Submitted by Michael Blackmore of Mad Crow Herbals.

Stop! Step away from those herbs…yes, I mean you. I know this is a blog for an herbal festival and so it is all about herbalism, but I just want to make the case for not taking herbs – at least every once and a while.

It is pretty easy to get in the habit of always incorporating all the wonderful plant friends into our daily lives – teas, tinctures, capsules, etc. But sometimes I think it is good to take a break from it all every now and then.

Too often, we tend to think of ourselves as static instead of dynamic. When in fact, we change from year to year, season to season, and even day to day as our world changes, our lives change and even the weather changes.

I find it helpful to take a break from time to time and see what is truly going on in the body. What changes have happened? Is there a new normal? Sometimes you can more profoundly recognize the effects of different herbs and what different combination are having on you when you aren’t taking them.

Herbal Kitty knows to take an herbal break once in a while…


Taking a break and then trying a new herb or re-visiting one that you never really connected with before can be a powerful experience. And one always worth exploring. You may find a new herbal best friend or re-visit a long lost one!  More importantly, you may learn something about yourself in the process.

One of the hazards of plant love is that we can begin to see the world through narrowed “herbal” colored glasses. Just like that old piece of wisdom, Maslow’s hammer – if all you do is hammer than everything looks like a nail. You can see yourself, family, friends and customers and clients no longer as full individuals but as nails requiring an herbal hammer.

I see it all the time on line in places like Facebook, when a simple observation about a momentary mood, event in day, physical ache, pain etc. – invokes a torrent of “herbal” fixes from my many online herbal friends.

I generally just smile, roll my eyes and think “bless their well-meaning hearts” but sometimes things just are and they pass. It is part of living life, impermanence and being.  Trying to “fix” things through herbs can be just as bad as the over-medicating that seems to be an epidemic in mainstream Western medicine.

Herbs: feel free to use and love them. Share that love with others.

But take a break from time to time to be not so attached. Then you can learn more about yourself and others while remembering to truly see people and be with them and not just see objects to be “herbaled.”

Just my own insane .02

Submitted by Nathaniel Putnam of Psymposia.

The divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food.
Hernan Cortes, 1528

The winter season is a time for hot cocoa and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, there is more to chocolate than just a sweet treat. Chocolate has many medicinal uses for the body and the mind, as a cardiac stimulant, an appetite suppressant, neurotransmitter enhancer, antioxidant and an aphrodisiac.

However, the experience that one gets from eating a Hershey’s mlik chocolate bar versus drinking a brew of raw cacao is truly different.

Raw cacao is the dried seeds of the tree Theobroma cacao. The seeds or “beans” are found in the cacao pod that falls from the tree when ripe. The beans are surrounded by a clear/white sweet pulp. This pulp can be eaten as a delicacy but that is a story for another time. The beans are scooped from the pod, and left to ferment and dry in the sun for a several weeks. This process changes the beans from a purple to brown color and the dried beans store better for trade and transport. Each pod contains about 20-50 beans, enough for 3-4 dark chocolate bars.

A Sweet History

The Swedish scientist, Carl von Linnaeus named the tree Theobroma cacao from the Greek words, “theo”, for god and “broma”, for food. The use of cacao dates back at least to 2,000 BCE and scholars have found drinking vessels from the pre-Mayan civilization, the Olmec, inscribed with “ka-ka-wa”.

The word “chocolate” was most likely a word coined by the Spanish during the early conquests so it became known as “xocolatl”, a combination of the Mayan word, xococ (sour, bitter) and the Aztec word, atl (water).  To the indigenous communities of Central and Latin America, the chocolate tree provided a cash crop that was used as currency, a tradition documented by Columbus and his crew.



One cacao bean could be used to purchase a large tomato or a freshly picked avocado, 100 beans could get you a turkey and 30 would by you a small rabbit.

Powdered cacao beans are still used as a drink in modern Central America but the taste is different from the Dutch cocoa that you are used to buying at most grocery stores. The Dutch cocoa is processed using a method patented in 1828 by the chemist Coenaraad Johannes Van Houten in his search to make a new low fat powder.  The powder is the pulverized form of a pressed cake that Van Houten made by squeezing the oils (fat) from the dried cacao beans. In order for his powder to mix well with water, Van Houten treated the powder with alkaline salts like potassium or sodium carbonates, a process known as “Dutching”. Most hot cocoa mix is often a combination of the bitter cacao bean powder mixed with refined sugar.

