Hunting for Treasure Tea

The best way to learn about herbs, especially wild plants, is to get outside and look around as often as possible. I know it sounds simplistic, but as a friend says to me 'the secret to writing is writing.' I feel the same about herbcraft. Honing your gathering skills is an integral part of herbcrafting and it is only done by getting in the field or garden whenever you can. Since I almost always have the kids in tow, I try to make a game of it. So once a week or so, we go hunting for treasure tea. It's a great way to get everyone out of the house on that late Thursday afternoon that seems to scream for the weekend to come. We walk the same short path around our neighborhood and simply look around to see who shows up. In Phoenix, we used to do this in our garden as well.

Sometimes, it's not a whole lot, or maybe a whole lot of one thing, and not much of others. Sometimes, we find the bounty. But it teaches us, to watch the plants as they become ready, to see each of their stages as they bloom and grow. My girls have found the plants they love and are pretty good at identifying them and knowing if they're 'about to pop', as Sevi likes to say. So for them, it really does become a treasure hunt for their favorites. It's how we develop a relationship to the land and begin to see it as an ally. We can see ourselves reflected in the cycles of our green friends, and who we are drawn to for medicine. In the desert, this helped our vision become very keen and specific as treasures only bloomed for short periods of time. Here in the northwest, it helps our vision become focused, seeking out those elusive reds and whites among all the green.

Searching...

Sampling...

Stopping to Survey...

Countertop Drying...

Steeping...

Because this is more of a learning activity, we usually just quick dry the plants on a paper towel for a day or so and steep right in the cup when we're ready to drink them. You could always just steep them fresh and get immediate satisfaction, though the flavors get stronger after a few days. If you are unsure of plants in your area, you can take a camera along for a eye-candy tea and start identifying when you get home. The more you see something, the easier it will be to learn. But there's almost always something you can pick up on the way, like plantain or pine tips, or dandelions. Happy Hunting! If you go on a treasure tea walk, we'd love to see pictures and hear your stories!

Love and Besos, Latisha

Egg Cartons :: Drying Herbs :: And Preschool Sorting Games

One of the hardest things I anticipated needing to adjust to as an HerbMama moving from the dry dry desert to the wet wet PNW was how exactly to dry my herbs. I asked the collective braintrust at facebook. I scoured google for ideas. I even made a pinboard. Then, as do most of the genius ideas in this house, the neatest option was discovered by my four year old: egg cartons. But this simple and effective drying tool has become so much more.

We get our eggs from a friend so we're always conserving cartons to return back to them and I had set out a bunch on the table earlier that morning. The girls and I had gone for one of our treasure tea walks around the neighborhood and Sevi dumped out her goods on the table to get ready for a little plant identification memory game. She takes great pride in knowing her herbs. I busied myself around the kitchen, as she got ready.

Eventually, I settled down for the show and came to the table. It was fantastic. She had taken an egg carton and placed all her plants in the little buckets. Sorting each different one into their own place. It was a perfect herbmama/unschooling moment. There is probably something brilliant I could say here about how children learn and process naturally and all that. But she's growing up so fast, and these pure moments of childlike expression have become really precious to me. So, I really just wanted to notice it as what it was for her: play. And I'll leave it at that.

So now we have a few egg cartons, each painted and decorated with our names on them for our walkabouts with an extra one mama is just using for the generous chamomile. The herbs are drying up quite nicely in there and we can snap the lid shut so the plants don't fall out, like they often do in drying baskets. They also stack nicely so we save counter space.  After a few days to a week we put them up in little jars on their own. It's positively perfect. It works best of course for smaller flowers and bits, rather than leaves and large bunches and I'll share how we've been drying those in another post. But for our daily treasure hunts, it's just the right thing.

Love and Besos, Latisha

P.S. The wonderful folks at Poppy Swap were generous enough to interview me. Check it out to learn the secret to my herbal beginnings, if you haven't already.

Luna-Craft Ritual for Kiddos

Today is the Leo new moon! We are bursting with loads of new moon energy at Sunflower House lately. Here's a fun ritual to do with your wild bunch today that combines a bit of wishcraft and herbcraft molded into a gratitude practice. Yes friends, we might have just covered it all! ;)  We just introduced our 5 year old to vision boarding, well actually she saw ours and asked to make some of her own. I am absolutely thrilled to be sharing one of our favorite intention and goal setting tools with the children. They really love it, and it never even occurred to me to share with them!

In honor of the playful, joyful sun-child Leo, we'll put on a wish-mane and sing up what makes us happy to invite more of it in to our lives. Leo helps us remember the light that brings us unbridled joy.

Leo New Moon Luna-Craft

Ask the children gather up as many yellow flowers as they can find. Add some orange and whites, maybe some straw or dried grass to fill it out if you need/want to.

Cut the center out of a paper plate.

Have the children write or cut out words and images from a magazine and coloring books about the things that make them feel joy-FULL. Tape (we love double stick tape) or glue the words and images around the plate's remaining edge.

Then using whatever means necessary: Elmer's glue, hot glue gun, duct tape, double stick tape, poking holes and threading the stems through etc, add the flowers that were collected earlier on top of the words and images.

Poke a hole on both sides of the plate with a pencil and thread a string through so it will fit around the back of the child's head. You may need to double up your plate if the flowers are heavy. We intended to wear it like a lions mane but a fancy hat on top the head and a lei around your neck (this works great for the littles) proved to be much more practical and comfy.

Dance wildly to your favorite sunny songs wearing your flower mane. We'll be listening to Follow the Sun by Xavier Rudd. Make a joyful noise. Let your light radiate.

Love and Besos, Latisha