Dreamseeds

Dry lungs and sinus simple help

2012-01-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

The past week has been hectic, visiting hospital and hospice watching and waiting to see what would be happening with Ray's mom, Momma Marie. She did die peacefully in her sleep on January 19, but all week Ray and I had dry coughs and stuck congestion, but busy and waiting for this to go away. I am out of demucent herbs, like marshmallow root, which I love, and the health food store not very close to obtain any herbs this week. Not knowing if it is from the wood stove, which we have 2 huge pots of water upon for humidity, or exposure to something, yesterday I felt so dry as if I were suffocating. I was exhausted and did not do anything again, but in the middle of the night had a maddening headache with extreme dryness. I awoke finally with some sense to give me ease by filling my teapot with water, adding some lavender buds to a bowl and creating an herbal steam. The lavender I do have and figure it could help if this has to do with bacteria, but if not, it sure is nice to open things up and also fragrant and calming.
Face over the bowl with a towel over my head to keep the steam in, I inhaled the steam and felt my breath go deeper after several minutes. Boy was that ever helpful. Ray said, hey I need this too, so he also did a steam which helped him even with his brief time steaming.
If I had no herbs at all, this is something I would still have done with boiled water, and would encourage anyone that is suffering from that dry suffocating feeling in the chest, to steam. Jumping in a hot shower also helps. If you have small children that cannot steam, close your bathroom door and run a hot shower. You could add a few drops of lavender or eucalyptus essential oil to the back of the tub for some effect as well, but the primary action of this herbal preparation for me today was to get moisture back into my lungs and nasal passages, which soothes and helps get some stuck mucus out.
You should find some relief rather quickly and you can just compost your herbs by pouring the contents out in your pile when done, if you compost. Simple. Boil water and sit over a bowl.

A must for budding herbalists

2012-01-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends, I am looking forward to writing again, so stay tuned to some herbal ranting:) But today I saw that there will be another Herbal Energetics course, which is a fabulous way to actually get the right plant for the symptoms. We see in so many books 100 plants used for certain ailments and herbal energetics helps to narrow this down. I am still wading through energetics myself and want to share this course with you.

Herbal Energetics Course
With Kiva Rose

The sun is shining on the light snow covered ground, some nettles still stubbornly hanging on in January and chickweed flourishing. I think of Jackson Hole everyday with the 100's of inches of snow covering all the plants until June and July and here I go nibble chickweed today. But my herbal friends in the Mountains will be skiing for a couple months so that keeps them holding on. Have a beautiful day!

Wildcraft! Sale for the holidays with Free Gifts

2011-11-29T20:20:00.000-08:00

***Nearly 50% off the game***

What a wonderful time to purchase this game. I am going to copy and paste the email we received so you can see all the Gallagher family is offering. You can take care of so many gifts and acitvities for your kids all for 19.99. They are throwing iu some things fro my herbal friend Rosalee deForet who has amazing things she shares so often and she has been very inspirational in my life. So I am excited to share this with you.
You can click on the link here to check it out. Wildcraft or click the banner above.

Here is a copy of the email sent to us by John, the creator of Learningherbs.com. He and his wife, Kimberly created this game.

This is something we usually only do around the Holidays.

I know that might be enough for you, but we're

going to do something really unusual here.

For the first time, we created a VERY special bonus

JUST for this sale.

It's a new video lesson from Rosalee called...

"Herbs for Children During Cold & Flu Season"

It covers how to stay health by supporting your

child's immune system as well as how to naturally

help symptoms.

This is great for newbies as well as folks with

herbal experience.

It's a $47 value, and today you get it for nothin'. :)

So, here is a list of the bonuses...

* Close to 50% off Wildcraft!

* The "Herbs for Children During Cold &

Flu Season" video.

* A revised eBook by Rosalee de la Foret 

called "Herbal Gifts." Make your own gifts!

* A customizable herbal children's book. We give you  the

Word file, you fill in the blanks, print it, and  give it as a

gift to the little ones in your life!

* Dandelion Activity eBook

* Herbal Medicine Chest Chart (located in game)

* Herbal Roots Zine Kids Activity Magazine

* Naturalist Jon Young teaches you how to foster

a deeper connection with nature with your child.

Perfect for those wanting to share herbs with their kids.

You get ALL this for $19.99.

Seriously... all those bonuses AND the Wildcraft game.

That's all it costs.

This is a ONE TIME Holiday sale.

Offer is gone midnight on Friday, December 2.

Best Wishes
Love, Kristena

Now accepting custom body butter orders

2011-11-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I am caught up and have been asked for a few things to make, and now that I have time to do so, I am opening up for custom body butters.
Dreamseeds Body Butters are made with organic shea butter, herbal oils and the essential or fragrance of your choice.
It takes me several hours to make these, so I can only offer customs on occassion, so if you would like one soon, this is the time to get one.

The butters typical run about $15 with shipping for a 2 oz container. More expensive oils such as Young Living blends, will be a but more. You only need a little scoop to moisturize your skin, and I have been making these for years, people love them.

If this is of interest to you, please send me an email and let me know what aroma's you would like. I will see if I have the essential oils or fragrances available for your butter. Then the butter must be PREPAID before I will make it.

I hope your holiday preparations are glorious. We still have many good things in our stores. The largest inventory is at http://hyenacart.com/dreamseeds. The shipping on your butter will be a little less if included in a Dreamseeds order. Thank you all for your kind support through the years. I hope this new year will be full of good things for us all. So please send me an email if you would like a butter as I will need to wrap this up within the next couple days and get busy making these little wonders.

Have a beautiful day

Love Kristena

Holiday Cheer with Dreamseeds (holiday sales promotion)

2011-11-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Alright my sweet people, grab a cup of tea, and enjoy life today. I have missed writing terribly. I had some things happen in my life that completely threw me upside down for quite awhile and finding my center has been a challenge. The good news through the process is that I am discovering that what I love is exactly what this blog is about, herbs, nature, and how we connect to family, loved ones and spirit. I am in Arkansas currently reconnected to my plants here, and the wild ones that insist they grow on my land, such as nettles and chickweed. It is an honor to have then persistantly grow here as these plants help my family and customers so much that we use them with joy. I have been very busy tacking large orders and gearing up for the holidays. I have also opened a new store at the herbalist lead Poppyswap venue. Kiki is the owner of this online place and has given us a very reasonable price to begin our listings. Free:) We have a small amount to pay per sale, which gives me some opportunity to offer a sale. You see with Etsy, you pay per listing and per sale, and I choke on my weedies sometimes when I receive my monthly bill. It makes it very hard to offer a promotion when so much is going out, but with Poppyswap, not only is it completely herb supported, but supports us back. So if you use the code poppy, you will receive 10% off your purchase price. I am always very busy this time of year, and am so honored that you love to give my work to others for holiday gifts. I think it is very true that many women will not take time to buy themselves something beautiful unless it is gifted to them. At least I find myself in that cycle constantly.

http://www.poppyswap.com/shop/dreamseeds

A few items up at the Poppyswap store are soaps, salves, creams, candles and soon to come lip balm and other miscellany. I am doing my best to squeeze it all in and get things made.
A little about the latest listings
Face Shot is comparable to Butterfly Sun Cream which sells in summer. Face Shot is the winter version with oils of Young Living Gratiude and Balsam Fir to help fight the sun's rays hitting your body while you winter play. The star of the cream is St Johns Wort oil whcih creates a red cast to the cream with its rich and deep color. Along with the essential oils this cream is super for short term exposure. If you burn easily or plan to backcountry ski all day, you may want to bring along your sunscreen just in case.

A couple holiday soaps will be ready soon Eggnog and Mistletoe. There are other favorites that are about done curing as well such as Dude, Love, Ancient Goddess, and Exotic Hippie shampoo bar to name a few.

The lip balm hit of the season is Bebe Lips, which is a gentle blend of shea butter, cocoa butter, herbal oils, beeswax and NO ESSENTIAL OIL (no flavor oils either) Nada-nothing. This is really helpful to the littles that lick away at their faces when it is cold and get those sore lips with a red ring around their mouths. Bebe Lips works so well at clearing up that redness and pain.

Of course most of my listings will always be here http://hyenacart.com/dreamseeds where Karen has worked so hard for years keeping an inexpensive venue for home crafters, it provides me opportunity to list more. Then there is a famed Etsy store http://dreamseeds.etsy.com/ that has been a source of meeting new people for me and getting my work out across the globe.
I cannot offer enough gratitude to you all and these venues for helping me continue on the path I am called. Whenever I veer off this path, something happens to slam me back into place, everytime. I should know better than to think I am anything other that what I am:)

I am also excited to bring a new tea blend to my stores very soon. A holy basil blend to assist us with the stresses we encounter throughout the day. This tea blend is delicious and that is exactly what I wanted to create was a yummy tea with purpose. Often our purposeful teas do not taste super great, and that makes it hard for people that are not accustomed to herbs to really enjoy them. I think this will pass the test for herbies and non herbies alike. I will post soon when this tea is released.

So remember, the Poppyswap store
http://www.poppyswap.com/shop/dreamseeds

and use coupon code poppy when checking out to recieve 10% off your order. Thsi code is good until December 20.
Love and Blessings, Kristena

Learning Herbs.com issue 72

2011-11-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

As I venture back to the online world, and hopefully writing again on my blog, I am catching up on some emails. One in particular that I want to share is from http://www.learningherbs.com/news_issue_72.html.
John Gallagher shares his vision about why the Herb Mentor site was created and the thrust forward with the improvements. Then Rosalee of http://methowvalleyherbs.blogspot.com/ shares a wonderful Herbal Lozenge recipe with amazing pictures. I mean look at those lozenges! She is really amazing.

I was so excited I had to share. I hope you get a chance to look at them, even if you have to wait a week or more like I did. I am hoping for some time to make some of these. I have only had brief moments where slippery elm and honey were mixed to get us through some sore throat issues. I would just love to dive into this recipe. If you get to it, please share how it went for you, ok
Blessings, Kristena

Back to the Ozarks, a SALE and the results of the carrot seed study as a contraceptive

2011-09-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

My son Josh greeting our return to the house

Greetings Friends, Old and New,
They say all good things come to an end...well I am not so sure I would CLAIM that in my existence, but one thing for sure is that all signs were pointing me to come back to the Ozark house for now. So here I am, having spent 3 weeks here thus far, adjusting to humidity and heat, compared to the heavenly temperatures and clear air in the mountains of Jackson Hole. Having the other parent around for my children has been extremely beneficial with the challenges I have faced this year. This area took a huge hit this year with temperatures over 100 degrees for near a month. Surprisingly the sumac were in fruit when I arrived (and I missed the harvest) the elder has berries, and things survived pretty well in the unseasonal heatwave. The black walnut is not happy however. No nuts. My elder at the house was not happy either, but the wild ones are, so I hope next year to be working with my tree. My nettle patch has grown alot! Nice help for my wild mane bars and a few tasty meals:) The grandbabies and I have rekindled so they finally know who I am:) I have cut 3 inches off my hair this week too. Good to let the old go! So either in celebration or to mark the end of one of the best experiences of my life(or at least the first 2 years in Jackson anyway) I am running a sale as I prepare a large order heading to one of the Jackson retailers.
The sale is good at http://hyenacart.com/dreamseeds ONLY.

Purchase $75 in product and receive free shipping. Spend $100 in product and receive free shipping and we will include $20 worth of soap in your order.

To receive this offer this must be mailed to a United States address and must be able to fit in a medium-large flat rate box. use the code summer at checkout

Or

Wise Babe Face Cream is now on sale to give new customers a chance to try this amazing silky delight. http://hyenacart.com/dreamseeds/mt/924/15808/Wise-Babe-Face-Cream-great-for-mature-skin use the code wise upon checkout to receive $7 off the cost. WOW. Good time to buy as I wont run a sale on this for a long time due to the actual expenses it takes to make this gem.

So there you have it. A great time to buy:) And support the journey of your local herbalist. And speaking of herbalist, the study results we have been awaiting are finally here.

The Carrot Seed Study results are on Robin Rose Bennett's blog here which I will copy the results on my blog as well for ease of reading, however if this is of interest to you, check out her blog for more on this topic and many other herbal topics as well.

As a fertile woman I think carrot seed would not be for me, having seen the results, as well as one other herbal soapmaker I know did get pregnant using carrot seed as a contraceptive. However, this could be something for other women as the study shows, to assist your family planning.

Wild Carrot Study - Final Summary, August 2011

by Robin Rose Bennett and Mischa Schuler

First, the background:
During 2009 and 2010 we invited women between the ages of 18 and 50 to take part in a yearlong research project to explore the reliability of Daucus carota tincture (made from wild carrot flowers and seeds in 100 proof vodka) when used as a woman’s sole method of contraception. Women were welcome to use dried seeds if they preferred. Generally, women were asked to take wild carrot tincture, 15 drops of flower and 15 drops of seed, every 8 hours, 3 times after each occasion of intercourse. The participating women were asked to fill in a monthly menstrual wheel (sample attached) and chart their ovulation (when known), menstruation, times of intercourse, and times of taking wild carrot. There was space for notes, impressions, and any other feedback a woman chose to provide. We asked women to note any time they used another method of contraception in addition to wild carrot. We didn’t count those instances in the study data below. We are truly grateful for the help of all the women who participated in helping us gather together this body of knowledge, as well as to the medicine makers who donated their time and skills so that we would have enough tincture for the study.

Second, the results:

30 women participated in the study enough to be counted.

5 women completed the entire year and there were no pregnancies among those women.

The average number of charts per woman participating in the study was 5, not necessarily indicating how long they used carrot, but indicating how many charts we received.

Throughout the study women recorded 731 occasions of intercourse. Of those, we counted 160 instances of intercourse during fertile phases.

There were 9 pregnancies in 160 potentially fertile times of intercourse.

That is: 5.625% pregnancies, which equals a 94.375% contraceptive success rate.

We did not include in that number any times a woman used an additional method of contraception, only wild carrot.
In January 2010 we did a mid-study review and reported 7 pregnancies, but it was actually 6 because as it turned out, one of the women had conceived prior to starting wild carrot seed, right before the study began. Subsequently, there were 3 more pregnancies recorded.
It is enlightening to look at some of the details surrounding these 9 pregnancies, as summarized below. Nearly half of the pregnancies resulted when women were not using wild carrot as suggested in the study guidelines and there were other potential problems in 3 of the 5 instances where the women were using carrot as suggested.

Summary of pregnancies:
Pregnancies in women taking wild carrot as suggested
1)   38-year-old woman (mother of 2) – Conceived during her 4th month of using wild carrot

Notes: she was almost immediately physically uncomfortable, had terribly painful breasts while using this plant. Her cycles got shorter and shorter over the first couple of months. We suggested this might not be the right method for her. She continued to rely on wild carrot and conceived during her 4^th month of using wild carrot.

2)   38-year-old woman (mother of 1) – Conceived during her 4th month of using wild carrot
Notes: She was so fertile she’d had 5 previous unintended pregnancies, all while using contraception: birth control pill, condom (3x), and condom and sponge.

3)   27-year-old woman – Conceived during her 3rd month of using wild carrot seeds.
Notes: This woman lost her supply of seeds outside for several weeks. They were exposed to rain and all weathers. We don’t know how this may have affected them. Additionally, she communicated via a letter that she had been separated from her lover for a month and conceived during their reunion. She shared that she had been feeling into and giving serious thought to the possibility of having a baby with him.

4)    32-year-old woman -
Conceived during her 8^th month of participation in the study.
Notes: Used wild carrot for contraception for almost one year before the study started. She had conceived in October 2008 (before the study began) and used herbs to bring about a miscarriage. She began using wild carrot again as a study participant in June 2009. One month after beginning to use wild carrot she noted that she began spotting before and after menstruation, which was unusual for her. Over time, the spotting after menses got longer though no discomfort was associated with it. The spotting could indicate hormonal changes were occurring for her, stemming from wild carrot use. Additionally, the relationship she was in was in some turmoil at the time of the conception and she suggested that there might have been a mixed intention regarding conception/contraception.

Pregnancies in women not taking wild carrot as suggested

5)    20-year-old-woman -
Conceived during the 4^th month of the study

Notes: Her cycle ranged from 37-42 days. The day she conceived she did not take wild carrot until 33 hours after intercourse/conception. She had a surgical abortion at 8 weeks and resumed having intercourse during her fertile phase and began relying on wild carrot again the month after that. She reports that the tincture has worked for her whenever she uses it as suggested.

6)    25-year-old-woman –
Conceived during the 5^th month of the study
Notes: She took wild carrot later than instructed, and had highly irregular cycles and 4 previous unintended pregnancies, 2 using fertility awareness method, and 2 using no contraception.

7)    31-year-old-woman (mother of 1) –
Conceived during the 6^th month of the study.
Notes: She used wild carrot successfully for 1 year (before and during the study). Previous to that, she had had 4 unintended pregnancies, 2 using condoms, 1 using the birth control pill, and 1 without contraception. The pregnancy during the study resulted when wild carrot wasn’t taken until 22 hours after intercourse, and she notes she also didn’t take a 3^rd dose after that fertilizing intercourse.

8) 31-year-old-woman -

Conceived during her 7^th month of using wild carrot

Notes: For six months she consistently had intercourse during ovulation and used wild carrot as instructed. The 7^th month she waited 3 days before taking wild carrot after intercourse during ovulation.

Pregnancy in woman who we don’t know if she took wild carrot as suggested

9) 27-year-old-woman -
Notes: wrote to us that she conceived during her 6^th month of using wild carrot tincture. We don’t know when she took wild carrot relative to this conception, as we have no chart for that month. For the first five months she had taken wild carrot 3 times, every12 hours after potentially fertilizing intercourse. Prior to using carrot, her cycles started every 26-30 days, in her words, “usually pretty regular at 28 days”. The first month after beginning to use carrot, her cycle ran 2 weeks later than usual. Whether or not this was caused by carrot, we’re not sure. She speculated it could be carrot, stress, or travel.
One of the women who completed the entire study got married and she and her husband decided they were open to conceive “if it happened” and stopped using wild carrot seeds. She became pregnant about one and a half months later and is going to have her baby in September 2011. During the 9^th month of the study, she had switched to using seeds and found them stronger, yet less pleasant to use and therefore, she forgot them more often, but did always use them during her fertile cycle.
According to the American Pregnancy Association women can expect to conceive 85% of the time if they have unprotected intercourse over the course of one year. This statistic seems suspect because we don’t know how many times they are having sex, nor how many times during their actual fertile phase. We measured the fertile cycle (when a woman wasn’t sure of her ovulation) by counting 4-5 days prior to our best guess at her ovulation and up to 3 days after, based on her cycle as revealed in her charts.

Our gleanings:
All nine pregnancies that resulted confirm our general hypotheses so far, seven of them very clearly, and the other two suggest somewhat that:

Women must use the wild carrot in a timely way (approx 8 hours after intercourse.)

Wild carrot is not to be solely relied on after coming off of hormonal medications until cycles are re-regulated for at least three months. Highly fertile women may need to use a combination of methods.

Women who become physically uncomfortable while using wild carrot or who experience menstrual cycle changes should not rely on carrot as a contraceptive.

Intention matters.

Specifically, the first pregnancy affirms our thought that any woman who has a negative physical reaction to the seeds or tinctures should not use them for this purpose. The second woman was highly fertile, suggesting that women who get pregnant easily using other forms of contraception will be at risk using this method too, and will probably do best using a combination of methods. The third conception has a wild card unknown of her seeds getting seriously exposed to the elements and a mixed intention. The reasons for the fourth conception are not as clear. There were slight cycle changes noted. The fifth pregnancy resulted when there was a serious delay before taking wild carrot. The sixth woman had highly irregular cycles and took carrot late and was highly fertile. The seventh woman waited 22 hours till she took wild carrot after conception. The eighth woman waited 3 days to take wild carrot after conception. The ninth woman didn’t provide us with a chart for the month she conceived but her cycle did immediately change upon starting to use wild carrot, backing up our caution.

In conclusion:
Our conclusion is that wild carrot is a wonderful method of contraception for some women, but not for everyone, and in some circumstances, but not all. It has a high success rate when used in a timely way and with clear intention. We do not suggest relying on wild carrot for women who are conflicted about having a baby, taking hormonal medications, who are lactating and don’t yet have a regular cycle, or who are recently off the pill. It is contraindicated in those circumstances. In our opinion it is also contraindicated for any woman who experiences rapid changes in her menstrual cycle or breast tenderness when taking wild carrot.
We encourage women, especially those new to wild carrot, to proceed with careful attention. If you feel uncertain, feel free to use a condom while you are getting to know how wild carrot and your body fit together.

We believe that wild carrot works well with clear intentionality around what we are doing with our fertility. Every time we turn to the wild carrot plant for guidance this is what she tells us: “I can help you hold a pregnancy. I can help you release a potential pregnancy. The choice is yours.”

Fertility is generated during lovemaking and we can choose how to direct it, what we want it to feed and generate. When one is a fertile (young) woman, the natural tendency is to create a new human being. If that is not what you want, it is vital to choose what you do want. This is true co-creative empowerment. It is important to include your partner in this discussion, too.

The longest history of known use of the plant as a contraceptive is based on the use of the seeds. Wild carrot was originally used in seed form in China and India over 2000 years ago. If you wish to use wild carrot seeds, purchase them from a reliable source or harvest them in the fall when they are fully formed, green and/or freshly turned brown, and store them in a paper bag.

SUGGESTED WILD CARROT DOSES:
Approximately 8 hours after intercourse, either chew one teaspoon of seeds (most women find this to be the least pleasant way of taking wild carrot) OR grind up one teaspoon of seeds in a coffee grinder set aside for herbs, and do one of the following:

Stir the ground seed into water and drink it

Roll the ground seed into a honey ball and take it

Roll the ground seed into a ball with nut butter (peanut, almond, etc). It is possible that the fat content in the nut butter can aid the hormonal activity of carrot in our wombs. Several women have reported that they enjoy using the seeds this way.

We suggest grinding no more than a one week supply of wild carrot seed at a time, to ensure freshness and potency. Powdered seed, by itself or in any preparation should be stored in an airtight container such as a jar or a tin.
If you are having intercourse during your fertile phase, we suggest repeating the dosage of wild carrot (seeds or tincture) approximately 8 hours apart. Pay attention to sensations in your body and intuition regarding how many subsequent doses of wild carrot you take.
If you are using tincture, we recommend 15 drops of flower and 15 drops of seed in water per dose.
Open questions remain regarding whether wild carrot needs to be used sparingly, rather than continuously and whether wild carrot is reliable as a contraceptive when a woman has highly irregular cycles, or is still nursing, yet has resumed her monthly cycle. Any babies that have been conceived while a woman was taking wild carrot (as suggested or not) have been born healthy.
Our opinion is that other methods are as good as wild carrot, but that none is better. If you are crystal clear with carrot she responds crystal clearly. If you are ambivalent, than anything goes. She can help you hold life and she can help you release potential life. But it has to be your decision. It isn’t just done for you. You (and your partner) need to be conscious. Becoming more and more familiar with your body’s fertility signs (fertile mucous, breast changes, energy, mood) is part of the beauty of allying with wild carrot for natural, conscious contraception.
Wild carrot is powerful, playful, and alive and connected to our 2^nd chakra and our sexuality. She is a shape shifter. Robin has perceived her as a spinning orange mandala. Wild carrot deals with the greatest energies in the world, sex, life, and death, and yet, this plant is playful and uplifting. We hope you will want get to know her better. She is a profound teacher and healer.

