How to Use Nettle Seeds to Make Your Own Wild, Green Superfoods

by Heather Gardner

Most of us loose our £pounds and our power by relying on things that come in a box or a tin from the store. We health-seeking heroines know that plenty of water, fruits and vegetables are good for us, and that supplementing our diets with superfoods is the buzz of the moment. But what if in these challenging times we can’t afford the latest designer health product and recommendations from ‘experts’? Luckily we have an expert who truly knows what is best for us, she’s been around longer than any others and she isn’t trying to sell us something, she is Mother Nature.

In herbalist Susan Weed’s opinion, eating nettles daily is more strengthening than wheatgrass, Spirulina and other green supplements that we buy in pills and packets and not naturally found in our local outdoor herbal larder. Luckily for us nettles grow abundantly in most areas of human habitation and are free for the foraging.

Gathering & Drying Nettle Seeds

Most of us are familiar with the properties and benefits of the leaves but the seeds are actually more potent again. Reputed to give energy and have adaptogenic properties, helping to deal with stress, fatigue, endocrine, adrenal and kidney issues. The nettle seed has similar benefits as the leaf though more concentrated. It’s possible to just nibble of a few seeds as we are out walking or working, for a quick boost, or we can gather and process them into our own superfood products.

To gather the seeds, cut the nettle tops when the seeds are nearly ripe. Lay them outdoors on brown paper for several hours to let the insects escape. If it’s very warm then they can be dried out in the sun, otherwise dry them in a well-ventilated airing cupboard or a dehydrator.

Nettle Seed Salt

Mix some dried nettle seeds with good quality salt, experiment to find your favorite proportions, 1 part salt to 3-5 parts nettle works well or 1 part salt to one part nettle if you prefer. You can add other things to make it really lovely, such as ground celery seeds, any dried herbs you like or even ground sesame seeds to make it like a Gomashio.

Nettle Seed Honey

You can mix ground nettle seeds into runny honey and store in glass jars. Use 1-2 teaspoons daily in your warm nettle infusion or as a tasty spread.

Dried Nettle ‘Super’ Powder

To make your own home superfood green powder, gather nettles and dry them in your dehydrator or hang in bunches upside down in an airing cupboard. When dry grind them to a powder in your blender or a coffee grinder. Then gather more nettles and run them through the juicer. Mix the juice with the nettle powder until you have a paste. Spread this on dehydrator trays until completely dry.

When dry, crumble it up and store in airtight-labeled glass jars in a dark place. Add it to your smoothies; use it to make warm beverages like powdered matcha green tea, or in any of your favorite recipes. You can even add it to sweet treats for an energy boost!

Nourishing Nettle Vinegar

Harvest the nettles anytime before it flowers, and tightly pack it into a glass jar. Fill the jar to the brim with organic cider vinegar. Let it brew, out of direct sunlight for 4- 6 weeks.

When ready, strain it into bottles and use in salad dressings and marinades for an extra boost of minerals.  You can also use it diluted with water as a final rinse for your hair after washing.

For more information about how to include wild edibles in your daily lifestyle and understand how to move with the seasons, please register now for our Wild Edible Course with Sergei Boutenko through the Women’s Wellness University!

About Heather Gardner

Heather is a Raw Food and Kundalini Yoga Teacher. A lifelong 3rd generation vegetarian she began learning about herbs and wild foods at a young age from her herbalist mother while growing up on a remote mountainside in Ireland. Due to numerous health challenges at a young age, she began delving into the world of foraging, potion making, herbs, nutrition, and raw & living foods as a teenager searching for solutions. At 20 while studying Natural Nutrition she began learning and experimenting with the Raw Lifestyle, and at 27 she began to move onto a raw diet and has transitioned to a balanced high raw diet over time. She is qualified in many healing modalities and has over 10 years experience as a Natural Remedies, Health & Beauty manager and Brand manager within the UK Natural Products industry, working to help people to achieve better health naturally. Now she lives in the west of Ireland, devising raw recipes, making beauty potions, foraging, writing, teaching and running her business www.consciousearthcompany.com as well as running after her feisty little toddler!  Connect with Heather on Facebook here.

Byron Katie Helps Release Your Need to Be Right & Have Other People’s Approval So You Can Love What Is

by Tera Warner

If you’ve ever felt too fat, too poor, too tired, too busy, too beaten down, shaken up or tossed inside out, then you know suffering. You may have noticed that when you tried to blame your bank account balance, your ex-boyfriend or the size of your thighs, things didn’t really change much.

And if, in spite of all your kind thoughts and good deeds and the very best of intentions you still find yourself suffering from time to time, then lend an ear, pull out your pen and paper and get ready to do the work.

During this interview, Byron Katie will invite you to take a look around, then take a look within and answer a few simple questions that will unlock you from your suffering so you can finally start loving what is.

Katie shares some of her personal journey and how she got to where she is as well as a few more inspirational nuggets of wisdom:

• What’s the difference between “Loving What Is” and “Settling For What You Have”?
• What if we want to change, improve our conditions in life?
• Isn’t it natural for us to feel frustration, stress, pressure as we choose to grow, change and improve things?
• To what degree does the need to have the approval of others, hold women back in life?
• How does our need to be “right” keep us from hearing the other side of the story?
• What are the “signs” we can watch for that assure we ARE loving what is?
• What does the world look, taste, feel like to someone who is always at peace with what is?

You can listen to this interview here:

 About Byron Katie:

Byron Katie has one job – to teach people how to stop suffering. In 1986, at the bottom of a ten-year fall into depression, rage, and addiction, Byron Katie woke up one morning and realized that all suffering comes from believing our thoughts. Questioning every painful thought she had, she developed an amazing method of inquiry she called The Work.

