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Finding information and resources
online can be tedious and frustrating; there's a lot
more useless debris than valuable information out
there. These links are my way of separating
the wheat from the chaff. With the exception
of wildcrafters/growers/medicine makers, all herb
links lead to sites with educational content.
I know pretty much everybody linked to
here and feel real good about steering others their
way.
Live in Michigan?
Links to good people and places here in Michigan
Herb
Sites...
The best herbs sites online I know of, offering
excellent articles and resources for learning cool
and useful stuff.
Herbal Listserves and Forums
Online herbal email lists and herb
forums can be invaluable means of learning,
especially in areas not teeming with herbalists to
get varied perspectives from.
Blogs...
Some nice ones worthy of regular browsing...
Herbal conferences, festivals
& events...
an offsite calendar of events offered in the US &
Canada.
Identification...
Remarkably good online photos &
identification info
Wildcrafters, Growers, and
Medicine Makers…
Links to the best sources
for obtaining the highest quality fresh & dried
herbs and herbal preparations, direct from the
people who grew, collected or created them.
This is one of the of the most valuable resources
I've put on this site.
Myth &
Lore...
A collection of folklore and
traditional stories about plants
Henna...
Info on how to delve deeply into
dying the skin with henna...
Totally-Unrelated-To-Herbs-But-Still-Cool...
Other sites I like and get a kick
out of linking to
Poetry...
Purely self indulgent. Some
of my favorite poems.
Live in Michigan?
Michigan Natural Health
Coalition
The MNHC is working to establish a health freedom
act in Michigan. What is that, you wonder?
On a basic level, it allows various natural health
practitioners the right to practice their arts
without restrictive licensure (we do not want
licensure), based on the notion that adults can make
responsible decisions about what healthcare options
they choose and be responsible for those decisions.
Establishing health freedom is one of the most
important goals we can work towards in regards to
protecting our rights to choose how we take
responsibility for our health and who we choose to
help us explore the many options available to us.
Upland Hills Ecological Awareness Center
One of
my favorite "lurking places"... I teach here every
couple months. A true treasure, we/they offer
programs covering a wide spectrum of holistic
topics, from herbs & holistic practices to
sustainable energy to Native American Ceremony.
If you live anywhere nearby, please check it out...
Tall Trees Community
Farm
Tall Trees is
the vision of Terry Kelly, and is in the process of
becoming another of the important centers in
Michigan that explores the connection between health
and nature, spirit and stewardship, education and
peace. More than a farm, Tall Trees will offer
its community a beautiful preserve that houses
workshops ranging from traditional arts to
sustainable energy choices to natural community
building. If this is the sort of thing you
feel our world needs most, contact them and see how
you can help as they manifest this intention.
Nature's
Products
No
website to link to, but Gary Wanttaja has the best
selection of dried bulk herbs anywhere around, and
is probably one of the wisest plant people I know
of, possessed of admirable knowledge and a singular
sense of humor... I recollect once asking him what
Wahoo was for and he, totally deadpan, answered,
"It's for when you're depressed" (Wahoo!).
Nice. Nature's Products is located in Detroit
at 20020 Conant (minutes from I-75 & 8 Mile
Road); give him a ring at (313) 891-3900 for current
hours.
Jen Green, ND
Jen Green is a
Naturopathic Doctor who's moved to Orchard Lake from
Toronto, where she had a holistic clinic
specializing in women's health, pediatrics and
cancer care. I met her at a Holistic Mom's pot
luck, where we started talking 'bout our practices
over a bowl of burdock and have more or less kept up
the conversation since then... Jen is kick ass, and
I jive with her clinical sensibilities enough to
feel completely confident referring clients (or any
of you all) to her. She's a real Canadian,
too, as evidenced by her saying "herb" with a soft
"h" (this is a dead giveaway for brits, aussies, and
canadians...). A welcome addition to Michigan,
she is...
Foraged and Found Organics
Shane
Mulholland teaches classes and offers kits to grow a
diverse array of mushrooms, and also offers
wildcrafted mushrooms and greens (ramps, fiddleheads
& such). One of his kits will grow oyster
mushrooms on a toilet paper roll, or a book... how
cool. He even offers mycological landscaping
services.
Shepherd's Farm
This is where
we get much of our meat from, and I probably don't
know enough adjectives to convey how highly I regard
this farm. They also have a CSA with organic
vegetables, sell farm fresh eggs, and hardwood
firewood.
Bronwen Wildflower Gates
Bronwen is one
of my favorite plant people round these parts, and
I'd highly recommend taking a class, enrolling in
her herbwyfe prgram, or listening to a story with
her... she's delightful to spend time with and
speaks so beautifully... She works with herbs,
flower essences and other energetic modalities.
Cheryl Heppard
Cheryl is a health
coach; someone who helps teach others not just how
to have a good diet, but how to create a healthy
lifestyle in the holistic sense; intergrating diet,
exercise & mind/body/spirit practices into a
cohesive whole that can lead one towards well being.
She works with people individually, with families,
offers classes and started the
Michigan Healthy Living
Meet-Up group, which is how we crossed
paths initially.
Moonlight Mile Herb Farm
My
friend Susan Burek's fledgling herb farm, offering
certified organic herbs and all manner of feathered
things to boot.
Yule Love It Lavender Farm
Iris Lee
Underwood's small organic farm offers several
varieties of lavender, in bundles or "you pick".
The first time I was out there and stood in front of
the gardens on a hot summer day with the breeze
blowing towards me I gained an entirely new
appreciation for lavender the the EO just can't
touch...
Oikos Tree Crops
Oikos not only
provides fruit and nut trees, but oodles of useful
plants native or hardy to Michigan. Their
offerings are drool worthy.
Located near Ann Arbor,
they offer organically grown medicinal and culinary
herbs...
Herbal Alliance of Northern
Michigan
Herbalists working together here in Michigan... a few
years ago, who'd have thunk? These folks put
on a great conference last July (2004), and I hope
we'll see more good stuff happening in the future.
New Moon Midwifery
If you live
anywhere near Ann Arbor, and are looking for a
midwife to guide you through a homebirth, I couldn't
possibly Amanda, Anna & New Moon enough... beautiful
people, doing beautiful work. We've got two
wonderful little boys to prove it.
Waterford Life Chiropractic
Dr. Adrian
Gaviglio (the 2nd "g" is silent) is one of the
coolest practitioners of any sort I've ever crossed
paths with. He radiates both confidence and
compassion, has a great sense of humor, makes good
wine and most importantly, is quite good at what he
does. As I get a fair number of referrals in
using herbs to address back and joint injuries,
I'm frequently also referring these people to see a
good chiropractor, and if asked for a name, this is
the one I give. Dr. Gaviglio uses the grostic
technique, which is a subtle atlas adjustment....
very low force. If he needs to do more he
does, but I've seen (and experienced) very
impressive results with just these subtle atlas
adjustements.
