Big Doin's in the Country

Every year, I serve as honorary goal-tender at a very interesting wholesale show, helping my sister gather orders for her soap company. Anyone who creates their own product knows how difficult it can be to tell people how wonderful their stuff is, while it is much easier to talk up things in which one is not so personally invested. In fact on occasion, Maryanne and I will switch sides of the table when we show side-by-side, with her hawking my magazine and books while I sing the praises of her soap or lampwork.
A major local farm and garden supply company holds a combination wholesale show and customer appreciation expo, where many of their suppliers set up to talk face to face with the customers, allowing them to see new products and reps up-close, and place orders for the coming months.
Farmers come from the entire Mid-Atlantic region, and the vast majority arrive by Amish taxi - vans with hired drivers (many of whom look eerily similar to Yosemite Sam) - giving the horses a day off. The air is filled with excitement as people who rarely get to see each other catch up and visit. New babies to show off, young people shyly flirting, and groups of men and women (mostly separate) shooting the breeze, all while an enormous amount of shopping goes on. There are 2 main meals served during the show, and they are smorgasbords featuring traditional PA Deutsch dishes that are reminiscent of our childhood, just as the whole scene reminds us of family reunions of long ago. We are quite certain that we are related to a number of the people we talk to each year.
As with many of the most fortuitous events in life, we stumbled into this show several years ago, not even knowing beforehand that such a thing existed. We love it.
Even in just the past few years, we've noticed an expansion of organic options, as well as heirloom seeds. The non-organic products are still there, but the focus is quickly turning.
Some of the sights....
The company across the aisle from us had these great outdoor flames, sort of a miniature fire for the city dweller to use on a patio, or perhaps even a country deck. They were, unfortunately scented in citronella, jasmine, and (I think) vanilla. We suggested unscented and cedar as options we'd prefer, and the rep thought they were great ideas, although they were selling like hotcakes.
Next to him were gazing globes made in Altoona. Some looked like giant soap bubbles, and of course we liked them the best.
There were lots of garden tools - and a good bit of whimsy...
Yellow jacket and wasp traps that were actually pretty cool looking...
I loved the rainbarrels and outdoor sinks and pumps.
A seller of water garden supplies had some spectacular plants. I snapped these pitcher plants just after the lights were turned on in the morning, so they aren't open yet.
Outside in the lobby, a row of tables was set up to hold the hats and bonnets of attendees.
It was a lot of fun, and each year we win a few more farm markets over to trying handmade soap.
Between customers, we did some proofing and editing on the Nov/Dec issue of the magazine so that we can get it to the printer before the end of the month, and that should get finished up today. Maryanne's husband made another 8 molds while we were gone so that she is able to double daily production with not a lot of hassle.
Off to the next great adventure!

Slim Pickin's

We've had a hot dry summer, and the things I'd typically forage at this time of the year show a lot of stress. One way to look at it might be that they've been through the same challenges we've been through, so if I want to use them medicinally, maybe they are just perfect. Usually we try to find robust, plump specimens, but just maybe these stubborn fighters will be as good or better. Most of the things I use medicinally over the winter were gathered weeks ago, but I'm going to do a little experimentation this year to check this theory on myself. If you don't hear from me.... heh heh.
The calendula is going to seed. I picked the dry parts from the plant and threw them back into the garden where it would be nice if they came up next year (instead of all through the yard). The seedheads are often included when one purchases dried calendula as whole flowers. The first time you see the little seeds floating in oil, you'll think they are curvy little worms. Don't panic, they're just seeds. It is possible to purchase just the petals, but the resinous buds and flowers are most useful for salves and balms.

We have several patches of various mints in the field beside my house. My brother-in-law gives them a wide berth because he knows I use them for tea blends. Sometime in early July I asked him to mow them so they'd start fresh. He must have thought I said DON'T mow them, so it was only a few weeks ago that they were mowed. They are finally to a point where I can gather the tender leaves that make up a little rosette. I like to pick that part so there isn't really any stem to deal with after they're dry.

I gathered a small amount of passionflower to dry and send to a friend across the country. The tendrils of the passionflower plant fascinate me, and I always add lots of them to the mix, going on the Doctrine of Signatures - this batch is specifically for circular thinking that is keeping her awake at night, so the curly tendrils make sense. There were also a few nice figs begging to be lunch, so who am I to say no?

