Kindling for the fire: Randy Pausch's last lecture

With great anticipation...

Spring is almost here-- can you feel it? Go out for a walk and bear witness to all the sweet budding of life everywhere! The earth is waking up, Mother Nature is opening Her arms wide in adoration of Her Sun.

This is a great time for taking herbs to cleanse our systems, to wake up and shake off that winter coat that carried you through.

Here's a simple recipe to help stimulate your liver and get things moving:

2 cloves garlic
1 oz organic olive oil
1 oz fresh squeezed, organic lemon juice

Blend this together and drink at once (use a blender or mini-food processor; if you don't have one, then you will need to very finely grate the garlic, or even press it first). I have seen different recommendations for this, but personally I do this one time every morning for 7 days. This helps to quickly move things through the liver, some may strongly feel this and some may not. I have found I get an intense burst of energy and alertness within minutes of drinking this.

It is helpful to follow this with a supportive tea infusion that you drink throughout the day, such as equal parts Dandelion Root, Burdock, Oatstraw and Nettles. Hmmmm...lovely!

If you would like to try an infusion like I mention above, it would be best to decoct the roots, or create a cold infusion. Here's how:

Decoction -- take equal parts of the Dandelion Root and Burdock, mix together and measure out a heaping 1 tbs for a quart of water. Simmer on low for 10-15 minutes in a covered pot. Remove from heat, and add 1 heaping tbs of the remaining blend (equal parts Oatstraw, Nettles -- you can even add some Red Clover, yummy!). Cover again and let cool. Strain and enjoy.

Cold Infusion -- Equal parts of all herbs, measure out 2 tbs and place in tea strainer in your favorite quart jar (mason jars, wide mouthed, are perfect for this). Cover the herbs and let this sit in a cool dry area overnight. In the morning, remove your tea strained and enjoy throughout the day.

*edit to add information about decoction and infusions

Herbal Materia Medica Terms

This list is in progress, it is by no means complete or comprehensive yet.

Adaptogens -- helps the body respond to stress, to adapt
Antispasmodic -- lowers muscle spasms, ie relieves cramping of muscles
Anti-rheumatic --
Astringent -- tones tissue internally and topically via restriction, can assist overall good health of tissues ( ie capillaries, organs)
Carminitive -- soothes gas and bloating; raises peristalsis action; warming
Diaphoretic -- can aide in the reduction of fevers; facilitates sweating and therefore release of
waste, toxins
Diuretic -- raises urine production, which helps to release waste
Emmenagogue -- assists in the regulations of menses
Nervine -- calms the nervous system via either stimulation or sedation
Tonic -- good for consistent use, tones and promotes overall good health

Materia Medica: Motherwort

Latin name/family: Leonurus cardiaca, Labiatae mint family
Habitat & Appearance: moist, disturbed areas; often will volunteer in gardens and take over; hardy plant -- pink to white flowers above leaf nodes, leaves opposite w/ pointed lobes; resembles mugwort
Parts used: flowers, leaves and stems
Energetics: bitter, cold
Properties: carminitive, heart (cardiac) tonic, diuretic, antispasmodic, anti rheumatic, emmenagogue, astringent, diaphoretic, tonic, nervine
Folklore & Magical History: Not a lot, references to a plant of Venus, suggestive a use in the affairs of the heart, love; due to it's uses, I can imagine it being wonderful to use in workings for mothers or children, as a plant of protection and for uplifting the heart

I love this plant. I wrote about this much earlier in brief, and thought it was appropriate to be the first herb that we took an expanded look at.

Many mothers commonly use this plant -- also known as "Mother's Little Helper"-- to take them down a notch when things are stressful. It is highly effective for this use, however there is much more it is known for. How else could it win such a regal and powerful name, which translates into Lion Hearted?

So let's get to it. Starting at the core of what I call the "Sensitive Body" (as opposed to the physical one, this aspect of our body houses our intuitive nature and such), our heart, this herb works wonders on our 'mindsight' -- the mind/heart connection -- by virtue of it's ability to calm down one's thoughts, and thereby emotions, via the channels of the heart. Contrary to what you may think, our thoughts create our emotions, not the other way around. For those of use struggling with an overactive mind and emotional constitution, this herb is a powerful ally.

But before I start sounding too airy-fairy for y'all, it does this in part because this lovely herb contains alkaloids and compounds that have proven in lab studies to have heart-regulating effects, while also being sedative and hypotensive. So Motherwort comes with the data to backup her claims. This means that as it literally helps to calm the physical response to stress in the heart and nervous system, it then in turn helps to lower one's emotional response and effects as well.

When we are caught in a biofeedback of negativity, we no longer see where the tension begins -- in the mind with my thoughts? With my emotions, such as when I feel anger, frustration? Or in my body, when my pulse races and my heart feels as if its contracting with tension? -- and therefore how to best assist healing. By calming the heart and nervous system, this herb steps into the negative biofeedback cycle -- as the body calms down, the mind can choose to follow.

I say choose because I have found that in order to get maximum use of this herb's gifts, when possible I take advantage of that calming state and explore the negative thoughts that are contributing to my stressed out body. I consciously choose to ignore the negative thoughts in my mind, and replace them with very positive, supportive ones. Instead of "I can't handle this" I literally tell that thought to "STOP!" and in turn say to myself "I can handle this, and I will." By combining the action of calming the physical reaction in the body while also calming the agitated state of the mind, I have thwarted the negative feedback system's power over me.

