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 ​

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.
​
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.
​
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. 
​
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.
​
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

​

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.

​
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. 
​
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.
​
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!
​

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.
​

INGREDIENTS:
​

• 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!
​
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

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 

​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

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. 

Self-observation and self-reflection are definitely forms of self care that I'm finding absolutely require we keep our humor about us. For one, it's not as painful as the self-judgments we toss around so easily. I often laugh more these days as I catch myself in any form of sabotage mode. Then I adopt a third person conversation which delivers quite the therapeutic effects of kind self-talk, even if stern, that has that element of humor. "Oh, look what you're doing now, Jen!", is my chat with a curious and inquisitive laugh. With Valentine's Day here and all the social media and commercialization that surfaces, it's easy to get lost or lulled to sleep in the lousy chocolate, mass produced over priced roses that die in days, moving blood diamonds around more, and yeah, some seriously bad cards with ridiculous prices. I walked away years ago from this. Sorry but it's true. Now visiting flowers and trees wherever they're alive, visiting sacred waters of the Earth and other landscapes that heal us, making handmade gifts, and sourcing cacao from kind stewards of the land, plus other ways that really feel true, well that's another story all together (smile).

The truth is this time of year is triggering for many. Many struggle this month around the heart. What's heavy in the heart for you? Are tears trying to move in that self-cleansing way? Is there a struggle to find the space or language to actually feel into it all and therapeutically convey in some creative way what is happening on the inside? Addictions of all sorts are included in a mass of coping skills we've masterfully honed over the years as avoidance tactics and they rear their head often this time of year in place of embracing dropping deeper into the heart to do some dusting and cleaning. Growth hurts. But the truth is holding on takes far more energy than letting go of heart pain. 

As spring walks closer and stirs our subtler bodies, I know for me I feel this as either as a scattered way or a sluggish can't get focused way. Obsessive behaviors, irritation, anxiety, and poor timing crop up among my people too. Complaining and whining are at an all time high. So how do you clock this unique way in yourself and own that there's some simple good medicine for this? The number one medicine for this for me is to get outside, anyway, no matter what the weather is doing to re-calibrate with the natural forces. Bundling up for us cold weather dwellers means pulling out the hardy weather garb, again, but let's face it, 40 degrees feels like spring after this much winter and most of us don a thick sweater instead!

"Go to the Water" is the mantra of my ancestors and I seek this inside and out with hikes to natural water places and also through more spiritual bathing in the tub, and sauna. I also sit with my drum and rattle more, journey and make sounds that carry what I cannot find words for. And I paint for visual release and inquiry. Of late I've turn to our food choices too for my body is giving subtle clues to lighten it up. Salads, raw foods, and fruit look more appealing now. Here's another way that I like to re-calibrate on the inside. Jay and I are starting a Kitchari Cleanse this week, Cyrus is not so game for this yet but he's watching as we prepare for a short 3-4 day one to start. We'll go longer if we want to at the end. 

This simple, soupy Ayurvedic cleansing dish is made primarily of rice, split mung beans, seasonal veggies and spices. Sometimes I have to start at the physical and walk step by step. This satisfies that in me. It changed my whole outlook on cleansing and transformed my relationship with food and my body. Instead of feeling deprived, it made me feel nourished. Instead of frazzled and delirious with a headache or nausea, I felt grounded, safe, and secure. Coming off it I feel clear and connected. The idea is to stimulate your natural cleansing processes in a slow, sub-radar like cleanse that doesn't stimulate chelation toxicity (releasing too much too fast for our elimination systems). This is hard for the body and a stress that is not good for us. Seasoned fasting lovers know that this is a muscle that must be exercised slowly or one pays dearly. 

The beauty of this dish and cleanse is that you can eat. You can eat Kitchari for a single meal to give your digestion a break or do a full cleanse of 3-7 days where you really begin to release stored toxins and accumulation for safe release from the body. It’s a great introductory or seasonal cleanse because you still get to eat something throughout the day but at the same time it's the most effective tool I've found for healing and soothing the digestive system, increasing digestive fire, reducing bloating, clearing the mind, healing attachments to food, sleeping deeper, and kick starting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. While weight lose is not the goal, that just might happen too.

