Rabu, 30 November 2011

And The Winners Are!

Corinne and HC Greenery won jelly!

Danielle Pertuso, Carol, Sharon and Tufa Girl Won Pins!

Taylorsoutback, Flowerlady and Grace win napkins!
Everyone who commented!  Please ladies send me your full names and mailing addresses to ym-healthAThotmailDOTcom and if you have a blog name your blog name so I can match what you won with you.  One additional task for Grace of the bottom two napkins which one do you want?  Gardeners Know The Best Dirt or the Potted Herbs?  I really appreciate all of you participating.  I'm doing one more giveaway before the holidays so stay tuned.  One of you (Can't remember who?) asked about jelly recipes.  If you go near the bottom of my blog there are a list of labels for my postings and I think there is one for herbal jelly recipes.  Click on that link and it will take you to the recipes.  Look forward to hearing from you all.  Congratulations!

Selasa, 29 November 2011

A Miniature Railway or Two for the Holidays!







My big Peruvian/American kid wanted to go and see the Miniature Railroad & Village at the Carnegie Science Center.  If you are in the Pittsburgh vicinity, I would take whomever wants to go.  It's for kids of all ages.  It was a great day to go because the kids are still mostly in school and it was a rainy day.

The kids who were there had a great time and so did my big kid!  Mostly set in western Pennsylvania, it includes a part of the steel mills, Forbes Field where the Pirates were actually fun to watch, a western PA small town  the incline that provides transportation up and down the hillside near downtown Pittsburgh, Fallingwater, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece and Luna Park, an amusement park.  It was a lot of fun to see it again and they are taking very good care of it.



If you are in the Chicago area, you should take the kids or grandkids to the Museum of Science and Industry and check out The Great Train Story with its 30 plus trains that go from Chicago to Seattle.  We also went to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see their Garden Railway.  They have the Wonderland Express at the moment.  Here are some photos from the outdoor display around Halloween.



I so loved the buildings made out of sticks and twigs and other natural materials that I sometimes forgot to take the trains!  It is all about them!  It was a lot of fun to see even without a small kid!  Remember my kid is big!   Lastly I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Winter Flower Show at Phipps Conservatory featuring The Nutcracker this year.  Get out and enjoy the holiday events in your town or city.  Looks like everyone that commented on the giveaway is going to get something!  It ends tomorrow morning!  It took me forever to get this post together.  Hope it makes sense!  Talk to you later.

Minggu, 27 November 2011

Chamomile - An excerpt


The following is an excerpt from my latest ebook: 
Herbal Remedies for Children 
During the Cold & Flu Season. 

This ebook is on sale for $10 

Purchase this ebook before midnight on Monday, November 28th you'll receive several bonuses including an ebook on Herbal Gifts for the Holiday season and two fun herbal crafts. 


To buy the ebook, click on the Add To Cart button below:

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Now about Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)...

One of my first memories of using plants for medicine was delivered through Beatrix Potter and her adventures with Peter Rabbit. You might remember the day that Peter Rabbit narrowly escaped a harrowing ordeal in Mr. McGregor’s garden. Once he was safely home his mother gave him a cup of chamomile tea before putting him to bed. How quaint! Perhaps it was because of this pre-school impression that I didn’t take this herb very seriously. 


Now, many cups of chamomile tea later, I understand what makes chamomile so extraordinary. It provides significant results while being safe and gentle for practically everyone. 



As Peter Rabbit’s mother knew, chamomile is soothing and calming; perfect after those stressful days in the garden or at work. It not only helps to promote rest, but it also helps to mediate pain and inflammation. In fact, chamomile is so effective at reducing inflammation that it has been studied extensively for this ability. 


If you type its scientific name (Matricaria recutita) into PubMed (a government listing of biomedical studies), you’ll see it has been proven effective both for addressing phlebitis caused by chemotherapy treatments and for stopping allergies by inhibiting the histamine response. 

From an herbalist’s perspective, chamomile is considered bitter, slightly warming, and relaxing. What does this mean and why does it matter? 

Herbalists don’t simply study what herb is good for what condition. Instead, each plant is analyzed on a variety of therapeutic levels. One important aspect of this is the plant’s ability to warm or cool a person. Have you ever eaten really spicy wasabi and then felt your sinuses drain? Or eaten a fresh slice of watermelon on a hot day and felt cooled and refreshed? If so, then you’ll know exactly what I am talking about. 

