Living and Lovin Herbs Podcast: A lifestyle show for those wanting to learn more about herbs

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We recorded this show live on Clubhouse and Facebook with my Co-host Theresa Valendzas from Altraform  Every Sunday at 10 AM EST we've been hosting a show called Herb Talk. Please come us!

We talk about the ethics of foraging, books I recommend to help identify plants and easy plants to identify if you're a beginner. 

Legal Disclaimer

The information presented is for informational, reference, and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as a substitute for a diagnosis and/or treatment. All health-related questions should be directed to your healthcare provider.

Medicinal Uses 

Dead Nettle has flavonoids, polyphenols compounds, and antioxidant properties, including quercetin which offers a broad range of health benefits, such as boosting the immune system, improving the cardiovascular system and gut microbiome.

This species also has anti-inflammatory properties, relieves pain helps prevent secondary sinus infections in the upper and lower respiratory tract caused by allergies.

Safety

Moderation is key, overuse of this plant can cause diarrhea.

Dosage 

Nutritive Infusion:

A general rule for measuring out dried herbs: 

1 oz per quart

2 oz per 1/2 gallon

 Place the dried herb in a glass jar (be careful not to use a cold jar. It will break), pour just off the boil hot water over the herb and stir well and cover for 24 hours.

Strain the plant matter and put it in the compost. Drink all day long or refrigerate for up to 3 days. 

Tea

One heaping teaspoon of dried herb in one cup off the boil water. Let steep 10 minutes. Strain and drink as often desired.

Tincture

1-2 ml 3x/day (1:5 in 40%)

Food

Smoothies, salads, stir frys, casseroles

The leaves are used in folk medicine for fevers; it's a mild laxative, gargle for sore throats, considered a diuretic, expectorant, mild sedative, blood purifier. Its also been used for asthma, heart palpitations, skin eruptions such as eczema.

According to the Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America (pg 234), studies on rats have confirmed violets have antioxidants, anthocyanins which helped control skin issues.

Violets make a beautiful addition to any dessert or salad, even if you're not looking for a medicinal benefit.

This plant is original to the Balkan Peninsula and escaped cultivation and is now wild in North and South America and most of Europe. Feverfew has an active constituent parthenolide which is a compound used to help control migraines. However, there are other remedies this plant is good for other than preventing migraines. It known to help with arthritis, colds, fevers, cramps, worms, regulates menses.

According to the Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America (pg 122), studies have proven effective if 1 – 4 leaves are chewed per day, preventing the number and duration of migraine attacks. British studies suggest that Feverfew can prevent 70% of migraines.

(Affiliate Links)

Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America, Third Edition (Peterson Field Guides) Paperback – Illustrated, April 8, 2014

https://amzn.to/3aiPy1K

Newcomb's Wildflower Guide Paperback – Illustrated, April 13, 1989

https://amzn.to/3v59gGb

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World by Paul Stamets

https://amzn.to/3gxUAeL

Host defense Mushrooms Turkey Tail – Immune Support

https://amzn.to/2RMNrwD

Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine Paperback – Illustrated, April 7, 2020, Rosalee De LA Foret and Emily Han

https://amzn.to/2P5hTRK

The Wild Medicine Solution: Healing with Aromatic Bitter, and Tonic Plants, Guido Mase

https://amzn.to/3gms1ki

The New Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America: A Field Guide to Edible (and Poisonous) Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mushrooms and Lichens Paperback – October 24, 2019, Merritt Fernald, Alfred Kinsely and Steve Chadde

https://amzn.to/3uXMkbG

Herbal Adventures: Backyard Excursions and Kitchen Creations for Kids and Their Families Flexibound – October 23, 2018 by Rachel Jepson Wolf

https://amzn.to/3e5Q7Na

Foraging with Kids: 52 Wild and Free Edibles to Enjoy With Your Children Hardcover – September 18, 2018, Adele Nozedar

https://amzn.to/3x5XhKk

Recipes from the Herbalist's Kitchen: Delicious, Nourishing Food for Lifelong Health and Well-Being Hardcover – June 27, 2017, Brittany Wood Nickerson

https://amzn.to/3agKXgr

 Leave No Trace – Center for Outdoor Ethics  

New Course teaches 7 Rules of Safe, Ethical Foraging & More

Is foraging too much of a good thing?

Foraging Code

Farm to Bath| Our philosophy is to live a locally focused naturally beautiful life, a lifestyle choice that is infused into the products we make. The ingredients are locally grown and/or acquired and are as basic and pure as nature itself. Each bar is full of fragrant aromatics that provide a rich moisturizing lather with no artificial colors or preservatives added – naturally beautiful!

This journal keeps track of basic information every gardener needs to know to improve their gardening skills. Plant location, if started from seed versus purchased and from what source. Fertilizing and watering details and if you like the result etc.

