There’s usually 1-2 tins, or more, floating around our home for all kinds of skin, nerve, muscle and connective tissue ailments.

Making infused oils can be an easy thing. It looks overwhelming at first but once you get it, it’s quite easy.

Here’s the quick lowdown on the process. My herbal course HERE gives more details and LOTS of recipes, ideas and guidance.

I use 1 cup chopped herb to 2 cups organic olive oil as my 1:2 ratio. This makes a bit so if you want to try a few herbs then make smaller batches butkeep the ratio of herb to oil consistent.

Use dried herb or allow fresh herbs to wilt a bit as water is not your friend when making infused oils and can cause spoilage. It is the one thing that makes oils rot in the apothecary.

​CLIFF NOTES ON MAKING HERB INFUSED OILS + HERBAL SALVES:

- Some use a blender to start them - optional step
- Some add 1 TB grain alcohol per 1 cup dried herb and toss, allow to sit for 15m, add your oil - this can helps preserve and extract - optional step

- Stir daily with a chop stick or 3-4x/week for a month
- Keep in warm place out of direct light
- Warming is optional - place in the lowest temperature warm oven and stir every 30m for 4h - you should have a color change and aroma unique to the plant which you learn by doing; then strain (this is the sped up way)

- Label and date everything carefully as you go.
- Gravity strain through muslin - no squeezing as this releases any water and sediment.
Allow to sit for an hour and any water or sediment will drop to the bottom of your bowl. Then pour off the good oil and toss the stuff stuck to the bottom.

- Store in glass in a dark closet or cabinet; label and date.
- Shelf stable for 12 months; 18 months if stored in frig.
-First decide what your purpose is for the salve as this directs which plants or essential oils you choose.

-Salves can be more solid at 1:4 ration and more soft at a 1:8 ratio which is more ointment consistency for covering larger areas of the body.

- Beeswax or vegan wax to oil is the ratio, so to every 1oz of wax add 4-8oz infused oil.
- Use double boiler - have containers laid out and ready.
- Warm just until wax melts, add infused oils and any essential oils you may be using.
- Once melted fully you pour into containers and allow to cool. You can add a sprinkle of dried herbs if you wish (optional but beautiful).

- Cap and make your label with all ingredients.

The ElderMoon Everything Salve  - buy from me at 1oz $12 and you're set for the year.

Or make yourself: My recipe is 2oz each of Calendula flower, Comfrey leaf, St. Johnswort infused olive oil, 1oz beeswax, 20 drops pure Rosemary Essential Oil. This makes 7oz total at a 1:6 (beeswax to oil) ratio.
​
If you make a batch, then you have enough for your home and some 1oz gifts for loved ones. 1oz tins or glass jars are available through an easy google search - or repurpose ones that have already come through your life. 

You can make salve with a single herb or multiple herbs, depending on your needs. It’s useful to make a variety of herbal infused oils so that you can easily craft a salve whenever you need it.
​
Make small batches and use them up. It’s food for the body and needs to be fresh like the food we eat.
​
Arnica flowers: Can help treat physical trauma, bruises, strains, and occasional muscle pain. Use immediately after strenuous exertion or injury to prevent, relieve, and reduce swelling, bruises and pain.
Birch Bark: fresh whittled black or yellow birch bark is easily infused into oil and the wintergreen smell transfers to it. This is great for sore aching, overworked muscles, swollen joints, pain, congestion of lymph nodes and chest congestion.
Burdock root and leaf: For skin infections (leaf is stronger than root for this), contusions and swellings, good for sensitive skin folks,
Calendula flowers: Wonderfully healing with all-around healing properties useful for a wide variety of skin irritations and conditions including wounds, insect bites, rashes, scrapes, abrasions, cuts, and much more. Suitable for sensitive skin and babies.
Cannabis: a profound skin healer and nerve repair remedy for external use. Best first aid for burns, general beauty treatments, contusions, bruises, hematomas, cuts, scrapes. abrasions, and even rubbed over packed sinuses or lymphatic regions to drain them.
Cayenne Pepper: Warming, good for occasional sore muscles, alleviates occasional pain, and itching.
Chamomile flowers: Minor abrasions, cuts, scrapes, swellings, and wounds plus for chapped chaffed skin.
Chickweed: Soothing: helps with skin conditions erupting from within(eczema, psoriasis), minor burns, and other skin irritations.
Comfrey leaf and/or root: Relieves occasional pain, swelling, supports muscle, cartilage, and bone. Assists with healing a wide variety of conditions.
Elder Leaf or flower: green leaf oil has a long history of aiding in ceremonies and rituals as an anointing oil but also heals abrasions, wounds, swellings. The flower is often added to cereals as an elevated beauty treatment for skin rejuvenation.
Echinacea herb and/or root: Beneficial for minor sores, wounds, insect bites, and stings.
Ginger root: Warming, use for occasional sore muscles.
Goldenseal leaf and/or root: Useful for treating minor wounds, infected wounds, and ulcerative skin conditions.
Lavender flowers: Soothing, calming, relieves occasional pain, has healing properties beneficial for minor wounds and numerous skin conditions.
Mugwort: Helps speed the recovery process, relieves and soothes minor sores, bruises, blisters, contusions and swelling, and damaged skin.
Myrrh Gum powder: Used for cuts, scrapes, scratches, and abrasions.
Nettle leaf: An effective herb for many skin conditions.
Oregon Grape root: Skin disinfectant for minor wounds.
Peppermint (and menthol crystals): insect bites, bruising and contusions, tired or overworked muscle rubs for increased circulation and repair.
Pine: I love hemlock, white pine and spruce trees for this. Great for sore aching, overworked muscles, swollen joints, pain, congestion of lymph nodes and chest congestion.
Plantain leaf: Helps speed the recovery process, relieves and soothes insect bites and stings, poison ivy, itching, minor sores, bruises, blisters, and damaged skin.
Poke Root: for questionable moles snd unusual non-healing skin lesions. (Caution with making - wear gloves and keep your room well ventilated as this is a strong one - come learn more in my herbal course)
Rosemary: Helps speed the recovery process, relieves and soothes insect bites and stings, late stage poison ivy, itching, minor sores, bruises, blisters, swellings, and damaged skin. Also a great chest rub for congestion.
St. Johnswort: Craft the deep red-colored oil from fresh flowers. Beneficial for minor wounds, cuts, bruises, insect bites and stings, nerve support, scrapes, and minor burns.
Thyme: Used for cuts, scrapes, and occasional sore muscles, chest rubs for congestion.
Yarrow Flowers: Apply to bruises, minor wounds, cuts, scrapes, and areas with swelling and bleeding.
Yellowdock root: yes! It’s quite antiseptic and offers swelling reducing properties too.

There’s more but this is plenty. We have so many plants! Drop the overwhelm.
I know, it can get that way.

My hope is this inspires you to start simple with one plant.

Learn the steps and it will be so easy to make these amazing products for your body and to gift or sell to others.

As healthcare wobbles more and more we are called back to the plants and creating home apothecaries. This allows us to add to our primary healthcare with remedies from nature that the majority of the world still considers primary healthcare. Linking your apothecary to others to move resources (ie. medicinal plants) around is a form of currency. It wasn’t that long ago that we traded eggs for a salve. If each tribe / family has one person that takes this knowledge deeper and creates a working apothecary, they can supply the friends and family who are in need. It begins simply. Start with one plant and make one oil into one salve. Then get good at it! Do it again and expand your skills.

I’m here for questions and cheering you on for we need more homes with small working apothecaries, connected to other small working apothecaries.

Much love, Jen

Ojas is the essence of vitality and immunity.

It provides stability and nourishment to the body's tissues, moisture to the skin, and clarity to our mental processes.

It is the subtle essence of the kapha dosha, existing both as an energy and, according to the ancient Ayurvedic texts, a physical serum that resembles honey, measured as 8 drops that stay in the heart. As my Ayurvedic and yoga teacher Linda of Shakti Yoga puts it, “our glow of health, virility, fertility, luster, juiciness, reproduction, regeneration and life itself all depends on a healthy supply of ojas.”

Ojas is the refined substance produced after digestion, once all seven dhatus—the tissues responsible for the functioning of the systems and organs of the body—are fed and nourished. The classical Ayurvedic texts state that it takes 27–30 days to build ojas.

Basically it takes a lunar cycle to make.

My teacher explains her understanding of ojas, “It is like honey, ojas, the pure essence of all bodily tissues circulates via the heart and throughout the body to maintain a natural resistance and order of the bodily tissues. Ojas fights against aging, decay and disease. A person who has good ojas rarely becomes sick.”

One way to feed this process of ojas making is with moon milk sipping in a ceremonial way. 
​ 
So “Moon Milks” have been intriguing me for a while. I’ve learned that not all recipes are great either. Golden milk is another old favorite as well with turmeric and honey. Slowly, I’ve found my way to a recipe I love that I’m ready to share.

One can always enjoy a tea with the moon, yes. And I often do…

A“build ojas” whispered prescription is something I keep sensing again and again. Building vital essence, power, luster, strength. It’s the task internally and externally as we face life each day. 

Some prescriptions are divine.
Interpretation is personal, I know.

Let's consider these as a starting point for flow:

Go to bed early. Rest more. Sauna. Visit the ocean or wild water. Eat clean. Make your desserts with fruit. Fresh lemon in your water daily. Move your body. Soak in a tub. Sunbath nude in early morning or late day sun. Make tea daily. Get a massage. Paint a picture for Earth and gift it. Make a fire and speak prayers for the world. Massage your feet before bed. Meditate while gardening. Meditate in stillness. Play your instrument for the Wind. Or the Moon. Get up with the Sun. Go down with the sun. Eat dinner early. Eat a satisfying midday meal and skip dinner for enjoying moon milk and rest instead. Listen to a book or great music 2 hours a day. Drink Moon Milk 2x/week for 1 month.

Not all “prescription medicine” has to taste horrible, hurt, costa a lot, or feel like deprivation. Nor does it have to come from a doctor outside of you. That’s my point.

I’ve decided to drink this as a ritual brew twice a week for the next month, up to the next new moon to build ojas, honey in the heart. New moon milk stokes the fire gently as we find rest and restoration. 

Listen inward for more personal prescriptions as our needs vary and the moon will inspire you with more.

So this recipe is quite easy to make too - in the morning put up your almonds to soak. When ready to make, peel the almonds as your milk warms with spices on the stove. Then add all to blender. That’s it. ✔️

Mid-day or evening dosing is the suggested time for taking this.

It’s silky smooth, warm, and so delicately spiced that you want to just linger between the sips… build luster… ya know, all the things.

​INGREDIENTS:

• 10 raw almonds - soaked and peeled.
• 1 medjool date
• 1 cup pure water - split
• 1 cup milk (organic or coconut milk is good too and I use 1 can full fat coconut milk with 1 can full of water for the liquid component)
• 1 TB organic rose petals (optional – cooling, secretion thinning, rejuvenates)
• 1 tsp ghee (optional - rejuvenates)
• 1/4 tsp saffron (increases digestion & rejuvenates) - saffron is preferred but pricey so if you choose to substitute turmeric powder for this then only use 1/8 tsp. to keep things delicately bold.
• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom (increases digestion)
• Pinches of clove, cinnamon, and turmeric powder (improve immunity and digestion)
• Pinch of fresh cracked black pepper (thins secretions, supports immunity)
• 1 tsp of honey, maple syrup or agave (optional - rejuvenating, immune supportive, (honey is traditional and increases lactose digestion if using cow milk)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Soak almonds in 1/2 cup water for 4 hours to overnight. Drain off the water and slip the almonds out of their skins.
2. Bring 1 cup milk of choice and 1/2 cup water to barely a boil on the stove.
3. Add rose petals, saffron, cardamom, clove, and black pepper, let simmer for 5 minutes. Cover, remove from heat.
4. Allow milk mixture to cool covered for 10-15 minutes for more infusing of the spices.
5. Pour mixture in to the blender with date, peeled almonds, and add ghee and honey. Blend until smooth.
6. Enjoy warm in a favorite mug with a sprinkle of spice you love or few rose petals on top as you sit, moon gaze, and allow the moon to have all of you.

So delicate and delicious... enjoy.

What else builds our vitality and increases our golden ojas heart drops?

• Ample sleep—seven or eight hours is not enough for most people - the human body requires hours of wakeful meditative states and / or naps to fulfill our rest requirements.
• Following your heart’s desire, whatever lights you up.
• Volunteering, supporting a cause near and dear to you.
• Yoga, pranayama, and meditation
• Whole, fresh, organic foods, preferably home-cooked.
• Know your farmers and bee keepers.
• Spending time in nature; gardening, hiking; swimming.
• Hugs with pets, friends, family.
• A good book, read or listen - both do the same internally.
• Laughter.
• Love, Love, Love
• And my favorite ghee company - Goddess Ghee
• I Release Control - song by Alexa Sunshine Rose

​xo-Jen ​

Yield: 2oz/60ml spray bottle 
​
It’s that time of year that we feel that need “to prepare”. It can rush in sometimes and have us scurrying. And sometimes we feel it and step into a pace that is more like a well versed kind of dance with the seasons. 

Welcome to the seasonal shifts that require a little extra care. 

I’m sharing how I make my customized herbal honey throat sprays to treat my family’s sore and scratchy throats and for early signs of cold or flu. This was birthed when I was sent to the ICU to take care of patients, my community members, while covid infected. I gifted this to other nurses working with me who were open this kind of medicine. 

When exposed, even with all the precautions, I remained calm, hand washed often, and kept my masks well-fitted. We wore goggles as the eyes are an entry point. Once my time is complete with caring for someone infected, I shower fully, and once home I used a netty pot for my sinuses with a mild salt and baking soda solution that I add 2 drops of usnea or goldenseal root tincture to. I scraped my tongue and sprayed my throat immediately, before bed, and upon waking. I also would use our sauna if I was very concerned, as long as I had no fever.

I made this throat spray for my time in the ICU and many nurses used it too when we were all very afraid as we watched many unusual deaths happen. 

For the home setting if you suspect you’ve been exposed to a virus and you're concerned, consider general frequent hand washing, pull up your deep rest skills, reduce stress while sleeping more, increase water intake and simple herbal infusions, and enlist the highest quality easy to digest food as part of your first response. We grab this herbal throat spray, along with other stronger internal immune support, when one of us becomes exhausted, watery-eyed, unexplained head or body aches, or feels that tickle or soreness/burn in the high sinuses or throat. 

I use raw honey in these, but you can substitute vegetable glycerine for a vegan product. Honey kills germs on contact plus gives added immunity support. That’s why it’s in the formula. Glycerine does not. You decide what’s best. 

Also, remember that store bought honey should not be given to children under a year old. I always gave our honey to my babies because the botulism concerns come from poor handling during mass production. 

I based my throat spray inspiration on a recipe found in Rosemary Gladstar’s book: Medicinal Herbs, A Beginner’s Guide. Back to basics is always a humble and empowering thing. Her recipe revolves around using tinctures, but if you prefer to avoid alcohol completely, you can substitute a strong herbal tea instead. It will have a limited shelf life but be a potent product nonetheless. Rosemary’s recipe with tinctures has added water to dilute it down a bit. She may have done this to ease the effects of alcohol on the throat and mouth mucosa. I’m not sure. I do not add water to mine because when formulating this I wanted the strongest remedy possible. I find it to be fine and the plants and honey buffer the sharpness of the alcohol just fine. Again, you can decide what is best for you and your family. 

​

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 tablespoon / 52 ml tincture of choice or a combination of antimicrobials you love and trust
• 1 ½ teaspoons / 8ml local raw honey 
• 7-8 drops of pure essential oil Eucalyptus (my favorite but lavender, rosemary, oregano, thyme, lemon balm can all work too.)

METHOD

1. Add all ingredients to a measuring cup with a pour spout. Stir to dissolve the honey well.
2. Pour into a 2oz/60ml mister bottle.
3. Add essential oil if using – it’s optional but potent with germs – you decide. 
4. Cap with the mister top and shake well. Test by spraying the back of your tongue and towards the back of your throat. We instinctively hold our breath – yes, please do – and prompt everyone in case they forget to take a deep breath in and hold before praying, extend the tongue and then spray well 3-4 times. 

YIELD: 2oz / 60ml

​

Culinary Sage, White Sage, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Wormwood, Spilanthes, Prickly Ash Bark,  Feverfew, Boneset, Chamomile flower, Bee Balm flower, Bloodroot, Oak leaf and bark, Witch Hazel bark, Burdock leaf, Apple leaves, Peach leaves, Echinacea flower and root, Osha root, Usnea lichen, Calendula flowers, Plantain leaf and root, Comfrey leaf and root, Propolis (not a plant but a resinous substance Bees make from resinous plants)

You can make it with just one of these plants or create your own formula.