The first chocolate bar was produced in 1879 by a Swiss chemist, Henri Nestle and Swiss candle-maker turned chocolatier, Daniel Peters. Nestle figured out the process for removing the water from milk to create a powdered form and Peters then added it to his chocolate. The bar was first marketed under the Peter’s/Cailler brand and later merged with Nestle in 1929.

Chocolate in your Body

Cacao bean powder contains over 50 chemical compounds, including epicatechins, histamine, magnesium, polyphenols, theobromine, and vitamin C. Of the all the phytochemicals in cacao, the antioxidants, theobromine and caffeine are the most abundant, about 1-3% by dried weight.

A diet high in antioxidants is important for cleaning up free radical oxygen molecules that have been shown to damage DNA, promote premature aging, and contribute to an increase risk for heart disease and cancer. Dark chocolate contains more antioxidants, per gram, than fresh blueberries, blackberries and raspberries combined. The additions of sugar and dairy products lower the absorption of the antioxidants in the cacao bean so mix your cacao powder with water or a plant-based milk, like coconut, almond or hemp.

Theobromine is a chemical found in about 19 species worldwide including plants like coffee, tea, yerba mate and kola nut. Theobromine stimulates the central nervous system, relaxes smooth muscles, dilates blood vessels and is a mild diuretic. The amount of caffeine in chocolate is small compared to coffee or tea. A 50 gram chocolate bar contains about 10-60 milligrams of caffeine whereas a cup of coffee has about 175 milligrams and a cup of tea varies from 25-100 milligrams. Themobromine and caffeine are more active when the cacao beans have been cooked or roasted and not in the raw nibs form.

Chocolate on the Brain

Cacao contains three psychoactive chemicals; anandamide, phenylethylamine, and tryptophan. Anandamide is known as the “bliss chemical”. It reacts on the same receptor as the THC molecule found in the cannabis plant but the effect is less powerful. High levels of anadamide can also be experienced as the great feelings of happiness that one gets after vigorous exercise, known as the “runner’s high”. Cacao also contains two anadamine inhibitors. These molecules slow the metabolism of anadamide and allow the feeling of well-being to stick around with us a little longer.

Phenylethylamine (PEA) has been marketed as the “love chemical”. Chocolate can contain up to 2.2%. While scientific research has yet to confirm a direct “love” connection, PEA levels are higher in the brain when we fall in love, become sexually aroused and peak during an orgasm. PEA levels are lower in those suffering from depression. PEA increases the levels of dopamine and norepinepherine and affects mental concentration, positive attitude and joy.

Tryptophan is an amino acid that aids in the production of seretonin. Cacao powder contains about 0.2%-0.5%. Tryptophan reacts in combination with vitamin B3, vitamin B6 and magnesium (also found in cacao) to form seretonin. Trytophan helps produce other neurotransmitters, like melatonin that promote sleep. Trytophan is heat sensitive, however, so eating raw cacao beans is best way to increase these animo acid levels.

Cacao drinks are a major component of Central American shamanism and often in combination with ayahuasa, psilocybe mushrooms, cannabis and some species from the Leguminosae family.

Recipes (adapted from Naked Chocolate by David Wolfe):

In searching for cacao at the supermarket, there are few things to keep in mind:

• While whole cacao beans are the best, they can be expensive and hard to find.
• You are more likely going to find them in the form of raw cacao nibs or as a chocolate bar.
• A chocolate bar should be at least 70% cacao, dairy free, and certified Fair Trade organic.
• Packaging that is labeled “Single Origin”, “Single Estate” or “Single Variety” will allow you to compare the different variations in texture, flavor, and color that the chocolate tree has to offer.

Hot Chocolate
(makes about 4 cups)
2 cups of almonds, soaked overnight
1/2 liter of water
4 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (nibs or beans)
2 tablespoon of raw agave nectar

Blend half the water with the almonds. Pulverize and strain out liquids into another container. Put pulverized almonds back into blender and add remaining water. Blend and strain again. Combine about 1 pint strained almond milk with raw cacao powder and agave syrup. Add hot water for desired temperature, whisk and serve.

Dark Chocolate Sauce
4 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (nibs or beans)
3 tablespoon of raw agave nectar
½ tablespoon coconut oil

Mix all ingredients until blended. Add more agave for a syrup or coconut oil for a creamier texture.

