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what's new?
So...
I've added a PayPal "donate"
option so if anyone out there feels smitten to
reward the manic episode that is this website, or
some other offering of mine, they
can send me a dollar or whatever feels good to them
if they're able to do so. I certainly don't
expect anyone to feel obligated, but if every once
in a blue moon someone sends along a donation that
allows me to splurge on a pair of new shoelaces,
that'd be pretty cool. I once heard a
beautiful saying about donating, that's always stuck
with me, "Don't give until it hurts, give until it
feels good." So, if you'd like to...
7/14/14
Added a bunch of low cost
classes
to the calendar.
10/9/13
I (finally!) rewrote my page on
sinusitis; the other was something like 15 years
old, and has been neededing tending to for some time
now; you can read it
here.
12/9/12
I'll be a bit busy for awhile, so
bear with me if I'm hard(er) to get ahold of...
elowen juniper gael...
6/7/12
added a few new links to the
article index,
mostly stuff by Althea Northage Orr and Christa
Sinadinos.
5/22/12
Well... a lot is new, actually,
as I haven't remembered to update this part of the
site as I've made changes and additions (check out
the way updated and revised
calamus page).
But today, I'm writing to say this:
I've swtiched hosting companies and (at least for
the moment), links you find on the internet that
don't include ".html" at the end might not work.
Just add that, and everything should be fine as
fine.
7/11/11
Oh my... I've been very lax about
saying what's new; certainly I've had exciting
(thrilling, even) adventures since December 17th...
but how to sum up?
Let's just say that there are new
articles linked in the
article index, new
links on the
links page, and new
articles written by me
here. Hope
you enjoy.
12/17/10
Added the info for
2011's
four season herbal intensive...
click
here for more info.
I've added some classes for this year's course, and
will also very likely be offering some additional
"electives" and mini-courses (2-4 session classes on
topics like medicine making and pregnancy/birth/wee
one issues) to compliment the core class.
12/9/10
Added info on
Margi Flint's weekend class here in Michigan, April
8-10. mark your
calendars, make plans now. Margi totally
rocks, and her teachings are deep, assessable and
extremely helpful.
Should ~soon~ have info on
2011's herbal intensive
class up, as well as more class offerings and mini
courses.
10/11/10
Added a page for the purchase of a
DVD that's got three hours worth of herbwalk footage
from my 2009 International Herb Symposium walks
here.
5/31/10
Want to take time to
acknowledge that I'm way far behind on
the swamp of emails in my inbox; well over 500 I
need to sort through and in some (many)cases, get
back to. It's quite likely, if you've sent me
something, it's "starred" in my inbox, and I really
do mean and am trying to get back to you, but please
bear with me as I try and catch up. As I'm
leaving to teach at
Howie Bounstein's
in Eugene, Oregon this week, and teaching all
weekend with my intensive class, and doing some work
that weekend also with David LaLuzerne of
HerbTV... it'll be,
probably, the 14th before I can really break through
all the added email and get back to much of
anything.
So, hang in there, and I
appreciate your patience/understanding...
12/17/09
Added the first round of
dates
for 2010, which include my upland hills
classes, a link to my 2010 intensive course, and out
of state events in Oregon, Minnesota and New Mexico.
More will be added (including a number of master
gardener events around Michigan, once I figure out
which are open to the general public) and more
classes in Toledo, Grand Rapids and other parts of
Michigan.
I've also been offering
some weeknight evening classes, generally 2 1/2 to 3
hours long, for groups on specific topics.
Generally, I'll break a daylong class up into 2 or
three parts and teach it as a mini course.
This is also a good option for people who can't
spare the 6 hours most of my day classes run.
If interested, please do holler.
Thanksgiving
2009
(too lazy to look at a calendar to figure out the
date)
In the spirit of thanksgiving, I
wanted to express my deep gratitude and heartfelt
appreciation to all of you for your support of my
herbwork. It's an honor to share the ways of the
plants, and to restore lost wisdom to common
knowledge in an ever widening circle of plant
people.
9/22/09
Added
blessed bitters,
my contribution to
Llewellyn's
2010 Herbal Almanac
to my occasional
herbal insights.
Do enjoy it (ideally 15ish minutes before meals),
but also consider picking up a copy the book to
delight in some of the other good articles contained
therein. Surely you're running low on flying
ointment and might want to try one of Susun Weed's
recipes for your next batch...
Also (egad!) started
pondering my 2010 schedule, plugging away at dates
for next years 9 month intensive class, classes at
Upland Hills EAC and trips out to conferences in
minnesota and new mexico.
So.... if
any of you are dying to invite me out to your
paradisiacal homelands, please do contact me now
because I only make so many trips away from home
each year, and open weekends disappear fairly
quickly (plus I start to covet my weekends off, if
they don't get filled up). It's also a good
time to let me know if you'd like me to teach
something closer to home, especially if you're
dealing with a specific date for some event.
9/9/09
Ran across a link to an
interview I did with John Gallagher at
HerbMentor.com
here. Besides
being a truly wonderful fellow,
John's site is an
exceptional jumping off place for people looking for
a solid introduction to the study of herbalism.
There's a lot of excellent foundational info, plus
interviews, videos and writings of a slew of
excellent herbalists, all with their own unique but
well grounded take on this beautiful craft.
8/10/09
well, noticing that my
last entry actually hasn't happened yet; maybe
that's what happened to that voice mail number...
lost in a state of temporal flux...
Added a few new classes to
the calendar...
check it out
9/10/09
Please be aware:
my old 737-3589 number is now
officially defunct (which is to say that
it no longer works, or, at least, it no longer goes
to me). I haven't got a new bat line for herb
inquiries yet, so please, till I do, contact me via
email. I do still have a home phone, but I'm
clever enough not to post that online.
