M Ljin

How would you prepare grasshoppers to eat, I wonder? When I was a child we took a net out and swept the meadows to look at insects.

I’ve occasionally used charcoal as toothpaste, but am more likely to use fine salt. I wouldn’t put wet ash on my skin. I never have been burnt much but always wash my hands or any part that touched it.

The alkalinity and causticity might be a good thing for the teeth because teeth are alkaline. When they shift to acid for too long they begin to dissolve.

In the olden days, some kinds of ash would be used as seasoning or medicine—coltsfoot ash for instance. Mugwort ash also tastes salty. (See https://permies.com/p/820729)

I would try some honey locust. Black locust is nice too, though honey locust also has delicious “honey” in the pods that can be eaten come fall. I’ve also been noticing how green the grass grows under the nearby honey locusts. Their leaves let in a lot of light, too, but so do black locust. Both would be good for growing other plants underneath, whether fruits, herbs and vegetables, etc. I’ve noticed milkweed and nettle, good fiber plants, also growing beneath black locust.

Knotweed is almost ubiquitous and teasel likes growing in pastures. They should be easy to find and harvest in many places.

I wonder if honeysuckle would be of any use—they’re in the same family as teasel and a tick bush, and as they say, the cure is close to the cause.

I’ve also thought about making herbal wines like they used to talk about in the old herb books, before distillation became popular. Native Americans in precolonial times mostly (generally speaking) either made a decoction or ate a plant for medicine and this is how I’ve prepared medicinal herbs so far.

My preferred herbs are mugwort, motherwort and carpet bugle—all of these have an excellent calming effect, but they all do so differently. Motherwort is grounding and strengthening. Mugwort helps to get one out of mental cycles that are unhelpful and back in touch with dreaming consciousness. Carpet bugle is very calming in a sleepy way.

Mugwort is the sort of plant that helps most of all if you’re up far too late and wondering when you’ll get to sleep.

Carol Brunson wrote:Hey there
               I have read that manasamitra vatakam is an effective natural supplement for sleep disorders.

A formula based on shankhpushpi, a member of the Convolvulus genus, related to Calystegia, wild morning glory or hedge bindweed. The latter I have found to be effective in small amounts for sleeping, but potent. And if you eat too much it causes intense diarrhea. Taken for too long, nausea. So be careful.

I use a fork to fork the mixture over onto the skillet, so it isn’t too runny. Usually a little egg/starch/juice runs off the sides and solidifies but not very much, and I can scrape it back. They are maybe a quarter to a third inch thick but I try to make them thinner so they cook better and aren’t so dense.

Glossy buckthorn berries are ripening!

Today I’ve had some toasted sunflower seeds out that I’ve been eating through the day. They’re a very energy dense food that is healthy (some would say not, but I get the impression they’re talking about rancid sunflower oil, not fresh toasted seeds.) They taste good too, and can be added to many dishes or taken out of the house for a snack while out walking or doing other things. My method is to stir the raw seeds in a skillet, cooking them on low heat until they become fragrant and begin to change color slightly.

They do! Although, the peach pits do need mulching here or they will freeze to death.