It’s hard to believe it’s already been 1 year since my friend Kiva started the Plant Healer Magazine yet, this issue marks the 1 year anniversary!

This issue is 264 amazing pages of articles from well known herbalists, up and coming herbalists and even kid herbalists! There are lots of drawings, color photographs and art work pertaining to herbs. It is published quarterly and features a variety of articles including monographs about plants, herbal marketing, herbal medicine making, herbal birthing, the roots of herbalism, herbal botany and many more topics that are of interest to the traditional herbalist.

You’ll also find stories, cartoons, poetry and a variety of herbal posters to amuse and delight yourself!

I had the pleasure to write 2 articles for this issue in addition to offering a full paged drawing titled ‘Harvest’ to contribute to this beautiful publication. It has to be one of the most beautiful and informative herbal publications that can be found.

To celebrate the anniversary issue, Kiva and her partner Jesse Wolf Hardin are offering some amazing bonuses to go along with the usual subscription rate, including a discount to attend the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference in September 2012 at Mormon Lake in Arizona! The discount will only be available for the next few weeks though so if you’re interested, you need to grab it up soon. Click on the banner to head on over there:

This beautiful pinky purple flower is an attractor for native bumble bees (honey bees are too small to reach the nectar), feed for livestock and medicine for humans.

The delicious blossoms are known for their anti-cancer activity, especially when dealing with breast, ovarian and lymph cancers. She has an affinity for cysts, especially in the upper region of the body and works well when there are single cysts.

Full of vitamins and minerals (calcium, chromium, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus and vitamins A, B complex and C), this herb makes a wonderful daily infusion that is mildy sweet and satisfying. Try it iced for a cool summertime refreshment.

Tonight we had a chance to head to my local Red Clover patch and harvest a basketful. It went quickly with 5 extra hands helping! That harvest gave us fresh blossoms to make tea and tinctures for all to take home plus enough left over to fill my drying screens for infusion making later in the year.

Red Clover will continue to bloom through the summer but will taper back for awhile and bloom again in late summer. Because of this, she is often known as the herb that gives second chances though it is said the first blooming is superior to the second blooming.

Back in the house we talked about the differences between herbal infusions and teas and then got to sampling. To demonstrate dried herbs offer a higher mineral content than fresh herbs I had made infusions of each earlier in the day and let them steep for 8 hours. We also made a tea of both the fresh and dried blossoms, letting it steep for about 10 minutes. The results were amazing and varied! The dried infusion was dark in color, slightly sweet and mild tasting. The fresh infusion tasted like water even though it had sat for the same period of time. The coloring was also much lighter.

The teas were delightful, demonstrating that Red Clover makes a wonderful beverage tea. Both the fresh and dried were sweet though the dried was a bit stronger. The kids happily guzzled down our leftovers.

In addition to her anti-cancer properties, Red Clover is wonderful for treating coughs, especially irritable, drippy coughs such as coughs from Pertussis and Measles. She is useful for treating Mumps as well, working on the inflamed glands.

Red Clover has mild laxative, diuretic, alterative, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. She contains coumarin that can change to dicoumarin if the blossoms ferment during drying. This is because the coumarin can combine with a common mold that is found on Red Clover called Botrytis mold which if dried too slowly will ferment and turn to dicoumarin.

If you were unable to make tonight’s class, you are welcome to download tonight’s handout here. Feel free to share with others but please credit me with my work.

Want to learn more about Red Clover? You can purchase this month’s issue of Herbal Roots zine  Crazy for Clover which contains 35 pages of stories, songs, poems, games, puzzles, recipes, crafts and more, all focusing on Red Clover for only $7.99.

Or, you can subscribe for an entire year of Herbal Roots zine for just $47.

Not ready to purchase yet? Sign up for our free monthly newsletter and receive an issue of Herbal Roots zine for free!

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One of the best things about herbs is their ability to heal, even when used as food. This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart and one I have recently begun embracing wholeheartedly, so much so that when I heard my good friend John over at LearningHerbs.com had created a Culinary Herbalism Course with natural healing specialist K. P. Kalsa, I got very excited.

Next week I’m teaching a basic Herbal First Aid class at the library so it’s causing me to clean out my kits and restock them which is a good thing! I’m not good at restocking supplies and replacing old ingredients so this was a great time to do so.

For my truck, I purchased a pouch at a thrift store that cost me 69 cents. It is vinyl lined on the inside making it a tad bit water proof and nylon on the outside. Lightweight and durable. I plan to purchase some iron on fabric in green and white to cut out a first aid kit emblem to iron on to the outside. Until then, this will be fine. (For my reason behind using green and white instead of red and white, read this article).