We swallow the blend too so these all have immune support and anti-microbial actions that work from the inside out as well and are an intensive treatment that helps in the first few days when a virus attempts to enter the body. They can move through the eyes too which is why I lean heavily on the netty pot to wash them away. These simple actions can sometimes make all the difference. 

Our throat spray at ElderMoon currently has Propolis, White Sage leaf, Plantain leaf & root, Echinacea Root, White Pine needle and bark, raw Honey, pure organic Eucalyptus essential oil. We get rave reviews and many report the benefits of “knocking it out” within the first few days among all ages.

Finally, you need to delegate the DIY thing for now until you get more time, supplies, energy? No problem. I have it ready for you. Thank you for delegating when you need to. Link below.
​Much Love, Jen

This traditonal Indian dish as many variations but always delivers gentle gut medicine. Kitchari helps for when you need lighter meals for a day or more, are healing digestive issues or you gut is unsettled for whatever reason, or maybe your sick and need easy to digest nourishment for increased immune system energy. It's our go-to for seasonal shifts, during stressful times the gut is distressed, or giving the body a break after over-indulging during holiday gatherings too. Often it's just a perfectly warm morning breakfast here.

Serves: 4-6 - stores well in refrigerator to use up in 2-3 days

​INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup yellow mung beans
• 1/2 cup basmati rice (option: double mung beans and leave rice out)
• 4-5 cups water
• 2 Tbsp ghee, coconut or sesame oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds - black cumin seeds work too
• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
• 1 cloves fresh garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, washed and chopped finely
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp black pepper - reduce if the heat is too much for you
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 pinches clove powder
• 2 pinches cayenne (optional: added just before serving) 
• Lime wedges + extra fresh cilantro for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soak mung beans and basmati rice for at least 30 minutes and rinse well.
2. Measure out and prepare all your spices first. 
3. Warm ghee/oil in a small heavy skillet and add all spices except cayenne for the end. Sizzle for 1 minute.
4. Add the fresh cilantro, stir to sizzle 1 minute and then add the rinsed basmati rice and mung beans and stir 1 minute.
5. Add 4 cups water and bring to a slow simmer. Simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes.
6. Add more water as needed to get the consistency you like. Add cayenne. Stir well.
7. Serve with fresh lime, more fresh chopped cilantro, and an optional spoonful of plain yogurt,

New to all the spices? (These are the medicine.)
Maybe your pantry needs an update on some of the ingredients?
Have a palate that needs simple?

You can still start anyway. Take a look at the simplest Kitchari recipe below as a starting option. Children enjoy this one too.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup yellow mung beans
• 1/2 cup basmati rice
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon ghee, coconut, sesame, or avocado oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger, or a pinch of ground ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

​
For Garnish: fresh cilantro, plain yogurt, and slices of lime

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soak mung beans and basmati rice for at least 30 minutes and rinse well.
2. Measure out and prepare all your spices first. 
3. Warm ghee in a small heavy skillet and add all spices and stir while sizzling for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the cilantro, stir to sizzle 1 minute and then add the rinsed basmati rice and mung beans and stir 1 minute 
5. Add 4 cups water and bring to a slow simmer, stir occasionally for about 30 to 40 minutes.
6. Add more water as needed to get the consistency you like.
7. Serve with lime and more fresh chopped cilantro.

​​Enjoy! Much Love, Jen

Your spice cabinet is a well-known and potent medicine chest among herbalists. Keeping it well stocked and fresh will support food preparations but also medicine making that you may need at unexpected times.

No one wants to drive to a store to get needed remedies when we’re feeling sick. 

Let’s take a look at the medicinal qualities of some of our ingredients often found in your kitchen and why this delicious and potent cough syrup is a quick and easy to make remedy even when you’re not feeling well. 
​

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 TB dried Rosemary (or 2 TB fresh chopped) 
• 1 TB dried Thyme (or 2 TB fresh chopped)
  
• Optional: 1 teaspoon dried Elecampane root (boosts the lung clearing even more) 
• 1 Lemon - zested peel
• 1 Lemon juiced
• 1 inch Ginger root - grated or sliced thin
• 1 cup boiled water
•  ½ cup Honey or agave 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Add thyme, rosemary, elecampane root if using, ginger root and lemon zest to an 8oz heat safe mason jar and fill with boiling water, cap, wrap in a dish towel to keep the heat in, and allow to steep until warm to the touch. Maybe 2-3 hours. 
2. Strain your strong tea into large measuring cup, add lemon juice and honey or agave. Stir well and taste it. Adjust sweetness to your liking but keeping it not too sweet is better. 
3. Pour into a jar for storing in the refrigerator and label with ingredients and date. 
4. Dosing: 1-2 tablespoons every 4 hours while awake with active cold/flu symptoms. Continue for up to 10 days if needed. 

Easy kitchen medicine is at your fingertips. Ancient ways of healing have profound effects on our health and provide us with ways to stay home and practice the fine art of convalescence, meaning stay in bed with intermittent activity to exercise deep breathing. May you and your family thrive as we all learn to walk with the plants and the microbial world in this world we share. It’s all about boundaries.

Most herbal syrup recipes include a slow long simmer to reduce the amount of water and extract the medicine. Here with aromatic plants like Rosemary and Thyme, we loose much of the aromatics which are part of the medicine with a slow simmer process. Your house will smell great and you will inhale some of this which is great, but it will not be in your syrup which is what I want. So I simply reduced the water amount, traded the simmer for a slow infusion, and leaned on a capped jar method with extra time to keep all of the medicine in the syrup.

Many blessings to you. Send along any questions. 💚

Much Love, Jen

​

Why Rosemary?
Being incredibly antimicrobial is why I add it here. It also supports digestion and gut health and circulation which is more stagnant during convalescence when sick. It has nti inflammatory and antispasmodic properties and so eases pain and reduces swollen mucus linings of the airway to free up deep breathing.  

Rosemary is considered safe for most people in culinary amounts and has few side effects to consider should you take it in therapeutic medicinal amounts. Some people who should avoid it in medicinal amounts:

• Pregnant women should not use rosemary in large amounts (cooking is fine) and should avoid the essential oils.
• Breastfeeding women should also avoid large amounts of rosemary as there’s not enough known about how it affects this population and their babies.
• Those with an aspirin allergy should not take medicinal amounts of rosemary.
• Those with seizure or bleeding disorders should also avoid large amounts of rosemary.
• Rosemary can raise blood pressure in some at medicinal doses, so it may not be safe for those with elevated blood pressure.

If you’re unsure, check with your herbalist to see if rosemary is safe for you. Rosemary is best taken for a few weeks at medicinal doses and then reduced to being in formula with other herbs for extended dosing.

Culinary use in food preparations is considred generally safe for most people. 

It's that season again and years since I shared anything cranberry. Please see THIS ARTICLE I wrote in 2017 for all the details on how cranberry heals medicinally.

I share another old family recipe that recieves repeated rave reviews from our table every year. It was created by one of my aunties back in the 1970s and has evolved through my kitchen infused with my love of herbalism and the medicinal spices I've experimented with over the years. 

We eat with roasted meats, mixed with mayo for spiced-up sandwhiches, added to yogurt with seeded granolas we make, served with fish, as a condiment with home made Indian food meals (I sometimes add cayenne powder for this), add a dollop with desserts, and straight off the spoon. Delicious. This makes an easy, great last minute gift. And it's quite simple to make too.

​Enjoy! Much Love, Jen

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bag fresh cranberries 12-16oz bag
• 1 cup organic sugar or sweetener of choice - if using honey, rice or maple syrup then reduce to 2/3 cup or it could become too watery. 
• 1 cup orange juice
• 3 tablespoons dried, de-seeded rose hips (elderberries work too!)
• 1 small 8oz. jar good orange marmalade ("good" meaning no GMO corn fructose, organic)
• 1 cup chopped nuts of choice (pecans are our favorite)
• 1-2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg powder
• 1/4 teaspoon clove powder
• pinch of salt and black pepper
• optional: 1/8 -1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder for a little kick

DIRECTIONS

1. Add all ingredients except the chopped nuts to a pot and gently bring to a soft simmer while stirring occasionally.

2. Use the back of a spoon or potato masher to mash up the softened cranberries. We like it chunky but you could use an immersion blender and omit the nuts for a smooth relish. 

3. Cook for 10-15 minutes until it looks jelly-like in consistency. It will thicken more once it cools.

4. Stir in the chopped nuts. Remove from the heat. Taste. Adjust flavors to your liking if needed. Cover and allow to return to room temperature.

5. Spoon into clean jars. Keeps for 4-6 weeks refrigerated. 


Of course it takes amazing but this also supports kidney and adrenal health, heart and circulation health, as well as abundant spices to support the gut and immunity. Enjoy!

This is simply delicious and easy to eat and will bring therapeutic doses of Hawthorn and Rose into the system on a daily food level.

I often suggest this as an alternative to tinctures for cardiac support and blood pressure management, particularly of one is not wanting alcohol based products like tinctures.

One tablespoon a day is a therapeutic dose and an easy medicne to take too, right off the spoon!. 

If you purchases your berries and hips by the pound for a discounted fee then you will have plenty for 2-3 more batches. 

I love this over goat cheese or brie, yogurt, or spooned over a warm dessert with whipped cream. Please seek chemical free ingredients to support potent medicine making, farmers, wildcrafters, and the land that grows us all.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup Hawthorn Berries, fresh or dried
• 1 cup dried Rose Hips, seedless cut/sifted
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup honey (agave, rice syrup and maple syrup work too)
• 1 TB Lemon Juice
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 1 TB Vanilla Extract
• 1/2-1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
• 2 TB Ginger Root, finely minced 
• 2 Cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil Hawthorn Berries in the water for 30 minutes at the lowest simmer, covered. Turn off and allow to sit for 1-4 hours covered. Strain and keep liquid, compost solids.
2. Return liquid to a pot and bring to a simmer, turn heat off and add the Rose Hips and ginger root, give a stir and cover. Let sit for ½ hour.
3. Place all in the blender. Add all other ingredients and blend. This is like pudding and thick so add very small amounts of water if needed, just enough to keep the blender able to work.
4. Strain, or push through a sieve – not too fine – just catch any stray seeds and any solids that may have made it through. It will thicken more and more as it cools so work through the seive while warm and scrape the under side as you go.

To Use/Dosing: 1 Tlb/ day is therapeutic for the heart. Stirred into plain yogurt or use any way you use jam.

Yield: about 2-2 ½ cups – store in refrigerator and use up. You can make larger batches but freeze some for it will keep about 4 weeks in the frig thanks to the lemon, honey and ginger which are good for the heart and have preservative properties.

You can absolutely play with adding and substituting some ingredients here. I have added black cherry syrup, natural flavor extracts, powdered cardamom and clove, astragalus root powder, schisandra berry powder, lime, orange or grapefruit instead of or with the lemon. Keep the proportions tended so you have the same consistency of a jam but do play with it if you're inspired. Make it your recipe and absolutely share it please. Good heart medicine is needed by us all as we move forward in this ever changing existence.

Much Love, Jen 


REFERENCE: Healing Tonics by Jeanine Pollak

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 oz fresh elder berry smashed a bit with a muddler (Sambucus canadensis or S. nigra) berry -OR - 6oz dried* - simmer these (fresh or dried) for 5 min in a small pan with barely enough water to cover. This neutralizes the seeds which carry a bit of harsh alkaloids
• 4-6 fresh garlic cloves (Allium sativum) unpeeled is fine, rough chopped
• 1/2-1 cup fresh grated horseradish root - depending on your tolerance
• 1-2 fresh onion (Allium spp.), any variety is fine - peeled and chopped
• 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizome, grated or chopped
• 2-3 fresh chili peppers (Capsicum annuum), chopped - seeds are optional but good for thinning secretions. 
• 1-2 sprigs fresh Rosemary branches - remove leaves and chop
• 1 lime zested + juice - you can use lemon instead if you desire
• 1 stick of cinnamon + a few cloves, or sprinkle of each as a powder. Option: add 1 star anise which is lovely and quite antiviral as well. 
• 32 fl oz apple cider vinegar - or more may be needed.
• Honey to taste - added after strained in 1 month.
• 1/2 gallon jar

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Combine all ingredients into a clean, half gallon-sized glass jar.
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2. Pour enough apple cider vinegar over the ingredients until they’re completely covered.

3. Cover the jar with parchment paper before capping with a lid or use a plastic lid to prevent corrosion of the metal that will spoil the contents. Seal the jar tightly and shake it well. Check the vinegar level the next day and add more if the level drops, which it does from absorption, or from fairies sipping it is what is said in many traditions. 

4. Let the mixture sit in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks, shaking it 3-5x/week or daily.

5. Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth and squeeze the goodness out as best you can.

6. Add honey or other sweetener to taste for finding that tangy-sweetness. This is optional too. You decide.
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7. Pour into clean glass bottles. Label with ingredients and date too.

Store your fire cider in the refrigerator for up to 6-8 months. This helps keep the lovely dark purple color of the elderberry too. It is shelf stable for 3 months outside of the frig. 

DOSING: To use, dilute and sip 1 ounces (2TB / 30ml) in water (or diluted grape juice and water or seltzer 1:1 is delicious). Sip during an acute illness or if you know you’ve been exposed to something every 4-6 hours while awake. Yes, you can take this daily as a preventative tonic or sip slowly to promote good strong digestion before or after meals as well.

As summer eases on through, it’s honestly been rather brutal with heat and humidity here in New York. Every summer delivers this in New York.

But cooler nights have arrived and late August into September always delivers this welcomed shift. 

The plants change too. Already I can see leaf colors shifting that only come with temperature changes. HERE is why if you're interested in the science. 

We had an amazing boom of a crop of elderberries this year. Now it could be because I pruned for the first time ever last Imbolc. And I will do this every February as it keeps the Elders much stronger I've learned. Berry abundance can also be because we will need them and our gardens and wild places do speak to us this way with abundance at needed times, when of course they have the resources to do so.

We’ve been making this Elderberry Fire Cider recipe for decades now as an easy way to prepare for Autumn, through Winter, and into Spring to meet the challenges our bodies feel with these season changes.

Fall and Spring are harder on the body than deep Summer or Winter. There’s more change, fluctuations, and turbulence that our bodies have to navigate and respond to.
This recipe deserves space in your home apothecary. Make it yours with little changes you’re inspired to make. It becomes a beautiful gift to your loved ones too when you make it in quantity. Go ahead and make a 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon. It will keep in the frig for the whole winter through spring when germs are doing their opportunistic thing and trying to move around among us as we get weary from winter. This will keep you restored and strong. 

Boundaries with the microbial world happen on the daily all day long inside these bodies. And they're not all pathological either. Let’s drink Elderberry Fire Cider to retore some internal balance while we contemplate such things, such as our cellular level agreements. Enjoy! XO-Jen

Decades ago I tried celery soda in a great Jewish deli in NYC. WOW! I had never heard of or tasted it before then, and with my grandfather being a soda maker I thought, damn, why didn't he make this? The roots of celery soda have stood the test of time and reach far back to when we had healthy tonic syrup options of aromatic herbs and fruits added to water, and bubbly waters as they became a thing too. David Sax, author of The Tastemakers, a book on food trends, says, “All these sodas started out as the functional medicines of their day. They were sweetened to make them more palatable."

Sax pointed out another connection between celery and the soda business: it pays with the Jewish folks who worked in the industry. During the 19th century, the majority of New York's Jewish immigrants came from Eastern Europe, and many of them found work in the soda business. "They were involved in the sugar industry in Poland and the Ukraine. Largely, beet sugar," Sax explained. Working with soda was a natural extension, and celery was a flavor they knew well from the old country. Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda start in 1868 in NYC and there are stories of “Dr. Brown” making many health promoting, plant based tonics. The NYC deli scene is where it all took off but the tonics with celery as a functional medicine are far older.

I created this one, FINALLY! And jazzed it up a little with agave, lovage, and ginger root, no cane sugar, but you can certainly use a good quality cane sugar, or any sweetener you decide you prefer. Stick to the 1:1 equal parts ratio of water to sweetener and make the aromatics strong so a little goes a long way to get flavor without it being too sweet in your final drink. 

WHO IS LOVAGE?
Lovage (Levisticum officinale) is a perennial herb with leaves that resemble those of celery and flat leaf parsley - sort of. The stems are round, hollow (make great straws) and have less ribbing than celery. This tall herb can reach up to 6-7 feet (2+ meters) in height when flowering and has many culinary applications. The flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, and stalks are used for food and medicine. It’s super easy to grow in an edible or medicinal garden (or like me, maybe you have them all mingled!), and it loves sunny to partial shade positions with more moist to well-drained soil conditions. It can handle more moisture, or “wet feet” as we plant folks say you will find along stream beds if it goes wild, somewhat like where you would find Angelica. 

