JohnsBlog

Can Bamboo Save the Planet?

This was the title CNN gave this video. Not only a great story, but it's wonderful to see it on mainstream media...

What we have up our green sleeves in 2009...

It really doesn't feel like New Years. The days are still long and we are still in winter. In earlier human times in some cultures, the new year started at the first signs of Spring. Which makes sense, being that is really the "new year." Our natural rhythms are such that we start to get inspired, creative and have the energy to get things going when the energy of Spring starts to emerge.

So, if you still feel like curling up in a cave and sleeping, don't feel bad. It's ok to start those News Years resolutions in February, or whenever the very first signs of Spring emerge in your area. The Gaelic peoples celebrated this on February 2, and called it Imbolc. If someone gives you a hard time for not starting your resolutions right away, tell them John said it was ok.

Yes, I have been real quiet on HerbMentor this last month or so. It was a very busy Holiday Season with more behind the scenes tech problems and snafus that I ever could of predicted. Naturally, many of these tech glitches have followed me into 2009. One of which is that anyone who renewed their accounts in the last 2 months is actually not paying. OOPS! We're working on that. It was just discovered yesterday. We are working on that one.

So, for me, 2008 was about automating many systems so I could spend more time in the field and in the garden, which is what I need to do to keep things flowing herbally on this site. Thanks to Rosalee who has picked up a lot of the slack for me the last quarter. The good news is that by February, I will be doing more of just that. Less tech headaches, and more time in the field... I hope! :)

So, what will 2009 bring for HerbMentor? During these darker days, a time of refection, we have been busy making outlines and flowcharts to figure that out. Then, in February, as Spring emerges, you will see us implement some of these ideas.

At the center of planning was the whole issue of creating a more intensive study group. While I think this is a great idea for those who want to do that, I have identified a gaping hole in HerbMentor that needs filling.

First of all, for those who want a more intensive experience, the reality is that you already have that available to you. Are you filling out the monthly Home Study Guides? Have you completed the entire Village Herbalist Series? Have you completed Kamana 2,3 and 4 plants sections? In other words, if you make up a binder like Rosalee illustrated in the Home Study Guide section, and do all the courses on this site, that should keep you pretty dang busy and learning quite a bit.

Also, if you have done a lot of this, we will be starting the intermediate series with Heather in the Spring as well. It will most likely be like 10 parts, and a similar format to the Village Herbalist Series.

So, what is the gaping hole?

The beginning. When one enters HerbMentor from completing the Herbal Medicine Making Kit, the are encouraged to start the home study guide system. Whereas this CAN work, and is a valid course of action, it is almost too big of a leap. Some folks are not quite continuing their studies.

So, what Kimberly and I are working on is an herbal skills foundations series. It will be a dozen or so lessons with text/photos and video showing the most basic herbal skills. It will be designed to use dried herbs so a beginner does not have to go out and harvest quite yet, AND so someone can do the lessons any time of the year.

It will be as if you were continuing the Herbal Medicine Making Kit, but had to purchase your own dried herbs. In the future, the Kit may change to include some of these lessons, but that would not happen until 2010.

Soon, someone can finish their Kit, and move directly into HerbMentor to continue their lessons. They can also choose to start the Home Study Guide system at the same time or when they have completed the beginner series.

Though Village Herbalist is an amazing course, I really think it will make more sense to beginners after they had some previous exposure to making some remedies and recipes.

New members in the near future will still have the option of starting wherever they want and using HerbMentor however they want. However, now, folks new to making herbal remedies will have a much friendlier and simpler place to begin.

Here is the 2009 HerbMentor plan we have come up with.

Herbal Basics with John & Kimberly...
(in no particular order yet)

• Syrups
• Honeys
• Vinegars
• Liniments
• Lip Balm
• Poultice/compress/fomentation
• Bath salts
• Decoctions
• Tea blending
• Lozenges/pills (not capsules)
• Soup herbs
• Herbal steams
• Root beer
• Tooth powder/mouthwash
• Basic First Aid Kit

(These will be the basics,and I am sure we'll do more as well. You'll just see other videos inthe Herbal Skills video area.)

