I am ever so grateful for the plantain and the dandelion… the chickweed and the wild violets. They grow and flourish without my having to tend them; every Spring, they herald the equinox and I am seen crouching over the weeds and talking to them. Loving them. Giving thanks for their medicine. Chatting them up like a magpie and dreaming of elixirs and salves and infused vinegars that will nourish me all through the year. *One of my neighbors saw me chattering to the pines and when I stepped out of the woods and saw him, he had a goofy grin on his face. I said, “Oops, you caught me.” LOL*

Next I wander over to the flowering rosemary and share space with the bees… I love getting up close and personal with the bees while they are bizzy bizzy, buzzing from one little lavender bloom to the next. I realize that my mind hasn’t even touched the surface of understanding the relationship between human and bee.

I feel myself moving deeper and deeper into a sense of place that nourishes my spirit. I first learned about a “sense of place” several years ago from Kiva Rose and Jesse Wolf Hardin. These two beautiful souls have taught me so much in the 5+ years I have been following them on their website and blogs. Having a sense of place, being rooted and grounded in your space… in your bioregion… is very important; I would say it is vital. What does it mean to have a sense of place? How do you need to feel that connection? Think about it. Lean into the need for connection; we are hardwired for it. If we don’t have it within our selves, our family and friends, or the place where we live, our health and peace of mind is a reflection of that lack. I encourage you to take some time to establish a connection with your space; no matter where you live, there is always a way to connect with Mama Earth.

Yesterday, my buddy, Rebecca Altman, posted a really awesome blog on her site, Cauldrons and Crockpots, called “Hurtling Through Space“. Please take a moment to read it. I was very inspired after reading her post (and lusting over her plum and acorn custard cookie recipe) to really look at how I set my pace this spring. This is the time of year when I come out of my cave and really start moving again. But this year, my body is telling me, “Not so fast, wummin. Everything will be waiting for you when you get there.” So now I am learning how to slow down and find my “Dana pace”, so that I can really connect with “Earth time”. <– really… go read Rebecca’s blog post. I’ll wait. And don’t get distracted because I have more so say.

Darling Ananda Wilson wrote a blog post a week ago in Plant Journeys, and the poem she used in it didn’t just touch my heart… That poem wrapped her arms around my heart and held me close and said, “Look at yourself, Dana. Look at you.”

And I leave you with this. Maybe you will see yourself in it as well.

“One of our greatest fears is to eat the wildness of the world.

Our mothers intuitively understood something essential: the green is poisonous to civilization. If we eat the wild, it begins to work inside us, altering us, changing us.

Soon, if we eat too much, we will no longer fit the suit that has been made for us. Our hair will begin to grow long and ragged. Our gait and how we hold our body will change. A wild light begins to gleam in our eyes. Our words start to sound strange, nonlinear, emotional. Unpractical. Poetic.

Once we have tasted this wildness, we begin to hunger for a food long denied us, and the more we eat of it the more we will awaken. It is no wonder that we are taught to close off our senses to Nature. Through these channels, the green paws of Nature enter into us, climb over us, search within us, find all our hiding places, burst us open, and blind the intellectual eye with hanging tendrils of green.

The terror is an illusion, of course. For most of our million years on this planet human beings have daily eaten the wild. It’s just that the linear mind knows what will happen if you eat it now.”  ~Stephen Buhner

I have a fire inside me. I cannot put a name to it yet, but I am holding space for creation.

Lemme tell you about my afternoon.

I came home from work, walked out to my mailbox, and saw a pine limb down from the storms.  Well, after I picked that limb up, I looked ahead and saw another one.  And then another one.  And then I got all excited and hauled arse straight into the woods to get as many pine limbs as I could hold.  *thankfully we didn’t have any mail* LOL

Some of my Loot.

