Just today I learned to use my first (new to me) digital camera and took some photos of me and my beloved woodland home. here I am contemplating it all as I prepare to head out in the morning.

Here I go. I am done with graduate school now, after three years. I am fertile with myriad possibilities and have so many opportunities, the world is wide open! It is almost overwhelming, and yes a little scary. While big decisions await, mostly I want only adventure for awhile, with long vast stretches of forestlands, being with people I love, dancing, singing, myth & poetry. I leave behind the books, papers, urban expanse, and rather intense anxiety. I touch the Earth with my bare hands and feet, swim in the waters, soak in the hot mineral springs, ascend to the top of mountains where I can look over my life from way high up and lose track of time. Enter the timelessness and dwell there for awhile. I need to remember how to run fast - like the wind. I have come this far and it is an amazing feat.

I celebrate myself and sing myself - Walt Whitman

Wild Dinner

Springtime always has me wild again - wild for life, wild for love, wild for plants. As an herbalist, I take great delight in the green world coming into full force all around me. For me, medicine-making time begins anew as well time for wild culinary delights. There is little that is so tasty and fufilling as wild meals, and even small amounts of wild plant and animal foods added to meals helps satisfiy my soul and nourish my need to be to remain essentially untamed. Higher in nutrient density & fiber, free from ridiculously wasteful packaging or xenoestrogen-packed nasty pollutants (depending upon where you harvest! - use care and knowledge) wild food serves a welcome role in my diet as it has for most human beings since the dawn of time. It connects me with my self reliant ancestors, the evolutionary survivors whose blood now runs through my body. It also connects me to the land I live on and helps keep me wild. After a long winter, these digestive supporting, blood cleansing spring tonics have a natural role as health enhancing.

My first wild meal this year included dandelion greens (before flowering - or else too bitter for me) and nettle tops (harevsted carefully) sautéd in butter. YUM! Ive also enjoyed burdock root - boiled first before stiring up; chickweed, violets & garlic mustard with greens in salad; wild smoked turkey (a gift from a hunter neighbor) as well as wild duck and bluegill from the Chesapeake (a gift from a nearby waterman). I also love poke salat, fiddleheads with morels, and copious amounts of lamb's quaters steamed and otherwise cooked like spinach. There are others to consider as well - sorrell, watercress, ramps, and later in the year elderberries, acorns, persimmons, and so many other delightful, medicinal, and free foods.

“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” --Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)

Wild
Occurring, growing, or thriving in a natural state; not domesticated, cultivated, or tamed. Lacking supervision or restraint. Disorderly; unruly. Not submitting to discipline or control.

Recipes Online
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4060.htm
http://www.wild-harvest.com/pages/chefperkey.htm
http://www.bobcatswilderkitchen.com/kitchen.html

Why eat wild food?
http://www.self-reliance.net/wewf.html
http://www.redmoonherbs.com/articles/nettle.php

BooksThe Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer Feasting Free on Wild Edibles by Bradford Angier

To meet all these definitions at once is a true embodiment

fox·y (fks)
adj. fox·i·er, fox·i·est
1.
a. Of or resembling a fox.
b. Slyly clever; crafty: a foxy scheme.
2. Having a reddish-brown color.
3. Slightly discolored, as by age or decay; foxed.
4. Slang Sensually attractive; sexy.
5. Having a distinctive sharp flavor or aroma: foxy American grapes.

foxi·ly adv.
foxi·ness n.

BTW Im really proud of my one woman fan club for my blog

Tangier Man

Writing about our own experiences, I am told, is what makes a blog. Well, I am still new to this and perhaps not as savvy as you all, and furthermore I love my little snipets of myths and quotes and reserve freedom and delight to post these as the spirit moves me. And yet I may as well also go ahead and tell a little romance story. After all, spring is in the air!

People who are salt of the earth are decent, dependable and unpretentious.

Last autumn, I met a rather memorable man while visiting my Dutch friends' farm on the eastern shore of Maryland. Never had I been, and I had no idea the beauty and sweetness of the place! And yes, he was a handsome single man, but thats not exactly what the story's about...