NOTE!!! If you are REALLY wanting to learn the above skills now, you can find most of these already in the video or HerbMentor News sections. We are just going to make it all more novice friendly, and more uniform in design.

Thinking Like an Herbalist, a new 10 part intermediate series with Heather from the Village Herbalist

Anatomy & Physiology Basics with Rosalee. Rosalee will be writing basic A&P articles (with illustrations) on what us lay/family herbalists need to know about our bodies.

Herb TV with Dave Lucerne begins. This will be in the Herbal Columns section. Dave will feature a new 30 minute episode every month or so.

*Of course, the Herb of the Month, the Home Study Guide, the Forum, HerbMentor Radio, etc... continues as it has from the beginning.

HerbTalk Live with John and Rosalee WILL continue, but will do so as bi-monthly. We seem to get more people involved than when we had it monthly. The form of this may still change in the future, but for now we'll keep it as we had it.

Herbs of the Month in 2009:

• February: Oats, oat straw
• March: Horsetail
• April: Plantain
• May: Lambs Quarter
• June: St. Johnswort
• July: Chamomile
• August: Mullein
• September: Yellow dock
• October: Valerian
• November: Hawthorn (berries)
• December: Rosemary

Though it may be some time before we figure out how to make a more official & optional guided course on HerbMentor, we have plenty to work on meanwhile. If this sort of thing interests you, I would just make sure you were completing the Home Study Guide every month, working on Kamana plants, and the Village Herbalist. I am sure these things will come into play should we organize something more formal in the future. And of course, if you are chomping at the bit for more, Thinking Like an Herbalist is around the corner.

Also, I have LOTS of other course and mini-course ideas. I have had wonderful offers from herbalists, etc... However, I think I really need to keep it simple and focused for the time being so we can actually be productive. My goal for 2009 is to be able to improve this site WHILE I am learning about and using herbs personally. So, in order to do that, I need to work on only a few new things at a time. :)

OH YEAH!! I FORGOT THE MYSTERY PRODUCT!!!

Rosalee and I are working on a mystery product. All I can say is that it is really cool, and HerbMentor members will be able to purchase it for our raw costs and shipping costs. In other words, it will be GIFT to you.. BUT we will need you to cover JUST the hard costs so we do not go bankrupt. No worries, it'll be under $10 and you're going to love it.

OK!

It's been so long since I posted, I felt this was long overdue. However, the feeling of hibernation within me was too great. Still is. Especailly after an arduous (and rewarding) Holiday Season. No worries though, we will continue to add content to the site as you have been accustomed to. I just wanted to fill you in on the new plans for 2009.

It's all very exciting!

Thanks SO much for being a member of HerbMentor.com. Kimberly, Rosalee and I are looking forward to another wonderful year of herbs!

-John

The fun before the storm

A little sledding before the big storm!

Nearly had dinner with 7Song

Rosalee and I are at the American Herbalist Guild Conference in Redmond. It's actually at the Marriott at the local mall. It's kind of weird. It's like, these people are like rock stars to all us herbalists...and they're at my local mall.

7Song (at 7Song.com) is an amazing herbalist I met at a gathering years ago. His specialty is herbal first aid. He used to be the herbal first aid guy at the Rainbow Gatherings, regularly goes to protests to help people, runs the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, and runs a free herbal clinic in the area.

Last night there were a couple free spaces at our table, and he and another herbalist came to sit down. We were JUST about to order, when the fire alarm for the entire mall went off. He and Michael Tierra were the first to exit the restaurant, and we all followed. As the fire trucks arrived, Rosalee and I opted to drive to Whole Foods for the buffet.

SO...we NEARLY had dinner with him. :)

So far I have taken classes with 7Song, Michael Tierra and Chistopher Hopps. Between them and MANY more amazing herbalists and authors, I have HerbMentor Radio guests for the next year. Everyone here is so gracious and giving of their time.