The bag itself measures 11 inches X 7 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 inches wide when full.

Everything is sectioned off into individual packages, mostly arranged by category. The band-aids are placed in an old altoid tin which I might switch out for the misc. things that include tweezers (they will poke a hole in the bag), fingernail clippers, safety pins and a razor blade.

While I am not a big fan of plastic, I like to be able to see what’s in each packet, plus it gives the items a bit more waterproofing. I labelled each bag with contents and taped it across the seal for 2 reasons: 1). if it is opened, it most likely won’t be resealed the same and I’ll know I need to go into that section and re-stock and 2). to give a list of items so people won’t go unnecessarily rummaging through each packet searching for what they need.

This first picture shows the tin of assorted size and shapes of band-aids, a bag containing 4 vinyl gloves and a bag containing peppermint and ginger candies. The candies are a great for helping with upset stomachs, nausea and motion sickness.

~lavender essential oil for burns, insect bites, to calm
~tea tree essential oil for mosquito bites, disinfectant
~rosemary essential oil for waking up a sleepy driver, calming irritated children, clearing sinuses
~peach elixir for bee stings, coughs
~cherry elixir for coughs, anxiety, stress
~plantain tincture for bee stings, bleeding, allergies, help draw splinters out
~willow tincture for headaches, inflammation, etc. (use like aspirin)
The flannel is wrapped around the tincture and essential oil bottles to keep them from breaking.

I still need to add a few items to my kit to make it complete: strike anywhere matches (they were left behind in the truck), a quick clot to stop severe bleeding (a maxi pad can be used as well) and a sewing kit that I am still assembling with thread, needles and buttons.

Here is a PDF of my Master List which I laminated and placed in my bag. On the back I placed a sketch of how to suture along with reminder notes. You can find my version here. If you wish to include sutures, I highly recommend watching these 4 videos for a complete instructional. My notes are based off this video and the sketch is embellished from his handout (a link is under his videos). He also has a lot of videos about building First Aid kits which is useful but he is strictly a conventional MD when it comes to medicine (no herbal info).

Do you have a first aid kit in your car? Did you purchase a ready made kit, create your own or customize a ready made kit with your own items?

With the threat of the nuclear reactor meltdown, many people are now fearing fall out on the northwestern coastline of America. The typical recommendation is to take iodine tablets or dip your finger in liquid iodine or betadine (NEVER ingest it). Those living a more natural lifestyle may wonder what they can do naturally to increase their iodine intake without iodine tablets or liquid iodine.

There are several great articles floating around on the internet that have been composed recently and in the past on what you can do naturally. Here is a list of my favorites:

Sean over at Greenman Ramblings

Laura Bruno

Dixie Pauline

Ingrid Naiman

Todd Caldecott

Susun Weed

Margi Flint

At the moment, I have little to fear about radiation from this event due to my geographical location. However, there are nuclear plants all around me and we live on a major fault line that could go at any time. This leads to the potential for a nuclear disaster. Because I take a natural approach and feel I can safely and effectively combat radiation with natural products, here is a list of what I am stocking my pantry with:

Kelp from Ryan Drum – I have a pound stored away that I like to add to food

Miso – due to concerns about soy, I’ll most likely stick with alternate forms of miso. you can find a wealth of recipes for using miso here.

14 Mushroom blend (thanks to Sean and Margi for this source, mine is in the mail)

Epsom salts and baking soda – there are so many uses for these 2 items, we always have extra on hand

gail’s tenth step in her ten-fold path is to practice learning. she says:

As an elder and a teacher I can tell you that some of the people I learn the most from are my young students. They continually keep me fresh and on my toes with their new ideas and information. They inspire me. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know something. We are all learners here. Practice learning every day.”


who here is on facebook, raise your hand!


how about herbmentor?


herbwifery forum?


yeah, i belong to them all! and my partner used to make fun of me for being on facebook (i have since converted him and he’s on there just as much as me, if not more!). what he didn’t understand at the time was the wealth of networking, friendship and knowledge of obtained from being on there. even though i don’t know half my list ‘in real life’, i love being part of the herbal facebook community. being able to read, comment and discuss my herbal interests has been a godsend. there isn’t much of an herbalist community in real life so i had to go online to seek it. i am honored to call the people i’m connected to on facebook friends and happy that i’ve been able to meet a bunch of them thanks to kiva and wolf’s hard work of creating the traditions in western herbalism conference!