He climbed down off the tractor from where he had been plowing and gave a nice strong handshake along with a nod, looking directly at me introducing himself by full name, to which I chuckled ever so lightly and returned the grounded greeting. He is a neighbor who helps out on their organic farm when he is needed and refuses to take money for his services because "that's the way he was raised". Since my women friends are a gay couple in their fifties I think its pretty safe to say that his intentions are pure. Anyway, I was charmed. As we all walked the land, shared dinner, sipping wine into the wee hours by candlelight in their 18th century home, I was charmed. Seeing his land the next day, his excitement at the growth of the trees he's planted along the fields, placing his hands in the black soil, urging me to do the same, I was charmed.

I am not so easily charmed, I want to assure you. What I noticed first about this lad was an odd country-ish, yet rather eloquent manner of speaking that as I listened to the rhythm of I could not place, try as I might. Here we were on the eastern part of the Chesapeake Bay, and this man sounded as though he grew up somewhere between the mountains of Southern Appalachia and the Isles of Scotland, which indeed he had. I also noticed that he had a very clear way of speaking right to the point of things and tended to express himself thoughtfully and meaningfully, or else remain quiet and listen attentively. He had me laughing from deep down inside, and speaking quite frankly myself - at times sharply debating him, at others wholeheartedly in agreement. Always very engaging and natural. His blue eyes sparkled a great deal. I appreciated this earth-wise sensibility about him, one that our mutual friend often brings up - this distinct & increasingly rare human quality that only people who live very close to the land hold in their being and carry with them, an actual scent about them. Genuine. Hardy. Salt of the Earth.

I myself come from people like this a generation before me, and it has imprinted on my soul. Long ago left behind in search of wild adventures, self discovery and presumed liberation, I have felt at times deeply out of place in the urban world of academia where I have placed myself, a world I had long ago sworn off! A world of winning prestige through intellectual prowess often disconnected from anything practical or particularly useful to the world, where people frequently take the most elaborate and vague routes of speech to avoid saying what they really mean, or simply to impress their peers. Yet my childhood was in some essential way steeped in the value of hands -on visceral intelligence, of rural identity through my loving grandparents, of endless summers spent on the farm, running in the fields, bon fires in the grove, finding arrowheads left by the Kickapoo and Wea and shards of pots left by my own great great grandmothers. Always that sense of being from a human heritage that is inherently part of the land. Perhaps this is what lit up and stirred in me with our Tangier man. It was different from the many back-to-the-landers Ive come across and lived with over the years. Something was definitely different.

Now, our man did mention that where he was from is Tangier Island - a place Id never heard of, an island in the Chesapeake. He spoke of it warmly and yet never explained much about it. I later took it upon myself to discover more on my own... Wikipedia states

The tiny island community has attracted the attention of linguists because its people speak a totally unique dialect of American English, hypothesized to be nearly unchanged since the days of its first occupation by English colonists.

Fishermen and farmers, they have also been studied for their rich folklore and traditional customs. Their heritage appears to be chiefly from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall, and they have remained relatively isolated from the rest of the world since the 16th century. Over ten miles from the nearest port, accessible only by boat or emergency helicopter, they did not so much as have television or internet until the last decade.

Well no freakin wonder he has this quality.