6/10/09
Added a link to the
Tierra's new blog(s) on this
links page, and
linked some of the real nice entries in the
article index, along with some from
Kiva Rose's new site.
I also cleaned up some of the broken links (what a
pain in the tail), which, alas, had me ditching a
few from Charlie Kane, Todd Caldecott and Jonanthan
Treasure... well, I suppose its just a lesson in
impermanence.
I'll be at the
International Herb Symposium offering walks next
week (already... how time flies). If
you're gonna be there please do say hi.
Also, its worth
acknowledging that I've been WAY behind in getting
back to people who've emailed or called... while it
can be a daunting task, I do try to at least offer
some response to anyone who writes, though please be
aware that at times it can take awhile. If
you've got a question about an herb or some health
issue, try asking on one of the herbal listserves or
forums listed on the
links page...
that'll afford you several quick answers right off
the bat, without having to wonder if I'll ever
respond. That's really the best place to ask
those types of questions; a lot of answers coming
from a myriad array of perspectives is sometimes
nicer than what I alone might think. Anyways,
I'm beginning to catch up (I think I got all the
2008 inquiries replied to), but I never know when my
5 2/5 and 1 1/2 year olds are going to sneak up and
jump on me, or drag me off to see the Hyalophora
cecropia which I'm unaware is about to pee on me
(and pretty impressively, too...)
(incidentally, I'm rather flummoxed that the spell
check on FrontPage knows "Hyalophora" but not
"cecropia".... weird...)
3/31/09
I've made some additions
to my
herbal actions & energetics
page, and that's probably worth a look.
Also have added new classes, but (alas) not some of
the articles and such I've been meaning to add links
to.
Also, though I'll put out
a formal plea in time, my wife has started a new
venture called
HolisticNanny.com;
it's basically a matching service for families and
nannies looking to work together with the mutual
ideology of a holistically oriented approach to
child care. If you know of anyway to promote
this, via link or whatever, please do share it, or
let us know. It's entirely free at the moment,
and we won't be able to start generating income with
it until we get a bunch of people registered and
using it.
...and once that happens,
I can work less, and then be able to write more, and
then maybe get one of the darn books written.
So there... incentive.
2/9/09
Added a link to
Kiva Rose's new site
(linking up all her new scribblings to my article
index will commence when I'm feeling antsy late at
night). Likewise, though they're all bundled
up in issues of Medical Herbalism, Paul Bergner has
made a treasure trove of herbal epiphanies
available, and until I get around to figuring out
hoe to link them, do check them out on his site
here.
11/17/08
Added the first round of
dates
for 2009, which include my upland hills
classes, the Green Street Fair, the Lavender Fest
and the International Herb Symposium in
Massachusetts.
9/30/08
Finally put up a page with info on
bone
broths and my recipe for making one.
After discovering them via
Henriette Kress's blog,
added links to the chapters of Carol Rogers'
Women's Guide to Herbal
Medicine to the
article index. These, though, are
full chapters. Nice.
9/28/08
While I'm still working on the dates,
yes, I will be offering my
nine month herbal intensive
in 2009. We'll probably be meeting only on
saturdays; every three weeks or so. This'll
allow more folks who live a ways away to participate
(in previous years there's been monthly weeknight
classes)
8/30/08
Posted some new
classes
Also (this is your lucky day) because
I specifically directed someone to check out one of
Henriette Kress's awesome blog articles via my
article index, I was forced to (since I
realized after hitting send that I never updated the
links when she revamped her site) fix all the broken
links to her blog posts on that page. Cool!
Now I can use 'em, too...
Also fixed a bunch of broken Todd
Caldecott links.
(It's such a pain when people revamp
their sites...)
8/4/08
Wow.. the United Plant
Savers gathering last weekend went off fabulously, i
think. Thanks to all who came together and
made it a success.
Outside of the Matthew
Wood weekend august 22-24, I'm taking some weekends
off, but do plan on scheduling more classes before
years end, hopefully in Ann Arbor and Lansing;
perhaps in Kalamazoo, if we can pull that off.
I'm also working on the schedule for next year,
which will include my nine month program, and
hopefully some 3 or 4 session mini-intensives on
selected topics, like medicine making and herbal
actions and energetics, or, as I call them,
foundational herbcraft. I've also outlined a
class on the urinary system, and hopefully will do a
late winter/early spring tree walk. We'll see
how productive I am a writing my monolithic handout
packets (generally 20-30 pages) which I
consider pre-requisite for a class.
I think I'll probably
start offering the handouts as computer files, as
well, to save paper, but also because making copies
is an expense and also a pain in the tail.
Plus, if I save the handouts as files, I can include
good color pictures of the plants... groovy.
4/22/08
Spring!
First of all, as you may
see above, if you're suffering because you wanted to
see Matthew Wood while he's in town but couldn't
afford or accommodate the full intensive, I have
balm for ease your pain.
Probably every Friday
evening when he comes in, he'll offer a short
presentation (7-9:30) on something cool here in
White Lake. And, if you'd like to come for one
of the weekends individually, I can arrange that
too. Dates for the weekends are on
this page. Contact me for details (topics
for the weekends will be slightly guestimated, and
may change depending on where we're at in the larger
course. May/June's will likely cover the
respiratory and lymph/immune system).
For those interested in the weekends, you'll need to
have at least some understanding of the information
contained in Matt's "the Practice of Traditional
Western Herbalism", where he discusses and explains
the concepts of "tissue states". There's a
brief write up on this
here. If
you've got questions, or want to see if I can get
you up to snuff on this, just holler...
Added a couple links; one
to Shawna Greenway's
Weed Dance Farm
in West Michigan, where I'll be teaching in late
June and where Shawna teaches all the time (cool!),
and another for Celia's
Dandelion Revolution
blog, which is a nice one indeed. Also, Some
quickies which I'll put here but don't have on the
links page yet:
Need oils or butters for
medicine making? Try
www.organic-creations.com.
