Monday, July 25, 2011

Rainstorms

Today I had planned to squeeze in a 3-mile walk right after work before we have some friends over for dinner this evening. The weather begs to differ.

When I left my office I stepped out into the most wonderful kind of rain-- the kind that makes you feel like you are in the shower, not the kind that leaves you feeling pelted and stung. It took the moan off of my lips about forgetting my umbrella in the car and I made my way through the parking lot enjoying the feeling of gentle, steady rain on a warm day. It became wildly more adventurous when I was driving home and the windows started fogging up and the power steering decided to intermittently give up on me. We don't have a knob to change the air flow in our car... we have a pair of needle-nose pliers that do the trick, but it's only something to be attempted at stop lights. Definitely not in the middle of a monsoon with foggy windows and no power steering and water dripping into your eyes and mussing up your glasses. Like I said, adventurous. But home safe and sound.

I'll have to make up my walk another day this week. But for now I'm going to go snuggle up somewhere before the company arrives and maybe let this rainstorm lull me into a nap.

Have I mentioned that I love rainy days?

Friday, July 22, 2011

Sassafras Walk

It was just an hour-long one, on the Mountains to Sea Trail with Vicki and Joshua. But it still counts. Especially since we found some sassafras on the trail! Also lots of poison ivy and some mushrooms. But the sassafras was definitely the most exciting. Click on the picture to make it bigger and you should be able to read the text, then.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Down Home Herbal Medicine

Tonight was Joshua's crash course in herbal medicine 101, with our friend and teacher, Vicki.


Today's lesson included digging up pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa)-- informally known as butterfly weed-- in a nearby field. After they dug it up (I was still at work for this part), they brought it home, chopped up the roots, and processed them.



Also learned the basics of making a salve.
 Step one is Vicki's awesome concoction of mixed herbs and infused oils in the blender.



You will strain this concoction through some cheesecloth and into a saucepan.



Note the beeswax that is needed for this all to work.

It eagerly waits its involvement in this process.



So you pour the blended bits onto the cheesecloth.
The oils drip through to the saucepan below, and the fibrous parts of the plant remain on top.



You kind of stir it around to get all the liquid out.



Once it's mostly done, you wrap up the cheesecloth around the plant matter.



Then you squeeze all the rest of the "juice" out.



Now you turn on the heat and add the beeswax into the mix.



After the wax has melted and there has been sufficient stirring,
you are ready to pour the salve.



We prepared the containers in a row ahead of time, because you have to be quick about it.



Vicki added some essential oils to the mix. 
Minus a few cc's that I spilled all over the counter while trying to photograph the beeswax earlier.



Vicki poured the hot salve into a glass measuring cup for easier pouring,
since the containers are small.



Then, it's a race to see if you can pour it into all the containers before
 the wax begins to harden.



Salve complete! You can't stick your fingers in it while it's congealing or else she can't sell it.



Vicki sells a wonderful apothecary line at
Garage 34 on South Lexington. Check it out.
She's the real deal.