Ahem, I've been negligent

I didn't realize just how long it had been since my last posting!!! Soooo much has changed, that I don't know where I should even begin.

I've moved my store, in April this year, in with another business. It's ok, but I want my own space and I am beginning the search. I can't imagine going thru that much work again! Whew, the move in April only served to show me just how old I'm getting! Alot will depend on the space and my enthusiasm with it. This move was strictly for business: I needed to get out of that old, run down environment, since it was getting me run down. It was at the point where I found it depressing. The new place, at least, is bright and clean, and much newer, and I am getting business. So that's a good thing, and that's what I try to concentrate on.

I have loads of ideas of things that I would like to do, but for reasons that I will not get into, can't do in my present location. I have faith that since I ended up in the space I originally wanted to be in, and at a savings to me to boot, that I will find the perfect spot.

My skill sets are beginning to expand, and I am making more tinctures and tea blends, plus I have a HUGE amount of ideas for the Christmas season. Since I make a lot of my inventory, I also have the realization that I have a lot of work to do. Maybe it's a good thing, since I seem to really do well under enormous pressure. I have a sewing project this week for my Ren Faire friend, and I think I will start that tomorrow. He doesn't have my full attention this year as he did last, since this year, I actually have customers!!! LOL!!! I hope he's understanding! I have lost of holiday things that I want to make, and pot pourri that I want to blend. This is the really fun part of owning my own business, but the timeclock is a-ticking and I still have my books to do...ugh...I think I'm going to have to break down and buy the Quicken app.......bookkeeping can be a real drag!!!

Anyhow, thought I'd post so that I can get back in the swing of things.

I published the first Herbal Newsletter from LWH today.....one more task to add to the monthly list!!! Whew, I'll have to start taking my Ginseng regularly for the engery it brings me!

I'm off to bed right now, as I'm tired from an extremely busy day!

What is it with me and Summer??

OK, you'd think with my being an herbalist that I would love Summer with the heat and humidity and the plants pushing their way up thru the cool darkness of the earth, right?? Well, truth of the matter is that I don't care for Summer that much. I'm not a bug person, and I really don't like heat. It gives me rashes, makes me sweat like I don't know what, and generally makes me feel 'yucky'. I don't know why, but I don't feel "clean" when it's 98 degrees, and I'm hot and itchy and lethargic from the heat...whew. Go figure.

I DO however, love the results of the heat from the sun, which, in turn, gives life to the plants that I love so very much. I look with awe each day at the Lemon Balm I salvaged from the weeded-over herb bed, the chocolate mint that smells SO divine, and the fresh, young oregano leaves that will soon flavor my plate of pasta!

I sit here in my shop, watching the families behind me roto-till their sun drenched piece of land (I am so very envious!!) in preparation for planting. I can just tell that in a few months, they will harvest and preserve most of their food for the coming winter, and I truly do wish it were me. Perhaps someday, I will possess a piece of land that actually sees the sun (my present 'piece of land' is in virtual darkness with so many trees that block the sun from my back yard) but for the present time, I have to enjoy the efforts of those strangers whose life I so wish to participate in. They would, I suppose, think me bizarre if I ever approached them and told them so. But they are such good examples to the neighborhood! That's what its all about! Growing your own food, taking care of your dwelling place, browning your skin in the sun, enjoying the heat.....

I have some plants in the store that I'm desperately trying not to kill!!! They're in little Styrofoam cups that I hope won't prove too toxic a home for them. I have Mammoth Dill, Lemongrass, German Chamomile, Parsley, Catnip. As they grow bigger, I will nurture them into sell able plants. Hopefully, that will be next months' blog.....for now, adieu!

Dreary Day or not a Dreary Day-that is the question

OK, so this morning is gray, and quite dismal, however, it affords the Herbalist an opportunity to pull out the books, and study in an unrushed atmosphere. Being part of the corporate world for so long, I always feel like I'm 'wasting time' when I sitting over a book. Truth of the matter is, this is what arms me with information to disseminate when people come into the shop and shoot random questions at me. I've been to the shop several times this week already, primarily to make sure that my little herb seedlings weren't in need of water. A quick spritz over the Styrofoam cups, I grabbed the door sign to bring home and re-vamp. (The "re-vamp" actually looks SO much better than the original).
I could take an entire day a week, and just sit and either read or peruse the web to accrue information on my beloved herbs. That's part of the beauty of this particular field: there's always more to learn, and the info that you already know just doesn't change. We keep adding to it, but the info about plants remains the same for millenia. Wonderful!
So, now, I found some information regarding Bugle....that free growing blue flowered plant that comes back on my front lawn year after year after year.....it's a perennial, flowering from the end of April thru the beginning of July, with solitary, tapering flower-stalks, 6-9 inches high, and it's creeping scions or runners. As winter approaches the runners of this plant die, but at every point where the leaf pairs and the rootlets were formed, there is a dormant plant waiting to develop fully in the Spring.
The flowers are a purplish blue, crowded into a spike formed of about six or more ring of whorls, generally six flowers in a whorl.
In herbal treatment, an infusion of this plant is still considered very useful in arresting hemorrhages and is employed in coughs and spitting of blood in incipient consumption (Tuberculosis) and also in some biliary disorders, a wineglassful of the infusion-made from 1 OZ of the dried herb to 1 pint of boiling water-being given frequently.
In it's action, it rather resembles digitalis, lowering the pulse and lessening its frequency, it allays irritation and cough, and equalizes the circulation and has been termed 'one of the mildest and best narcotics in the world.' It has also been considered good for the bad effects of excessive drinking.
Green (Universal Herbal, 1832) gives as his opinion that 'the leaves may be advantageously used in fluxes and disorders of that kind as they do not, like many other plants of the same value, produce costiveness, but rather operate as gentle laxatives.'
He states that a decoction of the herb has been employed for quinsy on the Continent, where the herb has been more employed as a remedy than in this country.
The roots, by some authorities, have been more astringent than the rest of the plant.
Needless to say, immediately on finding this information, I found a flat basket, lined it with paper towel, took my kitchen shears, and proceeded to my front lawn.
I boiled water, pouring it over the fresh herb, and let it brew for about 10 minutes. Well, by my review, this herb is what's considered a 'bitter' but nonetheless, pleasant. It was quite mild, and would mix unobtrusively with any other herbal tea and be undetected.
I will keep using it, not for the benefits towards consumption, but for the reported benefits of reducing the pulse rate. For those with hypertension, this may prove to be an easy to take, mild aid.