They've got nice prices on some good bulk organic
oils and such; good o know when you realize how much
that small bottle of jojoba oil is going to cost
retail.
Need Vanilla, but simply
refuse to pay retail? Try
www.organic-vanilla.com.
They've got both bourbon and tahitian varieties
available, direct from their farm, at insanely good
prices.
3/14/08
For several years, I have
ecstatically promoted
www.missouriplants.com
as among the best sites online to find pictures and
botanical information to identify herbs. For most
entries, there were several pictures for plants,
including close ups of leaves, stems, flowers and
other special identifying characteristics. On
numerous occasions, that site was what helped me
positively ID something. It's better at doing so
than many, if not most, books.
I've noticed and gotten some emails from people that
the links to that site from mine weren't working, so
I dropped Dan, the guy who runs it, an email to see
if it was having troubles or just had come to an
end.
Tragically, it seems that Dan was struck by a car
while biking last year, and died from his injuries.
His wife returned my email, saying that she was
doing her best to keep the sites online, but doing
so takes time, resources and finances.
There was a fund set up for Dan after his death;
donations will be used to purchase land for
conservation in his name. Please make checks payable
to the "Dan Tenaglia Foundation" and send them to:
Dan Tenaglia Foundation
1416 Victoria Avenue
Opelika, Alabama 36801
These donations can also help his wife keep the
invaluable resources of
www.missouriplants.com
and
www.alabamaplants.com
websites "up and running and growing".
One of the great things about the internet is that
so much valuable information is freely given. When a
situation arises like this, its good for us to
acknowledge the how much we've received from
someone's passion and consider giving in support and
honor of it. It'll help it continue to be available
for us, help his family, and honor Dan, as well as
the plants he so obviously loved, as do we.
3/8/08
Added two articles by
David Hoffmann to the article index; "Is
Comfrey Safe?" (to thicken the plot) and
one on
Fennel & breastfeeding mothers.
Plus, a link to Ginger Webb's
Texas Medicinals....
2/4/08
OK, this is purely
opportunistic: I have a Barnes and Noble gift
card/store credit for $106, and while I'd be
delighted to splurge, I have some other needs that
are more pressing than books at the moment (I can't
believe I just wrote that...).
Anyone want it for $90?
I know, I know... I'm such
a peddler...
1/31/08
Added info on
my trip
down to Minnesota for the MidAmerica
Herbal Conference, June 6th thru 8th...
1/16/08
Added info on
my trip
down to Mississippi for the Ocean Springs
Herb Fest, March 29-30th...
1/7/08
Added a few more
class
dates for 2008. Also updated a few
links (Matthew
Wood's site was revamped late last year
and it totally kicks ass now). I also
added some new links to the article index, including
some from Matt's site, plus a few blog posts from
some friends, Darcey Blue's
write up on syndrome x
is very good, the kind you're happy t direct clients
to because is so well and simply put, and
Ananda Wilson's
article on connecting with
plants and with one's self is a gem of
deep, simple, empowering wisdom.
11/29/07
Added the first batch of
class
dates for 2008. In March I said I
was gonna be offering a new class on herbs for the
GI tract... let's all pray for me that I can get the
write-ups for that one done by then, since I've only
had it in my head to do so for the last several
years...
11/7/07
Added
a bunch of links to the
article index,
mostly stuff from blogs by guido mase, rebecca
hartman, kiva rose and angie goodloe. Didn't
get to darcey's yet, or the plethora of stuff that
henriette's done since the last time I added links
to her blog entries. There's a slew of stuff
on jonathan treasure's, as well...
10/28/07
Added
updated info on a
6 weekend course with
Matthew Wood
I'll be hosting from April through November 2008, as
well as info on a
United Plant Savers Regional Conference
here in Michigan on August 2nd.
If interested, please check them out...
--~---~~--~--~~--~---~----~~--~----~~--~--~~~~----~--~-
...OK, so if I'm supposed to be getting
back to anyone about anything, I have an ironclad
exemption:
10/22/07
Added a new child to the family, here at home real
early on the 22nd, a little boy named
rowan skye mcdonald. He was
(#@%!) huge - 10 pounds and 6 ounces, just slightly
smaller than the Grifola mushroom I found the week
previous.
Everything was beautiful, everyone is doing great,
and my wife is flat out amazing. We're very
very blessed, and we thank all of you who've kept us
in your thoughts and prayers.
(liam sage looks delighted enough here,
but in a creepily Freudian manner he's lately been
stuffing various toys and animals into containers
and putting the cap on...)
--~---~~--~--~~--~---~----~~--~----~~--~--~~~~----~--~-
9/21/07
(practical stuff)
Added some
new
class dates for the last herb walk of the
season (october), for a class at
Upland Hills EAC on
the immune system (same class I've been doing, but
updated with new info and a new title) and a class
in Ann Arbor on using herbs to nourish and support
the body during times of stress.
Stephanie is three-ish
weeks away from birth. Here's a beautiful pic...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(+)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9/21/07
(rant)
OK, so I'm working on a
new class on herbs for the digestive tract.
It's a rather immense topic, and the outline (much
less all the stuff in between) of the class keeps
getting longer and longer (how long, I wonder, will
it take to actually teach this class?). In the
process though, I broke discussion of the GI tract
(GI, of course, meaning gastrointestinal, don't we
all agree?) into the "upper GI" and "lower GI"
tract. Familiar terms, yes? We're all
familiar with them, yes?
Well, yes, of course we
are. But...
...the terms "upper GI"
and "lower GI" are completely asinine.
You can't have an upper "GI", because "GI"
stands for gastrointestinal, and there's
no intestinal anything in any part of the
"upper GI". Nor (as you may be in the process
of surmising) is there anything "gastro" in the
"lower GI". What the hell? Really, we
should be talking about the "upper G" and the "lower
I". That sounds ridiculous as well, but at
least it makes sense.