Chocolate Fudge
(about 30-40 pieces)
1 cup of pitted dates, soaked in 1.5 cups of water for 1-2 hours
1 vanilla bean
2.5 cups of almonds
2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (nibs or beans)
½ cup of dried shredded coconut

Process all ingredients, including soak water in a food processor until smooth. Press into square pan lined with waxed paper. Freeze for two hours. Remove from freezer and slice into 1-2 inch pieces and place in freezer for at least another hour before serving.

Submitted by Henry Kesner of Herbstalk.

In my previous post I reviewed the golden rule of living with an herbalist, “Don’t touch my herbs before asking.” In this lesson on herbal life I had mentioned that what I mistakenly removed from the stove top was ultimately deposited in our kitchen compost container. As most of us are aware, composting has increasingly become part of our urban culture here in the US (and of course has been a natural part of farms, villages and rural life for generations). It is an excellent way to return nutrient rich organic scraps and material back to the soil and jump start our gardens and landscapes for the growing season.

Ever since moving to the city I have composted. The process is simple enough. I keep a small container near the kitchen sink and empty all of my organic food scraps, egg shells and other compostables into it. When the container filled up every few days or so I would carry it outside and deposit the material into a large garden composting bin outside.

As you can imagine, the space of an urban garden in the Boston area is limited and there is only so much one can do with their compost during a given season. Despite space restrictions, I had the process down to an art…no, a science.

Over the course of my city-hood experience I had established the perfect ratio of organic food consumption to rate of backyard compost decomposition. Each time I filled my sink-side container, the outdoor bin had been churned and ready to welcome additional material. By the time spring and summer passed I had the compost churned into a perfect mix that was ready to be spread into my garden beds before winter, thus prepping the space for the following season. It was a thing of beauty.

This was until the herbalist moved in. That once to twice a week trip to the outdoor compost bin quickly turned into a daily (sometime hourly!) ritual as I was carting out bucket by bucket-load of wet, dry, pressed, and chopped plant parts. One compost bin became two and the outdoor container filled beyond any semblance of peace and balance. It had exploded into a cornucopia of exhausted herbs. My perfect compost routine was thwarted and no longer was I able to keep pace with the herbalists’ herb scraps.



But there is a happy ending to my tragic tale. The pounds and pounds of herbal teas and coffees and plant parts not only added a lovely, masking aroma to the compost heap but quickly turned the matter into rich soil that a true farmer could only dream of. By spring the compost developed its best consistency to date (minus a few rogue avocado pits…stop that please!) and the resulting mix helped produce my/our most vibrant backyard urban garden to date. Guess those herbs had some life left in them after-all.

As a takeaway, by living with an herbalist not only will your compost pile grow, so will the beauty and complexity of your garden. Just buy/make a few more bins to handle the volume. You are going to need it…

Submitted by Felix Lufkin.

Yucca is a perennial herb of the agave family.  It is native to the American Southwest and Central America. It can tolerate low temperatures and prefers well drained, sunny, sandy sites. Because it was a staple edible and of its utility, yucca was a very important plant to the human societies who shared its range. For those of us who live in the northeast, it could play a more important role in our lives, if we only got to know it a little better.

Yucca has a number of lily-like bladed, fibrous leaves, and a central flower stalk which can grow to 6′ or more. Its flowers are white, sweet smelling, and fruit to green, 3-sectioned pods full of small disk shaped, crinkly and flat black seeds. The fruits dry to a papery brown husk.

All of its body parts are exceptionally useful to humans.

Yucca root


Its taproot, which looks like burdock, but fatter — is brown and smooth. In its native range it grows to a large size and is a prized starchy root veggie. Here in the north, where it grows more slowly, we probably shouldn’t eat its root unless we have a lot of it. The root is rich like a potato, good boiled, fried, or both. The root’s saponins (broken down by slow cooking) can be made into soap or anti-dandruff shampoo.