Every medicinal plant has these characteristics to some degree or another, and understanding these actions helps herbalists to be more effective at choosing which plant can help a particular person. Chamomile, as just described, is relatively neutral but perhaps slightly warming. Generally, our more neutral plants can be taken by most people and in higher amounts without causing unwanted effects. 

The taste of a plant is also very important in understanding the plant’s actions. The bitter taste on our tongue creates a cascade of events that promotes our digestive function. From stimulating saliva (our first digestive juice) to various enzymes in the stomach, liver and pancreas, one can argue that the bitter taste is needed at every meal. A strongly brewed cup of chamomile provides this bitter taste, thus promoting healthy digestion. 


Chamomile can be especially beneficial for people with a “nervous stomach” as it both calms and soothes while stimulating digestive function. It can also be used by people with digestive inflammation (such as heartburn or IBS) to mediate inflammatory levels in the gut mucosa. 

Furthering helping with digestion are chamomile aromatic qualities which break up stagnant digestion (think bloating and the bowling ball that won't leave your stomach). 
Chamomile has many applications for common complaints. Besides helping to relax the nervous system chamomile also can relax muscle tissue. Women may find their menstrual cramps abated with a strong cup of chamomile tea, or diminished by rubbing their abdomen with oil infused with chamomile blossoms. 


Any mother whose colicky or teething child has been soothed to sleep (or simply quieted) by chamomile will tell you this is beneficial stuff! 


If you’ve ever stuck a chamomile tea bag into a cup of hot water for five minutes, then you’ve experienced chamomile as a delightful and slightly sweet tea. To get more therapeutic results, use more chamomile and steep for longer. I generally use 1/2 cup of flowers to a pint of just-boiled water and I let it steep for 20-30 minutes. The resulting brew is decidedly less sweet than a cup of tea but this stronger concoction provides more relief for many of the issues listed in this article. 

Besides drinking this strong infusion, it can also be used on skin as a rinse or added to bath water to relieve itching of mild rashes. Chamomile is also used as a tincture, a glycerite and as an infused oil. 

The hill is alive, with the sound of laughter

Beginning on the Friday after Thanksgiving, this farm goes from a sleepy little place to a hustling, bustling hub of activity. This weekend it has been warmer than we can ever remember, and with the doors and windows open, it's easy to hear the children playing and laughing. This period of time is something we look forward to all year, and we all work together in some way all weekend long. Even the kids help when they can be home from college. Today Molly was learning the chainsaw and Rob got wireless to the shop. During the week it is much more manageable, so that any one of us could handle it alone, but on the weekends... well, I was asleep by 8:45 last night.
The front room of the soapmaking workshop is where during the other 10 months of the year we stage shipments, stack things for upcoming shows, and store some finished products. Along the one wall, my sister has her lamp-working torch and kiln set up. In November, we drape it and set up a little shop where people can pick up small gifts for themselves or others. All of the things on the website for The Essential Herbal are in the shop too.
The guys handle the saws, the netting, and the drilling. Santa and his reindeer are atop the main workshop area, and when you can see it lit-up, it is time to come down from the fields because it's too dark to be safe from tripping on stumps or falling into a hole. There is space for about 35 cars, and on the weekends people are moving in and out of those spaces pretty quickly.
Since it was mellow during the morning hours, I set off into the woods on the other side of the farm. I was a little nervous because of all the hunters out shooting, and when I saw something that looked sorta, kinda like a dog flash across the trail up ahead, I just turned around and headed back. The woods were very muddy from the rain earlier this week, so it wasn't a great loss. I did stop and inspect the underside of this tree that fell during the hurricane earlier this fall. There's something so mysterious and fascinating about the roots of a tree.
Closer to the shop, I gathered some sweet Annie seeds for a friend. She'll be surprised because I told her earlier that they seemed to be all gone. They were still growing under this corkscrew willow tree. I was thinking of all the interesting things those branches could be used for...
Most exciting of all to me at the moment, is this little Meyer lemon tree, and the blossoms that have opened today. It isn't very big, so it couldn't bear the weight of any fruit yet, but the scent of these blossoms are simply amazing. A lot like gardenias with a little sprinkling of citrus. I'm in heaven!

Still Green But Not For Long!