On the way back up the hill, I stopped and thought how pretty the chicory and the goldenrod look together. Behind them is a spectacular sage plant, and above them a still-bearing elderberry. The sunshine on them was perfectly autumnal.
The Sweet Annie is in just the right stage for wreath-making. It is also the stage that makes allergy sufferers miserable. Ah, but it smells sweet!

It's still hot out. The leaves are trying to turn, but the dry weather is just not helping. They may just give up and fall off.
Soon it will be time to dig some roots!
Beauty Berries - couldn't be more aptly named. The color is so unusual and... beautiful! They can be made into jelly, too.
1 1/2 qts beauty berries
2 qts water
Boil 20 minutes and strain
To 3 cups infusion, add 1 envelope Sure Jell and 4 1/2 cups sugar
Boil for 2 minutes.
Remove from burner and allow to stand until foam forms
Skim off foam
Pour into sterilized jars and cap

Going with the flow

It's been an odd week around here, and not your usual odd, either.
First, it's been the week of, "uh-oh, check the fuses." The list (so far, don't want to get too cocky, here) is: one running toilet, one broken water heater, one slurring stereo system, two empty propane cannisters (in the middle of a picnic), and an engine light glowing amber. Oh and when I switched the heat on the other night to take the chill out of the house, nothing happened.
There was a time that each and every one of these things would have thrown me into a tizzy. Having them all happen in one week might have sent me either to my bed or to packing my bags (and at one point there, I did speculate on both options), but instead, I'm thinking about how smoothly it is all going.
My brother-in-law Bob took on the challenges of the toilet and water heater in good humor, replacing parts in both of them within a day or two.
The stereo was old, and I just pulled out a portable cd player, slapped in some heavy blues, and went about my work in the kitchen - that always goes better with music.
I expected the one propane cannister to be empty, but it was a shock to find the second one was also empty. Still can't figure that one out, but while the chatter and laughter on the deck continued, I moved the food to a giant skillet in the kitchen to finish.
The engine light is something I've had checked before. It happens every time the car gets a new tank of gas - which is once every month or two. Eventually I'll wander down to the service place and they'll look at it, and reset it. Someday I'll just get it fixed, but it's hard to hand over the cash for something that isn't important.
The guy is coming over this morning to check the furnace. It's only a couple of years old, so it's probably something like a spider web or a reset button. Either way, it hasn't gotten cold enough yet to be a major problem, so I'm grateful to have found it now, because everyone knows these things usually happen on weekends in the middle of a blizzard.

The flip side of all this, is that the lid blew off my sister's wholesale soap business a couple or three weeks ago, and it's been a rare day without a couple of nice orders coming in. We've been making soap, cutting soap, trimming soap, wrapping soap, and delivering soap.
In there somewhere, I was invited to work on a project that is truly beyond my wildest dreams, and so far that's been great fun.
We're working on the Nov/Dec issue of The Essential Herbal, and it is coming along nicely (when, you might ask? oh... here and there), and By the Hearth is in the computer in great need of massage. The printer is going to love me! Subcriptions are up and show no sign of stopping, and sales of books, etc. (where you can also buy these soaps) have kept me hopping, too.
We have two shows in the next week - the only ones we kept on the calendar this fall - and we'll be ready for them.
And then it will be October - the busy season begins :-).

They say that it's all about perspective. This month, I'm learning a lot about perspective. It looks good from here!

Entice Healthy Hair with Hair Care Tips

Hair is an important aspect of an individual's appearance. It is natural and is determined at the time of birth. It generates from the number of roots in the scalp. Each hair grows up to a certain length and then stops naturally. It even sheds down at some point. New hair shaft replaces the lost hair. Now this new hair needs to be taken care of.

Healthy hair is a mirror to a good health. But due to the velocity of life one tends to skip over health issues leaving apart hair care. Here are a few hair care tips to ease hair loss and achieve manageable healthy hair.

Balanced Diet: Hair being a part of your body is affected by the food intake of an individual. It is recommended that a daily diet should be balanced with adequate amount of carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, proteins and minerals. An individual having oily hair should avoid intake of oily food items. Drinking plenty of water cleanses the toxins in turn enabling healthy hair growth.

