tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11211011240502025662024-02-21T07:29:47.209-08:00Soulstice HerbalsThe green plants bring healing to us, as we remember and share their heritage. The roots and the berries and the shoots can heal, if we let them and learn their ways. Soulstice Herbals is rooted in all these: The solstices and equinoxes, the four seasons, moon herbals, the four directions, the four Ayurvedic constitutions and the four elements of earth, fire, water and air. Join me here to share in, and learn to remember together the healing and joy of seasonal herbalism.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17802450495937944773noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121101124050202566.post-72267739870800028932014-04-23T14:50:00.001-07:002014-04-23T14:50:39.013-07:00Beginners Herbal Apothecary Cupboard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXkBLDUUlu8uEtrEaHRFb45DksWPXmGqom8rDRk-l8wSJS0UAqxkDw_DtqKEERIkZT_wEhzFfRJJYhQJcs7_G7pzK5ug5Zu1KkllHq94NaxPyA196qpY6ms3UNMFDzkfj05LK-RF-K70P/s1600/2b50c9729a33fe8085764a4df1debbcf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXkBLDUUlu8uEtrEaHRFb45DksWPXmGqom8rDRk-l8wSJS0UAqxkDw_DtqKEERIkZT_wEhzFfRJJYhQJcs7_G7pzK5ug5Zu1KkllHq94NaxPyA196qpY6ms3UNMFDzkfj05LK-RF-K70P/s1600/2b50c9729a33fe8085764a4df1debbcf.jpg" height="320" width="205" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I will be teaching an upcoming class at our local library, on how to begin to prepare wild medicinals and stock one's own Wild Medicinal Apothecary Cupboard.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">There are some basic herbal medicines, herbs, and preparations that I feel no self-created, properly stocked apothecary cupboard should be without. And, so, I have listed the 'very' basics below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I will be adding more information to this Beginner's Cupboard, so stay tuned here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Elderberry (Dried, Jelly, Syrup)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Mullein (Dried)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Nettles (Dried and Pickled)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Motherwort (Dried and Tinctured)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Propolis</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> (dried)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Chaga</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> (Dried)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Raw Honey</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-special-format: bullet;">•</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">St. John’s </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Wort</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">
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Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17802450495937944773noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121101124050202566.post-12631055201741717272012-01-26T10:15:00.000-08:002012-01-26T11:07:09.499-08:00Herbal Quotes<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Tpop8YmC4G5gOwXdk6M4bO1VEZSIEiOBmjbWLDDFKpAyEDjRrnXi2O-qTODav5o_RGdlgcKEptYGz7tjiX-xFYucbgbX5fNxgVa0rBwcqVANaxfsrBm1zJ9BHbjcpTh1Ijt5tXv7C4rz/s1600/make+do+book+holder+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Tpop8YmC4G5gOwXdk6M4bO1VEZSIEiOBmjbWLDDFKpAyEDjRrnXi2O-qTODav5o_RGdlgcKEptYGz7tjiX-xFYucbgbX5fNxgVa0rBwcqVANaxfsrBm1zJ9BHbjcpTh1Ijt5tXv7C4rz/s320/make+do+book+holder+001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Much virtue in herbs, little in men.”</span><br />
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Poor Richard's Almanac</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">“The garden is the poor man's apothecary.”</span><br />
- German Proverb</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Botany and medicine came down the ages hand in hand until <br />
the seventeenth century; then both arts became scientific, their<br />
ways parted, and no new herbals were compiled. The botanical<br />
books ignored the medicinal properties of plants and the <br />
medical books contained no plant lore.”</span><br />
- Hilda Leyel</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Would You Marry Me?<br />
"According to old wives' tales, borage was sometimes<br />
smuggled into the drink of prospective husbands <br />
to give them the courage to propose marriage."</span><br />
- Mary Campbell, A Basket of Herbs</span></div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17802450495937944773noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121101124050202566.post-18223962800225986372012-01-26T10:14:00.000-08:002012-01-26T11:08:17.658-08:00Common Medicinal Herbs and their Uses<div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6TDXF0Awd4Qx0AZRQhHld708hgbfpjABUHJSpUSZANl8leXXkFz_1ciT7pNyWKP1HqYDHDDo8d4TDJKGIJ9ro3nHcQkX-naGYHGuWQK7HzQxzbKPE1W3qxv74aEweoQwQ83IlOZ6htw5/s1600/rosemary.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6TDXF0Awd4Qx0AZRQhHld708hgbfpjABUHJSpUSZANl8leXXkFz_1ciT7pNyWKP1HqYDHDDo8d4TDJKGIJ9ro3nHcQkX-naGYHGuWQK7HzQxzbKPE1W3qxv74aEweoQwQ83IlOZ6htw5/s320/rosemary.bmp" width="238" /></a></div>A little chart for you to print, and hang inside your cupboard door. If you are 'new' to herbal medicine, this is a good little thing to have to get you started and to 'build' your apothecary. (:</div><div style="color: black;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722"; font-size: 16pt;">Some Common Medicinal Herbs & Their Uses</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Sage: Sore Throats, Nausea, Calming. Digestive Aid, Hair Rinse</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Thyme: Antiseptic, Respiratory Expectorant, Headaches</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Mint: Colds, Flu, Calming, Digestive Aid, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; margin-left: 2in; text-indent: -2in;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Comfrey: Externally for cuts, Abrasions, Wounds, Insect bites, Bruises, Soreness.