I cannot help but think on him fondly as winter thaws as soon I will likely meet him again when I venture across the bay to help with spring planting and canoe among the cypress groves along the Pocomoke River. I would like to learn from him all I can and enjoy his vital spirit. Do I fancy him to be my soul mate? No, even with a confessed tendency to romanticize such things, sometimes ridiculously so, and even as my biological alarm clock is sounding off with resounding bells, I do not. He had softened his voice with a moment we had alone, and in a most endearing and reserved way asking if he could call me, would I like that?...hmmmmm..., and later making general reference to his belief in proper courting. I am not kidding. I simply have not really come across this before. I had been thinking that sweetly sharing passionate kisses wouldnt harm a soul. Yet an actual romance would almost certainly be destined to fail, respectful friendship being the supreme choice. Opposites attract, but do they make good long term partners or mutually supportive parents? It is an understatement to say that some of our key core values and ways of viewing the world differ vastly. The first time I ever practiced non-violent civil disobedience I was a very young woman protesting the war he was busy fighting in on the other side of the world. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and so would he. The noble soul shared with me how he reads the bible to himself when he rises in the morning, around 5:30 or 6 a.m., the King James version. I didn't mention how I often sing love songs to the moon Goddess around 3 a.m. or so, still wide awake, crystals warm in my hand, with tiny offerings for the elementals... Ah well, cheers to how different we all can be, and how much more interesting life can be when lovely opportunities open for us to celebrate this and appreciate each other - across genders, cultural identities, and seemingly over centuries.

OK Ill try this

One Word Answers (For the Most Part)

This Moment: Peaceful
Your Shoes: Red (& muddy)
Craving: Kissing
The State of Your Home: Warm
Annoyed By: (currently) nothing
Noise In the Background: water dripping
Really Want To: Fly
Thinking About: Love
Your Keyboard: Useful
Smelling: Rose oil
Favorite Product In Office Supply Aisle: colored markers
Don't Ever Want To: be beaten
Your Eye Color: hazel green
The Weather: snowy
Have Never Tried: horse drawn sleigh ride
Think Everyone Should Try: to be cool
Last Vacation Destination: Colorado
The Last Thing You Had to Drink: Water
Your Bad Habit: which one?
What You're Going To Do Now: read

Candlemas

Candlemas

February 2nd...Midpoint between Solstice & Equinox
Transition from Winter to Spring

Origins: In Ireland, where green first appears after the long winter, Candlemas, or Imbolc (from Oimelc, meaning “in the belly”) was a pastoralist's holiday celebrating the first new lambs, their nourishment and growth--with a thorough spring cleaning and rekindling of the hearth fires. Imbolc is especially sacred to Bridgid, the Goddess of healing, poetry, smithcraft, warmth, fire and the sun! Today, Imbolc, Candlemas or Groundhog Day is a welcome chance to call back the green of springtime in the darkest stretch of winter.

This is not a "spring celebration," but the celebration of the approach of Spring. At this time, the cows and ewes begin to bear their young and lactate, as the earth begins to awaken from her winter rest. Imbolc signals that soon the ground will thaw, spring flowers will begin to rise, and the time for planting will be upon us.

Ideas, Concepts, Meanings of Candlemas:

٭This is the Feast of waxing sunlight. What was conceived at Winter Solstice begins to manifest and we are midwives to the new Year, now set in motion and growing strong as the days grow longer.
٭This is a time of our uniqueness, where we each keep our own fires lit.
٭This is a time of contemplation and introspection. The Year is filled with possibilities and wonder. New opportunities await. What will you create? Time for planning and planting the seeds of intent for the coming cycle and kindling the flame of soul-filled creativity
٭As humans we have the choice to attune ourselves to the rhythms and cycles of the seasons and planetary motions. This is a time of inturning and gathering of energy. This gathering can take the form of ideas, projects, dreams, people, and resources. This is a time of reconnecting with the source of light within.
٭People light candles and great fires to call back the forces of light.
٭This is a good time to remember what we’ve learned and done over the last few months\cycle, to review the mysteries and lessons

Brighid

Bridget Bride Briganna
Triple Aspects

Celtic Goddess of Fire, Blacksmiths, Wells, Springs and Poets. A central goddess of Ireland and Wales. Brigid's feast, Candlemas or Imbolc, is celebrated on the first of February, the midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

The Celts held poetry in great reverence as it was the art of divination, the revelation of secrets, and preservation of history. In her three aspects Brigid represents the creatrix of smithcraft, the inspiration of poetry, healing and medicine at the hearth, all unified by fire.


