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The Unplugged Family Activity Book

Herbal Adventures

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Rachel Jepson Wolf
This caring, tender, creative, compassionate girl This caring, tender, creative, compassionate girl turns 16 today. What an honor it is to be her mama; to live and learn and walk this beautiful path by her side. Happy birthday, Lupine Bluebird @lythari_arts. You're a force for magic and goodness in this world.
How are you feeling today, friend? My anxiety is r How are you feeling today, friend? My anxiety is running in overdrive. Leaning hard on nervines like lemon balm and tulsi to get me through the day, and heart herbs like rose, hawthorn, and motherwort. Because this election (like so many of late) feels nothing short of crucial. Crucial to our freedom, our sovereignty, our future. Vote, lovelies. VOTE. Like our future depends upon it. Because it does. Illustration of a uterus made of abortifacient herbs + the night sky, created by my almost 16-year-old @lythari_arts.
Sore throat season is upon us. (In full force, if Sore throat season is upon us. (In full force, if you happen to live at my house.) Perhaps because my kids are in school this year in some incarnation for the first time (Sage at technical college and Lupine auditing a couple of classes at our local Waldorf high school) we’re passing around bugs like it’s our favorite past time. And most of them involve a sore throat at some point in the journey. My homemade sore throat tea has been a huge comfort for us during our rest and recovery. When I emailed the recipe out to my @lusaorganics email list this morning, I though you would enjoy it, too. The process is a breeze, even if you’re new to herbalism. If you can simmer water or steep tea, you’ve got this. The tea is made in two steps: first a decoction (simmered tea), then more herbs are added and infused (steeped). I hope it brings your family comfort in the coming days. Find the recipe (and lots more herbal DIYs) over on the blog (link in my bio). HOMEMADE SORE THROAT SOOTHER TEA 1 teaspoon wild cherry bark 1 teaspoon dried fennel seed 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon chips 1/2 teaspoon licorice root 1 teaspoon fresh orange peel (or 1/2 teaspoon dried) 1 teaspoon wild bee balm (or thyme) 1/2 teaspoon sage Instructions: Combine cherry bark, fennel, cinnamon, and licorice in a small saucepan * Add 2 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes * Remove from heat, add remaining ingredients, and steep covered for 5 minutes * Sweeten with honey and serve warm Makes 2 servings.
October in the Anthropocene (a rough work in prog October in the Anthropocene (a rough work in progress but sharing now as I keep working on it...) The leaves exhale and let go at last, riding the wind to the valley floor. Crimson and gold, plum and peach, they dance earthward, never looking back. She is 15 and learning how to drive and the world is on fire with autumn and wildfires and war. Climate change looming, we fuel up our car, then head into town. What’s it like, I wonder, coming of age in the Anthropocene (as if being a teen isn't already hard enough)? I pull myself from the precipice of fear and marvel at October instead. The season is turning but the day is warm, sunlight streaming gold. Autumn is here. The animals feel it– migration is on. We look skyward to witness, but it's underfoot as well. Intrepid caterpillars, making for their winter beds, where they'll sleep, awaiting spring. The road before us is strewn with them, living and dead, as they muster their wooly October courage to cross. Some are successful, others are not. The car hesitates, the driver questioning. A wooly bear before us doggedly creeps across our lane. She'd learned: never swerve. Don't risk it. Stay safe. Still, she wonders: can she spare this one small life? In the passenger seat, I feel my body tense wondering which she will choose: follow the rules and stay in her lane or change course for the vulnerable before her? We roll forward on a sure collision course. I silently mouth an apology to the small being before us. Inevitable death. And then ever so gently she nudges the wheel. Barely a swerve but straddling carefully, she spares its life. The woolly bear trucks on. We laugh. There is hope.
On Facebook last night, I asked if anyone would be On Facebook last night, I asked if anyone would be interested in another Wisconsin herbal retreat. The answer was an unbridled HELL YES! And now, of course, it's all I can think about. To those who would be serious about attending a long-weekend gathering of like-minded people, let's brainstorm! Tell me what you're craving most right now to refill your cup and soothe your soul. * Would you prefer cozy, luxurious accommodations or bare-bones 80's summer camp vibes/budget-friendly digs? * Want to learn how to make soap and other skincare products or stick with herbal remedies for wellness? * Want to try to do this SOON (for a pre-holiday, cup-filling, gift-making, chill-time) or wait until spring when it's warm and the plants are singing? And if you're serious about coming, see my note below about the best way to stay in the loop! Oh, my. This is exactly what my heart needs right now.
Foraging roadside black walnuts on our way home fr Foraging roadside black walnuts on our way home from school and work. October, you’re irresistible.
And then there are the things that make you come a And then there are the things that make you come alive. The things that make you grin like an eight-year-old until your face hearts and your heart glows. Maybe you get a taste of it when you run outside into the cold when you hear a skein of geese winging overhead or stop mid-stride at the first chords of your favorite song. Maybe you’ve felt it when you’ve pulled over to marvel at a sunset or laughed with friends around a crackling fire. These are the things to pay attention to. How often do you feel it, the singing of your heart? The aliveness and awakeness that comes from doing things that bring you joy? Read the rest over on the blog.)
And then there are the things that make you come a And then there are the things that make you come alive. The things that make you grin like an eight-year-old until your face hearts and your heart glows. Maybe you get a taste of it when you run outside into the cold when you hear a skein of geese winging overhead or stop mid-stride at the first chords of your favorite song. Maybe you’ve felt it when you’ve pulled over to marvel at a sunset or laughed with friends around a crackling fire. These are the things to pay attention to. How often do you feel it, the singing of your heart? The aliveness and awakeness that comes from doing things that bring you joy? (Read the rest over on my blog)
Do more things that make you come alive. Do more Do more things that make you come alive. Do more things that make you come alive. Do more things that make you come alive. The active things, that ask you to show up with your body, your mind, and your heart and jump with both feet into the mud (literally or figuratively). It might be swing dancing or trail running or photography; it could be cooking or hunting, hiking or painting. These are the active sort of joys that get us into our bodies, awake and engaged. Today Lupine and I headed into the muck near the Mississippi for lotus roots with our friends @dwightzietlow and Roxanne. It was SO much fun; so much magic; so much joy. Awakeness; aliveness. Even though I'm not sure when I've been this painted with sticky mud; even though I was so cold when we left that I couldn't feel my feet (and sensation is only now coming back), it was a delight. And it was ALIVENESS that I felt. It's a feeling I don't often get sitting here behind this screen. So, friends, here's my unsolicited advice for the day: figure out what makes you feel awake and alive, then do that. Because life is NOW, not later; not yesterday. It's today or nothing else. Go and get it. (Don't know what that is for you? Think about what you loved most as a kid, something you'd do for hours without any thought of food or rest. It's probably related. And don't worry if it only makes sense to you.) And... I'm off to cook up lotus roots for dinner! Can't wait.
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About Me

Recent Posts

  • Sore Throat Soother Tea
  • Digging lotus (and lessons on alive-ness)
  • Time travel
  • Wild Food Festival
  • A summer finale (or maybe two)

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