 2-3 min. of kneading, add herbs

-after 7 min. of kneading, add cheese

4) Place in well-oiled bowl and cover with clean cloth. Keep in a warm place for 40-60 min. rising time (or until dough has doubled in size).

5) Punch down dough and shape into a mound. Let rise again another 30 min.

6) Roll out and place in 2 oiled pans, or shape to your liking (I like to roll some garlic or tapenade inside for extra fancy times).

7)Bake at 375 Farenheit for at least 45 min. If you can knock on the bread and it sound hollow, you should be good...check bottom of bread to make sure. When bread is done, remove off pan immediately and let cool on rack.

Sunflower Oatmeal Bread

1 1/4 C warm water

1 pkg. or 2 1/2 t active dry yeast

1 1/4 C warm buttermilk (you can use milk or yogurt, or make some buttermilk)

1/4 C honey

2 T molasses

2 T butter (room temp)

1 C whole wheat flour

1 C regular rolled oats

3/4 C sunflower seeds

1 egg beaten

2 t salt

5 1/4-5 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1) mix warm water with a little of the honey, add yeast and proof.

2) add other wet ingredients, in another bowl mix dry, and then mix all.

3) cover and let rise until double (~1 1/2 hours).

4) punch down and divide into 3. Let rise 10 min.

5) shape and brush with beaten egg (i don't always do this, because there is often left over egg, but you can always fry up the extra for a small snack:) ).

6) sprinkle with sunflower seeds, oats.

7) let rise until doubled.

8) bake @ 375 Farenheit for 30-35 min. until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

PS Sorry lyss kiss, I am unsure of any alterations for gluten-free baking. I hope to learn more soon!

LOVE!

Parasites and Magic Papaya

a picture of my notebook, since no evidence remained of the papaya

LAS SEMILLAS

I've been suffering from a stomachache for a few days/weeks. Another traveler recommended las semillas de papaya, and I instantly remembered reading in that herb book that papaya seeds, a spoonful chewed, helped with stomachaches, especially contra parasites (most likely the issue). I tried it, and a few hours later, felt great! Great enough, even, for a splash of posh (Chiapas sugarcane moonshine).

Normally, in a land where pineapples and coconuts and mangoes run free, papaya is not my preferred fruit. But after slicing one open for the seeds, intending to give the fruit away, I ate the entire thing. Guess I'm a born-again papaya lover.

Love from here,
moonrose
aka BLUE LUNAR STORM (my mayan kin)
xoxo

SHAMAN SHROOM

west coast herb schools

this is an incomplete list, if anyone knows of other ones leave a comment and i will add it. i think it would be useful to have lists of all the herb schools we can find out about in the different regions of the us!

OREGON
elderberry school - portland, oregon
meghan went here, i think, and had mixed reviews of it.

portland school of traditional western herbalism - portland, or
matthew wood's school.

CALIFORNIA
california school of herbal studies - forestville, ca (sonoma county)
this is the school rosemary gladstar started and i have heard many good things about it. the cost also seems reasonable for the amount of instruction time.

northwest school for botanical studies - arcata, ca (humboldt county)
never heard of this one.

ARIZONA
southwest school of botanical medicine - bisbee, az
michael moore's school. i think they only do correspondence courses.

Just in case you haven't heard of this site and you're wondering how to make leggings...

http://www.threadbanger.com/

P.S. TheMooner, will you post your delicious bread recipe?

In Need of Notes

Hey loves,
Just wondering if anyone would be willing to send me a copy of their notes of Michelle's talk on Women's Herbs. My arm was incapable of writing that day.
Cheers from the snowbank!

Tea-tree Tuesday

Un-inspired,

by anything less

than nothing.

Ever abundant

shape-shifting,

time-sifting

into the wind.

Baked like

brown leaves

in the sun

Stretched tautly,

as a web

between stems.

Tiny worlds

expand and collapse,

with or without

our sticky fingers.

Here I am,

as a distant vibration

between mountains

Learning to love

as one,

not to love

only one.

Accompanied to the end

of the rope,

only to find

it never was.

Days and days

of delusional illusions--

unconscious mysteries

unfold

without violence

or trust.

We are here

to unfold.

box cat

ursula has become quite popular on the westside of olympia. people here are concerned to a startling degree about wandering cats! at least once a week someone calls saying "your cat just came up to me, she's sitting right here, come get her!" and usually they are not more than a block away. i guess it is good to know everyone has her back.

road trippin ctd.

