Baba Yaga’s Wild Spiced Honey Cookies — Gather Victoria

Ever since I called upon Baba Yaga to be my winter baking muse this season – I’ve had nothing but trouble. Which should have been no surprise, Baba Yaga is renowned for testing your mettle with endless impossible tasks which determine whether she will help you- or hinder you – according to her liking! And…

via Baba Yaga’s Wild Spiced Honey Cookies — Gather Victoria

Two More Reasons To Add Mushrooms To Your Holiday Menus

Greetings!

If you’re looking for reasons to eat more mushrooms, read on.

Two new relevant studies were published in the scientific literature this past year, each one highlighting the importance of mushrooms in the human diet.

1. Mushroom consumption and mild cognitive impairment

As part of a recent study design, and to determine any association between mushroom consumption and mild cognitive impairment, researchers in Singapore analyzed diet and lifestyle factors of 663 participants over the age of 60.

After controlling for factors including age, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activities, meat consumption, and vegetable consumption, participants who consumed greater than 2 portions of mushrooms per week had lower odds of having mild cognitive impairment compared to participants who consumed mushrooms less than once per week.

Findings were similar in males and females, and results were published in the Journal Of Alzheimer’s Disease. Researchers concluded: “Mushroom consumption could be a potential preventive measure to slow cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in aging.”

2. Mushroom consumption and prostate cancer

A brand new study published in the International Journal Of Cancer looked at the association between mushroom consumption and prostate cancer in over 36,000 Japanese men between the ages of 40 and 79.

This was the first long-term cohort study ever published on the subject. (A cohort study follows participants over time to determine the incidence of, or mortality from, a disease or other outcome.)

Results indicated that higher mushroom consumption in men over the age of 50 was related to a lower risk of incident prostate cancer. Additionally, researchers found a beneficial effect of mushroom consumption on the prevention of prostate cancer regardless of clinical stage of tumor development (localized or advanced and metastatic).

Researchers in this study concluded that “habitual mushroom intake might help to reduce prostate cancer risk.”

So… if you needed yet another reason to eat more mushrooms, perhaps these two studies will influence your decision in a positive manner.

Lastly, today (Sunday) is the last day to enroll in Foraging Wild Mushrooms, as registration will close at midnight. This online course is designed to teach you the skills necessary to safely and confidently harvest wild fungi for food, for medicine, for study, and for fun.

Additionally, a portion of all proceeds derived from course sales will be donated to the Pennsylvania Parks & Forest Foundation — a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to inspire stewardship of Pennsylvania’s beautiful state parks and forests.

You can learn more about the course here.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll consider adding more mushrooms to your holiday menus!

-Adam Haritan

Full Cold Moon Spell Cookies

Happy Full Cold Moon!

For many of us, this Full Moon reaches its peak fullness at 12:12 on 12/12 this year!

This full moon activates the powerful numerology code of 12! 12 is a number of wholeness and completion. This full moon illuminates the completion of our our journey throughout this past year and helps us see the bigger picture of just how far we have come. This powerful full moon is helping many realize a shift in consciousness.

If you are sensitive to energy, you may have been feeling this powerful portal opening for some time now. You might be feeling anxious or restless if you haven’t been living up to your potential or fulfilling your purpose. This is not a punishment… this is a reminder and a call to evolve!

2019 is a 3 number, and 12/12 also translate to 3, making today a 333 day. 333 is a number of big changes and the expression of our truth. 333 carries the energy of 9, which is another number of wholeness and completion. It’s time to prepare for the big changes that 2020 holds for us while also reflecting on our journeys from 2019.

Moments after the moon reaches her peak fullness, Chiron, the wounded healer goes direct. Chiron has been retrograde since July of this last year. When this asteroid stations direct, under the light of the Full moon, you might feel a sense of clarity about your journey of healing over this last year. Some past triggers from that time might get pulled up for reevaluation and healing once again, but remember this is part of the journey.

The healing journey moves in spirals and holds many ebbs and flow. Embrace what comes up! Feel and heal your way through it.

The Cold Moon represents the time when we are called inward to experience the quiet reflection of our own souls. A sense of hibernation and rest comes with this full moon.

The moon in Gemini also represents the mind as well as our connection and ability to communicate with others. This is a time to gather with friends and family around the fire. Seek comfort in the quiet long nights and the closeness this time of year can provide!

Read complete article at: Spirit de la Lune ~ Full Cold Moon Spell Cookies

Foraging Wild Mushrooms — Online Course Registration Open For Limited Time

Greetings!

In anticipation of the winter mushroom season, and at the request of those eager to pursue educational opportunities during the winter months, I decided to open the doors to Foraging Wild Mushrooms for the next 5 days.

This 4-season online course is designed to help you safely, successfully, and confidently forage wild mushrooms from the forest, from the field, and even from your own backyard!

Whether you’re interested in foraging for food, for medicine, for study, or just for fun, Foraging Wild Mushrooms covers the most important lessons to get you started.

In addition to over 70 step-by-step exclusive and instructional videos included within the course, you’ll also receive:

Supplemental handouts covering mushroom anatomy, terminology, and biology that you can download and print for easy viewing.
A 42-page guide to medicinal mushrooms that summarizes the latest research on the most popular medicinal fungi and features over 75 peer-reviewed references.
Immediate and lifetime access to all materials.