Though we are ending the study here, we will continue to collect stories in addition to the ones we have already gathered from women who have been using wild carrot but did not participate in this study. Please feel free to contact us at:

Robin Rose Bennett

Robin@RobinRoseBennett.com

Mischa Schuler

WildCarrotHerbs@gmail.com

Thank you again to all the women!
Green Blessings,

Robin and Mischa

Urban Herbology

2011-03-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

One of my great passions is to explore the benefits and use of local wild plants that grow here in the Teton range. We are blessed with bounty of arnica, cottonwood, violet and other useful plants that eneable to me wildharvest and create herbal preparations to sustain my family. However, some of our well loved plants do not grow wild here. I live in town in an apartment. I have planted a couple hollyhocks outside our lobby, that come back year after year with large purple blooms the bees just love! A garden would be nice, but with all the dogs that live around here, and not having a yard of my own, I have chosen to grow some of my favorite plants in pots to use and enjoy until that day comes when I can have a garden of my own.

I had intended to post this quite some time ago, but as most of you know, an opportunity came to me to purchase a local consignment store, and since that time, life has been a total whirlwind and more. Now that I am getting a better handle on balancing life with my heavy responsibilities, I can now post this. YAY. The plants you see in this post were taken in the fall when they began to die back. Today you would see them fairly dead looking, save for a few that are understanding the longer days and growing a few new leaves.
The purpose of this piece is to encourage many of you that are in the same situation, to take a shot at growing a few of the plants you love, or would like to work with better.
Motherwort is one plant that I love for heart palpitations and its calming action on the nerves. This was a birthday gift to me last year. It has grown well in my south facing window.

Lavender is another gift I recieved as a birthday gift. This plant does not like alot of water, nor does it like to be cut back. The new growth will start on the dead branches this year.

Marshmallow is another favorite plant of mine, both leaf and root. It has soothing mucilage that assists many ails, from dry throat to a sore bladder.

Basil can be grown in a pot to be used throughout the year. I have to admit, I kill every basil and rosemary plant I try to grow (wah) But many people are successful at both. I will learn what I am doing wrong I am sure, and wont give up trying:) This is my basil plant this year when it was alive

Chickweed is thriving. This photo was taken last week. Chickweed does not like to grow here much, so I was fortunate enough to dry some from my favorite spot before it was destroyed, and placed the dried mass onto the potted soil and today I have a lovely pot of chickweed we have already been harvesting in February.

Comfrey and Tarragon and 2 other plants I did not capture for some odd reason. They are died back now, but will rebound in spring. Comfrey is not particularly happy in a pot, but this was all I could do from that little root I had from Arkansas.

As you can see, most of these plants grow well on my south facing windowsill

For more plant love, you can place fresh or dried plants around your house.

This is a mugwort bundle a friend gave me to remind me of protection

A smudge as a gift from another friend who has the gift of clearing us before a gathering with intention

Little cases or jars can hold fresh or dried plants anywhere

If you would like to dry some of your plants, and have little room, a basket on top of your kitchen cabinets works very well for me. This basket contains rose hips that were gathered by a friend for me.

As you can see, from someone who does not a green thumb as many other herbalists do, home herb growing can be done, and bring joy to your life, despite the tight quarters.

Hopeful Light Sale to celebrate the shift of February

2011-01-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

Blessings to you all! As I work diligently at the store, I have missed my friends across the globe on Facebook, my blog, and some forums I see some of you all at. Indeed the vision I have for the store constantly challenges me, and for a wee season, I am a slave to the vision:) None the less, I have some awesome things to brighten your day, or that of someone you love.
Winter is fierce here in the mountains, and I am running a sale until February 1 in celebration of the hopeful light of February. use the code hopefullight at http://hyenacart.com/dreamseeds to receive 14% off your purchase.
14 of course to represent valentines day:) I will have a few sets for some of you that give non candy gifts, that will be awesome, however not ready quite yet. So keep tuned for that.
However, I will be releasing 2 soaps this week (once I can get to my computer to list)
Flower Power will make her triumphant return of the year, and also Love, the awaited soap by so many of you.
I hope to have these listed by the end of the week. If neither of those interest you, there are plenty of wonderful things available now.

This code will expire February 1. Thank you for your continued love and support of what I LOVE to do and may it bless you continually.

Also, my dear herbal sister, Dragon Lady, has her Etsy shoppe up and running. Her tea is organically herbal, and her skill, knowledge and passion is delivered in every cup. Her shoppe is http://www.etsy.com/shop/dragonladyteas
I am so proud of her for taking the Etsy leap. For a warming brew, her chai is fabulous with rich antioxidant red tea as a base for decaffeinated, or ask about her black tea blend for a caffeine boost. Guardian is a tea she had a vision for those of us seeking to change the world:) Peace tea is valerian rich and totally relaxing! Chill Me Out is currently a favorite for me, as that is what I need these days. Happy Tea is her best seller with its floral and lightly sweet flavor.

May you all be encouraged by the shifting of time in the season, that spring will arrive, the days are growing longer, and outdoor time will resume (although here in Jackson, most people are doing outdoor winter sports so it is not totally true for this community) I love to tuck in with my family and burn beeswax candles, serve a warm dinner thanks to crock pot, and chill most of the night.While I do miss the forest, the plants and what I love to do outdoors, I see this season also as a resting point of sorts. I hope to obtain more of that while it is before me with joy. Every sunny day brings my heart gladness as I see things shift already. HALLELUJAH!
Love and Blessings
Kristena

Changes, Progress and Chicken Soup

2011-01-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends. I wanted to update on some changes and also share a fantastic recipe I had last night that should have been shared a long time ago.
First the changes. Most of you have seen my posts on FB or here about the consignment shop I purchased the last week of October. The store is called Second Helpings, and is located right here in Jackson Hole. While much a different business than herbology, there was indeed purpose in why I went forward.
Thinking back to almost 6 years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer, it was an awakening of my life and where I was headed. Having done what many would consider right for many years, I still was effected by a disease that could have taken my life.
I really took stock of my life throughout treatment, and came to the realization that my life had been lived to please others instead of being true to my heart, and it was literally killing me.
Soon after the entire experience, I left home, and everything I owned save a weeks worth of clothing, and made my journey to Jackson. Still fighting my own guilt over leaving my marriage, I still knew in my heart my children would never thrive unless I made sure they did.
I have chosen the path of being a single mom, to raise the last 3 of my 7 children. I do live for them but not to please them, but more be a companion and hopefully an upright adult guide. It is not an easy path financially, or physically, but I am far more happy.
Deciding to go forward with Second Helpings was a big leap of faith in hopes that the desires and dreams I have for my life, and that of my children might continue.
This has been much work indeed since October, with the Dreamseeds holiday rush at the same time, but thankfully it all worked out well.
Heading into this new year, however, has lead me to understand that being only one person running 2 businesses and a household by myself will not work without changes.
The first being that the old website is no longer valid. The new website is http://dreamseedsbliss.com

This was originally going to be my website name, but I followed the advice of others. I decided to move on the feeling I get working with these lovely plants and oils and go with the name I felt best represented the work I do.
This URL will lead you to my blog, with a couple links on the side to get to my online stores (Etsy and HC).
I felt this was best since the next change is I AM NO LONGER DOING HERBAL CONSULTATIONS OR READINGS.
There are many skilled herbalists out there that have time to devote to people and their ails far better than I have time for. I will certainly post when I decide it is time to do them again.

Many have asked about body butters and belly balme and I honestly have to wait and see when I can make them again.
Both of these products take a full day to make, and I simply do not have a full day to do them like I did before.
I have tossed about in my mind, that when it is off season here, sometime in April, this may be a good time to make them if the store is not slammed. If I go this route, it will be on a custom prepaid basis, I will make what people have asked and paid for, and if I make others, it will be only a few best sellers. I will post that announcement if that is what I am able to do.
I have some lovely soaps coming up for mid-late winter. As most of you know, I create seasonally, and what I am inspired to do. I also try to make one or two different soaps each month for those of us that love variety and also for my soap of the month clients. So I encourage you that if I stock something you love that you dont see very often, it might be best to order a few bars, since it may be along time before it is made again.
Besides time constraints, both my workshop spaces are full to capacity.
Wholesale-I have closed to wholesale orders save for my existing stores. The only type of wholesale I will do is when someone orders an entire batch of a soap variety. You will need to email me about this if you are interested because the prices vary ALOT depending on what essential oils go into the soap you choose.
These are made in cake form and are shipped uncut and is less expensive than my cut and wrapped bars because that expense is eliminated all together.
My shipping schedule is still the same Tuesday and Friday mornings. Since we do not have postage pick up, I have to physically drive to the post office to deliver. Since our town functions this way, I do not pay the extra money in printer ink to print online labels. So don't panic if you do not receive a notice that your order is on its way. When you place your order, just know that it will go out on my next shipping day, and that you need to order about 10 days advance to be sure your package arrives on time. Why 10 days? Well if you order Tuesday night, your package will not ship until Friday. If it is mailed first class it can take another 5 days to deliver, depending on where you live. If you live out of the US, give your package 3 weeks.Most of my orders ship priority mail and that does go faster. None the less, give it 10 days from ordering day just to be sure.
I HAVE SOME SUPER NICE BARS FOR THE VALENTINES SEASON COMING SOON.
Vanillate-half vanilla and half chocolate bars. A great alternative for those parents that dont like to add tons of candy to baskets.

Flower Power- that feminine favorite is back! Patchouli, rose, amber, clove, and orange

Sandalwood vanilla-tis the season again. Keep in mind these are really expensive at $12 a bar due to the 3.5 oz of sandalwood and 1 oz vanilla these are created with.

Abundance-this is a lovely bergamot, neroli, jasmine, vanilla, cinnamon and clove blend.

Lilac, by popular demand

and the newest rave is LOVE, a phthalate free fragrance with notes mandarin, peach, strawberry, current, grapefruit, musk and bergamot. I have some matching bath fizzies for this as well!

So last night, my friend Theresa came over. It had been several months since we had time to visit, and I really wanted her to have dinner with us, so in thinking about what I could serve on my 6th day of the week of working 2 jobs and feeling a bit burned out, I pulled out an old favorite for a cold winter night. Preparation is simple and the flavor is delicious!

Simmer several chicken breasts in chicken stock with 1-2 cloves of garlic until done.
Add chili powder or peppers, cumin, a wee bit of salt and pepper.Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and put back into the pot. Add 1-2 cans of hominy.
Ladle into bowls.

This is where each person created their soup according to taste. Have available shredded cheese, sour cream, diced onion, lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced lime, sliced avocado.
Add what you like to your soup and it will satisfy and give you warmth and joy!

Never Doubt the Healing of a Traditional Poultice

2010-12-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

Poultice is a funny word that many people just tend to ignore considering there are so many herbs on the market already prepared in tincture or capsule form that are easy to take when one is totally under the weather. These indeed help the situation, but what is one to do when the chest is full of hard mucus that sits there,leaving one panting for air at the slightest movement?

Well, if you are by yourself, this is not the easiest task when you feel badly, but sit down and do most of the work. It wont take long and hopefully you will get through the process with the goal in mind of feeling better.
Take an onion and slice 1/4-1/2 of it and saute on low heat with a fat of your choice.
Once the onion is golden and translucent, add some water and simmer a minute, then add in a handful of cornmeal. Stir to thicken the onion mixture and spoon onto some flannel. Old baby wipes or baby blankets are really useful here.
Put another layer of flannel on top of the poultice mixture and take it with you to bed. Once the heat is has cooled to tolerance, place upon your chest, and cover up with as many layers as possible to keep you and the poultice warm. Once the poultice is cooled, discard. You will notice a change in how your chest feels, with easier breathing and a weight off your body you will appreciate.
A lung formula in tincture would be good to continue using to keep loosening the stuck mucus in the lungs. You may find yourself coughing more, but this is a good thing, releasing all that trapped yuckiness to free yourself.
You may want to do this again later in the day or for a couple days depending on how badly you have congestion in your lungs.
Often one application will do so much good, that it will get things off to a great start in your recovery.

Super AWESOME Herb Course WE ALL WILL LoVe

2010-10-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Herb Energetics with Kiva Rose

I am so thrilled to share this with you all. I have long awaited Kiva teaching on herbal energetics which will totally simplify and help us not to question so much if we are using the best remedy for each situation.
New and experienced herbalists will benefit from this. A huge thanks to John Gallagher, as well as Kiva Rose for bringing this course to us via the web.
Love you guys!

My main computer has not been able to get online for quite sometime so once I can get signal again to upload the pics from the conference, part 2 of that will be posted. I really love the next round of pictures as it was some of the moments that touched my heart the most (that I actually remembered to pull that camera out!)

Also, one other reason for some delays is that I am in the buying process of taking over the Second Helpings store here in Jackson Hole, and combining Dreamseeds alongside this little gem. Phew.....good stuff and lots to learn. I hope to be a blessing to you all local and abroad.
Love, Kristena

Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference

2010-10-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

What could be more exciting than an herb conference in the Land of Enchantment, full of people that love herbs and desire to teach or learn more about their ability to help so many situation.

The Traditions in Western Herbalist Conference was spearheaded by herbalist Kiva Rose and her partner Jesse Wolf Hardin.

This event was a gathering of many people seeking to learn more about the plants and how they can assist the body, mind and soul.

Many of our respected elder herbalists were present and the line up was an amazing array of ideas and values.

Making a decision on the classes to take is a difficult one indeed! Often many teachings were going on at the same time and I found myself bouncing back and forth in my mind as to which one I needed.

I want to take a few moments to share my experience in this event.

As often happens in my life, the finances came through at the last minute. Despite having my actual ticket for the venue purchased in December, I had incredible challenges throughout the year that often made me wonder if I could attend at all.

Once I got my financing (thank you Capital One credit card) I flew into Albuquerque, New Mexico and picked up my rental car. I reserved one of the small economy ones, which were all taken, so I was given a little higher quality car with a sun roof and Sirius radio.

Cruising a couple hours into Santa Fe, I spent my first night there, and once I hit my bed, I fell asleep,fully clothed and lights still on. When the alarm went off in the morning, I laughed that I was so exhausted I crashed so hard.

I checked out and grabbed a coffee at the Whole Foods and began my drive to Abiquiu, where the conference was held.

The drive was really beautiful and serene, and again, with the sun roof open and the music cranked, driving the New Mexico roads gave a feeling of freedom.

Arriving at the Ghost Ranch, where the conference was taking place, I took in amazing scenery.

I was a little confused as to what to do at first, but it did not take long to figure out where I was to be.

I walked into what seemed like the correct building and there was Kiva Rose, Wolf, and others that were volunteering with registration and helping us poor confused peeps.

It was really wonderful to have that little bit of time with Kiva and Wolf, because as it goes at the conference, you often don't see each other again, until the evening entertainment.

Upon receiving the beautiful conference booklet, gift bag from Mountain Rose Herbs, and other miscellaneous things, it was time to choose classes.

The first day I took in Matthew Wood. He is a great speaker, very calm and incredibly knowledgeable. It was really great to hear him speak after reading several of his books.

He had mentioned Phyllis Light and the Appalachian way with highest respect.It was then I knew that I had to attend her class too.

As the sun would rise in New Mexico, something would cause me severe allergies. I ran to the bathroom to blow my nose so often, I decided to leave the class and get some rest and quit interupting the amazing teaching and students deeply connected.

I drove to the nearest town to Abiquiu, called Espanola, and grabbed a hotel room there. I spent a bit of time resting, and then decided if I was going to be in New Mexico, I was going to eat some New Mexican food!!!

I found an herbalist in Espanola to obtain something for allergies, and she recommended a place to eat called El Paragua. Oh my gosh, the best enchilada.In fact I practically rolled out of there with all the food I ate.

I traveled back to my room and spent the evening looking through my booklet, still unsure of all the classes I should take the next day. They were all pretty intriguing and would have taught me wisdom.

But indeed, Phyllis was priority. I so much enjoyed her class. Hearing her explain her viewpoint from an Appalachian perspective was really deep and fascinating. She is the third generation herbalist in her family, so all this information had been passed down to her, and she had been effected by the plants even as a child.

The New Mexican sun began to shine, and once again, allergies were kickin my ass. So I took a drive to find a place I might be alone and possibly make peace with whatever was takin me down.

It was suspected the common allergens being sage or rabbitbrush, but we have these abundantly here in the Teton valley so I felt it must be something else.

I did find a sweet nook in the middleof junipers where I curled up on the earth and felt an understanding hug from these wonderful plants. I was missing my family and feeling odd being away from my kids and my heart was longing for them and my emotions were struggling.

I picked up a couple of beer cans someone had thrown onto the road,and continued walking.I was fascinated by the beautiful plants growing in the middle of what many would consider deserted soil.

Look at these beautiful plants!

I am having difficulties getting blogger to upload any more photo's so I will consider this part one and will write part 2 to share more

Cool Weather and the Creative Spark

2010-09-06T15:14:00.001-07:00

The coolness of the air transforming from a powerful hot warming to the cooling down and harvest. It is amazing how nature has perfectly given us short spaces of time in which things happen, change, transform or emerge. Powerful indeed!
When the cool weather begins, something inside urges us to create. More than likely an inbred sense that winter is coming and to prepare for that with storing, canning, drying, or for an herbalist, making sure you have your winter medicines put up.
But also, having fire (in our case the stove) and making things with warmth is a very nurturing process that gives us a sense of accomplishment and promotes well being.
It is funny how we think of well being as vitamins, exercise, and herbal care, but we CANNOT forget about the emotions and nurturing the inner person.
Through creativity, we can communicate what is going on inside of ourselves and let them come out in what we do.
Yes, sometimes we are not very elegant, nor accomplished in what we create. In fact, I often wish I were much more able to make the amazing things other people do, but none the less, doing something with the creative spark is far more valuable to me than doing nothing at all.
So my word of encouragement today is to craft, dry, put up, or even rearrange some things in your home to spark that newness you can feel in the air. There are ancient cultures that began their new year in the fall. And so interesting, it feels new sometimes when autumn arrives.
So here is the crafting we have been doing at my place. The above picture is of a beautiful beeswax candle I made, thinking of a rustic theme. Oven roasted rose hips and cinnamon sticks adjoin the hips along with a beeswax star. The candle I painted with thick beeswax, the consistancy of a salve and added clove to it.
I have made several others as well that have been really fun.

Soapmaking has been a fun advventure. Joel, of Jackson Hole Soap Company died the past month and I inherited his supplies. In the supplies were some things I usually do not use, so I have been playing with my newly inherited gifts and it has been a lot of fun.
Expressing myself with
Water Blessing, which is a gathering of music and energy and love dedicated to the waters of the planet

Evening Sky
observing the way the clouds float by and the purple hues over the mountains

Cocoa Orange which I love to stroke the cake before cutting because it feels so amazing. I love cocoa butter soaps and I should make more of them because they are so beautiful and feel so nice! I have a matching lotion bar as well on my etsy shoppe and HC

Ancient Goddess to represent the goddess within. This is a cocoa soap made with lots of rich cocoa butter and scented with ylang ylang, patchouli primarily. Then after that has set up a few days I poured it with a soap base rich in shea butter, orange, rose and rose clay. Each bar has an artifact of a goddess. This reminds me so much of my friends trip to south america. Although we did not specifically about finding something like this, this design was stuck in my head, as if I were there and found an old ruin with a goddess embedded in something that had been buried a long time ago.

Today I am working on a Raven soap for Samhain/Halloween.All I know is black will be in it and hoping to create a great representation for the ancient messanger...not the big birds that eat the garbage:) Ravens are considered sacred in old time traditions so I hope to impart that for the next holiday season. Also this will be mind and respiratory system clearing...I mean come on, if a messenger is coming to you, you want a clear head, eh? :) Another fun Dragon Lady Tea collaberation.

Love to you all and have a fabulous week. If any of these items interest you, they will be available at both my shoppes or you can email me if you need it sooner than I list.
Blessed Be dear ones!
Kristena

Exotic, Erotic Damiana

2010-08-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

For the past few years it has been common to have loving debate between some of my close herbal friends. Maca and Damiana both being the host of debate. It is true that both plants can have fertility effects. What I have noticed is that some are more drawn to one or the other. Possibly this will relate to what that person needs, if it is their own body craving that plant medicine to assist in fertilization.
It is true that both herbs are very good at assisting health and sexual functions.
It is my understanding that the Inca's used Maca for their sexual health. In fact, many studies have shown this plant has improved infertility in males and females as well as helping men overcome erectile dysfunction. So it has great value indeed, but I tend to take the side of damiana, since I have personal experience with this plant.

Also known as herba de la pastora, Turnera diffusa is the botanical name.
Open a bag of Damiana and the aroma itself is enticing.The flavor is much like what your nose picks up in the scent. It is different and herbacious, but not like a basil, dill, type of flavor, but of a wild herb on the bitter side.
Damiana lives in the West Indies, Mexico and South America so what we usually obtain in the United States is imported from Southern Baja California peninsula. It grows 4-6 feet, has sweet smelling leaves about 4-10 inches long.Summer brings yellow flowers which turn into a fruit that apparantly tastes like figs.
The Mayan and Aztecs used this plant as an aphrodisiac.
You may also have heard of damiana used in smoking blends, which goes back to the tradition of intaking the smoke of damiana for easing the nerves.
The actions of Damiana are to assist depression, anxiety, erectile dysfunction, enhance libido and orgasm.
Traditional peoples also used Damiana to promote fertility in both sexes.
I have also read that tequila originated using Damiana. In fact, there is a liqueur of Damiana that is used in margarita's with a bottle of either a pregnant woman or goddess. It is a bit too sweet for my taste, but I love the bottle!

As a young herbalist a few years ago, the information about Damiana was alluring. At the time of my hearing about this plant, I decided I wanted to see what it was like and get to know it better. At that particular time of my life, I made strong infusions with everything. Taking about 1 oz of herb, adding it to a quart mason jar, and filling it with boiling water, capping rather quickly and steeping a few hours.
I would consume these strong infusions and noted the energy in my pelvis. I felt more sexual, like the wild woman inside was stirring. I actually enjoyed my infusions of Damiana and consumed them regularly until to my surprise, I became pregnant with my 7th child.
I was not hoping to get pregnant, it just came with the properties of those strong infusions. So now we have my darling Olivia as a result of Damiana.
So my argument of Maca root vs. Damiana comes from my personal experience of what I experienced during my friendship with this plant.

Winning the Battle when your body goes through the war

2010-07-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Time and Time again, I am asked how by people how to overcome health issues naturally.
And over and over again I see the need for people to take complete inventory of their lives to see the entire picture of what is going on.
How is your environment, family life, stress and anxiety levels, food choices, and recreational use of drugs or alcohol?

When I became an herbalist, it was my religion. I followed hard after it, did everything I should, avoided any "unclean" thing as much as possible for several years.
In 2006, I was diagnosed with a reproductive cancer.
I had abdominal surgery, then radiation, went through menopause in the span of a few months, and began to seriously doubt everything I believed in and felt as though I had failed.
It took almost a year for the light to come on and encourage me back into the world of herbs I love so well. Also, in that year, I began to really see the stressors in my life that may have contributed to the disease I have had to overcome.
Knowing in that moment that eventually I will die, it was even more important to me to live my life in as much joy as possible and to look at the needs of my community around me.
Ironically, despite my doubt in myself as an herbalist, when health problems would occur due to treatment, doctors had trouble finding out just what was wrong, and yet they were amazed at the strengths I had in other areas that often bother people.

I attribute that all to the plants I was using and how they cared for my body. My scars are minimal, although present, not as bad as most felt they should be. My strength often times is incredible, although my strength often still fails me too.
However, in getting through lifes day to day burdens, as well as battling life changes in the body, herbs are friends, allies and nurturers.