Pine + Big Ass Tea Cup

Well!   You KNOW I was a happy camper, and I thought of all kinds of yummy stuff I could do with this tasty gift.  I gave away most of my pine infused vinegar as Yule gifts this year, so I am sure I will be making more of that, but this evening is all about some hot chai in a big ass cup, swoon worthy incense from my herbalist friends, and ever-so-discreetly stealing Jack’s “good” brandy for some pine elixir!  But this ain’t just any pine elixir, this is Jack’s “good” brandy mixed with “OMFG Sage infused honey”.

Here’s how it all went down.

I put the tea on, gather some supplies, and trot back to the kitchen to find Jack looking at the pine limbs piled up in the kitchen sink.

Jack:  “Is there a reason why there are pine limbs in the sink?”

Me:  “Yes.”

Jack shrugs and leaves kitchen.

I ever so gently *not* remove the needles from the limbs and place them in my wooden bowl.  I can hear the owls talking to each other in the trees beside my house as I work.

*insert thoughts of gratitude for my abundant harvest while eavesdropping on the owl conversation*

Next I cut up some needles and add some of the limbs and tips to a jar.

Then comes the OMFG Sage Honey

*insert intentions for healing + nourishment for recipient(s) of this blend*

Jack walks into the kitchen.  “What are you doing?”

Me:  “Making magic.”

Jack shrugs and leaves kitchen.

Dana reaches into cabinet and snags “good” brandy.

Mix well.

*insert smug satisfaction*

And that’s how it went down, folks.  The owls have just quieted, I’ve finished my tea, my awesome mail carrier just brought me two exciting packages *that I’ve already ripped open with glee*, and Jack still has no clue I just used all of his brandy.

Life is good.

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Here are some New Year’s Eve notes:

This year has been amazing, healing and nourishing for me.  My creative projects this next year will reflect those qualities.

We had to say a very sad goodbye to my precious friend, Tim Hardy, this past Thursday.   Tim, my darling friend, you are well loved and missed like mad already.

A few Blog posts that are inspiring me this season:

Plant Journeys:  Conifer Tree Potions (Solstice Medicine – or How to Use your Christmas Tree by Ananda Wilson

Cauldrons & Crockpots:  Fir Tip Shortbread and Crying over Smoked Milk by Rebecca McAwesome

The Medicine Woman’s Roots:  Pantry Medicine…Onion Poultices, Syrups + Tinctures  and Plant Devotions in Smoke: Bioregional Plant Incense by Kiva Rose

Herb Mentor:  How to make Body Butter by Rosalee de la Forêt

Please share your favorite winter blog posts in the comments section!!!  *also, feel free to share your own work*  ♥

Love, Dana

*Note* For those of you who don’t get the “good” brandy joke, Jack came home with some brandy and the following conversation ensued.

Jack: “Hey Dana, this brandy is the good stuff.”
Me: “Okay.”
Jack: “That means you can’t put your plants in it.”
Me: *snicker*

Patio Goddess
Watches over my space

I love my back patio.  I go here to chillax and listen to / watch the animals… I have been entertained by a wide variety of animals this year: squirrels, chipmunks, birds of all kinds, moles, rabbits, turtles, snakes, a smorgasbord o’ insects, lizards and rats.  Not meeses.  RATS.  And they have No Fear.

Comfrey and blackberry, going to sleep in front of my goldenrod patch.

I love the sound that dried leaves make when I walk through them.  Our oaks have provided plenty of gorgeous ground insulation.

Sleepy Goldenrod always makes me very grateful that I take the time to harvest her medicine when she is blooming.

Jack’s peppers are going night night.

The ever awake and present Rosemary.
I love her so.

You know what I love about my rosemary bushes?  I can walk outside in icy January and clip a few sprigs of fresh rosemary… and she soothes me.

See ya in the spring, Green Men!

Pennyroal refuses to go to bed.

And, just so you know, my cats are having a very difficult time staying away from the Christmas tree.  Fortunately they are all lazy and just want to groom each other and sleep under it.

Oh, by the way, I have some awesome surprises in store for you in 2013!  I’ll keep you posted… make sure you like my Facebook page to stay in the “know”.

