Herb Shops

here are some photos of the herb shops within the super mercado in san jose, costa rica.  what's labeled is in spanish but most of it is not labeled.  you just have to trust that what you ask for is what you get.  i read the book sastun: my apprenticeship with a maya healer in the first few days of our trip and i wanted to see if i could find some of the herbs mentioned in the book.  also, being a community-centered pnw herbalist myself, i had a small list of items i wanted to see in this setting, like copal, palo santo, wild yam, linden, and so on.

these shops were amazing with all manner of flower, leaf, root, bark, seed, tinctures, potions, dried, fresh, concoctions galore.  i could spend a whole day, especially with a translator, asking questions and stocking up.  that would be a good business for someone to do there: bilingual herbalist guide to white herbalist tourists eager to spend dollars in the herb shops!

i came home with some crazy looking hairy twigs that don't match anything on my list.  everyone thinks they look like nasty dreadlocks but they don't smell like nasty dreadlocks.  believe me.  i would know.  chad had them. not nasty ones. but some big fatties that could get a little ripe, let's say.

the second to last photo up there of chad and jasper came about when i asked one of the herb shop keepers, who i bought copal and hibiscus from, if it was ok to take a photo of the shop. he grabbed chad and jasper and shoved them inside and said "yes yes, take photo" all jolly and friendly like.  chad and jasper were a bit stunned i think but we all thought it was really funny.

the last photo is one of the nutmeg/mace we found on the property we were staying on in puerto viejo on the caribbean coast.  we rode our bikes back and forth through a jungle garden several times a day and there was a nutmeg tree, apparently.  if you stood where we found the nutmegs and looked up, you couldn't see anything that look liked nutmegs.  i couldn't tell what tree they were coming from.  but there were a few during our time there that we found on the ground with the mace still intact.  they smell amazing and are stunning to behold.  the first time i saw one on our path i thought i'd won the lottery!  i was fascinated.

the new year is in full swing around these parts.  i am hosting a weekend retreat in february for 15 women at my house.  that will be a blast.  half are flying in from out of state.  we are gathering for imbolc and to share creativity and entrepreneurial insights in support of one another and to simply commune and fill up on each others wild woman love. a few weeks after that i will head to san francisco, big sur (for matrilumina) and the santa cruz mountains for a week of 40th birthday bliss (it was january 1 but this is THE gift!). so it's busy, as usual.  life is full.  and life is grand.  2013 is going to be amazeballs.  i can feel it, and i have systems in place to ensure it!

what do you have planned for 2013?  in what ways are you looking to expand?  do you set goals?  resolutions?

i am currently exploring and researching the intersection of post traumatic stress from adverse childhood experiences and the healing of it that can emerge from a daily creative practice of hand-making. this is my "new" work in the world and i will have a lot more to share about as i birth it.  watch for a due date near you.

escaping with the family fang,

xoxo

jennette

Hawthorn

i harvested Hawthorn a few weeks ago.

i waited just a day too long and had to get wet to gather May, as it is called in england,

but it was well worth the rainy adventure.

hawthorn is a favorite of mine.

jasper's middle name is hawthorn.

hawthorn is for the heart and happiness: literally, symbolically, physically, and metaphorically. 

Rosemary Gladstar reminds us that, "though little is mentioned in literature, hawthorn is a wonderful remedy for 'broken hearts' and for depression and anxiety.  it is a specific medicine for those who have a difficult time expressing their feelings or who suppress their emotions.  hawthorn helps the heart flower, open, and be healed."

i love to harvest the flowers of crataegus , which bloom on this small deciduous tree or large shrub near mother's day in the pnw, to use in tea. the flowers are 1/4 inch across and form in terminate clusters, each blossom having five petals and many stamen.  and in the fall i will collect the mildly sweet haws (berries/fruit) to use in tea too, or perhaps ferment into wine or mead. these are small, red to black in color, and have 2 to 5 seeds each.

hawthorn is part of the Rosaceae family and provides us with one of the best tonic remedies for the heart and circulatory system.  as a tonic, hawthorn will move the heart to normal function in a gentle way.  thus it can be argued that hawthorn is the premier heart tonic of herbal medicine.

