go get it- landscaping! apprentice! nettles! daffodils!

I got to be in the local paper this week. It's the Go-Getter section- Try Landscaping. It's a very basic, to be sure, but HEY! I run my mouth all the time. This just warns the beginning homeowner to research their tree planting carefully, re-mulch to give a fresh perspective or look....
Seriously wish they would have used a real picture, not a shutterstock photo. The paper is really cutting its budget.... this is getting ridiculous. Opinions are like a$$holes- everyone has got one!

If you have questions about your landscape, I specialize in herbal, medicinal plants (obviously) and native/ xeric gardens that embrace your existing garden culture, as well as garden consulting.


Onto other topics: yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting with a friend who is going to be "apprenticing" with me. I'm not averse to leadership but I put quotes around apprentice because I feel like she and I are contemporaries and, while I'm teaching her, I still consider us on equal footing. Apprentice? Well, ok.
We spent some time working on what we wanted to teach/ learn about.... she walked around my messy and organic garden space, looking at all the new medicinal beauties popping up. The echinacea is popping its burgundy shoots out of the ground, the yarrow is pushing forth frothy tendrils, the bronze fennel has brown fuzzy cattails and the comfrey has ears of yellow green right now! The clary sage says loudly, "I DIDN'T GO DORMANT. OMG, I'M RIGHT HERE!". As well, the never-dying rosemary is a broad evergreen shrub! I have to say I'm excited. Oh, and the calendula? Greening up from the roots. :) Happy smile....(properly, I believe calendula is perennial but doesn't survive hot summers well.)

She and I planted Feverfew (looks like a cross between chamomile and daisy), Holy Basil (Tulsi) and some creeping thyme for strictly garden (not medicinal)  purposes. She is keeping hers indoors to sprout, while I'm letting my germinate outside in the cold! The basil won't move for awhile but the other two will be just fine.
As well, this gave me the opportunity to get out my beloved herbal books and assign some reading! I love my books dearly and firmly give away those I don't love. I have my dad's collection, which I find invaluable as well! Next week, I'm taking her, her two kids (4 and 6), my two girls and myself to wildcraft nettles. Folk herbalism at its finest, right there. Can't wait to have some fresh nettles- infusion for me! That bright sharp green with the gentle taste..... Here is a picture from last year:

Urtica dioica: great for kidney, liver, bile function. Arthritis, Vitamin K, potassium.

spring here...Nettles!

One of the most wonderful parts about spring is the fresh herbs/ food that becomes available. Pretty much everybody is on the farmer's market/ csa train, as well as the "plot of one's own" block party. But there are also wild foods available to us....
Why? Nutrients, minerals, energy right from the source. No cost involved. Adventure. Engagement in my own well-being. Nothing's a mystery- well, lots of stuff is a mystery. But not in a mysterious white pill!
What does it supply? Okay, let's start with Nettle. Urtica dioica. This grows wild everywhere. Bane of farmer's lives- stinging nettle. Old men HATE it (as a rule). Spring time is its heyday. Ohmygoodness, I love nettle. Natural source of Vitamin K, Selenium, Magnesium, Calcium, etc, etc, etc. What I'm suggesting is not new to natural food- Susun Weed advocates and writes about Nettles brilliantly. I'm saying, get some gloves, scissors, a bag and go pick some!
How? Make an infusion. One ounce of dried nettle, steeped in boiling water in a quart jar for four hours is a strong infusion. This is like a tea, but for real. Tea tastes pleasant but has little of the nutrients of the plant in it. An infusion really gets the good stuff from the plant!
Where? Partial sun, wild spaces, near water (creek beds, moist bottomlands) are a haven for this plant. I pick mine right off the levee in North Lawrence. Along the mown edge of the green, before the trees start is a small jungle of ground covers and stinging nettle.