Brigit was one of the great Triple Goddesses of the Celtic people. She appeared as Brigit to the Irish, Brigantia in Northern England, Bride in Scotland, and Brigandu in Brittany. Many legends are told about Brigit. Some say that there are three Brigits: one sister in charge of poetry and inspiration who invented the Ogham alphabet, one in charge of healing and midwifery, and the third in charge of the hearth fire, smithies and other crafts. This actually indicates the separate aspects of her Threefold nature and is a neat division of labor for a hard-working goddess.

The symbol of life and energy, also associated with abundance and prosperity, is carved inside the 5000 year-old Newgrange passage mound in County Meath, Ireland (above). Earth works such as Newgrange have been proven to be ancient solar observatories, whose construction can be said to symbolize the womb of the Goddess

Brighids Triple Aspects: The Hearth

The Hearth represents the magic of everyday life: our relationships with the people close to us, the sacredness of preparing foods and medicines, the utter miracle of childbirth, raising children, making our homes. The Hearth is our light, and warmth, the very center of our home. That Brighid is the patroness of the Hearth, brings to light an entirely holy way of viewing home life, family, and daily living. The mundane is valued and conscious intent is put into all that is done, as if everything matters and is part of this greater ritual of living our lives.

Brighid is midwife as well as herbalist and wise woman. As late as 100 years ago in the west Scottish Highlands, the Matthewses write, the midwife traditionally blessed a newborn with fire and water in Brighid's name. She passed the child across the fire three times, carried the baby around the fire three times deosil, then performed "the midwife's baptism" with water, saying:


A small wave for your form
A small wave for your voice
A small wave for your speech
A small wave for your means
A small wave for your generosity
A small wave for your appetite
A small wave for your wealth
A small wave for your life
A small wave for your health
Nine waves of grace upon you,
Waves of the Giver of Health.

Brighid also protects and heals adults. She is a goddess of healing wells and streams; in her honor, Bridewell is one of the two most common well-names in Ireland, the other being St. Anne's Well, remembering Anu, or Dana, the mother of the gods - a goddess sometimes conflated with Brighid. With Aengus Og, Brighid performs the role of soul-guardian, wrapping worshippers in her mantle of protection. ~ from M. Harline

Brighids Triple Aspects: The Well

THE EXALTED ONE…woman of wisdom…a goddess whom poets adored…
~ Cormac’s Glossary, 9th Century text

As a Goddess of herbalism, midwifery, healing, and poetry, She was presided over Water as well as Fire. I don't believe that anyone has ever counted all the vast number of sacred wells and springs named after or dedicated to this Goddess.
Offerings to the watery Brigit were cast into the well in the form of coins or, even more ancient, brass or gold rings. Other sacrifices were offered where three streams came together. Her cauldron of Inspiration connected her watery healing aspect with her fiery poetic aspect.

Brighids Triple Aspects: The Forge

Iron Forge 1772 Joseph Wright of Derby

SMITHCRAFT was highly regarded by the Celts, and a smith god is certainly known from various sources. The triple goddess Brighid was patroness of inspiration, therapy and smithing, and the craft of the smith or metal worker was developed to a high degree by the Celts. Romano-Celtic carvings of a smith god, sometimes bearing tongs and hammer, are known in Britain; he is also associated with Mars, or with Celtic gods similar to Mars such as Toutates.

THE SMITH was always associated with magical powers, for they mastered the primal element of fire and moulded the metals of the Underworld through skill and strength. There is a close connection between concepts of smithcraft and concepts of the creation of the world, in which the Elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth are fused together in a new shape. Smiths are frequently associated with supernatural powers, including therapy, in folklore, so it is no surprise that the ancient smith gods were credited with similar magical abilities.

Journal work

Candlemas Questions to ponder

1. Take a moment to look at your life. What changes will you support in the coming cycle?


2. Winter can be a time of endurance. How will you care for yourself through the remaining winter? What will comfort you?

3. Clarity, crispness, stirrings, are some words that describe this time of year. How does your life relate to these characteristics of the Earth right now?

