Medicinal Plant Walk- May 2nd

Hi Plant Lovers,
It's that time again! How about one more foray into the low desert washes to check out the spring blooms, before the heat burns!
This time, a special inclusion in honor of May Day, and spring in the desert, we will spend a good chunk of time on this herb walk learning how to make flower essences from the flowers all around us in the desert. Everyone will take home a bottles of mother essence of flower essences we will make during the walk. Please come prepared for warm weather, sunshine and quiet time with the flowers. Good shoes, water and food are a must. Note pad, cameras, are nice too. We will be walking in a sandy wash. No rocks, but there are downed trees and branches.

Please bring two 1 oz bottles for your flower essences.

May 2
8 am - 1pm
Cost is $35 per person, which covers supplies for flower essences (excluding bottles).
We will meet @ the parking lot near Eclectic Cafe on Sabino Canyon Road and Tanque Verde Road promptly at 8 am for carpooling to the site. Please register in advance. Space is limited to 10.

See you with the flowers!

Darcey Blue

blueturtlebotanicals@gmail.com

Weathering the Winter winds of change: Flower Essences

I've been trying to think of something to post here, about herbs, or plants, or anything remotely related to such topics, but I've been completely self absorbed the last few weeks. Summer is always a tulmultuous time of crazy change and destruction, but winter also has its way, the little death, the letting go. The trees let go of their leaves, knowing the mulch will provide nutrients and support for next years growth and seedlings. So it is now...letting go some of my life leaves, to go into the heart of myself, and find in spring that something new has budded, sprouted and sprung forth.

My heart is breaking, yet I'm full of hope for the future. I've been relying deeply on the flower essences in these last few weeks as the winds of change have been blowing around me and things have shifted from one place to a completely new place in the span of days.

I am continually amazed by the gentle power the flower essences hold for us. So subtle is their influence, we hardly notice it, until we realize that everything has changed in the blink of an eye. Recently someone special came back into my life, and I was faced with a very hard choice, very difficult indeed. The kind of choice that would usually send me scurrying away to hide my head in the sand and pretend it didn't need my attention. But life insisted and I turned to the flowers for help.
Scleranthus to help me make a decision, difficult though it would be, either way I decided.
Walnut to rely on the strength within myself, to come from a place of wisdom of my own needs and desires, without being influenced by others desires and energy.

Clematis to stay present, in the moment, in my body, without projecting fear or what if's of the future, or getting lost in my thoughts, or getting stuck in my head.
Cherry Plum to maintain some semblance of control over myself in very intense situation, where it would be easy to let go and get out of self control.

I took this formula for maybe...6 hrs, maybe 8 over the course of the day, very frequently, definitely more than the reccomended four drops four times per day. By the end of the day, I had come to a decision, based on my true needs and hearts desires, without projecting the what ifs, the fears of the future uncertainty, and what other people in the situation wanted from me. And I kept my cool , even when things got a bit emotionally crazy. It struck me in the middle of a meeting with friends, that the flowers had worked their magic yet again, giving me just the rightnudges in the right direction to be able to do what I needed to do. I'm not giving away all the credit to the flowers, but time and time again I've seen them shift things so sutbly, so gently, but yet so profoundly, in just a few hours time...it blows my mind every time!

I feel strong like a walnut tree, focused on the present moment without great anxiety or fear about what the future holds, trusting that I know what is right for me, and feeling peaceful. Most of all, the winds of change are blowing and shifting the ground under my feet, but I feel at peace with the decisions made and the changes underfoot.


It helps to have the support of trusted friends, teachers and family members, and the unending gift of support and nourishment of Gaia and the plants and flowers, and the strength to call on all the resources available to me when I need them, whatever they may be.

Have flower essences been as remarkably helpful for you as they have been for me?? Share your stories with me? Feel like you need a little extra love and support from the plant world and want to try the flower essences? Send me a note and we'll figure out which might be supportive to your situation right now.

Hopefully I'll have more to write about plants in the not too distant future, but tis the season of holiday craziness, so be patient!

Un-settling in

Well I've been working hard on a post for you all, but between house hunting and everything else required to get resettled in Tucson, I haven't finished it yet.

The weather is back to normal: HOT. I'm sweating up a storm. I've run into several old friends, one who was kind enough to open her living room to us for the night.

We've looked at a lot of places in the last few days, a couple of which are probably too pricey for us at this time, but really adorable, and a couple that are more affordable, but either not ready for immediate move in, or just a little less cute than I'd like. But I' m really anxious to find a place to put my bags down and unpack and make into my home.