What to look for: Serrated leaves, square stem, hairy neck, STINGING! Do not be afraid of the stinging. It doesn't feel great but have a conversation with yourself about it, wear gloves or deal with the itch. It is an old wives remedy for arthritic joints- lash the offending area with nettle and all the prickles are supposed to release the uric acid (hope I got that one right; it's from memory there) and lessen the pain. Always look for the sting to tell you you have the right plant. There is a wild vervain/ verbena type thing that looks similar but no sting and a round neck. Not poinsonous and not dangerous but look for the sting!

I took Greer in the Ergo and Myrna on foot to get it. It felt fast- after all the hustling the girls out of the car in the cold blowy morning; it took only minutes to walk around the gate, down the levee, spot some medium tall plants and walk down for a closer look. I tend to trust the levee plants because they don't spray. Poison ivy and all sorts of other wild plants live down there relatively undisturbed. The nice thing about spring Nettles? Nearly no sting- Myrna was nervous and put on my gloves. But I cut it all, tucked it into my pocket and we went off. Too cold to walk further but fun to find something useful amid the wild strawberry, spring violets (also a great eating herb. Myrna loves to eat the flowers!) and periwinkle vine (an invasive domestic gone wild?).

Kid's Health

Since I changed the name of this blog (from some poorly focused garden blog to the vit/herb/ health thing), I will just start by writing about what obsesses me as a mother.
1. Kid's thrive with good nutrition. For some this may not include milk, cheese, peanut butter, tree nuts etc. For us though, it resembles Adele Davis mixed with a little hippy mama and a dash of americana country. I mean PROTEIN. Complex carbs from whole grains. A bit of natural sugar here and there for lovin' pep (both fruit and honey/ maple syrup). Fresh food (good eggs, homemade bread, beans and cheese, fruit, a sly vegetable when I can) and some basic nonchalance about junk food. Yep, I've been letting it go. Cookies at school? Whatev. A bag of candy? Yes, you can have a piece after you eat your peas and salmon cakes.
2. Kid's immune systems might need a boost too. I use an Elderberry, echinacea syrup. It helps with the constant barrage of preschool colds, infections, germs. It is a syrup so easy to drink.
Here are two different kinds: Elderberry echinacea syrup by NOW, Nature's way Elderberry syrup. NOW is a great vitamin company my dad always believed in.  Maybe because it was cheap?? Just sayin'; my dad was a confirmed cheapskate!  But more or less, NOW has always had less flashy packaging, less "bio-certified by lab tests" stuff and just as much potency.  So I stand by them as well.

*Just a word here: I use Lucky vitamin dot com, as well as Vitacost dot com. These two sites allow me to be busy and working and still get vitamins.  HOWEVER, I love and respect the Community Mercantile. And when I'm in Lawrence, I try to keep them in business by getting my necessities there. Supplement emergency? Go to the Merc! Need guidance? Ask Tyra! My dad, Hal Sears, helped to start and make their wonderful department what it is today. He guided and helped and healed lots of people from his place at the Merc.

Back to the info. Why elderberry? It is hugely anti-viral. It's botanical name is sambucus. It's an anti-oxidant and gets your immune system kicking. My daughters' respond quickly to it. Remember that potency is not what you may think. Stronger is not necessarily better. It is important to look at how far away from it's native environment the supplement is. There is a school of thought that believes that only whole food sources can provide health benefits. I believe it too- but pragmatically, I can't get elderberries into my food.  Dude. I'm just not up to the task!! So I look at syrup- a glycerin extract. This means that basically the berries are soaked in glycerin (sweet, vegetable based and kid edible!). Very close to the source! No huge machines, no high concentrations that may do more harm than good, nothing created in a lab. I could recreate this in my kitchen after picking elderberries this summer! I encourage you to do this if it floats your boat. Get back to me about plant identification- I'll give you some information on correctly identifying the elderberry plant and berries. DO NOT GO EATIN STRANGE BERRIES IN THE WOODS. Jeez. Do I have to tell you everything?? (Also, do not attempt to sue me. See disclaimer in my info section.)

be well- feed your kids and yourself good food. lay off the sugar. refined sugar makes your immune system crash- a complex thing with sugars inhibiting absorption of vitamin c I think.