Brighid for me

For me, Brighid represents the force that moves people towards greater wisdom and wildness. She represents an ancient spirit of human consciousness, where the powers of women and men are considered magical and everyday life is infused with meaning. This is the force that can inspire us to reach as far up into the Heavens as we can, and to spread our roots as deeply into the mysteries of the Earth. She represents the life energy that lives inside us and seeks expression through our greatest passions, whatever they may be. Brigid guides us to take the reins of our lives into our own hands, and helps us to steer through myriad possibilities toward living out whatever it is that we were born to do, our fullest expression of who we are. She is the support that happens when we let Life work with us and through us.
As Brigid is the goddess of both Smithcraft and Healing, she represents the mastery of the fires alive inside of us: our anger, sexual power, and creativity. Her alchemy is the blend of body, mind, and spirit, as well as of earth, air, fire, and water. Her own mastery of fire reminds us that we learn to know and respect the power of our sexuality, and to consciously work with our anger as a force for freedom and evolution. She reminds us to reexamine what it means to be “powerful “, to reexamine altogether what exactly power is and how to share it. She challenges us to grow past our own limitations as we sometimes feel “thrown into the fire”. We are asked to transform, again and again.
If we women in the western world spent even half as much time and energy as concerned with the well-being of the planet and people as we typically do on how sexy we look, the clothes we wear, or on watching TV, our culture and the world as we know it would literally transform. Imagine how much precious energy this would free up! While caring for our bodies, celebrating our sexuality, and even adorning ourselves is inherent in celebrating the Goddess, the obsession\ self-hatred of women’s bodies that permeates our culture must be changed for future generations. Brighid, by whatever name we call her, can remind us of what it is we truly value within ourseleves and with each other, and is an essential part of a force that can aid us in the desperately needed task of recreating authentic human culture.

Brighid bids us to be conscious and respectful of the sources of energy, electricity, and power in our world, to respect the source of Life. She is a force for healing our human communities and our relationship with the Earth.
Brigid is the beckoning of the living Earth, flame, wind, streams and springs to us for their protection, as well as for communion and reverence. She urges us to include a responsible stewardship of the planet among our passions and pursuits. She remembers a time of greater wholeness among people, and seeks to help us bring Heaven back to Earth, with our fiery wills, sharp minds, and skillfull means. She carries with her all of the knowledge and cries of the infinite ancestors who knew her. She can awaken inside of us the holy flame that finds expression through liberation and love. She can help give us courage to live our lives as powerful people in this insane time of near global disaster. Her flame has burned for centuries, in the homes, hearths, cathedrals, forges, and woodlands of those who have gone before. To name her and to acknowledge her presence and endurance is to replenish the fires of our own hearts, to drink from a precious well sourced very deeply inside the Earth, and to remember who we are.

Winter Herbal Care

Caring for ourselves and our families through

Winter

As the wheel once again turns to the coldest and darkest time for those of us in the northern hemisphere, we can benefit from attuning ourselves to the cycles of the Earth. We are naturally urged to slow down, rest more, and turn within. While this can be quite challenging with busy lifestyles as well as the swirl of holiday merriment and stress as the season begins, there are approaches we can take to ensure our optimal health, help prevent sickness, and tend to it with care when it does occur.

ò In winter, we bring the warmth and light inside – into our homes and into our bodies. Fires in the hearth and candles can help nurture our need for this light. Likewise, warming foods and herbs, along with loving relationships and simple creative endeavors such as cooking, crafts, storytelling and writing can help keep the fires within alive.

ò Our bodies may need more water as well as essential fatty acids such as in flax and fish oils, which may also help temper wintertime blues.

ò We need to keep our bodies moving everyday. Getting out into the sunshine, walking, playing in the snow, and dancing or yoga indoors.

