MamaStories

While participating in the Training for Transition I came to a profound realization. One of the most powerful exercises in Transition is the positive visioning. People sit in two circles, one inside the other, facing each other so everyone is paired up. The people on the outside are the elders of the future, who have  lived through Transition (the time of change). The people on the inside are young people, who did not live through it, and they ask three questions of their Elder, and listen. At the end, the pairs exchange seats and the circles rotate.

One of the questions is: what is your role in this (Transitioned) world?

Many people see themselves working with food. That’s only to be expected: besides air, water and shelter, what is more important than healthy, nutritious food? So people talk about how they tend the fields, teach others how to grow, scout out places to grow more crops, etc. People talk lovingly about being post-carbon farmers (farmers without oil), about farming together, and the more leisurely pace of life, with many conversations with neighbors, and kids roaming free, and nothing but the blue sky above and the dirt in their hands.

Wonderful visions.

This exercise invites only positive visioning, and some have trouble with this. That’s why we do the exercise. We need to practice hoping. Especially for those who seek Transition, those who have studied up and faced the truth, it’s hard. And thus, powerful.

So here it was my turn as the Elder to answer that question.

“I grow medicine. In the post-carbon world there are no pharmaceuticals, or if there are, there is no easy, quick and affordable way to get the medicine to where it is needed. There are no stockpiles of antibiotics or analgesics. Medicine is homemade.  I am someone who grows this medicine. I found the best spots in the town for growing marshmallow, or motherwort, or even ginger. I grow it, and teach and supervise the growing of it by others. I keep the inventory of the living plants. I harvest them at their appropriate times and with appropriate thanks for their abundance. I then bring them home and dry them and make them into medicine. I keep the apothecary. I don’t diagnose, I don’t heal. I don’t feel ready for that yet. I hope someone else can do that. If not, I’ll help, but humbly.”

I was silent for a second, surprised by my vision. Usually I am a farmer of unspecified crops. Usually I feed people. And beyond my surprise there was more to be said. So I said it:

“It’s hard in this world because we Elders remember the old medicine and health care. It wasn’t all good – the side effects, the addiction, the arrogance and entitlement. But diseases were cured, or held at bay, and lives were lengthened. Now we don’t have it so easy anymore. An infection that would have been treated with a shot can now kill.  We need to be vigilant all the time, grow whole, resilient bodies. Life is no longer prolonged – or rather, death is no longer postponed. We die at our appointed times. It is sad, sometimes, to think that an old drug could have postponed it. But, on the other hand, people now die at home, surrounded by their loved ones and communities. That’s better. That’s better.”

So there we are, that is what I want to do in the future, when I grow up, when the world grows up.

This is the marc of the echinacea root I tinctured and pressed yesterday.

It is what is left of the plant when it has given all it has to give.

Thank you.

~

I’ve added  a page called the Apothecary Inventory

Our insane wood pile after tree removal

I received a large box in the mail on Friday, the kind of box that could only house… plants! Fedco. Of course they had to arrive on the busiest weekend since last Summer. Of course I wasn’t ready…

So after our Earth Day Celebration I stuck almost all of ‘em in pots. Tere were some herb plants like Good King Henry, Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Weed, Lavender, Marshmallow, Arnica,  Black Cohosh (or Black Snakeroot), and Valerian. There were also 2 pieces (?) of Canadian Wild Ginger and I couldn’t even tell what was the top and what the bottom, or where vis-a-vis the soil line it had to go. And 1 Purple Coneflower – of the 12 seeds I put in downstairs, only 1 germinated, so I have high hopes for this plant. Last but not least there was the Elecampane. What an interesting, fat, huge root. It reminded me of the mandrake in Pan’s Labyrinth. This one I put in the herb bed up front, which gets a lot more sun now that the trees are gone.

Then there were some bushes. I put the Red Pearl and  the Regal Lingonberry in pots. But I planted the Belle Poitevine Rose in the East bed, next to our “official” (not our mudroom) front door. What a robust plant. Prickly too! And the two Bluebell Grapes I planted next to the kiwi vine that went in last Spring and that is, to my great relief, budding. (So are all the other bushes I planted last year.)