As most of you know I am rather a liberal herbalist, having been through the health challenges I have. I learned to love my doctors, medications when needed, and in return, they respected my use of herbs. It helped me have hope that one day we can all work side by side in a supportive role in helping people.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I had to chose between healing herbally or doing mainstream medicine.
It took me several weeks to make the decision to have treatment, looking at my children was part of that choice.
I spoke very little words in those weeks and realized that no amount of plants I was using could probably reverse what I had to face.

Herbs supported my body throughout the ordeal, both in nervine, strengthening, and nurturing.

However, I found that through some situations, I simply could not reduce pain.

When people come to me needing pain relief they cannot find in herbs, I am not afraid to encourage them to use over the counter medicines, and even prescriptions.
I believe strongly that to ease pain can help the rest.
I know this may not be popular belief, but pain causes anxiety, stress, and suffering of the spirit. These, I have noticed, tend to be the very things that can actually block a healing response.
I have heard recently the teachings that stress and anxiety are self created. Well, to be honest, I think that is only partly true.
For most of us we live in continual debt. Mortgage/rent, phone bill, vehicle expenses, food, clothing are all needs, and often most of these we carry on our shoulders knowing that every month, that bill is come due again, to which we cannot seem to get from under it.
Then there is the news. We see climate issues, environmental issues, and suffering around the globe every single day.
We have family matters, money matters, community matters constantly surrounding us.
Is it not uncommon that many of us run on fight or flight responses throughout our day?
And then health issues. In our busy world, if one gets a bad cold or flu, it is expected of us to go to the doctor and be back to work in a couple days. In some cases, this works fine and people can go on and recover, but in more people that I have seen, it only causes a person to continually battle over and over illness. Why?
More than likely it is because people are not allowed to rest as they should to recover and are up and about far sooner than their body truly needs to heal. Then your lovely co worker, that should have been home resting, comes back to work, only to expose you to the illness they had succumbed to.
And it is nobody's fault, really, because that person was expected to be back to work, and they also had those debts and bills they cannot pay without being back on their job.
It is a circle that our society lives in that unfortunately won't change anytime soon.
We are all going to leave this planet eventually. Even living what we perceive as a perfect life will not change the fact that we will depart at one point.
When I went through my bout of disease, I finally decided that I was only going to do the best I can, I was going to eat, drink and be merry without questioning every single thing I did, and do my best to move forward and make a difference in this world.

What is the point of this musing today? I do not know exactly except to say that each of us has to follow our own hearts without putting expectations on others to do what we deem is correct.
I love my herbs and use them for many things to sustain my family. So many people say to me, Your plants must work because you are rarely sick.
However, my body is somewhat frail due to cancer treatment, and when I go down, I crash badly. The worse part is that it effects my family, co workers, and the people I love when it happens.
Herbs do not make us eternal beings, nor do they keep up from ever having a problem.
But what I do see is how they help us reconnect to ourselves and bounce back. They can prevent many illnesses, and strengthen us to go through one if we are unfortunate enough to come in contact with something that seems to take hold.

I am so grateful for my plant friends to sustain me today!

Take a Walk on the Wild Side July 4th

2010-07-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

It has been an intense year, with many shifts and turns the past few weeks. I always hope to write more on my blog, but time is ticking and sadly, life is stretched and time has been a huge factor. But is life good? OH YEAH!!!! I hope you feel the same too, taking in the sun, fresh air and the plants we love.
Today was a harvest day, and a day to teach my 6 year old more about the plants we use most often. She was filled with wonder and so open to learning that it was pure bliss to be with her in the wild!!!
So today, I share the plants in our Teton wilderness that are flowering. So join Olivia and I on a plant walk, today and I hope you tap into your climate and conditions and reach out to touch the life growing around you as we have today.

Along the path we followed, we were surrounded with wild cherry and service berry flowers. Always on the path the Mt Sweet Cicely loves to flourish in this eco system

The flavor is licorice like in both flowers and leaves and we harvested a bit for teas later in the year.

Popping the flowers of Anise Hyssop (agastache spp.) into our mouths, you could feel the clearing energy from the lungs on up. Powerful stuff and seems to be far more mellow once dried, so we do eat this plant fresh as often as possible.

Yarrow is beginning to flower

We harvested some for our booty oil we make.
What is booty oil you may ask?I know it is a wierd name, but it is a main ingredient in this oil we use in our bathroom for wipage. Instead of using baby wipes, we use herbal oils with a but of basil and mint essential oils and yarrow oil being a base to help not only clean the anus region during toileting, but to keep hemorrhoids at bay. I know it sounds wierd, but it is a more eco friendly to baby wipes and has a purpose of keeping the region toned and free of troubles from difficult movements.
We can move on to the next plant now....lol

Oh yes, Olivia made friends with every bug int he forest today, even asking some come home with us to our 'cool" house! Of course they all fled before they were trapped int he suburban on the way to the town apartment...lol but it was cool how she connected to the insect world the way I do to the plant world. Her conversations were pretty amazing!

The baneberry is going to fruit.The berries are usually red or white.I am not certain why there is a difference as of yet, but if you see red or white shiny berries, it is likely to be the baneberry. They are considered poisonous so use caution. Even an edible like pedicularis, needs to be watched for growing around this plant, as a semi parasitic plant like pedicularis or indian paintbrush, can host on the plant that carries toxic alkaloids. Just be careful, but not fear. this plant looks alot like black cohosh, same family, different plant.

Pedicularis bracteosa, the Fernleaf lousewort is ready to eat. It is simple to pluck the flowers and eat them. Slightly radishlike but very veggie tasting. I like em!
I plan to write more about this plant in the near future. This pedicularis(figwort family) is also called lousewort or wood betony, not to be confused with the official Stachys spp.in the mint family. Pedicularis is a reputable muscle relaxant, especially for those that hold tension in their neck and shoulders.

Liv takes a break by the creek to get a drink. Despite out late spring/summers, once it emerges, the sun is intense here! Shirt off, my little wild woman!

The striped coralroot is a super special finf. All the coral roots here are in the orchid family. The way this plant feedsis by organic decaying matter in the soil, since it has no chlorophyll. The root system is said to be coral like,and how this plant feeds.

The scarlet gilia is blooming and a good flower for the hummingbirds. Rub the stems and you will smell an aroma between a skunk, weed, and rubber tires. It is an unusual plant indeed full of sticky resinous stuff on the stem. A beauty amongst the yellows of this mountain range!

Mules ears in a forest meadow

This is the unknown plant I found today.It seems to be an orchid family plant like coral root, but similar to the pedicularis. If anyone knows this plant, feel free to comment and I will surely share more of this sweet beauty when I know it

This is one of the angelica's that dwells here in the higher country. This is another plant I have not spent a whole lot of time with, but always feel blessed to enter its territory

Happy independence day, to liberate us all from the things that bind us and hold us back from our true purpose!!!

The blessings of friends and plants

2010-06-20T14:58:00.001-07:00

What a glorious weekend! The sun was out with minimal rain,a group of about 30 people took a camping trip and I brought along my jars and oils to do some harvesting.
The plants were amazing! I tell you what, between nature, the beautiful people I was with and the plant world, my soul was soothed yet another day!
We began setting up tents. Jon and Jeff put ours up because it is quite large and it takes me forever. Thanks Jeff!!!

Our main hang for the evening.

The view of the mountains looking toward Granite Hot Springs

Cinquefoil is blooming

Sedum

Woodland Star

Nettles

Slippers of the Fae

Sulphur Buckwheat

Arnica

Back at Camp we got music

and games

A night full of fun, food, laughter, and tired kids. 5 of us stayed around the fire until midnight discussing aliens, the environment and the ocean.

The next morning I awake to beautiful people in this glorious place

And Pronghorn

Dave is always so fun! He takes the kids riding in the kayak this morning. They were siked!

And since I tend to take advantage of every opportunity out in the wild, my first quart of arnica oil macerates in the mountain sun after a delightful day of harvest.

Another event this evening....wonder how many of us actually make it:)

June Blog Party-Staying Cool in the Warmth of Summer

2010-06-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

This months blog party is hosted by Kristine Brown, the creator of Herbal Roots Zine and blogs at Luna Herb Co Check out her link for many herbal ideas for the summer heat.

Today, I just want to write a little bit about what my family does in summer.

While most in the country are seeking cool water to splash in and eating snow cones, we are just now heading into what most would consider their spring. Our waters are icy cold, the plants are flowering with our spring rains being faithful, and the heat rarely gets so difficult.
One of the things I have learned living here is that we tend to do better when keeping heavy fats, dairy, and such low in our diets until it gets cold again. With 6 months of really cold weather here in the mountains fo Jackson Hole, this is not too much to attain. So things like ice cream even, are occassional treats. This seems to help us not bog down so much in the heat.

Making popsicles, and drinking herb teas are so wonderful this time of year. Adding a few leaves of peppermint or lavender can be refreshing and cooling.
Some of our favorites in the warm weather are iced Happy and Raven teas by Dragon Lady Teas. I add 4 Tbsp to a quart mason jar and allow to steep in my south window while I am busy doing other things. No sweetener required.

Fruits come in the season as a good reminder that these foods provide us with nutrition and juiciness. Popping grapes in the freezer is a cold treat enjoyed by all.
When I lived in North Florida years ago, watermelons are very popular to grow out there. There was nothing as soothing as eating watermelon on a hot and humid day.
We would freeze some melon and use in smoothies. You can add some herbal teas to your smoothie along with watermelon and other fruits for a cooling treat. In fact, smoothies are a great wide to hide a lot of things your kids might not take on their own.

Sprays are helpful in cooling down burns. One spray we use quite often is Rosewater. Refrigeration makes it even cooler and really helps bring down that heat!
Also, I have been making a sunburn spray that works awesome!!! Using Vinegar with steeped rose petals and leaves, and adding about 7-10 parts to distilled water, then using aloe, and cooling herbal tinctures and essential oils. This works so great!!!

I make a cream for this season called Butterfly Sun Cream
It is helpful for before sun because it contains cocoa butter, virgin coconut oil so it is heavy and leaves this bit of protective layer that does not wash off easily. It also contains herbs and st johns wort, which in some people prevents sunburn in the first place.
This cream is great for post burn care when a spray is used prior to bring the heat down. Spraying several times throughout the day may be useful before applying any oil, cream, or salve. When I have a burn, and have used a salve or oil before cooling the burn down, it burns more, so I do suggest cooling burns of all manners first if you can.

Essential oils of lavender, german chamomile, helichrysum, balsam fir and rose in a spray bottle with distilled water is very useful with sunburns as well. I refer to distilled water because it is less likely to go bad from the microbes that live in undistilled water, but if you are using the spray within a few days, regular filtered water is fine. You must shake your spray before using as essential oils like to float on the top and you will need it mixed to get their benefits throughout the spray.
If you are an essential oil user, many citrus oils can actually attract the sun and cause burning in some people, so it is best to avoid these when outdoors. Bergamot being the most noted. Other essential oils include angelica, melissa, lemon verbena, ginger, caraway, cumin, and cinnamon. Many of these oils are not typically what we would grab in the heat (thinking of cinnamon and ginger mostly) but none the less, these essential oils should be used with care if you will be exposed to the sun.

To stay cool on a hike, gardening, or playing outdoors, a spray with peppermint essential oil is amazing for this. You only need a few drops to feel its benefits, or make a peppermint tea and use in a spray bottle. Both work really well for cooling.

As we know, staying hydrated is one of the best preventatives for issues caused by the solar heat. Drinking plenty of water and herbal teas is our favorite way to accomplish this. The common amount of water we are told is 8 8oz glasses, but this is not always accurate for each of us.
If you drink alot of coffee or tea, then you may need more water to stay hydrated, because these drinks can be dehydrating.

Also, during this season, many folks love to pop open an icy cold beer to hydrate.
Keep in mind that alcohol is also dehydrating, so you cannot factor in your coffee and beer in your glasses of fluids per day.

Whatever you enjoy doing this summer, I hope this blog party will arm you with ideas for comfort, nutrition, and awesome play time outdoors!!!

Picture of Dragon Lady and Dreamseeds reflected in the water after a small hike to a hidden lake.

The plants on the mountain

2010-06-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

The plant world is emerging, strong and vibrant. With a mild winter with far less snow than usual, we had strong spring rains that continued through this week (and may still come) which has provided the earth and her inhabitants and great start in the growth cycle.
The sun came out strong late afternoon, so the kids and I went for a hike. Light mountain breeze blowing across our bodies just rejoicing as we took it all in.
As we tracked up the mountain, dandelion, geranium, serviceberries and a host of other plants greeted us. When we got to the showy green gentian, Frasera speciosa. This plant is what I use for digestive upset, taking the root and tincturing, using 3 drops prior to mealtime. It is great stuff and SO BEAUTIFUL!

The purples were here and there along the path. The blue bells, which are part of the borage family are a yummy hiking munchie.

The Sugarbowls, Clematis hirsutissima are hanging out amongst the sage tridenta.

The Rock Clematis, Clematis occidentalis is up higher climbing on the trees.

The low larkspurs we have seen for several weeks in a wide variety of places and even up here, she is happy. This is Delphinium nuttallianum, and is toxic, but beautiful.In fact, I read in an ethnobotany book last year that the seeds of the larkspurs was used for head lice years ago.

The arrowleaf balsamroot is so beautiful with its vibrant yellows in the greens and purples most prevalent around this eco system. Balsamorhiza sagittata, is food for wildlife. I like to use the root in replacement of echinacea for immune building.The root is very delicious and reminds me of something I had as a kid, but just cannot place it yet. None the less, it is not as potent as echinacea, but a great local alternative.My kids love it too.

I love the Prairiesmoke, Geum triflorum, which likes to grow around 8000 feet in altitude.

Mahonia, Oregon Grape, yerbe de Sangre, barberry, golden root, or whichever name you like to call it by, is Mahonia repens and flowering beautifully, with some of the leaves still reddish from the cold.These flowers turn into the berries later in the summer. They are bitterish, but as it gets colder they become sweeter. They are yummy to me:)

The geraniums are doing well with their full leaves and pretty pink flowers. We have 2 kinds here, the white flowered and the pink. This is also called sticky geranium, Geranium viscosissimum, also known as cranesbill, whose root long ago was used for symptoms of colds.

A beautiful Serviceberry in flower

Valerian is up here,not a whole lot along this trail but present here and there. I had my kids eat some flowers, and Ben liked it, Olivia did not. I can tell you 5 flowers wiped me out last year on a hike, so for common relaxation needs, I use the flower instead of the root.

This is a very special tree that gave me some insight on the inner child last year. So we hugged it as we passed. I love this tree!!!

I love these little viney things that grow all over and for the life of me I cannot remember what it is called, but I think it is twisted stalk.

Nature speaks to us on so many levels, and my life begins to thrive as I have it to run to.

Nettle Soup- Yummy recipe and great for your health

2010-06-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today we had another gathering to pray for the oil spilled waters. Yesterday another spill happened in Salt Lake which felt like a hard blow considering what we are seeing in the Gulf waters, and Africa.
After our gathering, my friends Theresa and Jackie decided to try new places to look for morel mushrooms. It was a day of great fellowship of motherhood and womanhood, as our children froliced in the boggy meadows, splashing and running. On the higher grounds, we began our adventures of morel harvest.
After becoming separated for about an hour, we gathered back together to discover they found one morel and I too found one morel. :)
But I did score on nettles walking right into pretty large patches, and began to top them with my fingers.
I personally do not mind getting stung by nettles on my hands at all. I feel a great energy flow through me when I work with live nettles. But if you are in search of stinging nettles, bring along some gloves or a plastic grocery bag for the task if you want to avoid the stinging sensation it brings.

Upon arriving home I made a delicious pot of soup, a real treat on a cool day here in Jackson Hole.

Taking a box of chicken stock
1 large russet potato
1/4 onion ( as that is what I had)

Scrub the russet and cut into pieces for easier cooking and blending (later)

Fill your dutch over with the entire box of chicken stock, bring to boiling and drop in your clean, cut potato and some chopped onion. Allow to simmer until the potato is cooked through.

While this is cooking, clean your nettles well and strain.
I am not sure the amount of nettles I gathered but I think it was near a quart.
Once the potatoes are cooked through, add the nettles to the pot and cook until soft. Just a few minutes.
Peel and cut on clove of garlic. Add that to your blender along with your cooked veggies/nettles.
Blend until smooth.

Add your seasonings, parmesan, or whatever suits your fancy on a thick and creamy soup like this.

Nutritionally, you will be getting a good amount of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin k, vitamin b's, niacin, protein, vitamins c and d and will also be supporting your liver and prevent anemia.
And considering all the gatherings lately, and the partaking of so many things, this is a real good thing for me right now!!! Enjoy this recipe, enjoying the nurturing and nutrition nature provides:)

The handdrums and their sacred prayers

2010-05-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

It seems that lately I have blogged a bit about drumming. Lately the opportunities have been there to participate a bit more, especially in nature. Some people have stated that they wish they could drum. Some are quite intimidated by drumming, feeling they do not hold the rhythm or are too clumsy with their hands.

I want to share a story of my evolution into drumming and just how simple and magical playing a drum is for me. If you are sitting on the fence, I hope it will help you take that leap of faith and start playing.

My background for over 20 years was a pretty faithful walk in the Christian tradition. Maybe half of that was with a really strange group that insisted on many rules including NO DRUMS. This particular group felt that drumming was the devils war cry. Not easy to digest for this rock music lover!!! But for many years I did not listen to much music with drums being played.
When I left that wierd group, I was on a long road of spiritual evolution. One of those things that I added back to my life was music, with drums. I still continued to play guitar throughout these years too, as that was safe.... he he. I was never really good but could create tunes that could express my soul somewhat. When I had my 6th and 7th child, there was not alot of time for guitar in my life and I basically did not play much of any instrument for many years.
A few years ago, I had some post cancer treatment kind of wierdness going on in my body the doctors could not figure out with basic tests an CAT scan what was going on. Being uninsured it was not something we could dive into very well with my limited funds. It was right around that time that I felt called to drum. I did not have one and once I borrowed a friends little drum to play when it seemed it was calling. And of course I sucked, but it did help me on a spirit level.
In time, spirit called me back to Jackson Hole, where much of those weird things going on in my body began to heal. The first month I was here, I was invited to a womens gathering under the Tetons, around a fire with drums galore! I so wanted to play, but those old religious rules came to haunt me and I was too afraid.
However, in time, my fears broke loose, my inhibitions became lessened and the next drum circle I attended I played a great deal and my dear friend said to me, Girl you were rockin! It was so fun to play and I was rather sad that so many years of my life had been in fear of drums at all.
One of the nice things about drum circles is that people tend to bring extra for those that may not have one, so I was able to play. Then one of the special drums, a large loud one ended up in my possession for many months. It gave me the ability to play more when I felt led to drum. Eventually I got a few small ones of my own for the kids and I and to share with others.
Am I really good? Probably not.I have no specific style I follow, however it is what is unsaid through the drumming that matters most to me.

Drumming is a language it seems all its own. If you are tapped into the inner self, or looking to the spirit when you are drumming, your prayers come out into rhythm. Many times, when I feel inside things are trapped, I drum to release them and it totally helps. You can feel the drum vibrate which I believe is healing into itself, in fact when my body was going through that weirdness I shared, the vibration of drumming always made me feel better physically.
Sometimes we don't always know how to pray, so to send those messages to the heavens without words is amazing!

My favorite times to drum however are with my sisters as I call them. The women I gather with once a month. It is loud and often a wild time of laughter and hugs and great food. Each comes to the event with their own gifts. One sister might randomly smudge as as we are playing. Another may pass out food or beverage. One may have opened her home for us to meet. Some sing. We all have gifts we bring to the table, and when the ladies get together it is a powerful healing time full of nurturing and love. And the drumming, OH MY GOSH!!!
Women tend to carry the burdens of the world, as is our nature. To release these burdens together without saying a word causes us to walk out of our gathering much lighter than we entered into it.
It is interesting how in a group, often someone will be the voice through their instrument for a little while and you can sense how keeping the rhythm for awhile is essential for them to speak. I always can feel a blessing on the person who has that voice through their drum at the moment. It is something that just happens throughout the night, not anything purposely done. Sometimes I can tell when my sisters have had a rough month because the drumming is very loud and banging and sometimes will not stop for hours.
And then there is rhythm with others. It is a great life skill we all need that maybe we are not so good at in words and deed. Drumming promotes that working together to find rhythm and harmony more collectively. And when one's rhythm waivers, it is obvious how everyone is gathering energy from each other because the power starts to wane. Most often when that happens, one of us will work harder to keep it all together until the one that lost their beat can get it back.
Because we all do it, and sometimes our hands get tired:)

Some people absolutely feel they have no rhythm at all, and in truth there are some that do not. But that should not inhibit you not to play if you feel inclined to.
In a group, you can let loose and not worry too much...just play. At home, who cares, all that is hearing is the heavens (and maybe your neighbors) :)

If you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, drumming can loosen that stiffness and tension in your physical body.
Studies also have been done on the benefits of drumming.
One was most interesting. This particular study was conducted at a hospital where the turnover was about every 5 years. So what they began doing was drumming together for an hour per week. The staff was far more happy and carefree and helped the hospital not lose their employees that were burned out!
The positives weight far more than any negative thought you may have.

So let those inhibitions go, and your fear of not being able to play. Let the quiet voice of your spirit and the voice of the drum carry those things that are unsaid up to the universe to transform you and the world!!!

The only war cry you will be participating in is the battles within you so that you will have victory and power over the things that bind you.

When you feel your prayers are not working

2010-05-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Prayer is a part of many traditions. If you enjoy reading other peoples experiences, we find that many people take comfort in their prayers as well as see how it works, no matter what belief system they follow.
Even when I was going through cancer treatment, I would sit and read magazines while waiting for my daily zapping. I would find many articles about how prayer helped people recover, or at least have some joy in the process of dying.
A woman in Idaho was preaching her Christian faith all over the U.S. Strangely, in many of the same places she would travel to preach, some Buddhist monks were also in the same place at the same time praying for the waters. Frustrated, the preaching woman literally began to curse these monks, feeling they were a distraction of what she was doing as a tool of the devil. Someone in boldness one day told the woman, "Look woman, they are praying for the water. What enemy is trying to harm you?"
It took her some time to digest this, but eventually made her peace with what they were doing. She eventually transformed into a very accepting and unconditional spiritual woman.
Prayer is not just for one group or one situation, but for many. How we feel to pray is personal to us and what we feel is right.
I have experienced with other people as well as in my own life that this year has been very difficult for many of us. Working with people, I hear at times individuals that feel hopeless and state that their prayers are not working.

I never quite know how to answer this statement, because the ways of the divine are a mystery. We do not always know how things will be acted upon, or in what timing it will occur. I suppose it is our faith that keeps us going since we do not always have that perfect insight.

But today, the subject of prayer has come to me in a new way that I want to share to encourage those of you that may also feel it aint workin.

There are some things I have been praying for that just seem blocked. I can see part of the truth but not the whole picture come to pass. And I question if my understanding is correct, did I not get what the divine is conveying, or if my thoughts on how to pray for certain situations are wrong altogether.

But the interesting thing about prayer is that we may be praying the very perfect thing, but when it will come to pass may be much later than that moment.
Granted, not everything we pray for does come to pass. This is all in the hands of the divine that I can not explain. What I am talking about specifically are things that will come to pass, that are being prayed for and are to be.
Time is not being watched by the heavens like we typically expect. And there are reasons for that.
Sometimes things need to line up in life just right for that prayer to be answered and it does not happen in 5 minutes, or even 5 months sometimes. We need to be patient and not grow weary in our faith. Stop watching your clock or calender go by and become discouraged. Just thank the heavens for your requests when you begin to doubt your prayers and even yourself.

But the other thing, and this is the one that really made me think is from a Bible story about Jesus feeding many people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 little fishes.
When he saw this large group of people sitting outside all day to hear him share his wisdom, he was moved with compassion as they were all hungry.
He gathered what food was available among the people and it was the 5 loaves and 2 fish.
So what did he do? He prayed and gave thanks for the provision.

