growing herbs, magical....

Ive got a bit more serious about wanting to grow herbs. My usual technique has been to sprinkle numerous seeds into potting mix (fancy) in a pot or directly into the ground, add water and wait. Ive had some success but buying specially selected seeds does make one rather protective.My volunteering stint at the herb nursery gave me some insight into how they grow them from seed with funky results. They use a special 'seedling raising' mix, that is finer and lighter, and generally plant one seed in each tubestock type pot.,which then stay 'protected' in a greenhouse till they sprout and get a bit bigger. Then they are repotted into a bigger pot with a bulkier soil containing slow release fertilisers ( like osmocote) and are gradually 'hardened off' , which translates to getting them tough enough for the big wide world by gradual exposure to natural light and conditions.

Herbs are trixier than vegies, often the seeds are smaller and they may need extra treatments to break their dormancy, which is an added challenge. My usual techniques have had low gernination results so Ive bought a commercial seed raising mix, and am recycling trays and pots that Ive bought babies in, with just one or two seeds per cell, or pot. Ive discovered with my Henbane, Belladonna and Echinacea augustifolia that they naturally sprout after snowmelt, and the best way I can duplicate this by popping em in the fridge for a spell. A wise gardener recommended putting them in a jar of water, changing the water daily and doing it for two weeks. Guess what? IVE GOT 2 SPROUTLETS OF HENBANE!! They are meant to be tougher than some but still its tres excitement for this experimenter.You can bet baby photos will follow...


The other adjustment I made is to stop using a watering can and shift down a gear to a mister bottle which doesnt disturb wee developing rootsystems,but is enough to keep them moist. 'Dampening off' can happen when they are too wet, interfering with germination and it seems so far that a gentle misting helps filter out this problem too. Although Im yet to have success with tiny seeds like Pennyroyal or those precious Lobelia inflata seeds, my adaptations may give me some confidence to try again. Motherhood is a steep learning curve.....

Animal medicine...

"When the kunkis (tame elephants) are sick, the mahouts take them to the forest where the elephants pick the herbs or plants they need. Somehow they're able to prescribe their own medicine."
                      Dinesh Choudhury, Indian elephant hunter 2000

"The secrets of Nature are known to all wild creatures and on these they thrive."
                       Juliette de baricli Levy

Since ancient times, we have learned about potential plant medicines by observing wild animals. In records through to the modern day we watch and wonder as Juliette did.

"When i see my Afghan hounds in my gardens, or in the fields, or along the river-sides or sea-shores of the many lands where we have been together, I am always amazed at the way they have selected medicinal plants, shrubs and tress, and know where to find them an dhow to use them. By use. i mean the amount eaten to serve its purpose. Mostly their uses is as a laxative or to promote vomiting, and they know exactly how much to achieve one or the other effect."
                                             
I have watched my cat choose one type of grass over the other, tending towards soft weedy grasses rather than the drier native grasses, eating them and then vomiting. Whether because she has a funny belly or a stubborn furball Im unsure, but it is definitely a concious action to me.One related to her not feeling well or more importantly trying to heal better.

Scientists have previously thought such observations romanticised, however as sciences rigidity of old is being blown apart by discoveries and work in the field, 'zoopharmacognosy' is now a recognised area of research into the behavioural practices of animals to stay healthy. Also including the eating of soil to gain minerals missing in the diet, old bones to gain calcium and clay to counter, and bind, dietry toxins by animals.

When preparing their nests, male European starlings weave fresh green herbs in amongst them. In north America they preferentially choose wild carrot ( Daucus carota), yarrow (Achillea millefolia), elm-leaved and rough goldenrod (Soldaigo sp.) and fleabane ( Erigeron sp.) even when they are not the most common plants close by. Hows that for specific! Interestingly enough old herbals refer to wild carrot as 'bird's nest root' which suggests this plant has been used in nesting for some time. The common denominator with these plants is they smell, are aromatic. When researchers removed the fresh plants from nests, the amount of mites in the chicks rose. More specifically, chicks in nests containing wild carrot had higher haemoglobin levels, suggesting they were losing less to mites. Not only that but the plants chosen are effective against Streptococcus and Staphylococcus bacteria. Some serious fumigation going down there. In addition to this the plants starlings choose are commonly used by herbalists for skin problems such as excma, ulcers and sores. Thus they may also help with the symptoms of parasitic infestation.


