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Putting it kindly, I’m a girl of fair complexion – i.e. I don’t tan, I simply go from white to red when I spend any length of time in the sun. But I HATE wearing sunblock. It’s greasy and weird-smelling and filled with ingredients I can’t pronounce.
A quick search this morning yielded the following results. I can’t wait to try to make my own!
How to make your own herbal sun tan lotion
Please note, I haven’t tried any of these yet, so I cannot vouch for them. If you’ve done your own experimenting, please share in the comments – I’d love to hear from you.
This past Tuesday, my herbalism class spent the afternoon hiking, talking, learning, laughing, and being generally blissed out by the bounty of a beautiful day and a beautiful place. Water tumbling over spills of rocks, clambering over boulders, and green growing in impossible crannies, up through last year’s fallen leaves, practically scrambling over each other trying to get our attention.
We made a lot of herb friends. Don’t believe me? Allow me to take you on a tour. In order of appearance…
Cancer Root. Conopholis americana.
Sweet Cicely, Anise Root. Osmorhiza longistylis.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Arisaema triphyllum.
Wild Ginger. Asarum canadense.
Wild Yam. Dioscorea villosa.
And because one picture just isn’t enough – more wild yam. Sigh. Isn’t she beautiful?
Round-lobed Hepatica. Hepatica nobilis obtusa.
Solomon’s Seal. Polygonatum biflorum.
Not to be confused with:
Plumed Solomon’s Seal, or False Solomon’s Seal. Maianthemum racemosum.
Toothwort, Toothache Root, Pepper Root. Cardamine diphylla.
Wild Hydrangea. Hydrangea arborescens.
Wild or Spotted Geranium. Geranium masculatum.
Downy Rattlesnake-Plantain. Goodyera pubescens.
Bloodroot. Sanguinaria canadensis.
Note the variations in leaf shape. WOW.
Pink Lady’s-Slipper. Cypripedium acaule.
Partridgeberry. Mitchella repens.
**Also called “Squaw Vine,” though this name is being discouraged due to its derogatory implications.
Dwarf Cinquefoil. Potentilla canadensis.
Common Pawpaw. Asimina triloba.
Poison Ivy. Toxicodendron radicans.
This plant has been used medicinally, though I wouldn’t advise it. I’m more including it because it is very helpful to be able to identify this plant before it identifies you *grin*
Turkeytail. Trametes versicolor.
Sassafras. Sassafras albidum.
Yellow Dock, Curly Dock. Rumex crispus.
Quelle belle journee.
A couple lovely posts this week from fellow bloggers – thought I’d share with you here.
From Methow Valley Herbs, a great materia medica post on Hawthorn
From Fat of the Land blog, another post on Dandelion Wine (my post on this is coming soon, probably this week… just eagerly waiting for it to stop bubbling 
In case you didn’t already know, the annual Herbs Galore fair is going to be at Maymont this weekend, Saturday, April 24, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Vendors will be selling seedlings, seeds, gardening tools, and handmade herbal products, there will be classes and workshops, food, art, all set in one our favorite and most idyllic parks in Richmond. This is THE big herb event in RVA each year – hope to see you there!
Every spring I do some form of cleansing diet or fast, looking at one’s wellness as a form of soilless gardening, this is a good way of preparing your body’s garden for another full and fertile year, eliminating toxins, sweeping out the cobwebs.
Since we recently learned about the master cleanse in my herbalism class, I decided to try it out for myself. Generally ten days are recommended for this fast. Being as I have low body fat myself, I aimed for five and completed four, listening to my body for when it was time to come off the fast. I posted daily blog entries on my other blog, the Purple House. If you’re interested in reading about my daily experiences and tips, see Master Cleanse, Days 1 – 4 on the Purple House blog.
What are your experiences with cleansing diets and fasts?
About a year ago I had the good fortune to visit Dr. James Duke’s garden in Maryland—my lovely friend Pamela is studying acupuncture at Tai Sophia, and the school’s herbalism program has a close relationship with Dr. Duke. Needless to say, I was tickled, intrigued, and inspired by the experience.