The Work asks four simple questions that turn stressful thoughts around. When you Work with a thought, you see around it to the choices beyond suffering. Katie has been bringing The Work to millions around the world for more than twenty years. Byron Katie has written four bestselling books. Her newest book is Who Would You Be Without Your Story? It is a life-changing event to share in the presence of this woman who people refer to as a modern day Saint. You can learn more about Byron Katie and The Work at www.thework.com.

]]> http://www.terawarner.com/blog/2012/05/byron-katie-helps-you-love-what-is/feed/ 0 noByron Katie shares her simple but profound steps that can help any person start loving what is, improve their relationships and communication, and let go of suffering forever.Tera WarnerByron Katie shares her simple but profound steps that can help any person start loving what is, improve their relationships and communication, and let go of suffering forever.Podcasts, WISH Summit, being right, Byron Katie, communication, relationships, The Work, WISH Women's International Summit for Healthhttp://www.terawarner.com/blog/2012/05/byron-katie-helps-you-love-what-is/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=byron-katie-helps-you-love-what-is http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/terawarner/veah/~3/fPDfaP2mtsQ/ http://www.terawarner.com/blog/2012/05/natural-health-beauty-6-stinging-nettle-recipes-for-healthy-hair-skin-nails/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 08:55:02 +0000 tera@terawarner.com (Tera Warner) http://www.terawarner.com/blog/?p=24572

Natural Health & Beauty Recipes: How to Use Stinging Nettles for Healthy Hair, Skin & Nails

- by Heather Gardner

With most things in life, pleasure is partnered with pain and seldom do we have one without the other. Matters of love, life and wild edibles are no different when it comes to pain, and it is no surprise that one of the most nutritious, wild, superfood heroes of the wild world comes fully loaded and ready to sting us into retreat. Luckily, wild wellness warriors will not be defeated in their quest for nutritious morsels to nibble on.

So with scissors, gloves and dock leaves to the ready we brave the briar patch in search of the pleasures of the stinging nettle.

Nettle Nutrition

According to Sergei Boutenko, Wild Edible expert, nettles are one of natures most nutritious wild foods, they are rich in iron, silica, calcium, vitamins A, D & K. Nettles soothe and prevent hay fever and allergies. Regulates blood sugar and improves circulation. Nettles also help rheumatism and arthritis; in many cultures people would thrash themselves with nettles to help these conditions. Eating them is said to be helpful for stiff muscles after exercise.

Stinging nettles rich in silica, strengthens the hair, skin & nails making it perfect for beauty seekers and the reason why on the Body Enlightenment Beauty program, health heroines are advised to start their day with a nettle infusion. There has been a lot of talk in the forum of using it as a beauty potion and hair helper. Another endearing property beloved of wild beauties is that it has long been used as a spring detox, to help clear out the excesses of winter and get ready for the summer ahead.

Nettles are abundant in iron as well as the chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that helps to build and replenish our blood as well as alkalize and detoxify our bodies. It also contains, manganese, which helps in the absorption of iron, as well as magnesium and potassium, which helps the muscles and heart function.

Picking & Processing Nettles

The best way not to get stung by stinging nettles, is to wear gloves when picking them, or simply snip them into a container (your blender jug for example) with the help of a scissors. They are at their best to eat when young and light green, before they grow tall and start to flower.  Pick the top part, not just the leaves; the stem is also good to eat. If you do get stung, don’t worry its good for you, but if you want to ease the pain either apply a crushed dock leaf or some nettle juice. To eat them safely either process them in a blender or boil them.

1. Recipe for Nettle Infusion

According to Susun Weed, a herbal infusion is a large amount of herb brewed for a long amount of time. Drinking an infusion will give you more health benefits than just having the occasional tisane. Nettle infusion is good for everyone to drink daily but particularly good for women who are menstruating, to replace iron. During pregnancy and breastfeeding for its nourishing minerals and effect on promoting milk production.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of dried herb, a big bunch of fresh or 4 nettle teabags
• 1 quart / 1 litre of water.

Directions:

Pour the boiled and slightly cooled water over the herb in a teapot or thick glass jar (be careful that it doesn’t shatter with boiling water), put the lid on and allow to steep for 4-10 hours or overnight.

The following day strain the liquid from the water. You should have a nutrient dense, super elixir beverage. Try to drink this during the course of the day or at least 2-4 cups. It may start to spoil after 36 hrs depending on the room temperature. It can be served chilled or reheated.

You can try adding in other nutritious healing herbs. Horsetail works well with nettle for its beautifying silica rich content, red raspberry is mineral rich, as is oatstraw, a few sprigs of mint can lift the flavour and aid digestion. If you find it an unusual taste at first then a spoonful of honey may well make the medicine go down, and in no time you will start to love it. If you feel brave you could add instead a pinch of salt or spoon of miso.

If messing about with all those jars of herbs and reheating doesn’t appeal to the time stretched wellness warrior well don’t fear! Another option is to just pop your nettle tea bags or loose herb (either loose or in a little metal ball tea strainer), into a thermos flask. Top it up to the brim with boiling water, pop on the lid. If you do this last thing at night and keep it by your bed, you will wake up and enjoy your hot potent potion from the comfort of your bed, a perfect solution for co-sleeping breastfeeding mums.

If you can’t finish it in one day, or it starts to spoil then you can use the infusion as a great hair rinse, wonderful for adding shine, thickening, strengthening, nourishing and reducing dandruff. Or even give your plants a boost by watering them with it.

2. Nettle, Carrot & Apple Juice

Juicing nettles is a great way to get a daily dose of nutrition for free without trying to grow greens in trays. Taking a daily nettle juice for 30 days is a great spring cleanse. You can juice it on its own in little shots or add fruits and vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of nettles
• 4 carrots
• 2 apples

Directions:

Run the nettles through the juicer, then the carrots and apples.

