Walking Seeds Newsletter Vol. 1, No. 5
January/February
2004
From: RavenCroft Garden, Connecting People, Plants and the Earth
Welcome to the fifth edition of RavenCroft Garden’s
online newsletter, Walking Seeds. If you enjoy the information you find here we
invite you to forward Walking Seeds to your friends and colleagues. Our intention is to keep the herbs alive in
our hearts, hands and homes.
=======================================================================
Communication
Celebrate
winter with Tacamahac, article by EagleSong
Green
Thursdays, Words of Hildegard de Bingen and JT
Coming
Events, near and far, to grow healthy, sustainable communities
Core
Program Open House 2004
A
Best Seller!
A
Touch of RavenCroft
Resources
to Grow By
Once
again, if you haven’t already made the change, please note we have a new email
address, ravencroft@ravencroftgarden.com.
If you would like to communicate directly with Sally, sally@ravencroftgarden.com or
EagleSong, eaglesong@ravencroftgarden.com.
Remember you can always go to the website to connect.
=======================================================================
“Nobody will know what it is or what you mean if you
call the oil Tacamahac!” they said. They were right but this understanding
deepened my sadness, it did not relieve it. “Maybe if more people were just to say, Tacamahaca or Hackmatack, we
might remember something!” I muttered. And so it has been over the years,
private and public, my love affair with the tree called Black Cottonwood,
Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa, balsam poplar, Balm of Gilead, Tacamahaca
by the Eastern native tribes, the Menominees and Forest Potowatomis, the
Ojibwas. Gigantic member of the willow or Salicaceae family of plants, she is
chief of all the trees in the Northwest and resides beside North American
rivers across the continent. She is the tree of life; cut her down and she
spawns 1000 children…
Excerpted
from SpindleWeed Magazine Spring 1999, read complete article at www.ravencroftgarden.com, see
Publications
Wear green! Talk about the herbs! Share a favorite
plant, wise weed, healing friend with everyone and anyone! Initiated by
apprentice Cynthia Lyons, Green Thursdays are FUN and are now part of the flair
and color of RavenCroft.
Listen to: Hildegard de Bingen (1098 – 1179) a women
of the Middle Ages, Abbess of a Benedictine Convent, mystic, visionary, poet,
counselor to kings and church leaders, composer, artist and herbalist, said
that the presence of the divine was experienced through the green, moist and
juicy life! She created her own word to
describe this concept, Viriditas. As an herbalist and healer she understood
that these qualities, green, moist and juicy were the “medicines” of the plants
and the presence of the divine in life.
In the last years of her life she was excommunicated from the Church
because of her extraordinary views and a letter written to the responsible Pope
before her death, addressed him as Your Dryness!
Listen to: JT, I like the Green Thursdays
idea! I remember the first time I wore bright green pants to school, at
about 12 years old. My girlfriend informed me they were "horny
pants". I had no idea what this meant, but linked it later to the
fabled green M&M candy mystique (green M&Ms were considered lucky
to get but also embarrassing, as eating
them made you "sexy"). Truly green is a powerful life color!
So here’s to a
green, moist, juicy and divine life! Celebrate Green Thursdays!
=======================================================================
Coming Events, Near & Far!
4.
Snohomish Conservation District, 19th Annual Conservation
Plant Sale March 5 & 6, 2004
call 425/335-5634 Bare root plants
at very reasonable prices.
=======================================================================
Core Program Open House 2004
Join us at RavenCroft, Sundays January 25 or
February 22, 2 pm RSVP requested
An opportunity to ask questions, meet instructors
and apprentices, preview texts and tour RavenCroft.
2004 Core Programs include:
If you are interested in detailed information, check
out our website, www.ravencroftgarden.com,
Education section.
A Best Seller!
We love to brag about our
Tacamahac Oil, because it works! Tacamahac is olive oil powerfully infused with
the buds of the Black Cottonwood tree and the herbs comfrey, calendula, St.
Joanswort, meadowsweet and sweet birch essential oil. It is an all purpose oil for
pain relief due to physical trauma, sprains, strains, bumps, bruises,
over-exertion, and can be used to relieve chronic inflammation.
If you are interested in ordering check out our
website, www.ravencroftgarden.com,
Product section
A Touch of RavenCroft
Balm of Gilead or the Black
Cottonwood Bud Oil: A Labor of Love
There is no other oil like the Balm of Gilead
oil. Using oil to capture the
“medicine”, brings the sweet fragrance of spring, the golden color of limbs
living in sun’s light and the healing power offered from her giant tree self,
keeper of water’s edge, holding the banks and letting go to river. True
Alchemist and Fabulous Healer! Use topically to relieve pain, reduce
inflammation, soften and restore tissue, and bring joy and pleasure to all the
senses.
To Make:
Harvest the leaf buds from the Black Cottonwood Tree
between fall and spring equinoxes
Place on trays or foil, for 2 days to allow buds to
exhale moisture
Place in jar, fill ½ way with buds
Pour olive oil over the buds and fill to 1” below
the neck.
Cover jar with a paper towel, check, stir daily and
watch for 2-4 weeks. The buds will continue to exhale in oil, causing the oil
to “bubble” and possibly spillover the
edge. Keep jar on a cookie sheet to prevent oil from seeping onto other
surfaces.
Macerate/steep buds in oil for one year!
Decant after a year for use.
===================================================================
Resources to Grow By
Websites:
http://enature.nationalgeographic.com/natgeo/localguide.asp?curGroupID=11&rgn=WA_241
Wildlife guide set up by state includes wildflowers,
trees, mammals, birds etc.
Organization promoting kitchen gardeners,
sustainable food, recipes, growing tips
Offers an emerging alternative worldview.
Herbally Yours!