Lovage is a member of the Apiaceae, or Umbellifer family. It's sometimes called smellage or maggi plant. I'm not sure why but still searching for this. In Italy it’s called sedano di monte, or mountain celery. It’s native to western Asia, parts of Northern Africa, and the Mediterranean region.

Lovage is also a botanical found in gin and has a long journey through the “spirit world” physically as an enhancing alcoholic aromatic flavoring, and as a metaphoric spirit traveler as well. I was quite the gin-lovin' drinker long ago but that Jen has taken a back seat these days. She’s “not allowed to drive" anymore in this life, or off the cliff we go. She remains part of my GPS system these days. 

Let's take a look at the plant ingredients I chose for this recipe. 

LOVAGE: Medicinal Parts: ALL of it! Seed, root, flower, leaf, and stalk. 

See pic with the Lovage on the left next to the cucumber, celery on the right for a little stalk comparison.

Lovage is probably best known as a digestive aid, relieving flatulence and other stomach discomfort, and eases pain and inflammation in joints and acute injuries. Lovage was commonly used to strengthen the heart and as a respiratory aid. It was also a useful, potent diuretic for easing fluid retention, to treat kidney stones, and as a blood purifier by supporting our blood filtering organs. 
This aromatic herb tastes like a combination of strong celery and parsley but is definitely more concentrated in delivery by weight. 

​NOW WANDER THROUGH SOME TRADITIONAL MAGICAL PROPERTIES OF LOVAGE:

- Make a Tea of Lovage leaves, seeds, or root and drink just before bedtime for stimulating and supporting deep dreamwork.
-I drink a tea (or healthy herbal soda) to make the mind alert before business meetings, consulting, or school work.  
- Carry it in a sachet, medicine bundle, or charm to attract love, dates, or well matched partner(s). The roots and seeds of lovage are said to be used for erotic love alchemy.
- Place the grated fresh root or root powder in a mesh bag and hold under hot tap water when running a bath for cleansing, skin nourishing beauty. I would consider floating leaves and flowers in a bath too.
-Add 2 rose buds or a small handful rose petals to the bath with it to enhance the love partner drawing properties. Mixes well with Damiana or Meadowsweet too for cleansing and love attraction.
- Aids lovers through warring to mediation and reconciliation. Traditionally it was considered to be a last-ditch effort before a divorce. So I would drink tea or healthy soda during talks!
- When doing divination about relationship problems, a stalk of lovage can be brushed over the area of the reading before laying stones or cards, or powdered dried lovage sprinkled on the area. 
- Home protection is strong if planted near the entryway of your home. (Check! Two are here right out front and it was done before I learned this one!)
Given the plants medical and magical powers, it's no wonder Lovage was an extremely important herb during the Middle Ages, a garden without this plant was very rare indeed. I'd love to see this come around again. 
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Plant LOVAGE!

Most of us know this love for food but it's a phenomenal medicine too. Great for fever management, anti-inflammatory, a diuretic, kidney and adrenal support, along with digestive, respiratory, immune and cardiac toning properties. 

When you grow your own celery you learn a thing or two about how pungent and bitter it can get. Commercially grown celery is stalk buried to ease the green coming forward to deliver the true medicine, which is quite pungent and bitter. Grow some and learn. If it's too strong, then a little goes a long way. I love it in turkey meatballs made East Indian style, and with tuna. You can blanch it for 30 seconds in boiling water to ease the pungency if you want too. 

A RARE CELERY STORY: I once had a 97 year woman who was in the hospital with severe hypertension over 200/100 BP. She refused all medicines! She demanded her celery again and again. Most laughed, but I knew the truth too. It would stimulate her kidneys to make her urinate frequently to release the excess water in her system (edema) and this will drop a blood pressure significantly in some conditions. This eases breathing if fluid backs into the lungs which it was for her (congestive heart failure). I spoke to about what she and I both knew and she was thrilled. I sent a volunteer, skeptical-but-curious coworker to the store to get a bunch of celery with lots of really dark leaves. She was so happy! She munched all through the night, with naps of course as 97 year old's do. Diuresis kicked in well and she urinated enough to drop her pressure down so much that she went home in the morning in a safe range. 

​LOVE her still. She is one of my heroes. 

​AND FINALLY... GINGER AS MEDICINE: A favorite for immune, digestive, heart tonic, and blood thinning, circulatory support.

OK, Now the recipe! Tweak it. Make it yours and please give credit where credit is due for the inspirations that come to you. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup agave, rice, organic sugar, or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of lovage leaves and chopped stalks*
• 1/2 cup celery leaves*
  
• 1-2 tablespoons of slightly ground celery seed
• 1 inch ginger root peeled and grated or sliced paper thin

Serving Items:

• Soda water & fresh lime slices for serving

EQUIPMENT
mortar and pestle, small saucepan, fine strainer, funnel, glass bottle, labels

METHOD
1. In a small saucepan, bring the water and agave to barely a simmer, stirring until the mixture is clear.
2. Add the chopped lovage leaves and stalks plus the celery leaves and slightly ground celery seeds (in the mortar and pestle), and grated fresh ginger root.  Give it a gentle stir.
3. Cover with a pot lid and keep at just below a simmer for 30 min. 
4. Remove from the heat and lay a clean kitchen towel over it to keep the aromatics infusing in the syrup versus filling your home (which is lovely too but…. we want them in the syrup).
5. Leave to infuse for 4 hours or overnight if you prefer a stronger flavor. I will rewarm before straining usually. 
6. Using a fine strainer and a funnel, strain the syrup and funnel into a glass bottle. Label and date. It will keep in the fridge for 4-6 weeks.

TO SERVE: Warm or cold, over ice with lime and celery stalks or a lovage straw is great. 1-2 TB per 8oz. water. Stir and enjoy! 

NO LOVAGE at your fingertips at the moment? Easy. Delete it and add another 1 TB of Celery Seed. It will be equally delicious. 

* NOTE: Due to homegrown lovage and celery having far more intense flavor than most store bought ones, a little goes a long way so you may wish to vary the amount used to make the syrup. Make it strong! We dilute these with soda water or warm water for drinking so we want the flavor to travel through the diluting process.
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Enjoy! SOOO Good. Much Love, Jen 

My grandfather, we called him Papa, and his two brothers made soda for a living for over 50 years near in Newburgh, New York along the Hudson River. Papa had a “little old Italian man", known for his extraordinary dowsing skills with a Witch Hazel branch, come and find where to put the well. They tapped into and old huge aquifer and never had to buy water for 50 years of business.

Now we all know soda is not a healthy thing in this day and age, but it was birthed from plant and fruit syrups mixed with water. My great grandmother would preserve by canning processes many juices from grapes and others fruits just for this refreshing and healthy drink in off season times. Carbonation was added later.

So with a grandfather in the soda business, all family homes were wove into the delivery system around the valley where we all lived. At any one time in our home, we had 40 cases of free soda from our Papa's company.

Yes, seltzer. Bubbly water.

Mixed with real fruit juices because they were so delicious and less sweet. The evolution to the far too sweet, chemical laden drinks of now is not a proud or pretty journey with what we have done as humans.

As my Papa aged, he and I spent more time in the garden and he basically kicked my grandmother out of the kitchen because he wanted to recreate the food from his Sicilian mother. My grandmother was a good baker and loved her new and less demanding role.

Papa grew up on a small 1/4 acre or less parcel of land in the city of Newburgh with 9 children, his grandparents and parents and various elderly aunts or uncles living with them too. Every square inch of land grew food for all these people. I loved walking along the tiny goat paths and under the trellised beans and tomatoes to the 2 fig trees we buried and unburied every year. They were family members to my family!

Fast forward to his time of thinking about retirement and trying to figure out things around his company. He moved to the garden and kitchen to learn new things and think more too. While in the gardens with him, he was learning new ways of allowing (or not, as he hacked at things because he wanted them to stay a certain size). I used to smile and say, "Papa they want to grow.". I was in college by then and loved hanging with him and I used to reprimand him for not teaching his children his native Italian language as we went about our business. He would share his deep concern for my future because social security was not organized well for my generation. And yes, he sure had that figured with valid concerns for future generations. 

One day back in the 1980s I said, "Hey Papa, I think you should start making flavored seltzers. The soda is too sweet and not so healthy." He waved his hand at me while we were digging to put in thousands of day lilies along the stream that my grandmother loved and muttered something in Italian that was loving but laced with a firm "no." I persisted with all the reasons why and how easy it would be and that it would "catch on Papa, I swear!"

He refused.

And look watch happened too to the seltzer world.

He also refused to bottle in plastic! He would bark, “Glass only. Plastic ruins the taste!” I was always happy about that. And look what's happened with that too.

He went on to liquidate the business and move into a very comfortable retirement in his 50s, which is somewhat rare nowadays as we have morphed into working for money well into the 70s for many. We have to be rebels in a faltering system to figure it out these days. Thankfully he and my grandmother both lived long and well into their 90s.

I miss him. The last time I saw him he held my youngest son Cyrus the day after he was born and we cried and laughed together on and off for hours holding him as we remembered many things and grieved the death of my grandmother 2 years prior. He was getting ready to go and did shortly after this.

Thank you for sharing this time with these memories for me. I decided to share a healthy soda recipe with you! One of many I've conjured in memory of my Papa.

I mix these syrups and shrubs with seltzer and say, "Here's to what you didn't have time for Papa because you did so much for us all."

I like to make small batches for the weekend treats these days and to change things up sometimes. Always remember that you can keep it so very simple with good fruit juices and seltzer. By favorite is organic grape juice, seltzer, a slice of lime and a splash of apple cider vineger, grapefruit juice or 2 squirts of a good bitters. So good!

INGREDIENTS Yield: just shy of 1 quart

• 8 -12 oz. blackberries (any berry works here so go ahead and use what you have)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 grapefruit zested + squeezed juice (add juice at the end) – lemons, limes and oranges all work here too.
• 10 sprig fresh Thyme sprig – or 1 TB dried (mints, rosemary, sage, and all basils are another substitute here too)
• 2-3 thin slices, or more, of fresh ginger (optional but delicious too)
• 1 ½ cup raw honey, sugar, or agave
• 1 ½ cup apple cider vinegar

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INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a medium saucepan bring water, berries and grapefruit zest to just below a simmer where steam is rising.
2. Mash with a potato masher, back of a smooth, or muddler to release the blackberry juice.
3. Add sweetener of choice and vinegar and warm just until dissolved stirring constantly.
4. Add Thyme, stir, turn off the heat and put a lid on. Wait until warm to touch to room temp.
5. Add fresh Grapefruit juice, stir well and strain through a fine sieve.
6. Taste to adjust the sweet tangy flavor with more vinegar or sweetener.
7. Bottle in clean jars. Label with the date. Stores well in the refrigerator up to 2-3 months. (It will never last!)

NOTES:

• Enjoy 1-2 tablespoons mixed with seltzer for a refreshing healthy soda treat or warm water for instant tea.
• Straight off the spoon works too with early onset of feeling any viral or bacterial invasions or with sinus and lung congestion.
• Consider taking 1-2 teaspoons every 3-4 hours wand adding other boosting tinctures to drive the healing deeper.
• Boiling is is too hot for this preparation and kills many of the beneficial properties in the vinegar and honey so stay close to monitor while warming.
• Use organic ingredients as much as possible.
• Shrubs are an old preparation of juicy fruits, aromatic medicinal herbs, a sweetener and vinegar. This concentration gives some shelf life. Always refrigerate.
• Freezing summer fruits gives winter options that remind us of the summer time when it’s cold and they make lovely warm drinks for that time. PLUS the added vinegar supports resisting bugs that bite.

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Enjoy. Much Love, Jen 

Ah yes, the bread topic again.

We cycle in and out of wheat eating here. Our bread culture genetics are hard to resist. Our peace was made with supporting ecologically conscious farmers and sourcing the VERY BEST WHEAT we can get when the ancestors come call for bread making to commence. 
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This older article linked below from Mother Earth News is amazing for making sourdough with a few steps removed so it’s super easy to have fresh bread any day of the week - even if you decided at 4pm for a 5pm or so dinner can happen.

This recipe requires NO CONSTANT TENDING of the mother sourdough. 

I know. I know. It seems like a hack that cannot be, but trust me, it works. 

Once your dough is slowly made, it ferments as a dough (versus a mother inoculant) for 2-5 hours on my counter without touching it. Then we use the folding technique (versus kneading) daily which takes literally 2 minutes or less, and it lives in your refrigerator gently covered for up to 2 weeks. It continues to ferment and change flavor over time as a dough ready each day for you to pinch off a grapefruit sized piece and make into flat bread, pizza, rolls, cinnamon buns, or a simple loaf of fresh warm bread to compliment any meal.

We make 1-2 loaves a week during times we are eating wheat and I mix organic bread flour with fresh ground organic Kamut wheat we grind from whole Kamut wheat berries (mixed at a 70:30 ratio for the two flours).

While I’ve been making bread since I was a little girl whose eyes where table top height or perched on a chair watching, practicing, and learning from my Sicilian Great Grand-Nonna Costa and mother kneading away, these super hydration bread techniques are new for me so I’m still getting my legs under me with it but LOVE the bread made from a home oven.
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Here's the original article that has inspired me for years to give credit where credit definitely due. I have not swayed from it at all as I usually do with many recipes because it is just a solid recipe that is successful every time. ​I'm so grateful!
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I will repeat the steps I follow here so all is in one place to help you gather the confidence that you CAN do this even if your are brand new or a seasoned home bread maker wanting to learn a different technique.
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INGREDIENTS:
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• 3 cups lukewarm water - skin test. it should be tolerated by your skin and not burn it.
• 1-1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
• 6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, ORGANIC bread flour*

*NOTE: we sometimes mix 70% organic bread flour with 30% organic fresh ground or purchased ground Kamut flour. The Kamut flour gives a gentle nutty flavor, reduces the the final gluten amount, and boosts the protein content. But it absolutely requires this high hydration and fermented process to get the rise and the crumb we love.

Yes, you can double this recipe if you're having a large group coming through. I've not gone more than that with this recipe but do experiment. 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mixing and Storing the Dough - Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight — use container with gasket or lift a corner). Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up with your measuring cup, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; don’t pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon (I oil mine lightly), a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Don’t knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.

4. Cover loosely. Do NOT use screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top), approximately 2-5 hours, depending on temperature. Longer rising times, up to 5 hours are my preference for developing flavor and will not harm the result.

5. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. I do recommend refrigerating the dough at least 1-2 hours before shaping a loaf. We get to relax here on all the directions. You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.

6. At this point your dough lives in your frig as it continues to ferment and you keep it loosely covered so if is expands a lot it will not explode in there. I place a piece of painters tape on it with the date I started it so I can pay attention to the 2 week time stamp of using it up. 

7. Every day or two you use cold watered or olive oiled hands and with two fingers lift and fold the dough over on itself several times from several directions by spinning your bowl. Then put it back to rest in the frig with it's loose lid.  

1. Place a pinched off ball of dough (the size of a grapefruit is about 1lb of dough) onto a floured surface. Let it rest with a floured dish towel over it for about 40 minutes to come up in temp a little but no so much that it's too sticky. Depending on the dough’s age, you may see little rise during this period. It's fine. More rising will occur during baking.

2. Prepare your cookie sheet or pizza pan with a light dusting of cornmeal while your dough rests. You can also see the "Dutch Oven Baking Technique" described below if you have one. 
 
4. There are 2 ways to work your dough just before baking: (1) With lightly floured hands approach your dough with cupped hands around the base so your hands are in contact with your barely floured countertop and pull the loaf diagonal to you focusing your hands at the bottom of the loaf so it slides and rolls the dough into a round loaf shape.

(2) Another way is to flatten dough out to a rectangle with floured finger tips pulling the sides and pressing into the top gently. Then fold in thirds then roll up at one end and pull across the counter to form the shape you want. Work very little and use just enough flour to prevent sticking but allows it to still grab the counter.

5. Let rest 20m while you preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. 

6. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1/4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. This helps the bread expand during baking by releasing the surface tension before the baking heat causes a rapid rise.

7. Some suggest placing an empty broiler tray for holding 1 cup of boiled water on another shelf underneath in the oven. Some use mister spray bottles of water and spray the loaf and oven as it goes in. Or again, take a look at the dutch oven method below. You decide. They all work well. This develops the crispy crusty we all love. 

8. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. I was taught to give a decent hard tap with your finger which reveals a hollow sound, "the bread sings its doneness" said my granny. That's a skill developed through feel and hearing that really works too. Thankfully with wet doughs like this, there’s little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust.

9. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely - but this is very hard for my family so we wait 20m and dive in with fresh good butter waiting. Cool on a wire rack completely for best flavor, texture and the ability to slice well. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.

Refrigerate your remaining fermenting dough in your lightly lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next two weeks, giving it a few gentle finger folds every day or two when not used.

​You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the two-week period. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions if your 2 weeks mark is coming and you will not use it up in time. Freeze in an airtight containers and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.

It's an easy process once learned. My best advise is work with a cooler dough. That is where I have made mistakes by letting it get too warm and hence so very sticky. Pop back in the frig for 20 minutes is all that is needed.

Good luck and I'm here if you have questions. Much LOVE & BREAD, Jen

​I LOVE the Dutch Oven Cook Method for great crust in a home oven which is not described in these links above. It is optional and a simple cookie sheet or pizza pan will always do. This delivers a consistently great crust so I share.

• Heat oven to 450 degrees F, with Dutch oven in it.
• Have your dough's final resting place be on a piece of parchment paper that becomes the hammock for moving it. 
• Remove the Dutch oven once oven reaches temperature and close oven to keep heat in. BE CAREFUL! This pan is so very hot. Remove lid and gently drop the loaf using the parchment paper like a hammock into the Dutch oven using the paper to lift it in.
• If you want a focaccia-like bread then skip the slash step above and press the loaf out to the edges with your olive-oil dipped fingers to flatten a bit.
• Splash a little water in there on and around the load with your fingers like you're blessing your loaf with holy floral water (yes, bless it) and put the lid on. Place back in oven and bake 20m at 450 degrees F. Some people slide a few ice cubes under the parchment. You decided.
• Remove lid, lower oven temp to 400 degrees F and bake another 20-25m or until it sounds hollow when tapped with your fingertips.
• Cool at least 15m to warm to the touch before cutting.

​Adding aromatics is easy. I change the aromatics up with each loaf based on wat we want and have available.

What is an aromatic? These are plants that smell and release oils when we work with them or touch them. Your spice cabinet is filled with aromatics. But there are more. If you stock a spice cabinet well for traditional Indian and Mexican cooking then you are all set with aromatics!  

I suggest 2 TB of minced fresh herbs/aromatics sprinkled on the flattened out dough, or 1 TB dried and rubbed between your hands to break them open and release oils. Seeds can be hand ground in a mortar and pestle briefly before sprinkling over your dough. 

So once you flatten out your ball of dough a bit and add aromatics (optional) to enhance and direct the flavor, you fold over by thirds and roll it up from the short end and tuck in the bottom with floured hands to make a boule (round shape).

This sits on parchment paper on your counter for about 30m to rise (aka "proof") a bit more while you get your oven HOT with a Dutch oven pot inside (see below). Next flour the top of your loaf lightly and slash it gently with a good sharp knife which helps to release steam as it cooks which allows for the bread to spring up as it cooks.

Sometimes I use no aromatics because plain yummy bread just works!
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Note: Rue is used in savory baking and slow cooked meat stews in North African cuisine and is delicious! It’s strong so small amounts are all that’s needed. Rue is a regular part of the kitchen spice cabinet there. The first time I made Rue Bread we all ate the entire load right out the oven as it was truly different, absolutely delicious, and so soothing to smell and eat. Fresh Rue is also added to potato pancakes for spring and fall gut clearing in many European traditions. I was taught to add 1-2 TB fresh minced Rue per patch and you eat a few potato pancakes a day for 2 weeks to get rid of non-beneficial gut free-loaders. They're delicious too served latke-style with plain yogurt or sour cream, and apple sauce.

Other Aromatic Bread Combos We LOVE:
- Rosemary is always a favorite around here! 1 TB dried or 2TB fresh.
- Thyme, Lemon zest and fresh cracked pepper
- Chopped marinated Olives and fresh Cilantro are also amazing together.
- Fresh minced or whole Basil leaves with slices of Brie tucking into the top just before the bake staggered us. 
- Dried Cranberries, Sunflower seeds, and lots of cracked black pepper (1-2 TB worth!) is amazing too. This makes the best toast with the warm, peppery, spice note. Black pepper is quite an antibiotic too so I make this one with simple chicken soups for when we're sick around here.

.Homemade Rice Sourdough - Gluten Free Bread made in the Blender Recipe - For Gluten Free experimenting, this blender method rice sourdough recipe is also amazing. The chemistry of learning how to make GF bread has really evolved among us humans in the last few years. What used to taste like "yum... aged tree bark on forest floor" per my husband, is now quite hard to discern from wheat breads. Laughing - he does not candy his opinions and it's quite funny at times. 

I’ve been playing with many recipes and this one worked for me the best. For working aromatics in, I add them during the pour into the baking pan and swirl them through with a chopstick gently. Then let it rise and bake.
​
It is a very wet dough and so a proper loaf pan is important to invest in for that shape that is great for sliced bread.

AND YET ANOTHER GF BREAD ARTICLE LINK: Simple Gluten Free Bread by Christine Stoner (creator and author of this sourdough process outlined here.)

Send questions! Let’s break bread together and support the farmers that bring us old strains of wheat that are kinder to the land plus our bodies.

Much love💚Jen

Impressive.

I planted them here next to each other so I would not have to be in the loop of deciding.

It took 10 years for Nettles and Mugwort to make the decision between them known to those of us watching and learning.

This slow kind of landscape change where we learn as we go is nothing new. When I gardened in a flood plain for 6 years I learned who could withstand being underwater for a week. That included Comfrey, Yarrow, Hops, all mints, Poke, Lemongrass, Plantain, and more tenacious ones of course. Nettles can too! I also learned how vital the fish left behind in the walkways of receding water were chosen by death and the task of feeding the soil. It’s a tall order for all of us one day. My two older sons and I had many rescue missions nonetheless with 5 gallon buckets working until it was just ridiculous. Each year we did less and less. There are many reasons and risks to take when gardening and farming in fertile flood plains.

The property we live on now for 18 years has gone through many transformations as we shift a landscape with our presence included with the resident plants and the massive amount of water that moves through this property. I’m a different kind of house buyer now because of the three properties we lived on. Two things that bother me the most here are they would never be able to build on a property like this now due to the water table being a foot away from the ground surface in half the property, AND... they faced our house north. Why?! Passive solar placement of homes today is often not considered.

We remain for now continuing to learn from this land and I look for ways to align. It employs energy efficiency for starters. And it also slows us down, in a good way. Time delivers the lessons as things grow and die. Your relationship to death, even the little daily ones, improves. It falls into the slow cooking movement that is finally among us as we work to grow food AND medicine for the kitchen and home apothecary. Things rushed are different than things slowly received.

We compost in a single row each year making a long pile that is about three feet high, cover with leaves before winter hits, and every spring enjoy the black gold of nutrient dense soil made easy by aligning with time and all the soil microbes to do their thing. It takes time. I’m not a subscriber to fancy formulas and daily to-dos to get soil made fast. Some things just take time, and less effort, to get a better finished thing.

Another thing learned is to place gardens in “problematic” areas. These would be areas where rocks and tree stumps, mature trees, and marshy spots reside. They’re only problematic for moving a lawn mower around and so if you want less of this, the plants will accommodate and populate the space while providing food, medicine, and beauty.

These are things we all need to be well.

This year a dear friend, Horsetail, arrived on the scene. What a grand gesture as I have a patch I hike to deep in the forest a few miles to harvest from for decades now. The annual pilgrimage remains, but now I get to leave them with so much gratitude for how time delivers the medicine. Here’s a link to the Monthly Herbal Council titled “The Tale of Horsetail” (password: horsetail) I’d like to share that will explain more about why herbalists love this ancient plant that used to be the size of trees. It also explains why modernized farmers hate it. We have much to repair. LOVING Horsetail is a start.
​
I’ll keep it short in saying it builds structure and strength internally for our connective tissues, bones, teeth and nails. And in biodynamic gardening style, it does the same for plants used as a foliar spray, particularly when mold, powdery mildew, and things like black spot is present. This can be an issue with very wet properties like we have here. A diluted Horsetail infusion is the simple spray to remedy the situation towards balance. It reminds the plants to strengthen their cells and tissues and creates a good boundary balance with excessive fungal growths on their bodies. Sometimes I add a little Tobacco and Oregano to the tea if things are looking bleak as these two will deter the fungus a bit while the Horsetail helps the plants strengthen their cell walls. 

I have the pleasure of harvesting where the water is high and Horsetail is here to thrive in such an environment. The patch is huge for a first year appearance.
And once again the lesson of aligning with time shows that the medicine needed will come.

The political act of gardening is well described in this book published back in 2006, Food Not Lawns, By H.C. Flores.

The history of the grass lawn is political. And it’s so political that there are now laws and local codes that demand lawns for “curb appeal” as if a garden is not beautiful, functional and community building with plant and seed exchanges for one thing. It’s deeper than this though.

Preventing growing food and medicine is woven into the political story.
This book is worthy of at least a listen if you can find it through an audio book platform, or a library borrow for an actual read. It became a book in my library after a borrowed read.

Building resiliency and resistance is at the root of developing garden spaces. It takes time. It takes doing nothing and watching as nature speaks to us about the flow of vital resources that provide for our families and our communities of plants, animals, microbes, bugs, and people. If you find yourself frustrated with some aspect about the land where you live, sit with it. Pan out for a more expanded view of what is trying to happen. Again, it takes time to align with the efficiency lessons of Nature.

I share a little of how things unfold and change here and continue to do so as we continue to create with a large pallet of diverse colors, textures, plants, trees, bugs, microbes, fungi, and even resident wild animals that inform our process.

The political act of growing your own medicine and sharing in some capacity with your community is an act of cooperation with the collapsing medical systems that are always political. There is simply no good reason for us all to not have good modern medicine healthcare in this day and age. The cooperation comes from mutual respect that there is enough for us all. Good modern science walking along side the thousands of years of clinical trials that herbal medicine has provided can create cooperation among us instead of feeding competition based in greed and fear.

With one garden at a time, we do the work. 

We make a stand when we create our little gardens and share what we harvest along with what we know through showing up again and again to the lessons. With politics so complex today, the garden offers a respite to get clear about what really matters and gives strength to show up to the other harder lessons in life as we witness the uncooperative nature of humans. The created garden helps us remember how to keep moving forward towards a cooperative future. And it will require resilience and resistance at times. And the garden in return cultivates this in us. 

Make dirt. Plant for the hummingbirds, or the the resident woodchuck present to teach a thing or two. Designate wild places where you just watch. Know that watching and doing nothing for a while is something. Learning to listen is a thing.
​
May your day be relaxing with a slow morning at the start and a hot cup of something to drink. 💚Jen

Here’s a little share on something new that may inspire you to consider medicine in a different way.

Let’s begin with a Haudenosaunee Iroquois legend.

There was a terrible conflict between five different nations of people. This conflict was rooted in cycles of pain, revenge, and chaos. A messenger of peace sent from the Great Spirit, the “Peacemaker,” sought to unite the five warring tribes. After convincing them to unite, they came together to make peace, but they still carried their weapons. The Peacemaker uprooted a White Pine tree and had them throw all of their weapons into the hole. He then replanted the tree, and the underground waters carried away the weapons. On the tree, the needles grew in clusters of five, to represent the five nations who came to find peace. The roots of the tree spread out in four directions, to the north, south, east and west; the roots are called the roots of peace. An eagle perched on top of the tree to watch over the roots of peace. Under the tree, the branches spread wide for all to gather.

It is from this Native American story that we can understand why the White Pine, Pinus strobus, is called the “Tree of Peace” and why the White Pine carries such power here through our landscape where it thrives.

Here we explore White Pine's peaceful energy, medicine preparations, and archived talk on all the good things White Pine can help with condition-wise, plus a different kind of preparation that you can make fresh, and a few other archived helpful items that seemed to fit.

I learned how to make this from a friend and healer from Japan. To keep privacy intact I will share a truncated version of a shared story that sparked my interest deeply.

​A patient with stage 4 lung cancer and in treatment was in their 50s and ended up hospitalized for a stroke. While in the hospital their family spoke with an older, trusted, and very wise traditional herbalist healer who taught them how to make this and said to bring into the hospital for them to sip 2oz. per day. The plan was to help with the stroke. BUT … to the medical staffs surprise (and everyone else) in 2 weeks the patient's lung cancer disappeared AND their stroke symptoms were improving twice as fast as usual. So my friend started taking this intermittently for themself and noticed marked improvement in a static condition they were working with that was not nearly as intense as a stroke or stage 4 lung cancer, but definitely a chronic stubborn condition of the skin and connective tissue deep in their body.

So naturally I LOVE White Pine and I trust this tree deeply. I would climb 60 feet into the top of one to take naps away from the traumatic childhood events I was enduring as a five year old. I learned to see things differently up there. I also learned to hang out with the birds and would bring them homemade bread so the parents didn't work so hard to feed their big family of hungry babies. We would eat together up there and enjoy the sway from the breeze and the sun warming us.

​So I decided to start taking this myself for no other reason than I trusted this tree so deeply and the tonic effects that it can deliver systemically to build resilience, resistance, and a generalized clearing of the body, mind, and spirit. I also was asking for guidance for if this would help two family members. One has lingering long covid lung issues and the other is working with a large 4.41 cubic cm pineal gland growth per MRI serial studies and is currently considered operable but the docs have decided to stay in surveillance mode. The main symptoms are affecting them cognitively with no seizure, debilitating pain, or vomiting at this time. I'm grateful for less intense symptoms and yet it's incredibly strange for me. The neurologist docs and surgeons and psychiatrists do not sit at the same table and yet they work in the same system of the body. There is a generalized fear and lack of understanding between them and they often refuse to share with each other in the care. We have more work to do for this grand canyon gap to be bridged for the sake of healing via modern medicine.  We have found a tiny number of dual certified MDs in Neurology and Psychiatry we are moving towards. Having this gap somewhat bridged within a single human looks like the direction we will move in. 

​It's a story for another time as more unfolding is achieved.

So White pine as tincture is already in my family's care regime but a fresh non-heated, non-alcohol based remedy was intriguing for the enzymatic possibilities along with other unknown compounds that may be sensitive to temperature or solvent chemistry.
Both family members are open to taking this so we began a few weeks ago and I will report back as things shift. As for me, and them as well, we all love the clinking of our little glasses as we swig together and feel the incredible opening from all the essential oils captured well in this process. The fresh aromatic pine smell wafts up and down the airways as it gives a tingling and opening sensation to the throat and belly. It’s pleasant and not hard to take.

The plan is to take daily for a few months and then pause and re-evaluate. An update will be posted for you in this on-going journey with White Pine tending my family.

My suggestion is the same. Pulse it with a period of taking and a period of rest without it. The body loves this. I also feel the oils are potent and to be safe we pulse small amounts.

Thanks for traveling here. Let me know if you try this process with White Pine, or maybe you decide to juice another plant you know you need that lends itself to safe administration this way. If you are unsure, shoot me a message and we will figure it from all angles in order to make safety a top priority for you.

UPDATE 9/28/25: Both family members have experienced improvements. The breathing issues of one has near disappeared for him. The pineal gland growth of my other family member has reduced to 2.07 cubic cm per MRI scan this month. I'm happy as we continue to move forward.  

Ingredients:

• 1 small handful white pine needles stripped from the branches - you can add or reduce the amount once you get the hang of this preparation.
• 1 cup water (or coconut water)

Instructions:
1. Place needles and water in a blender and blast on high for a good minute. Let sit 5 minutes and do again.
2. Strain using a fine mesh strainer. Compost needle remains and drink this juice 1-2 ounces / 30-60ml per day in a pulsed rhythm.
3. Store the remainder in frig. for next day or see below for freezing suggestions.


NOTE: To be honest I like to finish it the day I make it for I believe it is most potent in the first day. And yes, sometimes we offer to visiting friends who are interested in trying it. Yes, I freeze in ice cube trays to send off to my family’s freezers for daily dosing. They defrost 2 cubes in a little more water and drink that per day. We all get a swig of it fresh before the cubes are made.
​
Can we make with other pines? Yes, as long as they are safe medicine species so do your homework please. If unsure then DO NOT ingest until you know what tree you have.

White Pine has no look-a-likes and has easy to count 5 soft long needles that are arranged in clusters of along the branch.
Enjoy considering a new way and maybe try for a week as good spring or fall seasonal  tonic. 

