Nature, Beauty and Life - Susan's Blog

Sources

2011-03-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Finding seaweeds could be difficult for some just now and in our little town I have heard that the local co-op is sold out. Here are links to some on line companies that harvest and sell seaweed in various sizes from small one-ounce packages to bulk - one half to full pounds. I recommend a bulk purchase as it makes the use of it feel less precious and it is readily available to throw in a handful to the day’s meal pot.

Here are some links for on line sources:
Ocean Harvest http://oceanharvestseavegetables.foodoro.com/

Maine Coast Sea Vegetables https://www.seaveg.com/shop/

Mendocino Sea Vegetables http://www.seaweed.net/

Ryan Drum http://www.ryandrum.com/seaxpan1.html

Cooking idea: Put seaweed in anything you cook with water – stock, rice, beans, stews, soup, sauces, spaghetti. If you are using large pieces pull them out at the end of cooking. If using small pieces just mix them in and serve.

Flaked seaweed is ok to use and blends into dishes easily. Be careful of powdered seaweed though, as it smells very strong and can cause taste problems in your cooking. We don’t want to scare anyone off!

Bury it! Incorporating sea weeds into foods

2011-03-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

This is a technique to introduce yourself and your loved ones to new foods that you may not like or think that you will not like! But a food can’t be good for you unless you eat it so creating good tasting and familiar meals is paramount.

Seaweed: also known as sea-vegetables, are the plants that grow around the continents of the earth and have been part of our diets through the ages.

An excellent way of introducing them to the diet is to add them to the cooking water and broths of many recipes such as spaghetti, soup and stew and when cooking beans, peas and lentils. In the later case seaweed has the ability to help with the digestibility of these foods while adding their rich source of minerals.

Here is a dynamite recipe for spaghetti – everyone will love it and never know what all they are eating!

Chop a whole onion and cook it in a heavy pan in coconut oil on a medium heat. While these are cooking chop a variety of vegetable to add to the cooking onions; carrots, shiitake mushrooms, parsley including the stems, garlic, peppers, etc.
An optional boost is to also add a teaspoon to tablespoon of ground turmeric to the pan and cook in the coconut oil. This herb will give your spaghetti a beautiful golden color while helping ward off conditions of inflammation and disease.

After the vegetables have begun to wilt add the ground meat of your choice; hamburger, ground turkey or chicken, etc. and break up and stir round to brown a bit. Then add your tomato base – fresh if you have it, which I seldom do – or cans of organic diced or crushed tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. Heat this through and add your sea vegetable – this can be whole kombu fronds or small pieces of wakame, hiziki, fucus (bladderwrack) etc. These can be soaked and chopped before adding, but include the soaking water too. Add salt to taste and herbs such as rosemary, oregano or thyme and put on a simmer for about an hour.
Note: if you have used the whole kombu you will have great pieces of seaweed in your spaghetti when it is done which does not serve our purposes of hiding and burying the unfamiliar. To solve this and work magic on your sauce pull out the pieces and put them on a cutting board and cut up the now soft pieces into small pieces that will be undetectable in the final dish. Cut one way then across the other way until the frond is mush then put back into the dish and stir well.

Check for seasoning, and add more salt if necessary. Chop some cilantro and stir in just before serving so that it keeps its bright green color.

Serve over pasta. Some of the new whole-wheat pastas are much improved over the early versions and make the meal more hearty and filling with all the ingredients of the whole grain.

More healthy eating! Miso soup

2011-03-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

I do not believe there is any reason to fear the air we breathe or the water we drink - but sometimes we are thrown a curve ball when the world feels threatening as with the recent events in Japan. I plan to post articles here on foods that help protect the body from harm from external pollutants and recipes to go with them.

So, previously there was Low Tide soup using sea vegetables! and today I will extol the benefits of Miso soup for protection against ionizing radiation. Research has found that miso contains a compound, dipilocolonic acid, which chelates heavy metals and helps carry them out of the body. Animal studies and human anecdotal evidence points to the fact that exposure to radiation can be mitigated by these compounds in miso.

Miso soup - this soup can be as complex or as simple as you want. The essence is using miso to flavor and season the soup.

