DIY: FIRST AID SET -for out of the country travel!-

TRAVELER'S FIRST AID KIT 

- Party of 15 - to Nicaragua - March, 2013 -

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*fine print* - This is not a first aid training, or an herbal training. This is simply to show what is packed in the kit. You take all responsibility for the contents and use of this information.

**This especially does not cover severe emergency protocols, ie; broken bones, eye injuries, CPR, anaphylaxis, seizures, concussion, or any other medical emergency that should be tended by a medic. Always know your emergency contacts!

Resources for first aid training can be found at the very end of the article.

**

Oh Great Spirit,

I am the woman walking in the fields

collecting plants to heal the people.

I give thanks to this plant

and I have faith with all my heart

That this plant will heal the sickness of the people.

~ Gathering prayer of Belize ~

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We started with a workshop

Where we discussed the possible hazards, and basic first aid protocols.

Together, we made a super-sticky spruce resin salve, and a tincture they named 'after-bug care' which contained 3 kinds of Artemesia and a little Rue. Sweet Annie (Artemisia annua) is specific for malaria, so we made this the primary ingredient, backed up by Mugwort (A. vulgaris) and Wormwood

 (A. absinthium). Rue (Ruta graveolens) is a well loved anti-venom and anti-parasitic, so we added a bit of that too.

We discussed Chewing Herbs, and their effectiveness, ease and versatility for travel.

I packed them up together, one pouch for each traveler. Clove, Licorice, & Osha.

After our super-fun workshop where we donned bandanna fashions and fumbled with rubber glove removal,  as well as tasted various elixirs both candylike and heinous, I got busy assembling the full kit.

The goals of the kit were several: 

• 1) Lightweight enough to carry - so I used primarily plastic 1/2 oz tincture bottles.
• 2) Address all of the circumstances the group brought up in class, and traditional ones necessary.
• 3) Be well organized, accessible, and efficient to use.
• 4) Be incredibly versatile, so each herbal packed can serve at least a few purposes.
• 5) Be theft-resistant - proper sizes so no trouble at the airport, and of the major sets, there are 2, packed with different travelers - so if one suitcase is lost or stolen, there will be another kit sufficient.
• 6) Be non-breakable and non-meltable, it's hot there. 

The team (13 teens and two adults) from North Star have been working together for months - practicing Spanish, learning stove building techniques, understanding travel responsibilities and logistics, fundraising, learning how to obtain a passport, insurance, and proper items to pack. 

They've also done team building initiatives with seasoned Outward Bound Mentor, Pandora. Who was seriously spectacular and fierce.

They've spent time also learning about the landscape, the climate of Nicaragua, and some of the Native culture and daily life of the people. They've each done a research project on something specific. My daughter studied the bugs, which are not only fascinating, but also a wee bit scary!

So ... for the final outcome, here is the full contents of the kit. If you are traveling with a group, you can use the following documents to help you assemble your own, or reduce/adjust to your own needs for the size or location of your adventure.

These INFO CARDS, to go into the 3 main baggies. I laminated them for waterproofing, and then paired them together into what seemed logical herbal/sanitary overlap. Click to download & print:

(*note: cards not organized how the bags are - I made them first :)

VECTORS/VENOMS, WOUNDS

BURNS, SOFT TISSUE INJURY

FEAR/ANXIETY/INSOMNIA, FOOD POISONING

Then I took stock of all the contents, and packed them up into their thematic baggies.

MASTER INGREDIENT LIST

MASTER LIST OF WHAT IS IN EACH BAG

And a little Jitterbug Perfume Oil - aka bugs don't like this smell and it's good for those of you who like patchouli and get a headache from too much rose-geranium. Alas, you still must bring and use deet, so I hear.

Bug Essential Oil Blend: 

Cedarwood 3 parts, Patchouli 1 part, and a touch of vetiver and mugwort, with a little jojoba oil. I did put these in little 1/4 oz glass roll on bottles, as essential oils really need to be in glass.

Here are the ingredients for a few of the other combinations found in the kit: 

Burn Dressing

to a 2 1/2 oz bottle, color coded cap blue:

Aloe Vera Gel, Rose Hydrosol, Witch Hazel Hydrosol, equal parts.