Natural Hair Care: Brushing your hair regularly to stimulate the scalp will keep it looking healthy and lustrous. Never attack wet hair with a brush, no matter how rushed for time you are. Tangles in wet hair are best removed with a wide-toothed comb. A warm oil scalp massage two or three times a week will help stimulate and moisturize the scalp.

Air dry: Blow drying your hair robs off the excess moisture. It damages your hair even more. Let your hair air-dry whenever possible. Stand under the fan and run your fingers gently through the hair helping it dry.

Various hair care products are available in the market to help your hair restore its natural health and protect it from chemicals. Hair gels, creams, oils, shampoo, conditioner and hair softeners are to name a few. A wide range of hair care accessories in hair spray, tweezers, hair scissors, hair cutting scissors, sheers, professional sheers, hair sheers, hair comb, bobby pin, head band, eyelash curler, hair brush, and shower cap accessories are available.

For each hair care accessory and product, a full description of the product, picture of the package and the directions for its use is given.

In order to purchase a hair care product or accessory, one need not go searching for a salon or beauty shop. You can order it online. It's the easiest way to purchase the right product to spruce your hair.

Healthy hair is a blessing. Treat your hair right for lustrous and healthy hair.

Wondering how people who live to be 100 with a great quality of life do it? In his book, "Aging Well," Harvard researcher, George Vaillant, M.D., found out just what centurions do. They cultivate a sense of peace, well-being and maintain a positive attitude. How? Here's one of their biggest secrets: meditation. What's ironic about meditation is, it has just become known in the West as a healing technique, but it has been practiced for ages in the East. So in my quest to give you easy sensible ways to purify your energy, I'll begin by defining meditation, then I'll show you how easy it is to apply to your daily routine.

Meditation Defined
Meditational exercises primarily use the experience of the body and thought as a means to reconnect with the environment and its healing power. Meditation, when practiced frequently, has been proven to promote inner peace and wellness. Meditation is also a mental practice in which the mind is directed to one area, often the breath. It draws its energy from the human connection to nature and creates a sense of unity or one-ness with it.

This unity has been shown to increase communication with the spirit of the body. It has also been known to allow positive thoughts in and to stimulate positive physiological and psychological effects. Meditation techniques are easy to learn and can easily be incorporated into any lifestyle. If practiced regularly, meditation will bring balance to your body and mind.

General benefits of meditation and breathing exercises include:

• Deep inner peace
• Improved self-esteem
• Increased creativity
• Physical health/healing
• Reduced medical care
• Slowing/reversal of aging
• Reversing of heart disease
• Stimulation of the body's immune system
• Reduced stress

I have found there is really no one right ways to meditate. Here are a couple of my favorite meditational exercises that will get you started. Remember, there is no wrong path here. Try these, or simply sit in silence for 20 minutes, daily. You'll be glad you did.

Meditative Grounding Exercise

• Sit with your legs crossed in a comfortable (Indian-style) position with your hands relaxed on you lap. Close your eyes and imagine a beam of light dropping from the base of your spine through the earth and connecting you to its center.

• Allow this beam of light to expand in width until it is wider than your own body and envelopes it. This is your personal space.

This exercise places you totally in your body and reminds you that you are anchored to the earth. Remember, the more grounded you are, the more aware you are. Sense the presence of your higher self: listen to its voice.

Energy Cleaning Exercise

Now that you are grounded, it's important that you cleanse this personal space. Often we collect other people's energies and are not aware of it. We do this both through interaction with others and basic activities of daily living.

• To remove all foreign energies from your space, imagine holding a brush and sweeping away the debris.

• Allow the debris to fall to the ground and become washed away. Let the light from the previous exercise envelop your body and spread its healing energy to the edge of your space, forming a protective force field around you.

Cleaning out the area surrounding your body will keep you grounded, define your personal boundaries and declare your space. Then choose who and what you wish to enter you space, keeping disease and illness out.

Breathing Exercise

• Follow your breath as you slowly inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Count with each exhale until you reach 10 then begin again at one.

• If you find yourself past 10, acknowledge this and begin again at one from wherever you are.

• Imagine your body's cells being replaced with fresh, pure oxygen and positive healing energy from this power source. Picture yourself exhaling old cells, stress, illness and worries.

• Let your thoughts pass through your mind like drifting clouds. Let them in and gently let them pass through. If the mind should harbor a negative thought, refocus on the breath.