A simple version is to simmer a length of kombu seaweed in water for 20 minutes, remove the kombu and reserve for another use (more later) then add small pieces of wakame seaweed - this can usually be broken up in the fingers - small cubes of tofu if desired and cook for ten minutes or so. Then add miso to taste, about two tables spoons per serving. Add a small amount of soup stock to a bowl with miso and break it up with the back of a spoon then add to the soup pan and serve. Try not to boil the soup after adding miso to preserve its beneficial enzymes. Enjoy!

Healthy eating in a changing world

2011-03-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

With the potential for radiation spreading in the atmosphere due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan I posted a recipe for a seaweed soup on FaceBook over the weekend and am now re posting it here.

This recipe is inspired by Susun Weed’s book Healing Wise. My kids would call it ‘low tide’ soup and it had a wonderful aroma of the beach at low tide! Something every child who grew up in the Islands carries with them no matter where they end up!

So, begin with basic soup making, sauté a chopped onion, grated or finely chopped carrots, plus other vegetables – daikon, napa cabbage, burdock (gobo), etc. till you have a nice pile in the pan. Use toasted sesame oil or coconut oil to sauté until the vegetables are wilted and starting to caramelize (no, not burn, but just before).

Mean while take a bunch of seaweeds – hiziki, wakame, bladderwack (fucus), kombu broken into small pieces and soak them in water while the vegetables cook. Do not use powdered seaweed! You want the ‘vegetables’ from the sea that are dried whole. If the pieces are large, take them from the water and cut them into smaller pieces on a cutting board – do not throw away the water.

When the vegetables are cooked a bit add the chopped seaweeds and their soaking water plus water to make enough soup to feed your crowd. Simmer for half hour to 45 minutes.

Just before serving add a couple of tablespoons of toasted sesame oil, good quality tamari and hot pepper oil to taste plus some chopped cilantro. Cilantro is another of the cleanser herbs and will also help protect from within.

This soup can smell very seaweedy but is delicious when the toasted oil, tamari and pepper oil is in balance. Yum. Have fun!

Earth Day Greetings

2010-04-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

Earth Day, 2010
40 years on and I remember the first one!

I said at the end of the last newsletter that I wanted to talk about skin, sun and health. Since it is Earth Day it seems appropriate that as we celebrate the earth we celebrate the sun’s life giving forces on our jewel of a planet. The ancients worshipped the sun under names like Helios, Apollo, Ra, Hathor, Surya, in world mythologies. Shrines and temples were built to honor and welcome the Sun’s rays back to earth after the darkened winter period.

The sun is what allows all life on the Earth, plant, animal and human. The power of sunlight in the process of photosynthesis for plant growth and the production of Vitamin D in the human body are Nature forces at the top of their game, so much out of so little. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient created by the sun’s rays in the skin in the presence of oils. It is a necessary part of a healthy functioning body including the immune system, bones, teeth and skin. It helps prevent autoimmune conditions and functions as an antibiotic in the body. Low levels of this basic nutrient are found in patients suffering a variety of chronic diseases; indicating not cause but possible involvement of deficiency conditions. Its comprehensive application in the body could render it the Beauty Vitamin since health is what allows our natural beauty to shine.

And then mid Twentieth Century modern sunscreen was invented and immortalized in the Coppertone ad of 1959. The iconographic marketing campaign showing a little girl with a distinct tan line where her puppy is tugging at her bathing suit set us up to first use sun screens occasionally when spending hours in the sun then, over time upping the recommendation to be covered anytime the sun was shining. In our modern era the sun has been linked to ageing and cancers thus our collective retreat from exposure of any kind. But along with this repudiation of the sun has been a rise in many more diseases and conditions that are increasingly becoming linked to Vitamin D deficiencies. The incidence of skin cancer has actually grown since the introduction of sunscreens and rickets, a Vitamin D deficiency disease of a past era, is on the rise again.

What has occurred in our culture since the 1950’s is the significant increase in synthetically created chemicals in our food, air, and water and most specifically, our products for use on the body. Could it be that the culprit in our sun-associated conditions is not the sun after all, but the laboratory concocting un-natural chemical compounds that are not in the body’s naturally occurring dictionary of usable foods and skin care substances?

