Edible mushrooms are fantastic for our health. Eating mushrooms is my favorite way to reap their benefits, but at times a stronger dose may come in handy. This is where mushroom extracts can be handy. For those who’ve purchased commercial mushroom extracts, you may have noticed that they’re a bit expensive. Why not learn to make your own?
Cockscomb is a member of the family Amaranthaceae, also known as the Amaranth family of the genus Celosia L., commonly known as cock's comb P.
Syrups are a great way to take your medicine and to spice things up in the kitchen. Here are a couple of easy syrup-making methods. The first method is the way to go for medicinal syrups that can also be used in recipes. You can use these by the spoonful daily. The second is just for introducing some exciting new flavors into your recipes rather than for medicinal usage.
If you who have, or are, an 80s baby… you likely remember a little show called Captain Planet. In the opening theme song, the Planeteers combine their elemental powers—earth, fire, wind, water, heart—to summon our green and blue superhero. Captain Planet, an “elemental warrior” as the show description lovingly refers to him, harnesses their forces in a quest to save the world.
I love to think that this popular activist show took a cue from Ayurveda itself.
Are adaptogens the next best thing for the human health quotient? Or are they as overblown as the antioxidant theory? Make an informed decision…
Go to any nutritional or lifestyle coach and you’ll hear the term adaptogen bandied about quite a bit. So what are adaptogens? To understand that, let’s begin with what adaptogens aren’t.
Some of the most sacred and valued scents over the centuries are those deeper aromatics—Frankincense, Myrrh, Benzoin and others—whose use predates the millennia-old religious texts in which they’re noted. These scents are “heavier” because the chemicals they’re made of are heavier than those in “lighter” oils such as lemon or bergamot. Another way to look at it is that the scents
“We can think of food in general, as well as the very act of cooking, in a similar vein. Good, fresh, wholesome ingredients have tremendous capacity to support the body and all its systems. Preparing those foods in ways that bring out their best—that make them more nourishing for the body and a feast for the senses—is a powerful form of medicine that cultivates the health of the body, mind, and spirit.”
—Brittany Wood Nickerson, Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen
An “infused oil” is a vegetable oil in which herbs, spices, or plant resins have been infused. They’re fun to make and immensely useful. First, let’s look at uses, then how to make an oil, and finally, I’ll share some of my favorite oils.
Ticks might seem like fairly innocuous, if annoying, insects, but these arachnids often carry dangerous diseases that can lead to chronic illness.
There is a theme running through my latest writings of tapping into life-force, the Cosmic kundalini energy within our beings to a greater degree. As energies are amping up on the planet and the process of evolution is taking each one of us deeper into the core of the Self we are being asked to harness our life-force and make the most out of our time here. Red coral is a gem that is here to help out.