St Johnswort tincture, about a tablespoon

Lavender essential oil 6 drops

Blue Chamomile essential oil 6 drops

Helichrysm essential oil 6 drops

Wound Wash

to a 2 1/2 oz bottle, color coded cap green:

Yarrow tincture, 2 parts

St. Johnswort tincture 1 part, 

Witch Hazel hydrosol 1 part

essential oils of Lavender & Blue Chamomile (7 drops ea)

Alien Elixir: (aka random fears)

Equal Parts Skullcap and Passionflower tincture

Panacea III - Traveller's Insurance essential oil blend 

10 ml glass eo bottle

(this blend is a proprietary recipe, but I will offer the ingredients and you can either create your own version or commission an essential oil practitioner to. Summer and fall I usually have it for sale.)

contains:  Pure Essential Oils of Eucalyptus, Lavender, Roman Chamomile,

Peppermint, Blue Chamomile, White Sage.  

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So, here they go! Geared up, and ready for a transformational adventure. 

It's been a great honor and joy for me to do this project, both as an herbalist, and a mom. In addition it has fulfilled my goal in giving something this year - the first time I've made a philanthropic goal, and what better way to start that tradition in my work. I look forward to most of the medicines being unneeded, but also look forward to hearing what was successfully utilized.

Now, I ship my open heart off to Central America, and hope it returns to me still beating strong, maybe even stronger.

Thank you to North Star for being a truly remarkable place for teens to flourish, and to all of our friends and family that supported my daughter in making this dream come true - from donations, to gifts of colorful bandannas, and help with everything inbetween.

It takes a village.

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(now if you need some comic releif after the sap I just poured on you, here is North Star's rendition of the Harlem Shake!)

FIRST AID RESOURCES:

SOLO Wilderness First Aid Certification (manual seen in second photo)

HERBAL 1st AID training with Sevensong

HERBFirstAID online course, add your name for future enrollment

( I receive no compensation for these endorsements - they are my personal recommendation)

travel smart, travel safe!

xoxo

Ananda

Anticipation Milk: February

This month, February, seems the most pregnant of all. Quiet in gestation, yet loud in longing. The sun glares at us in daggers of razor light, bouncing off the stark white snow mirrors. Seeds of ideas vibrate with moisture and swell with readiness, yet cannot burst forth until the thaw.

February cultivates a kind of sharp anticipation. Buzzing under the tree bark is the impatient flow of maple sap, the first sweetness of the day. With the holiday of Eros, wounds of old love ache arthritically like a once broken bone, and the desire for intimacy and companionship are magnified.

Songbirds return, as if to midwife the Elm flowers and Fiddleheads. Poplar branches surrender to the winds, dripping with vanilla pearls. Eagles return, Falcons scream, clouds paint. February freezes and melts and freezes and melts, and all the dreams of gardens and foraging and feasting on the earth's bounty become wild in our heads!

Thaw the berries form last year's pickins, eat them up in thanks for what is to come. Soon we will be scrambling to keep up. For now, we sit in the cave of winter's womb, sipping anticipation.

Pierce the cold with 

Vedic Roots & Spices Milk Brew:

Set out a medium sized non-reactive pot.

For every 4 oz mug of water, add the following dried herbs:

• 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon chips
• 1 heaping teaspoon dandelion root
• 1/2 teaspoon burdock root 
• 1/4 teaspoon chaga
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1 pinch black pepper

Keep your herbs and water just below a simmer for 30 minutes, covered. Then add whole milk, at the same quantity you added of water.
Continue to let brew just under a simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Ladle out a mug at a time (strain through a tea strainer), and add a small dollop of: Ghee, grass fed or cultured butter, or virgin coconut oil.

This is a variation on traditional Ayurvedic milk with ghee, which warms, nourishes, and lubricates all faculties of the body. It's a brew I speak of often; in the summer with rose petal jam, in the fall with more spices. And especially for children, elderly, athletes, undernourished/overworked, and new mamas.