Our booth for selling Wildcraft is right next to Paul Bergner, who is an author of many books and is director of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism. On my right is Dave from HerbTV. He has AMAZING DVD's. I bought like a stack of 10 dvd's, which was most of my profits from selling the games yesterday. :) Sorry...can't help it.

BUT! Dave from HerbTV wants a column on HerbMentor. SO SOON...you will see half hour episodes from his longer DVD's RIGHT HERE on HerbMentor.com! This is REAALLLY exciting news.

So, expect interviews from Paul Bergner, Christopher Hobbs, 7Song, Aviva Rhomm (who wrote my FAVORITE herbal for parent treating kids), Robin DiPasqualle and many more amazing folks.

The first aid class I took with 7Song was excellent. So, I will focus on this stuff when I interview him. I want to make sure you hear his main points he made. He has this 22 pound herbal first aid kit filled with tinctures and supplies. It is very inspiring.

Here is a photo of one of it's 3 or 4 sections of his custom made backpack...

One really cool thing he taught was in first aid, think of CATAGORIES, rather than herbs. So, if you need to repair tissue and need an astringent herb, don;t be stuck on Oak for example. ANY woody plant growing outside has astringent qualities. So, learning about the qualities, and what types of plants have what you need... then you can find first aid herbs growing at your feet wherever you are.

After two days of this conference stuff, I am pretty tired. I'm mostly hanging at the booth. Tomorrow there are two classes I want to take... one on herbal demulcents, and the other by Christopher Hobbs on botany. I want to have him on the show to talk about this stuff. It's very useful for herbalists. In the meantime, if you want to learn botany skills, start the Kamana Plants sections, which you can do on this site.

More later!

-John

Yeah for the Drug Companies!

Well, at least they said something that can help kids. That is that no cold medicines should be used on kids under 4. Of course, most of us on this site would not do that anyway let alone use cold medicines at all, BUT it's good to be in touch with the conventional wisdom when communicating to others. It gives you an "in" to offer advice on using gentle herbs for them, such as the ones we cover in the Village Herbalist episode on herbs and children.

I think the main reason I was happy to see this was because someone recently told me that it is common these days for parents to give kids Benadryl to help them sleep. While it is more mainstream for people to give their kids this when in situations such as on airplanes, there are others who use it regularly. That REALLY alarmed me. Really? Do you know people who do this for real?

I'll post the article below. However, the thing that caught my attention was the very end of the article that said..

Colds usually clear up by themselves after a few days, and many doctors say rest and drinking plenty of fluids are all that's needed.

If that's so, I wonder if that works for adults too..... Hmmm.... Could adults be wasting billions of dollars too?

Well, in any case it is "A huge step forward," as a doctor in this article says.

I just wonder how Wal-Mart will protest.

Here ya go....

Drug companies: No cold medicines for kids under 4

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR – 59 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) —

Children under 4 should not be given over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, drug companies said Tuesday in a concession to pediatricians who doubt the drugs do much good and worry about risks.

The voluntary change in advice to parents comes less than a week after federal health officials said they also saw little evidence that the drugs work. But government officials were afraid that taking the medicines off store shelves might prompt parents to give their children adult medicines.

The drug makers said they will also add a warning that parents should not give antihistamines to children to make them sleepy. These are allergy-relief medications often found in medicines that combine several ingredients to treat a variety of symptoms.

The new measures "reflect industry's overall commitment to the continued safe and appropriate use of children's oral OTC cough and cold medicines," Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, said in announcing the changes on behalf of the companies.

"We are doing this voluntarily out of an abundance of caution," she added. The new instructions will appear on products distributed for the coming cold season. Last year, the companies pulled medicines for babies and tots under 2 from the market.

Pediatricians, who have been calling for a ban on OTC cough and cold remedies for children under 6, welcomed the industry's latest shift.

"It's a huge step forward," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner. "There is no evidence that these products work in kids, and there is definitely evidence of serious side effects."