• Thank any persistent negative thoughts for coming into your mind then gently let them go.

• Listen only for the positive, pronounced voice; the voice of your body.

Retrieve Your Energy Exercise

Since foreign energy often resides in your space, let's also assume that you leave energy in other places. After completing the preceding exercises it is necessary to re-energize and call energy back.

• Imagine you have an energy magnet used to attract your energy back to you. Visualize energy flowing back to you, filling your body with light, health and empowerment.

• Allow a few minutes for the process.

Journal Questions:

1. Record in your journal any problem or trouble you may be having – emotional, physical or otherwise. Let problems go and give them over to your meditation.

2. Do you notice solutions coming to you throughout the day? Do you notice with regular meditation that your body and mind are becoming calmer and clearer?

Ideas To Consider:

1. Make time for your spirit daily. Exhibit behaviors and self talk that show your reverence for yourself.

The Different Types Of Incontinence Symptoms Explained

There are different ways to classify incontinence by dividing it between stress and urge related incontinence.

Urge incontinence is a state in which you know that you want to urinate but you just can't hold it to reach the restroom even for a short time. With urge incontinence, you can feel the leakage coming. There's no way to hold it longer, and if you try to run fast to the bathroom, the more likely you are to urinate prematurely. This condition is found after a bladder surgery and also radiation therapy and when females reach the postmenopausal stage. The withdrawal of their estrogen can result in urge incontinence developing.

Stress Incontinence is the most common type of incontinence. Women who have had children may experience this situation because their urinary tract has been compromised during pregnancy and childbirth. The leakage happens when they are sneezing, coughing, and laughing or when lifting a heavy object, which puts pressure in the bladder. Stress incontinence is described as the leakage when abdominal pressure is achieved this is most often caused by surgery and lax pelvic floor muscles.

Overflow incontinence is observed in bladders that are not working well because of the impaired sensation, passage destruction, and poor contractility. This happens when the amount of the urine goes beyond the capacity of the bladder, causing the urine to leak. You may have an unpleasant feeling because you feel that your bladder is never empty.

Some people with incontinence experience longer times in the bathroom because of the unpleasant feeling it gives them. Some people control this when they feel that their bladder is again full. This problem may be caused by physical obstructions and an example of this includes the prostate problems that men encounter.

Reflex incontinence is due to neurological trauma or spinal disease when you only have a little or no sensation at all. Also, you do not have control of the bladder which causes leakage. You may not feel your urine coming but notice that leakage took place before you knew it.

People who suffer with more than one type of incontinence experience mixed type incontinence. This means that you may have stress incontinence that may become functional incontinence. When a patient's symptom does not fall into the types of incontinence as explained above, most definitely, it is considered the mixed type incontinence.

Incontinence may be the result of some surgical procedures brought on by rectal surgery or prostate and caesarean surgery. Treating the different types of incontinence must be decided with a plan. It may take a physical examination, analyzing your medical history and lengthy discussions with your doctor to establish a proper diagnosis.

Syrup for Coughs and Congestion

It's been about a week of sneezing and coughing, so I got pretty fed up with the whole thing today. Time to pull out the big guns. Oddly, elderberry just didn't do the trick this time. I shudder to think how nasty this could have gotten without it, though.
Today I made a syrup specifically for this thing that seems to fluctuate between my head and my chest. I got out some Osha, Licorice root, Elecampane, Wild Cherry bark, Ginger, and Lemon to start a decoction. A decoction is different than an infusion, because roots and barks need to simmer for a period of time, while infusions involve leaves and flowers that are steeped in boiled water for a few minutes. There is another, newer definition of infusions, but for our purposes, this will do.
I filled a small pan with water, and put all ingredients except the lemon in to simmer for 45 minutes. I added the juice of a lemon for the last 5 minutes.After it was done, I strained it out. You can see here that my favorite method of straining things is with a steel mesh strainer lined with fabric from an old tshirt. As shirts wear out, they are washed and cut into squares for this purpose. They work beautifully.
There was 2/3 of a cup of decoction, so I measured out 2/3 cup of sugar, and added a good dollop of honey. At that point, I also added 1/2 ounce of goldenrod tincture.
It all went back into the pan, and was brought to a boil for a few minutes before being poured into bottles.The decoction alone could be drunk without being made into syrup, and I will make some more for after dinner tonight. It's nice to have it ready to go, though.