So now I have to decide
whether to (as I rightly should) totally eschew the
use of the terms "upper GI" and "lower GI" out of a
sense of principle and devout rightness, or merely
point out the insipidity of these terms and then use
them anyway, so as to save me the immense nuisance
of trying to figure out what to replace these poorly
contrived terms with.
Ah, the trials we face...
9/1/07
Added a new section to my
links page
on herbal listserves and message boards.
8/14/07
Ever since reading Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I've often asked
aloud, when the house was a wreck, "Where is that
damn house elf?"
A couple of days ago, the
sad truth struck me: I am the house
elf.
damn.
8/2/07
Goodness, its august!
Been busy collecting Blue Vervain, the Collinsonia's
about a week away from the picking, and Stephanie's
in her third trimester. Wow.
Finally, after a reminder
that I'd asked for, and been granted, permission to
do so changed the
solomon's seal
picture from the so-so one I had to a nice picture
of the roots, provided by Sapphire Kate, from the
Wise Woman Forum.
Definitely an improvement, for good pictures of
plant roots are much harder to come by than their
leaves and flowers. My heartfelt appreciation
to SK for sharing...
I also added a link (long
overdue) to my friend Elaine's
Innocent Chocolate.
I initially got some of this a couple years ago in
trade from some Solomon's Seal tincture, and I still
laud it as one of the best barters of my life.
Exquisite, this
stuff is.
This stuff is worth
mailing for. Its of the Gods. It's a
beautiful blend of decadent and enlightening.
It makes you a bit weak in the sinews when you taste
it and your eyes start to roll back in your head a
bit, kinda like when someone you like a lot kisses
your neck (okay, maybe I'm starting to get carried
away, but you chocophiles know what I mean...).
Good stuff. Get
some.
7/15/07
Added a link to
Tall Trees Community
Farm, a newly
forming ecological and educational community project
(oh, yes, and a farm) that's manifesting about a
mile south of me here in White Lake, Michigan.
The endeavor is still in its formative stages, and
both open to and encouraging of community
involvement. If you live round these parts,
its worth checking out and getting involved in.
7/6/07
Added a few things over the last couple
weeks; articles in the index by
Guido Mase, and his
blog, as well as a
nice excerpt from an article on
Bitters
from some site in Australia (even excerpted, its
pretty nice) and a link to George Vaughn's
Mushroom Harvest
(offering pretty much every medicinal mushroom you
could want... damn shame me and George weren't ever
able to finish our converstaion about cultivated
cordyceps... alas for practical distractions...).
Also, I had an outright delightful time
at the IHS earlier this month, with the pleasure of
meeting some of you all as well as some delightful
folks from other parts of the world. Had
really nice talks with Daniel Gagnon from Herbs Ect
(damn nice guy), Isla Burgess (who told me that the
Maori use sow thistle, sonchus species, as an
antidepressant and encourages everyone to start
eating it), John Redden, Susan, Kerry and
Christine Dennis from Ontario (those Canadians are
damn fun folks - invite them to parties if you
can... John told me that burning New England Aster
acts restoratively to caregivers), the ever humorous
and a bit taller than I am 7song and his incredible
medicine bag, Phyllis Light (super sweet and super
knowledgable - her talks are always faves of mine),
uh oh... I'm getting to the point where I'm going to
start leaving people out, which I wouldn't want to
do, especially as I got to meet Heidi and Bonnie
(again) and Robin and Lupo and the beautiful and
friendly Phillipses and so many other folks who
names will surely elude me if I pursue them...
5/something/07
(just back from vacation...)
Well, you may have noticed the
beautiful lady's slipper on the homepage; just took
that a couple days ago and wanted to share it.
Wish I could say that there were so many lady's
slippers in the world that I put up a nice batch of
tincture, but, alas, that's not the case. The
yellow lady's slippers up north where I were,
though, were peppered around the roadsides and
lakeshores and other grassy openings, and very happy
and healthy. I did make a bit of flower
essence, without (of course) removing those
beautiful blossoms from their stalks. I look
forward to playing with that.
In other news, though it be boring to
you, I switched hosting companies and now that
that's all done may get around to making a few
additions, like adding some ofthe articles from
guido mase's site
to my article index. I also (though we'll see
how long this sits waiting to go on the burner)
would like to create a link directory to some of the
seldom used herbs that have been written about
during
rebecca hartman's "blog party",
as well as some others I know of or have written
myself.
...And, gotta schedule some more
classes.
4/28/07
Added some links over the last couple
weeks; one to Angie Goodloe's quite nice blog
the herbalists path
(yes, more fun blog reading...), and tweak a few
things here and there and back around there (and
upside down there, and sideways over here - reminds
me of signing at a mortgage closing...).
Also, I'm be
gone and out of touch from June 2nd
through the 10th, up north at the headwaters of the
Rifle River, surrounded by lady's slippers and
columbine and the grass of parnassus.
Mmmmmm.... (I'll soak it in for y'all)
4/something/07
(to lazy to look...)
Added a couple things to the article index (David
Winston's
The Ten Tastes -
very cool) and a link to the
Michigan Natural Health
Coalition.
The MNHC is working to establish a health freedom
act in Michigan. What is that, you wonder?
On a basic level, it allows various natural health
practitioners the right to practice their arts
without restrictive licensure (we do not want
licensure*), based on
the notion that adults can make responsible
decisions about what healthcare options they choose
and be responsible for those decisions.
Establishing health freedom is one of the most
important goals we can work towards in regards to
protecting our rights to choose how we take
responsibility for our health and who we choose to
help us explore the many options available to us.