So it seems the animals were simply ahead of the research.....

whats growing in the garden....medicines?

My wee seedlings that have been still for so long have grown in the last four days! Spring is beginning to seep into the days. As I watered my gardens a term came into my mind 'physick garden'. So in my developing researching before doubting mode, i found that these were gardens in Europe created by apothecaries to teach their apprentices plant identification and give them a connection to the plants. Learning gardens.Theres a garden like this that was established in Chelsea in 1673 thats still growing! How cool is that. Mind you indigenous folks earth gardens have been going way longer. But when these gardens were all the rage hospitals had them, damn sensible, as did private estates, damn sensible. Heres to physic gardens in every home and place of healing!


While Im on this era, about 50 years prior actually, Ill quote from Nicholas Culpeper.He was the first apothecary to translate the pharmacoepia (list of herbs in use) from the Latin into english so your everyday folk could access the information. Along the way came some scathing words for the medical establishment.
"It seems the College hold a strange opinion that it would do an English man mischief to know what the herbs in his garden are good for."
At the time the Colleges descriptions of English herbs listed neither their common names or virtues.
"I would consider what number of poor creatures perish daily who else might happily be preserved if they knew what the Herbs in their own Gardens were good for." He was an eat your weeds kinda bloke, whereas the establishment of the time liked to use complex mixtures of exotic and expensive ingredients...

Nicholas is also known for his combining of astrology with herbs. He ascribed symptoms, body parts and herbs to astrological houses and then used either herbs from an opposite house, or sympatheticly ones from the same house to treat disease.
"He that would know the reason of the operation of the Herbs, must look up as high as the stars."
Love how he capitalises Herbs...he was trying to construct a system of understanding health that could be accessible to many rather than the few. His English Physician containinng "a Compleat Method of Practice of Physic, whereby a Man may preserve his Body in Health, or cure himself when sick, with such things one-ly as grown in England, they being most fit for english Bodies." Local plants, used one at a time as simples.

Resources:
Planetary planting: A Guide to Organic Growing by the Signs of the Zodiac by Louise Riotte
Green Pharmacy : The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine by Barbara Grigg

Woman o the Woods...

'A moss-woman!' the haymakers cry,

And over the fields in terror they fly.

She is loosely clad from neck to foot

In a mantle of Moss from the Maples root,

And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows

Is the hair that over her mantle flows.
Her skin, like the Maple-rind, is hard,
Brown and ridgey, and furrowed and scarred;

And each feature flat, like the bark we see,

Where a bough has been lopped from the bole of a tree,

When the newer bark has crept healingly round,

And laps o'er the edge of the open wound;

Her knotty, root like feet are bare,

And her height is an ell from heel to hair,"

from The Fairy Family as quoted in The Lore of the Forest by George Allen, 1928.

Shrine to plant medicine...

So a mate offered me this 1930s cupboard that had been under her house, a little mouldy and dusty but nothing that a eucalyptus and detergent wash couldnt clean up. I decided to make it our plant medicine cupboard, a shrine to things herbal.  I do believe that by making spaces for what we honour and love theres an energy about of drawing these things into our lives. I love making salves, tinctures, elixirs and brews and it lets the plants know that I value their giveaways. Can be closed up n away too, like those curiousity cabinets folks made in victorian times filled with, well curious stuff. Often bones, talismans, amulets, taxidermy or just plain ol exotic things from far away places. Sitting ontop are all my gathering baskets, sadly unused of late. Also my dried herb ( aka coffee) grinder that I got for a couple of bucks, which was pretty grotty, but cleaned up, sanded back and oiled came up a dream....

I sorted through my library, no mean feat, and pulled out my herbology and growing books and put them in shelves next to the cupboard. All in all my altar to plant medicine is pretty well rounded I reckon! Hopefully itll send out clear vibes to healing plants that i want to work, play n make medicines with em. Next task is to design a logo to put on labels so stuff matches rather than being higglty pigglty scraps of paper.

green woman....

mortar and pestles...

Opal plant ways....

If youre interested in plants, ive just started up a blog specific to them at http://opalplantways.blogspot.com/ Please bear with me as I sort out some teething problems. Thanx.