There is also a space for a picture or drawing of your plant. The journal pages are a two-page spread for easy note-taking and review. Also included is a resource list of companies that Thompson Street Farm uses in their micro-green operation and nonprofits that offer programs and education on gardening sustainably. Journaling offers an easy way to become a more efficient and more successful gardener!

A special thank you to Gene Tullio for writing and producing this music. He has given me special permission to use this song for the show.

Gene's music can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. For more information please contact him at [email protected]

Album: The Dreamship| The Forge Of Life| Copyright 2018

Social Media Links:

Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We would love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.

Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We’d love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.

Living and Lovin Herbs Website: https://livingandlovinherbs.com/
Instagram: @livingandlovinherbspodcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingandlovinherbspodcast/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Twitter: @Livingandlovin6
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuHD-5N2tPYDbWwI4wzIJA
Thompson Street Farm LLC: https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/
Brenda J. Sullivan Books: https://brendajsullivanbooks.com/

The post 16 Foraging – Ethics, Simple Plants To Identify appeared first on Living and Lovin' Herbs.

To Learn more about my books click here

Today I’m interviewing Vera Duhart – she talks about her family’s Gullah Ancestry and the traditional African American herbalism called Hoodoo.

This interview is really a conversation between two friends and you’re listening in. It's another great interview and I learned so much. I was asked a question, what is herbalism? The listener knew about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) but didn't know much more than that.

I explained herbalism is a general term and can be a part of folk, traditional and ancestral medicine using plant and naturally grown ingredients such as roots, bark, mushrooms, leaves, flowers, etc., for general health or treating illness. It's also been referred to as folk medicine, a system of knowledge, beliefs, and religious practices related to a particular culture or group.

Think of herbalism as a general term similar to the word medicine. We know there are specialties—orthopedics, neurology, GI, gynecology, etc.

Herbalism is similar – there is Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM – originating in, yes, China. There is Ayurveda which originated in India. There is Native American etc.

Some traditions, such as western herbalism, are now a blend of many ancient traditions here in the United States. Native American, Shaker, Appalachia, with some old-world European influences.

Because of the intense European colonization, the indigenous people and their tradition(s) either have become extinct or what's left wasn't well documented, and researchers have spent decades filling in the gaps for the rituals and recipes.

Hoodoo Herbalism is one of those traditions that is slowly being lost. Thankfully there are some researchers who have done some research on Hoodoo and other slave medicine traditions.

Vera enlightens us on her Mother's traditions – she also blows my mind with an old recipe that has an ingredient that one would assume was for the spiritual part the healing ritual – but instead actually has healing properties. 

Have you ever heard of using cobwebs in your herbal preparation? Well, as you hear neither did I. According to Vera, this was a common ingredient in her Mother and Grandmother's herbal tool kit.

Wanting to learn more, I did some research on this unusual ingredient. I first asked my fellow herbal colleagues at the Herbal Academy. This is an international group, and there are thousands of us attending classes. Using cobwebs for stomach wounds but using it for fevers, the answer was no.

Then I received a message from a woman on the other side of the world who gave me a link to a website mentioning a document from a doctor in 1860. This led me to the original publication called the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science. A European doctor, by the name of Robert Jackson, wrote about his research on reducing fevers in British Soldiers in the West Indies. One of his experiments was using cobwebs for the purpose to reduce fevers.

Click to access History_and_Cure_of_Febril.pdf

On page 259 section N Cob-webs in the section, Dr. Jackson writes that he met the late Dr. Gillespie of Edinburgh who mentioned the use of cobwebs for treating fevers in 1801 with some success. So he decided to do some research to prove Dr. Gillespie's claims. 

During this time period, the British were at their height of the slave trade, and The West Indies, especially Barbados had the largest slave harbor in the islands. One can assume, these doctors learned about the benefits of using cobwebs to reduce fevers from the indigenous people on the islands.

Historically we know it was a common practice for researchers to claim credit for other people's work/ideas especially if they are people of color. This appears to be no different.

Gullah Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah#:~:text=The%20Gullah%20(%2F%CB%88%C9%A1%CA%8C,culture%20with%20some%20African%20influence

Hoodoo (Spirituality) Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(spirituality)

Sea Islands Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Islandshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Islands

Slave Medicine – Herbal Lessons From American History – https://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/slave-medicine

Dr. Faith Mitchell on Hoodoo Medicine Website – https://herbsocietyblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/27/dr-faith-mitchell-on-hoodoo-medicine/

Roots of African American Herbalism: Herbal Use By Enslaved Africans – https://theherbalacademy.com/african-american-herbalism-history/

Tela Araneae.—Spider's Web – https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/kings/tela-aren.html

On Barbados, the First Black Slave Society –

https://www.aaihs.org/on-barbados-the-first-black-slave-society/#:~:text=Barbados%20was%20the%20birthplace%20of,superpower%20and%20cause%20untold%20suffering.

