Sorry to have to do it, but I eliminated the ‘do follow’ links because I was getting a lot of comments from people who didn’t have names… who instead used the name section for posting keywords like “cheap ugg boots” and “topical pain reliever.” I finally realized that letting people use my blog for advertising isn’t in the best interests of the blog. So, I decided to delete all those older comments that are from advertisers. I’d prefer to hear from real people with names who enjoy reading the blog.

This is my blog for food and herb related musings. I’m not trying to have the greatest blog on the internet. I just want a place to sound off about things that frustrate me, and to talk about herbs and my vegetarian cooking experiences.

What do people have against hippies these days?? I am appalled at some of the derision I hear. For example, when I was working at a local restaurant last year a young woman was hired. You know how people chat while they work. One day she informed me “I hate hippies! I can’t stand them!”

She didn’t know I was one.

What venom! I guessed I didn’t look like much of a hippie that day. Mostly these days I just look like a little old lady with gray hair and too much baby fat (after five children some of us unfortunately get that way.) Well, I pretended not to be insulted and let it go, but purchased several tie dye shirts just to make it clear that I’m still quite the hippie even in my old age. I needed a little self-identification, apparently.

I guess the word “hippie” means different things to different people. To some it might refer to a dirt-bag unwashed, unkempt drug user - indulging in heavy drugs like heroin - perhaps. …Or just a stoner looking to take advantage of others. (Just a guess at what people might be thinking when they’re all negative about the hippie counter-culture movement.)

But hippies are more than that.

The most important aspect of being a hippie is the creativity: the desire for inventing new modes of art and the ability to be unique enough to put those arts into form. Hippiedom also is a form of spirituality for me. It is an acknowledgement that I’m able to develop my own spiritual connection with the divine apart from rituals and set forms devised by others for their organization into groups of spiritual worship realities. My spirituality is my own alone. It encompasses nearness to the divine source through creativity.

God is creative, and so am I, so when I’m involved in an act of creativity I’m closer to God than at any other time. Plus there’s the fact that love is an expression of god-self within. For me, loving everyone was the most important aspect of hippieness, plus these realizations of the reality of God through being in nature, through aligning oneself with nature and all that is natural. To me, those are the qualities of being a hippie, and drugs and free-love type sex have nothing to do with that which is natural and pure… other than use of herbs of course which sometimes includes something as amazing as marijuana which is a very cool herb helpful in many medical need situations.

Anyhow, I don’t see why people should speak badly about hippies and make people like me think we need to hide our hippieness. I’m not going to hide anymore. Too many years I’ve been diverted from what is really me. I’ve been a hippie since the sixties. Just because I’m almost sixty years old doesn’t mean I should change and be someone else’s idea of the perfect little old lady grandma … you know what I mean?

Well, this week I was reading two different books that mentioned hippies. One was Tribal Bigfoot. I was in the middle of an absolutely awesome story about a guy who had been in a forest in Del Norte County, California when he was surrounded by Sasquatches… and then the author told of his own walk into this area. He was approached on the trail by a man. He wrote: “I hadn’t seen anyone on the trail or in the parking lot for two hours. I held my ground and watched as a derelict looking hippie walked up to me and asked what I was doing there. I was a little miffed, but I couldn’t tell what kind of weapon he might have had under his tie-died sweater and coat. He wasn’t a large man, but he smelled and looked like he’d been in the woods too long…. It was a little nerve wracking having that encounter unarmed.” (Tribal Bigfoot, Paulides, Pg. 285)

Okay, now I’m a little miffed. Are hippies so bad you have to suspect them of being dangerous? The author of the book is a former law enforcement agent who I guess has decided that hippies are to be avoided unless you can arrest them.

This morning I was reading a book of Bigfoot fiction when I got to a page that said, “We needed more scientists with real clout in the community to come forward, look at the data and see that the hard evidence was already there…. Instead we get sociopaths and rednecks and hippie cultists.” (North American Primates, Durgee, Pg. 209)

Can you see why I feel hippies are under fire from the misperceptions of prejudice?

