Note: This is for educational purposes only. Diagnosis and treatment, which should only be handled by a licensed professional, is not implied or intended.
Why is winter cold and flu season?
No one knows for sure, but we can guess at some of the reasons:
* Less sunshine and less exposure of the sun to the skin
* People spend more time indoors and away from fresh air and exercise… Read more
This is a proposed film by Louie Schwartzberg. The working title is “Fantastic Fungi: The Spirit of Good.”
It features some fantastic time lapse photography of mushroom growth.
It also includes a heart felt statement from Paul Stamets, one of the mycologists who is doing so much to expand our understanding of the natural world.
Under our feet, there is an invisible web of life that makes life for … Read more
The information that follows may seem very basic, but if you don’t know certain things and no one tells you – or if people tell you the wrong things – how are you going to know?
First, there is no battle between essential oils vs tinctures. They are simply very different things.
Because there is currently so much misinformation and hype about essential oils, let … Read more
All herbs are not created equal.
Herbs fall into three general categories:
1. Tonic
2. Medicinal
3. Poisonous
A tonic is something you can consume daily with no ill effects.
Nettle is a good example of a tonic. Oat straw is another. In common parlance, these are “super foods” (just a whole lot cheaper). Consuming them daily is like putting money in your health bank.
A medicinal herb is consumed … Read more
Herbals teas are a big business and that’s a good thing. Not everyone wants or needs to drink caffeine when they drink a hot beverage.
But here’s something not even 1 out of 100 people who drink herbal teas know…
The health effects of herbs don’t kick in until the healing properties have been extracted from the plant.
A commercial herbal tea bag steeped for a couple of minutes in … Read more
There’s farming which can include big corporate farms, small family farms, and gardens.
Then there’s foraging which is roaming around looking for “free” food to pick and eat.
Is there something in between?
Yes there is.
In this wide ranging conversation with Tama Matsuoka Wong we talk about a middle way in which wild edible plants are encouraged to grow.
This is a “new” idea to … Read more
One of my favorite places: The New York Botanical Garden.
One of my favorite projects there: Their thirty year project to discover and study the medicinal plants of Belize in respectful conjunction with local healers.
Here’s the whole story straight from the people who lived it.
PlantWisdom.org did an in depth interview with Rosita about her life and work and you can listen to that here.
The book they’re … Read more
Ethnobotanist and herbalist Rocio Alarcon grew up in the Andean highlands of Ecuador in a family that respected and used plants, depending on them for their daily survival.
As a young adult she received an academic training and then went to the Amazon to conduct her real studies.
In this talk from the excellent YouTube channel Herb TV, she discusses the social dimensions of ayawaska use and other shamanic practices … Read more
Everyone knows (i.e. has been indoctrinated to believe) that when you’re not feeling well you go to the pharmacy for over-the-counter meds.
Or – if you have the time, the money, the patience and a decent doctor – you go to your doctor for a prescription.
While it’s great that these resources are available when needed, there’s a wee bit of a problem with this:
1. In 2010 alone, there … Read more