3. Wild Blender Juice

Collect wild edibles, such as nettles, cleavers, chickweed, and dandelion leaves. Add any of the following–cucumber, celery, apple, lemon or lime pips removed. Clean the greens if necessary and pack into your blender jug filling it to about half. Add in enough fresh spring water to cover or more as you wish and blend until everything is completely broken down. I like to make a pot of fresh herbal infusion such as spearmint from the garden to add as the liquid to this juice for a fresh flavour. Strain through a nut milk bag and serve.

Tips & Tricks

If you would like to make it sweeter and creamier, here’s a little trick. Rinse out the blender jug and put ¼  – ½ a melon flesh into the jug, blend it without adding any water, until it’s a creamy liquid, then stir this into the strained wild juice…delicious (not recommended if you’re avoiding fruit or food combining).

If you’re finding this juice to be too bitter for you then try adding a few drops of stevia or skip the dandelion leaves. The bigger and older the dandelion leaf the more bitter it will be so try switching to young small ones. If you want to give this to your little ones, then add less greens, no lemon and more apples and blend with plenty of water, strain well and add it to a stainless steel beaker that stops them from seeing the colour, hopefully they will love it! If not introduce them to Popeye!

4. Green Nettle Smoothie

Nettles are great to add to smoothies, just snip some nettle tops directly into the jug and add the other ingredients.

Ingredients:

• A few handfuls of nettle leaves
• A mango
• 1 banana
• 2-3 cups of water
• If you want it not to be green add ½ cup of fresh or frozen berries.

Directions:

Blend and enjoy!

5. Nettle Lemonade

Ingredients:

• ¼ – ½ a jug of nettle tops
• 2-4 apples
• Juice of 1 lemon or lime (be careful not to let the pips/seeds into the jug, they taste very bitter)
• A few spoons of your sweetener of choice
• A small pinch of salt if you like.

Directions:

Take your blender jug for a walk and using a scissors snip the tops of nettle plants until your jug. Add all the ingredients to the blender. Fill the jug up with fresh spring water. Most important part – make sure to put the lid on! Blend until completely broken down and strain through a nut milk bag, you can serve as is, or chilled with some ice, a straw and a cocktail umbrella!

6. Nettle OJ

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of orange juice (pineapple is nice too)
• 1 cup of fresh nettle leaves

Directions:

Blend until fully broken down and drink. If you want to make more of a meal of it, add in a banana, mango, pear or apple.

To learn more about how to use wild edibles as part of your natural beauty care practice, register today for an upcoming version of our 30-Day Natural Beauty Makeover. For a complete 4-season dive into wild edible eating and living, check out our Women’s Wellness University program–An Introduction to Wild Edibles and Sustainable Living

About Heather Gardner

Heather is a Raw Food and Kundalini Yoga Teacher. A lifelong 3rd generation vegetarian she began learning about herbs and wild foods at a young age from her herbalist mother while growing up on a remote mountainside in Ireland. Due to numerous health challenges at a young age, she began delving into the world of foraging, potion making, herbs, nutrition, and raw & living foods as a teenager searching for solutions. At 20 while studying Natural Nutrition she began learning and experimenting with the Raw Lifestyle, and at 27 she began to move onto a raw diet and has transitioned to a balanced high raw diet over time. She is qualified in many healing modalities and has over 10 years experience as a Natural Remedies, Health & Beauty manager and Brand manager within the UK Natural Products industry, working to help people to achieve better health naturally. Now she lives in the west of Ireland, devising raw recipes, making beauty potions, foraging, writing, teaching and running her business www.consciousearthcompany.com as well as running after her feisty little toddler!  Connect with Heather on Facebook here.

Gay and Katie Hendricks: Successful Communication Tools for Mastering a Healthy, Loving Relationship

by Tera Warner

Gay and Katie Hendricks are a model of an empowered relationship, but it wasn’t always this way, and in this interview that I conducted in 2010 for the WISH Summit, they talk about their journey and the tools they’ve used to help thousands of people around the world build lasting relationships!

If you’ve ever been enchanted by glass slippers and the promise of happily ever after, but found yourself arguing in a pumpkin patch with prince charming instead, then this is the call you’ve been waiting for. Gay and Katie Hendricks share with us what it takes to create your ideal happily ever after:

• Their relationship wasn’t always like this. Find out what it took to change things.
• What are the most important factors to consider when choosing a partner?
• Practical tips for applying the laws of appreciation in your relationships.
• rituals are vital to a long-term relationship that thrives.
• The motivation you’ve been looking for to prioritize your relationship with yourself.
• How to get out of competition and into collaboration with your partner.
• Learn how to lose the buttons of irritation, insecurity, and criticism to embrace an empowering and fulfilling commitment to love.

You can listen to this interview here:

 About Gay and Katie

Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks are major contributors to the fields of conscious relationships and body-mind vibrance. They are the authors of more than twenty books, including such bestsellers as Conscious Loving, The Big Leap, The Corporate Mystic, Five Wishes and Conscious Living. During the past thirty years they have appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows, including OPRAH, CNN, CNBC and CBS’ 48 HOURS. They founded The Hendricks Institute, which offers life and love-changing seminars annually in North America, Asia and Europe.

You can learn more about them here.

Taking a Look at Deep Tissue Detox: Glutathione, Garlic and Detoxification

- by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, MS, DC, CCN, DACBN

Garlic is a useful adjunct to detoxification, because it conserves antioxidant levels, particularly glutathione, protects  against liver damage from acetaminophen, and can increase the intestinal activity levels of  detoxification enzymes (in particular quinine reductase and glutathione transferase) used by the body to eliminate toxins.

Garlic protects your liver and heart from damage, and improves your ability to combat potentially fatal conditions like cancer and heart disease. Garlic may also help protect you from heavy-metal accumulation, smog and air pollution. It appears to be the sulfur compounds in garlic, especially allicin, that are most protective.

