Making herbal whoop-ass is something we really love to do here at the Hotel Daire. For several years we used Herbalism as the focus of our homeschool efforts. You can study chemistry, botany, math, anthropology, and history all while gaining useful skills and creating a family apothecary. Back in June Dr. Metro, my naturopath, suggested that I get…
Tag: herbalism
Dreams of Yew, or coming to terms with Taxotere
While reading on the blogs of some gals, who are currently going through chemo, I have been reminded of the immense respect and love I now feel for the beautiful Pacific Yew tree. These complex and gnarly trees are in a fabled family associated with mystery from way way back. Like two hundred million years…
“Mama More Berries!”
If you haven’t noticed before I am fairly obsessed with berries, enough so that my firstborn son uttered his first sentence about them. All the wild berries are frankly one of the best parts of living in the Northwest. They are like jewels, filled with vitamins and a microcosm of yum. I love them all, even the…
Not by Kale Alone.
As we collaborate to design our life together as a family, we are trying to integrate as many facets that contribute to a thriving life as we can. We are defining a thriving life as balanced, productive, happy, of service, and long. Though we have always eaten lots of kale, we are trying to crank up…
Bali Ha’i
Bali Ha’i may call you, Any night, any day, In your heart, you’ll hear it call you: “Come away…Come away.” Bali Ha’i will whisper On the wind of the sea: “Here am I, your special island! Come to me, come to me!” Sometime in January I started to have hot flashes. Micro bursts of temperature…
On the other hand . . .
When I look down at my right hand, I see the progression of my treatments visually etched into my nails. Stripes mark the 3-week intervals. The discolored areas that separated from the nail bed, due to the toxins in the yew-based chemo, are now nearly grown out, while the pale stripes marking the Herceptin continue. I…
Elderflowers
Elder is a plant with a long history of being used for protection from “bad” energy. It is a plant much associated with the fairy realms. Elder blossoms and berries have been used medicinally for centuries. (Especially Black Elderberry Sambucus nigra.) Here on the coast we have Red Elderberry, which is blooming on the edge of forests…
The balm of human kindness…
When my family gathered to intern my father’s ashes in July 2011, I was overcome with the need for more ceremony. His ashes were contained inside a plastic bag within a plastic black box from the funeral home. The unimaginative, and cold hearted priest presented the most monotone and meaningless reading at the graveside you could…
Riding the Pooka 