march 2017 newsletter

Healing Way of Plants - Chihuahuan Desert Camping Experience!
New Dates: April 21-23, 2017
Join herbalist Stefan Link for an unforgettable journey to explore Spring Medicinal Plants in the Upper Chihuahuan Desert. For three days and two nights the group will caravan and camp while spending time at locations learning about: ethical wildcrafting of plants; plant identification; collection specifics; plant energetics; medicinal and edible uses; first aid; and medicine making.

Students who enroll should have a basic understanding of herbalism and be comfortable camping with minimal amenities. A What to Bring List and ride sharing will be available upon registration.  Limit 12 people (no dogs).  Field Experience Cost: $225.00

• Contact Milagro Herbs for more information at 505-820-6321 or email us at: info@milagroherbs.com

Ongoing 6 Week Seasonal Herb Classes
One of our resident herbalist instructors Stefan Link will continue to offer 6 week herb class modules and weekend field trips to a wide range of ecosystems in the Southwest.  Sign up to keep abreast...

March Newsletter View this email in your browser 419 Orchard Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-820-6321 Medicine Circle Newsletter – March 2017 The Ethnobotanist Beat Chimaja - First Spring Spring comes at a different time of the year depending on many factors from the influence of global climatic movements to the micro-environmental contributors such water/humidity levels, soil temperature, air movement, and warmth or cold. In northern New Mexico one of our most reliable markers of the arrival of Spring is the appearance of a small umbel-flowered plant called Chimaja. You probably won't find Chimaja growing outside the Southwest desert region, and you most assuredly won't find people from other areas outside of New Mexico and Arizona making the annual pilgrimage to harvest Chimaja. For several reasons... Never heard of it - Cymopterus acaulis, family Apiaceae, related to carrots and parsley. It is a dry land plant growing in open sunny areas, facing away from the prevailing winds and into the sun. It blooms from early March to early April, usually each plant blooms for 1-2 weeks. Chimaja is small, about 3 inches in diameter and usually only 1/2 to 1 inch tall. The leaf color is green to grey, and with a slight curling to the leaves. With the soil backdrop being sandy-clay and a light brown to beige-white color you would very probably either: 1) not see it anywhere, or 2) be standing right on top of it!  Chimaja is one of the most revered edible plants in our region. When I worked at the Santa Fe Indian School in the Agriscience department the local Pueblo people commonly asked me if I knew of Chimaja and if I collected it. Mentioning its name generated great excitement, with rich descriptions of the foods that Chimaja is cooked with traditionally. It has a distinct wild flavor of parsley - it differs greatly from the cultivated, mild tones of our European varieties. So little Chimaja leaf is needed to transform a pot of beans, meat, stew, or roasted vegetables as to make the recipe defined by it. It is a rich, mineral taste mixed with a saliva-producing digestive quality that is unparalleled in our modern culinary world. Think of the parsley our ancient ancestors ate! Just rubbing the fresh leaves makes you want to eat it, and the flavor immediately reveals its' digestibility. It is slightly warming, stimulating to gastric juices, carminative, mildly bitter, and delicious! A perfect early Spring food. So yes, it is common to the local eye, and no, it is not available in commerce anywhere. This is one of our sacred, native plants that could even be brought under cultivation for wider use. But then again, isn't Life more interesting when you learn that a particular plant is unique to one place, has been used there for thousands of years with such respect, and that you can only savor it when you go where it lives. It is sometimes available for trade or sale at the Farmers Markets in New Mexico, if it is your lucky year. SPECIALS FOR MARCH 2017 Mention this announcement for discounts at the Retail Store and Phone Orders… Allergy Relief Tonic - $9.99 / 1 oz  (the best overall tonic for allergy season) Nettle Leaf Vinegar - $7.99 / 5 oz.  (made from our own patch of Stinging Nettles, fresh leaf) Oasis Moisturizing Cream - $19.99 / 2 oz.  (for dry skin in spring) Healing Way of Plants Chihuahuan Desert Camping Experience!   New Dates: April 21-23, 2017 Join herbalist Stefan Link for an unforgettable journey to explore Spring Medicinal Plants in the Upper Chihuahuan Desert. For three days and two nights the group will caravan and camp while spending time at locations learning about: ethical wildcrafting of plants; plant identification; collection specifics; plant energetics; medicinal and edible uses; first aid; and medicine making. Students who enroll should have a basic understanding of herbalism and be comfortable camping with minimal amenities. A What to Bring List and ride sharing will be available upon registration.  