Plantain salve....

Id like you to meet 'plantain', Plantago lanceolata, a fine herb for insect bites, rashes, dry skin, and I hear small wound healin. Youve probably already seen her about, shes often handy to places bees hang about (and sting). Ive had some plantain infusing in olive oil since august last year, hoping to call upon her soothing nature. The other day I decided to make a salve up. I had about 8/10 of a litre of oil, so I grated up 100g of beeswax to mix with it, I set up a double boiler to make the heating gentle, and stuck 3 chopsticks between the bowl and the saucepan of water as insurance. Up goes the heat and I gradually added the beeswax as the oil in the bowl heated up, till all the wax was disolved. As a liquid, I poured it into jars and as she cools she gels. You end up with a salve that melts with the heat from your fingers as you use it, too cool. Ive been using it on my face where theres excema type stuff round my nose and mouth. It looks like I had a big night, crashed out and drooled all over myself during the night without noticing the next morning. Not a good look and itchy. But aaah no more, 2 days of swims in the ocean and plantain salve are working wonders! Relief., and a lip balm for Ilkaflower...

Medicine bag....

When i reread 'Clan of the Cave Bear' i so loved when Iza, the clan medicine woman, gave Ayla, her adopted daughter and apprentice, her first medicine bag, that I decided to do the same for myself. In the tale each pouch of herbs is identified by a series of knots on the cords holding them, which is also an image I dig. So, I made mine one  from a possum skin, but u could do something similar just with a piece of fabric if that freaks you out. As u can see its a simple pattern that folds over and has drawstrings running up the sides. So far its got bush flower essences, meditation and emergency mix, motherwort tincture, rosehip oil and space to add more. Not really enough space for much dried herbs, but tinctures or vinegars yes. My dried herbs live in jars but Id love to make them calico bags with patterns and symbols relating to each plant on them....and the funky knot thang to identify whos who.

Incense, some ponderings.....

Picture a flaming hearthfire, on top a pot bubbles away with a soup, or stew, curry, or stir fry flavoured with herbs and spices. Smoke from the fire is mixing and blending with the scents of cooking, slightly tinged with the particular tree who gave of their wood to this scene. Perhaps some bread is baking, to dip into the meal. This picture is taking place all over the world, the localised herbs and spices varying what hungry noses are tempted by. What we are observing is highly likely the origin of incense...

Plants, and the scents they release when burned, have inspired, blessed, healed and comforted for eons. Be their form chunks of sap, branches or leaves straight from a tree, or the more processed mixtures of dried and powdered herbs burnt on charcoal, bound to a stick or swung in censors.

A newborn baby is held over a small fire, laced with leaves, be they spinifex or eucalypt, depending on what grows nearby, there is a blessing and welcoming into her new environment by passing through the smoke. A connecting to plants, and the hearth. For who is the bridge between earth and animals, even human ones, if not plants, it’s been thus since we were pondscum feeding on algae.

On the other side of the planet sage is rolled into a stick, bound in thread and allowed to dry like this, to be later lit and used to ‘smudge’ before a ritual dance, ceremony, or soul retrieval. The smoke brushed around the body using a cluster of eagle wingtip feathers it curls into where its needed, then rises high into the sky, and upper realms of spirit.

Incenses origins often reside in resins and barks. Sandalwood is so desired, that all the trees in Mysore, the place it occurs naturally are government property wherever they occur, and harvesting is watched over. There is also an Australian sandalwood, Santalam acuminatum, a interior species thats being used similarly as an alternative. The seeds of which were traditionally made into necklaces, not unlike the ones in india that saddhu’s wear and consider holy. They look like small round brains, interestingly enough considering the sacredness of them.

With such deep ancestral memories and associations is it any wonder that incense has been adopted by nearly every kind of faith, including atheism, on the planet. A precursor and codeveloper with perfume and aromatherapy, varying scent to mood and occasion. How blessed are we to have such a tool for shifting consciousness at our fingertips? It doesn’t have to be expensive, with a charcoal block any mix of dried herbs can be sprinkled on and encouraged to share its smoke. A pack of sticks is a couple of dollars.