I follow this cleansing diet for days before the plant diet initiations I go to with my teacher where we sustain ourselves on a few ounces of a single plant elixir every four hours for three days and vision quest with one plant. Eating kitchari from one pot prepared each morning reduces our focus and energy demands on food. Think about how much time we spend on food alone from making the money to getting it or growing it, to planning meals, preparing, eating, and cleaning up. It's all good and communal supporting, yes, but a break to focus elsewhere is also so good for us. This eliminates much and frees up so much time. This is also a great diet for a day or two upon returning from questing or fasting of any kind to support integration and landing back in well.  

Determine the number of days you will cleanse for with 3-7 days being a good place to start. You can always go longer if you feel you want to. Trust yourself on this. 

• Begin to eliminate common foods that cause imbalances for you a few days before the cleanse such as alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, meat, processed foods, and foods you know affect your unique physiology. 
• Make kitchari daily (if possible) and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seek organic ingredients and stock up. 
• Drink warm water and warm herbal teas of nettles, red clover flower, oatstraw, milky oats, chamomile (deeply calming and clearing), or peppermint (gives a 'pep').
• Get plenty of rest and take time for self care (warm oil massage at the start or end of the day, warm baths, steams, saunas, yoga, meditation)
• In the mornings drink a cup of warm water with lemon followed by another glass of warm water to flush the system
• If you need to eat something other than kitchari try some fresh, seasonal fruit in the morning, handfuls of nuts and seeds, or cooked grains with ghee and a sprinkle of sea or rock salt
• Set an intention. Remind yourself of why you're doing this re-calibration cleanse and dig in for your higher purpose for this. For me, I like to set an intention to heal and connect to my deepest self. Often I observe myself swaying away from self and this whole practice reels me back in. Setting an intention brings the practice from the ordinary to the sacred.
• Clear out your calendar as much as you can and involve willing family  or friends either to share with you or at least inform them of what you're doing. Let this be a time for total self-love, reflection, and connection. Having someone to share this time adds a depth to the process but is not a prerequisite by any means. It's amazing how much time and energy we have when we don’t need to think about food and preparing it! Use that time to connect to spirit, your Divine, and the deepest part of you.

​

I love adding the ghee and salt later in the process because it makes the flavor jump up more for me. I do this with simple tomato sauce too by infusing olive oil with garlic, basil, salt and pepper, and pinch of rosemary and stir in just before serving. It's amazing how these late additions retain and pull forth the essential oils in the dish. 

This makes about 4-6 servings. Double it if there's more people in your home joining you or to eat throughout the week, though I do recommend making it daily if that's a possibility for you. To accommodate my work schedule I I make enough for 2 days at a time. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup split mung beans - these can be found at most natural food stores or online. You can use whole mung beans but I soak them over night, or at least for a few hours, in cool water with a little whey or buttermilk if you have. Discard that water in the morning and proceed.  
• 1/2 cup organic basmati rice
• 1 3x2 inch strip of kombu (kelp), cut into small pieces
• 6-8 cups of filtered water
• 3-4 cups fresh, organic and seasonal veggies - use at least one green veggie and one orange or root vegetable such as carrot, sweet potato or squash
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed ground 
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed ground
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed ground
• 1/8 - 1/4  teaspoon asafoetida powder
• 1/2  - 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger root
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup loosely packed chopped, fresh organic cilantro and reserve some for serving
• 2-3 tablespoons ghee, coconut oil, or sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon rock salt and more to taste if needed at serving time
• fresh lime wedges for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse the rice and split mung beans in the 2:1 ratio of rice to beans and then put them in a pot with the kombu and water enough to cover by at least an inch or 2.
2. Boil until soft 20-30 minutes roughly with the lid ajar. Chop veggies and cilantro and grind spices in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder dedicated to herbs (if using whole spices) as the rice and beans cook.
3. Add the veggies (keep kale or quick-cooking veggies like zucchini out for now), add 2 more cups of water and cover. Cook 3-5 minutes or so until the water boils veggies are starting to soften. Add more water and adjust temperature as needed.
4. Once veggies start to soften, add the diced ginger, coconut and spices of cumin, coriander, fennel, asafoetida and turmeric. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of black pepper in the Winter.
5. Add the kale, spinach or other quick-cooking veggies and the fresh cilantro. Stir adding more water if needed.
6. Then I turn off the heat and add the ghee, coconut oil or sesame oil, and the rock salt.
7. Serve with fresh cilantro and coconut garnish and a thick wedge of fresh lime. 