Limit 12 people (no dogs).  Field Experience Cost: $225.00 Contact Milagro Herbs for more information at 505-820-6321 or email us at: info@milagroherbs.com Foundation of Herbal Medicine Program for 2017 Herbal Certification Course Starts April 18, 2017.  We are re-designing our upcoming Foundations of Herbal Medicine Program to include ongoing intensives and laboratory studies in medicine making, therapeutics, diagnostics, field botany, and more.  Contact Tomas at 505-820-6321 for more information and applications or get more details at www.milagroschoolofherbalmedicine.com.  Our focus has always been hands-on, practical, informative, bioregional, multicultural, and holistic. 250 hours of pure herb learning you take anywhere in the world. We need more herbalists and community health workers as our modern medical system continues to become unaffordable, erratic, and irresponsible.  Become a herbalist, a skill you can use for a lifetime.  Upcoming Spring Classes We are finalizing the details on our upcoming herbal intensives and you can look forward to a wide variety of interesting topics including: 1. In late March - Spring Roots Tonic Workshop.  We will identify, harvest, and process the premier Spring roots for tonifying the liver/gallbladder and digestion while relieving seasonal allergies.  You will make your own Spring Tonic in an apple cider vinegar base with fresh roots!  A 3 hour class with Tomas Enos, cost $35.00 2. In April - Walk on the Herbal Wild Side in our foothill area with Tomas Enos, 2 hours, mild hiking. 3. White Tent Talks - back by popular demand, we have a free talk every Friday at noon on a wide range of pertinent topics from Shamanism to Divination for Herbalists. Right here at 419 Orchard Drive. 4. Organoleptic Identification and Recordkeeping Skills for Herbalists offered by Meghan Henshaw. Call us at 505-820-6321 or email us at info@milagroherbs.com for the details including dates, times, and how to enroll. Ongoing 6 Week Seasonal Herb Classes One of our resident herbalist instructors Stefan Link will continue to offer 6 week herb class modules and weekend field trips to a wide range of ecosystems in the Southwest.  Sign up to keep abreast... Persephone and Demeter, My Mother, Pansies, and The Eleusinian Mysteries   At first signs of spring in Santa Fe--the apricot trees blossoms, maybe-- my thoughts are transported back east to Massachusetts. I see mother in a yellow pant suit, stepping out of her yellow Honda Prelude convertible (at the bank or post office) or wherever. She takes a few steps, and then stops suddenly, keys in hands, purse hanging from her forearm, and she stares at the ground.   "Just look at those faces” she would say, enraptured. Motionless.   “Have you ever seen anything like it?” she would continue, suddenly unaware of honking horns or pedestrians. I would get out of the car and join her and we would stare together at the ground, transfixed at the spring pansies. Dark purple, yellow, lavender, white, yellow, with two dark “eyes” and mouths, and feathered yellow masks and faces: fairy people emerged from the ground where three feet of snow and ice had lain previous.   “No” I would say, “I haven’t.” And I would crouch down and touch their velvet faces. It seemed complicated and even painful, that something so delicate could burst forth from the hard black frozen ground of the Northeast and remain there unprotected. I thought for sure the gray and white and black of February and March would not give up so easily to the colors of spring. But even if it snowed, I had come to understand, their bright faces would be seen again in the swirls of spring snow April may bring. Spring also always reminds me of the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter. My mother reminded me of the Greek Goddess Persephone-- confident, adventurous, youthful, and fiery. She was born April and she was an Aries and loved spring and adored spring flowers. Friends and family agreed she became radiant in the spring. Interestingly, I was more dark and introspect and furtive. Born a double Capricorn in January, I was compelled to go out in blizzards and felt more comfortable in a stroll amongst fallen red leaves in October then I did in the dizzying greens and voluptuous colors of spring. I identified with Demeter, the mother-- Goddess of the Harvest. In the legend (and this is an abbreviated description) the beautiful maiden Persephone had been warned by her mother Demeter not to pick the red poppies as Hades, Lord of the Underworld, would be awakened to her presence. Ignoring her mother, and enchanted by the beauty of the flowers, Persephone picked a poppy. Hades arrived in a horse-drawn chariot and stole her from the field of poppies and brought her to the Underworld to live as his wife. Demeter, in despair at the loss of her beloved daughter, and unable to find her immediately, disguised herself as a poor women and wandered the earth in search of Persephone. Unsuccessful and enraged, she threatened to freeze the earth and kill off humanity if her daughter was not returned. Zeus stepped in and revealed the location of Persephone to Demeter and demanded Hades return Persephone. Hades convinced Persephone she must eat of the pomegranate before she departed. Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds which sealed her fate. Each year she had to leave her mother and returns to Hades. Persephone's departure from her Mother once a year, signals the beginning of winter, and her return to her mother, as spring.    In a reversal of roles, I had also warned my mother, Pauline, about her husband, Hal, who was abusive, but she chose to decorate her life, even in the winter, with flowers, which suppressed the uglier realities of her life. Attachment to beauty was her strength and her weakness. I see the parallel in the Greek legend which tells us, no matter how beautiful our incarnation becomes, it is important to not become intoxicated with our earthly lives. With intoxication, even of the beauty of spring, we lose our power as divine beings, and we may be taken back to earlier teachings we had forgotten. Over and over, the legend intertwined with me and my mother--this was just one example.         Persephone, who brings light and spring and youth, is the more celebrated in our Western world even though it is Demeter who is actually able to control life and death because she honors both. The multi-layers of meaning in this myth is much too broad for a short story but the mysteries (along with my mother and her magical relationship with spring) always comes to mind this time of year .         Rejoice at new life (at Persephone) but keep in mind her mistake at picking the poppies (becoming intoxicated). Remain balanced in the many forms of spring (earthly pleasures) we may experience. The ancient Eleusinian Mysteries, which honored Demeter and Persephone, were held in ancient Greece, every year at spring for thousands of year, and were so powerful, it was said that those that participated in the mysteries no longer feared death.   What famous people said about the Eleusinian Mysteries--   "Our mysteries had a very real meaning: he that has been purified and initiated shall dwell with the gods" -Pluto   "Because of those sacred and faithful promises given in the mysteries...we hold it firmly for an undoubted truth that our soul is incorruptible and immortal” -Plutarch   "In this ecstasy of revelation...they felt the unity of God, and the oneness of God and the soul; they were lifted up out of the delusion of individuality and knew the peace of absorption into deity" -Durant Time of For Pollen Season... Juniper trees are a vital part of our external and internal ecosystems. They are dioecious meaning male and female reproductive parts live on distinctly different trees, the male producing mountains of highly charged pollen into the wind to a receptive and fertile female cone on a nearby tree. The entire process of pollen release to consummated fertilization can take as little as a few hours or up to a few days. All pollens can cause a histamine reaction resulting in inflamed nasal passages, sore throats and runny eyes. From a traditional worldview and medical tradition, Spring represents a time of renewal for the Liver/Large Intestine, so diet modification and moderation is a key factor in reducing excess immune system responses. Reduced intake of dairy products, elimination of gluten-based foods and mucous-producing food is essential to a minimized reaction to pollen. Milagro Herbs has formulated many distinct products for allergy season so contact us for the best for your life situation. We estimate pollen season to run between mid-February and early April in Santa Fe. What's in Our Drying Room... Construction has begun on our innovative mobile drying cabinets, stayed tuned for the GoPro videos on construction and dryer uses for 2017.   What to Read... 1. The Honeymoon Effect by Bruce Lipton, PhD  (practical epigenetics) 2. Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume by Mandy Aftel  (an up-close  look at perfume) 3. The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes From Around the World by Sandor Katz.  (Essential Guide for making your own fermented foods...) Let us hear from you; we love visitors in the store and we love to receive your orders on the phone. Don’t care for the Internet hassle of shopping? 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