Herbal medicine and food workshop with Susun Weed!

The Peaceful Gardener
A hands-on herbal medicine and food workshop
with Susun Weed
July 17,18, 19th 2009,
at Pollination Project, Baker Settlement, NS

Acclaimed herbalist, author, homesteader and organic gardener, Susun Weed will be making her first teaching visit to Nova Scotia to share her wisdom, knowledge and humour in a workshop that is guaranteed to change forever how you relate to plants. Over the course of the weekend you will come to appreciate the numerous gifts bestowed upon us in the form of the same weeds we would normally consider as useless and unwelcome companions in the garden.

The weekend opens with a meditation on Friday afternoon that will connect you deeply to the earth and plants. Our talking stick ceremony will help clarify goals and needs and attune us to the gifts of our “green allies” Over the next two days, we will learn to identify edible and medicinal plants, pick wild salads, make salves, tinctures and teas to heal and nourish, and learn how weeds serve to indicate soil conditions, heal gardens, and relate to other cultivated plants. With story, song and her encyclopedic knowledge of plant lore, Susun will delight us in the journey to becoming a Peaceful Gardener so that we may all count our green blessings.

Bio: Susun S. Weed is the author of four highly-acclaimed books on herbs and women’s health: Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, Healing Wise, New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way and Breast Cancer? Breast Health! the Wise Woman Way. Ms. Weed lectures world-wide on women’s health and herbal medicine. From her home in New York State’s Catskill Mountains, she directs the activities of the Wise Woman Centre, acts as editor-in-chief of Ash Tree Publishing, personally oversees the work of 400 correspondence students, and trains herbal and shamanic apprentices. Susun has lived the simple life for nearly 40 years as an herbalist, goat-keeper, homesteader and feminist. She has been called “a true radical … deeply rooted” “a modern pioneer” and “one of the founding mothers of herbal medicine in the United States.”

For more information: Camelia Frieberg (902) 624-1979
camelia@pollinationproject.org / www.pollinationproject.org

Organic Peanut Butter? Gross!!

By Beth Ann Knowles, BSc, P.T.S., N.W.S.

Do you cringe and turn your nose up when you think of organic foods? Does the thought of organic cookies engender notions of dry, tasteless, cardboard-like wafers? You're not alone. Many people believe 'organic' foods and beverages taste bad. It seems as though labeling a food as 'organic' has rendered that food to be in the 'healthy' category with the likes of low-fat, low-calorie, and fat-free products. My aim is to change your mind about organic foods.

Organic is a growing and processing method that helps protect the health of people, plants, animals, and the environment. Organic products are either fresh or processed plant materials (fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, seeds, etc.) or animals that have been grown naturally, without the use of harmful hormones, antibiotics, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), steroids, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides. Organic farmers follow a holistic system that replenishes the nutrients and maintains the health of the soil. They use renewable resources and conserve soil and water in an effort to sustain the environment for future generations.

So I ask, why would someone turn their nose up at an organic tomato? Is there something missing from that tomato that would make it taste bad? I would say no, unless of course chemical pesticides are appealing to your tastebuds? Let's take this a step further. Would you turn your nose up at organic ketchup? At ketchup containing organic tomatoes, sugar from organically and sustainably grown sugarcane, and herbs from an organic farm? Compare the organic ketchup ingredient list to that of conventional ketchup: tomatoes coated with numerous hormone disrupting pesticides; sugar from non-organic sugarcane which, by the way, the World Wildlife Fund has said, "probably contributed more to the loss of biodiversity worldwide than any other single crop because so many rainforests have been felled and important wetland habitats destroyed to plant it" (Ecoholic, Vasil, A., 2007, p. 91); and a collection of herbs that have been sprayed by a cocktail of toxic chemicals.

The organic ketchup contains just as many calories as the conventional ketchup, and it is loaded with the same amount of tasty sweet sugar. In fact, all organic foods are just as 'healthy' or 'unhealthy' as their conventional counterpart; peanut butter, cookies, jams, bread, coffee, pizza, tea, juice, etc. The only thing missing from organic foods are the oh-so-tastey pesticides, delectible GMOs, and scrumptuous synthetic preservatives. Mmmm...synthetic preservatives. My mouth is salivating just thinking about them!

Conventionally grown food labels don't list the pesticides, sprays, and other harmful chemicals that were used in growing the ingredients. Why would they? It would only deter people from purchasing those products. What would happen to supermarkets if consumers knew the American cheese on that frozen pizza contained bovine growth hormone which is "linked to mastitis, infertility and lameness in animals" (Ecoholic, p. 90)? "The David Suzuki Foundation says 58 pesticides in use in Canada today are banned in other developed countries because of their ties to cancer, reproductive disorders and acute toxicity...The World Health Organization estimates that over 200,000 people die every year from pesticide poisoning." (Ecoholic, p. 64)

If I haven't yet convinced you to consider organic foods on your next trip through the grocery store, perhaps Adria Vasil can. Check out her list of "The Top 10 Reasons to Eat Organic," taken from her eye-opening but informative book, "Ecoholic".