Problems with OTC cough and cold medicines send some 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year, with symptoms including hives, drowsiness and unsteady walking. Many kids overdose by taking medicines when their parents aren't looking.

Since a majority of the problems involve 2- to 3-year-olds, the industry's new instructions, if followed by parents, should help.

"The 2- and 3-year-olds are definitely the highest risk," said Sharfstein. "More than 50 percent of the problem is with these kids. "If they don't have this stuff around the home, they're less likely to grab it and ingest it."

Pediatricians still support recalling the medicines for children under 6, and the Food and Drug Administration is studying their effectiveness for children under 12. But federal health officials said at a public hearing last week that it could take them a year or more to make a final decision and order changes.

Leading cough and cold brands include Dimetapp, Pediacare, Robitussin, Triaminic, Little Colds and versions of Tylenol that have ingredients to treat cold symptoms. U.S. families spend at least $287 million a year on cold remedies for kids, according to Nielsen Co. statistics that do not include Wal-Mart sales.

The industry also said it is expanding an educational campaign aimed at getting parents to be more careful about giving their kids cough and cold medicines.
Parents should never:

_Give adult medicines to a child.
_Give two or more medicines with the same ingredients at the same time.
_Give antihistamines to make a child sleepy.
Parents should:
_Give the exact recommended dose, using the measuring device that comes with the medicine.
_Keep OTC medicines out of sight and out of reach.
_Consult their doctor if they have any questions.
Colds usually clear up by themselves after a few days, and many doctors say rest and drinking plenty of fluids are all that's needed.

Water everywhere!

Rowan put together this display to show folks at the local Farmer's Market their water source. Kimberly organized his Homeschool curiculum around water this year. Rowan made the marbleshoot to demonstrate how our water is processed in our town's new water treatment plant.

Finally! I'm stacked!

That was a lot of choppin'. This should do it for the winter. I think I need st. Johnswort oil so I am not completely sore in the morning.

A Summer of Reunion & HerbMentor Expands

Greetings all!

I first wanted to thank so many of you for your support and patience while I took a little rest over the last few weeks.

It's been quite an interesting summer. For me it's been less about herbal relationships and more about rekindling human relationships. In July we took a trip to the East Coast. The kids got to have loads of quality time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Hailey got to meet all those aunts, uncles and cousins for the VERY first time.

There was a 20 year high school gathering my old buddies had in Jersey. Nearly the entire group of guys from that era of my life were there. However, there were more kids there than old friends. It was fun watching all of our kids playing together. While in Jersey, I got to show my family my hometown, eat REAL pizza, and even caught a Springsteen show with a few of my closest friends of nearly 24 years.

Finally, last weekend, Wilderness Awareness School had its 25th Anniversary Celebration and Reunion. Being I have been there for 18 years, there were faces I have not scene in a very long time. It was great not only to see all those wonderful people, but also reconnect with just why the heck I do what I do in the first place.

Sometimes when you look back at where you came from, it can be easier to see where you're going. I guess I lost site of the dozens of people that I call my family. Every one of them are amazing people, all with their own gifts and strengths. I absorbed a little from every friend I spend a part of my life with. So, when you see me, you see a reflection of all the people that touched my life. I guess it would be impossible to reconnect with EVERY person who mentored or influenced me, but I would say this summer I gained a lot of strength by hanging out with those that I did get to spend time with.

I think it was all of this that threw me off a little when I returned home. I spent most of August pretty disoriented, but this last weekend was like hitting the Return Key for me. It sent the message home. And what's pretty cool about that is that we are in Late Summer. In Chinese Medicine, this is the Earth Element. It's all about home, where you came from, and getting grounded.

I am now starting a two month project for Wilderness Awareness School. They wrote a book that is coming out next month. I have the privilege of doing the Internet launch. Though this is a new project with new technology, it connects me to my roots with the school, especially since the book is all about its teachings. So, in a way, this is a project where I get to do what I have done all along... help people connect with nature.

AND... this is of course what I do here on HerbMentor.com as well. So, what's this "expanding" I mention in the title of this entry?