Slavery in the United States Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States

Curanderismo: Traditional Healing Using Plants – Course – https://www.coursera.org/learn/curanderismo-plants?fbclid=IwAR02WgbQAFzJEzYRDyieSXIKFiPA5-ABZT2vBWoDS5JVXhE9YtnbMM-aykA

Sketch of the History and Cure of Febrile Diseases, 1817 – Google scholar https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sketch_of_the_History_and_Cure_of_Febril/rloEm2H8ug0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Sketch+of+History+and+Cure+of+febrile+disease&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover

How diseases may soon be cured by spider’s webs –

https://www.research-in-germany.org/en/infoservice/newsletter/newsletter-2016/december-2016/how-diseases-may-soon-be-cured-by-spider-s-webs.html

Healing Benefits of Spider Webs –

https://www.nairaland.com/3614894/healing-benefits-spider-webs#53486594

Spider Silk: Wonder Material Used to Heal the Human Body –

https://www.discovery.com/science/spider-silk–wonder-material-used-to-heal-the-human-body

(Affiliate links)

Hoodoo Medicine by Faith Mitchell – https://amzn.to/3syuIlr

Folklore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina by Elise Clews Parson https://amzn.to/2ZUtVyT

Life Histories of Edisto Island, South Carolina: Interviews from the files of Federal Writers' Project 1936 to 1940 by Chalmers S. Murray and Margaret Wilkinson – https://amzn.to/3swq07Q

Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African-American Healing by Michele E. Lee – https://amzn.to/3sy1SSb

African American Folk Healing by Stephanie Y. Mitchem https://amzn.to/3syvdfj

Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo: Limpias Espirituales of Ancient Mesoamerican Shamans by Erika Buenaflor, MA.,JD https://amzn.to/2Oa23Eh

Healing with Herbs and Rituals A Mexican Tradition by Eliseo “Cheo” Torres https://amzn.to/3q2ongD

Farm to Bath| Our philosophy is to live a locally focused naturally beautiful life, a lifestyle choice that is infused into the products we make. The ingredients are locally grown and/or acquired and are as basic and pure as nature itself. Each bar is full of fragrant aromatics that provide a rich moisturizing lather with no artificial colors or preservatives added – naturally beautiful!

My Garden Journal: A How To Garden Book For Kids| Gardening is a learned skill – everyone has to start somewhere, and a journal provides the best way to improve your gardening skills to ensure more successes and fewer failures.

The intent of this journal is to simultaneously teach basic gardening techniques while providing a place to record your journey with important information about the “how, when, and where” to grow food and flowers.

There are suggestions on themed gardens such as “A Harry Potter Garden”, “A Young Chef's Garden”, or a “Monarch Butterfly Superhero Garden” for budding Naturalists and places to either sketch or photograph your plants to remember their appearance for the next growing season.

You'll be amazed at how much you will learn by journaling about your garden!

A special thank you to Gene Tullio for writing and producing this music. He has given me special permission to use this song for the show.

Gene's music can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. For more information please contact him at [email protected]

Album: The Dreamship| The Forge Of Life| Copyright 2018

Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We would love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.

Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We’d love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.

Living and Lovin Herbs Website: https://livingandlovinherbs.com/
Instagram: @livingandlovinherbspodcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingandlovinherbspodcast/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Brenda J. Sullivan Books: https://brendajsullivanbooks.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuHD-5N2tPYDbWwI4wzIJA
Thompson Street Farm LLC: https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

The post 15 Vera Duhart – Gullah Ancestry and Hoodoo Herbalism appeared first on Living and Lovin' Herbs.

What is self-care? How as women do we care for ourselves in a healthy way? Have we been fed a lot of baloney about what the perfect life is supposed to look like? Has the media taught us we're not perfect unless we're available 24 hours 7 days a week? Meeting everyone's needs while looking fantastic, great personality, and making piles of money!

These are questions Theresa and I explore during our discussion. I share a lot about my life. What I thought I was supposed to think and do as a young 20-year-old trying to figure things out 3000 miles away from my family. And now, as I edge closer to the big six-O, have I really evolved over the decades? What do I think about life, family, and career now? Do I think we can still have it all? Have I forgotten about caring for myself? What would I tell my 20-year-old self today?

Theresa shares strategies about how we can begin to care for ourselves. She recommends we start small. She demonstrates how I can calm myself periodically throughout the day to re-focus and give myself a mental break. It's a great technique and I've started to do this when I get overwhelmed in the day.

