A Summer Miracle We usually offer a workshop in the Summer, Summer Herbal Home Spa, in which I demonstrate making a waterproof natural sun block incorporating zinc oxide. One year, as I was pouring it into silicon tubes, it was too hot and it melted the tube and flowed down to burn my leg. It […]
As the opioid epidemic worsens, people are desperate for natural pain relief options. A local herb, wild lettuce has been used for millennia as a natural herbal pain reliever, and now survivalists are touting it as a form of morphine that grows in your backyard. A house up the street from us has been being […]
Lemonade berries, Rhus integrifolia, are the fruits of a native Southern California species belonging to the Anacardiaceae family. They have been growing wild since ancient times. The shrubs are primarily found from Santa Barbara County south to Baja California and thrive in coastal sage scrub and chaparral regions. We are blessed wit h several in […]
There’s Something About Comfrey A tour of an herb garden to meet the plants and do some collecting is always an adventure. If the borage and comfrey are flowering, there’s a real treat for the senses- sweet and tasty flowers possessing a vibrant, yet simple, beauty. Knitbone Comfrey’s traditional names’ are knitbone, boneset and the derivation of […]
Benefits of Maca The benefits of Maca are enjoyed by men and women alike. Maca is a cruciferous vegetable related to broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale. Known scientifically as Lepidium meyenii, maca grows in the high mountains of Peru. It is rich in nutritional content (potassium, and higher levels of calcium than in milk). Benefits […]
The health benefits of basil pesto, a common food with an uncommon flavor has brought an ancient and mysterious herb to the forefront of our modern culture. Basil (sweet or common basil), Ocymum basilium, is an annual growing to 3 feet. The stem, like other mints, is quadrangular (square). White flowers appear in whorls in […]
The benefits of cinnamon The benefits of cinnamon go far beyond its culinary applications as a spice. Description Cinnamon is the brownish-reddish inner bark of the cinnamon tree. When dried, it rolls into a tubular form known as a quill. Cinnamon is available in either its whole quill form (cinnamon sticks) or as ground powder. […]
Benefits of Licorice Root– The Great Harmonizer One of the benefits of licorice root may well be summarized in Mary Poppins’ attestation, “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.” The root contains a compound about 50 times sweeter than sugar – a property which comes in handy for helping to ‘disguise’ other less […]
Growing up in Michigan, my earliest experience with totems was with totem poles. They were wooden poles carved with the shapes of various heads and symbols. They seemed interesting, but I had little notion what they were about. In my explorations of the 60′s, I had occasion to read the accounts of Carlos Castenada with […]