Indirectly this plant assists blood pressure, again due to its talents with the heart. It helps to allow the let-down of milk in nursing women, I suggest once again, due to its ability to calm and center a possibly tense body (any mother knows that breastfeeding is a learned art!). This herb is fantastic to use for those with anger, depression or grief issues. I have found in various books many references to all kinds of maladies that it helps: stomach aches, headaches, convulsions, etc etc. When you consider that so many of these issues can stem from tension and stress, again it is no surprise the efficacy of this herb for such issues. Meanwhile, it also is effective in the treatment of rheumatic issues; as well as edema of the heart.

Moving down in the body, we come to the uterus: because of Motherwort's talents with heart and tension, it is no surprise that it works wonders for PMS and particularly for menstrual cramping and slow-starting menses in women. This is because this plant is an emmenagogue and assists bleeding, as well as being antispasmodic to smooth muscles. Rosemary Gladstar notes in her book, Herbal Healing For Women: "concentrations of leonurine and stachydrine, chemical constituents that promote uterine contractions have been found in motherwort..." (p.248) This is also why it is not recommended during pregnancy by many herbalists, for obvious reasons; however, it has been used traditionally by midwives at the last stages of pregnancy to assist birth.

Wrap -up: Due to it's nervine and sedative properties, this herb can best assist heart-centered issues such as stress, depression, grief, anger, insomnia, indigestion, headaches, cramping, muscle spasms... to name only a few. Great for PMS, menstrual cramping and slow-to-start menses; can assist slow labor and raise uterine contractions; can help to lower blood pressure; may be used to lower hyperthyroid conditions.

Use and dosage: One dropperful of tincture, up to 4x a day

Contraindications: Not for those who have heavy bleeding during menstrual cycles; not recommended during pregnancy; caution for those with hypothyroid; have seen references not for use with endometriosis, fibroids.

Disclaimer: Herbs are not FDA approved, nor or we implying that anything here should or can replace the recommendation of your health practitioner. You are reading this on the internet--educate yourself, never assume, and check with your health practitioner before using herbs.

References:
Herbal Healing for Women, R. Gladstar
Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs, S. Foster and C. Hobbs
Private notes from Northwest School of Botanical Studies
Plantetary Herbology, M. Tierra
A Modern Herbal, Grieve, M.

(I will be editing this to create links for book ref's, as well as a link to a list of descriptions for terms, and a formal disclaimer because we live in a highly litigious society, etc)

Shoppe News: We are up and running!

Thanks to our local computer dude, Dimitri, for getting us back on track!

Our Lady is back and right as rain so far . Orders are no longer being delayed. Thanks to everyone for your patience while we muddled through this. As D said, it is "never a convenient time."

This did highlight for us a few things that have been on the burner for awhile that we hope to address in the coming year: we need a new website, totally updated. We're going to be slowly working towards this in the coming months. There's a learning curve to wrangle with in the new program, but we love a challenge.

And we need to transfer all our labels from our limited graphics program to a better one (I've wanted to do this for years; but it takes time, which I don't have much of!), and also -- my secret dream! -- get them mass produced. Right now, I do everything myself. If I had multiple labels already printed, it would streamline production so much. This sounds like a small thing, however every little item I can streamline means that I have more time to dedicate towards the aspects of the company that I don't want to have to skimp on -- the mindful creation of the tea blends themselves, the personalized effort we put into the packaging, to name only a few.

I would also like to have more and more info here on this blog -- I'd love to see this become a place people share and converse about herbal health, WAHM's, children's herbal health, recipes, small business support for women...what would you like to share? If you are checking in , please feel free to leave comments now and again. We'd love to hear from you!

Hard drives and files, OH MY!

Well, it happened. Our beloved link to the outer world from our nest here in the Redwoods of rural California has been severed: our hard drive crashed this week. At least it is only temporary. At least we have backed up pretty much everything.

But this means that we are currently in a holding pattern while our Lady of the Perpetual Internet is fixed. So if you place an order, please know that we will fulfill it ASAP, however it may be delayed depending on what you order. Currently, we cannot access labels for our teas, so in particular we are limited in teas right now.

This issue is being addressed as we speak, and hope to be up and running at the top of the week, at the end of the week at the latest. We will be checking our emails as much as we can, but it will be intermittent.

Thank you for any good vibes of Happy Computerness you can send!

Press on!
MsThistle

Shoppe News

Whew. Well, the holidays are over. It was a hard season this year, but I made it through. Next year, I am clear that I absolutely must have some elves to help. I can't do this alone anymore. We aren't a big operation, but we are big enough that doing it myself has become a challenge.

Some updates, and a shout out to patrons who have been trying to reach us by phone:

~ From now on I will be posting News here at the blog,
instead of at the website with its own page.

~ Recently, I've had a hard time retrieving and hearing messages from our phone. For instance, I received a text message almost a month after the send date. Not sure why this has happened; I only know that this has resulted in a lot of very delayed brochures being sent out, for which I apologize. We couldn't be here without you, our customers -- but sometimes there are glitches in the program, so to say. My messages the last week have been coming in what seems to be a timely fashion, so hopefully this won't be a problem in the future.

If you are someone who has left a message and not received a brochure yet, please do call
again. Remember to speak slowly and clearly so that I can be sure your address, or call back
number is correct. And as always, thank you for your support!

More later-- press on!
Ms Thistle