Home feeling a bit stagnant? Setting a romantic or meditative scene? Taking a luxurious bath, got a candle going? Bit blue? Why not light up?

how the gardens growingk....

Phoenix spring....

Theres been a pause of late, perhaps of transition....
Spring is closing in. Medicine making is swinging along, and baby birds are falling out of nests. Dont know about you, but I say bring it on (except for baby birds bit). Some new shoot sprouting (metaphoric and green), and a breeze of fresh air to clear out the cobwebs (as long as spiders have a transfer set up).

Last weekend was the start of chuck out pile season round here....
Scores included: ipod, external harddrive, a hardcover book on the indigenous pharmacoepia of the Northern Territory (raced the collection truck for that one!), a fabric hammock (burgundy, with tassely bits), a buddha figure (slightly chipped, which u would be if u were buddha), videos (mostly kimba the white lion), a pretty simple frame (with glass intact, bonus), a guide to beekeeping in Victoria (essential to any library), a wooden bowl (buddha would have liked that one), candles supply top up, few cups (browns and greens), plates (im going to start collecting all florals aka naturish ones, like a picture on my plate when i get to the bottom of tucka), ummm....not bad for no vehicle eh? Goddess if I had a ute thered be trouble! Anyways gratitude for all recieved, and I get to do it all again this weekend! Good clean fun, that keeps me off the streets....ooops, actually it um doesnt....

Medicine wise Ive dried a stash of nettle as an experiment in wildcrafting. Dried first just as I cut it, the top half of the plant (can then resprout again), mostly with flowers and seeds. Its a lush green colour, and my nervous system is stoked. I make an infusion, which is like a pumped up cuppa of nourishing herbs (no plants with essential oils for me, they stay as tea) as taught by Mz Susun Weed. Its basically say 3 handfulls of herb brewed in a large teapot overnight, if possible. Its like a quality food really, and can be done with dandylion, chixweed, quite a few of those chuck out pile type plants folks dig up, or (god forbid) poison.What a waste!!
Tinctures collection is coming along too. Violet flower, motherwort. Separated out plant matter in chickweed, dandylion and violet flower (which literally is violet colour) tinctures, and have started taking them. Free herbal medicine, now thats got to rock! Truley medicine of the people, if theyd like to try it....

Artwise, working on tatu design....double phoenix. I can think of a few people who could lay claim to that image as well earned. Thatd be cool! A phoenix clan...
can be so without the tatt, some have their own warrior marks.
The plan is to put on my chest around heart area...with wings fanning out either side....

green folk....

Let me introduce some green folks....chickweed, Stellaria media, Dandylion, Taraxacum officinale, Parsley Root, Petrselinum sativum and Sisita Stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica, from left to right. The first three are tinctured and should be ready to strain off in about 5 weeks, the nettle is in vinegar and has been brewing for about a year... potent minerals ready to add to salad dressings etc.
Good to be learning with herbal allys once more. Bring on spring I say! Flower essences to make!

Medicine takes many forms.....

How does one skankyhousingcommissionschizoshamanic-ho (technical term of course) go from being tied to a system, which has its reasons for gratitude, to living independantly, and happily, off the grid, emmersed in nature, as far as she can.... I know, baby steps. Although sleeping rough tonite could suck, its bloody cold. Pneumonia anyone?
Its a rough, wild world out there....mmmm wiildd, oohh rough aint always too bad.
There seems always to be the balancing between quietude, and participation, so one doesnt end up so far up ones one arse (technical term again) that u cant get up in the morning, without a cask or a pack of psych drugs.... Still such breakfasts occur in urban environments amongst thousands of folk. In parts of the world without welfare, I could start each day with withdrawel, and no breakfast.....no hq....not many women get to my age, without an hq, literally.
How? In a world of such beautyous abundance and fertile potential, how? I asked my catfriend and she replied, Im just having a nap, then Ill get back to you. Thats not entirely true, she sat on a herbology book, and gave me a look like, havent you worked this shit out yet lovely. Theres my daily participation, humourous yet abruptly pointed, I could do wwaaaayyy worse. Break it down, and then have another nap....
Its becoming clearer I need to be making medicines, and here is where I am now as I work on the format. So joy be to government files, the looming of community treatment orders and transfers that could take 15 years! To honesty too, and talking about the messy chaotic bits....