Rebecca Lerner's Blog, page 4
February 16, 2014
The Secret to Powerful Plant Medicine
The four things I like to do during the harvesting process are:
1) Sharing my intention with the plant
2) Asking permission, and waiting to receive an answer without attachment
3) Making an offering
4) And then harvesting the plant in such a way as to do minimal harm both to it and the community of plants and animals around it.
Humans are boundlessly creative beings, and so there are many, many ways to do each of these things. Tonight I was inspired to create a mini-podcast sharing some techniques that I use, and elaborating on this subject in general. It’s called “Making Powerful Medicine: Building Relationships with Plants.” Because sharing this information is a service to the plant world, it is my pleasure to offer it completely for free here. That link will give you an mp3 file to download. Please enjoy and feel free to share it widely.
After you listen to it, in the comments, I’d love to get your feedback and hear about your own approach, if you are inspired: What are some special things you like to do to build relationships with the plants you work with?
February 15, 2014
Chickweed Spirit Medicine
Chickweed, Stellaria media, is an edible and medicinal weed you can easily find growing in the winter-time. From a metaphysical perspective, it has a playful, gentle spirit and shows up to help those who are taking life too seriously and need to have way more fun and lightheartedness in order to regain a state of health and balance.
Chickweed also often pops up to help those who are closed off to spirit, due to socio-religious programming, but who desire to become more receptive to divine guidance and healing. Look for it only a few inches tall, sprawling across sidewalk strips or in raised planters. You can identify chickweed by the very fine line of peach fuzz style hair that grows up along the stem and switches sides at each leaf juncture. It looks a bit like a Chinese staircase twirling around, and when it blooms with tiny white star-shaped flowers, I like to think of it as a stairway to the stars. The Latin name Stellaria hints at this, too.
To bring chickweed’s spirit medicine into your life, pick it fresh and eat it — it’s a wild edible that goes well in salads, but chop it fairly finely. Or you can make a chickweed tincture with glycerin or apple cider vinegar to preserve it and extract its essence.
As a physical medicine, chickweed is a refrigerant, which means it helps cool a fevered body, and it’s also a demulcent, emollient (soothing if rubbed on the skin), and mild diuretic.
If you’d like to learn more about working with plant spirits, you may very much enjoy my new virtual course, “Connecting with Plant Spirits 101,” a 75-minute MP3 of a recorded class and guided meditation with a companion PDF handout. I cover western red cedar, chickweed, cleavers, rose, passionflower, and more. For a limited time, I’m offering it at a Pay What You Wish rate, with a sliding scale of $11.11 to $44.44. Get it here.
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Upcoming Classes
Reiki 1 on Saturday, April 5, 2014
1 pm to 9 pm in NE Portland, OR
Getting attuned to Reiki is a wonderful way to enhance your self-care practice, meditation, and plant spirit work, as well as to support your overall health and wellbeing. Reiki 1 is both an educational opportunity and a ceremonial initiation called an “attunement,” which gives you a direct connection to Reiki and the ability to channel high-vibrational Reiki healing energy at will through your hands and in doing so, become a real-life superhero who can heal yourself and others, including pets, land, water, food, life situations, and more. In class, we’ll cover the origins of Reiki, practice on ourselves and each other, and receive a detailed manual. Enrollment is limited to 6 students. See full details on Facebook here or on my Reiki website.
January 31, 2014
Review: Ancestral Plants by Arthur Haines
I first heard of this book from east coast readers of this blog and folks on Facebook, who enthusiastically recommended it as an excellent reference guide, so I was very curious to check it out. In the opening section of the book, Arthur is very clear that Ancestral Plants is not meant to be a field guide nor recipe book; instead, it’s intended to share his firsthand experiential knowledge with us so that we can learn how to use wild plants for food, medicine, and more after we’ve positively identified them using a good field guide or other source. As a reference guide, it offers a “holistic understanding” with great information on the nutritional properties of wild plants and firsthand experience about their many uses, especially from a primitive skills perspective.
