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

What's Goin' On: naughty, naughty pharmies

This isn't surprising to me, but outrageous nonetheless. If you don't find this outrageous-- then, as the saying goes, you aren't paying attention: click here

It is amazing to me the amount of shady 'behind the curtains' dealings that continue to go on in the healthcare industry(not to mention food and psychology as well). Dealings that lead to gross misrepresentations and misconceptions about what is healthy or not, and what is necessary or not. And it is disconcerting to me the number of people who simply don't know.

Before I start to sound like I'm lecturing, I want to make clear that I was one of these people. I grew up in a very typical suburban, middle class 80's household. I feasted on McDonald's, Snickers, and Stouffer's frozen macaroni and cheese; I soaked my skin in paraben-laced body care and am still surrounded by plastic as far as the eye can see; I dutifully took all the countless antibiotics that Dr's gave me since I was little; and heaven knows what other ills I exposed myself to in the Generation of Excess (too many to list here, for certain-- I smoked for much of my childhood and adult life as well. I've been smoke free now for 5 years now, thank you!). But enough about my colorful background...

This has become one of my pet peeves as of late, the issue around diet and heart disease, cholesterol, etc. The reasons are twofold: I myself have been borderline anemic, and hypoglycemic much of my life, and my husband has a history of heart disease and diabetes in his family. So I have been educating myself more and more around these issues, not only to serve us as we age gracefully (of course!) but to begin preventative health care for my children. Prevention and knowledge are, in my humble opinion, some of the best medicine.

There is a lot of information coming out in the past year especially that highlight all the lies we have been fed about what is best for us. Most of the time, these 'rules' for health are merely hypothesis (to repeat on a previous post), theories, ideas and experiments. We, and our children, are the guinea pigs.

Outrageous.

Daily Dose: motherwort

Ah, Motherwort (also known more formally as Leonurus cardiaca). Her latin name invokes images of the calmly regal -- and protective -- lioness, she with a strong and capable heart. Motherwort helps us with these qualities, being a potent nervine that will take you down a good notch or two when you are feeling jittery, anguished and rattled. (Like when you are getting caught up in the craziness of the holiday season, maybe?) I have benefited from it greatly when I was bordering on a stress attack, or was depressed and hot-tempered as we Aries can sometimes be. A full dropperful (or two, I admit it!) and almost instantly I felt a soothing calm flow through my body.

This herb carries a lot of heart energy for me and for others, as it so efficiently calms the heart and the nerves overall. It is the perfect herb for the holidays, and if I wasn't crazy busy I would have shared this with you sooner (er, sorry). I trust the holidays were wonderful even if you didn't have this trusty herb by your side. But once you know of it, you will be sure to carry it close next Christmas. Or for any other time you need to center and calm yourself, for that matter.

Motherwort is a diaphoretic, emmenagogue, has nervine and tonic properties and is antispasmodic. It is wonderful for those with PMS, menstural cramps and such. IT is great for a good many other things, but I'll save all that for the detailed post on it.

It has a very potent, pungent and bitter taste-- certainly not a flavor one associates with tea. My preference is to take it in tincture form; mind, this does not make it more palpable, just sends it down the throat a bit faster. And of course the medicine takes effect rapidly as well, being absorbed readily through the tissues of the mouth.

Wrap-up: if you are full of tension, anguish, feeling close to a panic attack, can't focus from the stress of it all, Motherwort is for you. She will rapidly bring you to your center, and soothe the beast within. There are cautions from some old time herbalists that it can be psychologically addicting (see Susun Weed), however I have not seen this so far. One dropperful, up to 4x a day is recommended as needed.
Contra-indications: not to be used while pregnant (save for under the care of an experienced herbalist at the final stages of pregnancy), as it can promote bleeding; do not use if you have regular spotting or heavy bleeding monthly. If you have hyperthyroid, consider using a different herb.

What's Goin' on: sad and silly

Being that I am a WAHM, I hope the non-parents who may come here don't mind that I will be posting often about noteworthy/provocative, etc items for parents.

This is a blog on parenting I came across, the first post I read speaks volumes about the state of birthing in America today. My experience was so far from this, and I feel lucky. Many families, sadly, are not. Can you imagine birthing here? Read on: Sweet Juniper

And now, to lighten the mood.You need not be a parent to enjoy this:
The.funniest.thing.ever!



Carry on!
MsThistle

Daily Dose: usnea

This is the time of year for calling on a dear herbal ally "Old Man's Beard," or Usnea (usnea wirthii, u.californica).

It's the time of year when we keep cozy inside: a lack of fresh air when we shut tight our windows and turn on the heaters, and keeping kids inside to play in such environments only helps viruses to prosper in abundance.

When I was pregnant, I found all too often there were so many wonderful herbs that help colds and flus, but are not recommended while pregnant or nursing. I started using Usnea--safe for short term use while pregnant-- and now use it regularly. More even than Echinacea. Don't let the idea of being gentle enough for mama's fool you -- Old Man's Beard packs a punch! It has even been shown to fight gram-positive bacteria's, it is so potent. It is also called one of "nature's antibiotics" (see Buhner, 1999, _Herbal Antibiotics_ for a great reference). It is wonderful internally or topically as well for staph infections (I must note here, that one should never mess around with staph infections these days, they can advance to serious systemic proportions quickly. Please make sure you are being careful to have such an infection monitored by a health practitioner or your choice).

Some of this magical herb's qualities include assisting the fight against internal candida issues (because of its anti-fungal properties) -- I've even used this on my babies when they came down with a yeasty-diaper rash (after sweating off the alcohol, to be sure! It will irritate their skin otherwise. I'll post that recipe in the next post). I have also paired this with a tea blend to fight off tenacious UTI's with great success.

Wrap-up: Usnea is a powerful white blood cell stimulant (which in turn helps the body to attack viruses) and antimicrobial: anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-bacterial. So it really covers your bases. If you are going to be in an environment that exposes you to illnesses, or feel like you are catching something, you can take 3-4 dropperfuls a day of this tincture and within days you will be feeling on top of it. Sometimes I even blend 50/50 tincture of Echinacea and Usnea, if I am feeling rundown already and want to stimulate my immune while fighting the nasties.

Contra-indications: none known, don't overdue while pregnant

Be well,
MsThistle