Glutathione is one of the most important substances for detoxification.  It supports complex liver detoxification, like the kind we will be experiencing during the upcoming Deep Tissue Detoxification program. Because antioxidants get “used up” in the process of protecting you, exposure to toxic substances lowers glutathione levels.

“What if I Can’t Eat Garlic?”

So what if you are among the small but significant people who have adverse effects to garlic? According to ConsumerLab.com, large doses of garlic can lead to  upset stomach, facial flushing, rapid pulse, dizziness, allergies or insomnia, and can affect the mind and concentration. 

According to Chinese Medicine, garlic is  a warming and drying herb, so people with a hot constitution should use it cautiously, as it can create the side effects mentioned above.   People who have an angry temperament or reddish complexion would be classified as having a hot constitution and should proceed cautiously with garlic.

As a substitute for garlic, scallions or spring onions can be just as effective as garlic, with less pungency. Other foods and herbs, like broccoli sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables, dill, caraway, turmeric, oranges and tangerines, dandelion, burdock root, apples,  basil and jerusalem artichoke also support deep tissue liver detox and can be used to support a successful detoxification program.

Enjoy the benefits of garlic if you can and if not, know that there’s more than one way to detox a liver, and choose enjoyable foods and herbs that assist in the removal of toxins, leaving you light, strong and energetic.

Happy Detoxing!

* * *

Dr. Ritamarie is our key health care practitioner in our upcoming Fundamentals of Deep Tissue Detoxification course.

If attempts to “cleanse” or “detox” in shorter programs of a few days or a few weeks didn’t bring you the results you were looking for, you are likely a perfect candidate for our Deep Tissue Detoxification program.

- by Heather Gardner

Wild garlic grows prolifically at this time of year. Mingling amongst the bluebells to form fragrant carpets of delight on the ferny forest floors. They are best to pick and use just before their beautiful white star like flowers explode into bloom, around about now April – May. So you’re just in time to get the kids ready, put your wellies on and get out to the woods to pick a few baskets of this green gold. Check out my previous blog to see all the wonderful health giving properties of this delicious wonder weed.

Heather is one of our participants on the Wild Edible program with Sergie! Below are eight fabulous recipes you can use with your wild garlic harvest this year!

1. Wild Garlic “Butter”

Ingredients:

• 6-8 Wild garlic Leaves
• 75g/3 oz Coconut Oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice – optional
• A small splash of Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash and thoroughly dry the Wild garlic leaves, using some kitchen paper or a towel. Shred them with a sharp knife as finely as possible. Melt the coconut oil gently in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. When liquid, add in the wild garlic & other ingredients, whisking it well until it’s completely mixed. Then pour into a ramekin or other non-plastic dish. Let it harden in the fridge and serve as required. Delicious over a baked sweet potato, steamed greens or veg. Also lovely on some Essene bread, warm from the dehydrator. If you eat dairy then use butter instead of the oil, but try to source raw organic butter if possible.

2. Wild Garlic Preserved in Oil (or Vinegar)

A great way to preserve your Wild Garlic and enjoy it all year round.

Ingredients:

• 500g Wild garlic leaves
• 500ml Organic Cold pressed Olive oil
• 1 tsp natural salt

Directions:

Make sure your leaves are clean and completely dry. Add them to a food processor or blender with the oil and salt and blend to a puree.  Keep in the fridge in a glass jar with a layer of olive oil on top to preserve it, though use up within a week to prevent the growth of bacteria. The best way to store this for any length of time is to freeze it in small batches or ice cube trays (then pop the frozen cubes into a zip lock bag)

Wild Garlic Cider Vinegar

Another lovely way to enjoy your wild garlic is to bruise a handful of leaves and add them to a bottle of cider vinegar, let this sit for up to 6 weeks, giving it the odd shake. Adds a nice touch to your salad dressings.

3. Wild Garlic Dressing

Place a handful of Wild Garlic in your blender and cover with 3 parts olive oil & 1 part cyder vinegar or lemon juice. Blend and use as a sauce or dressing for any of your dishes and salads. If you want a creamier sauce then add a spoon of Tahini or Dijon mustard.

4. Wild Garlic May’no’naise (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 2 Ripe Avocados
• ½ cup of hemp hearts, cashews, pine nuts or macadamias
• A small handful of Wild Garlic Leaves
  

  

• A few sprigs of Parsley
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Juice of half a small lemon
• ½ cup of water
• Pinch of salt, paprika, cayenne or chili powder & kelp powder

Directions:

Blend until smooth adding more water if you need it. Store what isn’t eaten in a glass jar with a lid, pour some olive oil over the mayonnaise to keep out the air and preserve it.

5. Wild Garlic Hummus (serves 2-4)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups courgette/zucchini
• 1 small handful Wild Garlic
  

  

• ¾ cup tahini
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp cumin powder & 1 tsp paprika
• Pinch of salt.

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients together, you may need to adjust amounts of liquid depending how watery your courgettes are. You can use sprouted chickpeas instead of courgette but to enhance the digestibility its recommended to steam them a little first or cover with just under boiling water for 5 mins to soften. They are no longer raw but they are still very healthy and easy to digest.

6. Wild Garlic Pesto

Ingredients:

• 2 large handfuls of Wild Garlic
• 1 bunch or pack of Parsley (helps neutralize that garlic breath!)
• 2 cups of soaked nuts or seeds
  Choose from Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts, Shelled Hemp Hearts, Pumpkin & Sunflower seeds
• Organic Cold Pressed oil as needed ~ Olive, Hemp or Pumpkin
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Salt, Pepper & powered seaweed to taste

Directions:

Place all the ingredients into your food processor and start to blend, when blended coarsely, start to drizzle oil through the top until it’s the consistency you like. Place into clean dry glass jars and cover the top in oil to preserve, store in the fridge for several weeks, and always keep covered in oil. Also freezes well, you can freeze in portion sizes and then store them in a zip lock bag.