The show is 2 hrs and 20 minutes long. The first part of the show is my update, and it's a long one. I struggled to get this show done. It seemed I had a lot of roadblocks these past 3 1/2 weeks. As I say in the intro – a lot of weird shit happened in my household. But I'm happy to say, we're all ok and I powered through and ta-da! I've finished the show!

If you want to skip all my drama, the interview starts at 31:20 minutes, and I've added our 5-minute meditation to the end of the podcast. That starts at 2:13:35 minutes or click on the bar below and listen to the meditation here on the website.

Click to access Heart-CenteredBingo.pdf

Click to access Self-Love-for-Mind-Body-and-Heart-Handout.pdf

Click to access Copy-of-Core-Needs-Assessment-PDF.pdf

Click to access Altraform_Weekly_Self_Care_ExplorationForm.pdf

Click to access Kale-and-Fruit-Salad-Joy.pdf

Altraform Website

Altraform Website: https://www.altraform.pro/

Altraform Instagram

Instagram:@theresa_WV

Altra Form Facebook Page

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/altraform

Despite all the craziness this past month, I was still able to publish 4 books in our counting books. Paul came up with the name Kids Count Series. I just love everything about that name.

I'm waiting for the fourth book Counting Reindeer to be approved by the distributor. It's taking a few days longer than expected. It should be released by December 14th or 15th.

Things have finally calmed down for us. Although, I'm still smelling that distinct smell of exhaust. I've had the mechanic come out for a third time checking our boiler system. I'm told everything is fine.

We tried to figure out where the smell is coming from and so far we can't find the source. There is no other machinery down there other than a treadmill – which gets unplugged so we're scratching our heads on this one.

Paul installed the new carbon monoxide and smoke detectors throughout the house. I purchased the fourth detector mainly for peace of mind. This one has a carbon monoxide reading. I thought it would be good to have so I could check if there was ANY toxic gas in the basement.

Paul and I were impressed with the voice activation units telling us what kind of emergency we were having. Carbon monoxide vs. fire – that was very helpful in our course of action. Although when I saw the black smoke coming from our chimney, I honestly thought we had a fire.

Thankfully our town's volunteer fire department was awesome and quickly confirmed there was no fire. Thank you Glastonbury Fire and paramedic unit for all your help!

The fire captain explained that once these detectors are activated, their battery life may be “spent” and will not activate if we have another emergency. In addition, there is no way to check the remaining battery life. He recommended we replace all the units just to be safe.

We agreed. A small price to pay to save our lives and have peace of mind. Each detector is $46.52 on Amazon. If you buy more than one, you can interconnect them together.

If one goes off, they all go off. Our electrician had installed the original detectors at the critical spots in our house. One at the foot of the stairs in the basement. One at the foot of the stairs on the main floor and one at the top of the stairs on the second floor. It was simple to just swap out the old detectors for the new ones.

As promised, I'm posting links to the type of detectors we have in our home. The battery life is ten years, easy to install, and no expense to have them hardwired.

Please consider sponsoring this show. Due to COVID, I have not been able to sell as many products to support the administrative costs of the show. Any amount will be appreciated. Click Here

Farm to Bath| Our philosophy is to live a locally focused naturally beautiful life, a lifestyle choice that is infused into the products we make. The ingredients are locally grown and/or acquired and are as basic and pure as nature itself. Each bar is full of fragrant aromatics that provide a rich moisturizing lather with no artificial colors or preservatives added – naturally beautiful!

My Garden Journal: A How To Garden Book For Kids| Gardening is a learned skill – everyone has to start somewhere, and a journal provides the best way to improve your gardening skills to ensure more successes and fewer failures.

The intent of this journal is to simultaneously teach basic gardening techniques while providing a place to record your journey with important information about the “how, when, and where” to grow food and flowers.

There are suggestions on themed gardens such as “A Harry Potter Garden”, “A Young Chef's Garden”, or a “Monarch Butterfly Superhero Garden” for budding Naturalists and places to either sketch or photograph your plants to remember their appearance for the next growing season.

You'll be amazed at how much you will learn by journaling about your garden!

A special thank you to Gene Tullio for writing and producing this music. He has given me special permission to use this song for the show.

Gene's music can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. For more information please contact him at [email protected]

Album: The Dreamship| The Forge Of Life| Copyright 2018

Social Media Links:

Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We would love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.

Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We’d love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.

Living and Lovin Herbs Website: https://livingandlovinherbs.com/
Instagram: @livingandlovinherbspodcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingandlovinherbspodcast/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Twitter: @Livingandlovin6
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuHD-5N2tPYDbWwI4wzIJA
Thompson Street Farm LLC: https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/
Brenda J. Sullivan Books: https://brendajsullivanbooks.com/

The post 14 What Is Self-Care with Theresa Velendzas Self-Care Advocate appeared first on Living and Lovin' Herbs.