We joined a raw milk co-op and will start getting raw local milk in June, but strangely enough, I've found TWO local stores selling raw milk and I'm not sure how that works. But I can't get it until I get a place to fridge it. I'm so looking foward to making some raw cheeses, yogurt, kefirs, sour cream, and use it for my herbs. I've been missing my almond milk with ashwaganda, rose, and cardamom in it.

We're in full swing pitta season here, and the more cooling, moistening foods I can incorporate into our diet the better. Milk, ghee, and I'm dreaming of melon soups with yougurt, mint and rose, cucumber and tomato salad, shrimp with lime and cilantro, and more. Lassis with rose and mango and mint.

Hopefully by next week we'll be settled and next weekend I can hit the local farmers market and pick up some local produce and grass fed meat from local people. Went into my favorite little local health food store/market and found some of our favorite speciality items that we have to buy at the market, and I'm making the commitment in my head to shop as locally as I can from now on. Whole Foods is here, and is convienent, and has grass-fed meats, but I'd rather support the local little guy.

I am actively seeking clients in the Tucson area now, and if your interested in having a consultation with me using herbs, diet and nutrition, flower essences or some combination, please get in touch with me. I don't have a clinic office yet, but will travel to your place or meet you somewhere convienient.

I'm also available for private herb walks and will be scheduling some public herb walks very soon. Again, e-mail me if interested.

I'm thrilled to be back in Arizona, and look foward to the future as your community herbalist in Tucson, AZ.

Flower Essences: Part 1

I wanted to write a post about my recent positive experiences with Flower Essences. As part of the program at NAIMH, we got some beginning education on Bach Flower Essences, and fun field trip to make our own essences from some wild spring flowers. We had a fabulous teacher who gave us very clever ways of remembering the 38 original essences.

Flower essences are such a handy tool to use with clients when you start running into emotional issues, past traumas, insecurities and other "stuff" that you as an herbalist and not a therapist, aren't really equipped to deal with. They are gentle, easy to give (blend with tinctures, or make into nice fragrant sprays with essential oils), and so, so helpful in working through the myriad emotions of the human experience.

Also, extremely helpful for you, the healer, in dealing with YOUR stuff. Cause your stuff ALWAYS comes up in the face of dealing with other people. I use some flowers for grounding before and after a meeting, for strengthening my personal emotional and psychic boundaries, and for clearing the space. Not to mention insecurities, self esteem, sadness, guilt, and overconcern.

I've known about flower essences for years, since way back when I studied with Rosemary Gladstar at Sage Mountain, and I've even spent some time making essences from the flowering plants of the Sonoran Desert. Rain kissed manzanita flower essence, and sunny california poppy were just a few. But even though I made some essences, and learned about them, I didn't put them to use very often.

Most recently I've been using them on myself and my partner with great results. Especially since I was gifted by a very sweet family member with an entire bach flower essence kit, with all 38 essences and a bottle of rescue remedy. It's much easier to work with them when you have an abundance of choices.

A few weeks ago I made a formula for myself with Mariposa Lily, Wild Rose, Elm and Honeysuckle. It was the new year and I was feeling sort of overwhelmed with the fact I have two theses to write, longing for my more pleasant times in the Sonoran desert, wandering the hillsides, feeling embraced by the loving earth. I was feeling sort of stuck and apathetic about doing anything I was needing to do ( both in terms of assignments for school and in taking care of myself. Darn that holiday gluten fest!)
I've been taking it for two weeks, and I feel so much more at peace. I've started writing at least one thesis, and decided on the topic of the second ( finally!) and am more fully present with what my current life situation is asking of me.

Flower essences are subtle, and people who aren't familiar with them or sensitive might assume they aren't working, but I've felt it work within 24 hrs, or less. I once took some wild oat flower essence this fall, when I was feeling a bit confused about the direction I wanted to go in with my life and my herbal calling. Between 8-5 i took the essence, and on the way home in the car found myself sobbing, because I KNEW in my heart what I wanted/needed, but getting there is not going to be so easy. That was pretty fast!

Some people will make formulas with the essences, using multiple essences, even up to 9-10. My personal preference is to work with one at a time, or a formula of no more than about 4-5 essences. I just feel like you can't work on EVERY issue all at one time. Some things will come to the fore if you look carefully, and things can be dealt with in small chunks. I think the healing works deeper and better that way.