Well, it so happens that the earth has our interests at heart, as it produces compounds in plants that protect us from excess sun where the sun is highest and hottest. In Africa shea butter is used for everything from cooking to sun protection. In the Pacific coconut oil and cocoa butter are the locally produced oils. In India Sesame oil is the predominant oil and it has been tested at an SPF rating of fifteen. Where the sun is highest and hottest the plants produce compounds that provide the skin with protection from excess sun! How brilliant is that? And just putting good quality oil on our skin while in the sun helps produce Vitamin D in the skin.

Those of you who have used our products for a long time know that we only use the purest and the best oils, organic, unrefined, and authentic and what your ancestral body cells would recognize even in the 21st Century! All of our products are earth and plant based so that your body is in tune with the rhythms of the earth and its beautiful cycle of life!

Happy Earth Day! Love her!

Spring/Dandelions

2010-04-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Newsletter Easter Monday 2010

Spring again, really the beginning of the year when the garden, all of a sudden, is alive once more. Dandelions are the first flowers to bloom heavily and abundantly and are ambrosia for the bees and other pollinating insects providing abundant food for them after a winter of limited fare. This fullness of pollen and nectar is a gift to all the bees and pollinators, as dandelions do not require pollination to set seed and reproduce.

Dandelions are symbols of abundance, raying discs of golden yellow mirroring the now rising sun as it climbs up in the sky towards summer. Then an abundance of seeds making their presence in the garden and surrounding area secure for the future. Dandelions are excellent spring plants for shaking off the winter and welcoming spring. Eat all parts, roots, leaves and flowers. Known as a ‘blood cleanser’ due to its ability to improve the liver and promote good digestion, dandelions are a welcome presence in the garden this time of year. Really!

Yellow, the color of spring, which includes the daffodils and forsythia as well as dandelions, is the color representing happiness, higher mind and illumination. There is an intelligence to the dandelion that I marvel at. Anyone who has a lawn that is not sprayed with weed killer and mows intermittently as I do, will have witnessed how first thing in the spring, the dandelion flower grows on a tall stem high up towards the sun. Then, with the introduction of mowing, the flower abandons the stem and height and tucks itself down into the rosette of leaves at ground level out of the reach of the rotating blades. A plant that adapts, and quickly, to its immediate environment! We should all be so able!

I have written before about the ability of Dandelion flowers to aid the body, both at the cellular and energetic levels to release what is held in the physical form. The physical body can be viewed as a template that holds our uniqueness and our experiences for us as we live our lives. It is a sensitive medium like a wax tablet that imprints our experiences both favorable and unfavorable. When experiences are too strongly felt, such as tight shoulder muscles, and interfere with our well being something that can aid the release is in order. This is the power of the lowly dandelion flower.

These special properties can be captured in infusions and in flower essences. Both of these dandelion flower preparations have releasing and purification properties and both are in our Dandelion Flower Oil. Aches, pains and tension are literally erased when the oil is massaged into the muscle system. As a sleep aid I now keep a bottle of the oil by my bed and rub it into my torso area from my neck to my belly when I can’t get to sleep and the next thing I know is it is morning and I am waking up, well rested and ready to begin anew. It is kind of like spring in the body. http://www.solumandherbe.com/index.cgi/pid=2|35/DANDELION-FLOWER-OIL-2-oz.htm

Next Newsletter will talk about our skin and the sun. Coming soon.

What is Glycerin

2009-08-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

There really isn’t a mystery about what glycerin is. It is the glycerol part of triglycerides that make up all oils, both vegetable and animal. All oils and fats are combinations of triglycerides, which are three fatty acid molecules that combine with a single glycerol molecule. In the soap making process the fatty acids and the glycerol molecules are broken apart and reformed to make “soap.” In industrial soap making processes the glycerol molecules, glycerin, is separated out and used in industry, in cosmetics and in foods. In the handmade soap making process called cold process the retained glycerin in the soap bars help condition the skin, keep it from drying out and are beneficial.

Glycerin is a clear sweet tasting liquid and is about ten to fifteen percent heavier than water. It is not a whole “food/substance” since it has been separated from its wholeness in the original oil but other than that it is a useful ingredient when used appropriately. Glycerin is termed a humectant, which means that it is a substance that draws water to it. An excess of glycerin used on the skin can draw water out of the cells and towards the glycerin but in small quantities it can draw water to the skin from the atmosphere. An old fashioned recipe for hand lotion was Rosewater and Glycerin that women made them selves before the onset of mass marketed body care products. Glycerin is also used to make Glycerites of herbs, glycerin and water used in equal quantities to extract the herbal properties as a non-alcohol base for use by children and adults who are sensitive to alcohol.