EMS Harvesting Tree Bark Article
Recipe: White Pine Cough Drops


Archived Monthly Herbal Council #61 White Pine Medicine - 1 hr talk

• RECORDING HERE
• PASSWORD: whitepinetree

And A Few ElderMoon Apothecary Products:
WHITE PINE - Fresh Needle & Bark TINCTURE
White Pine & Elderberry Immune Elixir

For every pot of bone, vegetable, or mushroom broth, I often add 2-3 tablespoons of this blend to enhance the immune support. This was inspired by being a mom of three sons and making so much broth to keep five of us well fed immunity-wise. I've made this for years and sold many, many bags to customers and clients in deep need of simple, bone-deep healing medicine.

Now I share the recipe and have returned to just making my own for family and friends.
A jar of this makes the very best gift for the holidays as we need extra support to finish out each winter season strong. 

This is one to know and have in your home apothecary. Adjust ingredients as you are called to. Make it your recipe, and by all means, share it with your people! I find I usually only have to make one batch a year. Store in a glass jar ready for use.

Jen's Deep Immune Broth Dried Herb Blend

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 parts Astragalus root, dried
• 3 parts Burdock root, dried
• 3 parts Ginger root, dried
• 2 parts Siberian ginseng root, dried
• 1 part Angelica root, dried - Dong Quai works well too.
• 2 parts Shiitake mushroom, dried (you can slice and dry fresh ones or purchase dried.)
• 2 parts Turkey Tails mushroom, dried (cut to slices with scissors if dried whole.)
• 2 parts Reishi mushroom, dried (shave dried whole reishi with a wood rasp.)
• 1/2 part Garlic, granulated dried
• 1/2 part Thyme, dried
• 1/2 part Rosemary, dried
• 3 Star Anise
• 1 teaspoon whole Cloves
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:
- Grind (in a dedicated coffee grinder or mortar and pestle) the hard aromatics of star anise, clove, and fennel seeds to small pieces like coffee grinds. These aromatics are optional but add immune and gut support, and great flavor. 
- Add to bowl with all other ingredients and mix gently to keep the dust down. Fill jars with tight fitting lids. Label with ingredients and instructions, and the date. Store in a cabinet or dark pantry.


TO BREW:
Add 2 tablespoons to a pot of stock you're making and simmer as usual.

Simply simmer 2-3 TB plus some salt and pepper and tablespoon of ghee, coconut oil or butter (we need the fat and it tastes good too!) - add all of this to 8 cups of water for a slow covered simmer of 30m. Let sit another 30-60m to infuse and cool a bit. Strain, adjust the seasoning of salt/pepper, or more water if too strong tasting. Sip and enjoy! 

TO DOSE AS MEDICINE:
Drink 3-4 mugs. 1 every few hours while awake. Or have 2 bowls of soup using this as your base for when you feel sickness coming on, lingering or resisting leaving your body. 
​
Here's my original article with my recipe for Deep Immune Broth that inspired the making of this dried herb one. We all need a few tricks in the kitchen. One is having many ways to get to a big pot of healing broth to sip.

​Enjoy my friend. Much Love, Jen 

​One of the most satisfying things I make is skin cream! I learned how over 30 years ago because my face was full of rashes and bumps from the chemical chaos of commercial creams. Once you learn this skill, like anything else, it becomes an integrated healthcare thing that's easy. I have a basket dedicated to my cream making things that sits in my apothecary. We need some basic kitchen equipment, great music, and uninterrupted time. 

There's a large more detailed PDF in my ElderMoon School herbal medicine course, Birthing an Herbalist In 13 Moons - (DETAILS HERE) - with more on making cream, the chemical chaos of commercial creams out there, and other remedies for supporting healthy glowing skin. Yes, rest, clean eating, plenty of good water, meaningful work, play and relations all affect our largest organ of elimination, OUR SKIN. 

This post gives you the recipe and basic instructions to just get started and get some experience with simple ingredients and the technique.

Enjoy. XO - Jen

This recipe given with weighs and exactly how I make it now.  Use a kitchen scale that has a tare button so you can subtract the container for super accurate weight measuring. This ensures more consistency and success with your recipe. 

WEIGH YOUR "WATER" INGREDIENTS

• 3 oz. distilled water, or hydrosol
• 1 tablespoon of aloe gel – optional but include in the weight of the ‘water’ part
• 1 pinch of Borax mineral*

WEIGH YOUR "OIL" INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 oz. EACH organic Calendula and organic Rosemary infused Olive Oil
• 3 oz. organic Grapeseed Oil
• ½ oz. Avocado Butter OR Cocoa Butter
• ¼ tsp Vitamin E Oil - prick a few gel caps open with a pin if need been 
• 1/2 oz. Beeswax (1 tablespoon Beeswax pastilles)
• 8-15 drops each of essential oil of Rosemary or Lavender

​

Optional Preservation Help: Add a homemade Grapefruit extract as a small swirl to finished whipped cream. Not too much or your emulsion will break like the way lemon can in hollandaise sauce making. Check out the video in our video section on how to make an easy batch of grapefruit extract that will last years in your apothecary and why it helps with many other thungs related to our health. If adverse to this then you can add Calendula or Rosemary Tincture (30 drops to "water" part of recipe).

*Optional - Pinch of Borax - natural mineral crystal that softens water and helps emulsify – often used to soften water for the laundry machine and that's where you find it, in the laundry soap area at grocery store; one box will last your whole life for this and costs a few dollars. We have hard water so I add this to my laundry and have it around already.


INSTRUCTIONS - read through before you begin so we can imprint your brain on the steps as you go. 

1. In a double boiler, melt weighed beeswax first and then add other oils and warm until all is just melted.

2. Measure on zeroed (press the tare button) scale the water part(s) and drizzle into warm oil part whisking gently. Decide if your using Calendula or Rosemary tincture too as this needs to be added here in the "water" part. 

3. Continue to gently whisk. Remove from the heat once uniform in texture. Do not over heat!

4. Begin the cooling process with placing this bowl with your warmed ingredients into a cool water bath in a larger bowl in your sink and keep gently whisking until you see it beginning to solidify on the edges. Scrape the edges and keep whisking the solids into the center. It will look opaque as it starts to emulsify with cooling down. 

5. Whip until cooled a few minutes and then add essential oils and grapefruit seed extract if using. Whip a little more until cool by hand or with a hand mixer.

6. Do not over whip or your emulsion will “break” and separate. Do not add too much essential oil or it could break with these too.  
​
7. Spoon into wide mouth jars immediately and cap. It will set up more in a few hours. Do NOT wait on this step or it will be too thick to transfer well to your jars. You can double this recipe.

We fill 4oz. jars and distribute through the house, one to each person plus one in each bathroom. Extras are stored in the frig until needed. We make enough for 2-3 months at a time. 

Here's an archived video of me giving a demo from years ago. 

​And if you're needing some cream without the strain of learning just yet, I have ya covered. 
​
LINK: ​ELDERMOON's CREAM TO ORDER.  

ENJOY. Much Love, Jen

It is an ancient practice making its way back into our care of the sick.

Fever never stopped being a source of healing.
What changed was our relationship to welcoming it. To stop a fever is often not wise. Something is physically, emotionally, mentally, or metaphorically being incinerated. It’s about the internal fire that transforms. Tending any fire takes some skill, practice, and a deep humble presence of bowing to a force that is mighty and can destroy many things.

Have a listen and take notes, if called, to for your apothecary notebook. Here are few facts to also read through about fever so you will walk as the wise keeper of knowledge on how to manage fever and tend the internal fire for health and healing.

AUDIO LINK: Wise Fever Management - 78m
​​
This is a talk for my herbalists in training at ElderMoon School of Herbs. I share because embracing fever takes some umph today with so many medical folk in medical settings believing it must be stopped. Truth is what is making us sick can be stopped faster if we learn what our grandmothers and great grandmothers knew on how to dance with fever for supporting health and well being.
Be sure to listen to the “$500 Bath” story - a funny in hindsight Jen learning curve.

Why? It’s all about energy reserves. You will run out of viral reserve energy and the body will collapse and succumb to other microbes present if we go too hot hot or too long. This can be a life threatening situation if left unchecked. It's good to stay in bed and ride out a fever with your focus on being well hydrated. It is also good to be checked on every 2-3 days to be sure you have the reserves and to see if there is a microbe that needs more aggressive boundary work.

Modern medicine says this: “99 degrees is NOT a fever. And 100 degrees F really isn’t a fever either. Medically speaking, a fever is not a fever until the temperature is greater than 100.4 degrees F or 38°C. Although some sources vary by a tenth or two, this is the general rule of thumb for all humans, children and adults alike. What route you take the temperature in matters too.” We talk of this in the recording.
Another important thing to remember is that body temperatures fluctuate throughout the day. It’s called diurnal variation. Our temperatures are lowest in the morning and highest in the evening. The same goes for children. So 99 degrees F at night is not the same as 99 degrees F in the morning.

Physiologically, febrile seizures result when the body experiences a very rapid rise in temperature over a short amount of time. The neurological system gets a little confused by this, and responds with a febrile seizure.

No doubt, febrile seizures sound terrifying, but they really aren’t as scary as they seem. In fact, they are harmless. They do not result in permanent brain damage, neurological problems, or death. They can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, and they rarely last as long as fifteen minutes. They usually occur between the temperature range of 101°F-103°F.

If your child has a febrile seizure, even though most are benign, it is still important to get him or her checked out by your pediatrician.

If you’re reading this, you certainly don’t need to worry about getting a febrile seizure the next time you let your fever ride it out— febrile seizures only occur in kids ages 6 months to 5 years old. For those parents with children ages 6 months to 5 years old, you need to know this:
*fever reducing medications like Tylenol/Acetaminophen products or Motrin/Ibuprofen products do not prevent febrile seizures.*

Although fevers are a crucial tool of a healthy immune response to infection, there are fever numbers of concern.

• Fevers around 105°F-106°F usually indicate a severe bacterial infection.
• Damage to neurological tissue - the brain - is more likely once a fever hits 107°F.
• A fever in a baby less than 3 months old is always abnormal. Call your baby’s pediatrician if this occurs.
• High fevers in pregnant women are of concern. Consult your doctor or midwife if you get a high fever during pregnancy.
• Fever runs too long. So what is too long? My rule is by day three you need to dig deeper for the cause if it's not known. If you have a flu, sometimes the fever can run 5-6 days. But if you have just fever or rigors – the violent, uncontrollable shaking with fever spikes – then often blood work may be needed to discover the culprit, which often is bacterial. A good clinician will monitor one for reserve energy to keep going, educate the care taker on how to proceed with what is most important to get them through, and decide when it is time for more aggressive actions.

​Yes, we can make tea, honey water, ginger, cough or immune syrups, sipping broths, and simple electrolyte replacement drinks. Here’s my family’s recipe.

RECIPE: Homemade Electrolyte Drink

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup orange or pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of baking soda

Mix together, stir well, and drink to replace vital electrolytes after much sweating, vomiting, or runny bowels. I offer dilute 1 teaspoon of honey in warm water for active vomiting and offer this after the vomiting has stopped and the GI tract is settling down. Even if they continue to vomit again, once done take tiny sips again and again. This will help hydrate and kill GI gut germs too.

Consider some of the sipping broth recipes sprinkled throughout your days when tending the sick. They always help. Fever needs fluids, not food.

Fever is a liquid fasting practice to minimize symptoms.

I consider this a friendly pubic service announcement. Spread the word. Thank you for traveling through 💚Jen

We humans are subject to injury and overuse of these powerful yet at times fragile bodies. We can wrestle with the laws of physics at times and yet when we come up against the very edge of what our bodies can handle, we have the opportunity to learn just how firm these laws govern our world. And injury can happen when the edge is pushed. 

And so, we must be able to repair damage to the connective tissue, fascia, tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and joints – and true Solomon’s seal root is one of the very the best remedies to help.

Polygonatum multiflorum of the Asparagaceae family, also called True Solomon's Seal.

Solomon’s Seal is a member of the lily family. Various species are native to Asia, Europe, and North America, where they have been used as food and medicine. The soft, sweet white to yellowish rhizomes look like bones and vertebrae, while the leaves wrapping around the stalk look like tendons and ligaments wrapping around bones, so Polygonatum has been used to strengthen the bones, marrow, and tendons. The “seals” on the rhizomes, where the stalk rises up, look like the  It is one of the plants known in Afro-American herbalism as ‘High John the Conqueror,’ in reference to magic or ‘conquering.’ It is worn as a mojo or chewed for ‘conquering.’

True Solomon’s Seal is used in Asia, Europe, and North America as a sweet nutritive for tendons and joints. Freshly dug roots, once washed and sliced, can be eaten and has a mildly sweet, radish kind of crispness to it. It holds for itself a nutritive starch for surviving long winters, and so gives this as a beneficial demulcent nutritive influence to soothe the irritation of the mucous linings. Hence it can be helpful in the upper respiratory system, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and the reproductive system.

​The rhizomes look like bones, knuckles, and vertebrae, the leaves clasp around the stem, looking very much like a muscle attaching to a bone, and the flowers appear at the joints and hand down below the stem. Solomon’s seal is considered to have a tonifying effect on the sexual system, both male and female. It contains small amounts of cardiac glycosides, like its cousin Convallaria majalis (Lily of the Valley), but not enough to make it a toxic plant as Lily of the Valley is. Indeed, it was an important part of the 1st Nations Indian diet and remains today a trail food for energy and sustenance.

​​Anti-Inflammatory:  One of the constitutions in Solomon's Seal is allantoin and may counteract the inflammatory response for injuries related to the muscular-skeletal systems.

Anti-Rheumatic: eases pain, infection in the joints, inflammation.  On connective tissues it works on stiffness, injury, overuse, underuse and lack of nourishment and detox to the connective tissue.

Demulcent (mucilaginous herb meaning it’s slimy and coating): it is cooling, soothing and moistening for throat lungs and skin. Indications specific for dry coughs (as a tea). 

Diuretic & Mild Laxative: increases the secretion and flow of urine by flushing the body of toxins and excess water, provides kidney support.

Immune System: it helps the immune system to adapt internally to the needs and healing of bones, connective tissues, and joints. It also directly “feeds” the irritated joints and cleanses by reducing inflammation. 

​Mild Sedative: soothes nervousness, distress, irritation and inflammation associated with muscles and connective tissues, bursae, menstrual cramps

Tonic Herb: toning the kidneys, heart and reproductive organs and is soothing on the digestive system, can be beneficial to the skin. 

Vulnerary (wound healing): Solomon's Seal works on sprains and strains inflamed tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints.

Matthew Wood speculates that Solomon's Seal might stimulate the body to produce cortisone, and my current belief is that it acts on the synovial glands, improving the production or quality of synovial fluid in some way and thus lubrication in the joints.  Often you can clearly perceive a notable lessening of friction in the joint shortly after a dose is taken. When matches with the right persona nd right condition it is quite miraculous at times.

While we continue to ponder these mysteries, we can also continue to trust the ancient stories carried through time of a remedy still in use today. 

Thank you for traveling this far. If your apothecary stock needs fresh root tincture, I have you covered. Much Love, Jen 

​There is plenty.

I had only enough luck to score one plant this year. One little organically cultivated plant costs 4-6$. It’s getting harder to find and for good reason. Growing your own is easy and insures there is abundance. At anywhere from 3$ up to 8$ for one stalk in wintertime at the grocery stores, you can understand why. Scoring two plants makes me happier to be honest but there will be enough.

Harvest time? It takes 2-3min per plant. Move carefully around it. You can see how I “comb it back”, the leaves are quite sharp at the edges and give little paper cuts if we move without awareness. You can always wear long sleeves too. The rest of the prep includes clipping the tops for making tea rings or cut with a scissor to 1 inch pieces and dry, clean off dirt at the bottom, cut off any roots, separate and cut stalks into workable pieces that can be frozen.
​
When I pull pieces out of the freezer for tea or cooking, I smash it along the stalk a bit with a kitchen mallet to open it up, or peel it down to the soft, aromatic inner core, and then prep as you’ve been taught.

Lemongrass, Cymbopogon citratus of the Poaceae family, is native to Sri Lanka and South India, and is now widely cultivated in the tropical areas of America and Asia. It’s an aromatic grass and gives amazing visual texture to your garden landscape.

For us in non-tropical regions, it is grown as an annual with spring planting and fall whole plant harvesting as it will not tolerate winter temperatures.