HE THEN BROKE THE FOOD INTO PIECES and began to have it distributed to all the people.
Not only was everyone filled, but there were baskets of food leftover.

The key here that stuck out to me is that without him TAKING ACTION to break the food into pieces to give to the people, this miracle may not have occurred.Surely God has the power to do anything, but the power came when gratitude and action came into the situation, which brought more than the blessing needed.

So when you feel your prayers are sitting there unheard and unanswered, do not be surprised if 6 months down the road you are in a situation you may have to take action on, which is concurrent with the very thing you have been praying about. Or it could happen in the same moment too, but of course the Great Mystery could call on us in an instant or next year.
Just be open, ready to take action to meet the heavens with boldness, and keep the faith.

My sacred WILD place in May and the spirit of the Tree

2010-05-26T19:53:00.001-07:00

Today was the day to check out the sacred spot I spend most of my summer in. It is near a popular trail where many people bike and hike, yet away from them enough to have solitude. In fact, I rarely see any people when I travel this way.
It is sacred to me for many reasons. There are many medicinal and edible plants there that I can partake of, study and learn about. The birds really enjoy this area so I hear their constant communication as I walk about. And for myself, I feel the spirit of the earth herself here, and it gives me the opportunity to work through my problems and to listen to what spirit has to say.

This is on higher ground in the forest, so the snow has just barely melted from this particular place and the plants are now emerging.

One of the first things I found was Mountain sweet cicely. The leaves already have good flavor, much like licorice or anise, but the seeds that come later are truly my favorite.

The Anise hyssop is emerging and so beautiful and tender.

I walk along the path I always take and the yellows greet me.
The Frittilary dotting the landscape.

I munch on some delightful yellow violet which I just adore. Not enough to really bring home for salad yet, but a tasty morsel for the hike.

The wild geraniums are doing quite well already and getting big and lush

The horsetail is not even peeking out of the ground yet, which is my favorite harvesting place for this. It is still quite cold here and even patches of snow, as you can see by this beautiful lime green lichen that fell onto a snow patch.

I wander to my favorite arnica place to find it coming up. This IS EXCITING! I must be honest, of all the herbal aroma's arnica is my favorite. It is herbacious but clean with a hint of green and floral in the scent. If I could capture this I would never have any problems....ever...lol as it really heals me on many levels.

Then I wonder around the bend to find a tree up ahead crossing the path. Having traveled this way all last summer, I know this tree had recently fallen there.
I walk over to it and notice it had been completely uprooted. I place my hand upon it and can feel the spirit of the tree. It is masculine that had lived a long time.It has 3 small trunks coming from its main trunk I discovered as it encouragedme to walk along it to the end. I could see later that everything I felt it was urging me to do was supporting the inner child within. One thing I struggle with as a single mom with many responsibilities.
This tree then wanted me to sit back on its roots and listen. I felt so loved and supported. Most interestingly, I felt when it was time to go and that it opened the gateway to safety in these mountains with its blessings.

And ironically as I walked a few feet up the path I ran into a moose

Typically when i cross paths with a moose I go back, but after my time with the tree, I knew it was totally ok to hike up higher.
Taking in the amazing forest air and the birds song, I feel my heart warm and my spirit connect to all that was around me. Taking this time away from the pain and struggle from everyday life is really grounding and healing in itself.
Along the path, usnea, arnica, dandelion and buds on alder, serviceberry, wild cherry, surround me close with their life, while the lime green leaves of aspen dot the world around me. I stop of admire usnea covering a tree (that picture is the first one in this blog) to find nettles, which i harvest to eat.

I can still feel the sting in my hands 8 hours later, but in truth, I feel energized by nettle sting most of the time so it really is no bother.
By now it is time to go down the path back to my vehicle.
Of course I pass the lovely moose again

And the tree that spent a good time trying to teach me more about life today.

The Robins mating, old nests that had fallen to the ground and the scent of decaying pine needles filling my nostils with peace.
On my way to do errands back into town, I pass a pond with a mama moose and her scrawny little babe. Sadly I was in traffic and could not get a picture, however the sight was truly beautiful.
After my errands, I had enough time for a quick hike a little ways up Snow King to see a whole other world of flora and fauna and to find an old tree that had messages for me last year. I sat next to this tree and the humus rich earth enveloped me as I remembered last year when i encountered this tree and felt to hug it.
It dawned on my later what had occurred with the tree last year and the one today in the path. Both encounters at 2 different seasons and 2 completely different ecosystems supported the inner child. Fun, playing, skipping and faith.
Just food for thought you may want to explore in your own ventures, as I try to understand my own as well.

Namaste'

A Teton Wild Woman in May

2010-05-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

Delighting in the slight warmth of the on and off again sun today, our adventures continue.We had a mild winter this year, yet the snow continues here and there. Spring is alive and well here in the Teton Valley as new plants continue to emerge and say hello once again:)

Olivia and I decided to drum and look for plants today near the Gros Ventre and Grand Teton park. Wildlife is coming back home for the warm months and the energy of town is vibrant when once again tourists come all over to feed their souls the magic of our valley.

Watch where you step.

Lomatium triternatum with its graceful leaves and yellow umbels. I am certain in other parts of the valley Lomatium dissectum is up, but have not seen it yet.

The valley weather changes so rapidly here from one minute

To the next

Oregon Grape is blooming

And Lupine is back and getting ready to show her beauty

The antelope play

And the moose are skinny as are the buffalo compared to what they will look like when they need to migrate again for winter.

Taking a break to watch the wildlife and take in the beauty of the sun hiding and revealing itself all day

Blessings on our land, the people, and all who come for the refuge they need.

When life returns, is this Heaven?

2010-05-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

I think we have finally turned a corner here in Jackson Hole and the entire community is vibrant and joyful, riding their bikes, skateboarding, hiking, fishing and all the activities our town is best known for.
Today I as I was driving through town, as the sun kissed the mountainside and the skin of all that breathes, I felt once again, I LIVE IN HEAVEN.

My family went camping with some friends which was a celebration to the sun, the animals coming back, and community. A blessing, to say the least, is to have such wonderful people surrounding you.

When we chose the camping spots, we decided on one of them because this was greeting us. I beleive it is a phlox, although I did not have my field guide with me.

I had the opportunity to wander a bit and see what exactly was coming to fruition. A pocketful of cottonwood buds stuck together in my pocket, a sweet bite here and there of dandelion flowers and yellow violets were a special treat, connecting me once again to the life springing forth from the earth and sun.

The children bravely took a dip in the Gros Ventre river, turning pink immediately, yet not regretting the courage and fun to indulge in something so crazy.
Roasting marshmallows and hot dogs on sticks, listening to guitar music and stories by the fire were all a special part of our gathering.

Around midnight, dressed in jeans, tshirt, 2 hoodies, stocking cap, and wool socks, I climbed into my tent for the night, so thankful for the warmth of my already sleeping children.
One of our companions heard the wolves howling at 4 a.m. although I slept through that.
In the morning, the sun shone right in my tent and the senstion of joy flooded my soul and the life bursting energy ran through me causing me to tremble near the river.
To feel so much love at this moment was more healing to my weary soul than anything I could have asked for.
After the pancake making assembly line and clean up,

we all began to pack up for the days schedules ahead of us. I walk one more time to be blessed to see a yellow fritillary(Fritillaria pudica)
which loves the sage habitats.
And to be greated by the bluebird....oh yes, I think we are over the hump Jackson. There is a reason there is a bluebird in my header and to have one come to us today was pure bliss!

So excited to see all my plant friends again very soon. Blessed be!

thank you Joyful Rose

2010-04-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Tina of Joyful Rose has been working hard on my site content. It was my desire to bring forth joy,peace and happiness to people, through my work, and she and I together for many weeks came up with what you see here, on my cart, site and etsy.

You can see Tina's blog or her cart for more info on your designing needs.

By the way, the old logo of the beautiful moon and the flower lit up with it was also her design which I so loved too, however as you may be experiencing, people are really going through remarkable shifts and massive and rapid changes within the soul. (me too) and what I know from this, despite the power of the moon which is my ally, the LIGHT, nature and spirit brings hope and joy when life is swirling about.
And that represents best the heart of the things I create. It comes deep from within to help and bring the strength and passion to elevate and reach our highest potential.

The kinks are not completely worked through quite yet, but we are almost there and I am so grateful to Tina and her work (and patience) with me. Can you imagine working with someone that loves every color, tree, flower, etc....NOT AN EASY TASK FOR HER INDEED. She is St. Tina! lol

hope you too enjoy the new design as well as new products that are stocked and upcoming.
In love,
Kris

Opening the Pineal Gland

2010-04-26T05:42:00.000-07:00

The pineal gland, I believe is far more important that we realize.Lately information has been coming my way to insist I need to know about this gland.
And what I know now, cannot ever be erased from my memory, and felt to share this on my blog.

The Pineal is part of the endocrine system. It is located in the center of our brain and IS OUR THIRD EYE. You know how you can envision things in your mind? This could very well be the pineal gland at work as it has many parts much like our eyes themselves.

The pineal is shaped like a pinecone (hence the name) and is small like a raisin.

It's physical function is to produce melatonin. I work in a health food store and I cannot even begin to explain how many people need melatonin in supplement form.
And I will explain why this has occurred in a moment.

Susun Weed, herbalist has stated to sleep without electric clocks and any lights and all to set our circadian rhythm for sleep and total health. Well, in truth our circadian rhythm will be off simply because our pineal is sensitive to the light. But there is far more about the pineal than this.
From a mystical point of view, the pineal glad is that part of us that reaches to the spiritual realms, and some would say that it is our God self or that part that can give and receive messages to the divine.
In fact, if you have seen symbols and statues of former cultures, you will see pinecones represented in many of these symbolic features. And the third eye(mostly shown between the brows) being highlighted for importance.

It is said that by age 12, the pineal glad is calcified in modern humans. What is suspected is processed foods and excess fluoride that causes this to happen. BY AGE 12!!! My gosh. If the pineal glad information is true on a spiritual level, then young people lose a part of their spiritual selves that should be functioning stronger than it is. And the physical part is sleep disturbance function.
I truly rarely see young people struggle with sleep, but I do see many adults that do.
Of course some of this is our caffeine generation and what appears to be excess stress and worry, along with keeping the tv on at night to induce sleep.

I want to briefly share a couple of very simple things we can do to open our third eye.

Sandalwood essential oil is considered supreme in assisting the pineal. I often rub sandalwood oil on the back of my neck, and often use blends of essential oils with sandalwood in it to help me on all levels, including my connection to the divine.
Before I do a reading for someone, I like to use it as well so that I might clearly read the cards I am working with for another person (or myself for that matter)

Sandalwood is very expensive and an the best Sandal is from the Mysore region, where is it endangered.It takes 20+ years for the sandal to be mature enough for essential oil and most is harvested at 30 years for best oils. However the entire tree is usually uprooted, leaving a huge gap in time before sandal is mature enough to harvest again. Sandalwood is now grown all over the world to cope with the mismanagement of the industry, so you can find one more suitable from Australia if you have concern over eco issues. I like to use a blend of Mysore and Australian for my work, and lately all I have is Mysore so that is what I am using currently. I feel either sandal will help your pineal gland opening, Mysore being more potent.

The other thing you can do is use an amethyst crystal. Crystal lore has been stating this for as long as I have dabbled into learning it. I shared this with a woman going through a hard issue in her life, and she stated, no wonder I was directed this week to carry my amethyst with me as she really needed to stay close to her divine.

I like to relax on a bed, and put the amethyst onto my third eye area on the forehead.
If you like interesting experiences, this will be fun for you.
It takes several minutes before I can feel much with the crystal I have (which is a raw amethyst) but in 5 minutes or so, this amazing energy runs through my head like you cannot imagine!!!
In fact, many crystals I have do not express much energy on my third eye, save amethyst and rose quartz. I have to admit, I love the rush!
Its legal:)
And if I am opening up a part of myself that I want to reach the highest potential possible, what a fun way to do so.
There are yoga poses and other things some folks feel will help as well, so if yoga is your thing, you may want to look into that.
Herbally, I have not found much research on this as of yet, but if I am suppose to know this, I am sure I will and will share. In truth, the endocrine system needs to be balanced and if one is off, it seems to set everything askew.

So I offer this tidbit today. In my life lately, I have been with so many people that have been going through incredible difficult times, spread so thin they feel they are about to break, and emotionally swimming in a current that seems more powerful than they are. I am hoping this little blogpost might help some of you in the same boat. And if you are not, looking into this for yourself might be extremely useful for supporting your higher self.

If indeed the pineal is effected by poor food choices and fluoride, than we can take these steps nutritionally to help our body.
Of course, my kids feel this is important, then my tween son comes home from a friends house with a bag of Doritos and a basket of candy. We can only do our best.

I keep a clay pot with 8 pinecones on my table to represent myself and my 7 children, I also have three in my room for my three grandchildren. I will need to get 2 more this summer when Robyn has her twins.

Here is to our Highest Potential!!!

Native Plant Society Event

2010-04-22T07:54:00.001-07:00

Hope to see some of you at the Native Plant Society Event on Tuesday. I know that 2 of us (both highlighted in bold) are practicing herbalists and that will be a topic of discussion during out session, although there could be more herb lectures too.

2nd Annual
Native Plant Species
Seminar
Agenda
8:00a - 8:30a Registration
8:30a - 8:45a Welcome and Introductions, Rachel Markko
8:45a - 9:45a Ethnobotany: The Many Uses of Local Native Plants, Kevin Taylor
9:45a - 10:00a Break - Sponsored by Hole Weed Control www.holeweedcontrol.com
10:00a - 10:30a Two of a Kind: Natives and Noxious, Amy Jerup
10:30a - 11:00a Almost Two of a Kind: Common and Similar Looking Native Plants, Klara Varga
11:00a - 12:00p Outdoor Session (weather permitting): Landscaping with Native Plants, Brenda Younkin
12:00p - 1:00p Free Lunch, Sponsored by TCD & Evans Construction- Local Plant Related Organizations Invited
**This year we’re asking businesses and non-profits to attend our lunch hour to speak about their
group. If this is something you or your organization would like to participate in please call no later
than April 6th, so a space can be set aside.
1:00p - 2:00p Wild in the Tetons: Exploring Native Plants, Kristena Roder
2:00p - 2:30p Wyoming's Rarest Plants and the Wyoming Native Plant Society, Amy Taylor
2:30p - 3:00p Soil and Its Importance to You, Shari Meeks
3:00p - 3:15p Break - Sponsored by Terra Firma Organics www.terrafirmaorganics.com
3:15p - 4:00p Medicinal and Traditional Uses of Local Native Plants, Curtis Haderlie
4:00p - 5:00p Outdoor Session (weather permitting): Grazing and Wildlife, Brenda Younkin
Tuesday, April 27th 2010
8:00am to 5:00pm
Located at the: Teton Science School’s Jackson Campus
700 Coyote Canyon Road in Jackson, Wyoming
Save the Date!
We will be hosting a Native Test Plot Field Tour in the Jackson area on July 22, 2010.
More information coming soon!
Please RSVP to Rachel at Teton Conservation District by April 20th to register
Phone: (307) 733-2110 or Email: Rachel@tetonconservation.org
The mission of Teton Conservation District is to promote conservation and management of natural resources -air, land, water, vegetation, and wildlife -
through watershed based research, education, conservation practices, cooperative projects, and on the ground actions to ensure the health, safety and general
welfare of the people and resources of this area.
If you would like more information about our organization please visit our website www.tetonconservation.org or call us at (307) 733-2110

50 best herbalism blogs

2010-04-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Heading back home today to my mountain sanctuary and received an email from Ashley Jones. She has a website for pharmacy work and has included 50 blogs to which people can read and learn about how we work with the plant world. There are some blogs in there I had not heard of before that I look forward to reading. Check it out! And have an abundant week. See you soon from the homefront. Have so enjoyed my grandaughter and my daughter and her twin baby belly:) And my son in law and the rest of my family and the little plants on the trail ride....lol

http://pharmacytechniciancertification.net/50-best-blogs-to-learn-about-herbalism/

Allergy season and using herbs to help

2010-03-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

I experiencing allergy symptoms while away with my family. The wind has blown since we arrived and yellow mucus and pressure began to flood my nasal cavity. I am greatful for the herbs I could get here to help me not feel so miserable. The sore throat and dry infamed airways were my first sign which I tried to ignore with little success as things progressed. To ease the sore throat and lungs I used myrrh and frankincense undiluted. A couple drops of each gave me enough relief to get some sleep. Woke up with throat and lungs feeling ok but then it was in my head and muscular achiness accompanying. Not having my herbal arsenal with my while traveling I turned to fresh garlic cloves to fight whatever bacteria had built up in my nasal cavity. I am die hard and eat them raw with a water chaser but a garlic vinegar or garlic infused honey would be great in this situation. OSHA root tincture is so wonderful for upper respiratory issues and both of these herbs have helped so much so that I could function. The poor people at the whole foods must have really enjoyed my garlic myrrh stench as I bought fresh veggies. He he:)
if you need OTC meds for your allergies, these can help symptoms, but these herbs will fight bacteria, ease inflammation and relieve the pressure if it is not too far gone within an hour(at least for me)

stinging nettle is a great preventative for allergies as long as you have been using it regularly for several months. So if you want nettles to help and you have not been consuming, try freeze dried nettle capsules. Mt rose herbs sells them I am pretty sure. A homeopathic remedy by bio allers is a great remedy too. I do not have with me, but I usually take a dropperful of bio allers everytime I feel badly so if is a few doses more than what they recommend.

Well wishes everyone!!!

Natural Cleaning 2010 series-finishing the bathroom

2010-03-27T09:44:00.001-07:00

Lets finally finish the bathroom! I have been a busy bee these days and unfortunately that cut into my blogging time.
So we discussed the bathtub and toilet in depth.

So it is a good time to wash walls and clean out cabinets.

Washing walls is very simple with your own solution of 2 tbsp borax, a wee bit of liquid soap or vinegar and 15-20 drops of lemon essential oil in a 1 quart spray bottle.
I like lemon because it is cheerful, fresh, and helps to brighten, but you can use any essential oil you choose, or leave it out completely. If you dont have borax, baking soda will work or even just soap and water.
I discussed wall washing in an earlier post so lets move onto the sink.
Again, a simple sprinkle of baking soda and a scrubber does wonders for cleaning the sink and making it shine. Sometimes i like to add my protect essential oil blend for cleaning and killing germs at the same time (and it smells so great)
Look at what is on your sink countertop. Try to organize things so that it is in order and makes you feel good when you walk in the bathroom.
I have a little picture, keep a bottle of booty oil and room spray on my tiny counter for convenience sake. It does not look real nice but I do have it organized so that it looks ok.
If you have a medicine chest, now is a good time to take everything out of there and get rid of old medicines and miscellany that is no longer needed.
You can clean the small cracks, shelf holders or mirror sliders with a toothbrush and a little soap and water, or spray your toothbrush with your own spray solution and then scrub.
Things you use often should be within easy reach. Things that are dangerous for your children, should be put up high, and what I do is keep those things in a completely separate area up high where they usually do not need to go into much.
I keep a first aid kit where they can get to it and most everything in there is all they need. Other drugs and medicines are out of sight and I can administer those if I need to.
Old toothbrushes can be replaced and check the ingredients on your toothpaste as well. Some of the ingredients are not really necessary, such as sudsing chemicals like sodium laurel sulfate. Flouride is in some, but there are others in natural food stores that do not contain this by product if you prefer not to have it in your toothpaste. For many of us that have city water, there is already flouride in the water anyway. If you love your toothpaste, cool. We all have things we love using and that is ok. I believe that if we all contribute what we can to environmental and personal health, this works wonders instead of giving up everything we love. Although you may find that safer products you will love to.
We enjoy Auramere toothpaste quite a bit which has neem and peelu.
Neem is great for oral health as well as myrrh which you can find in other brands.
The most important thing a dentist told me once was simply to brush. Even if no toothpaste is on the brush, he said brushing was what was effective.

Clean out your cabinets the same way, getting rid of the old and bring in the new things you actually do need. That old water bottle you have not used in 5 years might be something to keep, but other things just clutter when you know you do not like it or wont use again.
Keeping things you need most often easy to reach.
I keep toilet paper, extra toothbrushes, our hair brushes and combs, hair dryer, nail clippers and things like that in our cabinets. Safe when people come over and we can usually find things in a pinch.

Some of you may have a linen closet so this is a good time to do the same. Towels you just dont like can be turned into rags or donated. Old towels are great on camping or beach trips because you really do not care if they get ripped or stained.

Then your mirrors. Fill a spray bottle half vinegar and half water. Add a few drops of lemon essential oil if you would like as it wont streak.Some people like rubbing alcohol in their spray with a couple drops of liquid soap. I find the vinegar and water does an excellent job of cleaning the mirrors well and I can wipe anything dusty or dirty with that solution as well when in between cleaning.

It is so wonderful to clean with the basics.

We are off to visit family for a couple weeks so I send blessings and wish you all the best of this beautiful season of rebirth.

Be my Fan:)

2010-03-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I don't like to use my blog a whole lot for work related items, but I would love it if you would join my business page
Dreamseeds on Facebook

Sometimes, yes, there will be things on my blog about my other work, but I love to share herbs, aromatherapy, and other things here mostly.

Have an amazing week.

march madness sale

2010-03-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

blessings on the changing season and our own personal rebirth as we emerge from the darkness and into the light! I am so fired up for spring! Anyway, I need to make some room in the atalier for spring products and plant harvests. So that gives me an opportunity to run a sale on my hc store. So check it out http://hyenacart.com/dreamseeds

and there are spring items creeping into both hc and etsy shoppes if you need a little pampering or gifts.
Have an amazing day and may your emerging bring life to your soul and joy to your heart!
Walk in bliss
love
kristena

The Toilet part 2

2010-03-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

As we learned in part one of toilet cleaning products, most of these chemicals are extremely dangerous in their raw form. This leads us to ponder our casual use of them as well. What impact do millions of people have when using these chemicals on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? Are the products that we grew up around causing some of the diseases that were rare many years ago? Will the environment be suitable when our children are raising their own?

We will touch on a few more chemicals in common toilet cleaning products and then go onto cleaning out toilets in a safe and efficient manner. It is so easy that if you decide on jumping onto the sustainable cleaning bandwagon, you will save some moneys while helping everyone!

Chlorinated Phenols are present in some common toilet cleaners.This is a family of many chemicals. Most are used in pesticides, herbacides, and often a by-product of the paper pulp bleaching. The environmental concerns are that these enter the waterways, introducing their toxicity. They are harmful to microorganisms, bacteria, chlorococcal algae, human and animal cells.
They can penetrate soil and sediments.

Fungicides-these are used for many purposes, even have been in grains and seeds to protect during storage. Apparantly, the safety of these products has increased, however heavy exposure or ingestion can lead to the same consequences we have seen with other products, from skin and eye irritation to organ dysfunction.
If fungus is of concern in the home, essential oils and cleaning more often should remedy this.

1,3-Dichloro-5 is toxic to humans and can effect reproductive health and development. The nervous system can also be effected.
Toxic to aquatic life. With some chemicals, there are times flushing or vomiting may help until medical treatment is available. With 1,3-Dichloro-5, the warning is seek medical attention immediately. This chemical also can cause respiratory symptoms, and is caustic to skin, nose, throat, and mucous membranes. Caustic to eyes and can lead to permanent injury.

Sodium Acid Oxalate is a severe poison and is harmful if inhaled and can be fatal if swallowed within a few hours to a few minutes. A corrosive agent that is caustic to all manners of the human body. It can severely effect the kidneys.
Sodium acid sulfateis also in toilet cleaners and is a lesser caustic and toxic chemical.

