By Jen Munson, HSA Education Chair

‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. that’s for thoughts.’ (Hamlet 4.5.248)

William Shakespeare’s poetic plays are filled with dramatic imagery and references to plants, herbs, trees, vegetables, and other botanicals. Shakespeare’s awareness of the botanical world was near the level of herbalists of that period, and the use of plants throughout his plays is done with unparalleled sophistication. They are used to enhance ideas and describe characters, as well as for metaphors. For example, Hamlet describes the state of Denmark as “…an unweeded garden / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature” (Hamlet 1.22.134-136). 

Plants are used for evil doings and central plot development. They are transformed into potions that are  lust invoking, (Viola tricolor in Midsummer Nights Dream), sleep inducing (Atropa belladonna in Romeo and Juliet), and as poisons…

Greetings,

An autumn mushroom that you may see over the next few weeks is the Parasol Mushroom. Edible, delicious, and easily spotted in the woods, the Parasol Mushroom is a favorite amongst many foragers for its nutty smell and taste.

The Parasol Mushroom, however, is not the easiest mushroom to positively identify because it shares similar features with several other species — some of which are toxic. Many field guides and online articles fail to include a sufficient number of images and offer little help in identifying the Parasol Mushroom. Such lack of detail can leave readers with more questions than answers, and ultimately with no Parasol Mushrooms for dinner!

To address this issue and to assist with the identification process, I created an extremely detailed video outlining all the important pieces of information that any forager needs to know in order to safely and confidently harvest the Parasol Mushroom…

by Jen Munson, Education Chair

It’s accepted that good health can be found in nature, from the benefits of hands in the dirt to the reduction of stress from a walk in the woods. Another modality for good health is the chakra system. Chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or circle and references the wheels of energy located in the body. The chakra system is a network of energy channels that are mapped throughout the body. Although some may not ascribe to this way of thinking about the body, others embrace a life of learning and exploring this modality.

Join us on September 24th at 1pm EDT for our webinar titled, The Chakra System Displayed in a Garden. Herbalist and business owner Jane Hawley Stevens will be our guest presenter. At Jane’s award-winning organic farm, Four Elements Herbal, she created a garden that organizes plants according to the body systems…

A woman hikes up to a sacred spring that she visits at least once a season.  From her small bag, she pulls out a beautiful crown of flowers that she had lovingly crafted before leaving home.  Placing the crown upon her head, she dances and sings around the spring, drinking deeply and celebrating life on this early fall.  As a sign of respect and offering, she hangs the flower garland near the spring and carries her sacred water back down the mountain.

Family wears crowns I made at the bridal shower

I find it interesting that the ancient art of flower crowns garland making is almost non-existent today, at least here within the US.  This tradition has so much potential. The only people who I’ve seen make these delightful crowns are children, who haven’t yet lost their magic or wonder about the world.  And yet, garlands and flower crowns, are…

2020 has been challenging for nearly everyone in a multitude of ways.  One of the things that we are faced with right now is grief: grief over lost friends and family who have passed, grief over a previous way of life that seems to be gone for good, grief over lost careers and uncertain futures, grief over continued suffering and uncertainty with regards to our climate and life on this planet.  I have certainly been experiencing many of these things.  Perhaps the two most central things that happened to me this summer was the loss of a good friend after a long and difficult battle with cancer and the destruction of a large part of our family’s property to put in a septic line.  The loss of many trees that I had grown up with and a beautiful ecosystem that we had cultivated into a botanical sanctuary.  These losses happened…