word.

hawthorn is said to have a "dead" odor but i don't agree. i love the smell and there is nothing else like it... 

very distinctive scent and defines a short lived season.

too it is said that the ancient greeks and romans regarded the hawthorn as a symbol of hope and happiness so it was used in bouquets and corsages in wedding ceremonies.  it has been believed to keep evil spirits away so it was used in babies' cradles. it is supposed to bring fairies into houses and is sacred to the fairies.  hawthorn is part of the tree fairy triad of britain: "oak, ash, and thorn," and where all three trees grow it is said that one may see fairies.

 it is unlucky if gathered before the first week of may.

hawthorn grows where people are and you will often find them on old abandoned homesteads.  the thickets and hedgerows of hawthorn serve as important forage and nesting habitats for birds and other wildlife. also, as R. Gladstar has mentioned, "the hawthorn tree has been planted in or near most herb gardens and has been revered and surrounded by legend for centuries."

hawthorn flowers and berries have been used in chinese medicine for thousands of years.  the berries are often turned into jam and have sufficient natural pectin in them to not require any extra be added. also, the berries tend to require very little artificial sweetening as these "thorn apples" tend to be mildly sugary raw.

the thorns characterize this member of the apple family even in winter. its curved thorns are 1 to 3 inches and are strategically spaced along the branches, often at eye level.  when you get poked, it hurts.  the wood of hawthorn is very hard and therefore a favored tool wood.

my favorite ritual and magical uses of hawthorn come in the ancient stories of times when hawthorns were believed to be witches who had transformed themselves into trees.  it is known that witches have long danced and performed their rites beneath the thorn.  in the past, all witch's gardens contained at least one hawthorn hedge.

my land contains three.

after i plucked all the flowers and leaves of my harvested branches, i layed the flowers and leaves out to dry for a few days.  as it had been raining during collection, i needed to be sure they were very well dried before packaging them.  i saved all the magical hawthorn wood, tied it in a bundle, and hung it in my wood shed to dry.  i will use the wood for amulets and talismans at a later date.  for now i am enjoying cupfuls of hawthorn flower tea that i sweeten just a tich with honey from my honey bees.

it is a fine life i live,

if i do say so myself.

wild harvest,

xoxoxo

jennette

sources: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham, Common Herbs For Natural Health by Juliette de Bairacli Levy, Family Herbal by Rosemary Gladstar, Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West by Gregory L. Tilford, The New Holistic Herbal by David Hoffman, Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier, The Years in My Herb Garden by Helen M Fox, and Rodales Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.

Nettle Patch

i think this is the earliest i have been to my nettle patch in the spring time. 

look how low these beauties are! 

I usually arrive here just in time to harvest them hip high!

they are so gorgeous!  purple and deep green.  and so little!

i used clippers to harvest these tender tops.  i usually find the sweet spot where they give themselves to you when you pluck the top half with your hand and fingers and they make that lovely "pop" sound.  if you get a good rhythm going it's like a chorus of song.

here i am trying to get a closeup of me and my ally without stinging my face off! 

i wasn't here today for my "major harvest," i will do that in a few weeks.  then i will gather enough to hang, dry, store,  and last me the entire year!  today i just wanted to procure enough to make some bacon, nettle and asparagus quiche for dinner!  i forgot to take a picture of the quiche because we were so happy to devour it in seconds flat!

oh look! 

a baby galium aparine! 

it is common, in these parts anyhow, to find cleavers growing near nettle.  they use the nettle to climb on and they do it well since they are so sticky!  usually by the time we get to our patch the cleavers have grown so much that we harvest them too to make infused vinegar and crowns.  the galium is sticky enough, and long, that you can just wrap it around on itself into crown sized circles and slip them on your noggin to be festive and merry and bright!

i used galium aparine aplenty when i had reoccurring mastitis with jasper and it, along with phytolacca decandra (poke root), saved me.

how would we survive without our plant allies?!

i made this nettle infusion today from last years dried nettle.

jasper calls it nettle juice. 