Let’s Brush Up - Medicinal Action Terms for Lemongrass

This plant is woven into many things as a fragrance (essential oil) and flavoring agent as well as being part of our oldest folk medicine systems as an antispasmodic (relaxes muscle spasms), hypotensive (reduces blood pressure), anticonvulsant (reduces seizures), analgesic (reduces pain), antiemetic (reduces vomiting), antitussive (relaxes spasmodic unproductive coughs), anti-rheumatic (reduces inflammation in joints and connective tissues to the joints), antiseptic (anti-microbial) and treatment for nervous and gastrointestinal disorders and febrifuge (reduces fevers). The plant is also used as an antibacterial, antidiarrheal and antioxidant, but the mode of action for these different bioactivities has not been studied in detail. I find it to be a potent mood enhancer too. It soothes our internal systems so they work together well and we just feel better internally. This elevates us on my levels.

AND new research is showing Lemongrass administered as an aromatherapy remedy is stopping cell replication in glioblastomas, the most aggressive of brain cancers.

Impressive.

Lemongrass contains various phytoconstituents such as flavonoids and phenolic compounds, terpenoids and essential oils, which are surely responsible for the different biological activities.
It’s easy to make and easy drink and accepted by even the most finicky of folks.
I add it to broth / stock making, simple tea on its own, deserts, medicines and infused vinegars.
Lemongrass Tea Making:

• Rough chop or smash lightly with a mallet one 4-6 inch stalk or 2 TB dried leaves or one tea ring.
• Simmer slowly in 2 cups of water for 5-10 minutes with pit lid on.
• Strain and sip. It’s so delicately delicious that it needs nothing else. Enjoy.

Keeping it brief. 

Be sure to look in our archived videos on how to make the lemongrass tea rings and how to harvest as an annual in colder climates. 

Much Love 💚Jen

 A winner for pesto recipes!

The birth of this recipe came to me years ago when abundant fresh Rosemary was harvested before a deep frost. This recipe is inspired by many northern Italian recipes I've seen and made.  

She is intense. Rosemary can easily over-power and dominate in flavor with such strong volatile oils that give the aroma we smell when we rub the leaves. This recipe combines other herbs to bring the flavor forward delicately.

My latest favorite way to eat this?

A dollop on mashed potatoes with a delicate piece of fish on top. Or serve with Keto Cauliflower Mac'N Cheese or regular mac'n cheese. Add to soups, rice or pasta dishes, egg or meat dishes, veggie stir fries, tuna or chicken salad sandwiches, inside grilled cheese sandwiches, or right off the spoon is easy.
​

RECIPE: ROSEMARY & PISTACHIO PESTO
Ingredients

• ½ cup pistachios - plain or dry roasted work
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup flat leaf parsley (packed)
• ½ cup fresh basil or cilantro
• 1 scallion - green and white part 
• 1-2 jalapeños seeded - or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder works too
• 1/2+ cup extra virgin olive oil - good oil sourced from one country please.
• 1/2 lemon or lime fresh juiced
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan or romano cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
• Sprinkle of cayenne powder for heat (optional)

​
INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place garlic and nuts in a food processor. Process until finely chopped.
2. Add the remainder of ingredients to the food processor. Puree until smooth, scraping down sides as needed.
3. Adjust to taste. Add more olive oil to thin if needed.
4. Use pesto immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Freezes well in small containers too. 

This is medicine for when we’re feeling a bit sick as Rosemary provides beautiful, strong antimicrobial and immune boosting properties. Consider 2 tablespoons a day as a medicinal dose. 

​​Enjoy! Much Love, Jen

​Cherry season is such a joy around here with organic farms offering picked and pick your own. I grew up among Cherry trees. One amazing fact is they are the only plant known to provide melatonin for sleep support.

I do managed to freeze a few pounds of pitted cherries but it’s hard with how fast they disappear once landing in our kitchen!

It’s sad and damn disturbing how the soda industry's story went sideways, right? Now it’s a beast with chemicals and things far from nature. But we can remember where it all began with simple ingredients and recipes and a determination to seek farmers who tend the trees and land well.

With cherry soda made right (stomping my foot), I stand with all Cherry trees. Yes, I need humor too.

Seriously though, this is delicious!

Once you make yourself a syrup - and it’s so easy - the syrup lives in your frig and you add by the tablespoon to bubbly water or warm water to the taste you like.

Fruit juice and seltzers are a favorite and are where soda came from. But we get to bring so many other favors together with homemade, garden and farm inspired, aromatic combinations add to enhance the flavor, nutrition, and medicine.

And it tastes so good. It brings pleasure in.

​INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup fresh cherries, washed - pits are fine - I did prop a few extras in there.
• 1 1/2 cups agave, maple or rice syrup, or honey
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3-4 fresh ginger slices, or more if you like
• 1 lime zested + juice
• 2 tablespoons dried hibiscus flowers

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Rinse and remove the stems from the cherries. Frozen or canned black cherries work too.
2. Add the filtered water and cherries to a medium saucepan and smash the cherries up a bit to release the juices.
3. Add the ginger and bring to a simmer and stir occasionally for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add hibiscus and lime zest, cover and allow to sit for 30-40 minutes.
5. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, discard solids, and stir in sweetener and lime juice.
6. Store in a glass bottle, labeled and dated - good for 2 weeks refrigerated.

Serving Suggestions: Add by the tablespoon to seltzer / bubbly water with ice and fresh lime slices. Create new mocktails and cocktails. Or add to warm water for a gentle tea before bed. Children LOVE it too. It is a gentle sleep aid for all ages.

​I love cherry trees. I grew up among them.

We lived in fruit orchards on every side of our property. No, we were not farmers but many around us were. My first job at 13 years old was picking cherries for another farmer on the other side of town. I wanted to work and buy my own clothes because I was tired of the arguments with my mom on what I was "expected" to wear. Remember the fake turtle necks? Ugh. Where did they go anyway? My mom struggled with her four daughters who were strong willed and impossible for her to manage the old way as new ways of being were riding hard on our young backs. Clothing was the least of it.

So this was our solution. A job. It felt great to me. We agreed I would start to work and she offered to match what I made so I could buy my own clothes. It was a good truce and we were both pretty happy and satisfied to move beyond the battles. This was one of many agreements to come and it was good to feel heard.

I was small sized compared to the men I was working with so they arranged the huge ladders for me to scramble through the tops of the trees. I loved my job. I loved scurrying up the huge limbs to the smaller ones only I could reach due my size, all the while swaying on the breezes with the birds. It was a familiar safe thing for me. This work with the Cherry trees gave me a real sense of freedom and some independence too.

Back then the trees were massive but I see modern farming has sculpted trees to much smaller sizes so picking is a bit easier with a small ladder.  We all got paid per pound picked so I felt fine with eating a belly full every work day along with the birds up there.

It was so good to walk among the Cherry trees this week with their limbs heavy with cherries and birds doing as birds do and filling their bellies. I filled mine with them while picking, as if it was an agreement I made with the trees and the birds long ago. It is. No ladders or limb scurrying was needed. Just leaning against them and listening with feet solid on the ground was good. These relationships we make live within us.
I promised to visit again and listen deeply with a full belly of sweet cherries like the birds.

Studies show that cherries are one of the few foods that are a natural source of melatonin, the chemical that controls our body’s internal clock and regulates sleep cycles. Research indicates you should eat cherries — or drink some tart or sweet cherry juice — about an hour before bed to improve sleep. They also are a strong antioxidant, kidney protective, helps relieve gouty issues, are full of vitamins and minerals, gut protective and soothing, are anti-inflammatory, and strengthen the walls of our blood vessels thus supporting a strong cardiovascular system.

I like to add some cherry juice to an evening cup of Tulsi tea. I find all basils pair well with cherries if we’re just talking flavor profiles.

Travel to the end of this ramble and you will also find my CHERRY TULSI CLAFOUTIS RECIPE - delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups fresh sweet cherries, pitted or canned cherries, drained (about 1 can)
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup AP flour (or 1/2c almond flour + 1/4 tsp baking powder + 1 tsp arrowroot powder)
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for top (or 1/4c maple syrup (the original recipe has 1/2c sugar but it doesn’t need it)
• 1 cup whole milk, or 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 2 teaspoon minced fresh tulsi or basil leaves + more for serving chiffonade
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Serving: Powdered sugar for dusting on top or whipped cream with generous pinches of fresh tulsi / basil chiffonade
​
INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Generously butter the bottom of a 9 or 10 inch round or oval baking dish (quiche or pie dish).
3. Arrange cherries evenly around on bottom of dish and sprinkle with the tulsi or basil leaves.
4. In a blender, add all remaining ingredients: eggs, sugar, milk, flour, vanilla, almond extract, cardamom, baking powder and salt. Blend low until smooth.
5. Pour the batter over the cherries and sprinkle lightly with the sugar
6. Bake just until custard is set, about 35-45 minutes.

NOTES: Clafoutis contains eggs and has a lovely custard consistency and so it should be refrigerated once cooled.

Variations: Clafoutis can also be made with plums, prunes, apples, pears, cranberries, peaches, or any berry you love. Shavings of lemon zest go well with this too.
Clafoutis is delicious served warm, room temp or cold sprinkled with powdered sugar or whipped cream.
​
Enjoy 💚 Thank you for the wandering here. 💚 Jen

The mysteries of the brain and nerves remain elusive even with all we are uncovering today in the name of science. The truth is we know far less than we "think".

My curiosity with brain function and the endocrine system connections to our nervous system is an old interest of mine. I do hold a hunch that the nervous system reads our environment far beyond the physical body, both internally and externally, through electrical impulses and these impulses are translated into chemicals via the endocrine system for circulation via our blood internally.

This inquiry on how it all works causes that fall down the rabbit hole kind of syndrome, right? It does for me. It involves learning more about GABA as a master neurotransmitter that helps to organize our serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitters and hormones regulated by our brain. It does this through relaxation and downregulation. 
​
I include herbal treatments and yoga here to help us in understanding a wider picture of what is currently known about the bio-physiology of our human production and regulation of GABA.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a naturally occurring amino acid produced and regulated by the body in ideal circumstances.

GABA is a neurotransmitter, which means it delivers a message through our nervous system from one neuron to another throughout our entire body. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, so it blocks other messages and regulates, or controls, the speed at which information travels through the nervous system.

We might think of GABA in our nervous system as the brakes on our car. The right amount of pressure on the brake pedal slows our car down. Similarly, the correct amount of GABA slows information in your nervous system to keep us from getting overwhelmed. And so it is easy to hold a general understanding of what happens when the “brakes fail or are not in good working order” in both scenarios. 

GABA Levels Affect on Health
There are many areas of health affected by GABA level production and regulation to be aware of. The purpose here is to understand the broad reaching effects of this neurotransmitter without necessarily pointing a finger at it being the cause of many conditions. It seems to provide a measurable effect within some more serious conditions. Scientists appreciate this. And as a scientist, I do too but let’s keep perspective here as science is limited to measurable matter we understand. There’s still so much mystery to the workings of these bodies. When we focus on supporting health overall, it is wise to consider that there are many underlying conditions that can cause GABA dysregulation, rather than simply seeing it as a sole cause of such conditions. 

1. Mental Health: 
Low GABA levels are associated with most mental health conditions. While researchers aren't clear on why, it seems that most people diagnosed with a mental health condition also have low GABA activity. Conditions associated with low GABA include schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and major depressive disorder.

GABA functions to calm the nervous system and help your nerves process sensory input in an organized way. In many of these disorders, the body tends to confuse sensory input or be overwhelmed by the senses which is something higher levels of GABA could keep from happening. Low GABA can cause difficulty concentrating and memory problems, which are often symptoms of many mental health disorders. 

2. Sleep:
GABA helps your brain slow down and relax in preparation for sleep. Once you drift off, GABA helps regulate rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep, especially slow-wave or "deep" sleep. There's also evidence that GABA plays a role in modulating your circadian rhythm via the pineal gland deep in the center of the brain and keeps our overall sleep-wake cycle in balance. Good sleep patterns affect all aspects of health, including the internal regulation of GABA.

3. Calmness:
GABA helps slow down messages being sent by other neurotransmitters, which allows your brain to process that information at a more relaxed pace. This keeps you from becoming anxious or overwhelmed. To understand how GABA works, imagine you're out with friends having dinner at a busy restaurant. GABA steps in and slows down the stream of input all around you so that your brain can prioritize the conversation with your friends over the background noise. It provides us with a way to filter and reduce overwhelm, at least for a little while. Some sensory deprivation time after such experiences is also a helpful skill to help our systems recalibrate. 
​
4. Metabolism and Appetite Control:
As an inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA helps ensure that your body has the energy it needs to function. It does this by controlling when you feel hungry and letting you know when you've had enough. Once you're full, GABA blocks the hunger signal so you don't overeat. Research on GABA's role in appetite and weight control is ongoing and could prove significant in developing a better understanding of how our body works to maintain healthy eating and weight.
​
5. Inflammation and Immune System Support: 
GABA reduces your body's inflammatory response and also helps lessen existing inflammation, which enables damaged tissue to heal more rapidly. GABA can also suppress the immune system to help make over reactive allergic symptoms a little easier to deal with. People with autoimmune conditions and diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), also have low GABA levels. Researchers are focusing on ways that these conditions can be treated with drugs that increase GABA production. (Whisper… start yoga today.)

6. Protection Against Nerve Damage:
When nervous tissue is damaged, your body produces various chemicals as part of the inflammatory response to bring healing to this damaged tissue. These chemicals can actually cause further damage to nervous tissue and pave the way for degenerative neural diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's if left unregulated. GABA interferes with these chemicals to protect your nervous system from further damage. GABA also suppresses degeneration of the nervous system generally and supports cognitive function in the brain. This helps prevent neurological diseases and disorders from taking hold in the first place.

7. Blood Pressure: 
GABA is a natural internally made ACE / Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor that helps lower and regulate your blood pressure through a complex chemical process related to the kidneys. Since researchers determined ACE plays a significant role in increasing your blood pressure, ACE inhibitor drugs have become a front-line treatment for high blood pressure. It is possible for some people to lower their blood pressure to healthy levels without taking ACE inhibitor medications through lifestyle, dietary and exercise changes. However, there may be a genetic component that requires one to be on a BP medication even with all of these healthy changes. 

1. Green tea, white tea, and oolong tea naturally have high amounts of GABA. Some tea companies also add GABA to their tea blends for an additional boost, which I would not recommend. Nature already provides GABA sources in these teas, and through other plants.  L-theanine, one of the key amino acids found in tea, might also stimulate the production of GABA in your brain. Scientists are still researching this.

2. Yoga naturally increases GABA activity. 
During one study, participants practiced yoga 60 minutes a day 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Functional MRI brain scans showed an increase in GABA in their brains. Participants also reported improved mood and decreased anxiety and depression symptoms. This will be discussed in more detail below. 
 
3. Practice meditation and deep breathing pranayama every day. 
Research is beginning to show that meditation can increase the production of GABA in your brain, as well as boost its activity. To get this boost, meditate and practice deep breathing or pranayama for at least 20 minutes every day. More is discussed below.
 
4. Engage in vigorous exercise to stimulate GABA production.
Moderate exercise is great for your health, but it takes a little more effort to stimulate GABA production. Exercise at about 85% of your maximum heart rate, to be exact. Research shows GABA production in your brain increases after an 8 to 20 minute session of vigorous exercise. You can alternate vigorous exercise with moderate exercise to make it more doable. You might also try high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which alternates brief bursts of vigorous activity with low-intensity exercises, such as walking.

5. Eat more foods and herbal remedies that contain GABA or boost GABA production and regulation. 
​
GABA or its precursors are found in a number of foods and herbs that naturally support GABA production and regulation in our bodies. These foods and herbs include:

• Kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh - many fermented foods
• Kefir
• Whole grains
• Fava beans, soy, lentils, and other beans
• Nuts, especially walnuts, pecans, and almonds
• Pumpkin, Hemp, Sesame, Chia, and Sunflower seeds
• Fish, especially salmon, shrimp and halibut (best to source wild caught fish if possible)
• Fruits and vegetables such as citrus, tomatoes, all berries, spinach, all leafy greens, broccoli cabbage, cauliflower, and all potatoes
• Cocoa, or better yet ceremonial grade cacao. 
• Valerian root, Kava Kava root (brewed traditionally with coconut milk and spices for Kava needs fat to assimilate through the gut)

​
6. Are there more herbs to support healthy brain function related to GABA production and regulation that just haven’t been studied yet scientifically? 
My educated guess is 'YES' and they may include Gotu Kola, Bacopa (also called “Brahmi and is an Ayurveda herb that has some good research on seizure management), Tulsi, Ginkgo, Skullcap, Rosemary, Passionflower, Linden flower, Cannabis, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Shiitakes, and all functional medicine mushrooms, plus Psilocybin, Amanita (proven), and other micro-dosed psychedelics that are from nature, and quite possibly the entire class of medicinal nervine herbs. 