Arthur Haines
Arthur, I learned, lives in Maine, where he has been teaching primitive wilderness skills for 20 years, with special emphasis on working with plants. He mentors folks through the Delta Institute of Natural History and is the staff botanist at Maine Primitive Skills School. He has a whole lot of “dirt time” under his belt, and this book reflects that valuable experience, with an excellent key at the top of each plant listing that explains whether it can be used as food, medicine, for tea, cordage materials, archery, primitive fire-making material, or even smoking! This is very valuable. He actually says he intentionally omitted common uses for a plant if he didn’t feel that it worked well in practice — I wish more wild plant authors would follow suit!Another great feature of the book is its lengthy section defining and explaining medicinal actions in plants and chemical compounds such as alkaloids, and also various herbal preparations. I also enjoyed Arthur’s advice on collection and harvesting, in which, for example, he tells us that being careful to make clear cuts when taking a part of a plant will help it avoid infection from pathogens. He includes a great harvesting calendar, too.
The book is intended to serve the northern New England region, and it includes nearly 100 wild edible and medicinal plants. Of these, most are found in eastern North America, and just less than half will apply to the Pacific Northwest, or about 40 plants. Additionally useful is that Arthur includes a list of recommended reading with great books for further information, such as books by David Hoffman on herbal medicine and Sam Thayer on wild food.
You can purchase Ancestral Plants for $30 through SurThrival here or direct from Arthur’s website here.
Sign up for Arthur’s newsletter via his website or follow him on Facebook here.
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UPCOMING CLASSES with Becky
Herbal Smoking Blends
6:15 pm to 7:15 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014
The Herb Shoppe, 3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR
FREE
Learn all you need to know to create your own unique herbal smoking blends. We’ll cover more than half a dozen herbs that are enjoyable to include for relaxation and flavor. We will also talk about the risks and benefits of smoking medicinal herbs and the relationship between plants and human consciousness in this context. Participants will have an opportunity to sample a smoking blend.
Connecting with Plant Spirits: Your Botanical Allies
3 pm to 4:30 pm on Saturday, Feb. 15
New Awakenings, 404 E. Main St., Battle Ground, WA
$20, register by emailing your name and class title to tony@defreece-group.com
Everyone can connect with plant spirits, the elders of our world. In this class, you’ll learn everything you need to know in order to personally receive the wisdom, guidance, and healing that you seek from plants. We’ll highlight four wonderful local plants who love to help people — chickweed, cleavers, rose and cedar, among others — and in a powerful guided meditation, practice using our hearts as perceptual organs in order to connect with them. We’ll also talk about ways to bring plant spirits into your daily life.
Virtual Plant Walk
Learn 10 common wild edible and medicinal plants in my informative and entertaining high-quality HD plant walk video you can download to your computer and keep. On sale now.
January 29, 2014
I Made Acorn Muffins on TV Today!
I found out via text message today that I was on national TV again tonight! To my surprise, it wasn’t a repeat of Esquire’s “Brew Dogs,” in which I took some guys foraging for brewing herbs ona show that aired this past October — instead, this show is called “Dark Rye” and it’s on a new TV network called Pivot. I had forgotten that a few years ago, before I got all tattooed up with the yarrow ink on my forearm, I filmed a really fun little video about foraging dogwood berries, rose hips, mallow, and other plants and then making acorn flour and rose hip muffins! Enjoy, and feel free to share!
January 21, 2014
News: Distance Courses Now Available!
It’s *finally* here! After much demand and many hours of work, the first in a series of distance lessons is finally available! Covering 10 useful, common wild plants found around North America and Europe, and shot specifically for at-home viewers, this Virtual Plant Walk is just like having me come to your house and take you on a private, one-on-one guided tour! Enjoy this free 5-minute preview on stinging nettle below as my gift to you.
The full video also includes 9 other plants: cleavers, lemon balm, everlasting pea, mullein, red clover, sorrel, plantain, money plant (“honesty”), and wild chamomile.
As a present for my loyal blog subscribers, I am also sharing a special discount code with you that will work only for a limited time that gives you $4 off, so you can get this virtual lesson for just $12.99! Enter code “FirstWays” to save and get your learning on right now:
Buy this on Selz
January 9, 2014
Ray Mears Makes Wild Sea-Buckthorn Juice!
Check out this excellent video of British wild food expert Ray Mears harvesting wild sea-buckthorn, Hippophae sp., and making fruit juice with it!