most of my friends are herb nerds just like me so whenever we get together, talk usually turns to herbs at some point during the visit. there’s not a day that goes by i don’t think of herbs in some form. heck, there’s not an hour that goes by at that! 


my monthly study group is a great way to get together with people who love to talk herbs. sometimes people who study as much as i do come sharing their knowledge too and we all get to learn even more! 

i read articles, blog entries, monographs, plant healer magazine and anything else i can get my hands on. i seek out conferences where i can learn and study and teach. the more i learn, the less i feel i know! this is a lifetime pursuit of knowledge and when i die, i still won’t be satisfied that i’ve learned all i want or can. 


every day, i make a point to read something about herbs, herbalism, medicine, the human body, a disease or anything that has to do with learning in general. it may only be a 3 minute article or an hour absorbed in a great book such as ‘invasive plant medicine’ but every day, i’m here, learning.


practice learning. practice herbalism. practice life. 


every day. 


without fail.

gail’s ninth step in her ten-fold path is to be your own refuge. she says:

Get to know yourself. Really well. You cannot know plants or people well until you know yourself. Admit your foibles, acknowledge your strengths, and build upon your knowledge of self to extend help, love, compassion and healing to others.“

i’ve been having a lot of fun with this one this past year! for most of my life, i have stopped short of expressing myself, allowing myself to be who i really felt i was because of disapproval from my family and some friends. over the years i misplaced those friends, most on purpose, if they didn’t support me for who i was or accept me for who i was. my family wasn’t so easy though. 

i put up with comments that were painful, being told i looked like a circus side show or that my style was ‘out’ and numerous other snide comments. i started suppressing my desires and choices based on how my family would react. 

and then, last year, i said, no, i screamed: ENOUGH! i wrote down my feelings in a long letter and sent it off which started a long series of replies back and forth in which nothing but silence was accomplished. but in that year, i started coming back out of my shell. 

so now, i embrace myself. i no longer fight with my hair, i let it tangle, dread and love it! i dress in gypsy shabby clothing, go barefoot as long as i can stand it, i wear lots of bones, feathers and other natural objects. my house is decorated with anything we can drag in from outside…limbs, eggs, snake skins, animal skulls, dried flowers, on and on. 

even my zine i write is a reflection of me. it’s my interpretation of each herb, i express each herb through stories, songs, poems, crafts, recipes and more. i sketch them, draw them, paint them and add my drawings to the mix. 

i am becoming my own true wild self, the self i know and love. i share this self with only my closest friends, only those who will love me and appreciate me for who. i. am. 

i reject the society around me but not the community. to the community i offer my heart, my time, my knowledge and my experience through the local markets, my monthly study group and soon monthly presentations at the library. the library who asked ME to present, who accepts me, dreads and all for who i am, freely and happily. 

i tell my friends and children and partner that i love them all the time. i hug, embrace, rejoice with them. i am still working on keeping that space. i have none in my house, my kids are with me all the time. even when i leave, they are usually with me. showering, using the toilet…never alone. but that will come in time i know. and in the meantime, i am learning about my weaknesses and strengths and working on changing what i want or need to change about myself to become a better person.

gail’s eighth step in her ten-fold path is to listen to your clients. she says:

“Listen to your clients. Practice deep listening. Breathe deeply from your heart when you are with a client. Look into their eyes. Listen to the words they use as well as to their tone of voice, where they pause, swallow, take a breath. Learn to listen deeply. Allow your client to tell you what is wrong, what they need. Then commit to helping them. Practice noticing everything you can about your client. Look for the health, look for the radiance, look for the bright light in your clients. Nourish this.”

listening can be such a hard thing to do. and not just listening to the words, but listening to the tones, the vibrations, the emotions, the body language. i have a short attention span so this is one step i struggle with. luckily, i don’t see clients often and usually, they are friends of mine and i am more willing to listen to what they have to say. 

so, i’m looking for guidance on how to listen deeply. how do you listen to someone (not just a client) who is talking about a subject that doesn’t interest you? how do you stay tuned in even though you’ve heard it a million times before? how do you stay focused on their words, thoughts, emotions, body language? how have you learned to listen deeply?

“Cultivate your spirituality. Learn to pray. Pray often. Smudge by burning herbs. Give thanks often, many times a day. Fall in love not only with plants, but with all of life. Fall in love with your clients. Commit to them. Pray for them. It is on this level of prayer, the spiritual level that you will connect most deeply with both plants and your clients.