Enjoy! Thank you for coming in for a read and may your day be blessed and your re-calibration plans be underway as Spring approaches.
Much Love, Jen

Are you ready to gently infuse your heathcare with simple green plants for healing? It truly is easier than many think because we hold this knowing through our ancestral lines. Beginning anyway is a beautiful way. xo-Jen

Making good food as our medicine is often a big hit when it comes out of our kitchen.  Years of playing and experimenting in the kitchen make it all happen. We took up our best knives and chopped, stirred, consulted knowledge, experience, and the intuitive forces present and came up with this simple yet potent, satisfying soup for deep winter support. after many requests, we thought we'd give it a proper write-up. Enjoy from our kitchen to yours. 

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb - 3/4 lb chopped fresh shiitakes - or reconstitute 1/4 lb dried
1 large chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
3-4 yellow potatoes chopped
3-4 garlic scapes (we had frozen garlic scapes - optional when ya have)
1 TB fresh thyme leaf or more if you like - plus extra for serving
1/8 -1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper or to your liking
2 TB dried nettles
3 TB of oil or butter to your liking
2 TB arrowroot or tapioca powder (for your rouge)
8 cups bone or veg broth 
6-8oz. 1/2 & 1/2 cream or coconut milk if dairy free needed
 
A handful of chopped scallions, squeezes of fresh lime juice, sprinkles of fresh cracked pepper and thyme leaves for serving

DIRECTIONS:
- sauté the shiitakes for 5 minutes in oil or butter until a bit of browning happens
- add onion, ginger, garlic, thyme, nettles, and pepper; saute a few more minutes
- add potatoes and continue to stir adding more oil or butter if needed
- add arrowroot or tapioca powder and cook a few more minutes stirring constantly to make a light brown rouge
- add  bone or veggie stock you love, bring to simmer for 10 or so minutes just until the potatoes are done, turn off the heat and allow to sit for about 10 minutes for flavors to infuse
- stir in 8oz of 1/2 n 1/2 cream (or heavy cream), or coconut milk for non-dairy options; adjust salt and pepper to your taste. 

​Serve with more fresh thyme, fresh squeezed lime, and sliced green onion. A good load of bread or cornbread goes great with this. Enjoy!

​In our home 1 bowl equals a 'therapeutic dose' of medicine.
Have 2-3 bowls per day for active cold & flu symptoms! Perfectly fine for daily health care intermittent use by having random bowls throughout your life (giggling with toes wiggling because it's that delicious to me). Enjoy and may you stay strong through these darker months where all is brought to the table for review. Keep shittakes around always. Have soup ready. Thank you shittakes and all for your deep care of us here. xo-Jen 

Making your home apothecary your primary health care is not that hard. Consulting the plants first is a safe, effective, and potent part of healing that requires a little bit of learning since our near relatives may not have been given these skills to pass along to us. We do it anyway under these circumstances. May we meet in class one day... Blessings Always, Jen

I said yes again to it all. It takes time to cultivate a community apothecary but it's happening. There's around 70 medicine plants in house now handcrafted as tinctures and a few more to come (plus much more to come) that I just know demand space on the shelves here. Seedling leaves unfurling... Thank you for your support. -Jen

ElderMoon School of Herbs
EMS has on-going Herbal Classes, on-line and in-person, to support the expanding desire among us to know the plants intimately as part of one's healthcare system for ourselves and loved ones. Deepening our relationship with the plants is where it all starts. 'Begin anyway' is our mantra. Have a look around and email if you feel called or have questions.