Learn more about sea-buckthorn in my previous blog post here: http://firstways.com/2013/12/18/sea-buckthorn-cancer-busting-berries/
Upcoming Classes:
Connecting with Plant Spirits: Your Botanical Allies
7 to 8:30 pm on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014
New Renaissance Bookstore, NW 23rd Ave, Portland, OR
$15, at the door or register online
Everyone can connect with plant spirits, the elders of our world. In this class, you’ll learn everything you need to know in order to personally receive the wisdom, guidance, and healing that you seek from plants. We’ll highlight four wonderful plant spirits who love to help people and in a guided meditation, practice using our hearts as perceptual organs in order to communicate with them. We’ll also talk about ways to bring plant spirits into your daily life. (I wrote on this subject recently here).
Wild Plants of the Urban Jungle – Evolver Webinar (Distance Learning!)
Two 90 minute classes, 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific on Tuesdays Jan. 21 & 28, 2014
$65 if you sign up by Jan. 15 (special rate extended!), $85 later
Uncover the essential botanical patterns woven into Earth’s greenery that can help you identify a future mystery plant, discerning poison from treasure; explore the ethical and ecological challenges of foraging in a city; learn how to avoid making common rookie mistakes; and much more. Sign up by Jan. 10 and use code WILD to save $20. See the full syllabus and register here.
Herbal Smoking Blends
6:15 to 7:15 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014
The Herb Shoppe, 3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR
A free talk on making herbal smoking blends for ceremony, medicine, or fun, with an opportunity for all attendees to sample a blend.
January 5, 2014
Upcoming Classes & Webinars
Connecting with Plant Spirits: Your Botanical Allies
7 pm to 8:30 pm on Saturday, Jan. 18
New Renaissance Bookstore, NW 23rd Ave, Portland, OR
$15
Everyone can connect with plant spirits, the elders of our world. In this class, you’ll learn everything you need to know in order to personally receive the wisdom, guidance, and healing that you seek from plants. We’ll highlight four wonderful plant spirits who love to help people, and in a guided meditation, practice using our hearts as perceptual organs in order to communicate with them. We’ll also talk about ways to bring plant spirits into your daily life. No registration required.
Wild Plants of the Urban Jungle – Evolver Webinar
Two 90 minute classes, 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific on Tuesdays Jan. 21 & 28
Just $65 if you sign up by TUESDAY, Jan. 7; $85 after
In session one, we’ll meet some MVPs of the urban wilderness, 10 plants you can eat, smoke, or use to heal yourself. Learn where they grow and how to confidently identify, harvest, store, and use them. In this session, we’ll also answer the following questions:* What does research tell us about the toxins we may be exposed to in the urban environment, and how plants store them? How can we use this information to make informed choices and keep ourselves safe?* What are the red flags that tell us an area isn’t safe to harvest from?* How do you use these plants once you’ve harvested them? In session two, you’ll learn the keys that help you unlock the identity of mystery plants, including consideration of habitat, season, plant families, leaf patterns, smell, texture, and more. We’ll also discuss:* With respect to sustainability, how can we know how much to harvest of a given plant?* What are the laws on foraging, and what is the etiquette?* What does foraging have to offer us in this age of electronics and fast food? Does it have the potential change our relationship with nature and our ideas of public property? Plus plenty of opportunity to ask your own foraging, wildcrafting, or plant medicine questions.
Sign up by Tuesday Jan. 7 and use code WILD to save $20. Get more details and register here.
Herbal Smoking Blends
6:15 pm to 7:15 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 5
The Herb Shoppe, 3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR
FREE
Smoking blends can be used ceremonially, medicinally, or for pleasure. Learn all you need to know to create your own unique herbal smoking blends. We’ll cover more than half a dozen herbs that are enjoyable to include for effect and flavor. We will also talk about the risks and benefits of smoking medicinal herbs and the relationship between plants and human consciousness in this context. Participants will have an opportunity to sample a smoking blend.
December 18, 2013
Sea-Buckthorn: Cancer-Busting Berries!
The first time I bit into a juicy Sea-Buckthorn berry, the sweet and tart taste reminded me of two rather disparate things: SweeTarts candies and pineapple. Also known as Seaberry, Sandthorn, or Sallowthorn, this gorgeous ornamental in the Oleaster Family grows as a shrub in partial shade or full sun. In Portland, it’s sometimes planted in sidewalk strips. It thrives in the northern half of North America, though it is native to India, Nepal, and broader Eurasia; I first learned about it when Berlin Plants blogged about it three years ago here.
