Tigers don't make good house pets

(Wherein she starts out on a philosophical bent, then gets pretty real about horsetail herb and does a little pep talk at the end)


There's a 'trend', you may have heard of it, known as 'rewilding'. It seemed to come out of something like the same place as the paleo movement; from the idea that we're in an evolutionary mismatch, both with our food and our disconnection from 'nature' (whatever that means) .. and so in one way or another people are reaching for ways to re-establish that connection, or eat and live in ways that are more evolutionarily appropriate. (It's been a 'thing' forever, of course, just by different names.) I'm on the tail end of that hippie, back to the land generation so I've lived that way a bit, and my somewhat older husband, a bit more (he actually lived on a commune in the wilds of British Columbia for a while in the 60's!).

The funny thing is that when people really do put themselves into a position where they are 'living off the land' they discover what humans have known all along; that it's really fucking hard to do. From 'here' it looks noble and romantic, and I suppose we could say it is .. but it's life-threateningly difficult too. Not only that, but when done authentically, it can/will often suck out any and all energy that might have been used for other purposes beyond hardscrabble survival.

It's better to know (nettles, horsetail and red clover)

(Originally published 9 September 2014 here )

Nettle is a plant with specific requirements for harvest. Nor is it the only one that can be problematic to use if incorrectly harvested. Some might simply be less effective if not harvested or stored properly. Others can cause actual harm. This is a very important issue of which most people are simply unaware.

Any side effects from the use of herbs are really not the fault of the plants but the people who prepare or use them. Whether the plant has been allowed to spoil, or the plant is simply inappropriate for that person at that time is something that is rarely taken into account. Yet the public dives in willy nilly then rejects herbal treatments in their entirety when they go awry!