Quite a supportive list here. Research is lacking, yes. Yet, if it is in our food as listed above, it is most likely present in medicine plants too. These remedies can be woven safely into our lifestyles with mindful consideration while we wait for science to catch up because our bodies have evolved on these plants, mushrooms, and trees for millions of years. We already have internal systems that speak directly to the substances these plants, mushrooms, and trees make. 

Inspired by a dream of an old woman asking me about being a farmer, “Growing things, you know? You do this?”

I said yes.

She was old with whispers of silver hair around her ears and chin with the kind of lines on her face that hint to enough smiling. She had a sparkle in the eye that implied wisdom earned hard, a serious deep whisper of a voice, and wore all black with a scarf around her head that had the edges embroidered with big fully blooming salmon-colored roses. She was cleaning wool for dyeing and spinning.

This is a skill on my desire list as my twin sister is a master knitter and a weaver since we were 14 years old. She taught herself. I tried what she loved but failed. But dyeing and using a gravity spindle is intriguing. We will be funny old women together. This is my prayer.

So my old dream woman in black with beautiful salmon roses around her face had a cast iron pot on the stove that was simmering. She told me to open it and give a gentle stir to the left first, then the right, and inhale deeply. I did this while she described where her Angelica patch grows by the “creek to the south” and why Angelica root was added to this pot of broth and so needed along with beets, leeks, mushroom and more. I woke suddenly trying to hold on to the smell and the dream, with a thank you for the recipe.

It’s not new for me to sprinkle Angelica root into broths. Often Chinese Dong Quai root was used but in the last 10 years I’ve shifted to the Angelica archangelica species. When I ran with my home birthing midwife, one of my tasks at each birth was to arrive with broth, meat/veg/vegan based the birthing mom’s desire. It restored her and all attending as we sipped together and tended to the baby coming through. I love the title she gave me, “broth maker” and it definitely belongs on a resume in my mind! Twice a year I gave a broth making class to the new or seasoned moms who did not know how. It was fun.

We also covered so much terrain about Angelica in our Monthly Herbal Council #80 - Angelica As Medicine - as we practiced sitting with one plant to share, learn, and grow.

I made the dream-inspired broth. Delicious! I’d love to share.

Always remember there is room to make this your own with what you have on hand. I give suggestions here and there.

A sipping broth is just that, you pour a warm mug full and sip. You can use it as a soup base too, but sipping broths straight has been a thing around here for decades. It’s a soothing and energizing thing the body loves. Trace minerals are extracted and delivered without the need for lots of digestive fire. Nutrient assimilation is easy. I usually have 2 mugs a day when a pit is made until it’s gone. There may be a pause, or not before the next pit happens. The purpose is for organ and immune system restoration and repair. The gut is also supported well with homemade broths for now we know that without a strong gut microbiome, nothing heals well.
​
As a toddler I remember going to my Sicilian great grandmother’s home and being told to enjoy my warm vegetable water always served at arrival (we children definitely balked sometimes beforehand). We were told to drink it anyway and say thank you or give your grandmother a hug. She always made these as an immigrant woman through the depression, mother of 9 children, feeding a household of 13 people daily from a small city plot that did nothing but produce food from every ounce of soil that existed around their home. Hmmmm… maybe the old woman in black with the big salmon roses around her face was her, or her great grandmother… returning to inspire and support… makes me smile.

​Yield: I got 3 1/2 quarts - a lot!

This is written as a vegan sipping broth. The fat is important for immune function so don’t skip that addition. You can add butter instead of olive or coconut oil or chicken bones as well if you love that. I love butter and went that way.

Yes, I know the ingredient list looks long but nothing is odd or hard to find. If you have no Angelica root right now, burdock root, dandelion root, or astragalus root are good substitutes while you get a few ounces of Angelica root in house.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 medium beets quartered (with skins) + tops rough chopped
• 2 leeks - green tops only washed well and chopped rough or 1 onion onion quartered with skin
• 1 TB dried Angelica root (substitutes can be 2 TB astragalus root, burdock root, or dandelion root)​
  
• 1 garlic bulb sliced in 1/2
• 2 in piece of ginger roughly chopped or sliced thin with skin
• 2-3 cups mixed chopped vegetables and peelings - I used carrot peelings, red cabbage, mushrooms, and celery, kale or other greens.
• 1/4 cup dried nettle or 1 cup fresh nettle
• 2 potatoes quartered with skins
• 1 small sweet potato quartered with skin
• 1/2 c dried mushrooms or 1 cup fresh mushrooms (this batch has two slices of dried reishi and a small handful of dried lion’s mane + shiitakes too)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground peppercorns
• 1 TB dried oregano, thyme, or rosemary - pick one or a combo of these
• 1 TB turmeric root powder - or sliced thin fresh root
• 2 star anise pods
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoons fennel seed
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 TB kelps, alaria or dulse seaweed or a 4inch piece of dried kelp
• 1 TB olive oil or butter
• 1 TB coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon salt - taste before adding more after strained
• 8-12 cups water - cover your veggies with room to stir

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. So easy! Add everything to a large pot, bring to a boil, and simmer covered for 2-3 hours.

2. Turn heat off and allow to cool, covered, until warm when you hold the pot - maybe 1 hour - then strain into a large bowl using a fine mesh strainer, pressing liquid from the solids (compost solids). That’s it.

3. Serve immediately seasoned with more salt if needed, or cool for later. Store in the refrigerator and rewarm as you dose (2 mugs a day). You can also freeze in mason jars leaving 2-3 inches at the top for future use. Be sure to cool completely in the fridge before freezing to prevent the glass breaking.

May you experience the blood building, warming and blood moving effects of this broth that are perfect for most healing processes and for weathering cooler climates and seasons. Your immune system, gut and liver with be grateful and your mind and peripheral nerves will relax as healing energies get reorganized for more profound health.

Let me know how you shifted the recipe and how it turned out too.

Much love, Jen 💚

NOTE: use substitutions noted for Angelica root is you have an active bleeding condition, severe hot flashing / nights sweats or heavy menstrual bleeding. Angelica is so good at moving blood and fluids that these few situations ask us to make substitutions. This preparation is not at a therpurtic medicnal dose by any means, but it good to take note even at low doses even in broth. Plants heal!

Angelica Root Medicinal Actions: Alterative, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiseptic, anti-rheumatic, antiemetic, antispasmodic, aromatic, antioxidant, astringent, bitter, circulatory stimulant, carminative, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, hypotensive, hepatoprotective, nervine, rejuvenates, stimulant, stomachic, tonic, uterine stimulant.

Tulsi also goes by the name Holy Basil and is a basil but yes, it's uniquely and boldly different than culinary Basil (Ocimum basilicum). Although they do have some overlapping properties and applications. I find Tulsi is a bit more adaptable to the general and ever changing garden conditions than Culinary Basil from Italy. This is just a personal observation and experience. When all conditions are great for both, Tulsi grows faster too.  

Tulsi and Basil are both in the Mint family (Lamiaceae or Labiatae). For review, all mints have:

• Square stems, which can be easily discovered by rolling the stem between the fingers to feel the four sides meeting at right angles;
• Opposite leaves—each pair of leaves emerging from the same level, on opposite sides of the stem (unique to Tulsi is the fuzzy, hairy stem) 
• “Lipped” flowers—blossoms shaped like open mouths, the upper and lower lips of varying sizes, depending on the species.
• Most, but not all, mints are aromatic, with volatile oils that give the plant a strong aroma and taste (basil, thyme, rosemary, lavender etc). These oils are part of their immune system for defending themselves. And more!
• These fragrant volatile oils found in most mints are antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic. Volatile oils are easily transported from fresh plants to hot water, when steeped briefly as a tea, but not brewed for hours (sun tea or herbal infusion), because they become intense, altered, and bitter.   

THE MANY TYPES OF TULSI
There are at least three different varieties or species of Tulsi - Holy Basil, and while they can be used somewhat interchangeably, they also have their slight differences in appearance and taste.

TULSI RAMA (OCIMUM TENUIFLORUM)
Tulsi Rama is the most common species grown in India and easiest Tulsi to find in seed to grow.  It likes to grow in full sun with moderate water and fertile well-draining soils. Rama is known for its cooling and mellow flavor. The plant has green leaves, white-to-purplish blossoms, and a green or purplish stem.

TULSI KRISHNA (OCIMUM TENUIFLORUM)
Tulsi Krishna tastes peppery and has darker green to purple leaves, purple stems, and blossoms. It's has a sturdier stem for me in feel.

VANA (OCIMUM GRATISSIMUM)
Vana, aka “Forest-type” Tulsi, grows wild on roadsides and in waste places. It has large green leaves and stem, with white blossoms and the plant can easily attain 5 feet tall.  Vana Tulsi can overwinter indoors in a container with window sunlight. It can be transplanted in the garden when spring returns.

The most common way to prepare Tulsi is as a tea. Holy basil combines well with other herbs, such as rose petal, lemon balm, lavender, ginger, nutmeg, and other spices. It can be brewed in milk and added to Golden Milk made with turmeric. If you don’t grow your own, numerous kinds of Tulsi teas are on the market so you can still enjoy a cozy mug. Tulsi Rose is my favorite way to wind down the day!

TULSI TEA

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

• Add 1-2 teaspoons dried Tulsi or 4 teaspoons fresh (small handful) to a heat safe container.
• Boil 1 cup water and add to container, place lid on.
• Allow the tea to steep, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
• Strain Tulsi from tea and enjoy daily.

JAY'S FAVORITE TULSI TEA - In Winter & Summer
Mix equal parts of dried Tulsi, Peppermint, Nettles Hibiscus flower in a jar and label. Add (optional) honey once steeped 20 minutes and strained. To make, use 2 teaspoons per cup of just boiled water. A few paper thin slices of fresh Ginger root work well in this too. There's always room to sway with your preferences.  

USE FRESH LEAVES
Add chopped leaves to culinary dishes just as you would basil. Freeze leaves in ice cubes to add to summer drinks.  Eat a few fresh leaves to get phytonutrients and boost your immunity.  Make Tulsi Pesto!

TULSI/HOLY BASIL TINCTURE (ALCOHOL EXTRACT)
I prefer using fresh Tulsi in tea AND tincture. I do dry 1-2 pounds for our for our family to get through the time of year that when Tulsi isn't growing. We refuse to live without Tulsi in the apothecary these days.

I snip the aerial parts (flower tops and leaves), coarsely cut the plant up, and pack a jar full. Usually, with tinctures, we add 80-100 proof alcohol (40-50% alcohol), such as vodka, to cover all the plant. Place lid on jar, label and date, and shake daily for several days. Store out of direct sunlight. Wait the 6 weeks shaking every now and then, and then strain off the plant material through cheese cloth, squeezing out any liquid from the plant, compost it if possible. Store this Tulsi Tincture you just made (!) in brown glass and dose 30-60 drops per day. Consult and herbalist if you need more support figuring your dosing. 

I LOVE making with an apple-based brandy I get from France for tinctures also, especially with Tulsi. 

TULSI ELIXIR
My favorites for this elixir are good brandy + honey. Tulsi Elixir is spicy, fragrant and delicious! Yes it's becoming a regular apothecary item here. ElderMoon must make this for the community because our Tulsi is divine and we have bees to complete it well with honey from bees who visit the Tulsi bed all summer long until frost (smile). 

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

• Select jar size (1-pint jar or smaller for your 1st batch is good)
• Fill with enough fresh chopped Tulsi flowers and leaves to fill the jar loosely.
• Add 80 proof vodka/brandy to fill the jar 3/4 
• Next add Glycerine or raw honey to fill the jar (local raw honey best).
• Cap, shake well, label, date. Let sit for 4-6 weeks, shaking regularly. 
• Strain the plant material out with cheese cloth and squeeze all the goodness out.
• Rebottle (in a pretty one too), label + date and you just made a delicious TULSI ELIXIR!

QUESTION? Can you make this with good quality dried Tulsi? YES, simple fill your jar 1/3-1/2 full with dried Tulsi and proceed. Your dried Tulsi should be aromatic meaning it smells like Tulsi. If not then seek better quality. Your nose knows.

TULSI INFUSED HONEY (is divine!)
I LOVE Tulsi infused honey to take by the spoonful, add to tea, eat on baked goods, or as a delicate hint of flavor added to fresh cut fruits or drizzled on a fresh sliced in half grapefruit as you scoop out the pulp! It's great drizzled on hot buttered baked goods too. 

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

• Choose you wide mouthed jar (based on available fresh Tulsi)
• Add fresh Tulsi leaves and flowers gently chopped to loosely fill jar
• Add good honey to cover the Tulsi completely 
• Stirring with a chopstick to remove air bubbles until the jar is full.
• Cap securely and label. Stir a few times each week. I leave in a warm sunny window and shake when I see it each day.
• Wait at least 4-6 weeks. You can leave the leaves in to eat or gently warm the honey just to facilitate straining the plant material off through a fine mesh sieve.
• Rebottle label and that's it. You just made a Tulsi Infused Honey!

TULSI VINEGAR
Again, super easy and great! This can be turned into a Tulsi Oxymel too. 

• Loosely pack a wide mouth quart jar about three-quarters full with chopped Tulsi leaves and flowers,
• Cover nearly to the top with raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar.
• Cap it, shake gently, and allow to infuse for 3-4 weeks and shake a few times each week. If you use a metal lid, place wax paper between the lid and jar, as vinegar will corrode away the metal and ruin your product.
• Store in the darkness of a cabinet to ease oxidation. 
• ​Once it’s ready, strain out the plant material through cheese cloth and squeeze well. Rebottle and label and date. Good for 1 year. 

OTHER OPTIONS:
You can add honey, maple syrup, agave or molasses to make that syrupy-sweet yet tangy edge you like.  Herb infused vinegars make popular mocktail concoctions, shrubs, switchels and oxymels.  A sipping vinegar or shrub is basically a combination of vinegar, honey, and your chosen plant with mashed fruit. Herbalists prefer to use organic apple cider vinegar because alone it has so many health benefits already. The herb-vinegar-honey-fruit (shrub) or herb-vinegar-honey (oxymel) is used as a mixer to flavor water, sparkling water, club soda, or mixed into cocktails. A "switchel" is an older term used when making with cider vinegar that's sweetened with molasses or pure Maple or Birch syrup. Call it what you like. These are good tasting and hold the healing abilities of the plants chosen delivered to the body easily. 

Thank you for wandering through and I pray this gives that nudge to get mixing and pouring, tasting, and planning for more as you stock your apothecary well with simple green medicines. Enjoy, Jen

Valentines Day. February 14th. The Moon is rising and we're preparing to sauna outside in the dark. My dearest friend was suddenly killed today. Yes, big sigh. Still. It happened years ago, and yet... So now it's like a full cup of 100% super bitter Ceremonial Cacao these days. Life will deliver it with no additions to temper the taste and yet every single morsel supports growth and love. We may sigh. We may cough a little. We can learn to work with the intensity of it. We can even get really good at it.

Each time this day rolls around I feel her so very close and shake off a bit more of the tragic trauma that called me to action back then, leaning on skills and strength I hadn't yet known I had. Her soul was as confused and stunned as mine and yet we worked it through as we guided each other like sisters do. She guided my actions for weeks and months to follow in tending to her two babies, then 8 months and 3 years old, who survived the accident she did not. I left my marriage 4 months after her death with my two babies clinging to me. Like any death, it was time. When the going seems really tough there's magic afoot in the form of service, connection, healing, and giving. We have choice.

What did you choose the last time you were called to action? Did you crumble and collapse? Spiral out and fall down the rabbit hole? Sit for a while? Or hide? This happens. Honesty and compassion for how we roll is a radical and refreshing thing. And maybe you rocked it? We get to receive more because it's life. What will you choose and how will you roll next time?

So what's the language you love today when we turn our heart and focus to Earth for healing, inspiration, and service? It's a give and take thing. Earth is a holy being. A divine one that is healer. A compassionate one we can sit with in our darkest of times. A supportive one with sudden death where all are held as one leaves between breaths in a blink. A nurturing one supporting the slow unfurl to the truth of being held and accountable to a larger unfolding because we are part of it all and belong. Comfort will not rule your day or time with Earth, but is can sometimes and damn it is so glorious when this happens! 

In feeling into the love I have for a sister who shaped my path long ago while she prepared to go, I made a spontaneous group of service actions that feed heart and Earth. Add. Edit. Make it yours. Pick one thing and do it well. At least try. We can only ensure failing if we don't try. Enjoy - Hand to Heart & May Your Weekend Be Blessed, Jen 

Well ya knew I had to start here!
​Grow what you can. Agree to fail in order to learn sometimes and jump ecstatically when you succeed. Learn about soil. Start seeds. Root your own clippings. Pick one thing and try. Support CSA farms for your local and not-so-local food, seeds, and medicine plants. Check out this SEED CSA class or Permaculture Course here: Indigenous Seed Sovereignty. Make it part of you and your political + existence fabric that requires the needs of plants be woven into all you care about as a priority for your daily life.

