Friends of Forest Farming

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

As armies of amateur wildcrafters pluck Appalachian ginseng, goldenseal, and other medicinal herbs to near extinction, a coalition of universities, nonprofits, and “forest farmers” are working on a solution that will not only help preserve these wild herbs but also prevent supplement adulteration.

The Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition includes Virginia Tech, Penn State, and North Carolina State University; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, and other government organizations; nonprofits like United Plant Savers and the Blue Ridge Woodland Growers; and Appalachian landowners and farmers. Together, these entities are developing a model called “forest farming” for cultivating traditionally wildcrafted herbs, including black cohosh {Actaea racemosa}, goldenseal {Hydrastis canadensis}, bloodroot {Sanguinaria canadensis}, ginseng {Panaxquinquefolius}, blue cohosh {Caulophyllum thalictroides}, stoneroot {Collinsoniacanadensis}, wild yam {Dioscorea villosa}, and wild indigo {Baptisia tinctoria}.

During…

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Crystals for Dealing with Negative People

by Ashley Leavy
Love and Light School of Crystal Therapy

When you’re feeling like there’s some negative energy in your space or you’re surrounded by negative people, your instinct may be to immediately reach for your protective crystals, but this may not be the best remedy.

Energy is just energy. We classify it as “positive” or “negative” but in actuality, there is just energy. There is energy that serves our highest good (positive) and energy that doesn’t (negative).

So how do you deal with “negative” energy in a space? The first step to take is to clear the space of any energy that’s not serving your highest good.  When dealing with a person who leaves you feeling stressed out or drained, protective crystals can help shield you from absorbing the chaotic energy they imprint upon a space. However, using those crystals is only half of the solution.  You need to remedy the root cause of the situation by clearing that energy from your space.

Continue reading “Crystals for Dealing with Negative People”

Grounding Essentials

Though some people are too grounded (raises hand), there seems to be more that need all the reminders they can get, so … Here’s one.

by Kat Michaels CCT,ACM
katmichaels.net 


Grounding is a foundational yet often overlooked area of spiritual and psychic development. Those who are ungrounded can appear spacy or disconnected from their environments. They may experience dizziness, confusion, and memory trouble. By not taking the appropriate measures to stay connected to the Earth and to reality, ungrounded individuals lose touch with their physical senses and allow their spiritual senses to take over. This becomes a huge issue once leaving meditation or a healing session to return to the physical world. It’s important to remain grounded during meditation and other spiritual work, too, so that one can properly absorb and integrate spiritual information.

Easy ways to ground oneself include drinking water, eating root vegetables, or hugging a tree. Exploring nature, walking barefoot outside, and gardening are other great options. Archangels Michael and Metatron are able to help ground and/or keep one grounded (just remember that one must request their help to receive it!). Visualization and certain crystals also work extremely well for grounding. Whatever grounding method is chosen, it’s best to employ it as a daily practice.

For a grounding visualization, imagine that your feet are connected to the Earth with roots. The roots can be made of any natural material that resonates – they can be cords of light, actual tree roots, or lines of metal or stone. You may wish to do a short meditation to determine the best intuitive “grounding roots” for yourself. Set the intention that all is done in your highest and best interest and in the highest and best interest of all.

Most brown, black, and red stones will ground and will provide a feeling of physical stability and safety. Specific crystals and stones for grounding include the following:

Agate (all types), Black TourmalineBrown Tourmaline (dravite), CopperHematiteJasper (all types), Petrified WoodPyriteRed Tiger EyeShungite and Smokey Quartz.

To work with any of these, place the crystal or stone in your pocket during the day, or hold it in your receptive hand during meditation. Your receptive hand is generally your non-dominant hand, but check, as it varies by individual. You may also choose to wear the stones in jewelry or sleep with one underneath your pillow.

A Druid’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, Part II: Nature Wisdom

Dana's avatarThe Druid's Garden

One of my favorite mushrooms- the Chicken of the Woods One of my favorite mushrooms- the Chicken of the Woods

As any mushroom hunter knows, mushrooms are tricksy little buggers.  What one looks like in one setting may not necessarily be what one looks like in another, depending on soil conditions, moisture, sun, size of the mushroom, insect damage, and/or regional variation. Mushroom species can vary a lot, even from one small region to another, and that variation can spell trouble for someone who hasn’t yet gained the wisdom to understand such variation.  Mushroom books offer perhaps 1-2 photos of mushrooms, and a good book will also offer a mushroom hunter the “keys” (features that distinguish one mushroom from another, like attached gills, color, etc).  However, only lived and true experience can help you not make a dangerous mistake when it comes to the mycelium kingdom.  The difference here, I think, epitomizes two key things: the different aspects of nature…

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Pantry Profile: Basil {Ocimum basilicum}

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Bright green, tall, and aromatic, basil is a beauty. An ancient plant with a long history and strange folklore, its sweet, peppery flavor has been used for centuries in cuisine and medicine.