The 50 strawberries crowns are still in my fridge. They’ll go in tomorrow, along with lots of vegetable seedlings.  We have many more bushes and vines coming, I really need to start prepping the place. I’m afraid I filled  up all my large pots today!

In other gardening news, we received our hoop bender from Lost Creek and we’ll be moving and rebuilding the hoop house next weekend if we can persuade some friends to help. It’ll be good to be able to get all the seedlings out of the living room. And out of the basement too: the mice are going wild down there! They went through my lobelia like a grass mower, and they’ve ruined all the wormwood seedlings (luckily the wormwood I grew and transplanted out last ear survived the winter and is growing again) . They’ve dug up lots of other seeds. And I’ve caught  not a one. The glue traps are obviously not working either.

There is lots of mycelium growing in the mushroom bed (didn’t have many mushrooms last year but might this year) and… a few days ago we ate our first lettuce from the garden (the hotbox). Yum!

Infusing Oatstraw

I made my first oatstraw infusion, a quart of it, with 1 oz. of dried herb. It’s very mild, sweet and fresh, just lovely after steeping a good 14 hours. Not grassy at all. I added some raw honey to it and have been sipping it all day long.

Oatstraw is one of those toners, herbs that nourishes gently and deeply and that, though slow to take effect, acts for a long time in the body. You drink the infusions every day for a couple of weeks.

One cup of this infusion contains a whopping 300 mg of calcium (as much as a cup of milk). It also contains B-complex vitamins, silicia, flavones, saponins and Vitamin A. It can be used for both physical and nervous fatigue and is helpful for depression. The perfect herb to ferry me out the Winter floes into the tempests of Spring! And going by the taste alone, the kind of herb that will get me through the day, sip by sip.

Sip. Sip.

The plan for today was to plant out the first lettuces into the hotbox, but it is snowing!

But!

The first Robins have arrived. I wonder if they’ll take up residence in our carport again.

In honor of the first Robins and the first full day of Spring, and in the spirit of healing and peace, I pressed my first echinacea tincture and printed out my first Robin Hill Gardens label.

In order of sowing:

1. scallions
2. chives
3. mizuna
4. Evenstar collards
5. rouge d’hiver lettuce
6. Olympia spinach
7. Bloomsdale spinach
8. Mache
9. Champion collards
10. Claytonia
11. Space spinach
12. Red marble onion
13. Bright lights chard
14. Ventura celery
15. Safir celery
16. Redventure celery
17. Dianante celeriac
18. Wintebor kale
19. Russian kale
20. Brussels sprouts
21. Waltham broccoli
22. Krausa parsley
23. rube red New England Aster
24. Giant Winter spinach
25. Cornflower
26. Lobelia
27. Tom Thumb bibb lettuce
28. Crystal palace blue lobelia
29. Lincoln Leek
30. Lavendula Angustifolia
31. pennyroyal
32. elecampane
33. wormwood
34. monarda bee balm
35. hyssop
36. valerian
37. salad burnet
38. garlic chives
39. minutina
40. maltese cross

That makes for one shelf with heat mat and 3 shop lights (6 bulbs) and 1 shelf with 3 shop lights.

It’s snowing again, a driving powdery snow that has already accumulated to 2-3 inches. Inside the fire roars, Shubert delights, as does the smell of ginger.

I was surprised by how cheap this fresh ginger root was ($1.99 a pound), but then when I started peeling and cutting it, it all made sense.  This ginger was harvested too late (thick skin, very fibrous) and not fresh (not firm, yellow and juicy enough). That’ll show me to shop at any old grocery store along the way. Also, I am now more determined to try growing my own ginger.

So I dropped my plans to make ginger tincture, for which I want to use only the best root. I just made a big batch of candied ginger, some strong ginger tea (a by-product of the latter), more ginger bug, and a ginger body scrub (from the peels).

Candied ginger

Peel the ginger if necessary, otherwise wash the roots thoroughly. Slice them to your preference, but not sliver thin. Put in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 -40 minutes. It is ready when the ginger is no longer raw and a little translucent – this is again to your preference.

