Letters to my Lover

Sometimes I wish that we were students in college and that we would stay up all night at 24 hour cafes together writing papers and studying for finals....is that weird!? I think it's because I'm at Epoch Cafe listening to these two people at the table next to me having a very academic conversation and reading to each other out of their texts to prove their points. Is it strange that I find that romantic?

Asthma Kid Tip of the Day:

Ayurveda considers excess mucus to be a poison in the body that can be removed by omitting certain foods from the diet (namely meat and dairy, but also sugar and foods high in yeast), oil pulling, or using a netti pot among other methods. Since mucus is made up of protein and sugar, people with excess mucus (one cause of asthma) can also try supplementing enzymes like bromelain that help to break down protein in the body.

Bromelain is derived from Pineapple fruit and can be bought in capsule form at most health food stores. Additionally, the fresh fruit also contains anti-inflammatory properties, so asthmatics, eat up! This is a delicious ally of allergy and asthma sufferers everywhere! And no, piña coladas do not count.

Oil pulling is a method performed by swishing a tablespoon of cold pressed, unrefined sesame or sunflower oil backwards and forwards in your mouth - first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, before brushing your teeth or drinking any liquids, including water. Fifteen to twenty minutes is best, and at the end, the oil should turn from yellow and translucent, to white, thin and frothy.Don't swallow the oil, and rinse mouth with water when finished. Ayurvedic tradition teaches that during this process, the oil and the enzymes produced by swishing draw out toxins and bacteria and stimulates the body's elimination abilities. Daily oil pulling has been reported to improve gum disease, asthma, constipation, migraines, kidney disease, arthritis, other chronic and autoimmune disorders, and whiten teeth. All of these conditions have one thing in common, a toxic build up in the body! What do you have to lose? Toxins? And at the very least you'll have a lovely smile in the end!

The Legend of Bluebeard's Daughters

The order had been given to extinguish the mad baron’s lineage
the bad seeds he had left behind.
Though born of many mothers
a particular shade of blue peeking from behind their lips
gave them away as his heiresses.
Their mothers, every one of them, slain –
beheaded by the hand of their patriarch
left the daughters orphaned, even before their birth
while still floating ignorantly in the belly of their bearers.
And even so, their willful little bodies crawled into the light with an unmatched tenacity –
a legacy that, it is said, they shared with their common parent.
and a fact that many believed testified to their inherited perniciousness.

If it wasn’t for a particular good citizen, a handmaid in the house of the Baron
the little creatures would have perished for certain.
For it was well known that Bluebeard abhorred the innocent,
surely then, a child,
much less a female child
much less such a unrelentless sequence of babes.

So swooped them up, she did, the servant,
quickly under her apron
severed the chord and delivered each one to the tall brick house
with crumbling corners and a decidedly sagging roof
where so many other children had been taken and set
bundled in a course sack and screaming,
they who had befallen quite a similar fate
with a knock on the door
and a hastening of feet against the cobbled streets,
a nose with a lantern prodded out into the night
from the dark of the doorway
finding no one.

There is a clearing at the end of the world
to where the villian’s daughters were banished.
Just follow the girl with the unkempt laces
past the empty purple house and under the fallen tree
deep in the brush just a spell to the left and then twenty-two paces due east
There will you find the notorious clearing
where the maidens were left to fend off wild beasts
and the hunger that would inevitably ensue.

But parish, they did not.
Instead, the forest enraptured them
browned their skin and caused their fingers to callus.
Its inherent abundance came willingly to their aid
and for the first time in their ill-omened lives
the girls were mothered.

The Trailer Grows Up

Heal Thyself

BIG EXCITING UPDATE: The Dead End Herban Homestead Trailer has been moved to it's permanent location on the east side of the new house, out of view from anyone (which has, to this point been virtually EVERYONE) who would debate its right to occupy any location it has been on up until this point. This means that starting today jars will come out of boxes, preparations that have been brewing during the move, that have long since needed pressing, will be pressed - and the trailer will finally become a productive home and creative workspace for all of the preparations I have had filling my head for months upon months. Here is one project of personal priority that will commence immediately:


Working on my new asthma blends, a line I call

"Respirate"(res-PEE-rah-teh)"