February is extremely dry here in New England. Many folks come down with bloody noses, sinus infections, and severe head colds. Keeping the body well lubricated and our digestion tip-top with bitters and aromatics, strongly supports our immune system during these bitter weeks.

So does cuddling.

xoxo

Dear Hormones

Dear Hormones,

I hear you.

Thank you for reminding me that I can feel way beyond reason.

Thank you for reminding me that I am worth nourishment, tea, cream, and honey.

I hear your needs for warm touch, moments of respite, and deep breath.
I hear your needs for tissues and tears.

I am listening, even when I'm busy. Sometimes I need to accomplish something that depends on me before I can rest for soup. Sometimes my children need me more than I need a nap. Sometimes I need you to understand that people are not trying to hurt my feelings, or piss me off. I know you feel through a magnifying glass, and that is o.k., as long as we both know that I have choices, and can choose to be calm if I think something isn't as dramatic as it may seem to you.

I love you and am here to steward my body temple. Thank you for communicating, for asking for what you need. It keeps me real. Keeps me connected.

Here,
take my red scarf, and touches of Sandalwood and Rose. We go together, you and me. I bring your wisdom to my work and art, while you poke at me with your ancient reminders to go within and be quiet.

But listen here, you can't make mayhem out of simple daily struggles. They are normal, small.
Just remind me that I feel, and that will be enough.

Love,
me

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Wild Ride Moon Tea

~One pot of water, about 2 quarts

bring to just below simmer

Add the following dried herbs

~~

~One heaping teaspoon roses

~1/4 cup red clover blossoms

~1/4 cup linden leaf/flower

~1/4 cup passionflower or skullcap

~1 teaspoon kava kava

~1 teaspoon marshmallow root

~1 teaspoon cramp bark

~dried cherries as desired

~1/2 teaspoon stevia

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Keep gently warming for 30-50 minutes, covered. 

Strain out single cups to sip as needed.

Serve with cream & honey if desired.

Breathe, Rub Belly, Hug.

xoxo

Alchemy Seeks

Plants.

They make me think, create, feel. Grow.

The get me going.

both within and without

and in so many ways are my muse.

Inside all of these seemingly indoors kind of bottles,

paper designs,

and handmade wearables,

is a piece of wild.

A piece of stone, water, green, air, cloud, soil, sun, mineral, molten, fire.

Alchemy stirs elements

with emotion

with intention

and imprints upon the cells a kind of open magic.

Alchemy seeks in the corners of the commonplace, and the vastness of the feral lands. Most of all it seeks 

in-between.

Announcing: Free Sample Issue of Plant Healer Magazine!

A Gorgeous and Generous Offering to our Community, from Kiva Rose and the Anima Lifeways School. I personally recommend making sure you have every single issue of this historic (and growing) collection of plant medicine knowledge, practice, and art.

Enjoy! --Love, Ananda

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Announcing: A Free Sample Issue of Plant Healer Magazine PDF Download Gift 

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The Portal of the Senses

The Portal of the Senses

Romancing the Plants

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I can’t seem to keep my nose out of anything. I smell my friends, my kitchen mugs, my mail, my cat ….. I may as well have born with whiskers. My sense of smell is on equal footing with the rest of my senses. Even though it doesn't drive my car or find my keys when they’re lost, they are without a doubt navigating me through life.

As I kneel by the cold rushing river with the newly warmed rays of sun beating down on my winter skin, I let the world enter my body. I deeply Inhale the effervescence of the humid air, I feel the resins lured from the bark by the warmth and reach wide from the tree trunks as if to court the fairies with their perfume, the earthly expressions of the moment speak to me in a wordless language. I am touched by the elements; the air in my eyelashes, the moss warming in my hand, the humming of stone, the secrets of the soil. Animated in my nerves is the life force of the land.

My pulse, perhaps synchronizing with the memories of drums or churning of magma. My iron blood hears stories in the rocks. Medicine drips, milky and bitter, from collected stems, sticking unapologetically to my fingers. Cleavers tags along on my hem, while thorns give warning to slow down. Soggy leaves hide waking pupa. It still might snow. It would be a cruel thing for the fruit trees, but humbling yet again for us two-leggeds with the curse of hubris. In the meantime, my mouth gives health orders:  green, yellow, sharp, salty, sour and bitter! I listen. I eat.