Basil is native to Africa and Southeast Asia and was eventually cultivated in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder described basil’s {now well-known} benefits as a carminative and digestive, explaining its effectiveness in relieving flatulence, colic, and nausea. It also has a long history of use for coughs associated with colds, and the leaves were routinely used topically as an insect repellent and poultice to relieve bug bites and stings.

Much myth and legend surrounded this plant we now consider a simple culinary herb. The ancient Egyptians believed basil would entice the god Osiris to open the gates of the afterlife. In his book the English Physician Enlarged, 17th-century botanist Nicholas Culpeper…

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Pantry Profile: Chives {Allium schoenoprasum}

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

With its bright green stalks and vibrant, lavender-pink and spiky blossoms, chives are a lovely ornamental plant and herb garden staple. Found fresh in the yard in summer and dried in cupboards in the cooler months of fall and winter, chives hold surprising medicinal and nutritional benefits. A member of the Amaryllidaceae family {Amaryllis}, which includes familiar alliums garlic and onions, chives have a mild and pleasant onion-garlic flavor.

Chives have played a role in medicine and protection for more than 5,000 years. The ancient Romans used chives to relieve sore throats, lower blood pressure, and increase urination, while Traditional Chinese Medicine turned to it for coughs, colds, and congestion. In the Middle Ages, it was a popular remedy for melancholy.

A traditional Romani custom was to use chives in fortune telling and to hang them in the home to ward off disease and evil influences. Planting chives in the…

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Crypto And Then Some … July 12th

By Paula Cas

KDCL Media, part of And Then Some Again Productions, presents Crypto and And Then Some … Thursday, July 12th at 9:00 pm EDT.

Catch the wave at Crypto And Then Some … as your hosts Oro and Paula Cas explore show about the brave new world of crypto, bitcoin, and the programs and technologies moving to the forefront of the financial world. Call in at 845-277-9146 with your thoughts, questions, stories, and experiences.

We’ll talk about the news of the week. Information about new coins, programs, exchanges, affiliate programs, and the technologies arising from cryptocurrencies and their uses in today’s world. Everything from ATM’s that accept Bitcoin to the Blockchain. Join us to talk about Bitcoin, cloud mining, charts and the markets, alt-coins, and where you believe the future is going with crypto currency.

Find us on Facebook

Check out our website at:  Oro Cas Blockchain

Friday The 13th Spell

Slavic Witch Friday The 13th Spell …

New Moon, Solar Eclipse, Pluto ~ Do I need to say more?

Dear all,
If your answer was “yes!” — here it is:
This New Moon and partial Solar Eclipse, happening in the sign of Cancer, with opposition from Pluto retrograde, may bring out some unresolved issues to the forefront.
Because Pluto is retrograde, this means it will be something you are already familiar with and because the Sun and the Moon are involved, it may affect your confidence, vitality, your emotions, or your subconscious. The exact field of life it will affect will depend on your natal chart.
The keywords for Pluto are control, power, and transformation, and in the order I’ve listed them, they indicate the rise from the lower to the higher energies. So if any issues of control or power-plays (or fears) arise, you will want to think of how they can be transformed and that will shift your personal energy.
Direct influence of this energy is on Thursday and Friday, and this would be a perfect time to have an energy session, as any change you want to make will be able to deeper than usual.
This is not a good time to begin anything new and it would be better to wait till Saturday, when a supportive Venus – Saturn connection makes it a good day for laying any foundations for whatever you want to have a long-term success with.
Crystals to work with: Dravite, multi-colored Tourmaline, Scepter Quartz
Till next time, stay happy and healthy!
Brana Mijatovic,Ph.D.

Oro Expeditions After Dark ~ July 8th

By Paula Cas

Join us Sunday, July 8th at 9:00 pm EDT for the next edition of Oro Expeditions After Dark with Hosts Oro and Paula Cas.

The switchboard is open at 845-277-9146 for OPEN MIC Sunday to join Oro and Paula Cas in discussing news and current events centering around gold mining, and topics from the normal to the paranormal. Also your favorite place to prospect, metal detecting, suction dredge, and any other mining activity we missed. We’ll check in on the LDMA and GPAA to see what events they have scheduled for the summer.

We’re sure to get into a little news about the Expedition, Oro and Paula. Things that have happened or just struck that certain chord to make you want to share. It’s been a long week and it ain’t over yet.

Find us on Oro Expeditions Facebook

Contact us at: Oro Expeditions and Oro Cas Blockchain