Making your own flower essences is very easy and inexpensive, and is so uplifting and establishes a deeper level of intimacy with your landscape/earth, and the plants you are working with.
I'll save the making of essences for another post. But most are available commericially at any health food store these days, and there are lots of books with indications. But I really suggest taking the essences alone, before reading about them, and see what they do for you, personally. Each person will react to a given essence in a unique way, which reflects what they most need from a certain flower at that time. Group provings of essences made in the field are quite remarkable! I'll save that for another post as well.

Wild Oat, Autumn plant allies

So I was supposed to write a story about my first plant ally, and how it got me into herbs this week. I'm behind, working full time and going to school doesn't leave me much time for me. But alas, i think the thing that brought me into herbalism and plant love orginally was "The Clan of teh Cave Bear." Yeah, I wanted to be Ayla, and wanted to use wild plants for food and medicine. The idea of being able to find food out in the wild fascinated me. So I bought a big plant book when I was 12, and in the backyard began to identify plants. Yarrow was one of the first ones I learned and used. I was getting ready to go a on ski trip with my family one winter, but woke up with a horrible sore throat, the worst I had ever experienced. So I went into my book and looked up sore throat. It said sage. So I went in the backyard and picked some sage brush, winter frozen it was, but still bitter and effective ( not salvia sage mind you, which was what the book said) and then some dried yarrow I had picked earlier in the year. I made a bitter bitter tasting brew of the two plants, and drank it down with honey. Lo and behold, it worked! and I was converted. I saw yarrow all over from then on, and it is still one of my very favorite plant friends, for medicine, and for just being with.

On other notes, every morning I drive to work about 20 minutes, and I look up at the spine of rocky peaks, now becoming snow covered, a little more every day, and each day the colors of the trees change just a little bit. First the yellow cottonwoods and ash trees, and now the oaks are JUST started to turn red in spots. Staghorn sumachs are also going bright red in the neighboorhoods, and there is some tree that is a mix of purple, red, yellow, green. Quite lovely indeed.

The inane monotony of work is driving me batty, and though I enjoy being in school, I've yet to have a single client in the clinic, and wonder if I'm wasting my time, energy an money. Granted I'd MUCH rather sit inthe clinic all day and look at plant books andmake handouts all day than work at my day job. BUt what am I doing all this for?

I started taking wild oat flower essense. In the Bach FE repetoire, it is for helping one finds one's calling and path. One day I took it, and it was clear to me that my true calling is NOT living in this city, working in this job, barely scraping by. Kiva said it well on her blog post about working with the plants growing around her. That also is my calling, being with plants, making medicine, wandering wildnerness nd living close to the earth. Is clinical herbalism even useful to me? Should I be bothering with this? I felt like I needed to offer something back to people as a service, but how can I be of service to others if I dont first serve myself, and my needs and calling.
I don't even know how to get out of this, even if I wanted to. I'm broke,can't buy a van to live in, unless it was on credit. My credit is outrageously out of control at the moment, with no hope of getting under control at the rate of my earning capacity.

If I plan to live in the Alaskan bush, I'll never open a public clinic like this. So why do I sit here, spending money to sit in a room full of herbs in jars, and not even using them? I'm sick of my life the way it is...it needs to change...but unless I do something drastic, by choice on purpose, I'm here, in this rut, for 9 months. (Months of work, school and monotony.)

So anywya, the wild oat flower essence worked, in one day. I know my path isn't here, and it isn't like this ....its something wilder, more organic, more free....but I think I'll need some other flower essences, or strength to make a decision, to decide what to do about it. I want to leave, but I dont want to quit school. If all I did was school, then it would be better. But i have to work as well. I think scleranthus and walnut might be helpful here. Am I just too chicken and proud to quit this? What would I do, where would I go anyway? SHould I quit? Is it worth it to stay and have the piece of paper that says i'm a nutritionist/herbalist? Does that matter? Does it matter if I were to stay in societey ( am I just covering my ass in case my dreams dont come true?) What purpose will it serve me on my true path/calling/hearts desire?

Just make a decision and live with it. That 's what I told Darin this morning about work....I need to do the same.

Cooling, calming summer rescue spritz

We've been talking flower essences all week in NAIMH, and it's HOT outside. Up round 100 degrees, and I've got senioritis, or a serious case of summer time squirmies. I Do NOT want to be cooped up inside anymore, listening and sitting still, and the heat is making me hot and bothered.

I brewed up this little ditty when i got home today to chill me out, both physically and emotionally.

2 oz water
3 drops geranium e.o.
1 drop peppermint e.o
8 drops lavender e.o
3 drops grapefruit e.o
4 drops rescue remedy

mix the above in a spray bottle, and spritz as needed..... ahhhhhhhhhhhh.....