ESSENTIAL OILS FOR HOPE, HEALING, AND HAPPINESS

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

During turbulent times, the ability to adapt to constant change is vital. Coping with transitions and a shift in routines can be inherently stressful, leading to issues such as the zapping of energy, frenzied thoughts, confusion, low mood, restlessness, and sometimes feelings of loneliness or isolation.

Adopting a constructive mindset and healthy coping strategies, although not easy, can be an important factor in sparking hope and beginning a journey towards positive emotional healing. Pure essential oils can provide a powerful complementary tool to help the mind and body adjust to the sensations of overwhelm, fear, boredom, lethargy, sadness, and hopelessness commonly experienced during a crisis. Combined with other therapeutic and self-care techniques such as meditation, exercise, journaling, calling loved ones, and talking to a licensed therapist, these potent plant oils can offer a soothing, relaxing, and uplifting respite from day-to-day worries and anxieties.

Essential oils have been used historically for…

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Looking to forage mushrooms this year? Here’s a good resource to get started!

Greetings,

If your experiences were anything like mine, then you received very little education on the subject of mycology in school.

Even during university-level biology classes, I distinctly remember the blatant omission of anything mushroom-related.

As luck would have it, I took this as an indication that perhaps there were ulterior motives involved — a kind of educational negligence by design. Feeling a bit snubbed, and to fill the void, I did what any mushroom-illiterate person might do.

I joined a mushroom club. I bought a few field guides. And I met some people who seemed to know what they were doing.

Over the years, I continued the educational process and have spent countless hours learning from professional mycologists, ecologists, mushroom enthusiasts, obscure books, scientific articles, outdated keys, and of course… the mushrooms themselves. Through this process, I’ve developed a deep passion for the fungal kingdom that continuously fuels my work.

Perhaps because I feel that no school curriculum in the 21st century should withhold training on place-based skills, I’ve made it part of my work to increase the availability and accessibility of this information.

A recent manifestation of this work is an introductory video that I created on the topic of mushroom collection and identification. In the following video, I cover information that will assist you in the process of safely, confidently, and successfully foraging wild mushrooms.

You can watch the brand new video here.

Have you ever seen anything that looks like this? If you have apple and eastern red-cedar trees nearby, perhaps you also live within the vicinity of this incredibly bizarre fungus. Check out this recent Instagram post to learn more!

Click to view post

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Wizard’s Corner Podcast. In this interview, we discuss wild food nutrition, slime molds, the value of place-based skills, the ins and outs of the Learn Your Land YouTube channel, and much more. You can listen to the interview through any of the following channels:

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your continued support!

-Adam Haritan

Woad as natural antibiotics | Joybilee® Farm | DIY | Herbs | Gardening |

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Isatis tinctoria for a broad-spectrum antibiotic

I have a guest post on the Herbal Academy of New England blog about using one of my favorite herbs, Dyer’s Woad, as a natural antiviral. It works so well as an antiviral because it is also a natural antibiotic and so it prevents secondary infections. Woad and other Isatis spp have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years for their unique ability to prevent viruses like influenza and measles from replicating in human cells. Check out my post to find out more about this unique and generous plant.

A brief history of woad

Isatis tinctoria or dyer’s woad is an easy to grow biennial that originated in the Caucus area, near Turkey. It was valued for its rich blue pigment and archeological evidence traces its use as a natural dye back to the Neolithic period in France, the Bronze age…

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Bidens Can Help Fight Infections and Viruses: Get to Know It

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Bidens, a common weed of pastures and vacant lots, has antiviral and antibacterial superpowers. Get to know it better. You never know when you might need to call on it as your herbal ally.

Bidens, an overlooked weed that will help you in the fight against MRSA infections

If you spend any time walking through pastures or vacant lots in July and August, you may have met Bidens. And if you haven’t met it, your dog probably has. Bidens sticks like a needle into your clothing. If your dog walks through a patch of Bidens, you’ll be picking the needle-like seeds out of his coat for hours. Also called, “beggarticks”, “Spanish needles,” “demon spike grass,” and “needle grass,” 1000 Biden seeds weigh less than a gram. If you walk through a patch of Bidens in the fall, and you’ll probably have 1000 seeds in your socks. Hint, wear jeans not…

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Brew a cup of calming tea and enjoy it!

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Making a good herbal tea blend is a profoundly simple art; it involves a few guidelines and a generous dash of creativity.

Steps to creating the perfect herb tea blend:
* Start with an idea of what flavor and/or feeling your wish to create
* Know the flavor and properties of each of the individual herbs you are using in the blend.
* Blend for beauty, aroma, and harmonized flavors. Mix the herbs according to taste, color, and texture. Use primary flavors as the foundation of the blend, then add and harmonize with the secondary flavors, aromas and textures.
* When your blend looks just right and smells delicious, give it the all-important taste test. Have a pot of water boiling. Make a sample cup of tea and test for flavor, color, texture, and aroma. Adjust flavors.

All that’s needed to make a good pot of herbal tea is water…

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CRYSTALS FOR WHEN YOU’RE NOT OK

It’s ok to not feel ok right now. Or to have good days and bad.

You don’t need to have this handled. To be a grounded god/dess. To be riding the wave of this energy like a MF.

Healers, especially, can put themselves under a lot of pressure to be self-sufficient. To show up for others, first. To be the light.

I know my tribe ❤️. And I know that most of you in this community are healers in one way, or another.

I’ve had days where I’ve broken down or lost my sh**. And I’ve had to go through it, to honor the feelings. I’ve also needed that blessed release.

But maybe you’re in a situation where you can’t do that, or maybe not right now. Or you really do have to show up for others first, and be the light.

It’s still ok to not be ok.

We all need healing in so many ways, and there will be time for that, but here are some core crystals that can support you right now.

Note the word SUPPORT. This isn’t about making the feelings go away. The feelings are not wrong or accidental. And you are not bad or weak for feeling them, or for having trouble coping.

For those of you who don’t have the time (or headspace) to read a long blog post, I’ve got them listed in a short summary right here:

Crystals for When You're Not OK / rose quartz / www.krista-mitchell.com

Rose quartz: for soothing and to receive love. Hold it in your receptive hand or wear it over your heart chakra.

Read the original article at: Krista Mitchell ~ Crystals For When You’re not OK

Corona-Covid: Mythology of Goddesses, Spirits and Saints of the Plague and Epidemics

Spirital Lessons of Ecological Succession for the Pandemic: Healing the Land, Healing the Soul

The Druid's Garden

Nature heals!

Ecological succession is nature’s approach to healing. From bare rock, ecological succession allows forests to eventually grow. Ecological succession has much to teach us as a powerful lesson from nature, and it is a particularly useful thing to meditate upon during the pandemic. As we can look to how nature heals, it offers us guidance and stability during this challenging time. Thus, today’s post introduces the idea of ecological succession and how these lessons can be helpful to us as spiritual lessons for thought and reflection. This post is part of my land healing series. For earlier posts, you can see a framework for land healing, land healing as a spiritual practice, a ritual for putting the land to sleep, and a primer for physical land healing.