Blazing Star Herbal School

Seaweed Love, Introducing "She Sells Seaweed" and a Giveaway!

I am a huge fan of Seaweed!. It provides us with unbeatable nourishment, medicine, beauty and an opportunity feel  so alive spending time at the ocean. My love for seaweed is not subtle for I have it tattooed all the way down my right arm! When I was at Pats Tats, in Kingston NY (BTW- she is the best tattoo artist) getting my seaweed arm she said that it is the medicine of the tattoo fan too as it helps eliminate heavy metals from the body and as much some of us herbalists love  permanent body art we all  know that the inks are not so great for us. 

You may remember last year the article that I posted by Dori Midnight, you can click here to read it again  "A note on self/community care in these uncertain times" her first recommendation was "Eat More Seaweed!" in order to protect your self from excess environmental radiation. 

I would like to introduce you to Kacie Loparto from "She Sells Seaweed"

Enriching our food culture! 

Gathering seaweed is both meditative and adventurous work that immerses one into the water element according to the cycle of the tides followed by long hours of drying and sorting under the baking sun. Drying seaweed rather than delivering fresh is much more economical because it can be done in bulk quantities and it stores well for many years. Seaweed can be easily soaked, re-hydrating the plant into a highly nutritious food- enjoy toasted as well.

When you integrate seaweed into your kitchen you are greatly enriching our food culture. Seaweed is a balancing food, and one that can be added to a daring or simple menu. 

Here are some of the wide variety of locally gathered wild edible seaweeds that Kacie offers. She has both Pacific and Atlantic seaweed in stock. 

Below you can read a short description of each seaweed. 

Bull Whip Kelp- bright green and flaky. Salty flavor with a bit of sweet from the spore patches. Great ground into a furikake mixture with sesame seeds to shake on rice, eggs, popcorn and more. 

Kombu- Sweet, smoky flavor. Best added to a pot of beans to tenderize, flavor and aid digestion. Highest in iodine. Detoxifying as a broth for miso soup. 

Sea Palm- Toast for a crispy snack- toss with roasted almonds or cashews. Soak to reconstitute and use as a noodle. Complimentary to mushroom dishes. Unique texture. 

Wakame- Soak to reconstitute. Taste reminiscent to chicken bouillon. Tasty in soups and with stir fried or steamed veggies especially carrots. High in vitamin C and calcium. 

Nori- Strong ocean flavor. Best toasted or deep fried and eaten like a chip or crumbled into a variety of dishes. High in protein. 

Dulse- Beautiful deep red hue.  Versatile. Needs minimal cooking, just add to sautéed greens and soups just at the end of cooking. Fry and eat like chip. 

See website for descriptions of Atlantic varieties.

Visit  www.shesellsseaweed.com to place an order. Try her Sea to Sea variety Pack or her Atlantic Variety Pack. Or, order bags of individual varieties.

You can check out some of these articles recipes from "she sells seaweed"

http://plantspeople.blogspot.com

She Sells Seaweed Recipes

The Energy Times Seaweed Article

 and now for the Giveaway!

 

Kacie will be sending one reader 2 oz packet of her Soup Seaweed Mix which is a flaked combination including atlantic kelp, kombu and wakame! All you have to do is leave a comment with your favorite seaweed recipe! and don't forget to wander over to She Sells Seaweed and support the amazing work that Kacie is doing harvesting amazing seaweed for us! We will choose a winner on April's New Moon Sat April 21st 2012.

 

 

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And the winner is #4 Nathalie Lewis!! Congratulations you will be sent a bag of soup mix seaweed! from She Sells Seaweed!

Must Read article #3: The Herbalist Manifesto

 

The Herbalist Manifesto

Responsible herbalists live by a credo to live in accordance to the divinity of life. Our fingers are on the pulse of our little planet. We must act with compassion and prudence. It is our duty to serve. Our duty is tied to our knowledge and sensitivity yet the duty is greater than egos. With this in mind, we must follow the rules of this manifesto.

1. Live a life which celebrates health. The herbalist must strive to live a healthy life in order to serve as an example to others.

2. Be the perpetual student. The more that you learn, the more people you can help.

3. Be mindful of your environment. The disease of an individual begins in the environment. Observe unhealthy living conditions in the home, workplace and community. Strive to correct them for the benefit of all.

4. Give help where help is requested. Offer help to best your ability or refer assistance from a more qualified source.

5. Be cautious in your speech. Herbalists are leaders in the community so our words are catalysts of change. Think carefully before speaking.

6. Honor the plants that assist you. Be respectful when planting, nurturing and harvesting herbs. Be mindful of the plant community that the herb lives in. All things are connected and all actions have consequences.

7. Abandon selfishness. Harvest only what you need. Ignore the cravings of impulse. Live as part of the community not apart from the community.

