Another wonderful week has flown by. As reality sets that next week is our last, we’ve been making a point to soak up every single bit that we can. Shout out to Katey for a few pics from the show!
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| Medicinal and Edible arrangement for our Booth at Rising Appalachia's show |
Monday was a day that we were anticipating since we first arrived! Rising Appalachia’s concert in Columbus! After already planning on attending, we then got in touch with the band, in a roundabout way, and United Plant Savers was invited to be the featured non-profit organization at the show! It was a privilege to set up our booth next to Rising Appalachia’s merch table. We were able to reach lots of regional like minded folks and spread the word of UpS! Several people got our beautiful posters and stickers! The night was a huge hit, and we all had so much fun. Community outreach is a great way for United Plant Savers to represent itself and our mission. I hope I can be involved in similar events in the future!
Since we got back pretty late on Tuesday (the sanctuary in Rutland is about 2 hrs from Columbus), we had an easy going morning. That afternoon we had our 2nd class with Caty Crabb! This time we were given instruction on Intermediary Solvent Extraction (a really efficient way to make medicinal oil infusions), plus a full class on Adaptogens. Adaptogens are plants that help your body be more resistant to stress. Several of my best plant allies are considered Adaptogens, and a few are in some of my Linds Blends products. I am just so fond of them! Tulsi (Holy Basil), American Ginseng, Eleuthero (Siberian Ginseng), and Ashwagandha are a few examples of Adaptogens that you may have heard of. Caty is very knowledgeable and I respect the work she does in this community, and cherish any time we get with her! Tuesday afternoon, we went swimming in the pond of course. Ahhhh Life is good!
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| Tilling in the forest! |
Wednesday we were able to get some experience doing some raised beds in the forest, as we were instructed about previously. This was interesting work, and somewhat counterintuitive, because raised forest beds include weeding/transplanting any existing plant matter, and tilling up the forest floor. In the end I see the benefits, and experiments like these are especially necessary when doing conservation work. We tilled and planted several beds of black cohosh seeds, and we are curious how these do in the next year. Most of the seeds have already gone through stratification (cooling period of dormancy, like winter, that many seeds require in order to germinate), so there may even be some that come up before the fall. Hope we get updates on these projects in the future- good reason to come back! ;)
Our tour with Snowville Creamery took place on Thursday! This was a long awaited day and lived up to all the expatiations we had. John (of UpS) worked with Snowville and the dairy farm it’s located near for several years, so he knows all the ins and outs of the business. He explained that these dairy farms are on the New Zealand Model, which is grass grazed year long, in the summer they eat grass in the fields, in the winter they eat hay. No grains, and no GMO grasses. Snowville also recently started testing all milk they receive from dairies for the A2 Protein. From my understanding, A2 proteins are easier for humans to process and digest. Cows that carry A2 (rather than A1) are also somewhat of a purer bloodline, and have been around since before cows were domesticated. We were shown the pasteurization process, and all the ins and outs of making milk, yogurt, cream, and cream fraiche. Snowville is Non-Hommoginized, therefore it is not over heated or void of nutrients, and does not have as long as a shelf life as conventional brands. Luckily Snowville is shipped and delivered same day as processing. The beauty of buying local! We also got to do a tasting of some delicious cream on top yogurts, and a large goodie pack came back with us. Like all the industry I have been able to get a behind the scenes look at, the work that goes into getting your milk mustache on is surreal. Of course, I’ve always been pretty picky about my dairy, but I definitely have been spoiled with the good eats since I’ve been here. I am sure going to miss Snowville when I get back to Texas! Luckily, my co-op (turned retail shop)
Farm to Fork has a great supply of non-homogenized local dairy, which is pretty dang good too! When I get home I’m coming for ya-
Mill-King!
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| Ahhhh, Dairy! Can you smell it? |
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| Paul telling the Rosemary story |
The Maryland University of Integrative Health had their annual trip to Paul’s property this weekend. On Friday they came over to the sanctuary and got to have a hike here on our trails. We’ve spent several days with Paul, but never in the sanctuary’s woods, so it was great to hear some new stories and get his perspective on some of the spots we have gotten so acquainted with. I love hearing him tell the story of the valuable lesson he learned from Rosemary Gladstar in (what is now known as) Hydrastis Heaven, which is what inspired United Plant Savers and The Goldenseal Sanctuary to be founded. Hydrastis Heaven is one of the largest natural Goldenseal patches most herbalists have ever seen, and is located a short walk down the Medicine trail outside the yurt. Truly, the sanctuary itself is [Hydrastis] Heaven if you ask me. We also got some more insight on some of the logging that was done on this property of some of the old growth timber several decades ago- I can’t imagine how this forest looked just 60, let alone 300 years prior! The students from MUIH were great, and knowledgeable when it comes to clinical herbalism, so we were able to exchange some information and took advantage of their time here!