7. Wild Garlic Soup (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 large handful of wild garlic
• 3 cups of Celeriac or parsnip
• 1 cup of fennel bulb
  

  

• 2 stalks of celery
• ½ cup of Hemp Hearts, soaked nuts or avocado flesh
• ¼ cup of olive oil
  & 1 tsp lecithin
  (both optional)
• 1 green chili or ½ tsp chili powder 
  (optional)
• 1 desert spoon of white miso or a pinch of salt
• 4 cups of warm water

Directions:

First wash the wild garlic & chop. Scrub & cube the parsnip, fennel & celery. Place all the other ingredients except the oil in your blender and blend until warm & smooth. Then add the olive oil in bit by bit to emulsify the soup and give it an airy quality, leave it out if you want to minimize fats in your diet.  Pour into warmed bowls, with a swirl of wild garlic pesto and sprinkle with some minced parsley.

8. Creamy Wild Garlic Rawsotto

Rice Ingredients & Directions:

2-4 cups of Parsnip rice – process the parsnips in a food processor until it resembles rice.
Or Wild Rice – soak the wild rice overnight, then allow to ‘sprout’ for several days, rinsing regularly until the rice starts to ‘split’, then its ready.

Mix in any of the following – Peas, avocado, spring onion, red onion, radish, olives, diced courgette or cucumber, soaked & sliced sundried tomatoes, hemp seeds, handful of micro greens or sprouts, foraged spring greens such as nettle, dandelion, sorrel, hawthorn leaves etc, fresh parsley, mint, thyme or rosemary

Creamy Ranch Sauce

Ingredients:

Directions:

Mix the ‘rice’, the veggies etc with the sauce, you can warm it in the dehydrator or in a bain-marie and serve with a green salad.

Recommended Reading

Seaweed and Eat It ~ A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure by Fiona Houston & Xa Milne
Hedgerow Medicine by Julie Bruton Seal

About Heather Gardener

Heather is a lifelong 3rd generation vegetarian, Raw Food and Kundalini Yoga Teacher. She began learning about herbs and wild foods at a young age from her herbalist mother while growing up on a remote mountainside in Ireland and delving into the world of foraging, potion making, nutrition, and raw & living foods as a teenager searching for answers to numerous health challenges.  At 20 she began learning and experimenting with the Raw Lifestyle and in 2005 she began to move onto a raw diet and has transitioned to a balanced high raw diet over time. She has studied Natural Nutrition and many other healing modalities and has over 10 years experience as a Natural Remedies, Health & Beauty manager and Brand manager within the UK Natural Products industry, and helping people to achieve better health naturally. Now she lives in the west of Ireland, teaching and running her business www.consciousearthcompany.com as well as running after her feisty little toddler! You can connect with her on her facebook page.

* * *

There is SO much to learn about wild edibles! Join Heather and the other participants on our Introduction to Wild Edibles program through the Women’s Wellness University! You can get the healthiest foods on the planet for FREE and make amazing foods your whole family will love!

- by Tera Warner

Hey Mike,

Your sense of purpose, your commitment to preserve the well-being of all people and your ability to look a tiger in the eye have been a consistent source of deep admiration and gratitude for me over the years. Thank you.

Recently you sent out a message to your millions of readers about the fact that “we are a mild earthquake away” from the obliteration of humanity and life on Earth as we know it.

*gulp*

*thud*

I know you believe in the goodness of the human spirit. You told me so.  [69:30]

I know you have hope and believe we’re all connected. I know you are an optimist, too. You’re the one who told me “…we are what we eat, Tera, but we’re also what we create, what we do with what we eat and the perspective we have on the world around us” [08:30]

I know you’re busy and I’m just a drop in the big ocean, but as a single mom of two trying to pave a path to a better world, yours is the ONLY source of news I listen to anymore. (I gave up CNN and television sets over 15 years ago.) I so appreciate the work you do, and Mike…

…I need to hear your hope, your vision, your belief in what we can do when we come together in love, optimism and understanding, too. If there’s one person I know who deeply believes in humanity and works tirelessly to preserve our well-being, it’s you.

You said you’d be thrilled to hook up again and have a conversation [73:30] with me in 2012. So I was wondering…

…would NOW be a good time?

We could use some good news and something to believe in out here on the other end of your emails.

With love and optimism,

Tera

- by Tracy Neely

It’s time to get rid of that wintery layer of dead skin cells with a deliciously natural pampering projet. Make sure to set aside and evening for your self once in a while and take the time to treat yourself with the yummy masque recipe!

Papaya is an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that naturally exfoliates the skin gently. Use this masque recipe that is loaded with Vitamins A and C to remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate your skin naturally?

Natural Beauty Recipe:
Papaya Face Masque for Younger, Healthier Skin!

Ingredients:

• Papaya fruit
• 1 teaspoon raw honey
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions:

Please note: If you have sensitive skin, please be sure to test the mixture on your hand before putting it on that gorgeous face of yours.

• Start by blending the fruit of one papaya with 1 teaspoon raw honey and the juice of 1/2 a lemon in a blender. The consistency should be like a smooth paste,
• Cleanse the face, apply masque, being careful to avoid the immediate eye area.
• Allow it to sit on the face for 15 minutes
• Rinse twice and apply your favorite moisturizer.
• Enjoy that gorgeous soft skin looking younger than ever!

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- by Tera Warner and Simon Grisdale (translation and transcription from Japanese)

Just the other day I read an article from one of my big spiritual crushes, Mike Adams. He said that we are “a mild earthquake away” from the obliteration of human life on Earth as we know it.