Artemisia
I met Caryn at
an herb conference in Traverse City, and kept in
touch with her since; turns out we know more than a
few of the same people and I had been using her
"whole baby salve" on my little boy's... well, I'd
best not embarrass him. She offers doula
services, knows how to weave hammocks, dyes with
plants, and weaves other stuff, too. Nice,
nice diction, on that site... Caryn's home, in
the Ann Arbor area, is a United Plant Savers
Botanical Sanctuary.
Far East Ginseng
Herbs and Tea
Far East
Ginseng is a Chinese herb store on the northeast
corner of 14 Mile and Dequindre (is that Warren or
Sterling Heights?). They've got lots of
Chinese herbs available, but if you're gonna go in
looking for something in particular, you'd best know
at least the Latin and ideally the Chinese name for
it. If you're looking for raspberry leaves or
burdock root, you're better off going to Nature's
Products, but if you suddenly discover you're on you
last zi wan root, this is probably the place
to go. The "shopping" part of the website, by
the way, in no way represents what they have in the
way of bulk herbs or what the store is like.
It's worth a visit.
Deanne Bednar's Strawbale Studio
Deanne Bednar is a dear
friend and wowie-zowie, what a cool, cool building
she's created. If you live within driving
distance, you've simply got to check this out...
it's literally like walking into a fairytale
cottage. Plus, you'll get to spend some time
hanging out with Deanne, which will leave you
wondering whether she just isn't the fairy in the
fairytale...
Deanne teaches about all sorts of
natural building techniques, from making cob to
waddle & dob to thatching roofs. Check out
Deanne's work at
Kensington Metropark's Kids
Cottage.
Hiking Michigan
Hiking Michigan
is dedicated to encouraging people to get out into
the parks here in Southeast Michigan and enjoying
their bounty. They're organizing hiking groups
and have published a map book of many of our local
state and metroparks, complete with trails and
indications of habitat...isn't that cool?
Certainly well worth having methinks...
Herb Sites...
Henriette's Herbal Homepage
Probably the best herb
site online. Has most of the stuff on Moore's
site (plus Cook's & King's Dispensatory's) but is
fully searchable and excellent for cross
referencing. You should also check out the
herblist
Henriette runs, if you're a complete herb-nerd who
likes your inbox to be filled with emails titled
"diverticulitis" and "herbs for an infected toe".
And, our ever prolific Henriette's got a pretty damn
cool
blog, to boot.
Henriette has made more unstateably valuable
information available online (and free, no
less...) for our collective benefit than probably
anyone else in the world.
Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
Michael Moore's site.
Go out and get 30 or so ink cartridges, a hundred
and seventy reams of paper, and put that printer to
the test. All the eclectic books you'd like to
have, but are either out of print or too expensive.
Herbalists everywhere own Michael a debt of
gratitude for the immense amount of work he's put
into making such valuable information accessible...
though Michael has passed, the info on this site and
the wisdom he amassed is still being offered and
taught by Donna Chesner.
Matthew Wood
Matthew Wood is simply an incredible herbalist.
His Book of Herbal Wisdom was truly a
powerful catalyst (or maybe catapult?) in my
adventures in learning about herbcraft, and both
inspired new understanding and reaffirmed much of
what I'd come to sense about working with herbs.
He's a remarkably good writer, and has found a
beautiful blend of herbalism, homeopathy, flower
essences, alchemy and indigenous herbcraft.
His site, entirely revamped in late 07, is now
filled with some
really wonderful treasures.
Columbines School of Botanical
Studies
Howie Brounstein &
Steven Yeager offer a two year herbal studies course
based in Eugene, Oregon, which in 2010 I had the
great honor of sitting in (and occasionally butting
in) on. Their approach of stressing the
importance of learning the fundamentals of herbalism
(the properties and actions of plants) totally jives
with my sensibilities. Plus, more entertaining
classes you'll be hard pressed to find. Howie
shares some of his writings here, including the
original herbal
smoking mixture booklet
that was one of the first things I ever found on the
internet. Remember: astringents add body to a
smoke mix. See the way it all goes back to
actions?
Paul Bergner's Medical Herbalism
Paul edits Medical
Herbalism, an journal for practicing herbalists, and
has blessed us with some great links and, even
better, a smattering of
articles from Medical
Herbalism... check out the stuff written by
Bloyer... excellent,
indeed. Paul founded the
North American Institute of
Medical Herbalism.
Kiva Rose
I love Kiva's stuff because I just
really jive with where she's coming from; the posts
are down to earth and get to the foundational core
of grassroots traditional western herbalism.
She's a splendid writer (which is nice) and has a
great knack for being able to explain concepts that
could be difficult in a very assessable manner.
Kiva and her partner Wolf also host the
Traditions in Western
Herbalism Conference in the southwest,
and compile the flat out awesome
Plant Healer Magazine,
which if you don't get you should. It really
is as good as anything you'll read this year.
David LaLuzerne's HerbTV
Dave LaLuzerne is an
herbalist in Madison, WI who has made a slew of
really darned cool DVDs of herbalists from around
the country. As several of these people don't
have books or much in the way written material out,
the videos serve as a valuable addition to our
collective herbal repertoire, as well as offering a
different format for learning. And there's
just something really cool about seeing these people
sharing their knowledge... the style in which they
teach about herbs is as diverse as all the ways you
can practice using herbs. David has numerous
excerpts for viewing
here (oh, and I
recommend "An
Herb Walk in Michigan").
Rosemary Gladstar
Rosemary is just
really cool. I couldn't state emphatically
enough that if you have the opportunity to see her
somewhere, you should take it, and if you don't see
a readily-had opportunity, you should do your best
to find one. I don't think you could spend a
day with her and not be left vigorously inspired by
her
"viriditas"...
Rosemary is a walking example of
the good a green consciousness will do you.
You might ask to hear her story about the woman, the
"dying cat", and the valerian...
David Hoffmann
David Hoffmann is an
excellent herbalist, and has written some of the
most accessable information available to beginning
and intermediate herbalists. His Holistic
Herbal ("New" or "Illustrated") is a must have book.
This new link connects you to dozens of articles,
grouped by topic, so you don't have to navigate the
treacherous and peril laden healthy.net site.
Karyn Sanders is an incredible voice in the herbal
world... I say voice both figuratively and
literally, as she hosts a radio show in California
called
Herbal Highway, which
you can listen to when your eyes say "no" to reading
and a trip out into the wild isn't practical.