Tree Donations and Prayer Bundles for Ecuador? Email me directly for my address and details at: [email protected]  

Thank you for supporting small businesses and grassroot projects world wide. Change does happen from our seemingly small efforts. It just may be the only way. xo-Jen

Feeding our 'Wild' is something that effortlessly begins to happen the moment we decide to seek wild edibles. Already the soul jumps up and we feel an enticing, excited sort of coaxing from within to get outside and find the more nutritious wild plants that feed our original self and call it forth. The body relaxes more in the presence of solid nutrition plugged into Nature. Our soul or wildness always responds and steps closer when spending time in Nature. While there are many ways to feed our 'Wild' and some have nothing to do with food, let's explore this through a walk with Lamb's Quarters, our Wild Spinach lovely found all over that makes it easy for us to just start.

'Wild-ing' your favorite recipes is so easy. You simply look over the elements that are cultivated and consider what the wild is offering us and then substitute. Then I consider making adjustments for personal flavor choices, such as I love the tangy flavor of goat cheese so I work that in. You may love the flavor onion or green scallions, so Ramp leaves (please leave the bulbs as they are becoming endangered due to wild food harvesting without concern for the plants survival), or onion grass leaves and bulbs will increase the onion flavor and nutrition from some of our wild, original foods.

Lamb’s Quarters is a delicate, leafy green and may be used as a substitute for baby spinach in any recipe you have. I eat this in fresh and cooked preparations. Used widely in Latin cuisine it is often paired with fresh cheeses, chile sauces, fresh citrus and berries, nuts, strong cheeses, spring vegetables such as peas and asparagus, eggs and potatoes, or tossed with hot pasta or grains until barely wilted. For me, Lamb's quarters has a more mild, creamy, and less metallic flavor than mature spinach and is complimented by vinaigrette, fresh herbs, garlic, toasted bread and beans. It goes into my wild weed pesto and most soups while in season. I love it in scrambled eggs with chives or spring onions just cooked a moment before adding the eggs and a favorite cheese. This is one of those versatile ones that enhances any dish so it's easy to add handfuls to just about anything in my kitchen. 

Lamb’s quarters is the perfect substitute for spinach in any recipe. It's particularly good for people who have to watch spinach intake due to being a kidney-stone-maker because it lacks the oxalates that are found in some of over one hundred varieties of kidney stones made by humans. While I warn you that oxalates should not be the main focus for such a condition, Lamb’s quarter does offer an even greener, earthier, creamy, mineral flavor. Some describe the taste of this young, wild spinach as reminiscent to asparagus and cabbage. It has a distinctly unique flavor and is very creamy in texture which is what I love about it.

​Producing scalloped, triangular velvety-textured leaves, the entire plant, including the stems, is edible. Small black edible seeds on the plants are most often not fully developed when wild spinach is harvested and are still encased in tiny green pollen-like balls, which are also edible. You can only nourish the one's you feed Lamb's Quarters. All is edible; nothing is poisonous. 

Lamb’s quarters, botanically known as Chenopodium album, is also frequently known as lamb's quarter spinach or wild spinach, Indian spinach, goose-foot spinach. Lamb’s quarters is a European cousin to quinoa and beets. Lamb’s quarters is found growing prolifically throughout North America where it’s commonly regarded and discarded as a weed. Usually available spring and summer and year-round in moderate climate regions, this is one the deer LOVE so I love for it to grow big near others they nibble and they will devour this one first and move on.

Nutritional Value
High in vitamin C and rich in riboflavin, one cup of cooked lamb's quarters provides an excellent source of vitamin A, folate, magnesium, potassium, calcium, vitamins E, B6, and thiamine. Lamb’s quarters actually contains substantially more nutrients than all cultivated spinach! It's a super food so work it into your meals.

