The story of my cannabis "allergy"

This isn't really just a story about cannabis per se - which I'll probably refer to as pot or weed for the rest of this post, seeing as how I'm Canadian and to my mind "cannabis" just sounds pretentious - so much as it's a story of discovery. About what works, and what doesn't, for my particular allergy symptoms, and about how I figured that out. (hint, painfully).

For you see, although "they say" that an allergic response is a matter of histamine, that's actually kind of meaningless information when you're going through it. When one person gets runny eyes and nose, another will get dry sinuses and headaches. Where one will have a wet cough, another will get a swollen, dry throat. And if, as happens to me, antihistamines only make you feel sick and spun out and the symptoms don't abate under the influence of the drugs, the point is moot.

And no, I haven't been tested to see if this is, in fact, a true allergy. It might instead be - as many so called allergy symptoms are - a healthy response from my body to get rid of an irritant.

A very strong response that if I I ignored, it would be to my peril.

Eating wild foods from your own back yard - in real life.

Wild foods, or 'weeds' as some call them, you gotta love them. They're free, and they're generally way more nutritious than most garden vegetables. You can wander the countryside to forage for them, you can cozy up to your local organic farmer and offer to weed his garden to get them, or you can just stop mowing your lawn and see what comes up. I do all three, have done for a while now. Here's some of what I've learned.

i.d. (a couple of) useful weeds in the autumn, by request

Okay kids - as several of you know, I'm always up for a game of "name that weed", wherein you take pictures on your walks, send them to me and I try to figure out what it is we're looking at. It's a fun game - but maybe frustrating for some of you who are just starting out and don't know, really, what you're looking for. This post full of pictures might help.

This is actually a good time of year for what I like to call reconnaissance walks - getting to know the lay of the land, learning where the colonies of this or that useful plant are in your neighbourhood or yard, or park, or even the edges of the Walmart parking lot - so you know how to recognize them and what kind of conditions they prefer to grow in.

Now, I'm not suggesting you necessarily pick plants that you find in those urban areas. I'm not suggesting you don't either - that's another discussion - but these are great places to find and get to know what your target plants look like.

The most common, probably, is plantain , the ever so useful stuff I make my ointments from:

Remember, you can always click to embiggen.

Another Sunday, suggested reading - mullein

For some of you this may be review, but I think it's time that we bring mullein into the conversation.

I could have sworn I had a post at the other blog about mullein that I was going to transfer over here, but it seems to have disappeared. It must have been in one or the other of those blogs of mine that "come and go like mushrooms" as a friend put it.

I am nothing if not inconsistent.

Foraging is

both hunting and gathering.

Some plants throw themselves at us: "pick me, pick me!". Some fall at our feet, literally, like the aspen. Some hide really well in the wild - I'm looking at you, nettle - and some become rampant in the garden, offering far more than we can use - I'm looking at you again, nettle.

Do nettles clear toxins through the scalp?

We've all heard by now about testing strands of hair to get a bead on the levels of heavy metals in the human body, yes?

Nettle tea rant

(Originally published 29 April 2015 here )

Under the surface, your writer is ... seething.

Yes! I'm angry. It's about one of those things I should expect, I should just shrug off. I should get over myself. But dammit to hell, it's just not right. It's morally wrong and it's downright dangerous and it pisses me off.

Superficially, this is about teabags.

The prickly nature of stinging nettles

(Originally published 14 September 2014 here )

I love me some nettles. You know I do.

But there are things the books don't tell you about nettles, and then there are other things some books tell you about nettles that are downright incorrect bordering on negligent.

Let's start with the latter. Every time I see a new herb book in a store or an herby website, I turn to the nettle pages to see what they say about when to pick nettles. If they say "pick nettles as they come into bloom" I walk (or click) away. Do NOT pick nettles as they are coming into bloom. They're at their peak of prickliness then, to the point where it just can't be cooked or steeped away. You won't get a mouthful of prickles but chances are good you'll get a tummy and/or kidneys full of glass - or so it will feel. It's not actually the prickles per say, but the chemicals within. It's not good. Don't do it.

How did this error come about? How is it that so many books repeat it? I don't know. And it ticks me off.

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!

Nettles and me, a love story

(Originally published 18 September 2014 here )

(A reader asks for a post on nettle, and only nettle, from germination to harvest and use. In keeping with my policy that I can't speak from a position of authority, only from personal experience, here's what I've come up with. Questions and requests for clarification most welcome!)

It began with a potluck supper at our cottage. Cathy arrived bearing a grocery bag. Plunking it somewhat unceremoniously on the counter she said, simply, "Nettles. Be careful".

I was awe struck. I'd read about them for years. One old herbal text had a particularly lovely coloured plate illustration of the plant and I'd stared at it many a winter's night, my imagination conjuring the taste of that emerald green beauty as I imagined it steamed and slathered in butter. With salt and pepper.

I opened the bag. It was less than half full. I remember being charmed that the stems had a pinkish tinge. They had grit on them. I reached in to pull them out and YOW! Holy crap that hurt! I had merely brushed one leaf and my hand felt as though I'd just met the business end of a wasp. I heard a chuckle come from Cathy and she came to the kitchen to rescue me. Filling a basin with water, she dumped the nettles in without touching them. The she sent me outside, directing, "find plantain, do the spit poultice thing, you'll be fine."

A few words on weeding & mulching & permaculture gardening

(Originally published 8 July 2015 here )


There are many different styles of permaculture gardening, and some of them make me cringe. The people who go in for earth-moving equipment, changing the landscape, making swales, cutting down trees for hugel-culture etc. are, to my mind, no more stewards of the land than cops in riot gear are crossing guards.

But that's just me. If you're into it, have at 'er. I suppose there are those who want to work with the land (me) and those who want the land to work for them (those guys).

Vinegar walk

(Originally published 7 June 2015 here )

High summer is coming on fast, and that means a change in the plants I'm gathering.

The first round of picking stimulates the growth of stinging nettle, but once you've done a second round, they start to need a rest. If we get rainy cool weather there will be a third round, but if not, nothing until fall. After they flower and set seed, nettles get a rush of new leaves on the old stalks, tender and delicious for those last few meals. Of course I harvest nettle seeds, too, they're such excellent medicine for exhausted adrenals. But while the plants are ragged, while they flower and before that last rush of growth, nettle leaves get too strong and they can actually damage the kidneys if picked at the wrong time.

Weeding? Or harvesting?

(Originally published May 8 2015, here )

It's hot here, so I'm not turning over any more soil than I have to until the weather moderates and we get some rain (please!). Crazy for so early in May, usually we're fighting frost.

Early though it may be, we're getting plenty from the garden while most Canadians are still waiting to plant. That's advantage #1 for the weed eaters right there. It's hard not to feel a teeny bit smug. It's not the heat that brings out the weeds, they'd be here anyway. But it sure gets them bigger, faster.