Drain the ginger, capturing the ginger tea – which will need some diluting if it is to be had as tea.

Weigh the ginger and put it, along with an equal amount in weight of sugar, into the pot. Add 1/4 cup of the ginger tea, and bring to a boil on high heat. Simmer on medium high, stirring frequently, more frequently as the sugar syrup gets thicker, so as not to scorch it.

After about 20 minutes the sugar will become dry and crystallize. This effect is unmistakable and comes on very quickly, so stir, stir and be ready to lift that pan off the heat and scoop the mass of crystallized sugar and ginger onto waxed paper. There break it up – it cools very quickly – and let dry.

Amie finds the ginger too spicy but enjoys the sugar (which is still quite potent). I am planning to carry this around with me when I go for drives, to combat my motion sickness. I don’t know how well it will work, since it’s been boiled for so long, but it will have to do until my first batch of ginger tincture is ready.

Ginger Body Scrub

I was left with a lot of ginger peels. I rinsed these in cold water, then boiled them for 25 minutes to make a ginger peel tea. I wouldn’t drink it, as I hadn’t scrubbed the peel before removing it from the root. But I will use it as an invigorating and warming body scrub for sore muscles after coming in from hours of shoveling snow.

You can use this as a facial rinse, against acne, for instance, but beware when you have sensitive skin: it can warm the skin too much and cause burning – again depending on how strong the rinse is.

Ginger is a powerful antimicrobial, which is why it is used medicinally for colds and flues, along with garlic, and as a cleanser in cases of acne or cuts. As the main ingredient in ginger soda it not only imparts its flavor, but also its food-preserving qualities. Normally, when fermenting foods, salt is used to keep the bad bacteria at bay, so the good yeasts can do their work, while the food doesn’t spoil. In soda, thank goodness, no salt is used. It is the ginger that acts as the antimicrobial.

Ah, I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much on plants in my life. I just put a couple of orders through.

Berry bushes and vines

1. 1 Johns Elderberry
2. 1  Adams Elderberry
3. 1  Witch Hazel
4. 50 Honeoye Strawberry
5. 2 Bluebell Grapes
6. 3 Island Belle Grapes (Campbell’s Early)
7. 3 Marechal Foch grapes
8. 1 Vaccinium vitis-idaea Red Pearl Lingonberry
9. 1 Vaccinium vitis-idaea Regal Lingonberry
10. 1 Rosa rugosa Belle Poitevine Rose
11. 3 Rosa rugosa alba
12. 1 Jostaberry
13. 2 Arapaho Thornless Blackberry
14. 2 Northline Serviceberry  (Amelanchier alnifolia)
15. 2 Dwarf Siberian Pea Shrubs (Caragana microphylla)

Potted trees

1. 1 Italian Honey Fig  (Blanche – a.k.a. Lattarula)
2. 1 Celeste Fig Tree
3. 1 Eucalyptus Nicholli

Herbs (plants, not seeds) (from Fedco)

1. 1 Chenopodium bonus-henricus Good King Henry
2. 2 Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly Weed
3. 1 Lavandula angustifolia Munstead Lavender
4. 1 Althea officinalis Marshmallow
5. 2 Arnica chamissonis
6. 2 Asarum canadense Canadian Wild Ginger
7. 1 Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh or Black Snakeroot
8. 1 Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower
9. 1 Inula helenium Elecampane
10. 1 Valeriana officinalis Valerian

Potatoes and bulbs

1. 1 lbs Clearwater Sunchokes
2. 3 lbs Banana
3. 5 lbs Dark Red Norland
4. 5 lbs Keuka Gold
5. 25 Centennial ‘Grow Anywhere Sweet Potatoes slips
6. 1lb  German Red Garlic

I’ve not yet ordered seeds. Many of my seeds are now two years old – some three – and probably no longer viable. I had poor germination with the spinach and chard, for instance, already in September of last year. Sorting through all that now. Feels bad, throwing seeds away…

I’m putting together a business plan for Robin Hill Gardens. Just a dream-on-as-if-I-suddenly-had-the-money plan. It’s good fun.