Yield 6 Servings

INGREDIENTS

• 3 medium roasted beets, any color (+1 cup of the finely chopped greens if you have and want)
• 2 cups chopped or minced lamb’s quarter leaves and tops
• 2 medium carrots shredded
• 2 cups cook grain of choice; cooked with 1 tsp fennel seeds -  farro, buckwheat, barley, wild rice, quinoa, to name a few
• Pinches of sea salt and pepper to taste – though the feta usually adds the salty part
• 2-3 tablespoons vinegar of choice – rice, apple cider, wine, herbal infused, fig infused balsamic
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed
• 2-3 tablespoons oil of choice - olive oil, avocado oil, grapeseed Oil, walnut oil
• ½ cup nuts or seeds of choice – pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, broken walnut or almond pieces
• 4 ounces feta or goat cheese, crumbled – more if you like
• ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, marjoram, chives, peppermint; parsley, chive and peppermint are my favorites.
• Fresh squeezed lime or lemon juice to serve; and fresh ground black pepper 

PREPARATION

1. If using the beet greens, blanch for 1 minute in boiling water. Transfer to cold water. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop coarsely and set aside.
2. Roast beets in oven covered at 400°F for 1 hour while you cook your grain with Fennel Seeds per directions for that grain. This can be done the day before and put in the refrigerator.
3. Peel beets (if large , otherwise we eat the skin of young beets) and chop to bite sized pieces.
4. Make the vinaigrette. Whisk together the vinegars, pepper, garlic, then whisk in the oil(s).
5. In a large bowl, put all ingredients together, toss, and taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. This can be served warm if you make them all the same day. It's equally good served at room temperature or cold too.
6. I serve with a little feta or goat cheese crumbled on top and a squeeze of lime or lemon. It will turn pink over time if you have red beets and is good for days in the refrigerator.

Interesting and Delicious Additions:

• ​Adding the zest and juice (1-2 tablespoons) from a good organic orange whisked into your vinaigrette brings a great citrus twist!
• Use pickled beets. If fresh beets are not around or you just are not up to the work, then yes, you can use pickled beets instead which makes preparing this all the more easier and just as good.
• This pic has fresh roasted beets, avocado oil, pumpkin seeds, feta cheese, fresh Lamb's Quarters leaf (our star in making this WILD), fresh minced peppermint, parsley, chives, and wild rice!

 
​I find that bringing in the WILD ones makes my recipes more satisfying. I simply don't get hungry as often. I suspect it's the boosted nutrition from the wild additions that just pack a greater nutritional punch than our cultivated foods, even when grown well. Then there is that which eludes being measured and weighed. It's quite possible that in slowing down to seek these kinds of foods and figuring ways to bring them into our bodies in a beautiful, delicious way actually feeds that wild place that comes forth and eases the body and the mind that struggles with this modern way. Indeed, this is how the wild ones feed me.  
​Enjoy! xo-Jen

Time for some pleasure... the Lilacs are here! Lilacs are such a welcomed spring flowering shrub. There are about 25 different varieties, the main differences being flower color. Light purple is most common, and there is also white, dark purple, pink, variegated, and a double blossom. The flowers grow in a panicle cluster, and many varieties are fragrant. The leaves are opposite in arrangement and are heart shaped. Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is often planted as an ornamental shrub in yards. Make sure the bush has not been sprayed before you gather your flowers.

There are many recipes for 'Candied Lilac Flowers', 'Lilac Flower Syrup',  and 'Lilac Flower Jelly'. Candied flowers are made by brushing the individual tiny flowers with beaten egg white and sprinkling them with superfine sugar. Yes, a time consuming process, and should be done on a dry day. The results are pretty, and make lovely additions to sweet creations. Syrups are added to seltzer and other mocktails and cocktails for pleasure. Many require cane sugar and so limit who can or will make such recipes these days with cane sugar mindfulness and sensitivities. 