If
you don't live in Michigan, look into your states
health freedom initiatives here:
www.nationalhealthfreedom.org/state_organizations.html
*Licensure,
commonly proclaimed to "ensure public safety" by
establishing standards of education and practice,
tends to focus more on establishing fees that
generate income, and on restricting what this
or that practitioner is allowed to do.
It is not uncommon for one group seeking licensure
to also seek the sole rights to certain practices;
as an example, some efforts have been made on the
part of certified nutritionists to give them sole
rights to offer nutritional advice; that is to say,
that people who aren't certified
nutritionists could be legally prosecuted for
suggesting nutritional or dietary considerations.
Now, using me as an example, how effective an
herbalist could I be if I couldn't offer any
suggestions regarding nutrition? That's just
crazy. Licensure is a bad, bad option.
We don't want the State legislating who can say what
and what we can't say anymore than they already do.
4/13/07
Added some new classes to my
classes page
(figured that'd be a good place for them)
3/26/07
Well, big news would be that I'm
gonna be blessed with another little one sometime
around this October. We are very, very happy.
And I happily look forward to the second trimester,
in which I hope to regain the use of certain spices
and pungent flavors in cooking that are, for the
time being, deemed rather abhorrent.
Also added a lengthy new write up
on wood
betony, which I think rather nice.
It really is an invaluable herbs, and now would be a
good time to buy some seeds from Richo and the Cech
family at
Horizon Herbs and
plant some this spring. You'll be very happy
you did.
3/5/07
we're in the 11th hour for any of you who might be
thinking 'bout the intensive; so if you're debating
please look over the fine details and let me know if
you'd like to do it this year:
~nine
month herbal intensive~
2/24/07
Just an FYI that if anyone needs any (really good)
bulk organically woodsgrown Goldenseal, Steve
Edwards at Aspen Hill Farms in Boyne City Michigan
has some from this past fall's harvest. This is the
stuff I've used for years now, and the quality is
exceptional. I think he has around 40 pounds
available, but know that he will sell in smaller
quantities as well.
Steve Edwards / Aspen Hill Farms
1878 Anderson Road, Box 753
Boyne City, MI 49712
(231) 582-6790
Again, I couldn't rant enough about the quality of
this stuff.
2/16/07
Added a page on my
kinnikinnick
smoking mixture, with the recipe and some brief
insights into the act of smoking as ceremony.
1/26/07
Updated the
links
page to have its own separate section for blogs, and
included some nice ones by Henriette and Darcey and
Jonno and Kiva and Rebecca and Kathy (I'm probably
not actually on a first name basis with all of these
folks, but what the hell...).
Also adjusted info on my
nine month herbal intensive to
account for the possibility that the "4th Thursday"
classes might be switched to the "4th Wednesday", in
case that affects anyone's availability. I'll be
deciding on that factor soon, and the course starts
in March, so if you're interested, send me an owl
(or call or email) and we can discuss the
particulars.
1/22/07
Ooh cool!
7song
has revamped his website, and included many more
articles than were previously contained there, and
which I've now linked to in the
article index.
Note that some of these are fundamentally outlines
of topics worthy of study, and while they don't
contain all the details and specifics right there in
one package, they do provide a very nice opportunity
to review the outline and ascertain what topics you
know about and which ones you don't and need to bone
up on (as they say).
Also added
7song's
site to the links page, along with a link to
Kiva Rose's medicine blog
and the
Anima
retreat center she helps run.
1/15/07
Goldmine. Added a plethora of links from
Chanchal Cabrera to the
article index.
1/9/07
Added some links to offsite info on
Calamus
to my (can you guess?) page on Calamus. Also tweak a
sentence here or there - I've got a bunch of new
stuff collected to add to this (have for months and
months now) but we'll see when I get round to
getting it all added; gotta get a few permissions...
1/7/07
Added a few new
Wendell Berry
poems; ooh, some real nice ones...
12/18/06
Michael Moore,
whose insight, wit and online philanthropy (i.e.,
his site)
has given so much to the herbal community, has (to
sorely understate the issue) had a pretty tough
couple months. At the end of it all, while doing
better, he has acquired some financial woe.
For those who would like a way to give back to one
who himself has given so freely, please check out
Jonathan Treasure's page on how we can help out an old
friend, as Michael is to us all, whether we know him
personally or only through that decidedly rascally
but undoubtedly trustworthy authorial voice with
which all his books are infused.
www.herbological.com/herblog/michaelmoore
or
www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/?p=602
I'd like to posit to everyone that while many of us
poor old herb folks aren't rolling in the dough,
many hands still make for light work. A lot of
heartfelt $10s, $20s and $50s will add up.
(good lord, I'm probably gonna be hit up to
volunteer for the next public radio pledge drive...)
12/15/06
please visit
Voices for Traditional Medicine
a site devoted to stopping the proposed traditional
medicines congress:
http://traditionalmedicines.info
12/13/06
Added some info to the
classes page on
the
8th International Herb
Symposium, at which I'm delighted
to be able to offer some herb walks.
...and added a link to some
Andy Goldsworthy pics/sculptures.
Damn; that guys good.
early december
Added a slew of links to the
article index,
including a bunch of stuff by susun weed.
11/13/06
Added a slew of
class dates for 2007,
as well as some preliminary info on
David Winston's visit
and the potential to have
Matthew Wood back here in
2008 to offer an advanced
intensive study program...
--~--~~----~----~~---~---~-~~---~--~~----~---~~-~----~---~--~~--
10/21/06
Y'know, I'd though I had added this to the article
index already, but somehow it didn't seem to be
there, so I "re-added" it today (under the
assumption that I did do it and it mysteriously
disappeared as opposed to that I'm wrong about the
whole thing...). Sharon Roller's excellent article
Cleansing and Detoxification Questions and Answers.
Good reading for everyone, and a good link to pass
onto those people who seem preoccupied with their
colons.