To your health!

My first ginger soda (I’m going to call it soda as of now because otherwise my European readers think I am brewing alcoholic beverages) lost its fizz at some point. Probably when it was in the carboy, before I bottled it. It’s still mighty good to drink but I want to make soda, and champagne, not as ginger and lemon juice.

{UPDATE: Aha! I probably found out why that happened. First of all, I should have kept the carboy open, so more yeasts could colonize the drink and so the yeasts already present could use the air to feed on further. At this point one wants just fermentation, no carbonation yet, which happens when you bottle it.  Also, it turns out that honey – an antibacterial  after all – inhibits the yeast considerably.  So I changed the honey-sugar ratio a bit. I also rewrote the original recipe, in case you want to re-consult it. Life is one big experiment!}

So I started a new bug (I plan to have them going nonstop now) and this time waited a little longer. Now I can actually hear the fizz. I put my ear to the jar and it’s like there’s thousands of bugs in there having a dinner party. You can also see large bubbles rising to the top. Surely it’s ready!

For the base I combined a strong chamomile tea, some frozen berries (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry), and instead of juice of two lemons I added juice of one lemon and a sliced clementine. Oh, and 1/2 cup of honey, 1/2 cups of sugar.

summer in winter

I added the bubbling ginger bug and it’s now sitting in two half gallon ball jars – nice and tightly sealed covered (so far) with cheesecloth.

~

Echinacea Tincture still seeping and being shaken twice a day

Today I started an Echinacea tincture. Don’t know why I waited this long (and will have to wait for 6 more weeks) . This winter I’ve already spent a good $40 on store-bought tincture – gah! You can make it for about $2 a bottle at home, and control the ingredients too.

It’s a 1:5 Echinacea purpurea dried root tincture made with 80 proof vodka (that’s 40 grams of dried, powdered herb in 200 ml of vodka).

I’ve ordered more herbs, more glass dropper bottles and a stainless steel funnel from Mountain Rose Herbs. I need to find a cheap and local source of large quantities of 100 proof vodka ($20 for 750 ml at the liquor store) and 190 proof alcohol. Because this time I used dried herb I could get away with the cheaper 80 proof, but I’ll want to tincture fresh ginger root soon.

I’m using James Green’s Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook. It’s very user-friendly for the beginner and encouraging. I ordered Nancy Phillips’ book The Herbalist Way as well as Michael Phillips‘ The Apple Grower. I got to peruse both books at my leisure at the NOFA conference and was very impressed.

So I’m back to the gotta-shake-my-tincture (in addition to gotta-feed-my-bug) days. Tomorrow I hope to start up the bread-baking again. Then we’ll be more or less back into our routine.

(Oh no, it’s another series!)

Amie and Mama and their first honey harvest

~

I’m so sore from my workout yesterday. I was shredding leaves for two hours and also moved the contents of one (full) outside  Earth machine to the Earth Machine inside the hoop house. Going by last year’s experience, this compost won’t freeze  and will keep going if I turn it once in a while. It’ll absorb, retain  and even create heat inside the hoop house, and make compost, of course. The moving had to happen with buckets, because the wheelbarrow doesn’t fit through the hoop house door, and so I’m sore, and so today is a day of book learning.

~

I’ve been benefiting tremendously from honey – nipped two colds in the bud with it so far – and am on the lookout for a good book that tells me all about honey, pollen, propolis and other so called “products” of the hive. Everything, that is, about how the bees use and make it, what it consists of, how to harvest it, how to cure it if it needs curing, extract it if it can be extracted, and how those foods and medicinals work. I haven’t found that book yet, but I did find some pieces of the puzzle in this little book by C. Leigh Broadhurst (Basic Health Publications, 2005). Each of  its 85 small pages is packed with nutritional and medicinal information. (Warning: If you are upset by animal testing, expect this text to refer to some horrendous scientific tests on animals.)

I’ve gathered and digested some interesting data from this  book and Wikipedia for you. Let’s begin with honey.

