have a personal and physical connection to the medicines you use?
know how to match a specific plant to a specific person based on the primary actions of the herbs?
be able to discern the differences season, environment and subspecies can have on an herb just by tasting it (after you have positively identified it)?
learn how to know exactly which herb(s) you want in a situation rather than having to choose randomly from a long list?
Kiva Rose is an herbalist in the Anima Medicine Woman Tradition. She teaches and practices down to earth herbalism, nutrition and healing based on the same principles our ancestors followed within an adaptive and contemporary context.
Kiva is the author of the forthcoming The Medicine Woman’s Herbal, an in depth guide to common nourishing herbs, traditional and wild foods, and healing the Medicine Woman way. She makes her home in the Mogollon Mountains of the Gila bioregion of New Mexico, where she and her partners, Wolf and Loba, live in a small off the grid cabin at the Anima Botanical and Women’s Sanctuary.
The honey bee is nature’s most effective pollinator; she accounts for 80% of all pollination done by insects. A typical hive yields 20-40 pounds of honey per year depending on weather, rainfall, forage and the strength of your colony. Honeybees are productive insects that thrive in backyard hives. Since millions of colonies have been wiped out by urbanization, pesticides and parasitic mites, backyard beekeeping has become vital to efforts to reestablish strong colonies and offset declines in pollination.
How to get started:
Read and research, join a beekeeping guild and find a mentor.
Assemble the hive components, tools and gear.
Practice keeping your smoker lit.
Make a sturdy hive stand.
Order your bees early.
Materials:
two hive bodies, a bottom board, supers, inner and outer covers, frames, foundation, a veil and gloves, a smoker and a hive tool
a hive stand to keep the hive off the ground can be made from scrap lumber; put the feet in tins of oil to protect from ants
Posted by master herbalist | Posted in gardening, Herbs | Posted on 15-01-2012
Seed Saving
Seed saving is an important agroecology process that preserves the genetic diversity of food crops and perpetuates heirloom plants. Seeds you save from your garden are accustomed to your climate and soil and adapted to the pests in your area. Saving garden seeds each year is also a great cost-saving measure and an easy way to duplicate your favorite vegetables from last year’s harvest. A supply of seeds is also a smart component of your disaster-preparedness kit. Save a minimum of twenty-five seeds per species.
How To Get Started:
Grow some of your plants to maturity and allow their seeds to dry naturally on the plant or remove them and let them air-dry. Make sure they are thoroughly dry before storing them.
Tomato seeds need to be fermented to remove the pulp that inhibits germination. Squeeze the pulp into a jar, add water and let it set for a few days; the good seeds will sink to the bottom. Dry before storage.
Store seeds in air-tight containers at around 40 degrees F. Control moisture by adding a few grains of rice to each container.
Materials:
fully mature and dry seeds
heavy plastic or foil ziplock bags, film canisters or small glass jars
Posted by master herbalist | Posted in gardening, Herbs | Posted on 12-01-2012
Sheet Mulching
Sheet mulching is a method of controlling weeds and invasive plants that mimics the litter layer of a forest floor. It improves soil and plant health such that you no longer need to turn the soil. The earthworms do the tilling.
How To Get Started:
Knock down tall weeds and woody plants or simply trample the area.
Add soil amendments – enriched compost, manure, or worm castings to “jumpstart” microbial action.
Lay down a weed barrier. Well-overlapped cardboard works well. Make sure it covers the ground without any breaks to block light and air.
Add a fairly dense layer of weed-free compost. Grass clippings, seaweed or leaves are ideal.
For the top dressing, use weed-free leaves, straw, woodchips or sawdust. Replenish this layer periodically as it decomposes.
Materials:
cardboard or newspaper (without the glossy sections)
2 cups organic rolled oats
1/2 cup organic almonds, sliced
1/4 cup organic maca powder
1/4 cup organic hemp seeds
Pinch of Himalayan pink salt
2/3 cup organic apple sauce or mashed banana
2/3 cup almond butter
Combine oats, almonds, maca, hemp seeds, and salt in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix apple sauce or banana with almond butter until well blended.
Scrape the almond butter mix into the oat mixture and blend well.
Pat into an 11 x 7 baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 35 minutes.
Score with a knife while warm and then cut into bars when cool.
Posted by master herbalist | Posted in Herbs | Posted on 09-01-2012
Put all ingredients in a food processor and process on high until its nettle creamy goodness.
