A little Ginseng bed in the woods

I built a little Ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) bed the other day on the slope of a hill.  I found a dead tree that has long since been partially sunk into the ground and would make a good basis for a terraced bed.  The bed had to be small because I had to carry the dirt in buckets up the hill and I only had a few seeds.

Juniper

Virginia to the Left and Harold to the right.  Two of my favorite Junipers that create the herb circle where we live.  Photo by Jamie

 Like many people I love the smell of crushed Juniper needles.  The variety we have here is Juniperus virginiana.  They are a tall, dense, fine looking pyramid shaped tree and I discovered recently that the oldest tree of this kind was from our state of Missouri at 795 years old!  Not only do they make great wind breaks, but we use them in a variety of ways.

When the needles are crushed, it releases one of my favorite smells. I make a breast massage oil from the fragrant needles by chopping and filling a quart mason jar with them, then covering with olive oil, letting it sit for 6 weeks, and then straining.  Make sure to place the jar on a rag because it can weep out.   Just rubbing the oil on your hands, cupping near your nose and smelling deeply can transport your mind to the dark, green woods. To me, it smells like liquid Christmas.  But more importantly, the infused oil is “superb for regular breast self-massage, especially for those troubled with painful or lumpy breasts.  Evergreens contain compounds clinically proven to kill cancer cells.  The most powerful in this respect are arbor vitae (Thuja occidentalis) and cedar (Juniperous virginiana).  But all evergreens contain antiseptic, antifungal, antiviral and anti-tumor oils.  Using infused herbal oils is an easy way to keep your breasts healthy, prevent and reverse cysts, dissolve troublesome lumps and repair abnormal cells.  Breast skin is thin and absorbent, and breast tissue contains a great deal of fat, which readily absorbs infused herbal oils.” – Susun Weed 

Red

Outside today I thought of this video.

Medicine of the People conference 2012

From the http://www.traditionsinwesternherbalism.org/ site

I'm back from my intense experience at the Medicine of the People conference (formerly the Traditions in Western Herbalism).  It will probably take me weeks, if not months, to go through all the notes and process them.  The amount of information available at this conference is staggering.  Thankfully the class notes are available for download for a while and I don't have to rely on my chicken scratch!

Some of the buildings at the lodge

The classes weren't just about using herbs or plants.  They were about life.  Classes as diverse as "Coping with death and caring for a dying loved one", "How to sit with a patient", "Making a financial living as an herbalist", "Ecology and activism in women's health", "Creating a dynamic practice", "Starting a community supported herbal clinic", "Clinical skills", "Endocrine systems", "Teaching the teacher", "Disaster preparedness",  "Chronic pain" and "Creating social and political change for herbalists".

The information the presenters shared was sometimes so personal and came from such a deep place, that their words had to wait in the throat behind the lump that only comes when sharing the deepest, most personal experience of pain.  But most of the time was filled with laughter and smiles shared between friends and strangers who all shared the common love of nature and the health of her residents.

Vandana Shiva on Bill Moyers

Just a post to ask everyone to watch this interview by Bill Moyers with Vandana Shiva and read the transcript.  She has said so succinctly what would take me days to say.

In response to the question "But what can I do?"

VANDANA SHIVA: I think first thing is each of us has to daily ask a question, "Where am I complicit in a war against the Earth? Where are my daily actions part of a devastation of the planet and with it, a devastation of the lives of people."

http://billmoyers.com/segment/vandana-shiva-on-the-problem-with-genetically-modified-seeds/

Wild Rose Traps

I have been warned so many times about not having Multiflora roses here, that I need to pull them all up.  But I decided to leave most, specifically the big healthy ones.  Not only do they produce an abundance of flowers and hips for me and the insects, but they are a wonderful trap plant.

These plants can take a beating every year from Japanese beetles and who knows what else.  Some look gorgeous, but some poor rose bushes I wonder how they make it.  But they do.  They can grow 2 - 6 feet per year vigorously.  They take the damage that would otherwise be done to other plants and they take it on powerfully.

Thoughts on Gaura Biennis

Photo by Jamie

I've talked on this blog several times about Gaura Biennis and Japanese Beetles.  I've given more thought to where this wonderful trap plant grew and thought I'd pass along my observations.

I first noticed it around the edge of our flower garden that was created with a sheet of black plastic.  Black Plastic was put down till the grass died and then I ran timbers around the rectangle shape of the space created.  I didn't run the timbers right to the edge and left a bit of bare ground just outside the timbers.  Inside the area framed by timbers, I scratched the ground and broadcast some perennial flowers and those came up along with other wildflowers.  No where on the interior of this garden space did Gaura Biennis grow.  It only grew, and quite thickly, right along the outside edge of the timbers where the grass had been killed but the earth not scratched.  In this area it was dense, healthy and grew about 6 feet tall in the full sun.  I've read it likes shade, but it did great in the full sun.