My heart really goes out to people that need to work industrial jobs and work with these chemicals everyday to pay the bills. I am sure there are strict standards to protective gear, but I wonder if it is enough, or if many years are lost in a persons life due to breakdown of the body.
If any of you have loved ones in factories that produce any of these chemicals, feel free to comment.

So in everyday cleaning, is the risk worth it? This is certainly something we need to decide on.
I hope what I share today can help you at least try some natural cleaning methods.

So when cleaning the toilet, I find it so much easier to use a cloth or even a piece of toilet paper to dust the commode prior to cleaning. Just start at the top and work down. It only takes a sec.
So then I flush the commode and add baking soda or borax, depending on what I have available. I let this sit awhile. Some recommendations are to sprinkle borax at night into the bowl and then clean in the morning, but with my family, someone usually ends up using the restroom in the night, so that does not work for me.
Then I sue my bowl brush and scrub the inside, around the rim too where most of the dark junk is located.
My friend, Linda, said that her family has used a pumice stone to get off the junk under the rim. I don't have an extra pumice stone, so I tried pumice powder on my brush and scrubbed under the rim, and it worked great!
Then I use either of my spray cleaners from the first article and spray onto the cloth I am using and wipe down. You will need to take special care in the cracks around the toilet seat screws and on the floor where the commode is attached to the floor. This is where urine, and dirt tends to collect. If you are not able to clean these areas with hands and cloth, use a toothbrush assigned to the toilet only. It really works great.
Using essential oils for bathroom cleaning is really effective at killing germs and not being so grossed out by the task. I like Protect which can currently be found on my etsy shoppe. You can make your own with whatever you desire. Tea tree, rosemary, lemon, lavender are all good choices. I sometimes add a drop to my toilet cleaning toothbrush, and also a drop into the bowl when I am scrubbing with the brush.
I then wipe down all surfaces, starting with the top of the tank and work downward. Focus on the handle, as this is where most bacteria will be. Keep working down with your cleaner and essential oils if you choose. You may wish to get another cloth to scrub the toilet lid because sometimes there are pretty messy too.I start at the lid outside, then inside. You want to focus on the seat well, since we all sit there, and under the seat and top of the bowl.

It takes all of five minutes, unless you want to really make it shine and get every crevice good.

When company is coming to your home, you can freshen up by using your spray cleaner and wiping down, or in a pinch, a drop or two of essential oil on a piece of toilet paper and wipe down the seat and under the seat.
I have found that if I clean my bathroom once a week, it is only a matter of minutes to spruce up for company. And of course, sometimes I cannot and my friends enter the disaster zone to my embarrassment. But loved ones and friends totally understand a busy family life.

The Toilet-Oh fun!

2010-02-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I bet most of us really don't like this job in particular. What I have found is that it is not as gross as we think it is when armed with a few things I will share.

Also, it is rumored that all the urine that spills is from the males. This is not true. Urine that would be anywhere a standing person could get it to, is probably the males, but the spots under the front of the lid are from the females most of the time.

In a sense, we can see why the old toilet seat left up, or men peeing with the seat down can be a source of contention. Men really don't want to grab a seat with urine on it. And women do not enjoy stumbling to the commode in mid night to sit down and fall in because the seat was left up.

Those solutions definitely have to be worked out amongst the community sharing the commode. Keeping the toilet clean will also help.
It really is not as difficult as it seems.
Once a week at least I clean my toilet well. Top to bottom, around the back and where the floor and toilet meet. Then when company comes, it is simple to freshen the entire bathroom quickly, even the toilet. A few drops of essential oil on a piece of toilet paper in a pinch can disinfect the toilet quickly and prepare the bathroom for guests if that is all you have time for. If you know the area has been cleaned that week, it should not be too nasty and a quick sprucing takes only a few moments.

So lets take a look at some products on the market for toilets and see how it fares for our health, hygiene, and our environment.

Lets start with a 'Natural" product called Mrs. Meyers Clean Day.
I must be honest that this is a fun line of products. I actually have tried some of these products and enjoyed them years ago.
In Mrs. Meyers Toilet Cleaner it is stated:
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS ARE AT LEAST 98% NATURALLY DERIVED.

INGREDIENTS: Water, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Alcohol Ethoxylate, Ocimum Basilicum (Basil) Oil, Carum Petroselinum (Parsley) Seed Oil, Piper Nigrum (Black Pepper) Seed Oil, Fragrance*, Xanthan Gum, Blue 1

Lactic Acid is probably used here to dissolve mineral deposits. It is known to be a good cleaner especially removing soap scum. It is reputed to be antibacterial. This is the substance in our bodies that was once thought to cause muscle soreness after exercising. We would hear about buildup of lactate or lactic acid in our muscles as the culprit.It seems this has been proven false according to most recent studies and now thought to be more of a metabolic energy source.

Citric Acid-an acid most commonly obtains from citrus like lemons and limes. In cleaning, this agent helps to soften the water. Also, straight citric acid is known to remove mineral deposits and can dissolve rust from steel. In its straight form, it may cause irritation to the skin or eyes.

Alcohol Ethoxylate is used as a surfactant and seems to cause little issue with humans, however it has been noted to be a moderate toxic to fish and aquatic life. Proctor and Gamble however states that it is a low toxin to aquatic life and that when treated in the water programs, over 99% is removed.

Basil, parsley and black pepper are essential oils. I suppose this blend of oils is best for cleaning, while feeling a clear head. Black pepper can be stimulating and remember how some restaurants add parsley as a side? This is because it helps remove odors on the breath.

A surfactant is a surface acting agent. This substance creates the ability to clean dirt from textiles, skin, and surfaces. It sometimes makes a wet substance wetter.
If you have ever made a salad dressing or marinade that contains both oil and liquid, after shaking well, it will eventually separate.
Also, when draining your dishwater from handwashing, you may have noticed the greasy mess floating on top of the bubbles or onto the side of your sink. This is because of the surfactant. It's molecules are hydroliphic which loves water and attaches to it, and also hydrophobic which dislikes water and so attaches to the grease.We have the same thing going on inside out body too, although these surfactants in this cleaner may be created from natural ingredients such as tallow,many and probably most cleaning surfactants are petrochemicals made in the lab.

FRAGRANCE....is this a secret ingredient again? I have a feeling I may be saying this alot through the series.

Xanthan Gum- Made by fermenting a sugar with Xanthomonas campestris bacterium.
This is used in food products, as you may recognize the name. This is probably in this formula to thicken it a bit.

Blue 1 is derived from coal tar. Blue # 1 has had some anti inflammatory effects on rats. Rats receiving the dye by after a spinal injury happened to recover more rapidly.
Some advocate groups believe blue dye # 1 caused health problems such as hyperactivity. However, studies state this is not true.

How about Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner. It seems to be very popular so we will check this one out.
The claims are:
Disinfects the toilet bowl as it cleans
Dissolves tough rust stains and mineral deposits on contact
Kills germs such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli
Will not harm plumbing or septic systems
The lysol website did not have any ingredients that I could find so I went searching the MSDS for the product and this is what I came up with.

Hydrochloric Acid
Alkyl (C12-C18) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride
Unspecified Inert Ingredients

I reference the MSDS which means Material Safety Data Sheet.This identifies health hazards, chemical hazards and exposure precautions. Even essential oils have MSDS data.

The MSDS states very serious effects from the ingredients in this product.
For example, if a person has a heart condition, asthma, emphysema, or some lung diseases, this product should not be used by them or around them.
It can irritate skin and eyes. For eye contact it says, rinse eyes for 15 minutes then get immediate medical attention. WOW. If ingested, drink water and get immediate medical attention. It is also recommended that the product should be used in a well ventilated area. How many bathrooms are well ventilated? They are usually small spaces and many do not even have windows. Is this something people should be using often?

Hydrochloric acid, a combination of hydrogen and chloride, is the stuff in our stomach that digests our food and proteins. We can surely thank this natural occuring substance for helping out body break down that steak we had the other night:)
In cleaning products, however, it is chemically produced to take away rust.

This chemical is found in many plastics such as PVS and polyurethane.It has also been used int he production of strong narcotics such as heroine, meth and cocaine.
There is a food grade which is part of processing certain foods like aspatame and gelatin.
This is a highly acidic chemical which the EPA lists as a toxic chemical.
Straight Hydrochloric acid has this toxicology on the MSDS:
The substance may be toxic to kidneys, liver, mucous membranes, upper respiratory tract, skin, eyes, Circulatory
System, teeth.
Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage. Repeated or prolonged
contact with spray mist may produce chronic eye irritation and severe skin irritation. Repeated or prolonged
exposure to spray mist may produce respiratory tract irritation leading to frequent attacks of bronchial infection.
Repeated exposure to a highly toxic material may produce general deterioration of health by an accumulation in
one or many human organs.

Alkyl (C12-C18) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride is a sanitizer I had difficulty in finding an MSDS for it. Everything seemed to come back up lysol or another cleaner with the same warnings as stated above, pretty much.

Lysol became popular around the time of spanish influenza(the 1918 flu that has been discussed much this past year as H1N1 is so much like this previous epidemic) because it is a disinfectant.

Of extreme interest, Wiki states that lysol use to be used as BIRTH CONTROL!For 30 years(pre1930-1960) common practice was for a woman to douch with a lysol solution after relations, it could prevent pregnancy. It was also touted to preserve marital bliss by keeping odor and bacteria at bay. Of course, the medical community then deemed it inappropriate because it was killing the beneficial bacteria. I am sure they were seeing many candida cases at that point.

Also, it is said on Wiki that alcoholics often drank lysol to catch a buzz. Oddly, 2 different poets, on separate occassions, used lysol to commit suicide.

So what chemcicals are usually in many toilet cleaners?

Lets break it down to disinfectants, first.

Butyl cellosolve- Here is info from The Good Human

A colorless liquid with a sweet, ether-like odour and is manufactured by the Eastman Kodak company. But why should you look out for it?

It is also known as butyl glycol, Dowanol, Bane-Clene and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE), which has made it on to the list of California’s toxic air substances, and some animal studies indicate that it produces reproductive problems, such as testicular damage, reduced fertility, death of embryos and birth defects. In humans, it can irritate mucous membranes and cause liver and kidney damage. Butyl cellosolve is also a neurotoxin that can depress the nervous system and cause a variety of associated problems.

Sodium Hypochloride- which purifies water and surfaces, removes odors, bleaches and disinfects.
When sodium hypochloride is contained in an aerosol, it can be breathed in and cause sore throat or coughing.
It can irritate eyes and if ingested it can cause burning, stomach ache, diarrhea, coughing, sore throat, and vomiting. This chemical is toxic to water organisms.

Sodium Sulfite or Nitrite- About one third of the world's sodium sulfate is produced as by-product of other processes in chemical industry.
The MSDS on this states the chronic effects on humans can be possible based on these studies.
May cause adverse reproductive effects (fetotoxicity) based on animal studies. Human human data found
May cause cancer (tumorigenic) based on animal studies. No human data found.
Placental absorption of sulfate ion has been characterized. Sulfate ion levels at term are somewhat higher in fetal than in maternal blood.
The ecological effects seem to be safer than many other chemicals.

Sodium Nitrite-A strong oxidizer and moderate poison. It is a respiratory irritant and can cause systematic poisoning.
If this chemical is ingested, it can cause irritation of mouth, esophagus and stomach. If too much is taken, it can cause with the blood and blood vessels.
The MSDS also states: the signs and symptoms of nitrite poisoning include intense cyanosis, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, collapse, spasms of abdominal pain, rapid heart beat, irregular breathing, coma, convulsions, and death due to circulatory collapse. Estimated lethal dose 1 to 2 grams.
It also can be absorbed through the skin and cause systemic poisoning.
And of course, this is an environmental hazard.
Remember that the MSDS is the data on the straight chemical itself. However, knowing these risks from the chemicals can give us understanding of what the consequences of using them can be.

Chemicals in toilet cleaners will be our next focus.
Toilet cleaners may contain the following chemicals:

O-Dichlorobenzene is extremely harmful to the environment and humans. The environmental hazards can create damage for a very long time.
O-Dichlorobenzene is used as an insecticide, solvent, and can be found in many industrial products.
One of the MSDS sheets states DANGER! ASPIRATION MAY CAUSE LUNG DAMAGE. VAPORS CAUSE IRRITATION TO EYES AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. LIQUID CAUSES SKIN IRRITATION AND SEVERE EYE IRRITATION. HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED, INHALED OR ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN. AFFECTS LIVER, KIDNEYS AND BLOOD. COMBUSTIBLE LIQUID AND VAPOR. POSSIBLE CANCER HAZARD. CONTAINS P-DICHLOROBENZENE WHICH MAY CAUSE CANCER BASED ON ANIMAL DATA. Risk of cancer depends upon duration and level of exposure.
Inhalation can cause headache, nausea, swelling around the eyes, runny nose, loss of appetite and weight loss. Higher concentrations may cause drowsiness, central nervous system depression, kidney and liver damage, unconsciousness, and death. The least damage is irritation to the respiratory tract.
Prolonged and repeated exposure can cause blistering and dermatitis of the skin, and can also be absorbed through the skin to cause systemic poisoning.
Chronic exposure can damage blood, liver and kidneys.

P-Dichlorobenzene
Eye: Causes eye irritation. Exposure to high vapor concentrations may cause irritation. Solid particles of p-DCB are reported to be painful to the eyes.
Skin: Solid produces burning sensation when held in contact with the skin, but irritation is slight. A 69-year-old man contacting p-DCB in a treated chair developed skin lesions including swelling and discoloration; kidney damage also was reported. (Documentation of the TLV)
Ingestion: May cause gastrointestinal irritation with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. May cause liver and kidney damage.
Inhalation: Causes respiratory tract irritation. May cause liver and kidney damage. Inhalation of vapors causes irritation of eyes, throat, and skin. Exposure may cause anorexia, nausea, vomiting, weight loss and hepatic necrosis with jaundice. Exposure may cause headache and rhinitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose). Signs and symptoms of overexposure listed by supplier include headache, dizziness/incoordination, nausea/vomiting, loss of consciousness, vertigo, confusion, anxiety, labored breathing, drowsiness.
Chronic: Possible cancer hazard based on tests with laboratory animals. May cause anemia and other blood cell abnormalities. Chronic inhalation may lead to decreased pulmonary function. Animal studies indicate that the product may affect the liver and kidneys. Prolonged inhalation studies in animals produced lung effects. A NIEHS study examined the relationship between blood concentration of 1,4-DCB and lung function measurements in 953 adult humans and found that 1,4-DCB was associated with reduced lung function. The impaired function occurred even when adults' history of smoking was considered.
Due to the length of this article, I will do a second part with more chemical info and cleaning tips on toilets.

Traditional in Western Herbalism Conference

2010-02-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

If you are anything like me, you have wanted to attend an herbal conference for a long time. I am so thrilled to share this information with you. The line up of speakers are experienced and passionate herbal livin/lovin people! Many of these people I have networked with over the past decade and am absolutely honored be with them face to face as they have all helped grow me in one form or another.
There will also be entertainment scheduled to liven the event up to more than learning.
I have pondered bringing my drum to express the enlightenment/gratitude that my spirit wants to speak, but my mouth cannot understand how to say it. Stepping outside the New Mexico fall evening to drum really seems fitting, does it not? My second most favorite place in the country! New Mexico. Aaaahhhh.

The info about the conference can be found on Kiva's blog and if you want to help get the word out, they have designed a beautiful poster for the event that can downloaded and printed. Hope to see you there;)

More info can be found here

A message from Kiva Rose and Jesse Wold Hardin:The hostess/host of the event.

Your help is kindly requested, sharing the new trifold brochures for the conference, and making time to put up some of the matching posters. TWHC CoDirector Jesse Wolf Hardin spent nearly 20 hours designing and creating them, with his logo framed by a selection of his and my medicinal plant portraits. The background earth-tones are from his photo of volcanic cliff-rock near the Animá Sanctuary, but was picked for its ability to evoke the earthen pastel tones of the beautiful hills surrounding the Ghost Ranch conference site.

Write us to request whatever number of brochures you can put to good use, ideally handed to herbal and health related business owners who may want to participate by sponsoring, vending or practicing there, or left in small piles in herbal stores that will agree to keep them out. We can send you the files if you would like to print them off yourself, though you would need to know how to print on both sides.

The color posters come in 2 sizes, large 11×17 ones that we hope you can get store owners and health practitioners to commit to keep up in their windows or on their counter fronts from now until the event next September. We will be selling these as art posters at the event, but will also be happy to give a signed copy as a gift to you along with however many copies for you to post in your region or on your travels. The smaller version is 8.5X11, and is available either by writing us, or by downloading and then printing the linked poster file.

Ideal places for posting the large and small posters are herb stores, natural health stores, natural food stores, health practitioner waiting rooms, herbal and healing school foyers, university student union buildings, university medicine and botany building bulletin boards, and culturally conscious cafes. Please don’t feel like you have to take on a load… if a goodly amount of you could commit to posting even 5 or 10 – and to checking back to make sure they stay up and aren’t covered over – that would be a huge contribution!

That so many people want to involve themselves and help, is essential to making this conference a success and to ensure their will be others in subsequent years. It is also satisfying in itself, the connection we feel in this alliance of purpose. Thank you dearly from us both.

Kiva Rose & Jesse Wolf Hardin
TWHC

Natual Cleaning-the Bathtub

2010-01-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

Cleaning the bathroom is a concern for many that worry about germs. The marketed products appeal to out concern of cleaning and killing germs that may lead to illness.

Many of the products are dangerous to the environment as well as out own personal health. So are we really helping ourselves with cleaners in the long run? This is what I hope to unveil in this blog post series.

So in starting out in the bathroom, doing a major cleaning, I like to pull down my shower curtains. Mine are washable. I have 2 and both are fabric. They go in the wash (laundry is coming soon) and start there. This makes it quite easy to clean the shower wall, curtain rod, and the wall above the shower.
I made a fresh batch of all purpose cleaner. Today I used:
1 qt spray bottle
2 Tbsp borax
fill half with white vinegar
add a squirt of dish soap
and fill with water
10 drops of grapefruit essential oils (that is what my mood calls for today) :)

For the shower/bathtub floor itself, I use baking soda with a wee bit of dish soap to make a paste. Adding a wee bit of lemon essential oil does brighten, HOWEVER this does not completely whiten the way some products with bleach or brighteners will.

On occasion, I do use soft scrub , especially when I am hosting people. In summer, I do my work with chaco sandals on and my feet are extremely covered in earth. I don't mind the color remaining in my tub, but when my parents come to visit, yeah, they notice. Darned fiberglass! I live in an apartment so the fixtures are cheap.

Here are the ingredients in soft scrub with lemon. This does not contain bleach and is probably the least harmful of many tub products on the market.

Calcium carbonate-found in chalk,limestone, marble, travertine, egg shells, snails, pearls, and shell fish.
Wiki says, Fine ground calcium carbonate is an essential ingredient in the microporous film used in babies diapers.
This is also in homeopathic remedies, toothpaste,antacids, and supplements.

Water

Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate- some word, huh? In researching this product, it appears it is a detergent with production of over 1 million pounds annually in the U.S.
It is suspected to cause negative effects in the gastrointestinal tract(mostly in case of ingestion), liver, or gall bladder.
Necrosis, or liver cell death, is a common effect of acute exposure to chemicals and this one in particular is thought to be a possible low hazard.
However the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act has it registered, so apparently this is poison somehow.

Lauramine oxide-this chemical helps build foam and keeps a product stable. It is a possible skin irritant in some individuals.
This ingredient is in some shampoo and bath and body care products.
Tests have shown small animals (rabbits or rats) have had eye irritation in low doses, brain and nervous system effects in moderate doses, effecting sleep patterns and coordination.
I saw this ingredient in some products that are suppose to be natural.

Sodium citrate is a sodium salt of citric acid. This is in alka seltzer and helps relieve cystitis by reducing acidity.It is only recommended for women, however according to wiki.
Sodium citrate is often in ice cream to keep fat globules from sticking together.
It can produce irritation of the skin especially in moist of sensitive areas.

Preservative

Fragrance

Whatever these are could have hidden hazards as I shared in the first part of this series. Secret ingredients of formulas are allowed by law without disclosure.

At least it is in a recyclable container..he he

So lets look at Comet powdered cleanser.

Active Ingredient: Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate 1.2%
Inactive Ingredients: Other Ingredients 98.8%

Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate is highly toxic to fish, causing them to die. There is some studies that show lab animals had problems with skin and internal issues, but there was no data on what and how this was tested.
This chemical is found in pool cleaners and is also registered with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
The MSDS states it released harmful gasses into the air.
And the other 98.8% is their secret.

Well if we make a paste with baking soda, water and a wee bit of dish soap lets see what we come up with.

Sodium Bicarbonate is fairly non toxic. Of course it is powder so it is not to be inhaled. Also, large amounts of ingestion can cause extreme alkalinity and cells can swell. It is not a combustible material. If you remember in home ec, throwing baking soda on a grease fire will extinguish the flames. It may sting the eyes if it gets into them, but rinsing should take care of that.
Green River, Wyoming has the largest stores of the mineral Trona, which is where baking soda comes from.
It is mined and turned to soda ash. From the website http://www.grist.org/article/umbra-bakingsoda/, Umbra shares this about an environmental concern.
The wastewater(from the mining and processing into soda ash) is very salty, and when it is piped away to a holding pond, it can make the birds that visit said pond fall sick, and sometimes drown.
However, I find no other environmental issue known. My only conscious concern would be this cleaner running down our drains alkalizing the bacteria in sewers and septics. Compared to other cleaning products, this seems the safest product for cleaning in my mind, however.
Most stinky smells are acidic in nature. Baking soda removed odors by neutralizing the acids, since baking soda is basic.
It is a crystal, which is why it can scrub, but it is soft so does not scratch and is water soluble.
To a couple TBSP of baking soda, I add enough water to make a paste and use a squirt of ECOVER dishwashing liquid to help gather dirt and carry it away. I currently am using Ecover chamomile and marigold.

Ecover ingredients are plant based anionic and non ionic tensio-active surfactants, water, milk whey(oops, not vegan), plant based fragrance, extracts of chamomile and marigold, salt, citric acid and 100% biodegradable preservative.
(They have secrets too)

Environmental advantages

* quick and complete biodegradability (OECD-test 301F, full product)
* minimum impact on aquatic life(OECD-test 201&202, full product)
* against animal testing
* suitable for septic tanks
* plant based ingredients

This particular dishwashing liquid does not have as much foam as most dish soap, but for our needs it works great for dishes as well as basic cleaning.

You can add lemon juice to the baking soda and soap mix for the tub stains to brighten, or a couple drops of essential oil of lemon. It does help.

Scrub your tub with the paste you make and rinse.

Easy, economical and environmentally friendly! YEAH!
After I clean the shower walls I use the same all purpose cleaner and a stool to wash the other walls and door of the bathroom.
I take off the cover to my bathroom heater and clean the dust out and use the all purpose cleaner and an old toothbrush to clean the cover. Dry and replace onto fixture.
This is a good time to take off light fixtures, fan covers and anything that should be clean on occasion. These can usually be washed in hot soapy water. An old toothbrush will help caked on dirt to come loose from grooves and corners.
Baseboards and behind the toilet is the last thing I do since that is usually the dirties part of the wall work. I then get new dish cloths to begin the next series of cleaning, which I will get into next post.

After my shower curtain is washed and dried, I hang back up on the shower curtain hooks, on the cleaned shower curtain rod.

I am going to break this down into a few sections so that I wont lose you with many chemical compositions and techniques. My desire is that we all learn from this!