Dogwood Essence:

I use Dogwood Medicine *essence / energy work* for people who have been “hardened” by life experiences.  They think they have to be tough to survive, even though there is nothing in their lives now that make them need to be that way.

I use it as a softening and integration process *for example, in body work or in a “soft belly” meditation*, and it is also very good in conjunction with CranioSacral Therapy for PTSD work, as well as for soul retrieval in shamanic work.

Great to use with honeysuckle medicine *gently places one in the present… for those who get stuck in the past*

Themes:  softening, acceptance, forgiveness

~Dana Tate

The following are other ways Dogwood flower essence is documented as being used. These sources were found online and are not my work:

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Helps one to release the ego’s need to control, thus supporting the emergence of new abilities of the spirit to flow.

http://www.sacredessences.com/products/stock_flower_essences/essence.php?id=s-0044

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Issues treated by Dogwood essence include emotional trauma, inner child, rigidity, and self endangerment.

http://healing.about.com/od/floweressences/ig/Flower-Essence-Gallery/Dogwood.htm

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Positive qualities:
Grace-filled movement, physical and etheric harmony.

Patterns of imbalance:
Awkward and painful awareness of the body. Emotional trauma stored deep within the body.

http://www.nahlabeauty.com/shop/tansy-flower-essence.html

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Pacific Dogwood Tree Essence works from the spiritual to the physical levels laying in an upgraded blueprint for your nervous system.  In effect, it is like rewiring you from 110 volts, to 220, 330 or 440 volts so your nervous system can accommodate these higher frequencies as they are introduced to Earth. By doing this it calms the sense of shattering and brings peace to your body and emotions. This essence is wonderfully helpful for humans. And it may be helpful for companion animals as they tend to take on what their humans are experiencing in order to help them.

Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) – Installs an upgraded blueprint for the nervous system so it can accommodate higher voltage frequencies. This calms the sense of “shattering”.

As the essence says of itself: I AM peaceful integration of your higher voltage nervous system.

http://www.treefrogfarm.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=153

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Healing Properties:
Dogwood flower essence promotes unity on the physical and energetic levels, and healing from abuse. The Dogwood creates a lightness in your body. Abuse victims will often carry trauma with them in their physical and spiritual bodies, even long after the trauma has passed. Our bodies have the unfortunate ability to hold onto trauma as a physical manifestation of fear. The victim’s body becomes a shell, with a protective outer aura to prevent further damage – even after the damage has already been done. Erase this aura of protection and release your physical and spiritual life with this flower remedy. Begin to let your spirit and body move with grace!

http://www.ishalerner.com/home/is2/page_480/dogwood_flower_essence.html

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Positive qualities:
Grace-filled movement, physical and etheric harmony.

Patterns of imbalance:
Awkward and painful awareness of the body; emotional trauma stored deep within the body.When we say that a soul is filled with grace, we are referring to a particular fullness and flexibility of the etheric body, the most immediate sheath which surrounds the physical body. If there is repeated violation to the body-either through physical or sexual abuse, or by very harsh physical and materialistic living circumstances-the etheric body shrivels, and consequently the physical body hardens.

The soul suffers greatly from an inability to live properly within the physical-etheric body. The emotions can become hardened, and the body is felt as awkward and ungainly. Quite often such a person unconsciously repeats earlier patterns of degradation by choosing abusive relationships or exhibiting self-destructive tendencies.

The beautiful Dogwood flower essence helps to expand the etheric body and soften the physical body. The individual is able to feel more gentleness and inner sanctity, as the soul regains its state of grace through harmonious communion with the life or etheric body.

http://www.anandaapothecary.com/fes-north-american-flower-essences/dogwood-flower-essence.html

I am sitting here at my kitchen table… it is after 5 pm and I haven’t had a bite of Thanksgiving food.  Yet.  But Jack’s chirren have cooked up a good meal (while I distracted the grand puppy), so we’re gonna have an awesome meal tonight.