*thud*

Things in Japan are pretty discouraging right now and it’s affecting us all. There’s a lot of “bad news” circulating about that part of our world. I thought you might appreciate this interview from the heart of Japan where Dr. Masaru Emoto, the author of The Hidden Powers of Water, recently granted us the opportunity to conduct an interview asking about what we can do to turn things around.  (It’s a tear-jerker. I haven’t been able to stop crying since I read it. Guess it’s that whole water thing, huh? )

As a single mom of two trying to pave a path to a better world, I need to hear stories of what we can do when we come together in love, hope, optimism and understanding.

And I’m pretty tough in my own way. I have looked a few of my own tigers in the eye with a sense of fearlessness before. But there are only so many articles about the potential obliteration of humanity and life on Earth that a girl can take.

As you’re about to discover,

WISH Summit Interview with Dr. Masaru Emoto of Japan

Masaru Emoto is a Japanese author and entrepreneur known for his claims that human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. Emoto’s hypothesis has evolved over the years of his research. Initially Dr. Emoto claimed that high-quality water forms beautiful and intricate crystals, while low-quality water has difficulty forming crystals. According to Dr. Emoto, an ice crystal of distilled water exhibits a basic hexagonal structure with no intricate branching. Emoto claims that positive changes to water crystals can be achieved through prayer, music or by attaching written words to a container of water.

Since 1999 Emoto has published several volumes of a work titled Messages from Water, which contains photographs of water crystals next to essays and “words of intent.” In addition to his books, Emoto also sells various water products from his websites and catalogs, which are purported to have healing properties derived from his research and experiments.

Visit Mr Masaru Emoto’s website here.

This interview was conducted on April 19th and generously translated and transcribed by Simon Grisdale.

Interviewer: Thank you very much for taking the time today to do the interview.

Dr. Emoto: My pleasure.

I: The first question is about you. What did you want to be in the future when you were young?

E: Well, it changed as I got older, but in secondary school, I wanted to be the Secretary General of the UN. Before that, I wanted to be a musician.

I: So your interest in music came early on.

E: Yes, I wanted to be a singer as I’ve always been into my singing.

I: What was the reason that you decided to study water?

E: When I was around forty-five years old, I started working on my own. Up to that point I hadn’t done anything to do with water but I was interested in ‘subtle vibrations’. I found a machine that measures this in America called MRA, which stands for ‘Magnetic Resonance Analyzer’. Like a child, I took it back home and started to make music with it as if it were a musical instrument.

I soon developed a technique of playing it while at the same time gathering information about people’s bodies by detecting the vibrations. This machine was also able to correct any irregular vibrations, by using water. The vibrations make an imprint on the water, which when drunk, has the power to cure many different illnesses. So this is what I did for five or six years. I managed to heal many people afflicted with various illnesses. I wrote ten books on my experiences of vibrations and waveforms at the time. However, back then, no one believed that an illness could be cured from just water, or that water could record information so I was not understood by people. It was then that I got the idea to take photos of crystals in water. Since music and words affect water, I used these results as proof of my discoveries.

I: So first it stemmed from an interest in waveforms.

E: It stemmed from music first. I had a talent for music, probably from my mother. I didn’t have any training in science, like physics or anything like that. I was good at looking at analysing people’s bodies through music.

I: You just mentioned that you are not a scientist in the formal sense of the word, but what are your opinions on the science world today and how they relate to things which are unseen?

E: I can’t help but think that the science today is not the real science. We human beings start from a fertilized egg to a baby, then we grow into an adult. There is a design plan to us human beings. If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t know whether to grow into a dog or cat, an animal or a plant. I believe this design plan is actually from a world which cannot be seen. And if we don’t understand this world, then we won’t be able to understand ourselves. Scientists nowadays are only looking at things which are here now. They only look at the make-up and behaviour of an object. That is not enough in my opinion.

They are not looking at the source. For example, there are the numbers zero, one, two, three, four, but there are numbers before zero also; minus one, minus two etc. It is this unseen world that until now scientists have been denying the existence of. If we ask what kind of world this is, it is the world of religion. When human beings first existed in the world, we asked why we were here, and started to think of philosophical and religious ideas. I think that in itself was the first ‘science’. It is when people started to ignore this when all the problems we face today started.

I: Did your way of thinking change at all after doing this research?

E: It didn’t change, no. It confirmed the beliefs I had previously, actually.

I: When you look at the world today, there are many problems relating to water. For example, as the world gets more and more urbanized, water sources are becoming more polluted. What does this tell us about ourselves at this moment?

E: As you know, the world is practically all water, as is the human body. However, I believe we still know nothing about water. I believe the first thing that science should be concerned with is finding out exactly what water is. At the moment, nothing about water is studied in primary school; it is only until secondary school that it enters the curriculum. This means the basics are not understood, and therefore the many problems that the present day society faces are not being resolved. For example, take the radiation problem which is a big cause of concern in Japan at the moment. Like that there are many problems that we the human race do not understand at all. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, etc. We have no idea why any of these happen.

I: Is it because we don’t understand the link between our minds and these happenings?

E: Yes, we don’t understand our mind and also the mind of Mother Nature.

I: You just mentioned the problems in Fukushima. I’m not sure what the exact situation is at the present moment, but after the tsunami, radioactive water was leaked into the sea. What effect does this have on us all in the future?

E: This is an extremely difficult situation. This time Japan had this accident, but there are many atomic power stations all over the world. The earth is able to generate these radioactive materials. It holds many different kinds, such as uranium, caesium, and others. When these types of materials assume various forms and come out in to the open, they have a negative effect. For example, with this accident at the power station, it is possible that due to the laws of resonance, the radioactive materials in the power stations around the world and in the earth became activated as a result. In my opinion, radiation acts due to the laws of waveforms. Scientists nowadays, however, do not acknowledge that it does, and therein lies the crux of the problem.

I: Even in the face of problems like this, do you believe that we have the power in ourselves to change the situation?