10/17/06
I've added a number of links to the article index
(well, not a horde but some good ones - fixed the
todd caldecott links and added some from tierra's
site). I've also added some new poems, including my
assembly of Pendell's poem from the teonanacatl
chapter of Pharmakognosis. Brilliant.
Oh, you'll probably want to search on the definition
of the word "keening", if you really want to wrap
your head 'round that one.
10/4/06
Added a write up on Solomon's Seal that hopefully
you'll all like; I also added "more pics" links to
the plant write ups I've done which are quite good.
Please read the request below, too, and do pester
those google people for me, if you can...
9/26/06
I'd like to ask for your help.
In early July, the company that hosts this website
was hacked into and my site was loaded up with all
kinds of dreadful links. While I corrected the
problem within a few days time, it seems that google
scanned the site, deemed it "spammy", and deleted it
from their index. Though I've tried several times to
resubmit the site to google to be re-indexed, this
hasn't occurred, and so ~none~ of my site shows up
on google searches. This has been a bummer for me,
to say the least.
I've tried to contact google to address this but
there is virtually no way to get ahold of anyone
there. So, I'd like to ask if you all could help me
out by doing the following:
1.) Go to www.google.com, enter www.herbcraft.org in
the search field and click "Google Search".
2.) The results that come up will show references to
my site, but no actual pages from my site. Scroll
down to the bottom of the page and directly
underneath the "Search" button you'll see a link you
can click that says "Dissatisfied? Help us improve".
Click this.
3.) This opens up a page that allows you to express
you dissatisfaction with the results of your search
for my site. I'd ~greatly~ appreciate polite
comments to them stating that Google used to return
results from www.herbcraft.org , but no longer does,
and that you really want them to include my website
in their search
results again.
Thank you very much, in advance, for your time and
help in doing this...
8/21/06
I'm gonna be in Ohio in early September; hope to see
some of you outta state folks while I'm there.
I'll also be travelling 'round the southeastern part
of Ohio from August 25th till the class in Toledo on
September 2nd, and so will be more or less outta
reach till I get back after labor day.
Also, herbalist David Winston will be coming out to
Michigan in early May, 2007. Cool; David is a plant
genius.
8/7/06
Added a few more poems. The last three stanzas from
Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound are absolutely
incredible. Years and tears worth of pondering the
wisdom in those; take just this excerpt of an
excerpt:
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates...
Written so long ago, and yet so poignant in these
present times.
Also included a couple things from Clarissa Pinkola
Estes, most widely known for her book Women Who Run
With The Wolves. I saw her in Ann Arbor with my wife
several years ago; wow.
I mean really, wow. Incredible.
She's supposed to have a book of poetry coming out,
but the release date seems to be in limbo. Till
then, her books are profound, and the CDs of her
storytelling are unspeakably good.
8/7/06
A note on the article index: All the stuff by Todd
Caldecott (and there's some fine stuff there) needs
to be relinked, as Todd recently reworked his site
layout. As it may take me a bit to feel like typing
in new links, you can, in the meantime, visit his
site's homepage and look directly from there.
8/5/06
He he... I'm so funny.
Some time ago Paul Bergner was nice enough to let me
copy on of his posts on restless leg syndrome onto a
page to keep handy here; I finally got 'round to
putting up the picture I've always wanted to go with
it...
8/5/06
I'm gonna be in Ohio in early September; hope to see
some of you outta state folks while I'm there...
Also, added more links into my article index...
7/31/06
Added a page on Elder; also, a day or two ago, added
some new links to the article index; Paul Bergner's
info on vitalist energetics (wow, Paul kicks ass),
an article by David Winston on tick born illnesses
(I'm so blessed where I live; there are virtually no
ticks), and another thing or two that is presently
escaping me.
I'm still not showing up on google (dammit... see
below for that debacle) which isn't good for people
looking for herb classes here in michigan (not
especially good for me either). Errr... frustrating.
Also found out an old friend's dad passed away
today; sad. As a tribute to him, if tomorrow is as
hot for you as today was 'round here, it'd be nice
to really nonchalantly look at someone and comment
"It's hot out."
7/25/06
Updated quite a bit of my page on sinusitis to
address some of the things I've known for awhile but
haven't updated to that, including greater
elaborations on certain plants and addressing the
fungal aspect of chronic sinusitis.
Also, a couple other things...
First, there appears to be another jim mcdonald
(we'll call him "false jim mcdonald") who writes
about "alternative medicine" and who has some
articles online about "colon cleansing". This is not
me, and I have a great deal of personal disdain for
the whole "I'm toxic and need to cleanse" mindset.
So, for the record, you are not toxic, and that
ain't me. Please, if you are working on healing and
striving to attain a state of vibrant health and
well being, don't fall into the toxic trap. Even if
you have what the old herbalists would have called
"bad blood", that shouldn't be turned into a self
image of toxicity. This will only hinder your
progress towards greater well being.
Second, earlier this month some... "creative" folks
hacked into my site and loaded a bunch of porn onto
it (and, indeed, info on viagra and cialis and
gambling). Depending on your personal inclinations,
please accept my apologies for either having this
sneak onto my site or for taking it down. I do admit
I'm a bit distraught that the page on "scat" was
evidently more popular than anything I've ever
written (my web stats tripled), but I'm sure I my
bruised ego will recover. But, I figured it'd be
good to clarify, as, evidently, there are still a
few links to my sight (though the offending pages
are gone) associated with this nefarious act of
subversion. So, if you're searching and see
something creepy that says its on my site, please
know its not there anymore and it wasn't me who put
it there.
As a result, I got booted from google's database
(which makes little sense to me, since google
searches find all kinds of weird sh*t), and searches
for michigan herb classes no longer seem to
immediately pull up my site (which really sucks).
