Tea Leaves & Time Turners

This week I really don't have much to contribute as it has been very busy for me both in my career and personally. But I wanted to share about the research I am doing and will eventually be creating blog posts for, beginning in the next few weeks. Again, this blog is more about opening a conversation and exchange of information regarding using herbs, spices, and other plants from nature to eliminate and/or reduce chemicals that seem to come with convenience of having it pre-prepared for a person on the go. So, a little bit about my research projects. One of the herbs I've been researching and experimenting with is holy basil. It is different from the kitchen variety basil you may think of when you read the word "basil." Now, basil has its own medicinal properties, but holy basil seems to have a few added more. So far from my use of it in my cooking, it pretty much can be used in place of regular kitchen basil, however, it is sweeter in taste and you will want to mak...

  i lik cat nipz. i are cat   dsf d=c howw r tinyy pawz ;posed 2 typ dsdf lik hman ? dis hard   i gos 2 naps now wif my cat nipz                          -- i are kat               1 7 fbrary 20-20 Although many associate Nepeta cataria , more commonly called catnip or catmint, with its feline fellow, it can be used for so much more than just driving our kitty kats wild. Catnip can be quite useful to humans. Surprisingly, the herb notorious for transforming cats into frantic fiends, actually can help sooth and calm humans who are suffering from anxiety and chronic pain. Although we can mix catnip into food, much like we do for cat treats, typically, catnip is consumed orally as an herbal tea. It can also be used in tinctures or smoked. According to an article by Eric Vought's in Countryside & Small Stock Journal, "The effect (when smoked) is similar to ma...

It has been at least two weeks since my last post. To be honest I have not felt much inspiration, primarily as there has been a great deal of challenges I have been facing at my job, especially that has been trying emotionally. You should know I am a school librarian at a middle school for 7th and 8th grade students, this will perhaps give you some perspective as to why I have been dealing with and helping others deal with some of the issues that I will be mentioning. From the experiences we have been surviving through at my school, over the course of just a couple of weeks mind you, I have had to cope with and help others cope with rushes of adrenaline, high blood pressure, anxiety, anger, and most recently shock and grief. Over time I may discuss a range of these areas and what you may or can try to help you through them, but as I am still working through much of the stresses that come along with these issues, I don't feel I can truly focus and discuss them objectively. What ...

Time. We have so many ways to describe it and yet without our placed value into it, time would cease to exist. At some point in our history we all agreed to a specified time. During the more primitive times we focused on using the sun and moon as our way of determining the passage of time. When we grew to be more advanced, we created sundials then watches and clocks. Now we have our electronic devices to tell us the time that it currently is and the time we have until our next deadline. It seems that time is a common element mentioned in much of my reading. You must take time and care to prepare tinctures, adjust dosage of a particular nutrient or medicinal herb. Ultimately though it refers to time as something that requires patience, more than a deadline or set standard we must meet.  In this I began to reflect on what the construct of time actually is, which then led me to recall George Carlin and his insights on time. Time is what we have defined it as and what we have made ...

Picking right up where I left off last time, I feel as Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. What started out solely as a curiosity in the roots of the medical profession and when exactly the move was to more our more modern practices of man made and chemical compound based medical practices. Don't get me wrong, but when I started this endeavor of a more nature based lifestyle some people seemed to draw this picture of being more like Professor Trelawney or a commune Hippy from a 70s tv show. So I wondered where it all changed, as medical practitioners weren't always using prescription drugs, vials of chemical concoctions, and machines to help their patients. When my interest was peaked, I began focusing on more academic journals and encyclopedic articles from Britannica and World Book for brief overviews on the subject of herbalism and the medical profession. What I found was interesting in the way that it seems herbalism, or more commonly herbal medicine, is classified und...

So, work has just started back up from winter break and I've been delayed in posting, but I didn't want a whole week to go by without posting. I've actually been looking into the history of medicine and it's connections to herbalism.  There is a lot of information I'm still processing, but it all started because of the term apothecary being thrown around in a bunch of my reading on herbalism. This led me to information on medical practices of the past. Then, so on and so forth.  Needless to say I'm still working through the information and how it connects to this whole process...Not to mention I don't want to bore you.  So like the punch line to this week's blog subject, more to follow on herbalism and the medical fields roots, coming soon.