E: Yes, I do. I believe not only that a person’s consciousness can change a situation but that everything that is happening today is due to the consciousness of people.

Take Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc².  Because of energy there is this universe, the earth and us. But what is the real meaning of this energy? Normally ‘m’ means mass, but I believe this ‘m’ can mean the number of people. ‘c’ is taken as being the speed of light, but I take this as people’s consciousness, which has the same speed as light. This is why if you put these together, the number of people multiplied by their consciousness equals energy.

Every person’s consciousness is creating energy in my opinion. If we go hundreds, thousands, millions of years back, I don’t know if human beings existed then, but I believe this world exists now as an accumulation of all those years of people’s consciousness. As I said before, this consciousness has the same speed as light. Therefore, considering seven billion people live in the world in the moment; if the consciousness of ten percent of these people, seven hundred million people changed for the better, then I think everyone’s consciousness around the world will change in an instant.

This also corresponds to what I heard from an expert in microbes, who said that out of hundred microbes, if ten are good, healthy microbes, ten are bad microbes and the rest are neither, then the rest see which way the wind blows; they will join whatever side is stronger. So in the same way, if there are hundred people and ten or eleven of them have a good quality consciousness, then the eighty people out of the remaining ninety will also become good. I therefore believe that in the earth, inevitably the consciousness will change, and that the energy will become positive. When this happens, any radiation, toxin, virus or any harmful thing will lose their ability to function any more.

One more thing is to do with the DNA which is in our bodies. According to experts in hereditary genes, on average, only three percent of DNA is currently being activated. This means that only three parts of a hundred are understood. I believe a person’s memory, their genetic information and water are all inter-connected. Therefore we are only aware of three percent of ourselves because we don’t understand water. If we understand water then our memory, our DNA will also be activated. Once this happens, I believe that energy will thus keep on improving to higher levels until all problems become resolved.

I: In the world today, technology has been advancing with great speed. With the invention of the internet, people are able to write words they wouldn’t normally use since they are able to hide their identity. Since words create waveforms, as this increases will it cause problems?

E: Yes. There are many people who worry that only the bad things that happen are being picked up by people. But if we were to see how much bad stuff and good stuff there is, I would say there is more good stuff.

With the bad stuff, a lot of it is designed to shock, so it is noticed more, but out of all the information gathered from around the world, I would say there is a lot more good information than bad information. A world in which information is not restricted, where people are able to speak freely and say what they want is becoming more possible now. This has only happened in the last five or so years. Until then it was just the media, or the government, people in power, who dictated what information was released. So these people in authority only released information that suited them and, as a result, they created a lot of the instability we see in the world today.

Nowadays, however, it has become possible for people with good intentions to get their voices heard. In another couple of years, this balance will have completely shifted. Before, although people in authority could shamelessly slander good people who had merely stated the truth, now there are blog websites like ’2 channel’ in Japan where anyone can write their opinions. It’s a period of transition, but I don’t think there’s any reason for concern. I believe one hundred percent that in essence, human beings are good. I believe that the number of people who have very bad thoughts are less than one percent.

I: People tend to be very easily influenced.

E: Yes, people may be swayed by charismatic leaders. However, since six years ago I have been carrying out the Emoto Peace project where I go to various places and give my book ‘Messages from Water’ to children for free. The book teaches what the real essence of water is, and that if you use good words they create beautiful crystals and if you use bad words they create ugly ones. I believe this is a quick and effective way to spread peace.

I: Going on from the power of words, You have discovered that the words ‘Love’ and ‘Gratitude’ create the most beautiful crystals. Are there other words that we should be also mindful of?

E: Definitely. Words like ‘Innocence’, for example will make a beautiful crystal. ‘Peace’,  ‘Consideration’, words like that. When we think about it in a simple way, the world, the universe is  a work of art. The combination of vibrations is what forms this universe. Vibration is energy after all. In this combination of vibrations, there are ones which have resonance with others, and ones which have non-resonance with others. For example, on the piano keyboard, C, E and G will make a nice harmony. C, F, A  and A, D, G also. These sort of sounds together make a beautiful energy which we can pick up with our ears. If, however, we hit C and D together it makes a dissonance. This has a destructive energy. Harmonies like C, E, G and C, F, A have a constructive energy.

When God had in mind to create something great, that which has constructive energy was the building block, because with destructive energy you can’t create anything. So originally when the universe and this earth was created, only beautiful energy was present. And the essence of this energy is love and gratitude in my opinion. Love is the energy which you give. Gratitude is the energy to receive that love. Yin and Yang, plus and minus- if there isn’t an energy to receive love then things cannot be created. Because I believe water is the messenger of God, I believe the essence of water is made up of love and gratitude.

Take the chemical formula of water, H2 O. The O is oxygen, but I see it as love. The H is hydrogen but I see it as gratitude. So one part of love and two parts of gratitude, this is the real meaning of water in my opinion. So when the words love and gratitude are shown to water, it is the most happy. There is resonance; ‘yes that’s right, that’s right’, it’s saying and makes a beautiful crystal. So why is it one part to two? Why is the giving part one and the receiving part two? The reason this makes a good balance is because if it was just one part to two, then things would not progress. When love is given once and gratitude is received twice, the energy continues on and on. For this reason I believe H2 O is the chemical formula for water.

I: In regards to music nowadays, modern classical music for example uses a lot of dissonance. In the past there were composers such as Mozart who were making beautiful harmonies- will music go back to creating pleasant harmonies again?

E: I believe the wavelength emitted from the society at the time has a big influence. In Japan after the war, it was a tough time. No jobs, nothing. Surprisingly though, the songs that were popular at the time were cheerful songs. It was music that was designed to offer comfort to those who were depressed.  In New York, as lots of different races were mixed together, a different type of society with different sorts of relationships between people was created. In so doing, a different sort of music was created, ‘modern jazz’. It was a sort of music that reflected the social situation at the time. Inside that type of music, there was obviously bad music too. Really energetic, noisy music. I don’t think rock n’ roll is bad, but some types of it I feel there is a destructive energy which tries to destroy things in the world.