I've resubmitted everything, though, and hopefully
everything will be back on track soon.
My apologies if anyone saw anything terribly
distressing while this debacle was at play.
7/5/06
Finally got around to elaborating more fully on the
uses of Mullein in treating spinal and other
misallignments...
6/27/06
Added a link to Roger Wicke's excellent article,
"The right to practice herbology, legal history and
basis" to my article index page. This is must read
stuff for anyone who sees clients. We all owe a debt
of gratitude to Roger for providing what may be the
only clearly put, readily accessible article on this
important subject.
6/25/06
Added a link to my friend Andrea's new blog,
"Planted in Alcohol" to the links page.
6/15/06
gonna be out of town and in the woods and on the
water between this Sunday (the 18th) and whatever
date the thursday after that is... I'll do my best
to catch up with calls and emails after that.
thanks, I'll enjoy bliss on a canoe for each and
every one of you...
BUT...when I get back... I'll be doing a short herb
walk with my friend (the awesome) Jen Green, ND at
Marshbank Park in West Bloomfield on Tuesday, June
27th at 7PM...more info on the "classes" page...
6/9/06
added a poem by Mary Oliver... it's so beautiful.
6/2/06
Added info on the class I'll be doing this fall in
Toledo, Ohio...
5/31/06
Added some new class dates..
5/11/06
Added a few more links to the article index...
5/4/06
Added a few new class dates to the calendar; a
couple in Ann Arbor and info on the Lavender Fest at
Yule Love It Lavender Farm in Leonard, MI.... my
first herb walk at Upland Hills is coming up in late
May and I can't wait to start teaching outside
again; hopefully I'll see you there.
4/24/06
I've become a bit compulsive about drawing leaves
and vines and squiggly lines on myself and friends
and family as of late; which is to say I've been
getting into henna. Now, I'm certainly a far cry
from the insanely beautiful designs I've seen on
some of the sites I've been checking out, but it
damn fun to draw plants on yourself, even if it's
not perfect. In honor of this, I've added a couple
sites to my links page to the best resources I've
found, so as to get you all into doodling on
yourselves as well...
4/19/06
Added a page seeking a home for a dog; a friend of
ours had a family member who decided she didn't want
her anymore and was going to have her put down, but
my friend rescued her and know she, my wife and I,
and a few other friends have been fostering her till
we can find her a good home. She's a rott/pit/terrier
mix and as sweet as all get out. If you or someone
you know is looking for a dog and wants a real
sweetie, check her out.
4/3/06
Added a little write up offering a few of my
thoughts on thorns. This is something I'll often
weave into teaching, and I've always wanted to do a
write up on it. What I've got is... well, its okay.
I should really have taken more time with it (I
didn't, after all, even write about prickly ash...),
but, hell, I can always add to it later...
4/2/06
Been piddling around, adding a few links to the
article index, added a link to my friend Jen Green's
site (she's a very cool ND here in SE Michigan),
added a link to Sunstone Herb Farm, and revamped
some of the mushroom ID links.
3/9/06
Added a gazillion links to Henriette Kress's blog
entries to the herbal article index; the effort
(considerable) has made the index a lot better;
Henriette has gems all over that blog-site of hers.
2/27/06
Elaborated on all the pertinent details of the
Matthew Wood weekend workshop coming May 19th-21st.
All the details (except a time specific itinerary)
are here.
Also made a few other updates (one kind've amusing
to me), but I'll let you find 'em...
2/13/06
Reformatted a few things, greatly improving the
links page by figuring out what "bookmarks" are. So
now you can bypass the 42 feet of scrolling it takes
to get to the wildcrafter listings and just click
the heading at the top of the page. It was really
easy to do; wish I'd known how earlier. I also moved
the myth & lore section to the links page, and added
a link to the master article index onto the seeds &
stems page.
And, a few days ago I added a link to Robin Rose
Bennett's site, and added Robin Suggs's Moonbranch
Botanicals to my wildcrafters/growers list.
Also, got around to looking in my account stats and
gadzooks! Over 2500 visits last month... that's
pretty wild...
12/19/05
Added a write up on apple, and "by the pot"
proportions for making Cocoa Buzz...
12/19/05
Been a busy beaver... added a recipe for teething
tincture, and a couple case histories on meniere's
disease and uterine fibroids, also a link to Seven
Cups, who supplies the finest tea available, sourced
directly from organic/fair trade tea plantations in
China, and to Sotoya Ceremonial Tobacco Company,
where Sun Butler grows really, really remarkably
good Tobacco for conscious, prayerful smoking.
And though I'm not finished with it, and I haven't
linked it from anywhere else on the site, I'm making
decent progress on the article index I'm working on,
which has articles by the best herbalists I know of
grouped and linked by topic. I'm scared to death to
start on Henriette Kress's site... not to mention
her blog, which she adds to almost daily...
But, for now, its not bad... hell, its come along a
lot better than the herbal repertory I've been
working on...
12/12/05
Added Kathleen Raine's "The World" to my indulgent
poetry links...
12/10/05
Well, first of all, it's my childhood friend Andy
Nadolski's birthday today. Now, I haven't seen or
talked to him in years, but hope he's had an
excellent day, and a whole bunch more to come.
I just added an article index for David Hoffmann's
stuff from healthy.net. Anyone who's ever navigated
that site should be pretty happy they can access
these direct links, rather than try to find the info
there. I've grouped everything by catagory; so
browsing's much easier...
12/06/05
Added numerous links to even more wildcrafters,
growers, and herb suppliers on my links page...
including Heartsong Herb Farm, Healing Spirits Herb
Farm, and I added links to a number of articles that
Richard McDonald (no relation, outside of "all my
relations") at Desert Bloom Herbs has added to his
site... check out his diabetes writings... nice.
