Nurturing the Wild Heart

So much has been happening lately that I haven't found time to post. So I will give you a run down of all the excitement and hopefully be able to get back to a nice schedule from here on out! Florida Herbal Conference 2015   My Favorite Class Room The center of it all! At the end of February I was lucky to attend the  Florida Herbal Conference  thanks to some dear friends. I helped them run their booth, Earthen Moon , and they helped me get my ticket. It was a blast and a well needed break from the daily mom stuff. There were so many amazing classes it was hard to pick exactly which ones I wanted to attend. My favorites were To Hold Quiet with Kate Taluga, Iris Evaluation with Joanna Helms, Breaking Addictions with Leslie Williams, Inter-species Telepathic Communication with Ellen Kamhi, Planting Sacred Relationships with Willow LaMonte, and Scientific Validation of Botanical Medicine with Ellen Kamhi. Ok well that was all the classes I took and ...

We have been getting some pretty gnarly winter weather here in NC lately. Last week it was an icy mess. You couldn't even walk across your grassy areas because you might slip and fall. My kids however thought this was the best because they could "ice skate" on grass! It was bitter cold and our heaters never stopped to rest which had me a little nervous with our wallet getting a little too light shelling out money for fuel. Today it isn't as cold but it is snowing. Everyone around here isn't used to this weather and EVERYTHING shuts down. So most people are not happy with this newest development Mother Nature is throwing our way. It is hard because some people, like my husband, dad, and brothers, have to get to work even on the snow covered roads and the county is just not equipped to deal with snow or ice very quickly. This morning when I woke, even though I love snow, I found I was also less than excited to see the white stuff. So as I made a mad dash to the...

***1*** St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) Lovely Sunshine St. John's Wort It's medicinal properties are sedative, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, astringent, antidepressant, aromatic, nervine, diuretic, vulnerary, expectorant, and hepatic. Dosage: 1-2 teaspoons of dried herb per cup of water. Steep, covered, 10-15 minutes. Drink up to 3x a day. Or if using tincture 1/4 to 1 teaspoon up to 3x a day. I have been in love with this plant since I first met it. It was amazing to see how if you rubbed St. J's green leaves or crushed it's yellow flowers it would bleed red! It was also amazing to see the color change when you put it in oil. It goes from green olive oil to ruby red infused oil in a matter of days sitting in the sun! I have used this oil to treat nerve damage in the back, on a broken foot for pain and inflammation, for ear infections, and turned it into salve for wound healing, burns, pain, insect bites and stings, and ra...

Misty's Fiery Cider This is one of my most favorite recipes for staying warm in the winter time. It can boost your immune system  too, as well as it tastes kinda like Heaven. I call my version fiery cider at least for now. It has been a recipe herbalist have been tweaking for a very long time. Everyone has their own spin on it. I have seen some of the most interesting fiery ciders recipes! This is definitely a recipe to make your own and have fun with.  I first learned about this delicious recipe from Rosemary Gladstar. I am currently attending her home study course, Art and Science of Herbalism . Her book, Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health , was my very first medicinal herb book and it is a sight to see now. With all of its dog eared pages and worn edges you can tell it has been my favorite for a long time. There are recipes in the book called Fire Cider Zest and Hair Raising Cider. I made the Fire Cider Zest and fell in love! There are also tons of recipes onli...

Winter Solstice Sun Yesterday was the Winter Solstice. The darkest day of the year. The day for me started out like any ordinary day. Coffee, breakfast, and a brief check of what is going on in the world.  I will say I do not watch a lot of news or keep up on things. Maybe this is naive of me, but when I personally watch too much I feel overwhelmed and fearful. After all, most of the things on the news these days is scary and negative. Not to mention most of it is opinion driven so you can't trust it to be completely true anymore anyway. So I was scrolling through Facebook and headlines and I saw so much negativity. Even from people who are normally pretty positive. So I closed my computer and the family and I went into the woods. My oldest and I with a beautiful Cedar This day is the darkest, but that doesn't mean the bleakest. That big, bright Sun was shining so brightly as we stopped for a rest that I couldn't help but think that even though the worl...

Resting on some roots while hiking. We are a nature loving family. We love watching the skies for birds and learning about different creepy crawly bugs. Our field guides are always close at hand. We let spiders hang out in windows and watch them do their thing. We eat wild weeds and leaves from trees. The kids love it! They love to show their friends! That amazing spark you see in their friends' eyes when they discover something amazing about nature is priceless. I tend to beam with pride when someone gets a boo boo and my girls run to find some Plantain or when they find a Sassafras tree and nibble a leaf because they taste like a fruity cereal. For the most part they are always open to trying whatever I tell them is safe to eat like Chickweed, Lamb's Quarters, and Sheep's Sorrel. My kids can identify without any help at least 15-20 plants and more than that many animals. That is why when I saw this it surprised me "The average American child can recognize ...