Develop a spiritual discipline if you do not already have one. Cultivate your innate spirituality. Whatever that means to you. Be upright, honest, fair, clear and impeccable in all your dealings. People and plants have to trust you. You must be worthy of that trust. You have to keep your word. You have to be true. Be ethical in the way you interface with life and especially with the earth, with plants, people and all living things. Your way of life, attitudes and sense of ethics, as well as your approach to herbs and herbal medicine, is in large part what will attract others to you.

Cultivate hope. Hope is a critically important part of the healing equation. Your positive attitude is critical to your clients ongoing healing. I tell my community herbalist students that if your client does not turn around to you at the end of a consultation session and say words to the effect of “Thanks, I feel so much better already.” Then you have not done your job.“


this is something i need a lot of work on. there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done and so spirituality has taken a back burner. i do want to change this though. i have a book on simplicity and quakerism that i keep tucked into my ballet bag for reading before and after class. that’s just once a week but it’s a few moments i can steal towards more moments…

gail’s words are right on with quaker teachings…”be upright, honest, fair, clear and impeccable in all your dealings. People and plants have to trust you. You must be worthy of that trust. You have to keep your word. You have to be true. Be ethical in the way you interface with life and especially with the earth, with plants, people and all living things.” this is one of the quaker testimonies, to be honest and fair in all of one’s dealings. i do hope people see in  this manner as i do try to be honest and fair at all times. i find myself being dishonest when i don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings and i realize this is a major weakness of mine that i need to work on. more so, i need to learn tact so i can be honest tactfully. i tend to be blunt and not always sensitive. not on purpose though. 

i’ll be thinking about this step a lot over the next few weeks while i try to find the time to focus more on my spirituality and with living the quaker beliefs i’d like to be living…

how do you cultivate hope? how are you spiritual? how do you cultivate your innate spirituality? 

gail’s sixth step in her ten-fold path is to simplify your life. she says:


“Simplify your life. Live as simply and as naturally as you can. Try to drink wild water, eat wild plants. Swim in natural lakes and ponds or the ocean. Get yourself back to nature, first in little steps, then run, as fast as you can. Look up at the sky at night, notice the phases of the moon, the situation of the stars. Welcome the sun rise in the morning, go to bed when it gets dark. Light candles instead of turning on electric lights. Sleep outside on the ground as much as possible. Walk barefoot on the earth. Do these things day after day, month after month, year after year.”



there is nothing i like better than to walk outside at night and stare up at the moon and stars. i love finding constellations and learning the story of each one. i tell these stories over and over to my kids and partner. when i had more energy, i used to bake full moon cookies and sometimes i’d make crescent cookies for the waxing and waning moon cycles to honor the moon’s cycles and make my kids aware of her monthly changes. 

i go barefoot probably 9 months out of the year until the ground becomes too cold and frozen for me to tolerate. i have poor circulation so my feet and hands are usually cold. exposing them to the cold ground makes them cramp so i have to don wool socks and lined earth boots otherwise, i’d be barefoot year round. 

i love the feel of the ground on my feet, the softness of the grass, the harshness of the gravel drive, the squishiness of mud between my toes, the warmth of the path stones that lead to the gardens. i feel so grounded when i can make that connection. 

we have an aladdin lamp and candles that i like to burn in the winter time when it is dark so early. candles adorn our dining table and the aladdin lamp sits by my side when i am reading or writing at the kitchen table. this year, i invested in the full spectrum bulbs to put in the lights as well for when we need brighter light. so far, i’ve had no serious sadness as i’ve experienced in the past. even though the lights aren’t natural, they are closer to natural light than the cfl that we’ve used in the past. 


i miss camping. we used to travel to colorado once a year to camp out in the mountains. waking up a dawn with the crispness of the morning air was wonderful. the smell of pine needles, the rushing of the river, the calls of the birds was a refreshing change. since our situation won’t allow us to do that right now, i need to make a plan to get out more locally for camping, even if it means staying in my own back yard! we will work on this next spring and summer. i’d love to create an outdoor bedroom for summertime sleeping. that would be magical! 


wild foods is something i’ve always had a love affair with. i have fond memories as a child of going down to the woods behind our house, harvesting wild onions and other edibles and cooking meals on a small fire that i ate, all in secret as i knew my parents would have forbid me to do it on the grounds that 1. i would burn down the woods and 2. i would poison myself. smile. on the flip side, i encourage my children to do this…last summer all 6 got into a ‘survival day’ of sorts and went out to do just that. one of my kids even fried up worms and ate them…not something i would have done, but hey, that was his choice. their meals included nettles, mulberries, wild onions and cattails. 

last year, our dog brought home a rabbit and i jumped on the chance to have it for dinner! poor dog, she had no idea what happened to her meal. i did give her part of it for her trouble.