Respirate Herbal Extract Blend:
Holy Basil
Ginger
Coltsfoot
Amla
Mullien
Neem Leaf* (Yerba Santa will be substituted for this in first batch due to unavailability)
Thyme

At least this is my first try at my respiratory blend, I want to keep it simple because I feel that when you add too many herbs to your blend, that you're not getting as much benefit from each individual herb per dosage as you could. Seven is the magic number in this case, and that's even on the higher end for my taste. It may go down to five by the time the concoction is complete and ready for use. Sometimes plants don't tell you whether they want to be used for something in particular until you get right down to it. I chose these based on research of course but also intuitively which lung aides stuck with me during the researching process.

Holy Basil or Tulsi is my big favorite currently (pictured above) - it's as if it was sculpted from the earth with me particularly in mind! It is both a nervous system adaptogen AND a respiratory tonic. Perfect for high strung little asthmatics like yours truly! Just smell the herb - dried or fresh - and you will see why such a love affair exists with this plant. It is infinitely uplifting, and who can remain so tightly wound in such a state of bliss? Also, since anxiety is a big factor and one cause of asthma, the combination of a nerve and a lung tonic in one is pretty ideal.

I am also brewing up a chest ease salve to relieve tightness and coughing with Nigella (Black Cumin seed) oil, beeswax, white onion, ginger root, and eucalyptus essential oil and a tea with chamomile, mullein, blue violet, hyssop, lavender, and lemon balm (intended to be taken with monarda honey)

Hopefully this will buy me some time in the mold capital of the world (or at least so it seems to my lungs right now), and help some others later on if I find them to be effective.

Let’s Hear it for the Little Things in Life (Sprouting Seeds)!

Do you have garden envy? Sure, everyone’s raving about the great planting weather and showing off their bronzed shoulders and newly rough hands from working in the yard – but what if you don’t have a yard? What if your space or schedule (or any myriad of things) keeps you from a sprawling, outdoor garden? The answer is sprouting seeds, which can be grown without much sun and indoors (indirect sun is usually plenty for these little guys). While the rising temperatures outside might soon be too much for our little seeds or beans to endure, a stable temperature of seventy to seventy-five degrees is the perfect condition for successful sprouting. Don’t for a second let your botanically well-endowed neighbors tell you that sprouts are somehow less impressive, either! In fact, next time you bring your bowl of sprouts to the neighborhood block-party potluck, you just tell those garden-jocks this: A) Sprouts are highly nutritious and more bioavailable due to the natural enzymes that they develop. These naturally occurring enzymes also make them easier to digest than un- sprouted seeds or beans. B) They’re economical! A little goes a very long way, some can grow up to thirty times their size! C) Who needs to keep track of planting seasons? You can grow fresh sprouts throughout the year – and the varieties are as vast as there are delicious!
At this point you can see it on your neighbors’ faces, they’re impressed and, of course, they all want to know how it’s done. So, being the generous and community loving person that all Wheatsville owners are, you give them these helpful pointers: First, soak seeds overnight (some large varieties may need a bit longer). Second, pick a sprouting container. On a glass jar, rather than a lid, use a screen or a muslin cloth, and just flip upside down to drain. A sprouting jar is the traditional method, but bags are great for grains and beans because they don’t require any light at all. However, remember to swish the sprouts around when you rinse (as you should, around every 12 hours to prevent mold) so that the roots don’t grow into the weave of the fabric. In either case, don’t forget to keep them well drained. Finally, you can store your harvested sprouts in your refrigerator, continuing to rinse them every couple days.
There’s nothing sissy about growing your garden in a jar or bag rather than a raised bed in the front-yard. I think whoever first said that’ “the best things come in small packages” must have been a “sprouter” him/herself. And you too can soon be a sprouting aficionado!

Foster a love of small things this season!

Well, just for good measure, here are a few bonus sprouting facts from primalseeds.org to blow away those neighbors:
1. Grow mung beans near bananas. The fruit gives off a natural plant growth hormone known as ethylene gas.
2.Alfalfa means “father of all foods” in Aribic and can be sprouted in 5 days.
3.Sunflower sprouts are tasty but prone to mold, it is recommended that they should be sprouted and eaten after 2 just days.