I love the floral scent, of course, and taste initially. This gives way to a subtle bitterness with hints of citrus. One would think, 'bitter'? Well yes, in spring we need bitter components in our diet to assist with the seasonal transitions. Bitter helps our kidneys, liver, and digestive systems make the shift and bring each major filtering organ a beautiful spring tonic too. 

Long respected and still whispering ancient wisdom through the two volume book "The Modern Herbal", Maude Grieves also speaks of lilac flowers, leaves, and fruit as having a long history of carrying medicinal qualities. "Used as a vermifuge in America and as a tonic anti-periodic and febrifuge; may be used as a substitute for aloe to treat skin issues and in the treatment of malaria". Vermifuges are for ridding the body of parasites, hence the bitter component it embodies. Febrifuges are a group of plants that help reduce fever. 

Lilac Flower Essence is easily made if you've been taught how or easily sourced as well. Matthias and Andrea Reisen of Healing Spirits Herb Farm provide one form their gorgeous organic and biodynamic farm and suggest it be called on for assistance with 'standing tall, uprightness with lightness: Helps those who burden themselves, refusing help from others. Brings in laughter, easing painful memories and restoring joy'.

Here are two of my favorite recipes for Springtime. ENJOY! xo-Jen

Ingredients:

• Fresh picked and removed from thems Lilac flowers of any color.
• Jar size of choice 
• Local Honey

Directions:
~ Fill jar with freshly picked flowers with a little room at the top.
~Pour over honey to the top, stir with a chopped stick to get the air bubbles up and out.  
~Now you have two choices on how to proceed:

• Option One: allow to infuse for at least 6 weeks stirring from time to time in warm place.
• Option Two: sit in doble boiler bath for 4 hours and warm chceking to be sure you can always handle the bottle with your bare hands. If not it's too hot and you can degrade the nutritive value of the honey. Once done I let it sit in a warm place for 1-2 weeks.

~ No need to strain afterwards – eat the flowers along with the honey! Great for adding to recipes, spreading on bread, or adding to teas.

Equal light and dark is one of the gifts of the Spring Equinox. Honoring balance is something I'm thinking about by carefully looking at what's needing balancing in my world. Balance is a dynamic state anyway. Even scales wobble or need a hood to reduce the wobble. We don't live there. Maybe nothing does, or maybe we swing through it and sometimes pause a bit and oscillate around it until the full spectrum measures 'balance’? They’re calling for snow for the Spring Equinox. It's not a new thing here for New Yorkers. It makes me turn to the soup pot again with soft, understanding eyes. I'm not sure how to survive without my soup pot. I most likely could, but not well. The markets are rolling in asparagus and watercress and I love them both! Potatoes from the fall are still around and needing to be consumed so the balance of fall and spring, in one pot to feed our bones, is the way of our weekend within this tribe.

Many are still moving the flu around so the bone broths and thyme, with all the luscious green, help boost our resistance while offering flavor and keeping us in flow with Nature. My dearest friend, Caroline, taught me this recipe with watercress we would harvest in the watery areas we knew of. She was one of those people you are blessed to know, who showed me deep sisterhood at a much needed time, dragged me to my first herbal conference, and then pointed the way for me. Life did an about-face and she was suddenly gone in an accident and many lives changed forever by knowing her. She died on Valentine’s Day decades ago now. I always make this soup in honor of our time together as deep sisters, in gratitude for showing me the herbal world before she had to go, and in great anticipation for the blooming of the Magnolias which was her favorite flower that brought her deep peace from chronic pain. She comes forth through these blooms for me and the worlds are more interwoven than we think when I sit with Magnolia and fill my belly with one of my favorite soups from my dear sister, Caroline.
 
In deep honor of these days, may you enjoy welcoming Spring and our swing through 'balance' in your way. xo- Jen

Interested in deepening your relationship with the plants as medicine keepers? Full descriptions are available in the links below. Thank you for sharing. xo-Jen