We were out yesterday raking the last leaves and mowing for hopefully the last time!  The top photo is the jasmine that is hardy for us in Zone 6.  It has a small pink flower, but it is unfortunately not good for tea.   I can't believe how it has grown!  We bought it at Well Sweep Herb Farm in New Jersey.  They have a great catalog and they still do mail order.  I am putting together my favorite mail order herb seed and plant list for The Herb Companion and will be posting that in the next few weeks.  The middle photo is a look into the upper garden overlooking the herb garden.  The ornamental grasses are taking over!  The last photo is of the Everblooming Cecile Brunner.  Still doing her thing!  I made a small bouquet for the table and I'll share that with you on the banner page.  Don't forget the giveaway!  Click on the link on the right hand side to give me a comment.  The contest ends this coming Wednesday, November 30th at 10 AM Eastern Standard Time.  Hope you had a great turkey day.  I'll leave you with our dinner.  We make a darn good turkey!

Sabtu, 26 November 2011

Ebook is on sale

I wasn't actually planning on presenting a webinar and ebook this month - I have my Facebook friends to thank for that! 


You see, I did a presentation on using herbs with children here in my Valley for the mothering group. And I made up this super cute 9-page booklet to go along with it. For fun I uploaded a photo of that to my Facebook page and within minutes had numerous requests for the booklet! 


Seeing that we are entering the cold and flu season and many people were requesting a book I jumped right on it. I got in touch with Michael (who was vacationing in Kauai at the time!) and he graciously agreed to do a webinar with me. Jill and Anne at East West School of Herbology helped me to get the announcement in the newsletter (at the very last minute!) and a webinar was born. 


I then started to work on my little pamphlet of notes. Over the past three weeks I transformed the little booklet into over 20,000 words and 92 pages of information about using herbs with kids. 


The ebook covers the following... 


Dosage issues for children
When to see a doctor
Herbs for fevers
Herbs for coughs
Herbs for congestion
Herbs for sore throats
Herbs for tummy troubles
Herbs for earaches
Herbs for teething
Herbal baths
and many herbal recipes

I strongly believe that taking care of our common illnesses by using affordable, effective and safe plant medicines is our human right. That's why I really strive to give out a lot of my information for free. Whether it is through this blog, Facebook posts or the free webinars with Michael Tierra. 

By selling an accompanying ebook, it provides a way for those who are interested and able to support my sharings and my work as an herbalist. 

Even though these webinars and ebooks are weeks of solid work, I love doing them. And I really appreciate all the support I get from the herbal community whether it is emails and Facebook posts to say thank you, or participating in my giveaways to help spread the word and for those who buy my ebooks. 

I couldn't be an herbalist with you all!  (Either egotistically or financially!) 

The winner of a free copy of my ebook is.... 

mayamadeherbals

Congratulations! I've already sent you a message.  

And for the rest of you who are interested here is the cart to buy the ebook. The cost is $15


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Thank you all again for supporting me whether it is through your kind words, spreading the word, or through your pocket book. 

Enjoy these winter months! 
Rosalee

Jumat, 25 November 2011

Finally! The day has arrived!

First things first, here is the winner of a year's subscription to Herbal Roots Zine! 


Desiree Moonstone


Desiree, I've sent you a message on Facebook to coordinate getting you set up to receive an entire year of Herbal Roots Zine. Congrats!!! 


Thank you so much to all of you for participating in this week's giveaway. During this Thanksgiving holiday I've felt especially blessed and supported by our herbal community. Thank you!

I have spent the past few days putting the final touches on my ebook, Herbal Remedies for Children During the Cold and Flu Season. 



Besides including everything that was presented in the webinar earlier this week I've added a lot more recipes and herbal information. 

This ebook covers

Dosage issues for children
When to see a doctor
Herbs for fevers
Herbs for coughs
Herbs for congestion
Herbs for sore throats
Herbs for tummy troubles
Herbs for earaches
Herbs for teething
Herbal baths
and many herbal recipes

When I first envisioned creating this ebook I thought it would be more of a supportive pamphlet to accompany the webinar. However I got carried away and the ebook is over 20,000 words and is 90 pages long. 

On November 26th my ebook will go on sale at 12:00 pm PST. If you would like to win a free copy of this ebook then here's what to do. 


For EACH of the above things that you do, leave me a comment below. I'll enter your name in the hat for EACH comment you submit.  If you do five things, then make five comments. 