I can't say how impressed I am with the perspective
and wisdom she offers... I've had the opportunity to
sit in on classes of hers at the MidAmerica Herbal
Symposium and can say that they are among the best
I've ever been in. Karyn's background is
deeply rooted in Native American traditions, which
she blends artfully with some western herbalism and
decades of clinical experience. Having her
shows available to listen to online is truly a
blessing, and one not to be passed up.
David Winston
David Winston's site has some excellent
articles he's
written, as well as .pdf files of interest to those
of us herb nerds who dig on vintage nineteenth
century eclectic and physiomedical herbalism. If you
really want to discover how a website can act as a
sialagogue, check out the
Herbalist and Alchemist Books
link… gadzooks…
Wise Woman Healing Ways
Robin Rose Bennett offers classes,
walks and apprenticeships in the New York/New Jersey
area, and possesses the admirable virtue of being
"insightful". I got to know her via
Henriette's herblist
and in crossing paths at the International Herb
Symposium and I really admire her ability to see
beyond "this herb for that" and recognize the
patterns and energies that give one a greater
perspective on what's really at play in a given
situation. Her site has some thoughtful
articles and
presentations available for
listening.
7Song
7Song runs the Northeast School of
Botanical Medicine in Ithaca, NY, and his site
includes a number of
articles and an
extensive searchable
photo archive...
his pictures are really good, owing, no
doubt, to his inclination towards botanical
meticulosity. 7Song also has a nice sense of
wit, which peeps out of his writings like the proper
use of spices (nonwitty, or "objective" writing is
like bland food). 7Song's commitment towards
earthy, pragmatic grassroots herbalism is highly
laudable.
CommonWealth Center for Herbal Medicine
Primarily run by Katja Swift and Ryn Midura (with
adjunctive teachers to broaden things out),
CommonWealth offers open classes, intensive programs
and consults in and around Boston, and classes for
children (how-oh-so-cool-is-that?). I totally jive
with their perspective, and they have some nice
articles to peruse
here. Ryn's use of brackets (something not in my
punctuation heavy repertoire) is particularly worthy
of taking in.
Susun Weed
Susun is probably one of the most
well known herbalists in the world, renown as a
herald of the wise woman tradition, for her
encyclopedic knowledge of herbalism and oftimes
iconoclastic insights about healing. Her site
is extensive, and offers a number of excellent
articles and an
active and lively
discussion forum in
addition to information about her classes and
programs.
Michael & Lesley Tierra
The East~West/Planet
Herbs site hosts a slew of
articles covering a
diverse range of history, treatment protocols &
insights into various healing modalities. The
Tierra's are renown for the fusion of North American
botanicals and the Eastern structures of TCM &
Ayurveda, but western-oriented herbalists like
myself can happily lose themselves in gems like
What is eclecticism?
& also rare
books like Eli Jones's "Cancer,
It's Causes Symptoms and Treatment"
(which you can't read and not just come to the
conclusion that Jones was way cool).
There are also numerous options in the way of
educational opportunities offered.
Todd Caldecott
Todd has some nice
articles on his site, among which is a real gem of a
write up on the Vitalist principles of
Physio-Medicalism,
which, along with the Eclectic practice, may have
been the high point of western energetic herbalism.
Stephen Harrod Buhner/Foundation
for Gaian Studies
Stephen Buhner has written some of the best herb books
I’ve read. His Secret Teaching of Plants,
Sacred Plant Medicine and Sacred and Herbal Healing
Beers may be among the most well written herb books
available. Here are some
articles he’s
written… I love, as well, that Stephen has offered
corrections to his
books.
Dale Pendell
Dale
Pendell is the author of the incredible “Pharmako-“
trilogy, consisting of Pharmako/Poeia,
Pharmakodynamis and Phamako/Gnosis. These
books are explorations into the relationship between
people and “power plants”… not simply
"psychedelics", but all
the plants that affect our consciousness, from
Tobacco, Coffee & Marijuana to Tea, Absinthe and
Psilocybes. Pendell’s writing is astounding, a
blending together of botany, poetry, alchemy and
herbcraft. These are among my
favorite books, and while that’s not an endorsement
of the “poison path” they document, I feel they
offer a unique wisdom not to be found elsewhere.
The
L.A. Times interview
is an excellent introduction to this original voice
of plant lore. I'd consider these among my
favorite plant books ever written. Shame he
didn't write on Calamus...
Adam Seller's Pacific School of
Herbal Medicine
Adam's site for
his school is quite valuable in that it has some
very nice
recipes, capped by
the phrase, "Never
trust an herbalist who's not a good cook."
Wise words...
He's also got
some very admirable info on
Horsetail and Ragweed...
not the usual stuff you always see under those
herbs. I'm charmed by a clever humor that
seems to permeate the writing...
A Modern Herbal Online
Grieve's classic, searchable. This is an
incredibly valuable resource, and one that's not
given as much credit as it deserves. Grieve
offers an immense variety of folk uses and folklore
not readily found elsewhere. I'll often print
out entries to take a highlighter to, since I
wouldn't dare deface a book with one.
Sam Thayer
I came across
Sam Thayer's book The Forager's Harvest while
teaching out in Duluth, and my utterly delightful
hosts gifted me with the copy I picked up every time
I sat down at their place (perhaps they thought I
wasn't going to put it down when I had to leave).
It's quite simply the absolute best book on edible
plants I've ever come across, with no close seconds.
Sam doesn't cover much in the way of medicinal uses,
but his writing clearly expresses the deep
connection and kinship he has with the plants that
he covers. While it is a regional book, I'd
still get it regardless of where you live, just to
see how good an edible plant book can be.
Seven thumbs up.
Ryan Drum
Hmm... Ryan
Drum's site is very cool, but there are certainly
some "interesting" ideas offered here and there that
might make you scratch your head (thinking
specifically about a notion offered in "Herbs for
Men's Health" about x and y chromosomes...).
Nonetheless, one of the reasons herbalism is so
interesting is because we're all such a bunch of
characters, (I've got plenty of oddball theories
myself, if you'd believe it...), and Ryan's site is
exceptional in that several of his articles offer
ideas to ponder you'll not readily find elsewhere...
that's always a treat.
Maria Treben
Some of the
herbal entries from Maria Treben's Health from God's
Pharmacy...
Smoke Plants
Mairi Ross has
authored a delightful book on the oft maligned act
of smoking dried plants, and covers over 150 in the
process. The book is a real treat, with pages
like puffs on a pipe... lots of wisdoms to quietly
ponder. Really, one of the only books of its
kind...
United Plant Savers
United
Plant Savers is dedicated to protecting and
cultivating medicinal plants threatened by habitat
loss and commercial overharvest. As herbs like
Goldenseal, Black Cohosh, American Ginseng and Wild
Yam are becoming increasingly rare in the wild, UpS
works to both preserve and propagate them.
Their website lists their events calendar,
offers ways you can help preserve plants in your
area, and provides membership info (hint hint).