8. Listen with an open mind. Research carefully. Be mindful of the past, stay grounded in the present and allow hope for the future.

Peace be with you. – Sue Sierralupe

 

Sue Sierralupe is a certified herbalist, sustainable landscape educator, and avid naturalist. She is also a writer, organic gardener, and permaculture pioneer. The Herbalist Manifesto is a more personal vision of her journey through the world of natural living than her other super informative choke full not to be missed blog The Practical Herbalist.  The Herbalist Manifesto is also blog that sponsors progressive stewardship.

 

If you are a new reader do check out our previous "must read" articles:

The New American Patient by Paul Bergner

Ten-Fold Path To Becoming a Community Herbalist by Gail Faith Edwards

 

 

 

 

Self Reliance and Sustainable Medicine and Gratitude

“Emerging at the other end, we will not be the same as we were; we will have become more humble, more connected to the natural world, fitter, leaner more skilled and, ultimately wiser.”

Rob Hopkins, originator of the Transition Town Movement

 

Hamamelis virginiana in flower March 23rd Ashfield MA

We are not in Japan, Egypt or Libya or even Wisconsin. For this I have Gratitude. Even better we live in a small town full of like-minded people. More reason for gratitude. A huge portion of the food we eat is locally grown by farmers we call friends. The general mindset is one of DIY, fix it, and help your neighbors. Still like so many others these economic times have hit us hard in a little over a month we have to move, leave our home of 11 years and we have still not found a place we can afford.

 

Recently I got to thinking (again) about sustainability and ways of becoming more self reliant (next step chickens and beekeeping). Sticking point is still reliance on my vehicle!      This time I got to thinking about sustainable medicine, how so much as been said about growing/preserving your own food, eating local, seed saving, there has been less emphasis on locally grown/manufactured DIY medicine.  Thinking of your families health care as a skill that can be learnt as opposed to relying on professionals.  While we have talked about the benefit of using plants that are local and part of our home ecosystem, every step in the process of herbal medicine making from growing and gathering, to tincturing, to family care can be taken on as part of the family homestead whether urban or rural. It can is a project that the whole family can participate in, at the same time gaining skills in personal health promotion. Herbal medicines are not only a source for treating disease they are also a source for promoting health for your family and community health by reducing the number of trips to a family practice, travel time, energy consumption, pharmaceutical company support.

 

“Annually, about 7,000 children ages 11 and younger require a hospital emergency room visit because of an adverse reaction to one of these substances.” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

 In solidarity with the sustainable farming movement, it is important that we begin to make local choices regarding our family health-care. Despite the cost, the commitment to grow or make our medicines or purchase locally and organically grown herbs is an investment in the health of the planet.  Remember Herbal medicine is the medicine if the People practical thrifty and fun, over 80% of the worlds population still uses herbs as their primary means of healthcare.

Here is where I see my role as a community herbalist to teach  people the art of herbal medicine, and to encourage the practice of community based herbalism. For this reason I am offering my new distance learning program at an affordable rate with the hope that families will jump on board and begin their journey to sustainable family health-care. 

 

 

Books that I am loving (in other words heavy rotation from the library):

Love this Homemade Living Series....I highly recommend it, great detailed starter info.

Homemade Living:Keeping Chickens with Ashley English

Homemade Living: Keeping Bees with Ashley English

 Backyard Sugarin': A Complete How-To Guide by Rick Mann and Daniel Wolf

 

 

Must read article #2: The New American Patient by Paul Bergner

This is an older article and a lot of the facts are dated however there is still a lot of wisdom here and really sets the scene well for students who are starting down the road as practitioners.

Paul Bergner, Medical herbalist, clinical nutritionist is the Director of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism and the Editor of the Medical Herbalism Journal and author of several popular herb books. I have always loved

 

 

The New American Patient

January 2011- Plans Part 1

Wishing everyone a joyful, HEALTHY and prosperous 2011!

 

I thought I would start the year here outlining some of our plans for this space in 2011.

1) We will be continuing our monthly specials as they seem to be going well. The January special will be in the next post.

 

2) We will be starting two new monthly columns, the first 

Monthly I will be sharing one simple healthful tip that will get you going on the road to optimum health. In order to participate comment by saying! I am on the road to better health! and begin the challenge. At the end of the month let us know if you have experienced and health changes and start on the next months challenge and so on. At the end of 12 months I will put all monthly participants name in a hat and draw a prize! So the more months you participate in the better your chance of winning. Prize yet to be decided! 

3) The second new monthly column is a guest article.

I will post an article which I believe is so important to the field that all must read. I have a few lined up but if you know of one or have written one I am happy to consider it, just email it me at Blazingstarclinic (at) gmail (dot) com. 

 

These are just a few of our plans for 2011. I will also be focussing on making our blog a little more user friendly. I am happy to entertain your ideas. Let me know what you would like to see