4 cups fresh chopped nettle tops
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup nuts of your choice. Pine nuts are used in traditional pesto.
4-6 cloves garlic according to taste
1/4 cup romano or parmesan cheese
Imagine being able to walk into the kitchen and seeing it as your medicine chest. Wouldn’t it be cool to be an herbalist in your own kitchen?
How about knowing remedies like these….
* Celery juice for hayfever
* Cabbages for ulcers
* Carrots for heartburn
* Green vegetables for inflammatory skin disease
* Onions for respiratory issues
* Parsley root for kidney stones
* Garlic for ear troubles
LearningHerbs’ Culinary Herbalism is an extremely exciting course, sharing some great wisdoms with you from herbalist K.P. Khalsa. He is an author, teacher, and president of the American Herbalist Guild, bringing ancient wisdom and modern science to the dinner table. And best of all, it tastes good!
K.P. Khalsa is president of the American Herbalist Guild, a holistic practitioner for over 40 years, author of over 30 books, on the senior editorial board of the Harvard Natural Standard, former chief formulator for the Yogi Tea Company, and a professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Bastyr University of Naturopathic Medicine.
Posted by master herbalist | Posted in Herbs | Posted on 27-08-2010
Here are some ways to get control of your garden from pests that would destroy it.
Use baking soda to get rid of black spot, the nasty fungus that destroys roses.
Mix together:
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of dishwashing detergent
1 gallon of water
Spray on roses early in the morning once a week until disease has disappeared.
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Beer is used to get rid of slugs and snails. Place the beer in a shallow pan in a flat spot in the garden. The pests will crawl into the pan. Toss out the beer and snails after they fill the pan.
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Need to get rid of aphids? Mix up:
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of dish washing liquid
1 cup of water
Spray it on leaves with the aphids.
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Want to get rid of mites and thier eggs? Mix and strain through cheesecloth. Spray it onto the diseased plants.
1/2 cup of buttermilk
4 cups of wheat flour
5 gallons of water
Or try this one:
1 tablespoon Sunlight dish washing liquid with 1 gallon of water.
Or try:
Applying rubbing alcohol to the affected leaves.
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Keeping cats out of the garden? Mix and apply:
Chopped garlic bulbs
1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper steeped in 1 quart of water
What environmental contaminants are inside you or around you every day?
Scientists refer to the suite of environmental contaminants in people as their “body burden”. It is the consequence of lifelong exposure to industrial chemicals that are used in thousands of consumer and industrial products process, and which linger as contaminants in air, water, food, and soil. Hundreds of chemicals contaminate drinking water, household air, dust, treated tap water and food. They come from pollution, and from household products like detergent, insulation, fabric treatments, cosmetics, paints, upholstery, computers and TVs, and they accumulate in fat, blood and organs, or are passed through the body in breast milk, urine, amniotic fluid, feces, sweat, semen, hair and nails
While the only true way to know what chemicals are contained in your body is to get a comprehensive test, the following broad lifestyle questions provide a “virtual” body burden profile.
Test can be found here: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden/usertest/
Posted by master herbalist | Posted in Herbs | Posted on 17-08-2009
Valerian grows wild throughout Europe. The use of this plant for insomnia and nervous conditions has been common for many centuries. Valerian is known world wide for its calming effect on the nervous system. Unlike many prescription drugs used for anxiety, valerian has few side effects and is not addictive. The actual active principle of valerian is uncertain.
Possible benefits and uses:
Reduces anxiety, stress, and hyperactivity
Works as a natural tranquilizer
Relieves gas pain and stomach cramps
Eliminates muscle tension and muscle cramps related to PMS, stress, and menstrual cramps Contraindications:
Learn about herbal plants while making your herbal remedies. This Herbalist Kit has all the herbs and supplies you need to get started.
The kit also comes with a CD-ROM full of helpful instructions on making your own home remedies. In addition, there's an herbalist's manual that introduces you to herbal medicine.
You are about to embark on a marvelous journey into a series of courses designed to give you the most thorough, practical, hands-on and sacred learning experience with herbs. Though it does require a time commitment on your behalf, if used as intended, this lessons will provide a comprehensive understanding of herbalism, providing you with the skills necessary to be an herbalist using the herbs from the lessons.
Kiva Rose is an herbalist in the Anima Medicine Woman Tradition. She teaches and practices down to earth herbalism, nutrition and healing based on the same principles our ancestors followed within an adaptive and contemporary context.
