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!

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!

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.

carrie's cramp elixir

a tea.

1 part raspberry leaf
1 part red clover
a couple capfuls of bourbon/whiskey/scotch/brandy (your choice)
honey

ALSO. i found that skullcap tincture, and cramp bark, works well too.
not in the tea.

qu'est-ce que tu pense?