Herbal
Listserves and Forums...
These are the herbal email listserves and forums I
know of and would recommend checking out.
There are undoubtedly more (Henriette has a list
here, and even that
probably leaves out lots). I haven't included
lists or forums focused on homeopathy, TCM or
ayurveda - I'm just not knowledgeable enough in
these areas to pick out the good ones. The
ones I have included here are all, I deem, very
nice. Like all things, though, each has its
own flavor and one list or forum may bug one person
and be the delight of another. The best way to
find out which are the good ones are to try them out
and decide for yourself.
I would also advise those with
addictive personalities to consider the impact of
numerous forums (and the myriad ways they can teach
you something new) on their time management and
productivity. The same considerations one
would keep in mind when dealing with heroine or
gambling should be remembered when one realizes that
they're in the midst of an herblist fit.
I'd also like to acknowledge and
(namelessly) thank some of the very skilled and
gifted herbalists who post on these open lists,
rather than avoiding them in favor of
"professional-only" lists. I find their
openness and willingness to share highly admirable,
and praise them for so freely giving of their time
and wisdom.
Henriette's Herblist
Henriette Kress offers an excellent herbal listserve
replete with wise herbfolk who share insights
opinions and ideas on herbs and their use. The
list's archives are phenomenal; and an
incredible resource (though unfortunately not
searchable). Henriette's list is very well
moderated; which saves its members from spam, two
word replies that contain another 80 lines of
previous posts, and off-topic chit chat, but does
require members who want to post to learn the basics
of "netiquette"
(snipping unnecessary text from replies, not
replying "thanks!" to every individual email
recieved, and staying on the topic of herbs). For
this bit of effort, the wealth of knowledge it
offers is priceless... another reason to value this
herb maven who has made more information freely
accessible than perhaps anyone else online.
You can subscribe
here.
The AHG Herbstudent List
The herbstudent list was begun and few years ago
and, like henriette's list, offers an immensity of
collective insight. There are less requirements for
people who want to post (editing previous replies in
posts isn't a requirement), and so in that way
perhaps a bit more accessable, but that also means
you will occasionally get the short reply with
paragraphs and paragraphs of previous posts before
it. something that'll make you see red if you're on
digest. A big bonus with this group is that members
can search the archives. Nice.
HerbMentor.com
John, Kimberly and Rosalee at HerbMentor have put
together an exceptional resource for those looking
to learn about herbalism with more structure and
guidance than is offered by most (any?) other online
email lists and message boards. It is a
subscription service, and is replete with lengthy
audio and video lectures (including some by me),
comprehensive written resources, a message board and
other resources that make it an excellent resource
to people who learn in different ways (since you can
read, listen and watch the presentations).
While an inevitable question is "Why would I pay fro
something online when so much is free?", I'd posit a
few answers, one being that HerbMentor is very
reasonably priced, another being that I don't know
anyone who hasn't really liked it (most a lot) and
also that John Gallagher is a really super cool
fellow who's committed to providing real, grassroots
herbal wisdom in a very assessable way.
Susun Weed's Wisewoman Forum
The Wise Woman Forum is, like the herbwifery forum,
not "for women only", but its focus is rooted in the
wise woman tradition as laid out by Susun in her
books. If you're one of the folks who has been put
off by Susun's iconoclastic personality or behavior,
the forum doesn't really go there, and she herself
has little to do with it (I believe that its run by
her daughter Justine, who, if I were to make
assumptions about a person I haven't met just by
reading a smattering of her posts, seems to possess
a keen insight and sense of perspective that I find
both honest and honorable). Its a forum with a
flavor all of its own, and there are jewels to be
found there that are seen far lest often on other
lists. there's more space there for off topic (but
connected) posting. If I had one gripe with it, its
that there are too many separate forums; for
example, I have no idea why the herbal medicine
chest, herbal allies, and health and wellness
questions need to have separate boards... but maybe
that's just an issue for me, who has to wait longer
to get through these in (alas) the land of dial up
internet connections...
Blogs...
Kiva Rose
Kiva has
probably set the bar for what a good herb blog can
be, providing very thoughtful, comprehensive write
ups, posting regularly, and offering content that's
not found everywhere and anywhere else. Her
entries not only offer excellent info, but the
skill, style and clarity with which she presents it
rocks also. Kiva teaches at and stewards the
Anima Center, a
spiritual/botanical/ecological sanctuary in New
Mexico.
Henriette's Herbal Blog
Like her site, this is probably one
of the best on the web, and especially nice as the
comments are shown without having to go look for
them. Henriette's blog posts range from
amusing to invaluable.
Plant Journeys
Ananda's blog
of plant musings and other insightful ponderings.
I heard for years among herbfolk online about how
damn cool Ananda is, and her blog conveys that
energy pretty well. Posts like
this
make my day... so deep, and yet so accessible.
And gadzooks; the pictures at that site kick ass...
Gaia's Gifts
Darcey Blue's ruminations on plants
and herbalism, fully infused with her curiousity,
exuberance and good energy. She's been sharing
some of the insights she's gleaned at Paul Bergner's
North American Institute of
Medical Herbalism with
us all, and that's quite a nice opportunity for
those of us who wish we could attend, but will have
to do so at some other time or in some other life...
Green Man Ramblings
Sean Donahue's blog... not all of
its herbal, which can be a deal breaker when I'm
considering links, but the herb posts he does write
are exceptional, so it'd be self defeating to omit a
link out of idealism. Sean's entries are well
considered and insightful, offering readers
different poitns of view on the plants he discusses
than are usually had. Nice.
Methow Valley Herbs
In addition to having a poetically beautiful name,
Rosalee de la Foret offers us a very nice blog,
replete with assessable and comprehensive entries
that merit regular visitation (this
being a good example). Rosalee also offers
quite a bit of info at herbmentor.com (discussed
above), including a number of "e-books" and a few
really exquisite visual explorations of some of our
favorite plants.
Michael & Lesley Tierra
Both
Lesley and
Michael have been
writing blog entries recently, many of which are
really very quite nice.
This one rocks, and
has an e. e. cummings poem thrown in to make it all
the better.
The Herbalists Path
Angie Goodloe's
blog is a delightful blend of herbal insights,
stories, recipes and adventures, repleat with real
nice pictures and
hitherto untold uses for
nettles... fun.
A Radicle
Guido Mase's
blog, filled with beautiful photos, insights and
lively commentary on recent news in the herb world;
he also runs
Grian Herbs.
I met Guido at the 8th International Herb Symposium,
and declare him a groovy dude.
Jonno's Weblog
Wow. Jonathan Treasure's blog entries are, for a
lot of us, kind of like reading cuneiform.
They're very much clinically oriented, and unless
you really dig on reading medical/scientific
abstracts, they're likely to seem a bit daunting.