Additionally, I’m equally (if not more) excited to let you know that a portion of all proceeds derived from course sales will be donated to the Pennsylvania Parks & Forest Foundation — a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to inspire stewardship of Pennsylvania’s beautiful state parks and forests.

As you may or may not know, a good bit of Learn Your Land’s educational programming is filmed on-site within many of Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests. To express gratitude, and to ensure that these wild places exist for generations to come, I find it imperative to support organizations that in turn directly support the forests.

Therefore, a portion of all proceeds derived from this enrollment period will be donated to the Pennsylvania Parks & Forest Foundation.

Please note that enrollment for Foraging Wild Mushrooms is open for 5 days only — from today until Sunday, December 15th at midnight. After that, enrollment will be closed.

To learn more about the course, check out this video which gives an overview of what you can expect.

I hope to see you in there!
—Adam Haritan

The Curious Lives Of Carnivorous Mushrooms (New Video!)

Greetings!

Before I share this week’s brand new video with you, I’d like to mention that I’ll be sending out another email tomorrow — Wednesday, December 11th — with a special announcement inside.

If you’re interested in reading more about the announcement, be sure to check your inbox tomorrow!

Moving forward, let’s discuss something that sounds a bit more like science fiction than fact.

Carnivorous mushrooms.

Many people are unaware that fungi have the ability to capture and consume living members of the animal kingdom. Interestingly, researchers have been studying the topic of carnivorous fungi for over a century.

More than just a quirk of nature, carnivorous fungi represent hundreds of species that commonly inhabit woods, forests, and fields. They’re so common that, if you’re a fan of wild edible mushrooms, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten a carnivorous species on at least one occasion.

As is my habit, I decided to film a video in celebration of these accomplished hunters and trappers.

If you’re interested in learning more, check it out!

While recently spending some time in sunny San Diego, I had the unique opportunity to visit what is considered to be the rarest pine tree in the United States. To learn more about this 5-needled, cliff-dwelling species, check out the recent Instagram post!

Thanks for reading and watching, and remember… be sure to check your inbox tomorrow for the special announcement!

-Adam Haritan

KidsGardening Program Spotlight – The Klamath Food Forest

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

This Gro More Good Grassroots Grant winner created a food forest to help Klamath youth learn about local food, revive traditional sustainable food, and more

Source: KidsGardening Program Spotlight – The Klamath Food Forest

One of the 2019 Gro More Good Grassroots Grant Winners, The Family Resource Center of the Redwoods, is partnering with the Community Food Council for Del Norte and Tribal Lands (DNATL) to help create new and sustainable sources of food for members of their community. Located in the far northwest corner of California, they serve rural areas that are isolated and do not have grocery stores readily available. One of the projects their Grassroots Grant money assisted with was the Au-Minot ‘we-nue-nep-ueh (Klamath Food Forest) at Margaret Keating Elementary School.

The Klamath Food Forest is one of four food forest sites developed in the region. This particular program is located on an elementary school campus…

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A Druid’s Guide to Homestead Bird Flocks and Flock Happiness

The Druid's Garden

On the Druid’s Garden homestead, we have many feathered friends. I think a lot of people see birds just as livestock, but here, we see them a little differently. Thus, I wanted to create a short guide for people who were thinking about cultivating a relationship with a backyard flock of birds but they weren’t sure what kind of birds they might want! Of course, this is my own druid perspective on homestead bird flocks, which might be a bit different than what you’ll find on more general sites. In this guide, I’ll talk about a variety of backyard flock breeds, how they might help your garden and homestead, challenges, temperament, and more. I will also note that I haven’t raised birds for meat, so I won’t talk about that much in this guide. I’ll cover four common backyard flock birds: chickens, ducks, geese, and guinea fowl.

Entering Into Relationship

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The Herbs and Spices of Thanksgiving! — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Originally posted on The Herb Society of America Blog: By Susan Leigh Anthony If we are lucky enough, most, if not all, of us have sat down to an annual Thanksgiving feast with our loved ones in late November. The house is filled with familiar aromas of the season that evoke a sense of warmth,…

via The Herbs and Spices of Thanksgiving! — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

The Bee and the Machine: Moving Beyond Efficiency and towards Nature-Centeredness

The Druid's Garden

Animals have spirit!

Over the course of the last four centuries, the Western World has created a set of “unshakable” principles concerning the natural world: that nature is just another machine, that animals don’t feel and do not have souls, that plants and animals aren’t sentient. Descartes, writing in the 1600s during the early rise of mechanization, was one of the first to make this claim. He posited that animals are mechanical automata, that is, they are beings without souls, feelings, or pain. These same ideas were not limited to non-human life; we see the same kind of thinking being applied to justify slavery, genocide, colonialization, and a list of other atrocities. When we combine this kind of thinking with the economic ideas of “growth at all costs” and “efficiency”, we end up in the dystopian fiction we find ourselves living in right now. I want to take some time…

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Herbal Recipes for Thanksgiving – Urban Moonshine

Good Witches Homestead

It’s the time of year when many of the simple joys of life become the heart and center of this season; spending time with family and friends, the coziness of winter, warm fires, mugs of mulled wine, and lovingly prepared meals.

So much of herbalism is about celebrating the life and benefits of the plants, and the way they support us throughout the seasons. Autumn, especially around Thanksgiving, is our time to enjoy the gifts of this year’s harvest.

Classic holiday meals can be enhanced by adding herbs to support your health. These dishes are sure to be crowd-pleasers with your nearest and dearest.

Enjoy, and cheers to good health!