If you take a look on the site today, we have added a new Herbal Column for Rosalee. Not only does she have THE article that everyone has been waiting for on chemistry, she has been learning to make videos! I posted a few today, and there are many more to come. These are GOLD. I am really excited about them.

Though I will be working on this book launch big time this month, I really see this project to be the exact same project as HerbMentor. It's all about helping people connect with nature for the benefit of the future generations.

So, when was the last time you reconnected with your past? How does this connect with your path for the future?

Blueberries!

We're picking at a blueberry farm in North Bend. Mr. Si is is the background. One of the coolest local places to pick. Let the
harvest season begin! Ok... Better get back to picking. Kimberly is catching up to me.

What?!? It's Friday?!?

Have you every gotten thrown off by missing that hour on Daylight Savings time day? I was reading the news on Google today when I noticed that things in the world seemed to be happening on Friday. I REALLLLY thought it was Thursday! Yikes!

Have you ever planned a vacation, and more or less had everything planned up to the point of the vacation, but nothing planned after? It doesn't even have to be a vacation. It could be a deadline of a project or a holiday. We work really hard to meet the goal of getting to a particular day. THEN the inevitable happens... the NEXT "day after!"

Now, this has been amplified by a thousand in my case. In June 2007 I started working on HerbMentor and more or less have not taken a day off since then. Those of you who have received customer service emails back from me on Sundays can attest to that.

A few weeks back we went on our first family vacation since May 2007. It was a fabulous time. A funny thing happened on this trip that has NEVER happened before in the 9 years we have been parents. We got to RELAX!!! REALLY... We have no grandparents living near us. Affording babysitting is still a challenge for us. Heck, before this trip we had not gone a date since last November.

We visited my parents, my brother's house, old friends in Jersey AND my father-in-law in Philadelphia (I also have a brother there). In 2 weeks (from the kids perspective), we visited 4 grandparents,  2 aunts, 4 uncles, 7 cousins and loads of my old buddy's kids (at a 20 year reunion). So, this was some serious family time for the kids.

Here's a couple of shots with 7 of their cousins (first time Hailey has met them.)

We found ourselves actually relaxing. WOW! Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...to actually PLAY with the kids and give us some time to take a nap. Once set of grandparents actually took them for an evening so we could go on a date! THIS was a first and greatly appreciated. It actually crossed my mind to move back there. Well, it was a fleeting thought.

So...well.... though I brought my laptop, I found myself with absolutely NO will to work. Kimberly explained that this was not a permanent condition, but a result of not stopping in 9 years. 

Have I gotten back in the groove?

NOT YET! It's been like 5 days and I am still moving at a snail's pace. It sure is a good thing I pre-programmed the site to be on auto-pilot for 3 weeks. And of course, THANKS to Rosalee and all ye regulars for keeping an eye on things for us!

The good news is that I am starting to get some motivation and inspiration back. I had a  talk with Rosalee yesterday and we have some great things in the works. 

I don't think I am going to have any of the big changes I wanted done any time soon. Most likely, any change in the learning system will start in January. I want to carefully work on some new ideas and learning tools. I'd rather do it right than hurry. There is no rush anyway. Most of y'all seem to be coming along ok. If you simply stick with the Herb of the Month and Home Study Guide system, you're golden.

What I have to do sooner than later is a host of new videos. I have lots recorded I need to edit. I have a few to produce as well. All that is more or less first on the list.

It's also August, which means MAJOR project month...peaches, pickles, wine, etc... So we have lots to do and record on tape for future videos.

Another project that I am personally working on is the launch of a new book by Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School on mentoring in nature. This will take a chunk of my time, yet this is something I just have to do. This is an important book that MUST get out there. You can be sure I'll be hyping it up to y'all when the time comes.

Hang tight...

The good news is that HerbMentor has been flowing along just nicely while I have been on this extended vacation.

The better news is that I am slowly getting up to speed and am very excited about this next year.

Thanks SO much for being a member of HerbMentor.com. AND I thank you for allowing me a little break.

-John