Regardless, he's a very knowledgeable fellow, and
his posts are worth a browse, if only to chuckle at
the pokes and jibes he takes at unfounded headlines
and uninformed rhetoric.
Kathy Abascal
This is another
good but dead blog; still, the posts on the inherent
creepiness of Grapefruit Seed Extract and the sane
response to the completely insane "Lavender
will make little boys grow boobs" hysteria of a few
years ago are worth the link.
Really, there are a lot more good blogs I could list,
though I've tried to stick with ones that are
predominantly herb based (rather than peppered with
herbal info).
Herbal conferences, festivals & events...
I always pondered putting up a list of herbal
conferences and events, but it seemed like it'd be a
nightmare to keep up with, go out of date quickly,
and end up less than useful. But (yay!)
someone else has made a nice listing, so I can just
post a link to that... so here's a list of
herbal conferences, festival
and events in the US & Canada.
Identification...
Missouri Plants*
This
site has the best pictures of wildflowers I
know of… usually several per plant; showing the
flower, leaves, the whole plant and any significant
identifying characteristics. Plants are
not listed by common names, which will reinforce the
lesson that you can’t get around needing to
know the Latin names for plants.
*Dan Tenaglia, who ran this site, tragically died in
February of '07. His wife has kept it up and
running, in honor of his passion for plants, but
doing so requires effort and support. If you
value this site and wish to help support its
maintenance, you can make a donation to the
“Dan Tenaglia
Foundation”: 1416 Victoria Avenue, Opelika, Alabama
36801.
Michigan Flora
Not picture heavy, but rather a
botanical key for Michigan with county level
distribution maps. The search by genus option
can help you look to see where to look for a given
species, or help to reverse ID a plant you've found
The Biota of North America
A super detailed plant distribution
atlas.
MSU Turf Weeds
Is it growing in your lawn?
Check out the MSU Turf Weeds site, which has some
nice pics of common lawn weeds...
Virginia Tech's Dendrology Site
ID a tree by leaf or
needle(s)... one of the easier to use identification
sites with good photos...
Hey... those aren't Nettle...
False Nettle (Boehmeria
cylindrica)
Clearweed (Pilea pumila)
Are they medicinal? All I've
ever found is that the the Cherokee "rubbed the
stems (of Clearweed) between the toes to alleviate
itch, and gave the tea to curb the appetite"
(from James Duke's Northeast Indian Medicinal
Plants)
Mushrooms...
There's very good
mushroom identification information available at
Mushroom Expert.com;
if you're interested in our fungal friends,
that might be one of the best resources online.
In addition to excellent pics and descriptions of a
lot of species (listed in the box in the top right
corner of the page), there's info on easily
identified edibles, deadly poisonous species,
primers of morel & boletus gatherers, and technical
info to help with understanding mushroom field
guides, taxonomy, spore microscopy, etc etc; on &
on...
Hen of the Woods/Maitake
Grifola frondosa...
...mushrooms do not get
better than this
(another good pic)
Turkey Tail
Trametes versicolor
Chicken of the Woods/Sulphur
Shelf
Laeptiporus sulphureus
Reishi Ganoderma
spp.
Birch Polypore
Piptoporus Betulinus
A Few Very Poisonous Plants &
Mushrooms...
These are strong
enough to kill a person. Please, if you
wildcraft, take as much time to learn how to
identify your local poisonous plants as you take to
learn to identify the medicinal ones.
Hemlock Conium
maculatum
Water Hemlock
Cicuta maculata
Destroying Angel
Amanita virosa
Death Cap
Amanita phalloides
Deadly Galerina
Galerina autumnalis
Deadly Lawn Galerina
Galerina venenata
Wildcrafters, Growers, and Medicine Makers…
I feel very strongly about the
responsibility we take in using herbal medicines.
In doing so, we not only take become responsible for
our own well being, but we also take on the
responsibility of the plants we use to nourish our
bodies and souls. Ideally, we can honor this
by respectfully gathering or growing the medicines
we use. Sometimes, though, practicality (be it
of time, convenience or whatever) insists we
purchase our herbs. If this is the case, we
must understand that when we buy an herb or herbal
preparation, we assume the responsibility for how it
has been gathered and prepared.
If you’re buying drugstore brand herbs, or
even herbs produced by supplements companies, you’re
most likely financing environmentally destructive
practices. Most convenience stores and
supermarkets carry wildcrafted Goldenseal
preparations, which people buy under the misguided
understanding that it’ll ward off their cold (it
does not). It’s probably ages old and nearly
inert, to boot. The money that this
consumption earns encourages plants and nature to be
seen as a commodity, something to bring in a profit.
Again, if you buy these preparations, you’re paying
to support and reinforce this view. I suspect
most of us don’t intend to do that… wouldn’t you
rather your money go directly to an individual
herbalist and their family rather than support a
huge profit-oriented corporation?
I’ve made it a top priority that if I
can’t gather an herb myself, I do my damnedest to
get it directly from the person that did, or, if
that’s not possible, from a source that I know puts
as much emphasis on wildcrafting ethics and
integrity as I do. This effort ensures a
number of things: That the plants are being
gathered respectfully and sensitively, that the
ingredients you use to make your own preparations
are top quality, and that your money and support
goes to people who care passionately about the
plants they grow and collect. Our money is a
form of energy, and I think that supporting small
scale family growers, wild crafters and medicine
makers is an excellent place to send that energy.
I take great pride in the fact that I know whose
hands unearthed the Black Cohosh I use, and whose
prayers were offered to the bitterroot I chew.
So here’s a list of people I rely on to
obtain the highest quality herbs and preparations
that can be had, who I know care as deeply about
these herbs as I do. I hope you all will find
this information useful, and support these plant
people as the herbs they collect support us.
Michigan…
Aspen Hill Farm
1878 Anderson Road / Box 753 / Boyne
City, MI 49712 / (231) 582-6790
Steve Edwards grows organic American
Ginseng, Goldenseal, Black Cohosh, Blue Cohosh,
Bloodroot, and other at risk medicinals. I’ve
purchased both dried and fresh Goldenseal roots from
him, and was incredibly impressed by their
quality and vitality; not to mention how well
they’ve worked for me since tincturing them… when I
run out, this will for sure be where I order
more from.
Wilderness Herbs
Box
518 / Ishpeming, MI 49849
While you'll have to mail out for a catalog (yes, in
this day and age...), when you get it and see that
it's entirely hand written and illustrated, you'll
appreciate the care you can tell goes into what they
do. Wilderness Herbs offers a very nice
selection of oils, salves and tinctures (one of the
only places I know that offers a Pedicularis
canadense tincture), and what is especially cool,
herb kits and samplers that provide a combination of
extracts, oils, salves and powders.