In the same way my eyes feast on flowers and my skin drinks in rivers, my skin dessert is touch and my emotions ride the waves of ecstasy through plant oils. Delicate honeyed Elder flowers, sexy Jasmine absolute, the enlightenment of Rose attar, and the seduction of a good, dark patchouli. I’m servant to the muse and the nuance of emotional evocation. Goddesses call to me, stories write themselves, images dance in my mind. My heart pumps and moves closer to the little bottles of heaven, asking for more. More linden, more fir, more amber. Yes.

Rapture of the senses lets me sink. Beyond the forces of duty, of chore, of old wounds. Sinking like a shaman’s journey down a wet root into a sacred spring where the wise woman waits. She touches my throat with her herbal wand, invites me to rest my burdens in the salty pool. Gems and singing minerals glisten as I breathe. I breathe in the memories of Juniper. The touch of tulsi on my arms and legs. The splash of the water ceremony and lingering smoke of palo santo. Memories of Artemisia bundles and blue glass bowls and women shivering and hugging and laughing. Sandalwood oil soft on my feet helps me stand. I’m wrapped in a warm flax blanket and handed a blank book, with a wooden pencil. In my portal, through my senses, I am taught, healed, loved, touched, safe, connected, and ripe with possibility. Experience becomes play, skill flirts with luck, and joy sneaks up on me often.

 ~~~

xo

Ananda

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For pleasure medicine or a sensory journey of your own, see my new botanical perfumes at my Aromatic Apothecary:

Cocoa ~ Rose ~ Ambrette

Elderflower ~ Rose ~ Silver Fir 

Grit, Glamour, and Staying Grounded Through the Evolution of Personal Dharma.

I always smell roses when my mom is thinking of me.

~~~

I had the pleasure of a two hour tea date alone with my Mama yesterday. This is a rare delicacy of time.

We seated ourselves at a rustic table inside a posh little Noho cafe and displayed African Elixir tea, ginger beer, carrot cake, and feta laden Greek salad in front of us.

My mom and I can't spend much time on small talk. It's boring. We go right to the gritty stuff in life. I love that about her - us.

Most of you know already that my Mama is my first herbal mentor. You can skip this paragraph if you've heard my story before. She began training me when I was very young - encapsulating chaparral powder and hoarding stevia before they were banned from the shelves. I have real-time vivid memories of these experiences which are very much based in my olfactory sense. She taught me how to use bitters for clearing up acne, how to do abhyanga. How to do Maya abdominal self massage and herbs for womb care. She helped midwife my children into the world and counseled me through marital and parental bumps. She taught me transcendental meditation, how to make nourishing soup, kombucha, creams, salves, how to talk with plant spirits, and most of what I know at my bone-deep levels about herbal medicine, potion crafting, and self-care. We continue to teach and inspire each other.

So here we sit, me at 37 and her: ageless. Her unruly red curls light up her emerald green eyes and mischievous yet honest smile. I spill my current thoughts as she listens, nods, laughs. I kvetch about not knowing the next step in my work, and about the uncertainties of life. She reminds me that our Dharma isn't always a one-terrain path ... that we can have three or four or more. That often they even seem 'different' but are actually evolutions of itself, blossoming through time. What was once my Dharma may or may not still look the same as it did, but it is not discarded or useless or disconnected. It was the previous terrain on my very own path - not separate.


Wikipedia says this about Dharma  "As well as referring to Law in the universal or abstract sense dharma designates those behaviours considered necessary for the maintenance of the natural order of things.[2] Therefore dharma may encompass ideas such as duty,[3] vocation, religion and everything that is considered correct, proper or decent behaviour."

While Wiki's description seems to infer some degree of martyrdom, my take on it is that Dharma is about us aligning with our most whole sense of purpose and love in life, and are in alignment with our truth, values, and daily actions and spiritual practices. It is not a destination but a flow and a practice of decisions.

Perhaps the "mid-life crisis" time is an opportunity to see where your longing is leading you. Where you have left off and want to pick up. Where you are going and whether you re-commit, or change course, or integrate.