5 minutes to mealtime

2010-01-24T13:14:00.001-08:00

Any bears out there? I makes jokes about my winter hibernation, but in truth, many of us feel that winter time is the time to reflect ourselves, cozy up with our loved ones and chill. Running to the grocery is not always easy in winter storms, nor do the bears care to go out often in the dark grey sky.

Today is actually a decent day to go out, but of course sometimes the budget calls for creative measures.
One of my needs today is a more primal needed food (to keep my body strong from all the sugar and bread yesterday!)

If you have a few eggs and some leftovers, you can do alot.

Today, I whipped up a quiche which took all of 5 minutes thanks to my cuisinart.

I dont measure much so play with this idea with what you have.

In my fridge is

leftover sauteed onion, green pepper and mushroom

sliced red pepper

sliced raw onion

cheese

5 eggs give or take

sour cream

cream cheese

Easy enough! Grind the cheese, add the veggies and grind some more, add the eggs and cream cheese and sour cream, and pour into the greased le crueset. Bake at 350 until brown.

My camera is broken so using my iphone today. Don't let my picture put you off.

What a totally great lunch today!

Natural Cleaning-part 1

2010-01-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

To begin the cleaning journey, I want to start with the herb/utility room. Things in here are not necessarily seasonal and organization will help right now.

I also want to start by discussing all purpose cleaners because this is what most of us would need to tackle this job.

So lets see what is in some of the all purpose cleaners on the market.

According to http://organicconsumers.org
All-purpose cleaners contain the sudsing agents diethanolamine (DEA) and triethanolamine (TEA), which can react with nitrites (an often undisclosed preservative or contaminant) to form nitrosamines - carcinogens that readily penetrate the skin. Skin also easily absorbs nerve-damaging butyl cellosolve (also known as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether), present in some cleaners. Fumes from ammonia-containing cleaners may cause respiratory irritation. Sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite (bleach) are highly caustic, and sodium hypochlorite should never be mixed with any product containing ammonia or acids, or toxic gases will result. To prevent chemical accidents, it's best to simply avoid.
Other ingredients in common cleaners are

Morpholine-known to irritate eyes and skin.
Some of the side effects of morpholine are rhinitus,irritation of the lower airways and corneal oedema.
A study of morpholine done on rats, showed some tumour growth in the liver and lungs.
Other mice did ok, apparantly.
Skin applications in rats, oral and skin applications in guinea pigsand inhalation in rats showed necrosis of the kidney tubules and liver.
Oral administration induced stomach and small intestine hemorrhages in guinea pigs and rats, liver degeneration in rats, and renal insufficiency in mice.
http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol71/mono71-107.pdf

Sodium Bromide is another chemical in some cleaners. Here is what wiki says
NaBr is harmful if swallowed or inhaled in large amounts, affecting the central nervous system, brain, and eyes (see potassium bromide). The chemical compound causes irritation to the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
It is also anticonvulsant and sedative.

Naphtha- wiki says, It also enters the word napalm from "naphthenic acid and palmitic acid", as the first napalm was made from a mixture of naphthenic acid with aluminium and magnesium salts of palmitic acid.

The word Naphtha itself means pitch or petroleum in Latin and Greek.
It also is in the word Phthalate, which is under scrutiny for being health risk. Phthalate esters are added to plastic to make them more pliable and soft.

Other cleanser chemicals according to the book Clean and Green by Annie Berthold Bond

are

Dry bleach- Sodium carbonate peroxyhydate-can irritate the eyes, skin, respiratory tract. May be harmful if taken internally.

Kerosene-another petrochemical which can be fatal if ingested.

Butyl Cellosolve is a neurotoxin also called butyl glycol, Dowanol, Bane-Clene and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE). Studies have shown this chemical can cause testicular damage, fertility reduction, birth defects and embryo death. Also has been found to cause liver and kidney damage.

Petroleum based surfactants- these replaced typical veggie based cleaners in the 1950's. They tend to clean better making them a trend in cleaning products. However, the run off from these products has poisoned waterways and fish. Some do not biodegrade. Some of these surfactants create havoc with the endocrine system, leading to reproductive illness. Some are said to contribute to smog by emitting large doses of volatile organic compounds. Some are unknown yet what hazards they may cause.

Glycol ether is a solvent that has been reported to lower sperm count in men that have been in high exposure.

Stoddard solvent which is a combination of petroleum distillates (mineral spirits)which irritates the skin and eyes. Headaches can occur through exposure and dizziness as it has been noted to effect the central nervous system (the head and your spine). It may effect the throat as well. High concentrations of Stoddard Solvent can effect the peripheral nervous system (outside the spine),central nervous system and can irritate the upper respiratory tract. It is suspected to effect the blood, liver and kidneys as well.

EDTA is short for ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. This has been found to effect cells, and cause mutations in lab animals. Taken orally, it was found to have reproductive and developemental effects.
EDTA is labeled a persistant organic pollutant due to the widespread use of this chemical. It accumulates in the environment and in the body tissues.
Persistant Organic Pollutants are known to cause illness by disrupting the endocrine, reproductive and immune systems. People who have high levels of persistant organic pollutants shown to be more insulin resistant which is one reason why clean organic fats are so important in the diet, since these types of pollutants are stored in animal fats.

Complex phosphates

Chlorinated phosphates both of which I had a hard time finding out the toxicity of its use. So I can only share phosphates, with deposits can contain heavy metals and can pollute plant and water life which can make it into our food.

There is a loophole in some of the US manufacturing processes that allows companies to keep their secret recipe ingredients hidden and just label it fragrance, surfactant and innocent looking things. In this secret formula, there could be chemicals that cause reactions in some individuals.
If you are in doubt of the safety of your favorite cleaner, a call to their customer service number might give you an idea if you should continue using it.

You can always check your local health food store to see what they have on their shelves.Most of those should be fairly safe, but as I have noticed over the years, the health food industry is loaded with marketing as well. Read the labels and call the companies if you have questions.

Best of all, you can make many of your everyday cleaners yourself.

Most often I use vinegar and water in a spray bottle in equal parts (usually half and half) and add some essential oil to it. Since this can be used for glass and mirrors as well, I often will only use 10 drops of Lemon essential oil to a quart bottle. This usually will not streak your mirror.

Or for a cleaner specifically for surfaces, use a 1 qt spray bottle and add 2 Tbsp borax and fill with water. Leave a bit of room for 1 tsp of castile. Shake and then add 15-20 drops of essential oils.
These are very simple ways to clean and deodorize. Use your imagination when combining essential oils. It is really fun! Rosemary and Lemon are great antiviral oils and smell clean without overpowering.
Some people like lavender for the calming effect, while sometimes I need some pep and reach for peppermint.
I would be careful with sweet orange essential oil, as it can warp plastic and take finish off of floors and wood when applied straight. I have never used in a spray bottle since it does effect plastic and eat it away.

So when you make your chosen cleaner, grab a lint free cloth, then you can move to the fun part of cleaning.

I am starting in the herb room because I absolutely need this room in order and clean. If you do not have an herb room, you could start with your utility closet or coat closet.

The first thing I do is take everything off the shelves. Since my herb room is a large walk-in closet, I do one side at a time so I do not feel so overwhelmed.
I then clean my shelves, the walls in between the shelves and start putting the herbs away.
Once side of my room is herbs, tinctures, vinegars, liniments, oils and flower essences.
These are almost all in glass jars so they are dusted.
I arrange my herbs in alphabetical order with tinctures and herbs together. On my labels I also include some common usage, date made, botanical name and what I extracted the plant in. That way, my family can see the preparations and understand what it is used for.
This is a good time to assess what you need. You can also take a smell at your oils to be sure they smell fresh.
Then I have a shelf that is mostly vinegars, honeys, oils and flower essences. There are not as many of these, so they are just organized together. For example, vinegars are together, oils together, and so on.

On the other side of my room is my essential oils. I take everything off the shelves and do it all over again, putting everything into alphabetical order.
There are miscellaneous objects in there such as mortar and pestles, buckets of oils,incense, candles and things. They all are arranged for easy reaching, and add character to the room.
I also have a roll out drawer organizer for bottles, jars, sprays, roll ons, lip balm tubes and other things I need for our needs. This keeps them clean and organized. So that comes out and the wall and floor is cleaned with my all purpose cleaner. Then when dry, rolled back.

On the far end of the wall are my books that are quickly growing larger than the space there is available. I do the best I can organizing by topic. Plant ID books, Aromatherapy, Women's Health, Cookbooks, and then miscellany and fictions.
This helps me when I need to reference something quickly.
Then the floor space. This cleaner does a great job cleaning this vinyl floor. Once in awhile a stubborn stain or streak from shoes is left behind, so I use just a dab of orange essential oil and it almost always come clean.

Working my way out, I then clean the door from top to bottom, the knob, track and hinges.
And whalla, put everything away that goes onto the floor(like my 50 pound buckets and recycling containers) and you have just completed your first room.
Have any tips you would like to share please feel free in the comment section.

Natural Cleaning 2010 series

2010-01-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

This winter I will be doing a bit of writing on cleaning. I am asked about chemicals in cleaners and ways to clean naturally from time to time, and I must be honest, I know very little of the chemicals in cleaners.
I have been cleaning my home with a few ingredients for so many years, that I am not even aware of the chemicals in cleaning and laundry products. So this will be an excellent way for me to understand more of what is on the market these days, and hopefully give you some ideas to make at home to meet your cleaning and laundering needs.

I also do much of my cleaning in the winter, instead of spring. I choose this time mostly because the chaos of fall and winter Dreamseeds work leaves things a bit unorganized.Also, there are days too cold for outdoors, and it is a good time to dive into a few cleaning projects and be productive. I don't function well without organization so after the holidays, I can then assess what I can do to get things in order.
I will be archiving this series on my blog, so please feel free to check in the topics section to the right when you want to review a chemical or a natural cleaning recipe. Also feel free to add any extra info you have in the comments.

So the first of mainstream cleaning products I want to talk about is cleaners is for all purpose. The room I will start out with is the herb room. If you don't have an herb room, then think of your utility closet. This will be in a post coming soon. I just want you to know what will be coming from my blog this season.

Why would we be concerned about chemicals in cleaners? Well, some of them have dangerous side effects.
Some irritate the lungs and skin. Some may irritate the eyes. Some are downright caustic and poses risk of ingestion, especially by little ones under years old.
People with asthma and heart disease can react negatively to some of these chemicals making their health condition worsen. Some have been found to cause cancer.

I was part of a conference in 2009 in which a speaker shared her journey with her daughters health. There were years of testing, and illness for this child. The mom finally figured out, after much research, that much of this illness was stemming directly from the fragrances and chemicals in their home. When these were eliminated, the child got well.

This had me thinking heavily on my own needs. This is one reason why I don't make soap with fragrance oils. My body does not handle it well at all. So I could totally understand the same thing being far more intense for a child. Plug ins, spray deodorizers, scented laundry products, cleaners, candles, all can be harmful to us.
However, these products can make out lives fun, so these ideas through the series can assist us in making more positive choices without taking all of lifes pleasures away. And of course if you or your children have had some health problems, you can see if these might be part of the problem by replacing them with more natural things.

Making home cleaners is also environmentally friendly. I will be using some information from internet organizations to encourage safe cleaners or are active in keeping the ecology free of these chemicals. Much of my information is also coming from a book called Clean and Green by Annie Berthold Bond. If you would like a copy of this book, I can get this at the Herb Store I work at. Just email me and I will let you know the cost.

I will include this information and some ideas for cleaning and organizing our first project on my next post.

Dreamseeds Organics Online Shop

2010-01-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

Dreamseeds Organics Online Shop

The people I meet and the wisdom I obtain

2010-01-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I feel things are just on a positive turn, at least in my life and I hope collectively we all have good things in store. YAY!

I arrived home from visiting my children and grandchildren this week and am now catching up on life I missed home in Jackson.
I came home to a broken camera due to my 5 year old throwing a tantrum and hurling it at her brother. Yes life, indeed, has challenges for us all, but overcoming those challenges brings great growth and strength to our being.
She is certainly happy I am home and it is great to be back.

I will be doing some writing on non toxic cleaning this winter. I know it seems odd to write about a spring activity in January, but I confess, I spring clean in winter, while I am most cooped up and see what needs done most. I also feel that what I do share, will help others that want to tackle their cleaning needs whenever!
So stay tuned for that.

What I want to share today is something I felt was special.
One of the greatest learning experiences I encounter is from other people and their experience.
Today I was working at our hometown herb store when one of the originators of the business came in. She is 73 now, and has retired from the herb store for several years. I love this woman, not only is she strong and active, but she was one of the original wildcrafters here in the time frame people can remember. She and I on occassion get together for tea and a visit. Once she spent time talking to me about how when she needed a plant, and could not find it, she would ask her pendulum and it would lead her where she needed to go. In her kitchen one day, she wanted to demonstrate her technique and asked the pendulum if I should see it, to which it went crazy spinning around. It was fun to see her do this and that the pendulum wanted me to.
So, this woman I refer to came into the store today to purchase some needs. We were talking about our holiday festivities and all and she told me she had been doing more creative writing lately. fabulous!
She went on to share how her energy level is best in the morning (like mine) and that she always wanted to be responsible and get her tasks and cleaning and errands run while she was most energized. However, and I know this by experience, when you focus on getting things done in your energy peak, one is often tired in the afternoon.

I love what she said, and this is what I leave you with.
(keep in mind she is 73 years old)

She said, I am finally giving myself permission to pursue my writing. I spend a couple hours in the morning when my energy is best doing this while there are dirty dishes in the sink and cleaning needs to be done waiting me. It is hard but I am doing it!

YAY!!!! I love this crone wisdom and wanted to share.

Have a blessed week everyone!

The winner of the Essential Herbal Magazine is

2009-12-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

Pamela...not so sure it is kosher to put your full name out here, but I will facebook you to see what addy you want this to go to.

Thank you all for participating and for your support of Dreamseeds and The

Essential Herbal Magazine

. Huge thanks to Tina Sams, the editor of The mag!

I will have a valentines giveaway next year so look for that!

Have a blessed winter season, however you celebrate! I will be off to see my daughter's family next week and all my online shoppes will be closed until January 4.

Love and blessings,
Kristena

Garlic, the healing spice...again to the rescue!

2009-12-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

Garlic came to our rescue this week AGAIN. I have shared the magical wonder of this plant before, and today I want to show you a recipe you can make with garlic that you will be grateful to have on hand for quick relief.

Often, people will jab me with statements like, "There was an article in the paper that scientific research has shown that garlic does not do all that you say!"

I cannot tell you why science does not find what my personal experience does. What I can say is that numerous times, garlic has completely cleared flu, cold, and many symptoms of the same.
And rather quickly too.

This week, the temps dropped below zero, and coupled with being out and about many sick people, I began to have cold symptoms. I tried several herbal tinctures, and homeopathic remedies to ease my watery discharges, with no success.
Finally, after being completely miserable, I took 1 TBSP of garlic vinegar.
Within 20 minutes or so, I felt the warming power surge through my body, and within an hour I was well (or well enough to function in my household).
The next day I was fine and continued taking 1 Tbsp that day and the day after to ensure I was free of illness.
In that few days, my daughter also began to feel strange and have watery discharge, and 1/2 tsp was about all she could endure, and she got well.
Experience tells my family over and over, that this powerful plant needs to be used for more than just flavor! Garlic is a true healer!

So I want to share today about making garlic vinegar. This preparation will be very useful when you are not feeling well, because it will take you 2 minutes of less to use. Garlic vinegar can also be used for salad dressings or marinades.
This is food! and medicine!
It is so easy to make, your children can do it themselves if they can handle a knife.

At the last farmers market of the season, I invested in plenty of fresh local garlic, and sent some to my daughters in other states. There is nothing like fresh local herbs! (not local to them of course, but I thought it was a worthwhile gift)

So first we start off peeling garlic cloves, discarding any that may not seem to have much life, or bruised.
It takes alot of garlic, so be prepared to spend an hour or 2 peeling, cutting, chopping, and cleaning up when making your vinegar.

You will need a jar. I make a quart at a time since there are so many of us in our household.

You will also need apple cider vinegar. Any vinegar will do, but apple cider vinegar with the mother is what I like to use for my vinegars.

A good cutting board, a veggie knife, and a chopping knife are all helpful too.

So chop your garlic well and add to your jar until about full.

Pour your vinegar over it. You can stir with a knife to be sure you have enough vinegar in there. Air bubbles can be released this way, and sometimes you will need to top it off.

Then you need to cap your vinegar. Vinegar will corrode your metal lids, so either use plastic lids or place plastic over the top of your jar before screwing on your metal lid.
I do not have plastic wrap right now, so we used recycled baggies:)

Let it steep 3-6 weeks.

You can strain it, or leave as is, which is what I do at least for several months.

I do not refrigerate my vinegars because I store them in my pantry. I live in the mountains with below zero temperatures throughout the winter so it is colder there than my fridge.
If you crank your heat, or live in a warm climate, refrigerate it after it steeps.

So how do I take this?

Well in the case of my use this week, I took out a few Tbsp of the mixture, minced garlic and all, and put into a cup. To ease the tummy, I added a mint honey I made earlier this year, but any honey will do to help get it down.
However, when I am sick, I pretty much will take my herbs however they will work! :)
My kids, however, struggle with the potency of garlic, so they do need plenty of honey.
Yesterday, I added chamomile honey to Olivia's garlic.

So when I take this for healing, I just eat the garlic along with sipping the vinegar.
I know that is somewhat die hard for some, in which case, you can just sip the vinegar.

I hope you enjoy using this preparation for cooking and wellness.

Grindelia squarrosa

2009-12-03T22:51:00.001-08:00

Here in the Teton Valley, we have a wild species of Grindelia that in common terms is called Curly-cup Gumweed.
When I first saw this plant, I had no idea what it was, but I knew inside myself that I needed to know it.
After researching last year, I correctly identified it as Grindelia squarrosa, and began to read about its medicinal use.

It has a long history of asthmatic and bronchial use, as it tends to slow the heart rate down, resulting in rest and easier breathing.
It thins out phlegm, aiding respiration that was congested by phlegm in the bronchial ariways.

Traditionally,this plant has been used for whooping cough and tuberculosis.
It has also been used as a poultice or tea application for dermatitis, poison ivy and rashes.

The plant itself is very resinous. When I gathered this summer, my hands would be very dirty from the strong resins this plant contains. The aroma is what you would expect from a resinous plant too. Kinda paint thinnerish. Maybe next year I can articulate that as I gather. I am going by memory of harvesting right now.
I really felt good energy from this little plant and finally had a chance to use it this week.

In my learning about the use of Grindelia, one of the applications specific for this plant is that it assists hay fever and cold situations in the head, where there is much upper respiratory mucus.

One of the things about living in such a cold climate, is that it is often much colder than you imagine going from your house to outdoors. I found last year that we battled sickness more when we were not ready for the huge shift in temperature.
Things can happen quickly here I have noticed. You may get too cold in 10 minutes of being unprepared for outdoor weather, and a couple hours later a fever or exhaustion can set in, along with other symptoms.
All this talk of the cold not having anything to do with illnesses I think is a bunch of bull.
Sure there are viruses and bacteria and all, but after raising 7 children, I have seen time and time again, cold weather and underdressing can lead to illness rather quickly.
Herbal preparations assist my family in so many ways.
Not as magic bullets, but often symptoms are relieved far sooner than if left alone or taking OTC remedies only to relieve the misery of the affliction.

Well, not practicing what I preach, I allowed myself to get a bit cold this week. When the moon is full, I tend to not sleep very well too. Yesterday it felt like stuff was stuck in my head. Pressure, sinus irritation and just one of those days you can tell you are not quite right.

I decided to try grindelia for this. And within an hour, I felt rather normal!
I took a full dropper dose. It felt as though the head congestion loosened.
I took a few more doses throughout the day as I had plans that evening, as well as work the next day.
Today, I am draining, far more than I would like, but possibly due to those many full doses of tincture.

At first the mucus was yellow, indicating possible bacteria or virus, sinus infection, possibly.
But it is totally clear today.

I would like to keep writing about this ally as I experience it more, but could not resist sharing this little bit of understanding this week.

I would say that a 10 drop dose might be a better choice next time simply because everything seemed to bust loose in my head so abundantly.

Grindelia is contraindicated for people with renal disease. It can irritate the kidneys, old literature declares.
I have noted that it is diuretic in nature.

Gumweed is also contraindicated in people with heart conditions. Probably due to the nature of the plant slowing things down.

It is interesting to me that if this plant can slow things down, it could also assist other matters of stress and lack of relaxation in a persons life.
I guess time will tell...or maybe those lovely plant spirits will speak about it.

Wildcraft Game is on sale 1/2 off with bonuses

2009-12-01T08:23:00.000-08:00

Wildcraft Game

This is a great way for you and your children to learn some medicinal use of plants that are rather common!

I think the sale ends December 4

I am pretty sure John and Kimberly are giving some bonuses as well

Bonus 1: Herbal Remedies for the Cold & Flu Season (PDF)

This brand new 50 page PDF eBook is all you'll ever need for
natural cold and flu care. Overview of the immune system, what
is a cold and flu, strengthening the immune system, what to do
at first sign, suggestions while sick, herbs and remedies for:
sore throat, coughs, earaches, cold sores, congestion, aches and
pains, fevers, colds, and flu.

* Bonus 2: The Dandelion Activity eBook (PDF)

This 20 page children's activity book is a nice
companion to the Wildcraft game.

* Bonus 3: Kids, Herbs and Health 90 minute mp3 Audio! (mp3)

A wonderful 90 minnute audio eClass on using herbs safe and
effectively with kids. Includes PDF transcript.

* Bonus 4: Herbal Medicine Chart

This 10 inch by 10 inch medicine cabinet sized chart is
from the Home Remedy Secrets Video eBook. It is located inside
the game box.

* Bonus 5: Herbal Roots Zine: Full Issue! (pdf)

This amazing magazine has over 20 pages of information,
games, activities, and recipes for the herb Calendula. Calendula
is an herb featured in Wildcraft. A great opportunity to learn
more about this easy to grow and versatile herb.

* Bonus 6: Herbal Gifts eBook (pdf)

A 14 page eBook with many herbal gift ideas including, sachets,
herbal eye pillows, facial scrubs, oils, bee pollen candy, honey,
syrup, chai and more!

* Bonus 7: Understanding H1N1 and our Remedies from Nature (mp3)

This informative special edition HerbMentor Radio episode
covers h1n1, herbal prevention, and natural treatments.

That's nearly $140 worth of goodies ...and you get it all FREE
when you order Wildcraft at $19.99, nearly 50% off.

click here to order
Wildcraft Game

Coupons to support independent artisans

2009-11-26T06:41:00.000-08:00

It is the biggest shopping day of the year, and we all would love to give special items to our families.
I want to encourage you to check out Indie Smiles, and venue for independent artists, like me, to present their handmade work.

Dreamseeds has the code ecofair so please use that on your purchase through HC.

or I will refund you the 10% through Dreamseeds Etsy

There is a slew of coupons to meet your gifting needs, so check em out.

Indie Smiles Coupon Directory

Happy Shopping!

http://www.indiesmiles.com/directory/

I am a Medicine Woman Too-the perfect gift!

2009-11-18T06:59:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend this book for your beloved children! (and even yourself)

This book is written by Jesse Wolf Hardin and represents a dialogue he and his daughter Rhiannon had one day.
The book is empowering for those that feel they are not good enough to be someone great, because Wolf engaged in conversation with Rhiannon to help her overcome this issue.
I love his encouragement of Rhiannon's own gifts to fulfill, enabling her to accept her path with confidence.

The artwork is Wolf's designs and what he has been inspired to draw. Amazing details!