The bright orange berries of sea-buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides, ripen in early fall. As the months go on the berries actually ferment on the tree, so that later in the winter and into spring they taste like berry-infused brandy! It’s very cool. When you pick the berries, just be careful to avoid getting stabbed in the finger or eyeball by thorns!
Most people choose to plant Sea-buckthorn as an ornamental because they like the look of its lovely silver-green leaves, but it happens to be a nutritional and medicinal powerhouse. The berries (including seeds and pulp) contain fatty acids and carotenoids, Vitamin E, Vitamin C — even higher than the amount found in lemons and oranges — Vitamins B1, B2 and E; provitamin A, rutin, serotonin, cytosterol, selenium and zinc. They are also high in antioxidants.
The berries are also amazingly medicinal with a wide range of applications from killing cancer cells to healing ulcers, and sea-buckthorn oil is commonly found in anti-wrinkle cosmetic products. Sea-buckthorn has a long history of use in herbal medicine, going back to ancient Greece and recorded in the eighth century Tibetan medical classic “rGyud Bzi.” The fruit has been shown in animal studies to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides when taken internally. Sea-buckthorn berry can kill both cancer cells of S180, P388, SGC7901 and lymphatic leukemia. It has also been shown to have a stress-reducing (adaptogenic) effect. Sea-buckthorn heals ulcers and is anti-inflammatory, is taken as a liver protective agent, and — important in this age of worries about Fukushima’s long-term consequences — has an anti-radiation effect. The leaves can also be dried and taken as a nutrient-rich tea. The leaves have been demonstrated in animal studies to be an excellent vulnerary (wound-healing) herb when applied externally and historically they were traditionally used as a skin-healing agent.
Sea-buckthorn on a foggy day
(FYI: The fruit is the primary medicinal and nutritional part of the plant; the sea-buckthorn oil commonly found in cosmetic products comes from the seed inside of it.)
For identification: Leaves are simple, deciduous, silvery-green on upper surface, paler green on the underside, narrow, lanceolate, and alternate. The bright orange berries are densely clustered and arranged very close to the branch (as opposed to hanging like a cherry).
The berries can be enjoyed raw. They are very juicy and are commonly used as an ingredient in fruit juice blends in Europe. Because they taste sour, one would do well to add sugar or sweet juices to the mix. The berries can also be made into fruit wine or liquor, and also jellies.
Have you ever tasted this plant? What sorts of things do you like to do with it, if so?
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Upcoming Classes:
Connecting with Plant Spirits: Your Botanical Allies
7 to 8:30 pm on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014
New Renaissance Bookstore, NW 23rd Ave, Portland, OR
Guided meditation and talk. (I wrote on this subject recently here). $15 (at door). More info here.
Wild Plants of the Urban Jungle – Evolver Webinar (Distance Learning!)
Two 90 minute classes, 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific on Tuesdays Jan. 21 & 28, 2014
Uncover the essential botanical patterns woven into Earth’s greenery that can help you identify a future mystery plant, discerning poison from treasure; explore the ethical and ecological challenges of foraging in a city; learn how to avoid making common rookie mistakes; and much more. Sign up by Jan. 10 and use code WILD to save $20. See the full syllabus and register here.
Herbal Smoking Blends
6:15 to 7:15 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014
The Herb Shoppe, 3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR
A free talk on making herbal smoking blends for ceremony, medicine, or fun, with an opportunity for all attendees to sample a blend.
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Did you like this post? Visit the new clickable Plant Gallery and browse more than 65 wild edible and medicinal plants!
Please pass it on and share this post with your friends, family, and social media!
December 14, 2013
A Big Thank You!
Thank you to all 23 of you who contributed to the IndieGoGo campaign, shared it on social media, or even just sent good vibes, because you made it a great success! Together, we raised $563, which went way beyond the $500 goal! Thank you!
Because of your generosity, this website is now ad-free, self-hosted, secure and backed up, and the Search Plants gallery archive is now totally functional! You can now click on photos of 66 plants to find information and blog posts about them. So next time you see something on the sidewalk and wonder what it is, head over to the gallery and see if you can find a familiar mugshot! Check it out here.