Dear Friends,

I'm trying to get to Texas and soon. I'm just wondering if any of you fellow wandering hearts know of anyone traveling to and fro Texas via the Eastside? My friend is about to birth a second baby boy.

Hope You're Well,

M

Awareness!

Mucho Gusto!

Hola amigos! I write to you from Chiapas, Mexico.

Car Trips

Today is my one-week Mexican anniversary. We arrived here, my friend Jessica and her fiance Edwin, a few days ago; we drove fifteen hours from Playa del Carmen, a resorty place, over bumpy highways and through checkpoints, listening to music from bootlegged cds, and trying not to barf.

Carrie's Mexican Backseat Carsick Cure:

mentos

sleep

Dosage: until you feel better!

I wrote this in my book as we drove. Buy something minty at a gas station. Sleep, stretched out in the backseat, with a shawl draped over you. Reading and writing should be limited, as should obsessing over details of things already past. TRUST YOURSELF NOW, and trusting your past will be even easier.

Our car was searched a few times at highway checkpoints; maybe it was the gringa and reggae music combination. ha! One searcher examined my 'medicine bag' (six or so tinctures) and wondered about the bottles. A bottle of eucalyptus essential oil was even brought to the supervisor to examine. Nobody could figure it out! My friend's fiance, a doctor, said, "those are medicinal herbs. She's an herbal doctor." ha! In Mexico, he says, herbalists (curanderas) are very common and often practice out of their homes. He works at a clinic in a small rural town where he sees patients who come "as a last resort," after the herbs have been tried.

Markets

For breakfast on Sunday we went to the market, ate eggs and plantains and pineapple water, and bought some fruit and vegetables. A few vendors were selling herbs, fresh and dried. I recognized dried horsetail in a bag, and fresh watercress in bunches on a table beside mangoes. Since my Spanish is so limited, I can't ask as many questions as I'd like to. That will come.

Mal de Ojo

I finished Clan of the Cave Bear yesterday in the hammock, and last night, we went to Edwin's parents' house for quesadillas. Yum. After supper and rosca (I got the baby, so it is my responsibility to throw a party in February. You are all invited...), we talked herbs. Scarlet, Edwin's mom, brought out some fresh albahaca (basil), we tasted it, and then she removed the leaves into a bowl. She placed a whole egg in the bowl, added a splash of ethanol, and lightly rubbed the egg with the alcohol and basil as she described mal de ojo, evil eye. [Purists, she said, would only used eggs laid by chickens that you raise in your backyard; never factory farm eggs.] Then she rolled the egg over my arms, neck, and shoulders. When someone is extremely stressed, the egg cracks instantly. "The back of your neck is hot," she said, an indication of mal de ojo. When she cracked the egg into a glass of water, her eyes widened. She pointed to the ten tiny bubbles in the whites; they indicated times someone had directed powerful energy toward me--for example, she said, a man who was attracted to me. MAL DE OJO!

"This is not witchcraft," she assured me. "I go to church."

She goes to an Adventist church, which Jessica describes as "a nutrition club." She lent me a book about medicinal plants that she got through her church. (photos)

Urtica dioica!-->

Then we drank rosemary tea (it's strong) and she gave me a recipe for healthy digestion and cleansing. It's a three week program:

Tea

Week 1: Rosemary tea every day

Week 2: Rue tea every day

Week 3: 10 purple garlic cloves mashed with lemon juice; 1 tsp after each meal

(Until you feel better.)

I hope you all are well and happy of heart, wherever you are. I will keep trying to learn, and I will keep keeping in touch. Love to you all.

MUCHO GUSTO!

PS: Did you know that plants can germinate and grow inside of you? I heard about it on the beach. Some Russian guy had a fir tree growing in his lungs.

a question

i really want to read more michael moore constitutional physiology stuff but i don't think he does a good job explaining the basics of body systems. does anyone know a good beginning book on anatomy & physiology? there's so many on amazon that i don't know where to start.
i hope everyone's new year was wonderful.
and i wish we all lived near each other so we could have a book club!

poetry to pass on

Not black, not
that terror,stupidity

of cold rage; or black
only for being pent there?

What if released in air
it became a white

source of light, a fountain
of light? Could all that weight

be the power of flight?
Look inward: see me

with embryo wings, one
feathered in soot, the other

blazing ciliations of ember, pale
flare-pinions. Well--

could I go
on one wing,

the white one?

---Denise Levertov