The plant descriptions are very easy for your children to grasp and can birth in them a way of learning earth's goodness quite simply.

For pleasure, homeschool, or personal study of common plants, this is a must have for your library. A fabulous gift for the holidays!
To order this treasure, please go to I am a Medicine Woman Too!

Spirit Medicine

2009-11-16T06:17:00.001-08:00

The sun began to beam through the south facing windows quite powerfully calling, come out! You need me today!
I had been straining my elixirs and cordials this morning and finishing some custom beeswax stars.
On a typical weekend, I spend time with my brother in law discussing esoteric ideas, religion, heaven and hell, past lives, present callings,Lumeria, nature, herbs and conspiracy theories. Obviously these discussions go deep.
So as I was straining my preparations I had the thought to call him as the sun came through, and at the same time, he sent me an email. :)
He had errands to run past the Snake River canyon and asked me to join along with the kids. I told him I needed to harvest licorice, so we compromised on completing both tasks.

It was so nice, although quite cold by the river! We picked rosehips barely hanging onto their stems and popped the squishy orbs into our mouths, rolling them around for awhile and then spitting out the seeds.

We stopped briefly for a lunch in the sun, completed our tasks, then abandoned modern life to escape into the mountains of Star Valley.

We found a nice spot and all had to pee. We use the term goldenod when we are together.
Being female, I travel a bit further than the guys for privacy sake, and found a nice place among the resting nettles. As I squatted near the snow, I reached out to touch my friend, nettles and joy came to me that she will be back, despite the long time it seems before she comes again.
A buffalo had been in the area recently as huge,new dung piles were dotting a trail along with its hoof prints.
Back to center (basically where we parked near the river), we pulled out our drums and began to play. At first it was a beat of love as we stood staring at the river and the pines on the mountain.
It evolved into dancing and chanting and praying for the land, the people, our community in Jackson, the earth, and my own personal family.
One of the things I love about drumming is how spirit can speak through the beat itself and I can often hear it.
Today new languages flowed out of me and a vision of one of my children in chaos, with a message RISE UP-SEE CLEARLY-MOVE FORWARD.
We did not stop until the heightened awareness mellowed.
It was so beautiful and despite the cold, it was so intense in fact, the gloves came off and often we were drumming with our backs to trees, or dancing around pounding upon our instruments. The spirit clearly had much to say and as vessels of that energy, we were most blessed.
Upon our ride home, I immediately text my son to whom this chaotic vision was about.
You often wonder why you are called upon to mediate for the people. My thoughts tend to race to, "What is going to happen?"
But looking back it seemed even more collective, as though these intercessions were going out to the planet as a whole even more strongly than our community (although that was strong too).

May I walk close to spirit this week and not miss a word it speaks! And may you all hear your call, walk in peace and fulfill your purpose.
In great love,
Kristena

2 herbal allies for women's reproductive healing

2009-11-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

It is so amazing how plants work harmoniously with the human body.
And today I have been thinking of how emotional reproductive issues effect a woman, maybe so strongly that healing slows down as we grieve.
Calendula is a sunny beautiful plant. I have seen this flower in deep yellow or orange.
Traditional use of calendula officinalis has been for lymphatic cleansing, wound healing, probably due to it's antiseptic properties and soothing mucous membranes. There are other uses but these I feel apply to it's use with female reproductive issues.
Coupled with horsetail, it is very powerful in helping scar tissue formation, where it can effect the surrounding tissues and organs, and keep things from functioning properly.
Some component of calendula seems to bring the life force to the pelvis and has been used to bring on a delayed cycle or to ease the pain of difficult menses (dysmenorrhea).
When the vaginal walls are thin, dry, or painful, calendula has been employed using powdered petals in cocoa butter and making a bolus, or suppository.
Making an infused oil in coconut is also useful in this type of situation.
This same method may be used when HPV is present. Calendula has in times past, healed cervical dysplasia.
Candida issues can also benefit from calendula as a strong herbal tea and douched, or again, using a bolus and inserted into the vagina at bedtime.
Daytime use is possible, however since you will be standing throughout the day and the bolus will be melting, you may have a mess on your hands and will also leak out much of that needed medicine.
Emotional medicine from calendula is used for depression, as is many yellow flowered plants.
Horsetail, Equisetum arvense or hymale, is an amazing connective tissue strengthener.
Horsetail has a high silica content which aids bones, nails, hair and connective tissues.
The earth, by mass, is 25.7% silicon in the earths crust. It is so interesting to me that this element is such a big part of what our planet is.

When female reproductive issues occur, often methods are surgical in nature to relieve the situation.
Often the hormone imbalance that occurs causes things to move or shift downward.
If surgery has occured, again the scarring from healing can cause problems as well in the bladder even if the bladder was not operated on.
I like the use of calendula and horsetail together to help this situation.
Homeopathically, silicea has been used when pus or dead material is trapped in the body and needs to come out.
The herb as a whole, works the same way.
Emotionally, horsetail has been used for those that are insecure.

Commonly, experiencing a reproductive issue makes a woman insecure and depressed as she loses a part of her body that makes her HER, even if it is not seen or felt.
Using Calendula and Horsetail together in an herbal tea, not only aids the emotional impact of the experience, but also aids the healing of whatever is going on, as well as the later side effects.

What I usually do is combine equal parts of calendula and horsetail along with something else I feel like having such as spearmint or lemon verbena.
I use a TBSP of the herbs, personally, and allow it to steep a good long time.
Often I fill a muslin bag, place in my thermos, fill the thermos with boiled water and then use it all day long.

If harvesting your own horsetail, spring plants are what you are after. Older plants have such a high content of silica that larger crystals can form, which can complicate the kidneys.

I look for the little bottle brush plants early in the growing season. I do gather the larger plants for external use too.
Calendula blossoms can be picked throughout the growing season and dried for teas all year.
Both herbs can be ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs (see the banner to the right).

Give these herbs a try. They will help your hair, nails, skin, digestive tract and other matters at the same time. Feel free to post a comment on how you are experiencing them :)

Giveaway! Woo Hoo

2009-11-04T07:37:00.001-08:00

This week you have a chance to win a Teton Wildlife Beeswax set.These are great natural decor and look awesome on a Christmas tree.

You can learn more about this set here

How to enter:

Twitter or Facebook your favorite soap by Dreamseeds, then post the link here.

Don't use either? Then please post your favorite here.

I will draw a name from the links posted on my blog Next Wednesday.

Dont forget about our Essential Herbal Magazine giveaway as well.

Lots of ways to cheer your holidays with Dreamseeds:)
May you be filled with Joy this year and especially next~

Happy Halloween/Samhain

2009-10-31T17:33:00.001-07:00

Have a BOOOoooooootiful night.
Love Dreamseeds and Dragon Lady

Tales from the Tetons-Community in Nature-October

2009-10-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

After a fabulous week of freedom and change, the weekend had even more in store:)
(I do plan to get back with all that have tagged me at facebook, and reply to emails this week, I am not ignoring you. I am working at the herb store a few days this week but am looking forward to catching up!)
Sometimes you just need to care for yourself, and it seems this week I was assisted in so many ways. I am just so grateful!

Every year the local boy scouts gather food for the food pantry to help those in need.
Saturday was filled with collecting donations in the rain and gathering together to sort and assist the cupboard with these items to feed our community this winter.

I was the box taper while others scurried about organizing the food to be stored.
It was a wonderful time of community.

Ben wanted to be a boy scout this year and it was his first time to help this project.

A few hours later, my brother in law came over and proclaimed of some bald eagles nearby. So we hopped into the suburban and headed to see them.
BUT THEY WERE NOT THERE!
So I said, lets go see the swans.
So a mile from my house is a swan restoration where you can enjoy the sight and sounds of these beautiful creatures.

These are still baby swans called cignets.
After our visit with the water birds, we went back toward home and Ben spotted a bald eagle. So we did not miss them after all! YAY.

Then a sunny day...you know what that means. Get out and enjoy the wilderness.
My brother in law, John, Ben, Livi, and I went out to the Tetons in a rather new area of exploration. Land that housed the Rockefeller family was given to the park within the past few years and this was our outing.

Every large boulder was a playscape for the children. We must have stopped at at least 6 or more they wanted to climb upon.

We love this tree

We hiked to Phelps lake where the Rockefeller family actually had cabins here.
The lake is in the Teton range and there is an area of the mountains here called Birth Canyon. Being near the lake near these majestic peaks felt quite like an ice box.
John and I began drumming while the children ate the lunch we prepared.

We sang, we danced a bit. Johns drum was new and I stood upon a rock in the sun and just could not stop playing this handcrafted instrument. It really wanted to be played.
John also brought a small shofar which sounded a wee bit like the bugling elk.
After we drummed a wind swept through and brrr....however it also felt like the Tetons were speaking back to us.
It was special, we will put it that way.
I ran off to pee and some hikers came by. I was caught with my pants down, having no idea there was another trail nearby. OOPS! Oh well.

We loved coming upon the hawthorns back down in the valley and ate our fill of them, spitting out there large seeds.
John says, WOW these taste like apples!!!
(Interesting footnote, hawthorn and apples are in the rose family, rosaceae)
They really are yummy and mushy after so many frost filled days lately.

And we were not the only ones enjoying these haws.

We saw alot of bear scat...no bears but obviously they were near.
The scat was not warm, but not cold either.

Healing...nature is such a healer and I encourage anyone reading this to let down your hair, explore new territory, take in the aroma of fresh clean air if you can at all get to a place to allow the energy of this planet to restore you.
We all need it.

Walk in bliss upon the sacred ground.
In love,
Kris

Nature Healsm and boy does it! Part 2

2009-10-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

Glory Glory be to the living earth, the loving gracious land that feeds us and gives us drink. The wild places where freedom is our song and life path.
To nurture the soul and bring joy to the hearts of those that struggle. She calls with loving care to help, to guide. And the masculine forces beckon as well. Never underestimate the power of the living energy, life force, God, Goddess, the universe or whatever you understand it to be.
It vibrates all around us. And once you tap into that power, it releases, it breathes fresh air upon your weary soul and says Be Free my child.
Indeed, as I took my hike up to the high places, the shackles that bound me began to break loose from me. My sleep was sweet and the morning I awoke feeling very new.
With Friday being quite busy, and an appt with my son Jon, we set out on our duties. Mid way through our running, I decided that Jon should spend the day with me and both of us in nature.
So to the other side of the valley we drove. A year it has been since I had been here. The last time I was here, as I was journeying down toward home, I could see the entire valley and the glorious Teton range spread out before me and a voice shaking me saying YOU ARE A MEDICINE WOMAN FOR THIS PLACE.(note the voice said A medicine woman, not The....I beleive there are several of us doing the work here from this message)
I was trembling at this time, and remembered the junipers up in the higher elevations. And also an overwhelming responsibility to grow, learn and help the community, if even only through prayer, so be it.

So here I am again, a year later. Things have changed drastically as nature has come alive to me and spoken so often, so sincere, so strong.
Up the canyon we drive into the cowboy and indian looking hills, and sage covered earth. We follow the road to the end, and look at the Tetons across the valley, the tops cannot be seen as they are getting a good dose of cloud cover and snow, while on this side we feel the cold fall wind blowing on our bodies.
Back down a bit we travel to a place in pine trees. It had good energy so we stopped. I walked a bit and releived myself and felt such a good feeling despite observation of mans disrespect of broken glass bottles and cigarette butts here and there.
Jon and I look over the valley and pray blessings. Then turn on a couple of songs from Omnia called Richard Parkers Fancy and Dulaman and dance our hearts and souls up there on the mountain.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We bless the place together and drive down a bit further and Jon, who is 12 says, lets stop here.
And AWESOMELY, his awareness is open and he can hear a waterfall in the distance and beckons me to stand at the edge of a trail up high on the mountain and calls attention to every sound, and even exactly how it felt having icy cold breezes engulf us.
He says, lets close our eyes, and he begins crying out that our people will be protected from swine flu.
Then he says, lets be like birds and fly around. So we did this together, and it truly felt like I was flying.The mind can take you so far in such a short amount of time. We must have flew around praying for protection for the people and the land in a 200 mile radius in about 3 minutes:)
I was so grateful to pull my son away from the distractions of life for a bit of our day to experience the reality of nature, and to move in the spirit to help the community the only way we could at the time.
Jon even got righteous and had me stop along the road so he could remove some wood in the road. He was concerned someone may get a flat tire:)
We stopped to harvest a few juniper berries from those I remembered. It was so great to see them again.

Driving down to the valley I remembered something I read from Jesse Wolf Hardin
Pretense is a disease of the masses, tool of the controllers and strategy of the weak. Who gives a fuck, seriously. I have been judged all my life, even for things I never have done. No wonder I am an introvert!
But the truth is that I am walking my path, I have work to be done before I leave this planet, so worrying or pretending is just going to waste time.

and the other thing he said that stuck out to me
Freedom is more important than even sex or food. Fight to keep anyone from ever sticking you in a box.

How many people can drive somewhere and dance to their hearts content, swirling about and releasing pain and tension and receive the joy that release and nature can provide.

Freedom was the biggest lesson today. Traveling home, and even seeing those humans that often stir my soul to deep levels was abandoned. I left my pain as I was dancing on the mountain, experiencing the freedom that the wilderness provided Jon and I today.
I walk in a new freedom and understanding. And again, nature provided the outlet to fascilitate that healing.
Blessed Be

Nature Heals

2009-10-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

My heart -like a pretzel in knots and twists-trying to understand my path, my purpose and how to behave when emotion overwhelms my soul and firms its grip on me.
Love, the most powerful of sense, and yet painful in the bliss.
I want to run far far away from the pain and yet, how can I run from a part of myself?

I must face my reality and navigate through it. But where comes my help? I still question the very essence of it all.
To the foot of the sanctuary which fills my devotion I am drawn. The closer I come to it, the tears well up inside. I know that soon, and very soon, this land will be closed off due to harsh winter setting in. Protection, in a sense, of this place I adore,and yet I take it all in as if I were moving away.
2 Ravens are watching me.
I drive until I see the waterfall up in the distance, and begin to climb. I quietly sob as I look upon every rock, every plant, every pile of deer and moose droppings.
I ascend.
An old abandoned hornets nest sits in tatters, thick layers of papery substance on the branch of an Aspen.
The higher I get, the drier the tears. Joy comes to my heart from the object of my devotion.
Higher....Higher....I can hear the waters drawing near. I will not descend until I take a quick drink from this wild delicious water.
The willows converge together and I realize I am here.
I turn my body to see a lake and stream. The valley with cloud cover up above.
Snow flakes drift upon my red cheeks.
This is home. This is what I love. I am devoted to it with such intense love that I cannot escape its grip upon me.
I feel the love from this mountain, guiding me to fresh young nettles and the last of the oregon grapes. A willow wand beckons me to pick her up and use her if needed.

I call upon the one whom I serve. May I fulfill my purpose and not give into the discouragement that tries to entrap me.
I am blessed.

I descend downward with a spring in my step and a song in my heart.
Birds fly near me and I speak with them. They are cautious to stay far enough away for safety, yet pause to listen to me speak.
They sing for me and make me laugh with gratitude.

As I travel back to the tribal grounds of town, I am then faced with one that takes my breath away and makes my heart stir.
Such unity and loving friendship abounds, and I am strong enough, today, to know all will be well. I will fulfill, I will grow, I will learn more of the neccessary things to be a strong medicine woman. And surprised that love could be the emotion to cause me weakness.
And yet, the same love is what causes me to have great strength.
It comes from you, my beloved Tetons. I will run to you until the snow is so deep I would need tools to draw near to you. I will be waiting until spring to run and play upon your back.
I will breathe your evergreen and sage breath deeply and let you renew me.
I am helpless. I cannot fight what I am drawn to
I am your servant, your lover. I long for your embrace and delight in the power you contain.

Dreamseeds Givaway-a year subscription to The Essential Herbal Magazine

2009-10-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have a wonderful giveaway for you. Just in time for a holiday gift you can personally enjoy throughout the year.

The Essential Herbal magazine is compiled by my friend Tina Sams, fellow herbalist and editor. The publication comes 6 times a year and is written by herb lovers from all over. Recipes, herbal tidbits, personal experiences, and so much more are packed into each mag.

I think people will enjoy this magazine so much that I will choose one lucky winner and purchase a one year subscription for them.

SO HOW TO ENTER?

Any Dreamseeds purchase of $40 or more from my Shoppe, Random Eclipse, or Etsy from NOW until December 10 will be entered into the drawing.
At that time I will pick a winner from a hat, and contact the winner. Once I have the correct mailing address, I will purchase the subscription and the winner will receive their copy every other month.

This is a great way to treat yourself as well as others during the holidays.

You can enter more than once as well, so every purchase you make for at least $40 will be added to the drawing.

A $40 purchase does not include shipping. So if you spend $35 and shipping is $5, that is not included. The product total has to be $40 or more.
Make sense? If not, feel free to email me.
YAY.....may the contest begin!

The bliss of Autumn~Hawthorn

2009-10-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

A planned harvest day for the wonderful Usnea lichen, Jake and I headed out to the clean and beautiful wild places for natures wonderful medicine.
Although it is early October, snowfall has been active. Not too deep, but indeed the cool and crisp feeling in the air.
Jake picked the place to harvest and we began, finding some of the most beautiful usnea in plenty.

We were careful to harvest enough for our needs, but not so much as to effect the trees need for this helper to the respiratory system of the planet.
We would paused on occasion to talk or share a cup of Dragon Lady Chai. One of the topics we discussed is hawthorn.

His story was that when a scheduled time to harvest would come around, it would fall through.

My story was that I drove for many miles and never found it, although I know darn well it abounds. I just had not landed on an abundant area yet, despite the time and energy I spent looking.

After our usnea harvest, we decided to look for some other plants I need for wild mane shampoo bars and also chokecherry.
Driving down the road, I saw what I thought to be wild cherry and thought, SWEET! And pulled over to check it out.

Jake and I wandered into this field of trees turning golden and light red looking much like prunus from afar. As we began to examine the berries on the tree, Jake proclaims, this is hawthorn!
At first I was not convinced because those deep and sharp barbs were discolored and hidden amongst the old bark of the tree. However once I noticed the 1 inch plus thorns alternating along the length of the branch, I was so excited that by chance, we stumbled onto the very plant we had discussed this morning.

Happily in the cold air and sweet sunshine, we both began to carefully harvest, leaving plenty for our overwintering wildlife that come down to the valley to survive.
The berries were most abundant toward the top, and Jake held the branches down for me to gather at least once. I think he definitely gathered more than I due to our height difference.

In the distance, the bugle of elk in mating season filled the air and the magic of nature once again touched my soul. Tears tried to make their way out of my body as once again, I found myself in a state of bliss and awe.
Hawthorn seemed to want us to find it,so I wanted to share a little bit about this wonderful plant.

Hawthorn is in the rose family. Crataegus spp. It has useful leaves and flowers that can be gathered in spring, or summer here in our habitat, and can be used fresh or dried. Late summer and fall, the berries will come and are best harvested after a frost, much like its cousin rosehip. It tends to be sweeter after a frost.
Hawthorn berries can be used fresh or dried.
Hawthorn berries have high pectin content, so it is best to tincture the berries dried,or you will have a globby mess. They can also be used in tea fresh or dried. I enjoy eating them as I gathered too.
Hawthorn can also make great syrup and jams.
Hawthorn contains cooling and antioxidant flavanoids, procyanidins, and numerous acids.
The flavanoid rutin is said to act on the capillaries, reducing damage and increasing the passage of blood and removing congestion associated with heat.

So what does one use hawthorn for?
The best known use is for issues of the heart. I know at least in Europe, this plant has been studied with some positive findings.
If a person has arrhythmia, arteriosclerosis, degenerative heart disease or any cardiac weakness, hawthorn should be used regularly and consistantly .
I often find people want to take an herb for a couple weeks, then stop because they lose interest, so I stress here regularly and consistantly. Traditional use praises the positive effects this herb has on these situations.
Crataegus works to improve the nutrition, activity, energy release and reserves of the muscle, whereas digitalis directly strengthens the contractile movement of the cardiac muscle.
So a note: DO NOT TAKE HAWTHORN WHILE TAKING HEART MEDICATIONS!
Hawthorn also has been used successfully after heart attack and heart surgeries. Hawthorn also aids regulating the pressure of the blood.
It has been shown to lower cholesterol too.

By reducing heat, anxiety, irratibility and such is lessened.
Picture yourself in a stressful or frightful situation. Do you remember that anxiety and tightening in the chest you felt through the circumstance? I often wonder if hawthorn should be used as flower essence in my To The Resuce essence or as a flower essence for issues of the hear in a traumatic situation. That is such an awful feeling, and yet those that suffer cardiac issues often have these sensations in their body and often don't even pay attention to it. Modern life and stress sometimes keeps us unaware of ouselves. Such a shame.

Matthew Wood states that hawthorn can reduce rednessand irritation to the skin and increase the ability of the skin to form a healthy scab. He goes onto share a story from a medicine woman that stated that something is in the thorn that causes the skin not to heal when pricked. Yet, if you pick the thorn and prick a boil, it will empty and heal up.

The species we have here is Douglas Hawthorn Crataegus douglasii. It seems to like wet soils as I have seen it near the Snake River here and there.
It is hard to say what the soil is like where we harvested due to snow cover, but we can attest that in many spots, we would take a step and find ourselves into a puddle of water.
There are 3-4 seeds rather consistantly in the berries. This species is also known as Black Hawthorn, Western Thorn Apple, and Douglas Thorntree.
This species is named after the Scottish explorer David Douglas

If a client complains of issues of the heart during the female cycle, I like to use it along with my Anti Biotch formula to aid in the issues of the heart that comes with stress and PMS.

I personally like to use it for my own heart issues and find it helps me quite a bit. I often switch from hawthorn to motherwort. I feel hawthorn is one herb I like to suggest to women in premenopause or having completed that cycle.
The Center of Disease Control states that Heart disease is the third leading cause of death in women age 25-44 and number two cause of death in women 45-64. Overall it is the leading cause of death in the U.S. with both sexes combined. All the studies on not eating fats are totally being challenged as primal style eating is being studied. Modern research will say not to eat much fats, yet we see in some cultures that blubber was a staple to survival and that the evolutionary process shows we should eat fats to sustain our health and aid the health of our heart as well as skin, hair and other vital functions of the body.
Here is an interesting article on that. Whichever way you feel you need to eat, I think in any eating style, heart supportive hawthorn should be included in any person with risk. And it is damn tasty too, so making preserves or syrup with this plant cannot hurt.

Score!

What a beautiful day we spent together in the wild with the plants we love.

Soapmaking

2009-10-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful people on this beautiful planet we call home:)

Autumn has surely came in full force, with our usual Rocky Mtn snows and icy cold winds. Aspen leaves are golden and blowing about and red cheeks and glow rest upon the people of our glorious community.

I want to make a brief announcement that I have scheduled a soapmaking class for
October 17 from 1-3

The process I use is the old fashioned cold kettle or cold process. We will work with fats, and an alkaline (lye).

Please wear clothing that you don't mind getting dirty or oily, just in case the fun spills onto you:)

The cost is $25 per person.

Please email me dreamseedsorganics@gmail.com
to reserve your space in class

Dreamseeds Organics Super Sale this week~ Ends Friday

2009-10-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Spend $20 and receive a milk bath made with ground oats, goats milk,
catnip and peppermint-no Essential Oils, made by my son Ben.

Spend $30 and receive a free Gathering solid perfume. Gathering is a
fabulous Young Living blend
ht...tp://www.youngliving.com/essential-oil-blends/Gathering

Spend $40 and receive a free Lotion bar in either Wild orange and
cocoa butter or red Hills (patchouli, vanilla, sweet orange with
organic fair trade shea, jojoba, and comfrey oil)

I had a period of time where the sun was shining down on my booth ar
Harvest Fest and my Lotion bars began to melt a wee bit.
They are in perfect shape, however the bags they have a little of the
residue on them.