What castles have I built? Are they strong? Beautiful? Functional?

Have I considered my happiness enough?

Am I joyful and satisfied with the results of difficult sacrifices I have made - for my family, my children.... ?

Do I experience love in my life every day?

Do I see myself embracing a future deserving of my energy?

~~
At first, when my Mama asked me (of my work evolution questionings) what in my heart spoke of my truth, my Dharma? .... I answered that I do not know, because I am living a life of choice that is not my first Dharma. That I must be deliberate because of this, and often times this is not a heart-intuitive process at all, but a heart-logical one.

Yet that is absurdity. All my accidents and my choices - even the most heart wrenchingly devastatingly difficult ones - have been rooted in Dharma. And my life is steeped in it even when I have not noticed. When I remember the hours/days I spent as a child contemplating the scent value of every product in one store, and staying up till 2am handcrafting magical herbal medicine pouches for every single girl in my class, it wasn't much less time than I spent dancing or journaling. These are the threads that make up me. And they weave ... different colors, different times, different textures.

Women are shapeshifters. Our titles are fluid, grounded, gritty, and glamorous. One day mother, vomit cleaner, poop changer - another day inspirer, herbalist, soup maker. Another ... artist, lover, dancer, community leader.

These are our fibers .... you are woven of silk and nettle and polyester and wool. I am too. I cannot expect every day to feel like the silk I wove when I was 12, or the nettle I wove clumsily at 22. And I cannot be scared to try the new fibers I see in my life.

Some have resisted seeing me move (away from more simple or common herbal products - which often times *should* cost as much as aromatic items or are one in the same as I often make) into my erogenous zone as an aromatic herbalist (do I *dare* call myself a perfumer?)

Yes I dare.

This doesn't make me less of an herbalist or more of a bitch. It makes me happy. It wakes me up in the morning.

Will I get some flack from the perfumery community? Possibly. But will I give myself less flack? Definitely.

Some may wonder why I don't teach plants and ID and more practical kinds of stuff. (I have. And I'm complete with that at the moment. And I'd prefer to assist you in making your own yarrow & comfrey simples because that's home herbalism - I don't need to sell you that, frankly. My blog continues to offer plentiful ways to make things at home.)

I'm interested in expressive and personal and sensory art. That's always been my lens and my medium. I like the abstract, mysterious, and metaphorical. I like expressing in words but much more than that, expressing what is beyond the capacity of words. I also like dirt and moss and what is feelably real.

Mostly my circumference of community totally gets it, and to be honest most of my fears are me talking to myself. I've had constructive feedback, but pretty close to nothing I would consider threatening or negative. (knock on wood), and primarily the responses I receive are beamingly gorgeous! I am grateful.

So, to dialogue with my own conscience ....  I'm not leaving my gritty, dirt worshiping, weedy ways behind for the glamour of elitist perfumery..... I am doing what I fucking love more that anything in life - in this moment - and yet something that I've always done all along in one way or another as I look back through my life and creations, my aromatherapy work, my potions & plant obsessions. I'm simply daring to step into it more deliberately, more transparently, with more devotion. And it weaves beautifully in complimentary contrast to the other things I've done, been, do, and may become again someday. For now, I'm choreographing stories through my senses, stirring magic up with cordials and unguents, taking good care of the women in my memberships, and considering my goals in a much broader capacity for the near and distant future. And I'm still picking weeds on my walks and doing push ups and plies by moonlight.

While we as plant healers need not be formally hitched to letters on our names or whatever you consider to be oppressive licensure .... what we do need is to take ourselves seriously. Consider ourselves as really, legitimately, women with the capacity to be autonomous - creatively and financially.

I am following the muse, evolving, we are evolving.

It is edgy, it is beautiful, and it need not be tame or status quo.

May your path always be guided by your heart compass, fierce commitment, and sensory wisdom.

And thanks, Mama, for your indelible love, inquiring ways, and generous teaching. You inspire me to be the best me I can be, and admire the best in others.

--Ananda

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For luscious aromatic herbal treasures, come visit my online Lair: Amrita Apothecary