~

• Honey and phytochemicals

Honey, when capped by the bees, is ready for consumption by the bees and by us, containing only 15-21% water (by weight). Uncapped honey as yet contains more water – the bees haven’t cured it enough – and will ferment if extracted. Besides water it consists almost entirely of carbohydrates: mostly simple sugars like glucose and fructose, and some sucrose, maltose and other sugars.

A small percentage of honey consists of phytochemicals. These comes from the  nectar source plants. These phytochemicals give (raw, unprocessed) honeys their distinct taste and aroma. They also confer medicinal benefits, because the plants made them to protect themselves from the bad effects of excess free radicals. These phytochemicals survive in raw honey and are passed on to us when we eat it. And what works for plants, works for us, because we too can suffer from excess ROM.

• Reactive Oxygen Metabolites or Free Radicals

Reactive Oxygen Metabolites (ROM) – a type of “free radical” – are  naturally created as byproducts of metabolism. The cells in plant and animal bodies are composed of many different types of molecules, which in turn consist of one or more atoms of one or more elements joined by chemical bonds. When cells metabolize (convert of food into energy), there occurs a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. This reshuffling of electrons often results in ROM, oxygen molecules with an unpaired electron.

ROM are unstable and highly chemically reactive, attacking the nearest stable molecules and stealing an electron from them to gain stability. The attacked molecule then becomes a free radical itself.

• Out-of-Control Immune Response

Sometimes this process is  a desired one, actively created by the immune system, for ROM will also attack harmful bacteria and viruses and other pathogens. They also prompt enzymes that sterilize wounds by inflaming, heating the damaged tissue (making it swell) and thus flushing tissues of toxic substances.

However, the chain reaction of radicals creating radicals can get out of control, cascading into excess ROM. This inflames when inflammation is no longer necessary, causing chronic inflammatory conditions, like asthma, arthritis, tendonitis and ulcers.

An out-of-control ROM chain-reaction destroys cell membranes, reprograms DNA, forms mutant cells, causing  cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, stroke, diabetes, even schizophrenia.  And the older we get, the more our cells suffer from such “oxidative stress”.

• Anti-oxidants

Now plant and human bodies can generally prevent this with chemical compounds called anti-oxidants. These terminate the chain of oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves without in turn becoming free radicals. So, Broadhurst writes, they “act like chemical sacrificial lambs,” neutralizing ROM before they can irritate our cells. (p.9)

Human bodies make their own  antioxidant compounds, like bilirubin, uric acid, superoxide dismutases, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, etc.  But luckily, many of the antioxidant compounds in plants, especially fruits, vegetables and herbs also work for us. We can ingest their carotenoids, tocopherols, ascorbate, bioflavonoids, etc. directly, or indirectly by eating honey.

It is no wonder, then, that certain substances are the opposite of these beneficial foods. Polluted air and water, radiation, cigarette smoke and herbicides come with free radicals. So do refined foods, like hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, most other heated oils, table sugar (sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup) and white flours. None of these contain antioxidants, so the disastrous chain reaction is unchecked in them. When we ingest these, we  basically flood our bodies with ROM.

• Antioxidants in Honey: Phenolics
  

Water tupelo, Hawaiian Christmas Berry, and sunflower honey have a high antioxidant content, but they are well outmatched by buckwheat honey.  Buckwheat honey has a dark brown color  and a distinctive taste and aroma, imparted to it by a type of antioxidant called phenolics. All flavenoids, for instance, are phenolics. So, the darker a honey, the more phenolics it contains.

Other antioxidant compounds in honey are vitamin C (ascorbic acid), malic, gluconic and cinnamic.

All these antioxidants also give honey its incredibly long shelf life and make it an excellent preservative for other foods.

Broadhurst warns that honey should not be thought of as a substitute for fruits and vegetables. It is a “processed product,” processed by the bees, and thus contains fewer antioxidants than fruits and vegetables (as well as much more sugar).

Heating and processing honey will destroy the vitamin C and the other antioxidant contents of honey. So eat honey raw and unheated.

~

That’s not all that honey does for us, but you’ve guessed it… TBC!