"1. You don't have to worry about biting into chemicals with every mouthful.
2. Organic food doesn't involve poisoning wildlife, workers and waterways.
3. There's never been a reported case of mad cow disease in organic cattle.
4. Your meat and eggs are drug-free.
5. It's the only guarantee that you're not eating genetically modified ingredients.
6. Your food hasn't been zapped or irradiated.
7. Organic farms are hotbeds of life, fostering vibrant biodiversity, not sterile fields.
8. Organic produce is higher in vitamin C and contains 30% more antioxidants.
9. Eating an organic diet may reduce levels of pesticides coursing through your body.
10. Organic farmers can actually make a decent living, unlike most conventional Canadian farmers, whose income is in the red and dropping every year." (p. 77)

What do you want nourishing your body? What will you feed your family? What choice do you make for your grandchildren?

About the Author:
Beth Ann has a degree in Sciences from Dalhousie University and is a Personal Trainer and Nutrition and Wellness Specialist. Additionally, Beth Ann has a personal interest in holistic wellness and sustainable environmental practices and enjoys being the Canadian Sales Manager for Naturally Nova Scotia Health Products.

Do you have a Sue that influenced you?

© Peter St John Gibson 2009
ipgibson@comcast.net

Think back. Who influenced you as a child, teen, or even recently as an adult, to think or act the way you do today about your health? Someone you still remember?

I’m a healthy man. Only 54 years young. I may never have got on this path if not for Sue.
Sue lived in the same English village as me. Her husband cut my hair. I babysat her kids. Sue was a vegetarian. She was full of energy; smiled often and looked younger than she was. We both adored the outdoors and often rode horses, across the quiet countryside, to the Pub in the next village. You guessed it - we relied on the horses to get us back!

Sue didn’t want to have to fit in, but she did want to fit fitness in. She treated herself well and had a bottomless well of healthy relationships to draw on. Meals at Sue’s cottage fed you physically and emotionally. The lifestyle Sue led became the influence upon which my life has been fed.

Sue taught me that I needed a health philosophy. I had to make choices; question what was in my meals and seek alternative deals. Wonder how healthy where I worked was.
Be careful about how I was influenced by my community, yet still find a way to be an influence in it. That’s why I write.

My writing, and rhyming, is one of the ways I can influence peoples’ days. Prod them to adopt healthier ways; avoid hospital stays and the medical maze.

Johnny Appleseed influenced many Americans by planting apple seeds. He got down on his knees and gave us trees. The seed produces the tree that bears the fruit. It’s a cycle that we are naturally a part of too. Our mothers produce us and our community expects us to bear fruit and make a contribution to the world.

An apple tree provides healthy fruit if its environment is healthy. Are we any different? How we are influenced determines how healthy of an influence we will have on others.

Sue has made my life a healthier one. Her influence may have led me into the business I have run for over ten years: marketing health products. To write a book that invites others to manage their own health – to move their own magnet – and later create The WELLNESS WOMBATS™ to encourage kids to adopt ways that keep them out of the medical maze.

So, think. Why do you manage your health the way you do? Do you have a Sue, or a Drew, that influenced you? If you do, isn’t it your turn now to influence and inspire others to make healthy choices too? Is that something you are willing to do?

About the Author: Peter St. John Gibson
Peter has managed Hotels, restaurants and large-scale corporate events.
He has traveled to over 50 countries and – while pursuing a career in the travel business - successfully herded groups of sales executives to Europe. They all got home safely.
He is a husband, and a father.
His healthy upbringing, in rural England, influenced his pursuit of a healthy lifestyle and his decision to work for himself, as an international wellness consultant distributing health products in over a dozen countries.
He is a Public Speaker and a published author. His latest book Who Moved My Magnet? produced two fun characters and plush toys called The WELLNESS WOMBATS™
The WELLNESS WOMBATS™ are designed to influence kids – and communities - to practice healthy ways and stay out of the medical maze.
Peter St. John Gibson
ipgibson@comcast.net
www.wellnesswombats.com
770 317 1009

Rhyme:

We’re a fast food nation; our kid’s are getting fat.
Isn’t it time we did something about that?
That’s why I’ve created the WELLNESS WOMBATS™
They’re two fun characters whose healthy ways
Can influence kids to stay out of the medical maze.
By word of mouth they’ll create results,
That helps today’s kid’s become tomorrow’s healthy adults.
It’s ick to be sick and under medicines spell.
So, talk to me if you want your community to be well.