I am grateful that my beautiful mama is okay after a scary trip to the emergency room this morning.

My Beautiful Mama

I am grateful for this amazing year I have had.  This has been an incredibly deep time… of self discovery, creativity, authentic expression, enriched relationships and intense gratitude.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.  Loving  and living and experiencing in my own perfect and unique way.  I am grateful for my home, my strong, healthy body, my family, my life’s work… I could go on forever.

But most important to me is this.  I am grateful that I no longer feel alone.   This has been the longest and most emotional 2+ years of my life.   And I have come through it a very rich woman.  I am in love.  With myself.  With Jack.  With Jessi, Jon and Emma *aka: “the chirren”* With life and my sense of place.  I feel loved and supported and grateful.

Because.  I.  Chose.  It.

I made a conscious choice.  A Decision.  And I am dang grateful I did it.

Here’s to Love.  *cheers*

Dana and Willoughby

So.  You KNOW I had to make us some amazing dandelion salve.  We had to drive all over the place (and the next state over) to find beeswax, but it was totally worth it. 

Dana

  <– My grandpuppy, Mabel.

Mabel and I have been looking through all of my yummy tinctures and elixirs, and trying to categorize them by season.  Seems everyone else categorizes them by action, and we just want to be different. 

My connection with my herbal allies has shifted from one of “what can it do for me” into a deeper place of “how can we work together, care for each other and collaborate / create in a way that nourishes us both”.

I will be listing my goodies here by season.  If you would like to know what each of these “do”, I encourage you to do your own research.  Everything I use, whether it is local honey, herbs or spices, either came from my place, was harvested locally by moi, was wild crafted ethically by moi, or I purchased it from a reputable company.

Because I am a snob.

The alcohol came from the liquor store as does most everyone’s.  If you wanted organic grade alcohol, it’s not in my creations.  And if my seasons don’t line up with yours, that’s fine.  You’ll still love the goods.

Here is what I have in front of me:

Spring

Chickweed tincture
Violet leaf tincture
Dandelion tincture
Crab Apple elixir (from “The Dancing Trees” in my front yard)
Pear Blossom, Leaf and Twig elixir

Summer

Triple Goddess Rose Elixir
Summer Love elixir (Lemon balm, Sage, Catnip, Peppermint, Roses, Dandelion, Goldenrod, Bee balm, Honeysuckle and Basil)  <–*whew*  (blended 2 batches)
Mimosa blossom tincture
Sweet Basil tincture
Catnip tincture
Anise Hyssop
Mullein leaf tincture
Peach Pit tincture
Sage / Oregano elixir
Monarda fistulosa elixir
Monarda punctata elixir

Fall

Elderberry elixir
Elder flower tincture
Goldenrod tincture and elixir  <–what… you thought I wouldn’t have any?  LOL

Winter

Cinnamon tincture
Winter Solstice Grounding elixir (Eastern Red Cedar and Yellow Pine)

Each tincture or elixir is $12 per ounce.  Bulk rates are available, depending on how much you order.  Send me a message, letting me know what you want, and I will send you a Paypal invoice.  This price includes shipping *because I don’t want to add it up.  I like Simple*.

Use the form below to communicate with me (please don’t use the comments section to ask questions or place an order):

Happy Fall
~Alayna and Aunt Dana

Jack:  “Why didn’t you pull up that poke plant while you were weeding the blueberry bed?”

Me *holding chest*:  “Gasp!  I COULDN’T!”

Jack *rolling eyes*:  “I noticed.  Well, it’s a tree now.”

Me:  “That tree is gonna be some good medicine this winter.”

Isn’t it magnificent?  Yeah, I thought so too.  Actually, my yard is covered in poke this year *?*  but this is my biggest, most awesome one.

I remember last December when I wondered which plant would pick me as an ally.    I wanted bee balm to pick me *because you KNOW I love her so*.  I had a little love affair with Sweet Basil this year,

and she still keeps me far away from the blues.