Yule Love It Lavender Farm
Iris Lee
Underwood's small organic farm offers several
varieties of lavender, in bundles or "you pick".
The first time I was out there and stoof in front of
the gardens on a hot summer day with the breeze
blowing towards me I gained an entirely new
appreciation for lavender the the EO just can't
touch...
Northeast United
States…
I’ve been ordering herbs
through Zack Woods for years now, and can’t
recommend them enough. They grow exceptional
Black Cohosh, which you can get shipped fresh out of
the ground to you and you’ll know why the dried root
doesn’t compare at all. They’ve also got many
other at risk and otherwise useful herbs, and both
Melanie and Jeff have been a pleasure to work with
every time I’ve ordered.
Kate Gilday and Don Babineau have
created a line of flower essences made from native
North American trees, shrubs and herbs, as well as
tinctures, oils, salves, creams and, of special
merit, Chaga mushrooms (a truly exquisite tea, Chaga
is…). They also host classes and Kate offers
apprenticeships. I met Kate at the
International Herb Symposium this year, and she's
every bit as cool as she comes across on the phone,
and knows really good songs, too. Excellent
results with her essences, as well...
Nancy and Michael Phillips farm offers excellent
quality herbs and preparations, and more than a few
nice
articles on herbs and
organic apple cultivation. They wrote "The
Village Herbalist" together (now revised as "The
Herbalist's Way"... I must profess I
liked the original title better...) and it is a
flat-out excellent must-have-r. You couldn't
capture what herbalism is about better than they
have; very affirming.
Matthias and Andrea Reisen's herb farm and education
center. They'll teach you about how to grow
the herbs, how to gather the herbs, and do so with
prayerful intent. Beautiful, beautiful herbs.
Traci at Fellow Worker's
Farm is a wildcrafter and grower, offering a
medicinal herb CSA option for locals (Germantown,
NY), but also offers bulk herbs by order, along with
assorted extracts, oils, potions and such. She has a
slew of herbs not so easily had, including many tree
medicines like alder (see Kiva's writings to gain a
deep appreciation for this), peach, aspen, mulberry
and probably whatever else grows nearby. Now, don't
ya love seeing things like mulberry on someone's
herb list? It says so much, about their connection
to the plants they live with, their curiosity about
them, and their desire to grow herbalism away from
over-reliance on the the top dozen best selling
herbs and towards sustainable, grassroots,
handcrafted medicine. Traci also hosts a blog
here. Contact her
directly for a list of what she's got.
Urban Moonshine
Bitters. Really quite spectacular bitters.
I met Jovial at the AHG conference in Pennsylvania
in 2012 and got to taste these bitters I'd heard
such good things about, and was super impressed.
I love bitters, and I have a deep appreciation for
the craft of formulating bitters; sampling the many
different bitter blends people make makes me really
quite happy and appreciative of the literally
infinite possibilities out there. This is one
of the best I've had. They also make other
goodies worth slucking up.
They offer a number of organically grown medicinals,
and are one of the only places I've seen that offers
Solomon's Seal roots.
Ironbound Island Seaweeds
North Atlantic dulse, kelp, kombu, wakame, and nori
hand gathered in Maine.
Appalachia…
Robin Suggs at Moonbranch
Botanicals offers wildcrafted and organically grown
herbs endemic to the eastern forests of Appalachia.
He's gone beyond simple organic cultivation, and is
replicating the natural habitat ecologies the plants
he grows would naturally exist in (in other words,
the plants that naturally prefer poor soil to grow
in aren't cultivated in rich, well composted
topsoil. One of the few places I know that
offers fresh or recent dried Wild Indigo, Solomon's
Seal and Stone Root.
Larry Harding grows exceptional Ginseng, organically
cultivating the plant in wild, unamended forest soil
so that it grows in potency as it competes with
other plants in the wild Appalachian soil. The
resultant roots are much stronger and medicinally
endowed than Ginseng given cushy, well composted and
manured garden soil (under a shade cloth) could
approximate. Harding's also offers organic
wild cultivated Goldenseal, Bloodroot, Black Cohosh
and other at risk herbs.
Mushroom Harvest offers
all the mushroom varieties we that herbalists crave,
and then some: Reishi, shiitakes, lion's mane,
chaga, turkey tails, and many others, as powders or
kits so you can grow your own. I met George at
the 8th International Herb Symposium and was blessed
to get some of his cordyceps... divine.
Joe Hollis grows gazillions of herbs
and makes myriad herbal preparations to offer, with
lots of unusual medicinals and formulae. He’ll
custom harvest herbs for you, and has plants and
seeds for sale. He also offers apprenticeships
& classes… And, his site is beautiful and
makes me want to visit… check out the pictures… wow.
Founded by Paul Strauss, Equinox offers a small but
exceptional line of extracts and their damn good
"golden salve". Paul is also the steward of
the United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary in
Rutland Ohio, and damn, does that guy know the land
he walks on. His knowledge of the sanctuary is
astounding, and one shouldn't pass up an opportunity
to join him on a plant walk (just don't believe him
when he says you'll only be 45 minutes...).
Corey Pine Shane offers an exquisite line of really
high quality tincture and such. I've ordered
stuff from him a number of times when I was out of
something and wanted to get a ready made tincture
from an impeccable source. Corey Pine also
runs the
Blue Ridge School of Herbal
Medicine in Asheville, NC and offers
consults. Every
time I call to order something from him we always
get into a long, green conversation... he's a cool
cat.
Heartland…
One of my students turned me onto Rod Angeroth at
Loess Roots, passing along some extra goldenseal and
black cohosh to me. The roots looked and
smelled and felt and worked beautiful, and I
subsequently got some other things from Rod,
including some absolutely gorgeous american ginseng
root. Everything about Loess Roots rocks, and
it's I think the only place I know to get virginia
snakeroot. Purchasing roots from Rod, who's in
Nebraska, will get a lot of what are considered
eastern woodlands plants to people who live out west
than getting them from several states farther
eastwards. Highly recommended.
White Horse Herbs & Trading Post
386 West 2nd Street / PO Box
646 / Mission, SD 57555 / (605) 856-4925
This
place offers, without a doubt, the best Calamus root
for chewing that I’ve come across, dried as whole
roots and not cut and sifted. They carry lots
of other stuff as well… ask for Alva.
Northwest United
States…
James Jungwirth and Kari
Rein offer hand harvested seaweeds and custom
wildcrafted herbs that grow in the Pacific
Northwest. They don’t stock bulk herbs and
such, but rather if there’s something you need that
grows out that way you can give them a call and
they’ll gather for you and ship it to you.
They also carry tinctures, salves and oils, and a
look through their catalog shows some really nice
stuff… one of the only places I know to get fresh
Cactus grandiflorus, or fresh Ragweed tincture if
you didn’t get around to harvesting your own..