Its leaves can be made into very strong rope. Some varieties, like ‘Adam’s needle’, have a sharp tip which can be peeled down the leaf, yielding a needle with a string already attached. Cut the leaves close to their base with a knife (just try to rip them!). Pound them between non-abrasive smooth rocks or rolling pins, until the green leafy part breaks away showing the paler fibers inside. Rinse this out periodically until you just have the fibers. Now twist as you would milkweed or anything else. You can also weave the split leaves into mats. Here’s a video on how to make cordage out of agave.

fire-starting hand drill kit


The stalks are one of the best materials for friction fires. Ever wanted to start a fire by rubbing sticks together? It is totally do-able, empowering, and straightforward! Yucca will be the easiest plant to try with. The stalks are green and flexible. When they dry to a brownish grey, cut or crack them off at the bottom. Cut as long of a straight piece as you can, and cut the lower, thicker end straight across. Cut off any side twigs that are sticking off and try to smoothen it up a bit as you’ll be rubbing this between your hands. This stalk can be used for a hand drill – try to get one as least as long as you arm. Shorter, hotdog sized stalks are good for bow-drill spindles, and once those get short, you can use the plugs for pump drills. Since yucca coals ignite at ~400 degrees lower than other woods they are much more generous for friction fires!Here’s a video about how to do this.

The flower is an edible vegetable, though bitter to some. It can be blended into soapy water for cleaning or shampoo. The fruits can be peeled and baked for a vegetable. The seeds, gathered from the fruits, were once soaked, sprouted, and cooked as protein rich gruel by natives. We can do this too.

Yucca is a great perennial, multi-function nectary addition to a garden, and is commonly planted in parks, graveyards and lawns. It slowly spreads. Because of its deep root, yucca can be hard to transplant unless you get deep under it with a spade. Keep your eyes peeled for it, and see if you can get to know it better by trying these skills.

References:

Plants for a Future database

Wikipedia.com: Yucca angustifolium

Submitted by Jenny Hauf of Allandale Farm.

We’ve arrived at a point in human history where the majority of us live in cities.  It can be easy, especially in this monochromatic season of winter, to see our metropolitan setting for only the breathless materials that surround us: asphalt, mortar, aluminum and brick. This environment, seemingly devoid of life, can threaten to overwhelm us. However, if we adjust our perception it gradually becomes apparent that fecund tenacity bursts everywhere within our cities. That exuberance presents itself in wild plants and animals, and also through the caring hands of the world’s millions of urban gardeners.

This article is the first in a series aimed at helping the city dweller create and nurture an herb garden; one’s own temple of living urban beauty. Be it in a crate on the fire escape or in beds of geometric symmetry in the backyard, the healing powers of herbs transform ourselves and our environment.



The idea of urban gardening can appear restrictive. However, cosmopolitan gardens have proven to be ideal palettes for botanical beauty and creativity. I heartily believe that everyone can have an herb garden. If you are interested in growing your own there are some simple steps you can take now to prepare for the glories of spring planting.

First, consider the space available to you in which to grow your herbs. You’ll either be growing your garden in the earth or in containers—old bathtubs, wooden pallets, clay pots, et cetera. If you’re hoping to grow plants in the ground take a survey of your site’s soil. The best way to do this is to take a sample during a thaw and send it to a lab. (My Boston soil is tested at UMass.) Soil testing is especially important in urban areas due to the presence of lead and other contaminants. It is also useful for understanding the chemical, elemental, and organic makeup of your garden, and for determining your soil pH. (Most herbs will grow well in pH levels between 6.5 and 7.) For more information on healthy soil for growing herbs, click here.

Next, consider how your garden is lit. Is it sunny? And if it is now, in February, will it remain so in July? Take into account surrounding trees (which will eventually leaf out), buildings, and anything else that may keep the sun from reaching your garden. Remember that the slant of the sun changes throughout the seasons, and also note the direction that your garden faces; if an oak is at its north end but the garden is free from obstructions in the south, the location should do just fine. Most herbs like to grow in “full sun,” which is defined as at least six hours of direct sunlight. However, if you do not have sunny areas to work with don’t fret—there are herbs that will grow well in partial and even full shade.



Lastly, you’ll want to start dreaming and scheming about what it is that you’d like to grow. We’ll dive deeper into this subject next time, but for now consider what you’re hoping to get out of your plantings: teas? Salves? Culinary seasonings? Acquaint yourself with your growing zone, which generally dictates what you can grow naturally out-of-doors. Pour over seed catalogues like Horizon and research different types of herbal and urban gardens (many of which I’ve collected on here). And go to the library! Some great books to look up are:

Homegrown Herbs: A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and Enjoying More than 100 Herbs

McGee & Stuckey’s Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers

Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting.

See you next month—four weeks closer to spring!