Interested in making medicines for yourself and family? Look here:
http://woodwifesjournal.blogspot.com/p/herbal-medicine-chest.html for a gathering of recipes and methods.

this little herbie catches a bug

We're a week from the Nov/Dec publication deadline for The Essential Herbal, and of course the soap biz is crazy at this time of year, so coming down with a virus isn't good.
Last night I started feeling something going on in my throat, and took a good dose of elderberry with holy basil. This morning it was still there, so I repeated that.
And I got serious about kicking this thing.
My friend Betty Pillsbury suggested some sage tea. My pal Rosanne Tartaro said soup. Here's what I did....
First, I made a blend of tinctures:
elderberry
holy basil
ephedra
goldenrod
St John's wort
All of these are either anti-viral or will help with the head-clog, and very beginning of respiratory issues.
Then I started a big pot of ham and cabbage. This is something we ate all the time when I was a kid, and it is probably a standard PA Dutch dish. My grandmother and mother both loved cabbage, and passed that along to me. So far, the next generation does not share that love.First filling a big pot about 1/3 full of water, and then adding a large ham hock, I left that to simmer for about an hour until the meat came off the bone. To that, I added a nice chopped cabbage, a couple of onions, some turnips, and a few potatoes. That cooked for a couple more hours.
I went into the garden and plucked a nice sprig of sage, and put that into a pint mason jar, along with a slice of crystallized ginger and a licorice root stick, boiled water, and filled the jar, pouring the water over the herbs.Here's my lunch:It was really good, and it will be good again for supper :-).
I will continue the sage tea and the tincture blend every hour or so. This thing just cannot get a grip on me right now!
And now, to bed.

a fine late summer evening

I was enjoying the cool breeze blowing over the deck, picking **&%^&*& elderberries again, when it dawned on me that I could sit out here and blog. The sun is about halfway down, and after the mid-90's of today, it is very comfortable. In fact, this may be the most perfect evening of the whole summer. The new deck furniture, purchased in mid-July when the prices went down, has hardly been used. Soon it will be put away for until next year.
A week ago we were all along the beach and bay in Delaware looking for bayberries. It was 102 degrees. There were very few bayberries to be found, but it was probably because we weren't sure where to look - other than protected wildlife and or nature sanctuaries. We did find beach plums. This was the first time we'd ever seen them. Perhaps different plants taste different, but the ones we tried were very puckery - like they had a lot of tannic acid. They'd probably make wonderful jam, though.
Earlier today I wandered around trying to find proof that summer isn't over yet. No such luck. It was starting to become clear when cornhusks started flying through the air like giant snowflakes the other day. Farmers are cutting the corn all around here. The view is changing. The sky is a different color, too. But that's not all.
Walking past the garden, somebody was busy munching on what's left of the bean leaves. He looked at me in a sidelong manner, as if to say, "what are YOU lookin' at?"
The dogwood berries are getting to be a deep red, which usually does not signal that there's a lot of summer time left :-(.I totally missed my favorite stage of the hibiscus seedpods, when they look like they are made of leather. They must have hit that on the day we went to the shore, because they are right by the door, and never had that sturdy, shiny look.
Next up is the seedpod of Velvetleaf. I posted it earlier on the TEH facebook page as jimson weed, and Sue Hess discreetly clued me in. Back in the late 70's, there was a rash of jimson weed usage. I seem to remember someone trying to jump from the roof of the parking garage directly across from the police station.... ANyway... at the time I was out in a meadow with some kids, and someone pointed it out. Probably both plants were close together, and someone mentioned the barrel shaped pods. Hey, lots of things could be barrel-shaped-ish! So 30 or 40 years later, we got that one straightened out.
The Sweet Annie is high as an elephant's eye and covered with the tiny balls that will soon make those with allergies miserable. It smells wonderful to me.
The sea oats are drying in the sun, shimmering and quaking to the gentlest of breezes.It doesn't look like there was much proof of a lasting summer out there today. I will continue to look. Maybe down in the deep part of the woods, where the burning sun hasn't managed to cut through the trees and burn leaves. That's the real problem, you know. It isn't that summer is over, it's just that it's been so hot that the plants aren't handling it well. Poor things. That's what it is.