Now I know I’m not going to change the opinions of millions who have already made up their minds one way or another on whether or not hippies are good or bad. I happen to live in a community, however tiny, where there’s a lot of drug users. I see more than my share of them. MOST of them are not old enough to have been part of the hippie movement. My neighbors are huge users of drugs, ex methies, current full-time potheads [and I should add this is medical marijuana at this point, and quite legal]… they aren’t but in their forties and not wise enough to know what being a hippie really meant. They just want the drugs, not the spirituality and lifestyle of creativity that the early hippies brought into focus.

There are a few young people hereabouts that have the beauty and spirit of real hippies, but not many. Most are completely clueless… they just want drugs. Pathetic, in my humble opinion! And there are a few old hippie artists in the community who are carrying on the mysticism of true hippie life, with love.

Hippiedom is a liberation of the spirit, an expansion of consciousness, a flight of amazement on the journey to reach forth toward world consciousness and love. To denigrate it into a ‘hey we want drugs’ thing is to entirely miss the point of what the movement was actually about.

I was surprised when I looked at my stats today and saw that this site now gets about 150 visits daily. Now I feel a need to make the site more useful - and I’m going to do that by installing a section for linking to current news articles.

I come across health and food news daily but normally I add those links to my Delicious account. Instead, I’ll post them here so that site visitors will find a resource for learning about the latest news in food, natural healing and health.

This month we’re busy getting our garden soil ready. We’re planning a big garden - flowers, herbs and vegetables. That’s keeping me busy.

How about you? With the world economy in shambles are you planning to grow your own food this year? Will you be canning? Are you storing food just in case the stores no longer can supply our needs? Do you even believe that’s possible?

You know me… I believe in preparing for the future, and even though it seems unnecessary now, food storage is an important part of my life.

Today someone reading my post about cinnamon and honey weight loss tea asked whether it would be safe to use during pregnancy. I looked through my herbals and found a recipe for easing pregnancy, which uses cinnamon, so that indicates to me that cinnamon could be safe for pregnant women (and their unborn dear ones.)

From John Lust’s herbal, The Herb Book: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to More Than 500 Herbs:
This is said to prevent nausea and miscarriage. It is also for reducing labor pains and increasing milk production.
1 part cinnamon
5 parts blackberry leaves
5 parts milfoil
10 parts raspberry leaves
Steep 1 teaspoon in 1/2 cup boiling water. Take 1/2 to 1 cup daily in mouthful doses.

Note that there’s to be NO OVERDOSING… which is what I need to address concerning the cinnamon and honey diet. Though the cinnamon may be safe in normal amounts, drinking large amounts might not be safe during pregnancy. Plus, I wonder about the wisdom of trying to diet during pregnancy. This is something a pregnant woman should definitely discuss with her physician.

In addition, you should be aware that there are certain herbs intentionally used (by some) to terminate pregnancies. Here’s the list of common herbs a pregnant woman should avoid:

Angelica
Birthroot
Blue Cohosh
Brooklime
Bugloss
Cotton Root Bark
Ergot
Golden Seal
Ground Pine
Juniper
Male Fern
Motherwort
Mayapple
Pennyroyal
Potassium Permanganate
Rue
St. Johns Wort
Savin
Tansy
Thyme
Valerian
Yarrow
This information is derived from two sources, Herbs & Things - Jeanne Rose’s herbal, and Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.

All these are likely to cause abortion to occur. DON’T try this at home! I’m against abortion in general so I’m hoping this won’t be taken by anyone as a way to terminate a life. I put the list here for the benefit of herb-using women who want to preserve their pregnancies.