You can enter your name up to 5 times!  

I'll draw the name for the winner at 12:00 pm PST on November 26th!  

Good luck! 

A winner and a chance to win a year of Herbal Roots Zine

I have to say that although I am pretty new to this whole giveaway phenomenon I am quickly falling in love. It is so much fun to give away gifts! Thank you to LearningHerbs.com and Demetria Clark for their generous gifts! 


 Without further ado our winner of the Wildcraft! game and the book Herbal Healing for Children is.... 


gardensage


Gardensage, please contact me so I can get these prizes shipped off to you! 


Today we have a very exciting gift which was generously donated by Kristine Brown, the beautiful and creative proprietor of Herbal Roots Zine. 


A year's subscription to Herbal Roots Zine!!!!


If you've been following me for even a short while you'll know I am a huge fan of this monthly educational zine. It is filled with stories, songs and all sorts of crafts and other learning opportunities. I mentor a ten year old girl and she loves this as well (but really I subscribe for myself!). 


This zine has taught me how to use comfrey to fertilize my garden, how to use herbal dyes to make beautiful scarves and how to belt out songs about yarrow (as sung to Annie's Tomorrow) 

My yarrow, my yarrow, I love ya, my yarrow, You’’re always an herb I’’ll grow!

I have no doubt that many of you will also want to be singing herbal songs at the top of your lungs while driving your kiddos around! 


Here's how this works. If you would like to win a year long subscription to Herbal Roots Zine you can enter your name in the drawing multiple times by doing one or more of the following things.  


For EACH of the above things that you do, leave me a comment below. I'll enter your name in the hat for EACH comment you submit.  

So, if you shared this post on Facebook, simply write that in the comment field and I'll add your name to the hat. This means that you may make several separate comments for each action you take.  

You can enter your name up to 5 times!  

I'll draw the name for the winner tomorrow night at 9:00 PM PST and announce it here tomorrow morning.  

Good luck! 



Here's what people are saying about Herbal Roots Zine. 



The information included on each herb is simple and experiential enough to entertain even very young children and in-depth and insightful enough to engage teens and yes, even us old timers. Personally, I find Herbal Roots to be an invaluable treasure in the homeschooling of our 10 year old daughter, Rhiannon. Which gives me a great excuse to read it myself. Even beyond parents, Herbal Roots Zine provides a great resource to any educator or caregiver hoping to find effective and easy ways to facilitate connection between children, the earth and the healing herbs.
-Kiva Rose

Though directed at kids, Herbal Roots Zine is IDEAL for adults.  I love how it keeps things simple, and I love the great, beautiful art.

You get to learn through information and recipes sure, but the REAL magic is in the PLAY…songs, poems, crafts, puzzles and stories. These are the oldest form of human learning. We’re hard wired for it, and this is why Herbal Roots Zine is the most effective herbal learning tool I have seen.

Kristine is an amazing artist and herbalist. As a mom of 4 kids, she has a true gift for connecting with kids. Though my own children really love Herbal Roots Zine, secretly, it’s me who spends the most time with it. Shhhh.
-John Gallagher, L.Ac., LearningHerbs.com






Kamis, 24 November 2011

Another side of the coin

When my sister and her family moved to this Christmas tree farm 20-some years ago, we were surprised on Thankgiving day to have a few people show up in the afternoon to cut a tree. At the time, it wasn't a particularly pleasant surprise, but not really a big deal. It isn't like we had to do much - Bob just hands them a saw or a ribbon to mark their choice.
Over the years, this has become a source of amusement. It has also become the official start to the season for us, and we've come to realize that it is a very special part of some families' holiday tradition.
I've been thinking a lot about it over the last couple of days because the Black Friday situation is so distasteful to me. I'm trying to figure out just how much of a hypocrite I am, I suppose.
To me, there is a big difference. The families come out after their dinners to walk off their full bellies on the beautiful hillside while they choose that perfect tree. It is a joyous occasion, and we get to be a part of it. Over time, we've watched the new generations arrive, and we've mourned along with some of them as they've lost loved ones that we've come to know. We don't have to leave our family, change our clothes, punch a clock, or engage in contentious discussions about prices and terms of sale.
The fact that everyone is happy and having fun is the critical difference to me. A little money changes hands sometimes. Sometimes they are only here to choose the tree and will come back in a couple of weeks to cut it and take it home. That they choose to spend part of their special day here, walking on these hills, kids running ahead and laughing, moms taking pictures, dads carrying the littlest ones... well, that's a blessing to us, and an honor to be where they want to be on this rare day of togetherness. Another difference is that we are home and this IS our life.
In the end, I'm okay with this situation. We don't go out of our way to encourage people to come today, nor do we tell them to go away. It just is. Some people watch football after they eat. We just do something a little different, and we love it.