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| About to hit the Medicine Trail with Paul |
Saturday we went out to Parkersburg, WV for an Aromatherapy and Hydrosol class with Rebecca Wood! I’ve never been to West Virginia before and saw several historical sites, just while driving through. We had been collecting yarrow flowers for the last few days so that we could use them for the hydrosol demonstration! The awesome thing about yarrow (Achillea millefolium), is that it contains azulene, so the hydrosol and essential oil comes out the most beautiful deep blue color!!!
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| Seeing is believing! |
I have always wanted to participate in distillation, and so happy we got to use Yarrow in this process! Not only is it gorgeous, but yarrow Essential Oil and Hydrosol can be used as an anti-inflammatory on wounds and sun burns, and so much more! Big thanks to Rebecca Wood and Mother Earth Health food store for allowing us to participate!
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| Rebecca showing off her Yarrow Oil Tattoo. See the blue?! |
Next week we get to tour a nursery, build a floating dock for the pond, and start packing up. Here are some more photos from this passed week!
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| Rising Appalachia does not disappoint! |
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| Setup and ready for action! |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| Proud of our hard work! |
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Anywhere is convenient for a Deerkiller to nest
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| freshly filled and about to ship! |
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| Sample time!!! |
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| Blue Cohosh seeding |
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| Jacob's Ladder ready for seeds! |
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False Unicorn, or Devils Bit (Chamaelirium luteum)
Extremely rare and endangered |
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| Flowering Jewlweed! |
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| An old Black Cohosh's tall flower! |
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| Talking trees with Paul. |
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| Yarrow ready to be distilled! |
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| Yarrow distillation. Beautiful copper still and blue hydrosol! |
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| Is this real life? So Excited!! |
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| Participants getting their Yarrow hydrosol! |
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Butterfly pollinating Valerian, taken from yurt window
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The sun just came out and the forest is calling me! Until next time!
Peace, love, and plants,
-Linds
Monday was a day that we were anticipating since we first arrived! Rising Appalachia’s concert in Columbus! After already planning on attending, we then got in touch with the band, in a roundabout way, and United Plant Savers was invited to be the featured non-profit organization at the show! It was a privilege to set up our booth next to Rising Appalachia’s merch table. We were able to reach lots of regional like minded folks and spread the word of UpS! Several people got our beautiful posters and stickers! The night was a huge hit, and we all had so much fun. Community outreach is a great way for United Plant Savers to represent itself and our mission. I hope I can be involved in similar events in the future! 
Our tour with Snowville Creamery took place on Thursday! This was a long awaited day and lived up to all the expatiations we had. John (of UpS) worked with Snowville and the dairy farm it’s located near for several years, so he knows all the ins and outs of the business. He explained that these dairy farms are on the New Zealand Model, which is grass grazed year long, in the summer they eat grass in the fields, in the winter they eat hay. No grains, and no GMO grasses. Snowville also recently started testing all milk they receive from dairies for the A2 Protein. From my understanding, A2 proteins are easier for humans to process and digest. Cows that carry A2 (rather than A1) are also somewhat of a purer bloodline, and have been around since before cows were domesticated. We were shown the pasteurization process, and all the ins and outs of making milk, yogurt, cream, and cream fraiche. Snowville is Non-Hommoginized, therefore it is not over heated or void of nutrients, and does not have as long as a shelf life as conventional brands. Luckily Snowville is shipped and delivered same day as processing. The beauty of buying local! We also got to do a tasting of some delicious cream on top yogurts, and a large goodie pack came back with us. Like all the industry I have been able to get a behind the scenes look at, the work that goes into getting your milk mustache on is surreal. Of course, I’ve always been pretty picky about my dairy, but I definitely have been spoiled with the good eats since I’ve been here. I am sure going to miss Snowville when I get back to Texas! Luckily, my co-op (turned retail shop) Farm to Fork has a great supply of non-homogenized local dairy, which is pretty dang good too! When I get home I’m coming for ya- Mill-King! 
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