I: In your research, what do you want people to learn most of all?

E: From water, I want people to learn to love, to express gratitude. Since water is in all things, we can express this love and gratitude when relating to all things. When we really do this, the energy of this thought gets connected to our real parent, God. When this happens, we start to see the remaining ninety-seven percent. At present, there is three percent. Do a bit more study and it goes up to five percent. A little more understanding and it goes up to ten percent, fifteen percent and so on. And in that, an amazing quality of energy is created, which then changes all the many problems at the moment in an instant. In the world today, there are of lots of things we wish to know, mysterious things. Every time we search for and discover these things we can experience so much joy.

I: Is there a particular routine that we should do everyday?

E: Yes,as I said before, try and express love and gratitude in your life. Obviously relationships with people can be complicated in this world and you can lose your temper. But this will always come back to yourself. These two words are enough to keep in mind, in my opinion. Love and Gratitude. Love and Gratitude.

I: Last question, this Summit is called WISH summit which stands for Women’s International Summit for Health. What wish do you think women should have in this present age?

E: That’s quite a difficult question. (laughs). Well, first of all, I don’t know if it is necessary to differentiate between men and women. In the beginning, I don’t think there were men and women -  it doesn’t apply to the Creator. Then people started to live in a way that was against the Creator’s wishes, which is when age and death occurred. I believe there was no such thing as age for people in the beginning. From that point onwards, we became a type of animal, and our lifespan was for a couple of hundred years, before it gradually started decreasing. When this happened, like the other animals we were divided into male and female, in order to continue the lineage. Originally, I believe the female is closer to the true nature of the human being. So if women can hold important roles in society such as politician or company president, or academic, then they will be appreciated more and more. Ultimately it would be good not to have to make a distinction between men and women. For any person, to go about one’s daily life with a sense of ‘mission’ would be the best in my opinion.

I: And how about you, Dr. Emoto, what is your greatest wish?

E: Well, there are so many parts in the world where if we go on as we have been, the future is very bleak, but I believe it is important for the whole world to believe in the same thing, one theme. According to the country and people, there are differences in history, skin colour, political system, and so on. If you start expressing your opinion on various things such as territory, conflicts arise. So we have to ask- what is it that the human race all share with each other, that everyone needs in order to survive? That is water. Well, water and air. Although I think air and water are really the same thing. Light as well, of course; all of these are connected in my opinion. But the most tangible thing out of these, is water. It has weight, and it can change shape. So I vouch for putting water in the primary school textbooks of all the countries in the world. I want to show how water carries information. My earnest wish is for people to keep doing things to ensure all children in the world learn about this fact. Then everyone will realise that we are all the same.

I: Thank you once again for taking the time out to do this interview, it was very interesting.

E: Thank you very much, it was my pleasure.

Please leave your comments below. I feel this is one of the most important interviews I have ever read or had the privilege of facilitating. Please do let me know what you think. Thanks so much.

- by Tera Warner

In honor of upcoming Mother’s Day, Father’s Day around the corner and the start of our 90-Day Communication Cleanse, I’m delighted to present this interview with a dear friend and my family counselor. He’s an amazing person and WITHOUT DOUBT my mentor in communication. I learn SO much from him.

This call is a fabulous conversation about how we can learn to understand and appreciate one another in spite of, or actually because of, our differences. I invited him to come and speak to our community during our  “Raw Mom Cooked Dad” series of interviews. If you struggle butting heads with someone you care about, get frustrated with people you can’t relate to, or would simply like to improve and upgrade your own communication habits, you will absolutely LOVE this interview with Darrel.

Meet My Friend Darrel Schlereth

My absolute mentor in communication and one of my children’s favorite people in the whole, wide world is Darrel. He’s got extensive training in communication human relationships and

I invited him as part of our Raw Mom Cooked Dad summit a couple years ago to help us discuss some of the ways we can

improve our communication with loved ones who do not necessarily share our point of view about health, wellness, ways of eating etc.

Whether food feuds are a concern for you or not, the tools in this call will absolutely help you:

• Become better able to understand another’s point of view
• Develop communication skills for helping other people better understand your point of view.
• The most important thing you need to do if you want people to hear and understand you. (Tip. It has NOTHING to do with talking!)
• A cool trick to immediately improve  the way you make people feel.
• How to communicate with someone who is suffering, or has behaviors, ways of communicating or even habits that cause you upset and concern.
• How to understand and manage your “buttons” when someone really just “rubs you the wrong way.”
• How to adapt your communication to effectively connect with people who are upset, angry, depressed or overwhelmed.
• Recognize the tremendous impact you have on other people and how you can IMMEDIATELY and dramatically alter the course of relationships and events by handling YOURSELF before pointing out the shortcomings, problems, inconsistencies or difficulties of another person!
• How to bring out the best in a person effortlessly so they can move into the best parts of themselves more easily.
• A powerful tool to improve your relationships with others and the well-being of all people by making one simple adjustment in how you communicate!

There are some of the tools and tricks that I apply in all of my communication. If you use this call and the tools that Darrel suggests, you will immediately and significantly improve our relationships with others and help lift people up rather than create more confusion, upset and conflict in the world.

p.s.

This interview has a SUPER CUTE theme song that we created for our Raw Mom Cooked Dad Summit. You can listen to it here and check out the lyrics!! Sooooo cute!

p.p.s.

Darrel would be happy to answer any questions you have about situations you might get into and need advice for. You can post your questions below, OR if you’d prefer they remain private, feel free to email me (tera at terawarner.com) and I’ll forward your questions directly to him!