Also, a excerpt on how he wild-cultivates Osha from
"The Herbalist's Way" by Nancy & Michael Phillips
(of the afore-mentioned Heartsong Herb Farm.... see
the interconnectedness?)
11/28/05
Added info on next year's herbal intensive...
11/25/05
Added a slew of new plant-myths to seeds & stems...
Also, a recipe for my four root (and a bark) brew,
and one for spiced kinpira... good lord, the sauce
for this is exquisite...
11/14/05
Added a link to a poem by Maureen Dorrington...
Maureen was a friend of mine, if only briefly and
seen on far too rare an occasion to say we were good
friends... though nonetheless we were. It was one of
those instances where you meet someone and it's as
if you just hadn't seen them in a long while... she
was a kindred spirit. Maureen wrote this poem when
her father died, though no one seemed to know she
wrote poetry till after her rather sudden and
untimely death on July 19th, 2002. If you like the
poem and wish to thank her in some way for it,
simply take in a stray cat. You'll earn a blessing
from her for sure...
10/19/05
Updated my page on New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae),
including another years worth of observations by me
and some others who've been exploring it's medicinal
uses. This is a fine, fine plant... if there are any
around you, tincture some up and try it out... you
won't regret it.
10/10/05
Life is good.
I found two giant hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa)
mushrooms this evening, one weighing 3 1/2 pounds
and the other weighing over 7 1/2 pounds. That means
I can eat wild mushroom this-and-that for weeks, and
still probably have enough to give away to a few
good friends. In honor of my good fortune, I've
added some good mushroom photos to my links page
(look under "identification"). And, to be very
responsible, I included more links to photos of some
of the common deadly poisonous mushrooms that you
need to know about if you plan on gathering wild
mushrooms. While Hen of the Woods and Chicken of the
Woods are rather distinctive, things get dangerous
when we compare the common edible lawn mushroom the
Off White Parasol with the deadly Amanita Virosa.
Same rules that go with plants: Never harvest unless
you're absolutely sure of the plant's/mushroom's
identity.
I also added a page on Mullein, which is one of the
most phenomenal herbs I know of. Right now I think
there's about two pages, if you were to print it
out, but I hope to, in the next few weeks, flesh out
and elaborate on some of the fine details,
specifically it's effectiveness for treating spinal
misallignments...
8/16/05
I updated the Burdock page, adding some new info and
tweaking a couple of things here and there. Also
added the story of how the hummingbird brought us
Tobacco to the seeds & stems page, and a week or
three ago I added some info on the too oft maligned
Purple Loosestrife...
...and, though it's entirely unrelated to herbs at
all, I made up the most delightfully punny (which
can mean good or bad, depending on your feelings
about puns) bar joke the other day, and think I'll
indulge myself:
So there's this rooster sitting up at a bar, having
a couple beers and eating peanuts. Suddenly, without
warning, a fox leaps up behind him, grabs him by the
neck and proceeds to devour him. Suddenly, he stops
mid-bite, looks at the bartender and asks, "You
wouldn't happen to have any cock-tail sauce, would
you?"
(your demented herbal host smiles and humbly bows to
the chorus of groans... :)
7/18/05
Wow... time flies...
The herb symposium was great, and I quite enjoyed
getting a chance to sit in on classes by Matthew
Wood, David Winston (who'll likely be coming out to
SE Michigan in 2007), Phyllis Light (wow), Margi
Flint and Cascade Anderson Gellar. It was a real
treat.
I've recently added info on Purple Loosestrife, and
made some updates to the links page... adding,
notably, a link to Adam Seller's Pacific School of
Herbal Medicine, which has some really good recipes
and info on horsetail, Ragweed & some other herbs.
6/19/05
Well... next week I'm leaving for Wheaton College
and the International Herb Symposium. I'm incredibly
excited about this, as I've never been to anything
of this sort of scale.
It would be pertinent to let y'all know that I'll be
gone and more or less inaccessible between June 24th
and the Fourth of July weekend. If you've got
questions about any of my July classes (particularly
if you have questions or want to pre-register for
the Ann Arbor area walk on July 10th), please send
me an email at jim@herbcraft.org or leave me a phone
message at (248) 737-3589. Should you not hear back
from me early in the first week of July, please
email or call again... I don't want to miss the
opportunity to walk around outside with ya.
6/6/05
Well... this is what's new... this page wasn't here
a moment ago, and poof! here it is. Isn't that
really kind've amazing?
Well... perhaps kind've neat, but I guess not really
life shattering all on its own...
Certainly, its not so cool as the fact that I've
just booked Minnesota herbalist Matthew Wood to come
out to teach here in Michigan from the 19th through
the 21st of May, 2006. Now that's cool.
I've known Matt since going to see him and Rosemary
Gladstar at the United Plant Savers Botanical
Sanctuary in Rutland Ohio... six? seven years ago?
I've kept in touch, and Matt's been real cool to me
since I've known him, and I'm real happy to have him
around to share his unique perspective on plant
medicines. I couldn't encourage you emphatically
enough to clear those dates on your calendar. It'll
certainly be a worthwhile weekend.
I've also recently added my recipe for stir fried
noodles with weeds and seeds, and some new links,
including one to my good friend Amanda's Wildwood
Wholistic Arts. Amanda offers doula services and
massage, from the really wonderful place she so
honestly embodies. I also fixed the broken David
Hoffman link, and I think the new website that it
connects to now is quite a bit better than the last
(and not just because it works...). I've also added
some links to pictures of some of the the
potentially deadly herbs growing in the Great Lakes
bioregion (just three to start), and I encourage you
to check these out, so you don't do something as
terribly dangerous as gathering Ground Hemlock (Taxus
canadensis) in place of Hemlock Spruce (Tsuga
canadensis).
...
Well, evidently I can't think of much more to add
this evening, so let me wish you all a good present
moment, and many blessings to you
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