Lexie and Chris grow and collect a multitude of herbs
from their farm and the wildlands of Washington
State, including not only many herbs native to that
habitat, but several other less commonly associated
with the Northwest. They offer contract
farming services, will produce tinctures, oils, or
other preparations to your specs, offer seeds of
virtually all the herbs they produce, and most
importantly the quality of herbs they offer shows
their commitment to both the plants and the people
they serve.
You've got to love when you find a resource that
states of their offerings, "We grow or wildcraft all
of them personally".
Michael Pilarski offers a large array of botanicals
native to or naturalized in the Pacific Northwest
(along with a smattering of others here & there),
primarily to be collected from their gardens or
wildcrafted by order. This ensures you the
highest possible quality, and you get to know that
the herbs you receive were specifically gathered for
you. They can also offer preparations of any
of the herbs they offer to suit your needs.
Notable among their offerings (and outside of the
typically thought of northwest herbs) are Wood
Betony (Stachys betonica) and Red Osier Dogwood
(commonly called "Red Willow" when used in smoke
blends; it can be difficult to find quality
offerings of these herbs in commerce.
Ryan Drum's wildcrafting. Excellent quality
seaweeds (Bullwhip Kelp is divine) and herbs,
including some wonderful rarities like Indian Pipe (Monotropa
uniflora) which turns purple when you
tincture it (!).
This is a BIG organic farm in Oregon that grows and
stocks a wide range of high quality herbs; recently
they've been distributing a lot more plants from
various parts of the world, but their site clearly
lists sources and often says "our farm". You
can order fresh herbs here and they’ll ship them out
to you for extraction, or obtain dried herbs that
have been harvested that season.
Organic Unity
Sajah and Whitney offer alchemically produced
spagyric tinctures and essences. These are
an entirely different type of preparation than herbal tinctures, and generally taken in drop doses.
I'm currently (at the time of this writing) totally
digging on their hawthorne essence...
Southwest United
States…
Ginger Webb offers a number of tinctures and teas
made from both bioregional and commonly used herbs,
and her stuff rocks. She's a great source for
midwives looking for cotton root bark tincture, as
well as those looking for a source of traditional
southwest & mexican herbs seldom seen available
elsewhere. Ginger also does consults...
Richard McDonald (no direct relation)
offers handcrafted tinctures, salves, oils and bulk
herbs made from southwestern medicinals. He
wild cultivates the Osha he
collects, and I highly recommend him as a
source for Osha tincture. He’s also got cool
and hard to find stuff like Desert Anemone (which
needs to be extracted fresh), Yerba Mansa and
Pedicularis (the western species seem to be more
potent muscle relaxants than our P. canadense…).
Richard's also working on a near-manifesto on his
experience using herbs to treat
diabetes, which is
worth checking out, and an increasing number of
herb monographs...
Jen
Prosser has moved her farm from the Catskills to New
Mexico. She offers a nice selection of organic
and wildcrafted bulk herbs, and has some real
treasures offered as tinctures, like Life Root and
Peach Leaf. Jen also offers consults &
classes.
Southeast United
States…
I met Theresa Finkbeiner
while teaching down in Ocean Springs, Mississippi;
she rather saved a ravenously hungry me with some
fresh crawfish. We swapped some Kava tincture,
gabbed about plants and in her photo album I saw the
most insanely tall joe pye weed... it must've been
ten feet? Perhaps more? Theresa makes tinctures,
oils, offers herbal birthing goodies and teaches
throughout the southeast. If you cross paths with
her, do ask to see that joe pye picture...
Hawaii…
John Fowler grows several varieties of
organic Kava Kava on the big island of Hawaii.
This is especially nice, since you can order a
specific Kava Kava by name, rather than get a great
batch of Kava that you love with one order, and then
an entirely different type with your next order.
You can even get fresh roots, chew them up yourself,
spit ‘em out, add water and enjoy with friends and
family… mmmmmmmm (I’m sure your friends and family
will feel the same).
Canada…
Steve Martyn has created some unique
and tasty teas, but also offers wildcrafted bulk
herbs, including lots of hard to find tree barks,
Sweet Fern, Myrica gale and he’s the only place I
know who carries dried New England Aster. They
also offer classes and workshops on herbs and
primitive skills.
Someone online tuned me
onto this company; they're the only one listed here
where I haven't actually used their stuff, but a
look over their (well, actually "her") site at what
they had to offer showed them to be of immense
grassroots integrity. Amanda collects and
offers wildcrafted seaweeds (including the
exceptionally delicious bull kelp) off the coast of
Vancouver Island and a line of salves made from
regional herbs, including things like sword fern and
fireweed... not your average thrown together
formulas. She also offers consults, tours and
classes.
From all the heck over the place…
Mountain Rose Herbs the place to
buy bulk dried herbs if you can’t get them directly
from the source, or you need stuff from all over the
place and shipping costs from each would cost more
than the herbs you're getting. They have all
kinds of other stuff, too… essential oils, tea
blends, tinctures, salves, stuff for pets, books,
bottles, and really good
organic Oolong tea. I should probably have up
one of those banner things that you can click on and
then I get some kind of kickback because you got to
their site through mine, but I'm idealistic.
Everyone here gets the same green font (with the
exception of Iris at Yule Love It Lavender Farm...).
Kiki Geary set up
Poppy Swap as an etsy-esque market place where
herbal medicine makers can offer their wares.
People can search through the site and get the
medicines they use directly from the people who
crafted them. Bulk herbs, tea blends,
tinctures, oils, salves, soaps, incense and all
manner of potions can be had. Each seller gets
their own site, letting you know a bit about the
person whose hands prepared your herbs. Just
way cool, really, and another good way to support
grassroots herbalism.
Seven Cups imports organic and fair trade teas (Camellia
sinensis)
directly from China, and offers a vast and varied
array of the best green, white, yellow, oolong and
black teas to be had. They personally select
the teas they sell, and can tell you where they were
grown, who grew them and exactly when they were
harvested. I don't think you can find such
reliability anywhere else, when it comes to Tea.
Too bad they don't supply Chinese medicinals, eh?
Chocolate…
I've never had chocolate better than this.
Certainly, there are a lot of very good chocolates
available, but Elaine's Innocent Chocolate is among
the best I've been blessed to savor. Based on
a blend of extra virgin coconut oil, raw agave
nectar and organic fair trade cocoa powder, it
provides more than ample chocolate euphoria, but
feels light and good; not just tastewise, but good
for you: for your body, for your soul (and
definitely for your pleasure seeking Id). I
could go on and on, but said simply, this stuff is
just exquisite.
Tobacco…
Sun Butler at Sotoya
grows and cures absolutely exquisite organic
Tobacco. While much can be said to the offense
of Tobacco, it should be remembered that it is
considered the most Sacred of plants by virtually
every native tribe in the western hemisphere.