I was very pleased this week when I found out that the Piedmont Herb Festival in North Carolina will be featuring Jim Duke as its keynote speaker at its opening, Friday, June 4. The second day of the festival also boasts a plethora of different herbal classes from which to choose—choosing is the hard part.
Hope to see you there!
The best and worst thing about the Web is the wealth of information available on any given topic, some of it good, some of it bad, and often just plain daunting in the sheer volume of it.
So as I encounter blogs or articles that I find particularly illuminating, I’ll share them here with you. Feel free to share your favorites as well. I encountered two wonderful blog entries today that just begged to be shared…
First, Fat of the Land blogger Langdon Cook of Seattle, WA, posted a wonderful entry this week on burdock root, also known as gobo. I’m a big fan of cooking my medicines (what can I say? I love to eat!), and gobo is a prime example of how fine medicinal food can be. Fat of the Land focuses on foraging wild foods and herbs, as well as (recently) hunting—always an interesting and inspiring read.
Second, in honor of our brave spring flowers, a lovely blog entry on violets from British herbalist Sarah Head, who writes the Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife blog. Her writing is both evocative and straightforward and always makes me itch to run outside and get my hands dirty.
Happy spring everyone!
The schedule for Gaia Gathering 2010 is finally posted, and registrations are currently being accepted. For women from all walks of life who have a love for the earth and all that is wholesome crunchy granola goodness, come and join us! Classes cover a variety of topics, from herbalism (of course) to drumming, dance, natural beauty treatments, yoga, and so much more. Visit Sacred Plant Traditions’ Gaia Gathering Web page for registration, information, and the weekend schedule. Hope to see you there!
Phase three of launching the Earth Kind Herbal learning blog is finally complete! Here’s a little introduction on how to use the site.
The site posts are each categorized for easy browsing. To jump to posts from a specific category, simply select the desired category from the drop-down on the left side of the screen. The categories will include preparation techniques, recipes, materia medica (specific information/research of different medicinals), and notes from me. Furthermore, all posts have tags which are more specific topics touched on by that specific post – so a posting on Echinacea purpurea would be in the category “Materia medica,” but it would have a more specific tag of “Echinacea.” You can click on tags anywhere in the site to pull up all posts containing that specific tag.
There is a reference Bibliography that tracks all my reference books. Especially in Materia medica posts, I use a lot of research and provide citations of the source. Clicking on the citation within the post will take you to that specific listing on the Bibliography page, in case you’d like to pick up a copy of that book for yourself.
I’ve also put together a Glossary for quick reference of some of the less common vocabulary terms.
And lastly, there is a Links page, providing online resources, herbal schools, herb suppliers, etc.
January of 2009 – I was 29 and finally figuring out what I wanted to be when I grow up.
Which is to say, I was figuring out who I was, who I wanted to be, what I wanted from life. And the word that continually came to mind was “integrity.” I became tired of living a divided, compartmentalized life, where the person I was at work was different than the person I was at home, or with my friends, or in my garden, or visiting family. I didn’t want to be divided anymore.
What did I want? To get dirt under my fingernails every day. To work hard, to experience the seasons naturally as they occurred, to help my community, to build a life in which all aspects thereof support and strengthen one another.
I began studying herbalism at home in the spring, using Christopher Hobbs’ Foundations of Herbalism course; and this past September I began studying with Sacred Plant Traditions, an herbalism class in Charlottesville, VA.
The purpose of this blog is educational – to challenge me to apply myself, explore ideas, continue learning and questioning: herb research, philosophy, stories, recipes, lore, meditations and materia medica – my goal is to post something at least once a week. Keep my feet on the path.
And I invite you to contribute as well, whether you are a fellow student, an herbalist, a health professional, a gardener, a cook, a generally inquiring mind – feel free to share your stories, insights, thoughts, and lessons.
It’s now February of 2010. I’m 30. I know who I want to be when I grow up.