Special shout outs to my honorable mentions:
* Julie Sabatier, host of the truly fabulous Destination DIY radio show and podcast, who interviewed yours truly this summer on the “Old School DIY” episode.
* and to Christopher Trotter, the very kind and talented spiritual psychic medium on the east coast, known for his many radio appearances also.
You can still get signed copies of my book, “Dandelion Hunter,” at the holiday special rate of $16 ($4 off my usual price) through Dec. 24. Click here for domestic orders; or for here for international orders. If you need rush shipping so the book can arrive in time for Christmas, we can arrange that for an additional fee, just e-mail me at RebeccaELerner(at)gmail.com and let me know.
Interestingly, the magical medicine bags I offered as perks for the IndieGoGo campaign have become a huge hit and I’ve received lots of happy feedback and even some new orders. They’re a lot of fun to make custom for each person, specific for the intention of your choice, in which I combine pretty crystals and dried herbs and long-distance Reiki to bring in exactly what you need. One person wrote to me asking me to make a medicine bag that could help him feel calmer while driving, which has otherwise been a very stressful experience for him. After receiving his bag in the mail, he wrote, “I am delighted with the medicine bag. It has a real calming effect on me while I am driving and I am a better and safer driver because of it. At first I wore it over my shirt and received lots of inquiries and compliments about it as I walked around. Now I have it on my dash next to a vent and there seems to be a calming influence throughout the car.”
I am happy to continue to offer these medicine bags at the special holiday rate of $25 for a limited time. Learn how I make them or get your own on my Reiki website here.
Look out for new distance learning opportunities coming very soon!
Upcoming Classes in Portland this Winter:
Connecting with Plant Spirits: Your Botanical Allies
7 to 8:30 pm on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014
New Renaissance Bookstore, NW 23rd Ave, Portland, OR
Plants are the elders of humanity and everyone can connect with them. Learn about four plant spirits and discover how to communicate with them in a guided meditation and talk. $15 (at door). Full description here.
Herbal Smoking Blends
6:15 to 7:15 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014
The Herb Shoppe, 3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR
A free talk on making herbal smoking blends for ceremony, medicine, or fun, with an opportunity for all who come to sample a blend.
November 29, 2013
Holiday Special: $4 off Dandelion Hunter!
Right now you can get a signed copy of my book “Dandelion Hunter: Foraging the Urban Wilderness” for just $16 (regularly $20)! It makes a great holiday gift for the budding plant person in your life.
Here’s what people are saying about the book:
“Wild girl herbalist Becky Lerner plunges into the green world on page one and keeps the reader dazzled with one crazy adventure after another, all the while educating us in the art of hunting the wild dandelion. Never has practical advice about wild foraging been so entertaining. Move over Euell Gibbons.” — Matthew Wood, author of The Book of Herbal Wisdom
“…the funniest herbal adventure you’ll ever read.” - Publishers Weekly
Synopsis: In this engaging and eye-opening read, forager-journalist Becky Lerner sets out on a quest to find her inner hunter-gatherer in the city of Portland, Oregon. After a disheartening week trying to live off wild plants from the streets and parks near her home, she learns the ways of the first people who lived there and, along with a quirky cast of characters, discovers an array of useful wild plants hiding in plain sight. As she harvests them for food, medicine, and just-in-case apocalypse insurance, Lerner delves into anthropology, urban ecology and sustainability, and finds herself looking at Nature in a very different way.
Humorous, philosophical, and informative, Dandelion Hunter has something for everyone, from the curious neophyte to the seasoned forager.
Published March 2013 by Globe Pequot Press. Paperback, 224 pages, no illustrations.
Holiday Special: Get a signed, personally inscribed copy for $16 (Save $4!)
For international orders, including to Canada, please click here instead.
Make sure to enter the name of the person you want the book inscribed to in the “note” field during checkout.
Free Previews:
To read a free PDF excerpt from the book about my first survival experiment, click here: Download Now
To read an excerpt from the book about consciousness, click here: Plant Consciousness
A note on shipping: If you want to be sure you will have the book for Christmas, please order by Dec. 12.