Tobacco abuse has little to do with Tobacco itself,
but as the term implies, our abuse of
Tobacco. For those of us who can truly treat
this plant teacher as a Sacrament, with all the
reverence that it deserves, Sotoya offers Tobacco
that shines with the respect and integrity with
which they prepare it. Various grades are
offered as whole leaf hands or braids, and they
offer Tobacco flowers as well. If you use
Tobacco, and understand it as powerful Prayer
Medicine, doesn't it make sense to get it directly
from someone growing it with this intention?
Vanilla…
These folks have exceptional vanilla at very
affordable prices. Don't pass up the
opportunity to get the Tahiti Vanilla; everyone
always focused on bourbon, but the scope of
vanilla's flavor extends far beyond that one
variety. Their shipping is insanely fast.
Oils and Butters and Such…
Organic Creations is a supplier for soap makers, and
has a lot of nice organic fixed oils at good prices.
A good place to get coconut oil, cocoa butter,
jojoba oil and other things that are just too
expensive when purchased in 8-16 ounce sizes.
Seeds...
The Cech family offers one of the
widest selection of medicinal herb seeds available,
and some good books on growing plants and making
stuff out of them… if you’re looking for seeds, this
is a good place to start.
...I’ve only listed
sources that I’ve personally worked with… but there
are numerous growers and collectors that share our
common ethics.
If you join
United Plant Savers
(and why wouldn't you?) they'll send you a great
plant and bulk herb directory.
I encourage you to talk with the people and ask
questions about them, the herbs they collect and
their philosophy… they should all be able to tell
you the fine details about the plant… specifically
when they collected it and where it came from, or if
it was grown whether its organic.
Myth & Lore...
the green man and the green
woman
the origins of disease an
medicine ~ cherokee
poison
ivy (my
telling...)
how blossoms came to the heather
the oak tree and the reeds
the marsh king's daughter
little elder tree mother
the elf of the rose
the nettle spinner
hummingbird brings back tobacco
~ cherokee
the origin of strawberries ~
cherokee
the legend of the trailing
arbutus ~ iroquois
the legend of the violet ~
iroquios
the meadow dandelion ~ chippewa
why wild roses have thorns
~ salteaux
how maple sugar came ~ salteaux
the star and the water lilies
~ chippewa
the birth of wek-wek
(elderberry) ~ hool-poom'-ne
Goddess is Alive in Every
Woman (susun
weed)
Henna...
If the idea of
drawing leaves and vines all over yourself seems
like something you could get lost in, these sites
will open up a whole new realm
of plant-based fanaticism...
Henna Tribe
This site is run collectively by a
number of professional henna artists, and has lots
of info as well as a real cool
forum filled with
immeasurably useful info where you can ask questions
and get a number of different perspectives from
equally good artists (quite useful, since there is
no right "recipe" for making henna paste). The
links to member's sites offer great resources
for obtaining high quality henna and their exquisite
artwork is nothing short of divine.
Henna Page
This site has extensive free info (in
nicely printable .pdf files) elaborating
on all you need to know to start making and using
henna to doodle on yourself and others, numerous
designs and links to sources for high quality henna.
The
site index reveals
the wealth of info there, and useful since this site
is kind've a pain to navigate
Totally-Unrelated-To-Herbs-But-Still-Cool..
Woodsong
If you
ever cross paths with me, I'll likely have one of
Rob Yard's flutes in hand. These are the best
bamboo flutes you can come by.
listening...
ZBS
ZBS
creates audio stories that blend exciting stories,
natural wisdom, insightful views of society, and bad
puns... an excellent combination. Check out
Jack Flanders in
The Fourth Tower of Inverness,
or, if you like sci-fi,
The Adventures of Ruby.
This American Life
One of my all
time favorite public radio shows, offering all of
their past episodes for online enjoyment; episodes
range from clear headed journalism to emotionally
moving to quirky hilarious. Ira Glass probably
constitutes a personal hero. If you're reading
this, be sure to listen to
this. And
this (part 2)...
Radiolab
Incredible
listening. I think everyone should be required
to listen to some of these episodes;
this being an
excellent example.
music...
Rising Appalachia
Leah & Chloe
totally rock. I've had the good fortune of
hearing their sing & play once or twice a year at
herb conferences, which I hope is a phenomenon that
extends into decades. Just awesome, cool,
sweet voices and souls. Listen to
this
this
this and
this.
Owain Phyfe
I've been
enjoying Owain's music for several years, since I
first walked past his stage at the Michigan
Renaissance Festival. It's period music from
several countries and sung in several languages; but
all of it is universally beautiful. Owain's
singing is excellent, and best of all, this
recordings are excellent too... not "basement"
quality at all.
Where
Beauty Moves and Wit Delights
is a great place to start... his version of "in a
garden so green" is unbelievably beautiful.
Should you ever be able to
see him live, its
an opportunity you shouldn't pass on.
This is especially
nice.
artisans...
SkyRavenWolf
Chris made my oak leaf belt pouch.
Her leatherwork reeks of goodness & beauty. I
love my pouch.
Drakonaria
Probably the most beautiful
metalwork I've ever seen; clearly elfwrought.
Mad Dwarf Workshop
If anyone really really likes what I do and offer, and
wants to gift me with something I'd totally love but
probably won't ever be able to buy for myself, a
gift certificate from something from these guys
would make my day... I mean,
gadzooks...
art...
Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy's art is
incredible. This guy is a true wildcrafter;
making medicine to be imbibed by the eyes...
writings...
Sacred Text Archive
Sacred writings
of myriad spiritual traditions and paths.
Divine.
Poetry...
You'll have to forgive me my
indulgence here, but if I had to imagine any other
craft to pursue with my life's ambition, it would be
the crafting of meaning into words into poetry.
Alas, though... my scribblings don't quite meet my
standards, and so I'll have to share with you the
verse of others who were kind enough to write poems
I so deeply resonate with...
Theodore
Roethke
e. e.
cummings
Kathleen
Raine
Dale
Pendell
Mary
Oliver
Clarissa
Pinkola Estes
Percy
Bysshe Shelley
Wendell
Berry
A. R.
Ammons
Maureen Dorrington
Maureen
was a friend of mine, if only briefly and seen on
far too rare an occasion to say we were good
friends... though nonetheless we were. It was
one of those instances where you meet someone and
it's as if you just hadn't seen them in a long
while... she was a kindred spirit. Maureen
wrote this poem when her father died, though no one
seemed to know she wrote poetry till after her
rather sudden and untimely death on July 19th, 2002.
If you like the poem and wish to thank her in some
way for it, simply take in a stray cat. You'll
earn a blessing from her for sure...
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