We have a few old shrubs and trees dying here that are sterile and ornamental. This kind of planting is something that was a trend long ago, and still is by some. We're choosing to create chemical free edible landscapes that feed us, the bees, birds, animals and plants, elements, and ultimately Earth through small-scale bio-diverse ecosystems. So we give a good death, honor, and invite change to who is here. 

Find a tree you feel close to. Spend time in its presence. Draw it, touch it, gaze at it, ask for help within from your tree. Imagine walking through a small door at the base of your tree and see where this tree takes you. Did you travel up to the canopy or down tot he roots and beyond? Journal. Do it again. Bring you concerns. Bring your questions. Bring your offerings in thanks for sharing this time and place together. You will feel changed. 

On a larger scale, the replanting of green corridors where clear cutting has devastated the tropical rain forests is so very close to my heart. TreeSisters funds the work of local communities in the devastated areas to seed, tend, and replant the trees they need to restore the land and keep the ecosystem alive. This supports Earth. And all of us. Some have said to me, "But my neighbor needs help too so why give to this?" and my response is give the same and give to two causes so you make ripples locally and globally. The embodiment of being a restorative species of human that thrives is our focus.  
​
Link here: ​TreeSisters classes and Monthly Moon Calls.

Water is Life. How will you connect with the waters that feed your life? How will you exchange your internal waters daily to feed your healing and evolution? Hydrotherapy, sweats, and drinking are considerations, but will you grieve and move the old tears petrified in your heart? Sit with water and sing and watch how gorgeous help comes your way to defrosting that which holds you bound-up and petrified. Make it a private practice to sing to water. Link Here: 'The WATER SONG'. Play it in the car and SING loud until you got it. I'm walking with you on this one!

The Earth has the equivalent of a heartbeat, which is a measurable frequency called the Schumann Resonance. Consider this deeply as things are measurably changing for us.
First, all life on Earth is calibrated to the frequency of the planet. Everything from our brain waves and biorhythms to our states of consciousness are directly correlated to the Earth’s frequencies.

Second, the Schumann Resonance has been steady at 7.83Hz until several years ago when it began to accelerate to somewhere in the 15 to 25Hz levels. The Schumann Resonance had reached frequencies of 36Hz+ for the first time in recorded history. This is a big deal. The Earth is rapidly shifting in vibration. It's measurable my friends. 

What this means for us is that since 2014 we are all being exposed to and required to re-calibrate to these accelerated planetary frequencies if we want to evolve and live with the evolving Earth as we know it. Scientists tell us that not only is the frequency of Earth accelerating, but changes are also in process in the sun and entire solar system.

So now what?
How do we "do this" re-calibration?
What if nature scares me?
And how does this help Earth?

​Get outside. (Say it again.)  Take off your sunglasses sometimes so natural light can enter your brain and pineal gland to re-calibrate your body. Lay on Earth. Moon gaze and track the phases and how you feel within them. Hike in forests, meadows, and mountains, and swim in oceans and streams 'just because' with no other agenda than 'I'm re-calibrating my system'. Google 528hertz music and listen often.

We can be our most authentic powerful expression when we upgrade regularly yet honor where we've been. To look back, to honor, while we move forward is the pace. 

Feeding your heart can be this simple and delicious. Make a batch and take 2 tablespoons daily in yogurt, oatmeal, on toast, with goat or cream cheese, tucked into pastries and biscuits. Make a double batch and give to a friend.

​Hawthorn-Rose Hip Ginger Jam
INGREDIENTS: 

• ½ cup Hawthorn Berries, fresh or dried
• 1 cup Rose Hips, seedless cut/sifted
• ½ cup honey
• 1 TB Lemon Juice
• Zest of 1 (Organic!) Lemon
• 1 TB Vanilla Extract
• 1 TB Cinnamon Powder
• 2 TB Ginger Root, finely minced fresh
• 2 Cups water

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Boil Hawthorn Berries for 1 hour at the lowest simmer, covered. Turn off and allow to it  for 1-4 hour covered. Strain and keep liquid, compost solids.
2. Return liquid to a simmer and pour over the Rose Hips in a bowl you can also cover and let sit for ½ hour. Place in the blender and reserve a small amount of liquid to thin as needed. Add all other ingredients and blend. This is like pudding and thick so add very small amounts of liquid just enough to keep the blender able to work.
3. Strain, or push through a sieve – not too fine – just to catch any stray seeds.
4. To Use: 1-2 TB/day is therapeutic for the heart. Stir into plain yogurt or use any way you use jam.
Yield 2 ½ cups – store in refrigerator and use up. You can make larger batches but freeze some for it will keep about 2 weeks in the frig thanks to the lemon, honey and ginger which are good for the heart and have preservative properties.  

Whether you have one already, never considered this for yourself, or have a deep want for one, do it. Dedicate a small space, like a cabinet or book shelf and just start. If it's a mess and growing then sit there and envision the next step on how the space will flow as an extension of Earth in your home. Make it functional. entice beauty, and maybe take a class to get your toes wet or do a full body plunge. Here at ElderMoon are several options for you: Our Birthing an Herbalist course is a bigger beautiful commitment but the Plant Diets and Monthly Herbal Councils can be great for giving little tastes with big returns as things evolve for you around turning to Earth first for healing and treatments. Tending your apothecary will teach you. Small steps. Say yes. 

While this has been circulating for a while, the heart needs constant circulation of goodness to nourish it. Let's read it again. 
​
“You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leaders.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

Aho. Sweet Gratitude My Hopi Elder

I used to work with clay years ago spinning amazing gifts and harvesting from clay seams along the Esopus Creek in the mountains where I lived. Quite spontaneous the love of my hands working clay surfaces again and again. So I received some red clay from New Mexico though one of those friend of a friend channels and made a simple pinch pot in minutes which I'm calling my "Prayer Pot for Earth". I left my first one out near my favorite Black Birch tree filled with Roses and Prayers for Earth. It's part honoring Earth through Earth magic ways and part prep work for myself for being close to Birch Tree. (DETAILS here for Plant Dieting with Birch Tree) I call it "Birch's idea" (smile) for it dawned on me while I sat by the stream with this tree and watched the sun rise while it snowed and was sooo very quiet. These are the kind of places where the heart can be heard clear. 

So what are you making with your hands? And what can you give to Earth as a healing medicine for Earth with prayers for connection?

(Psst...start with food you make if you draw a blank! Leave little plates outside or morsels tucked under bushes. Create paintings or poems and gift them privately. Make an outside garden altar. Offer tinctures or teas you made. Pilgrimage to sacred favorite local sites to deliver one flower you grew or a slice of homemade bread. What popped into your head just now? Follow it...

Sit with Fire. Honor how this element feeds our heart and keeps life moving. Cyrus, my third son, was burning 'things' he spontaneously knew he had to let go of one night as we sat with a Sacred Fire and Fire responded so noticeably (!) to his private heart spoken concerns as he faced his fears with all the changes of becoming a man nipping at his heels. 

Sitting with a candle alone and quiet can be just as potent. Beeswax candles are from Earth and made by the bees and humans working together. It's complicated, yes. We are right here now and I love to get or make my beeswax or soy based candles for moments when Earth work, medicine, and magic are called for. Travel inward to the core of Earth, The Heart of Earth, while fire gazing and bring your willingness to honor change. See how your heart feels after such an exchange and collaboration with Earth and Fire.  

On the practical side, support your local fire department in ways that feel heartfelt. We participate in they're fund raisers with community chicken dinners and bakes sales. Around here we may differ with politics at times but we're clear about what to do if fire comes to the land and our homes and is killing things. Donate resources and prayer time to wild fire causes that help the workers, people, animals and Earth. Fire has purpose but can be hard to align with sometimes. We're in this together. How do you honor Fire as a healing force with Earth?

Making our own cleaning products happened when my boys were young and I wanted to show them cleaning skills but they almost passed out from the fumes. We stopped using chemical cleaners that very day. All we use is a homemade soft scrub I call 'Earth Paste', a vinegar spray, and liquid castile soap around here + infused oils with a little beeswax for wood cleaning. What goes down the drain goes into Earth and our water and then back into our bodies. Simple searches for recipes are numerous and fun until you find what you like. 
​
​Earth Paste Soft Scrub Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup liquid castile soap or Sal Suds
• 1 TB hydrogen peroxide (vinegar works here too)
• 1 large wide mouth jar with a lid or Mason Jar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium-size bowl, combine the baking soda, castile soap or Sal Suds, and hydrogen peroxide. Stir until the scrub cleaner looks like thick glue.
2. Spoon the scrub cleaner in a large jar with a lid. Seal the jar well between uses. This cleaner will harden when exposed to air for a prolonged period of time. The scrub cleaner can be used immediately and kept at room temperature (in a well sealed jar) for several months.
3. Leave room at the top of the jar for expansion. The cleaner will expand within the first 24 hours. I leave 2-3 inches at the top of the jar for expansion.

To Use: Apply the amount desired to a cloth or scrub brush and apply to a dirty surface. Allow the scrub cleaner to sit for a couple of minutes. Wipe the surface with a damp cloth. Makes 1 1/4 cups of scrub cleaner

One of my favorite non-beeswax candles! Napping is a skill I re-learned from each of my babies and I decided not to stop with #3. I now remind Cyrus to nap when it seems he would benefit and forgets.

So how does napping help Earth? We become healthier and make our best decisions when we rest enough. We need less medicine too. And I know for me I make less messes of the emotional kind! Here's one of the many super-cool facts that stay with me always from studying our anatomy & physiology. Did you know that our hearts are in a state of rest more than they work in order to work as hard as they do? Yes! This is my best way to say it. Let's follow our hearts and how they teach through how they work and make restoration a necessary thing by honoring a better rest to work ratio. 
​
​How can we get to the root of the sleep troubles? Is it needing fresh air and natural light, exercise, more plant based calcium, stress management adjustments, more quality food, better water, or anti-angst skills? Name it. Make it happen. Learn about 1st and 2nd sleep cycles here as I work with my herbal students on what is needed for plants to work well as medicine. If you're sleeping 7-8 hours per night then you're sleep deprived! They have it all wrong but we can learn and change and follow what the body needs anyway. Implement changes in your way with the sleep these bodies require to be well.  

And for the record, let's burn better candles too. Plant based or beeswax with NO chemical-scents. Your body and Earth thank you. 

Altars are doorways to what we hold as sacred and divine. Created and tended, an altar space can inspire, ease tension and anxiety by changing our brain waves quickly with steady practice, and help us connect to a larger sense of self that knows the answers we seek and also knows how to deliver them well-timed. It can be a private practice or communal one. It's in these moments of standing before an altar that we can calm the body and mind enough to listen and speak well, on the inside, as we ask for help or pray for what is needed and desired. Make an altar for Earth. Tend it well.

Consider a simple web search for how-to guides if this is new to you and find one that resonates with who you are.

I guess my first thought would be to get educated. The relationship between bees, plants and our food and medicine is so intertwined. Did you know that 60% of all the medicine plants harvested go to labs making modern prescription drugs? Yes. We even need bees for the raw material to make the 'synthetics' meds.

We need bees. Period. We've literally evolved around how they live and thrive and shape this world with plants. We have a few thriving hives here at ElderMoon and the gardens are noticeably stronger and healthier with the bees here. The bees are healthier with the medicine plants around too. And while swarms happen and I get sad at first, I also find joy in knowing some of our bees are going rogue and repopulating the wild. 

Three simple things you can do to support the bees:
First, learn where your local beekeepers are and find one you like that speaks lovingly about the privilege of what they get to do with the bees. Trust your gut and support a good beekeeper who ensures the bees are happy and have overflow always. Second, stop all chemical lawn and garden care products and support chemical-free farms that think and act with biodiversity at the forefront of all they do (not mono-cropping). Yes, the great move to almond milk drinking has created bee hive collapsing due to the increase in mono-cropping of almonds here in the southwestern US. So we think we're doing one great thing but then we see how nature responds and have to learn more. Bio-diversity is the way. Third, use honey as a medicine and honor it as such with conservation in mind. 

While today 2/14 is often associated with chocolate and has been for some time, not all chocolates are great for us or Earth. It has to do with us and what we've agreed to in the name of allowing chocolate manufacturers to call the shots. The farmers have suffered. The Cacao trees have suffered. So has the quality and health benefits. And so has Earth.

But we can make new agreements.

Right now. 

Can we agree to support the ecologically sustainable way of the Indigenous Ceremonial Cacao farming families and make this a lasting commitment. Support the farmers who are closest to Earth on this one. If a company does not share their sourcing and practices then I do not buy from them. Period. Transparency is part of my agreement. I want the trees supported and the I want the families that tend the trees supported, all in the name of supporting Earth. Will you join me on this? 
 
I've decided to leave the research to you here. Learn more. The cacao "industry" is becoming a bit disturbing with so many humans turning to cacao for support. Please be impeccable and conservative with how you source. Little bits go far. Connect with the cacao tree and learn. 

Thank you. What would you add or change here for you? I'd love to hear from you. So Much Love, Jen

I notice things. You do too. Maybe you haven't given much thought to Lemongrass, eh? That's surely because your mind and heart have other equally necessary things to consider and dance with.

For decades now I've been keeping Lemongrass close. I tuck 2-3 plants in each year in places where I can really see it due the stunning visual presence. Lemongrass looks so different from all the others in my garden and gives more depth and dimension to the space for me. Then I move in close and rustle the leaves around down to the base and the aroma spirals up and drops me to stillness. The effort is small to have this medicinal + nourishing plant close. It takes a small piece of garden space or a medium sized pot, sunlight, water you drink too, and a seedling easily found in spring with all the veggie and herbs AND only costs a few dollars. Once set up and planted, it's all about enjoying the growing season together before harvest time.

Buying Lemongrass bulbs in the store to cook with is great. Growing is easy and so much more vibrant and aromatic for your dishes. Cooking with it means "discarding the outer leaves and only keeping the tender inner core for dishes". I suggest putting all the discarded parts into a mason jar or tea pot with just boiled water, let it steep 20 minutes, and enjoy it as a tea while you enjoy your cooking. It's delicious! And it's a beautiful medicinal too with a broad range of benefits.

We'll drop into some of the medicinal applications here for why it's great to invest a few dollars and a bit of waiting in order to harvest and have hundreds of dollars worth a few plants at your finger tips for cooking AND medicine. Have you noticed the price of one stalk?

One Lemongrass plant provide many bulbs and mid stems that I freeze.

So I watch for the magenta colored stems at the base of the plant that come with the cooling nights of late August to September. I uproot the whole plant giving a fully honored good death that ensures I get all of the bulbous ends that are prized for cooking. If it winters over near you then you slice at ground level with a good sharp blade and you get regeneration stalks. Lucky you! 

With this massive clump of Lemongrass uprooted I then tease the stalks apart and begin the gleaning process. Shade or sun, with music, silence or singing, having lemonade or a beer is all up to each as you do the good work. I then separate into 4 working piles:

1. the long leaf blades for making 'tea rings' - dry for tea/infusions
2. the sturdy bulbs with about 10 inches of stalk - freeze for cooking and medicine
3. the mid ribs left about six inches long - freeze for stocks and tea/infusions
4. the loose leaf blades that don't fit in the other piles cut to a workable size for drying for more tea

Why do I freeze it?
Drying the two parts that I choose to freeze would be far more work with an increased chance of spoilage and loss of aromatic and medicinal potency. Have I done it? Yes. Will I again slice each down to drying slivers about 4 inches long? Yes. For now I choose freezing which keeps it fresh with strong aromatic oils that cook easy into food or mashed to a quick pastes or for making a Lemongrass Syrup. YES! (Add fresh ginger root to that too!) It makes an amazing addition to a martini. In fact I don't drink martinis much, or ever, unless it's a Lemongrass martini. This way gives me the best I can get for living where Lemongrass cannot for part of the year. Starting over again and again each growing season is our dance. 

Yield from this one plant is impressive here for the whole tray of bulbs and mid stalks frozen above, plus 1/2 pound of loose leaf for tea AND 50+ woven Lemongrass 'tea rings'. Each tea ring makes a pint to a quart of tea, depending on your desire for how strong, by placing in a mason jar, fill with boiled water and cap, steep 20 minutes and sip. So easy and sooo good! 

The making of Lemongrass tea rings. 

Lemongrass tea rings drying in my office. LOVE!

'Apothecary Time w/Jen' video - in the garden making Lemongrass tea rings just prior to digging up this beauty.