Spend $50 and receive a wonderful Take out with 8 oz of Bath Salts.
The aroma's are lavender vanilla, citrus vanilla (orange, mandarin,
lemon and vanilla)
Gratitude (amazing YOUNG LIVING blend of Idaho Balsam fir,
frankincense, rosewood, myrrh, galbanum, and ylang ylang)

or
Joy by Young Living(Geranium, Rosewood, Lemon, Mandarin, Jasmine,
Roman Chamomile,Bergamot, Ylang ylang, Palamrosa, Rose)

And the mac daddy.... Spend $100 and receive all of the above. If
there is something out of supply, I will replace it with something
else.

This is purchase of product only, so say you buy $25 worth of goods
and shipping is $5 you are going to receive the free item for the $25
purchase.

I may run out of supply so I will subsitute a fair free item if that
happens.

Happy shopping!!!

Come by and say hi

2009-09-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

You are invited to the Jackson Whole Grocer Harvest Festival

Dreamseeds and Dragon Lady will be there selling some nice goods, as well as the local farms with their last of the season goodies. (basil....all I can think of is getting some) :)
I have some very nice items for sale.Please do stop and say hello.

When: Saturday, September 26 from 11 am to 4 pm

Where: The Jackson Whole Grocer parking lot – rain or shine

Cost: FREE

Why: Come meet Teton County’s local and regional farmers and enjoy this year’s harvest at the Jackson Whole Grocer for our 2nd annual festival. Sample grilled beef & lamb from local ranchers, delicacies from local food producers, breweries, wineries & mead makers. Purchase food from our deli, local products and produce from our local farmer’s last harvest of the season. Watch free demonstrations. Participate in kids activities. Listen to local musicians and celebrate the end of another growing season.

Farmers
Alpenglow Farms
Blueflax Farms
Cosmic Apple Gardens
Evergreen Farms
Morgan Gourmet Garlic Farm
Mountain Meadow Farms
Mountain Valley Mushrooms
Snowdrift Farms
Robinson Family Farms
Wyomatoes

Ranchers
Country Natural Beef
Jackson Hole Natural Beef
Mountain State Lamb Co-op

Beer, Wine & Meads
Grand Teton Brewing Co
Hidden Legend Winery
Snake River Brewing Co
Ten Spoon Vineyards

Food Producers
Ballard Cheese
Best Little Pie House
Dragon Lady Teas
Great Northern Coffee
Homeslice Artisan Bakery
Le Dolche Vida
Snake River Roasting Co
Star Valley Honey
Teton Valley Pepper Juice
Tram Bar

Non-Food Vendors
Bru's Books
Dreamseeds Organic
Kaycee's Naturals
KHOL 89.1
Mulligan Stew
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Slow Foods
Terrafirma
Teton Wellness

Demonstrations
Jen Jacobsen - How to do home canning
Cara Liberatore - Cooking with harvest vegetables
Stacey Breidenstein - Keeping backyard animals and livestock
Ted Wells - High altitude and greenhouse farming

Local Artist
Anomaly Farms
Sherida Mackie’s Matted Prints
Teton Artlab
Way Cool Clothing

Local Musicians
Matti Contois
The Outskirts
King Street Stringers w/ special guest Sarah Bardenett
Rotating Superstructure

Sponsors
Alpenglow Farms
Bank of Jackson Hole
Slow Foods
98 Electric

Duh Duh Duh! We have a winner!

2009-09-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

Gumboot Goddess -YOU are the winner of this contest.YAY

Stay tuned because there is another contest coming soon with another chance to win. It is super easy!

Could you please go to the cart

and choose your soap.

Then email me dreamseedsorganics@gmail.com and let me know your choice and your address, please.

Have a wonderful week everyone-blessings and huge thanks!
Love, Kris

Win a bar of soap, arnica salve and lotion bar

2009-09-11T15:56:00.001-07:00

Let's celebrate the last days of summer together! WOO HOO.

The valley is holding nice warm days, and chilly nights. The leaves are turning and the rosehips are getting squishy. These are the signs nature is saying to me-DO IT-GO HAVE FUN NOW, GET THE KIDS OUT AND EMBRACE THE LAST OF SUMMER!

So we are complying:)

And to encourage you all to do the same, I am having a drawing.

To enter this drawing, here is what needs to be done.

Become a follower of this blog, then post a comment and say, Hey, I am a follower (and a leader!) lol

If you are already a follower, comment that you are already:)

Post a rave on Facebook, Twitter or your favorite forum what your favorite Dreamseeds item is, then comment here what the link is for your rave.

Join my Dreamseeds Organics Page on facebook

Or buy something and comment here what your order number is and I will enter you as well.

It is very important I have your contact info so either be sure we are friends at facebook, leave your twitter link, or leave your email.

And to raise the stakes a bit, you can enter more than once by sharing your favorites in separate posts, tweets or facebook comments. Just remember to add the link here each time you rave about something.

Ok so in the morning of September 22nd, which is dL's birthday, I will pick a winner out of a basket and announce it here, as well as contact you.

YOU get to choose the soap you desire and I will ship it to you on my next shipping day.

Paintbrush Canyon, Game Creek Shaving Soap,Chillin Champa, Dragonflight INSTOCK now

2009-09-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Paintbrush Canyon is a magical and uplifting soap and one of my favorites!

Game Creek Shaving Soap
Bentonite clay adds a slick feel to aid the razor during shaving, however this bar is also great for normal use. The basil and mint essential oils provide clarity and alertness.

Chillin Champa
Been thinking of my friend, Joy, lately and this scent always comes to mind when she is in my thoughts

DragonFlight

This is such a great combination of finely ground pumice stone, and citrus essential oil to help cleanse grease and dirt from the hands and body.
Also nice on the feet!

Also, check out the herbal section of my cart for tincture, salve and other herbal care needs you may have.
The link at the bottom of this post will take you directly to the shopping cart where descriptions and my comments can be found for each item.

Blessed Week to you all

Dreamseeds

Golden Harmony Face and Body Scrub

2009-09-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Wondering what you might do with those lovely rust colored yellow Dock seeds found everywhere you go this time of year?

Here is one bath and beauty idea for you to try.

1 Tbsp organic yogurt
1 Tbsp ground yellow dock seed
1 splash of paintbrush oil (or any oil you choose, or omit)
Calendula oil is nice here as well...comfrey too!
1 drop of Harmony essential oil blend by Young Living (optional)

Mix together. Apply to fingers and gently scrub in small circular motions. Leave on at least 10 minutes. Rinse.
Your skin will look clear and glow!

Wild Teton Berry Crisp

2009-08-31T10:19:00.001-07:00

Wild Berries are a nutritious source of delicious gifts from Mother Earth and are very loved by those who are blessed to consume with us!
One of our favorites this year has been Wild Berry Crisp.

This is so easy, it can be whipped up in very little time and will accomodate most eating styles...if you are gluten free you can try coconut or almond flour.
And instead of oats, possibly nuts or seeds along with the flour.
We use actual turbinado sugar to sweeten, but again, agave, stevia, or honey could be used (you just may need more flour or oats)

Start with your wild harvested berries.

We use a combo of currant(pictured above)

thimbleberry

huckleberry

and the majority of the blend is gooseberry

Many of our berry gathering adventures have been while doing something fun like camping

Even the kids can help and have fun!

Take 3 cups of your berries and line a pan app 8 x 8 x 2

Squeeze 1 lime over the berries

In a separate bowl mix together

2/3 cup turbinado

1/2 cup flour (we used wheat once and coconut once-both worked)

1/2 cup oats (we use organic traditional slow cooking kind)

1/3 cup coconut oil (organic extra virgin)

3/4 tsp cinnamon (organic Korintje cinnamon )

pinch salt (fleur d sel)

Use a fork and cut the coconut oil into the dry ingredients then sprinkle on top of the berries.
Bake about 30 minutes or until the top is light brown.

This is yummy with cream, ice cream or by itself. It lasts about 15 minutes with no cream or anything else to dress it up, at my house, so if you are feeding several people, double or triple the recipe.

Blessings abundant, and in the words of the late Frank Cook, eat something wild everyday!

Rockefeller Preserve Trail

2009-08-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

The Laurance Rockefeller Preserve Trail is a delightful hike up through property the Rockefeller family once owned, then donated to the Grant Teton National Park.

The trail begins near the center which has a fabulous library on animals, flora and fauna and other nature topics.
You can sit outdoors on some really cool chairs and enjoy the sound of the river in the distance and birds singing.

Along the trail there are many eco systems in a few mile hike.
My fave plant along the way is the Pinedrops- Pterospora andromedea in the Monotropaceae family. Duke and Foster wrote that some Native American use for this plant was to pound its fruit and stem and use as a cold tea for bleeding in the lungs. Dried powder was snuffed to treat nosebleed.
It is a cool plant, for sure!

Phelps Lake is a destination of this trail

I have been told that Rockefeller had a house in the middle of this lake and that there was an electric charge to protect the house and possibly secret meetings. This I have not researched nor confirmed, but it is interesting.
All the cabins that were in the area have been moved away. These cabins were for family and guests to come stay on the property.

If you want to see diverse land and get a decent hike, this is a great trail!

After our hike on the way back to our vehicle, we had fun watching the uinta squirrels.

I asked one to please stand up for a picture and was amazed when it stood up to pose for me:)

Gotta love how connected we are with nature!

Noodleless Chickweed Pesto

2009-08-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

If you are one of those people that need to do other bases instead of pasta/potato/rice, this might be something you really love.
The noodles are nothing more than grated zucchini. I wanted to do daikon radish but was unable to obtain it, so opted for the firmest squash I could get my hands on.

I ran it through my food processor grate, so nothing very fancy or long, but perfect for my needs.

Then onto the pesto itself.

Changing out the grating blade for the chopping blade, I added 20 macadamia nuts and chopped those.

Then added 2 good size garlic cloves

appx 1 cups basil (I used a combo of purple and green)

1-2 cups chickweed (stellaria media)

I let this chop together well then added ½ cup organic extra virgin olive oil and let it mix. I stopeed the process once, using a spatula, scraping the edge of the processor bowl to get loose ingredients back into the pesto blend.
Let it mix a little longer, then added 1 pinch of Fleur d Sel. Mix briefly and that is all there is to it.

This will make 2-4 servings depending on if you are eating sides with it, and how much sauce people like over their zucchini. (seriously daikon would be really yummy if you can get it)

You can freeze the remainder in ice cube trays so that you can enjoy pesto when it is winter time and the memory of green things is buried beneath 12 feet of snow.

So the run down again

20 macadamia nuts
1-2 cups chickweed
1 cup basil
2 good size cloves of garlic
1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil

and add parmesan cheese toward the end of processing if using that.

I invited a few friends to come play around with this, but everyone had prior commitments with art festival in town, babies born, or else had guests in visiting. So I can only give you my palate perceptions:)I can tell you that much more chickweed than 2 cups makes it very green tasting and the basil is very faint. And I love the whole garlic, basil romance, so I think you will like this, especially if you too love garlic and basil together.

Mangia!

Oh Spirit-you speak through the simplistic, the ordinary things

2009-08-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

A week ago I was given a message from the forest energies about something specific in my life. I hesitate to write the phrase because I dont want to sound as though everything is about ME...but this phrase does play into what else I am about to write. A magical powerful experience that I will never forget.

Last night, a woman came to me that was greatly in need of ministering. I too was quite having some intense situations in my life and really hoped I could move beyond my own stuff to help another.

I asked this woman what she felt she needed-a time to create ceremony for healing. She said the mountains and the water were 2 elements she needed. I chose a place I felt might be somewhat private. This was on a a lake at the base of the Tetons. We parked and hiked to the lake.
The reflection of the peaks in the water, the heavy fragrance of pine and fir, the peace of being alone and the sense of great power nearby. It was dusk.
She chose a place to sit and began to smoke her cigarette. I stared intensely on the water and peaks ahead of me. It was getting darker rather quickly. Peace enveloping the very spot we were quietly resting in.
Suddenly my friend puts out her smoke and begins to call on her Christian higher powers and I join with her in her prayer, mentally searching for what spirit needed me to do to help my friend heal through her crisis.
I was directed to be face down upon the ground in prayer so to this position I continued seeking spirit on my friends behalf. Oddly, I was directed to stick my tongue upon the ground and eat dirt....lol
I was suddenly quite aware at how delicious it was, the essence of who we are in my mouth.
My friend was still praying and I realize, the earth has melted into my saliva but I still have rocks in my mouth and that for me to continue it would be best to rinse. I walked to the waters edge, dipped my hand in for a drink three times and IT HAPPENED.
This incredible elemental power came to me right then and there. A power I have not felt in such a very long time.
I began to cry out in other sounds and felt the elements of earth, water, fire and air flood me-my arms raised to heaven as my soul cried out prayers to that which I understand not in my mind, but certainly in my spirit.
The power of the mountains getting stronger and stronger and STRONGER! I began to cry out louder and louder and Louder as my friend behind me cried and I could feel her release pain.

One of the messages she has received in times past was that there was some kind of energy-star energy that has been given to her...this thought comes to mind as I look out to the darkening sky and see the first bright star in view.
This star began to pulse and flash into a large circle....like a neon sign that flashes on and off...this star energy flashing.
I cried out that whatever this star energy was that the divine was trying to reveal to my friend, that it would come to her.
It was THEN a meteor shot across the sky so close it was as I could have jumped up and held onto it.
Laughter overcame me at that time and a true joy I have not felt in such a long time.
I began to worship the divine. I looked back at my friend who probably had the release of pain the moment the meteor shot across the sky. I said to her, we need to stay a bit, there will be more.
It is dark now, and yet the reflection of the Tetons is still plain in the waters. The skies gettting brighter and brighter with stars. Stars refections dancing on the waters.
It was truly beautiful. Far more beautiful than I can describe.

There were 2 more meteors that shot across the sky. Several falling stars. I sat in awe of just how much bigger life truly is. How we are a small part of the universe, and yet everything in that moment of time was absolutely significant.

My friend and I put hands on each others heads and continued to pray for each other for quite awhile. She began laughing as though she was drunk or high. She was way out there at this point, and the opposite happened to me as I began crying in sounds very much asian sounding and I felt the earth cry through me. For the rest of the night out there, I was pretty sober emotionally. I felt an urgency. I felt the need for unity. A serious check for those spiritual people throughout the earth that have certain tasks to hold things together on the planet to be sure they are not growing weary.
I heard in a song something like shamans all over the world are connected by an invisble thread, and ya know, I felt it last night.
My friend was ready to go, so we fortunately found our way back in the dark with just a small light. As we got out of the forest, the milky way spread before us as we sat in awe. In the forest, near the lake, we could only see what was in the opening before us but there was so much more!
So we sat for awhile too amazed to actually shut ourselves up in my vehicle to drive back to my place.

I know some would read this and think it is nonsense, some might understand some of it, and some are those people connected by invisible threads. Nothing I write can even come close to the power and majesty felt last night.
But it was very real. Something in the spirit about people and the planet.
Today, I was able to take this woman to meet another friend of mine and it all was confirmed by her the very things that I am sensing.
It is just far too coincidental that many of us are having similar experiences.

Things are happening-things unseen-I know my part is here near Yellowstone and Grand Teton presently. Your part is equally important my brother or sister.
Don't hold back!!! Your purpose is powerful and invaluable. Be who you are to be without restraint and move in what spirit moves you to. And the greatest force is LOVE. Break down the walls you built up to protect yourself. The walls that hold back the powerful essence within you. Move on into your destiny. The spirit loves you-the spirit does truly care about you and your needs. The spirit will be your guide.
Love Love Love. Love Yourself. Love your enemies (hard as hell, isn't it) and Love yourself enough to set boundaries and not allow people to walk all over you.Love yourself enough to dance, sing, and make love if you have opportunity for that. Love yourself enough to eat food that nourishes you. Love yourself enough to have friends that truly care. If you dont love yourself and value yourself, how can you truly value another. How can you value the planet (when it is all so innerconnected to us) without love and care? We are all so much alike.
I bow my head and honor the great person you are. Do the good work you need to do with Love!

Smile-The enchantment of the Tetons will bring it on!

2009-08-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Does nature have an amazing way to remind you to BE HAPPY? Notice 2 spiders making eyes on this leaf with bracts making a smile?
Brenda noticed this when we were hiking one day out in GTNP.
And we did smile most of that day-however our navigation skills were hindered and a few peculiar things happened. The original plan as for me to lead us up a path that would reveal a lake not seen without the climb.

This is where we were suppose to go.
However, missed the path and continued on around string lake.
Along the way we saw
Pond Lilies. Nuphar lutea Also called Rocky Mountain Cow Lily.

Without magnification, from afar this really appeared to be a shack up in the middle of a hill.

Nature is divine

Red monkeyflower Mimulus lewisii

Frasera speciosa

All was well until we were lost in a forest of boulders. Now this seems fun and innocent, however it is pretty amazing how lost you feel when all around you is boulders and you cannot find your way.
This was before we were lost in them. My dad and brother, Jake

We did end up finding our way and we all regret not taking pictures of our boulder forest issue.

Anyway we did stop to reflect the manner of communication these crows had going on.

Ofter our hike and lunch, we stopped at the Moose visitor center for the Tetons. Outside there was an artist painting. When we first saw his picture is was alot of blobby looking splotches, and when we were about to leave it was totally transformed.

So the last treat of the day was observing 2 moose along the moose-wilson road.

Greetings and a wee bit on Balsamroot

2009-08-12T09:35:00.001-07:00

We had a cold snap last weekend-so cold I was shivering and needed wool socks and the heat on. Mountain weather....what can you say.
However, the greatest thing that came to my mind was that it was Autumns reminder that she is on her way. What does that mean? Well of course harvests and color changes and awesome beauty and the essence of people changes too.
But it also means, for most of us in the U.S. that we have a little while longer to enjoy the family at the lakes and streams, to play and explore before the children head back to school.

So I send this message to you just as a loving reminder that time is zhrooming by us and a new season is almost here.
So HAVE FUN and live life the way you love!

So there are a few new items instock.
Tinctures, there are several new ones on the cart as well as salves.

More things coming as I harvest the last of summer delights.

It has been a great year or learning here-and I suspect next year I will have an arsensal of even more plant medicines.
You just cannot learn and do it all in a season despite that I was out in the wild studying, harvesting and being with the plants about every day!
And even more exciting is learning these and discovering what the books never tell you!
I am very excited about this years crops as the medicine here is magical-no doubt!
Even non beleivers in what I do, come to visit and completely admit at how they are enchanted:)

The air is crisp and clean and the ground is rich for most forest plants. Then the eco system changes quite a bit to desert type of soils that grow completely different things.

I spent most of my summer in the forest. Learning here has been a blessing to my inner soul!
But my favorite medicine this year, by far, is Arrowleaf Balsamroot.
Balsamorrhiza sagittta.

Balsamroot blooms in early to mid spring-one of the first yellow flowers to open up in the dry regions of the valley.
The flowers are 3-5 inches and the leaves are very large, some can be a foot in length.
I beleive I saw this compositaea first bloom in May.
It loves the dry, open hillsides, shallow rocky soil with nothing but dirt and maybe a few tridenta artemesia plants around.
This is a higher elevation plant that grows at 3000-7000 feet.

The action of Arrowleaf Balsamroot is much like the well known echinacea. The root helps stimulate the immune system, helps expel mucus from the lungs, acts as a disinfectant and anti microbial. I love the mellow resiny flavor of the tinctured root as well.
I am very excited to be introduced to this plant medicine this year.

I also have catnip repellant in 4 oz bottles for $7 -these do not have sprayers.
I can also send an 8 oz mason jar as well. for $14 plus shipping depending on where you live.

Soap will start increasing next month in the shoppe. When the warmer weather is on its way out, I like to blend those warming essential oils in my soap creations. They really help embrace fall and winter change!

Blessings to you all! Keep on doing all the good things you do!

Love,
Kristena

Dreamseeds

Dry lungs and sinus simple help

A must for budding herbalists

Wildcraft! Sale for the holidays with Free Gifts

Now accepting custom body butter orders

Holiday Cheer with Dreamseeds (holiday sales promotion)

Learning Herbs.com issue 72

Back to the Ozarks, a SALE and the results of the carrot seed study as a contraceptive

Purchase $75 in product and receive free shipping. Spend $100 in product and receive free shipping and we will include $20 worth of soap in your order.

To receive this offer this must be mailed to a United States address and must be able to fit in a medium-large flat rate box. use the code summer at checkout

Or

So there you have it. A great time to buy:) And support the journey of your local herbalist. And speaking of herbalist, the study results we have been awaiting are finally here.

The Carrot Seed Study results are on Robin Rose Bennett's blog here which I will copy the results on my blog as well for ease of reading, however if this is of interest to you, check out her blog for more on this topic and many other herbal topics as well.

As a fertile woman I think carrot seed would not be for me, having seen the results, as well as one other herbal soapmaker I know did get pregnant using carrot seed as a contraceptive. However, this could be something for other women as the study shows, to assist your family planning.

Urban Herbology

Hopeful Light Sale to celebrate the shift of February

Changes, Progress and Chicken Soup

Never Doubt the Healing of a Traditional Poultice

Super AWESOME Herb Course WE ALL WILL LoVe

Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference

Cool Weather and the Creative Spark

Exotic, Erotic Damiana

Winning the Battle when your body goes through the war

Take a Walk on the Wild Side July 4th

The blessings of friends and plants

June Blog Party-Staying Cool in the Warmth of Summer

The plants on the mountain

Nettle Soup- Yummy recipe and great for your health

The handdrums and their sacred prayers

When you feel your prayers are not working

My sacred WILD place in May and the spirit of the Tree

A Teton Wild Woman in May

When life returns, is this Heaven?

thank you Joyful Rose

Opening the Pineal Gland

Native Plant Society Event

50 best herbalism blogs

Allergy season and using herbs to help

Natural Cleaning 2010 series-finishing the bathroom

Be my Fan:)

march madness sale

The Toilet part 2

The Toilet-Oh fun!

Traditional in Western Herbalism Conference

Natual Cleaning-the Bathtub

5 minutes to mealtime

Natural Cleaning-part 1

Natural Cleaning 2010 series

Dreamseeds Organics Online Shop

The people I meet and the wisdom I obtain

The winner of the Essential Herbal Magazine is

Garlic, the healing spice...again to the rescue!

Grindelia squarrosa

Wildcraft Game is on sale 1/2 off **with bonuses**

Coupons to support independent artisans

I am a Medicine Woman Too-the perfect gift!

Spirit Medicine

2 herbal allies for women's reproductive healing

Giveaway! Woo Hoo

Happy Halloween/Samhain

Tales from the Tetons-Community in Nature-October

Nature Healsm and boy does it! Part 2

Nature Heals

Dreamseeds Givaway-a year subscription to The Essential Herbal Magazine

The bliss of Autumn~Hawthorn

Soapmaking

Dreamseeds Organics Super Sale this week~ Ends Friday

Come by and say hi

Duh Duh Duh! We have a winner!

Win a bar of soap, arnica salve and lotion bar

Paintbrush Canyon, Game Creek Shaving Soap,Chillin Champa, Dragonflight INSTOCK now

Golden Harmony Face and Body Scrub

Wild Teton Berry Crisp

Rockefeller Preserve Trail

Noodleless Chickweed Pesto

Oh Spirit-you speak through the simplistic, the ordinary things

Smile-The enchantment of the Tetons will bring it on!

Greetings and a wee bit on Balsamroot

Wildcraft Game is on sale 1/2 off with bonuses