Foods

Nourishing marrow soups and homemade veggie broth, mineral-rich roots such as beets, carrots, parsnips, and rutabagas, dark leafy greens, and whole grains are all wonderful. This is an excellent time for trying new recipes and foods. Keeping it colorful and varied helps ensure a variety of nutrients. Including warming spices to foods is an ideal way to include herbs in our wintertime ways. Adding even very small amounts of sea vegetables, astragalus (in soups), or shitake mushrooms also makes an immune medicine.


Wintertime Herbs

These plant medicines and spices can be used in cooking, in teas or tinctures, either as simples (by themselves) or in blends. Among the abundance of useful plants for this time:

Warming Herbs - Cayenne, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cardamon, Garlic, Rosemary, Sage

Nervines – these calm, soothe, and may help enliven the heart: Oats, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Nettles, Motherwort, Linden flowers

Immunomodulators and Adaptogens – These help build our overall resistance to disease preventatively, as well as aid our bodies ability to adapt to stress: Reishi (probably best in capsule form) & Astragalus are my two favorites for this time of year. There is no herb to substitute fundamental self-care with proper rest and nutrition however.

Colds & Flu

Increased rest, soups, staying warm, beginning herbal treatment in early stages if possible, and staying consistent with dosages are fundamental in herbal treatment of wintertime sickness. Indicated herbs do vary depending on the person being treated and characteristics of symptoms. Often combined each other and with peppermint or ginger in a tea, some general suggestions include:

ò Elderberry - flowers and berries traditionally used for colds and flu. Sambucus is great for kids, especially as a syrup, yet also useful for adults. Tea: one cup boiling water poured over 2 tsp. flowers, infused 10 minutes or 2 to 4 ml of tincture, three times per day. Safe in pregnancy.

ò Yarrow - used in acute stage of colds and flu, this antimicrobial herb is also known to help keep infection from reaching the lungs. Use 2-4 grams of yarrow in tea or 2-4 ml of tincture, three times per day. Not in pregnancy.

ò Boneset – A favorite for bringing down fevers and dealing with aches and congestion in colds and flu. Tea: 1-2 tsp steeped in covered container 15 minutes, three times per day up to every hour. “Bitter as all get out” explained Appalachian herbalist Tommy Bass, yet for the hardy, there’s nothing like it to bring down a fever. Not for use in pregnancy.

Expectorants- these include: mullein leaf or marshmallow root for a dry cough; thyme tea or tincture, or eucalyptus leaves as a tea and steam for a wet mucus- rich cough.

Suggested Books for more information:

The Family Herbal and Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar. This remarkable herbalist shares valuable traditional knowledge for addressing a wide range of health issues as well as simply enhancing well-being.

Naturally Healthy Babies & Children by Aviva Jill Romm. This is a commonsense guide to herbal remedies and nutrition for young ones

Medical Herbalism by David Hoffmann. A hardy text full of applicable information for the more serious student. the less serious and more economical herbalist might try his Holistic Herbal.

Mythically, winter is the time of the wizened old woman and old man, the Grandmothers and Grandfathers - those who have lived fully and well. They are the old ones who have lived long before us and who now guard the gates of life and death. They are guides in the darkness, weavers of fate, and even glorious angels, whose reverence has endured for at least thousands of years. They speak to us to honor and listen to the stories of our elders as well as to connect with the places inside ourselves which are ancient and wise. Winter is an excellent time to remember and discover that which is truly most important to us and to our world, as though we were looking over our lives at their end. What might seem most essential to us then? The still darkness of winter invites us to enter into the timelessness of our own spirits and to connect with that which most truly nourishes our bodies and souls. While no doubt a supreme time to treasure and deepen bonds with loved ones, winter is also a time of great benefit from quiet reflection, from time spent in conscious self-discovery. Journaling, meditation, prayer, ritual, artwork, and creative expression of all kinds can emerge from the darkness of winter.

Winter’s promise is the rebirth of the sun at winter solstice as the daylight once again begins to grow and soon enough, the Earth will warm again. This time of sacred darkness can be well spent envisioning ideas and plans for our lives and for the year ahead as we rest and replenish our vital energies.