Kitchen Scrap Color, Plant Dye Explorations

I’ve been exploring plant dyeing lately and it is so much fun.  I think I’ve dyed everything cream, white, or off-white in our house.  My husband is considering hiding some of his boxers that are white. It has become a bit of an obsession, I admit. As an herbalist, I often looked to plants to … Continue reading →

Growing Color, Plant Dye Explorations

I’ve been working with plants ever since my permaculture design certificate course that I took in San Francisco in 2003.  The course made me look at my world in an entirely new way.  Where did my water come from?  What was the watershed I was in?  Where did the water go?  Which direction is east?  … Continue reading →

Another To Do List

Another To Do List In this one, good life… …if you are able to protect some land. Protect it. Better yet, fall in love with it… Be sentimental about the trees and the plants and the creatures that call it home. Be vulnerable when walking on the land. Let it work on you in mysteriously, … Continue reading →

Deforestation, Gut Health, & Microbes

What does deforestation have to do with human health? Here’s what I think. When I went through psychosis back in 2001, I met brick walls when trying to get help from doctors. I was terrified for my life, severely depressed, having heart palpitations, losing sleep, experiencing dizzy spells and tingling in my eyelids and lips, … Continue reading →

Cheater Chai: The Spicy Sequel

Yes, the hit movie has been Traditional Chai for many, many years…ahem…well, centuries, really.  As it should be.  Chai spices should be simmered in water to really get all the elegant tastes to bloom in your mouth later when sipped.  If you want your chai to give you a little gitty-up, black tea should be … Continue reading →

Resources for Healing Whiteness

Ever since my health crisis back in 2001, in which I was plunged into my subconscious and the tattered subconscious of our culture (it was gruesome)…I have been walking the path of remembering…remembering what has been lost and what has been wounded…and what is begging us to be reclaimed… One of the main themes of … Continue reading →

5 Years Back in Mississippi

“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don’t go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves I’m feeling nostalgic about the 5 years I spent in Mississippi before moving back to California last year. I left … Continue reading →

Full Moon Fragrance, Kyphi Incense

I know it may look like a fresh pile of flattened dung…but this actually smells heavenly.  This is my recent kyphi incense creation…  Ever since I learned how to make this in 2013, through a blog written by herbalist, Kiva Rose…I’ve made it a point to collect extra resin that I see oozing from a … Continue reading →

Zoe’s Superfood Pistachio “Fudge”

I’ve been experimenting with snack foods for my little one.  She is almost 13 months, now.  And, she’s beginning to be picky, all of a sudden.  She’s always up for meat…not so much for veggies. So, I’ve been exploring ways to be a sneaky chef.  Lately, I’ve been wanting to increase iron, protein, and Vit … Continue reading →