New blog post up on the New York Open Center Website! "A healthy immune system is like healthy soil in a garden. It is the ground of your being, and when well it has the ability to fend off pathogens so that you don’t succumb to every virus, bacteria, or pathogenic microbe that passes by or even enters into you. It is a remarkably intelligent system that, in addition to its innate abilities, acquires new knowledge through experience. It learns how to identify, tag and neutralize or destroy foreign presence…

Tis The Season Crisp, cold days and long, starry nights, Full moon sparkling on snow, Each flake a uniquely faceted diamond crystal Inviting quiet reflection The scents of deep green fill the air, stately hemlock, balsam fir, blue spruce and white pine. The Tree of Life, Evergreen, predates the Christmas tree, the living symbol of the winter season. Nature whispers to us all that there are ongoing cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth and we are part of Nature’s transformations…

Hello, all! My latest blogging is up on the New York Open Center website as a guest post - be sure to check it out for a yummy seasonal recipe…

Susun Weed interviewed me on her blog talk radio show on September 17th, 2013. We talked about subjects ranging from wild carrot for natural conscious contraception, the benefits of topical applications of plants along with taking them internally, and about the gifts of the medicine plants, including how they help us to love as generously and freely …

Summer is the time for gathering fresh, golden silk right off of ears of corn when you husk them before cooking. If you are grilling your corn cobs with the husk on, then you have a different taste treat, but you have no silk to harvest. I've been known to have barbecues or go to them just to be able to have access to lots of corn in one place! And offering to husk the corn makes me a welcome guest as well as an opportunistic herbalist! I lay the golden silk out to dry on …

Motherwort – Leonurus cardiaca Motherwort is still blooming where I live and is a plant I wouldn’t choose to live without. This weed is not only beautiful, but a highly effective calmative for the nervous system. She soothes the heart emotionally when rage, frustration, anxiety, or unreasonable fear threatens your peace of mind and heart. She is an ally when overwhelming emotion renders you incapable of loving communication with yourself and others. 10-25 drops of motherwort tincture in water or tea is a…

Let’s Celebrate the Natural World in all it’s astounding Creativity! Beautiful and wild Isabella Roselliini will put such a smile on your face: Watch any of her award winning and funny Green Porn Videos They are wonderful! “Edu-tainment” at its most creative. In her Seduce Me series, I particularly loved the Duck…

We take herbs to help us heal our bodies. And consciously or subconsciously, we are drawn to herbs because they help us reconnect to ourselves, and the Earth. But we’re usually not present in our own bodies. We live more often in our minds. This limits us. The mind wants to grasp everything first, but full aliveness happens as you learn to be present and feel, heal, and fully inhabit your body, learning through your senses…

I haven’t been blogging for a long time and I miss communicating with people via the blog, miss sharing thoughts and feelings and stories about plants and trees, or offering counsel and questions about what I see and feel happening on the earth around me. However, I have been focused and spending most of my writing time completing my new herbal healing book, Green Treasures…

It's nearing the end of goldenrod season so if you haven't yet gathered any of this abundant plant, this is a great time to do that! Gather the flowering stalks of any species of goldenrod (Solidago species). Pick the sunniest yellow flowers you can find. I gather the upper third or so of the stalk, and include the leaves, stalks and flowers in all my medicinal preparations, as well as for my dried goldenrod…

Amidst the turmoil and blessings of our changing, evolving world, the sweetness of genuine friendship is one of life’s greatest joys. When we observe and listen to plants, insects and animals they teach us about the mutuality and benefits of symbiotic relationships. And about having fun. If we transplant a plant from one place in the garden to another it immediately begins to adapt itself, biochemically…

Hello! I've done guest posts for other blogs, but never done my own. I'm going to give it a try this year and will orient the blog toward day-to-day happenings in the gardens and kitchen, medicine making tips, stories I want to share, some poems, and undoubtedly some philosophical musings. Stay tuned! Today the snow is still melting off the mountain here. The food garden is flooded, but will soon drain thanks to the water catchment swales that…