Sunshine in the Rain

Housebound for another week of storms, the rains lifted Friday afternoon for our weekend workshop on making plant medicines, then started right back up. My goal this week is indoors anyway. Crafting and fine tuning this blog. I just added a forum, look for the little widget to the lower right. WordPress doesn’t support forums so this is an external forum. Please let me know if you’re comfortable using it.

And we have another writer, Sasha Daucus in Missouri, all set to shed some light on the “Grandmothers of Dauphine Island” for starters. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us Sasha! Any other herbalists who want to contribute postings here?

Our OTS/Earth Offering workshops are really starting to feel like a family affair. New folks coming in quickly morph into “old friends” as we share a love of nature and her healing touch. The camping with our wilderness skills experts from Ozark Trackers is pure fun, camp kitchen, conversation around the campfire late into the night, nature awareness exercises…really rounds out the working with plants.

We had an emergency room physician from Missouri whose grandmother was a granny woman. He mentioned that there were also “male granny women”…called “root doctors”. I think we need a “root doctor” revival, too. There were two medical doctors and a nurse in attendance who recognize that its time for doctors to learn how to make their own plant medicines again. Very encouraging to see doctors returning to their roots. And I might add, they’re supportive of a granny woman revival.

I just loved this class…its diversity (doctors,nurse,attorney,stock broker, attorney,psychologist,computer techs, etc.) and the unity between us in regards to the technologies of independence, the ability of nature to restore. Forgot to take photos (again). Had the whole gang crowded around the woodstove in my barn loft enduring a playful kitten while we detailed various ways to make tinctures,infusions,decoctions. We made a hydrosol of Juniper…divine, try it! I made a hydrosol of Sweet Annie (heavenly fragrance) for a lotion. We finished things off with some of the basics on infused oils and ointments. Then ran out of time!

We also take hikes to identify the edible/medicinal neighborhood. Located a sizeable patch of horsetail and black cohosh (no, not growing together). The horsetail has to be around 6-8 feet tall, I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

Yesterday I learned that there’s an article on the web stating that Elderberry fosters a cytokine storm so don’t take it for H1N1 flu. I disagree and will explain why in my next post. For now, would you share your thoughts on using any of the following for H1N1 = Goldenseal, Echinacea, Elderberry?