This list of herbs said to ease childbirth comes from John Lust’s The Herb Book:
Althea
American Spikenard
Bennet
Birthwort
Black Cohosh
Blind Nettle
Blue Cohosh
Cannabis
Columbine
Comfrey
Common Groundsel
Cotton
European Ragwort
Flax
Garden Raspberry
Garden Violet
Goat’s Rue
Horehound
Iceland Moss
Lady’s Mantle
Pansy
Primrose
Ragwort
Shepherd’s Purse
Silverweed
Spikenard
Squaw Vine
Wild Red Raspberry
Wormwood

NOTE - some of these are mentioned on the ‘do not use’ list… I’d especially avoid Blue Cohosh! Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs says it isn’t safe to use.

And about the Wormwood - I wouldn’t use that either. I know that too much of that is a danger.

Personally, I’d stick to something simple like Raspberry Leaf Tea which is well-known to be good for pregnancies.

Jeanne Rose wrote: “Raspberry leaf tea has been used for hundreds of years by women throughout their pregnancy to ease the pains of labor, to prevent miscarriage, and to increase the milk supply. It was mentioned by Pliny in his medical botany books. For the tea: one ounce of the leaves is steeped in twenty ounces of water for fifteen minutes, strained, and drunk - at least two cups per day. The leaves are also used as an astringent for diarrhea, as a gargle for sore mouths, and as an infusion to wash external ulcers and wounds. The berries are excellent eaten during a bout of diarrhea.” - Herbs & Things, page 100.

Also, note on the list of herbs that ease pregnancy, Cannabis is listed. This is Marijuana.. which is, in my opinion, a miracle healing herb… but I recommend that mothers do NOT use it during pregnancy or at any other time. The reason is that use of Marijuana is cause for child welfare agents (CPS or DHS social workers) to take children from their mothers. Especially during pregnancy, this is a real danger. I have met a young woman who used Marijuana to ease birth pains, who never got to take her child home from the hospital because THC was found in her baby’s urine. You will notice, if you give birth in a hospital, one of the first things they do is slap a urine sack on the infant to collect urine for drug testing. YES, this is true! And babies with any kind of drugs in their system are taken away from their parents. So DON’T use Cannabis/Marijuana while you’re pregnant. It just isn’t safe. If you use it you might need my other site: Fighting Child Protective Services CPS False Accusations, and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.

One more very important thing! Use moderation, no matter what herb you choose, whether you’re pregnant or not. Too much of any herb can be dangerous. If you’re not certain a herb is safe, ask your obstetrician or (if you’re breastfeeding) your pediatrician.

Here are the links to the herbals I used for this post:

One of my favorite vegetarian dishes is pasta. My boyfriend likes his with canned Alfredo sauce and mushrooms on it. I like that too, but when I make it I usually use herbs, sometimes with chunks of fresh tomato tossed in for flavor, color, and health.

While cooking the pasta I heat a frying pan containing a small amount of oil and sliced fresh garlic. My choices for oil are olive oil, coconut oil, or sunflower oil… all organic. For this, I usually choose olive oil because I love the flavor. To my garlic I add salt, thyme, parsley, kelp flakes, oregano and basil. When the pasta is cooked and drained, I put some in the frying pan with my oil and herbs, and mix it together. The fresh tomatoes go in last, when the heat is turned off. Then I put it all on a plate with Parmesan cheese on top, and sometimes a little grated sharp cheddar right under the Parmesan. Mmmmm… I am such a pasta lover.

You notice I share my recipes but usually don’t mention amounts. I expect that we all have have an inner instinct for knowing how much to use. Learning to rely on that is part of becoming a confident cook. My grandmother never used measuring cups or spoons, and I rarely do.

Pasta choices… my boyfriend likes fettuccine. Honestly, I like it all but usually use fettuccine, spaghetti, or macaroni.

A few nights ago I went to the regular Friday evening fund-raising dinner at our local art center. This is a vegan/vegetarian dinner. They served big pasta shells with some kind of sauce (I should have asked) along with a green salad, cooked beets, and a slice of homemade bread. The dinner was satisfying and delicious, and for five dollars, I enjoyed the meal and the company of artistically minded people. The money is to be used to build a new art center in our remote mountain town.