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Red Clover Blossoms: Arthritis, Diuretic, Calming, Cough/Asthma, Phytoestrogen</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Red Raspberry Leaf: Astringent, Sore Throat, Laxative, Uterine Toner</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Plantain Leaf</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">(Narrow & Broad): Stops external bleeding, Wounds, Dry Skin</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; margin-left: 2in; text-indent: -2in;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Mullein: Expectorant for Respiratory Disorders, Infusions for Earache</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Dandelion: Diuretic, Potassium, Vitamin A, Liver Cleansing</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Elderberry: Antiviral</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Hops: Sedative, Calming, Phytoestrogen, Muscle Relaxant</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Calendula: Dry Skin, Pain, Swelling, Inflammations, Wounds</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Echinacea: Immune Strengthener<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Jewelweed: Poison Ivy, Oak & Sumac relief</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Lavender: Calming, Digestive Aid, Depression, Fatigue, Headache</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Rosehips: Uplifting, Vitamin C</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Motherwort: Uterine Toner, PMS, Calming, Blood Pressure</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Catnip: Nausea, Indigestion, Calming</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">St. John’s</span><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";"> Wort: Depression</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Nettle: Anemia, Fatigue</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Purslane: Extremely High in Omega 3, Vitamin C</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Chamomile: Stress Relief, Indigestion</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "P22 1722";">Shepherds Purse: Nosebleeds, Deep Bleeding</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17802450495937944773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121101124050202566.post-75698626760236558342012-01-26T10:13:00.000-08:002012-01-26T11:15:57.082-08:00History of the Herbwyfe<div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h1dWX-CmLcxypeC648d8hMKNlTWLDiwj1PYinM84CE68gRfKhUgj0tA10GoPyrgk3gOdYigZZ6Obuhyphenhyphen90pE5yOgiBsL6v7y4qeJfGlTwgvXEdmdhjoxiRA36hfLkzYcWwzasnZ3Xb0fX/s1600/0504111840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h1dWX-CmLcxypeC648d8hMKNlTWLDiwj1PYinM84CE68gRfKhUgj0tA10GoPyrgk3gOdYigZZ6Obuhyphenhyphen90pE5yOgiBsL6v7y4qeJfGlTwgvXEdmdhjoxiRA36hfLkzYcWwzasnZ3Xb0fX/s320/0504111840.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Below is an article that I wrote for A Simple Life Magazine <a href="http://www.asimplelifemagazine.com/">www.asimplelifemagazine.com</a> on the history of Women & Herbs, with specific reference to the history of the Herbwyfe.</div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think any of us, who are driven by a passion to learn and work with herbs, feel the pull and tug of this history and respond to it by actively seeking more knowledge and greater participation in the current world of Herbal Medicine.</div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Herbwyfe</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">(Herbwife)</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The History of Every-Woman’s Medicine</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Herbs. Those of us who are avid country primitive people decorate with, and grow, plenty of herbs. Dried herbs, crushed herb, swags of sweet smelling herbs. They add a feeling, an extra dimension if you will, of being connected and grounded to the soil and also a feeling of secure self-sufficiency. Herbs heal. If we gather them, somewhere back in our conscience we know that we can take care of ourselves, come what may. This is a good feeling.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We put herbs in our teas or cooking, or steep in our favorite mugs, specifically, herbal tea. But herbs, and the multitude of household and culinary concoctions made from them, were also a huge mainstay in the homesteads of long ago. We are, I believe, experiencing a re-discovery and a re-birth of the uses and knowledge of herbs in all their varied forms.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are weeds that grow rampant around our yard, garden and house and fill the fields every spring and summer. Some of these were so profuse that I would pull them every time I walked by. Shepherd’s purse, dandelion, chickweed, lamb’s quarter; all blooming and beautiful, but perceived as weeds nonetheless. It wasn’t until I learned that I was surrounded by a vast network of healing foodstuffs, that I viewed weeds differently.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">According to Maureen Anderson, practicing Herbwife at Hearthside Farms, just outside Colonial Williamsburg, “the word Wort means herb. It is the olde English word for herb. By the late middle ages, the word wort was beginning to be replaced with the word herb. Worts were the common name for any plant used for food or medicine.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The name wort continues to be used to this day in Motherwort, St. John’s Wort, Mugwort, Soapwort, and many other herbs, though it has fallen out of favor as a generally descriptive term for them.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">These plants, useful and healing, were once a part of every woman’s kitchen. The term for this use of herbs is called Herbwifery. An herbwife is defined as one who grows and uses herbs. Or, specifically, as one skilled in the knowledge of plants; a collector of, or dealer in, herbs, especially medicinal herbs.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In olde English, a ‘wife’ was simply, a woman, with no connotation to marriage. The term ‘wife’ was added on to the job which a woman performed. If she dealt with herbs and healing she was an ‘herb’ wife. Women commonly held positions of community healers and midwifes, which was an open door for the practice of herbwifery. Women who practiced the art of midwifery would also, many times, be the community herbwife. The two tended to go hand in hand. Midwives used herbs to help the mother and baby recover from the birth process, and they also grew and used herbs from their gardens and back fields for these purposes. Many times, the village herbwife lived on the edge of town. Here, the tree filled forest and fields met with her needs to gather wild plants, harvest the barks and keep an eye on the natural progression of the wild seasons and the varied storehouse of healing products it provided. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The largest clusters of the population in the 1600 and 1700’s, both in Europe and the New World, were poor rural folk who worked the soil for their living. If they found themselves or their children ill, their remedies lay in their herb and kitchen gardens. One would be hard pressed to find a single homestead that did not have its medicinal herb garden, a wool dying garden and an herb garden for everyday cooking. For those whose home remedies failed them, a trip to the herbwife on the edge of the village or town was in order. These roles, of herbwife and healer, were learned and passed from grandmother to mother to daughter. A matriarchal heritage of self reliant healing, you might say. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The wisdom of herbal planting, flowering, gathering, drying, tincturing, distilling and decocting, and it’s various uses and cures was no foreign subject in the female lineage of a family. The education of drying and preserving the medicinal and health giving herbs for the winter months was necessary to life and well-being. It was not frivolous or hobbyist in nature. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Laurel Ulrich, of Harvard University, has written an entire book on the subject and history of an American herbwife’s diary entitled, <u>A Midwife’s Tale</u>. Martha Ballard, an herbwife, who also was a midwife, in Augusta, Maine, kept a diary of her life and healing practice covering the years from 1785-1812. It is rare, alone, for a diary from this time to survive, but also rare in that it is the diary of a practicing herbwife who kept records of her healing methods.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">An excerpt from Martha’s diary entry of April 28, 1785 reads,</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <i>“Clear. Mr. Ballard gone to Ditoes. John Pinkam here for herbs for his Child that’s unwell. The ice runs in the river this day. Mr. Forbes here, made me a present of a Ladle. I was at home all day.</i></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; width: 595px;"><tbody>
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Martha Ballard’s diary can be viewed, in its original entirety at: http://dohistory.org/home.html</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Most women who practiced the art of herbwifery in their homes and villages led quiet lives. Their stories are all but lost. The written record of herbwives is barely existent because those who practiced its art were not part of the upper middle class, received no formal education and were not men. The chance for their written recipes, healing methods and day to day trials and lives to survive in publication is one of scarcity. Thankfully, herbwifery continued as a verbal matriarchal tradition.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What is most fascinating about the history of herbwifery is that it is not outdated, nor is it dead. In fact, it is experiencing quite a resurgence. The joy and pride of preparing one’s own herbal preparations in the coziness of your own kitchen is something that cannot be equaled by running to your local store to get cough syrup or sleep aids. Chamomile tea soothes and quiets the body and a couple of dried sage leaves thrown into your favorite hot tea does wonders to soothe a sore scratchy throat…all within footsteps of your backdoor or pantry. As an added benefit, many herbs are free from disturbing side effects and actually heal more than one ill at a time. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As Jessica Prentice writes in her book,<u> <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/full_moon_feast:paperback">Full Moon Feast</a>,</u> “The names of herbs possess much poetry. I also hear in their names a kind of ancestral memory-an ancient wisdom that wants to be remembered. The plants seem to be calling me through their names. They remind me that once upon a time they were honored and valued; they were the primary source of healing. The herbs themselves and the gardens they grew in were our medicine chests….Herbs were a part of daily life-a familiar, everyday, working knowledge….They have been cooked into teas, brewed into beers, smoked in pipes, tinctured in alcohol. They have been fed to dairy animals whose milk was then drunk. They have been dried and powdered, and given with honey. They have been steamed and inhaled, added to baths, and steeped into oil that is rubbed into the body. Nowadays many people who are taking a medicinal herb for a health problem are simply popping a pill that is not so different from any other modern drug. But once upon a time, gardens were meant to be drunk.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, as you begin to plant your seedlings in the soil this spring, and weed your rows of tomatoes and okra, remember that some of the herbs you are pulling could actually be healing you and nourishing your body. Since some knowledge of the medicinal effects of each herb is suggested, we will revisit this topic in later issues to learn more about how we can heal ourselves from our own gardens and backyards. The bounty of God’s earth is put here for our use, and we will meet here again to learn together and have fun as we gather, dry and store our special remedies and safeguard our homesteads for the many seasons to come.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For More Information About Herbwifery and Its Practice, See These Sources:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<div>Chelsea Green Publishing <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/">www.chelseagreen.com</a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Hearthside Farms, Maureen Anderson, Herbwife, www.thefullnessthereof.blogspot.com</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Herb Quarterly, <a href="http://www.herbquarterly.com/">www.herbquarterly.com</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.herbcraft.org/">www.herbcraft.org</a><br />
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</div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17802450495937944773noreply@blogger.com2