I am waiting *tapping foot impatiently* for Goldenrod to burst into happy blooms.

Then Spring arrived, a very short one, by the way, and then we hit holymotherofgod-it’s-hot temps with little rain the rest of the year.  Most of my herbs struggled to grow, some stayed stunted and some just had to go to herb heaven, but Poke!  That glorious plant spread her feet, dug in and put on a gorgeous show.  Even my goldenrod stand got a little droopy, but poke didn’t.  I’ve been harvesting berries like a mad wummin and I look forward to using her medicine to keep me uber healthy this winter!  I have immune system boosting, lymphatic system poking, awesome plant medicine on my mind.  *I will be sure to blog my findings*

Speaking of blogs, I would like to share a post from an herbalist that I respect deeply, Corinna Wood, called “Poke-ing around in the garden“.  She gives great insight on Poke and how to best use this potentially toxic *read: poisonous* plant’s amazing medicine.

Interested in what the American Cancer Society has to say about Pokeweed?

The awesome Green Deane has a lot to say about Pokeweed:  “Pokeweed:  the Prime Potherb“

Poke berries also make a fabulous ink.   <– crafty art project alert!  *looking around for the perfect feather pen*

Willoughby checks out my Poke Berry Fingers

Now that I am home from the ocean,

Ocean Therapy

*I love mama ocean, but I am always glad to come back home*

I am looking forward to drying poke berries, finishing my salve making, decanting my gorgeous summer elixir blend, harvesting goldenrod blooms for scrumptious infused honey and fresh tinctures/elixirs… I may even infuse more oils with her muscle soothing yumminess… and checking my supplies to see what needs to be sold, given away, thrown away, or made into medicinal blends for my family.

Herbalism = How I Keep My Sanity

Love,
Dana

My sweet basil *Ocimum basilicum* is not looking very full and luscious as usual this hot Mississippi summer, but she is still just as wonderful and giving as ever.  (and I gave my plants yet another really deep drink of water after I took this pic)

Basil is a plant I would never do without in my herbal practice.  I make basil infused honey, vinegars, tinctures, elixirs, teas, and yummy infused oils.  I use these extracts and infusions for a variety of purposes:

1.  Basil is anti inflammatory.  I use the infused oils either as a stand-alone treatment, blended with other muscle and nerve blends (such as goldenrod and St. John’s Wort, among others) or as a creamy, cooling salve, mixed with cocoa butter and beeswax.

2.  Basil is a mood lifter.  I call on basil for treating light forms of situational depression or anxiety, and I love to use it as a “simple” elixir (made with fresh basil leaves, hundred proof vodka and basil-infused honey).

3.  Some say that basil promotes deeper love within a person, so I like to use it when I work with people who have trust issues, body image issues, or with people who struggle with a lack of connection with their mates.

4.  I also consider basil my “soul soother”.  Whenever I feel like my day has been a little too busy or “too much”, I will make a soothing basil infused tea before bed.  Sometimes I blend it with another relaxing nervine, but most often I will drink it by itself.  Basil has such a sweet, soothing flavor all on its own.

If you really want to surround yourself in yummy basil goodness, then boil some water, add basil, turn off the heat, and steep for 30 minutes or so… then strain and pour into bath water.  Sometimes I will wrap the basil in cheesecloth and tie it up, making a disposable body scrubber for bath time.

I have been known to blend basil and lavender essential oils with bath salts for stress relief soaking time.  When things get really stressful for me, Jack says I come out of the bathroom smelling like pasta sauce.  LOL

5.  I also use basil in blends for both digestion issues and respiratory issues.

6.  If you are experiencing grief, basil blends beautifully with mullein and other lung supportive herbs.

Basil is so versatile, I usually just toss a sprig or two of it into most every blend I make.  Get creative with basil, and for gawd’s sake, eat it.  Food is medicinal too.  You can’t go wrong with her nutritive, generous, uplifting nature.

~Deep Peace,
Dana