he has been drinking it since he was a baby, first thing he tasted besides mama's milk.  we both like our nettle infusion cold so we typically brew it, let it sit for 6 hours or so, then refrigerate it and drink over the next day or so. 

this is a gallon jar. 

once we get down to the plant material i pull all the stems out to compost or give to the chickens and use the remaining leaf in smoothies and all other recipes i can sneak it into, which isn't hard, because we eat a lot of greens around here!

do you have a nettle patch?

do you notice what else is growing wild and free around it?

ever notice the big leaf maples?

have you met galium aparine?

enjoy spring friends! 

it won't last long and before you know it beltane fires and summer solstice will be upon us!

Long Life Honey In the Heart,

xoxoxo

jennette



Gift Wrap

(this pile is for my cousin.  we spoil each other ROTTEN!, but in a really good way!)

every year my cousin, aunt, and i exchange gifts, that we have been gathering all year.  they taught me at a young age that presentation is of the utmost importance.  i am so thankful for their tutelage! 

i LOVE wrapping presents!  especially when i have a creative idea in mind to make them ultra special.  if you have been in the shop you may have noticed my collection of ribbon.  beautiful ribbon is usually a major component of gift wrapping.  but you will see here that it's just as easy to come up with other solutions to finishing off a well wrapped gift too.

(this pile is for my auntie karen.  we will get back to these in a minute.)

have you ever seen these old-school flash cards from back in the day?!  they are pretty rad!  you can see here that i used them to convey messages!

most of this set of gifts is wrapped in mulberry paper.   it comes in all different natural looking shades and with different plant material embedded in it.  i love the homemade and natural look of it!

the following few gifts just have a simple tag attached for decoration.  these awesome silhouette tags came from my favorite stationary/paper store in ballard called Lucca.  love that place!  anyways, these are cut black paper silhouettes in glassine envelopes so you can see the silhouettes and they stay protected.  i know my cousin will like these and find a good use for them!

and then of course there are always old vintage photos to use for decoration.   easy peasy!

the one above if of a beach/swimming scene.

another of a family at the beach

i love this one!  it used to hang in my kitchen!

it's two best friends gettin their drink on!

i love any photos that show costumes!

this photo is so sweet!

and i had to include a spanish moss hanging from trees photo since my cousin and i are both obsessed with new orleans.  it's our thing!

so, thus, the okra seed pack too!

so you can see, that as a group, the whole lot works together.  it's cohesive yet textured and can be enjoyed as is for as long as it takes to get them opened! 

here is the group for my aunt this year.  the "wrapping paper" is a vintage paper table cloth!  the colors are so great and the dogwood branches almost look as if they have been painted on the paper.  even though it's not super "christmasy" she will still love them!

here is a closer up detail of the paper and ribbon.  the three of use love ribbon and we often reuse the ribbon we give each other year after year. 

something i started doing a few years ago is looking for really fantastic and unusual boxes to put the gifts in.  the more vintage, the better.  and the cool box just adds another layer of beauty that makes gift opening so so fun!  some boxes have been really funny and some so gorgeous they didn't even need wrapping!  i wish i would have thought to photograph these boxes but i forgot.   i will try to remember next time!

another wrap-tastic idea is to use old tissue paper sewing patterns for wrapping the gifts into the boxes, instead of plain old boring tissue paper.  especially if you are crafty, giving to a crafty friend, or just want to surprise the recipient.

there are so many beautiful ways to wrap gifts!

including my using vintage A Christmas Story wrapping paper for the boys!  what fun!

what's your favorite way to wrap?!

i'm putting our our new SkyDain Botanicals lotions, creams, and teas out in the shop!  come check them out!  they smell fantastic and make great gifts not to mention being so nourishing to your winter skin!  crafted by the lovely goddess Simone, fellow herbalist, right here in Carnation, WA.

and please remember, the shop will close early on Saturday December 24th, i hope to be gone by 3:30, so come grab your last minute things soon!  And then we will see you when we return, after a short break, on Wednesday January 4th!

rocking out in the shop to Yule B, Swingin Too, a new orleans christmas cd,

xoxoxox,

jennette