Herbs and Why we use them

Today while drinking a pot of tea and beginning a new sewing project, I was impressed to go outside to take some photos of one of my favorite herbs, Bergamot. Also known as Bee Balm, it's an attractive plant that not only draws butterflies and humming birds, but renders a sweet, earthy, woodsy aroma in the surrounding area of the circle that it's growing in. Last year I attempted to make some scented oil with it, and although it wasn't the best I've ever made, it was passable and I used it on myself. The faint forest fragrance is one of my favorites, and I fully intend to make more this year, improving on the process, perhaps by harvesting a bit sooner, and also by combining some essential oil of Bergamot with it. I'll post how that goes...

Other photos I took include Thyme that has been in an herb pot for the past couple of years. I'm amazed at the resiliency of this tiny plant, evidenced by the healthy green leaves after having been ignored all winter long, and left outside. I simply have to take the herb pot to work with me, and put it out by the back on the old air conditioning unit. I'm sure it'll be happy there because it gets very, very warm in that spot; full sun, a sheltered corner of the building, and a metal unit to sit on which also holds the suns heat. Tomatoes would do famously there too, I'll bet. Hmmmm, since I have one of those 'up-side-down' planters for tomatoes, maybe I'll attempt that in addition to the Thyme.

I also captured a plant called "All Heal" on film. It's a plant that I read about in a book on Indians, and the plants they use for both ritual and healing. This plant has reportedly amazing healing qualities and can be used for a number of ailments, including broken bones(used as a poultice), headaches, and other mild maladies. I tried it as a tea last summer, and it is so mild I can't even describe the taste. I mixed it in with another kind of tea and drank till my heart was content.

More on my beloved herbs later.............

My yard is overrun with this pretty small, blue plant, called "Bugle", but I can't find out much info on it, so I don't know if it's used for any healing purpose. I don't know the Latin genus either, but I will do more research and see if I can find a use for it. It grows profusely, again, all on it's own, and returns year after year. It just get mowed down with the lawn mower, but I hate to see it go to waste.

Herbs are wonderful plants for the "lazy gardener" such as myself. They come back, year after year, after having been virtually ignored, and trampled on and never ONCE weeded! Yet each Spring, I see the tiny green heads popping up out of the soil, and I rejoice at the start of life for another season. Surely God is good to us! Even amidst city life, with it's smog, auto exhaust and factory dust, you'll see herbs growing in abandoned lots, in the cracks of the sidewalks, anywhere there is sun. It amazes me. Case in point, my own back yard; I have Mullein that grows every year, in different spots, and I have no idea where they come from; either birds or the seeds from the dried plants at the end of season are carried on the breeze and they lay in dormant apprehension in my yard till the next Spring. Then I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see those familiar fuzzy clusters of muted green leaves, and know that soon there will be tall stalks shooting up to display their famous yellow flowers that are so recognizable to me. Once again I think of the amazing property of this plant to heal both lungs and earaches. At this typing, I have some sitting in a dark cupboard in olive oil, shaken every day (not stirred...) which will become a wonderful healer for earaches on May 10th. I can't wait to try this soothing elixir.

Initially speaking

I've been writing for years. I have journals everywhere, with thoughts from the age of 14. I'm well beyond 14 now, and with the age of information, I thought I'd take advantage of it, and kind of 'formalize' it.
I don't know what I'll write here: random thoughts, dark thoughts, happy thoughts? I don't know, but I know it will evolve and the more I learn about this website, the better I'll put it to use.
Perhaps it'll become an herbal Blog, tied in to my business, who knows......whatever it is, it'll be part of me. I just hope I don't end up spending endless hours online instead of doing what I need to do. LOL, case in point: I have cooking and sewing to do today.....
I hope that I get to be as good at this as my friend, Sammie. She certainly has the knack at esthetics and I hope that she'll teach me to be the same.
'Nuff said, I gotta go cook....... :o)