We got a winner and the next giveaway!

Today is the second day of our giveaway! But FIRST I have the announcement of yesterday's winner. 


As a reminder, this person will receive Lesley Tierra's book, A Kid's Herb Book and a 4 oz bottle of Planetary Herbals Well-Child blend. 


The winner is... 


Wanderer


Congratulations! I'll be in touch in order to get these gifts shipped off to you. And a special thank you to the East West School of Herbology for donating these great gifts for this giveaway. 


Today we have another set of fabulous gifts that will be given as a pair. 


The first gift is the Herbal Adventure Game, Wildcraft! by LearningHerbs.com. If you've never played this game you are in for a treat! In this co-operative board game the players travel through a spiral to get to the huckleberry bush to gather berries for grandmother's pie. The goal is for everyone to gather berries and return home before dark. Along the way there are many opportunities to learn about medicinal plants. 


Kids of all ages LOVE this game. (Myself included!)


Wildcraft! is great family fun.Gather up the kids, bring out the board game, and learn about medicinal and edible plants in the most fun way imaginable.This is wonderfully cooperative game where everyone is a winner and everyone learns something about plants!
–Rosemary Gladstar,
Author of 'A Family Herbal' and MANY books






The second gift is a very informative book entitled Herbal Healing for Children by Demetria Clark. This book covers a wide range of ailments and herbs for children. A great reference for your bookshelf. 



" Demetria Clark gifts us with an enjoyable, thorough parenting guide for anyone who wants empower themselves and their children. 'Herbal medicine is people's medicine' is a constant theme in this book-and we all benefit.
Susun S. Weed, author of Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year



Here's how this works. If you would like to win these two prizes you can enter your name in the drawing multiple times by doing one or more of the following things. 



For EACH of the above things that you do, leave me a comment below. I'll enter your name in the hat for EACH comment you submit. 

So, if you shared this post on Facebook, simply write that in the comment field and I'll add your name to the hat. This means that you may make several separate comments for each action you take. 

You can enter your name up to 7 times! 

I'll draw the name for the winner tomorrow night at 9:00 PM PST and announce it here tomorrow morning. 

Good luck! 

Rabu, 23 November 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll leave you with a photo of a panettone from Panera one of our favorite places for breakfast and lunch.  This one has walnuts and cranberries.  The Herbal Husband enjoys his treats for the holidays.  I have to temper mine and eat it once in a while.  I have always wanted to make my own.  Martha Stewart makes one that looks easy.  I mastered Martha's pie crust so maybe I should try her panettone recipe.  This is not the recipe I remember, but the mind plays tricks sometimes!  It looks a lot more complicated than what I remember.

Well, we want to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving day to those of you who read about us in the U.S. and hope that you enjoy your family and friends.  The Herbal Husband was already asking if I was going to get the turkey ready!  Just cooking the breast so not as much work as the whole bird.  We do simple for the holidays, but we hope you enjoy your celebration!  Talk to you later.

First Giveaway!!!!

Today I am very excited to be giving away a spectacular book and a super useful herbal medicine for children. 


The book by Lesley Tierra is a must have for your young herbal enthusiast. I use it practically every week with my little herbal mentor Tova Rose (who is now 10). The book contains stories, songs, interesting facts and plenty of great herbal crafts for kids. Because of this book I brush my teeth with cinnamon powder! 


The Well-Child formula contains Echinacea and Elderberries - a great combination for young ones with a cold or flu. 



Here's how this works. If you would like to win these two prizes you can enter your name in the drawing multiple times by doing one or more of the following things. 



For EACH of the above things that you do, leave me a comment below. I'll enter your name in the hat for EACH comment you submit. 

So, if you shared this post on Facebook, simply write that in the comment field and I'll add your name to the hat. 

That means that you can enter your name up to 6 times! 

I'll draw the name for the winner tomorrow morning and announce it here tomorrow. 

Good luck!