In my body care products I use glycerin in wash off formulas because I don’t like the sticky feel of it in creams and lotions that stay on the skin. So it is only found in my cleanser, scrub and wet masks, all products that are washed off after a relatively short period of time. I also make a few herbal glycerites for people who want them. The vegetable glycerin that I use is made from palm oil.

It is what it is - a useful ingredient that is not made from petroleum products. Some of the alternatives to glycerin in the synthetic world are propylene or ethylene glycol, Dimethicone and carbitol, serious chemicals that I would never want to use on my skin.
August 4, 2009

2009-07-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

FLOWER ESSENCES

Making flower essences – the transferring of the vibrations of the flower to a water medium – is not complex or difficult. This profound act of tapping the healing nature of the natural world can be accomplished with a few simple tools and the intent to capture the restorative powers of the plant world in drops of water.

All elements of Nature have a chord or a note that is innate to that element. Each flower has a vibration like a musical note that emanates from the blossom to the area surrounding it and it is this vibration that has healing potential when made into a flower essence. Dr. Edward Bach pioneered these new forms of healing in the 1920’s in England and made the first 38 remedies and his well-known Rescue Remedy at that time. In the intervening years his marvelous healing drops have helped many people and sparked an ever growing wave of new flower essence producers, practitioners and related healing modalities. There are essence producers who live in all regions and climates of the globe producing new essences and making them available to their regions and worldwide; Australia, Alaska, East Coast, West Coast, Desert, Northwest and Hawaiian are a few of the regions producing new essence collections.

To make an essence you will need flowers, pure water, spring well or filtered, a clear glass bowl and a bright sunny morning preferably with out clouds. I like to make my essences between the hours of eight AM and eleven before the noonday sun hits them. I get up and if I have already decided which flowers I am going to make I go to that plant and greet it often saying good morning! I gently cut or pick the flowers handling them as little as possible and using chop sticks gently place the flowers in the water in the glass bowl. When the bowl is full of flowers I carry it to a place in the garden where no shadows will fall across the bowl while the essence is being made. Why? Because the water that the flowers are floating in is in the process of being imprinted with the vibration of the flowers and everything else that passes between the sun and the water. The shadow from your power line will also imprint, as would your dog walking by – or drinking from the bowl!! I do not worry about garden insects that fly around but I do try to avoid person made or large animal imprints when making essences.

Place your bowl in an unobstructed area in the sun and see or sense the flowers imprinting the water. Then go about your morning. Around 11:00 I bring the bowl in under my outdoor umbrella or indoors if the weather is cold. Using the chopsticks I pick the flowers out of the water and pour the essence water into a storage jar that is clean and ready sieving out botanical material if necessary. Then add a good quality brandy – many essence makers like Korbel – about one-third to two-thirds essence water to preserve your essence. This is your mother tincture essence. From this you can make stock bottles by adding twelve drops of the mother to a one third brandy, two thirds water mix in a one or two ounce dropper bottle. It is from the stock bottle that you can then make dosage bottles for yourself, your family and friends or clients.

Sun and the body - wise or not?

2009-04-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

SUN – summer is coming – why are we so afraid of the sun? It’s too bad because without it all life on earth would perish. And we need the Vitamin D that is wisely made in our bodies by the action of the sun’s rays on our skin. And Vitamin D prevents cancer; so what gives?

It is a long and involved story, our relationship with the sun and the medical and advertising industries. My take on this is that our undernourishment of necessary nutrients and over abundance of unnecessary additives in our diets and personal care items are where the blame should be laid.

Nature, in her wisdom has given us many tools for living on this great and glorious planet of hers. One tool is the presence of local plant materials that both feed and protect our bodies in our home environments. She also provides plant medicines but that is another book!

In my years of amateur study on oils – I come across so many – I discovered that the tropical oils – the oils that are often saturated and solid at room temperature and grow in the tropics have sun protective properties that have been used by indigenous peoples of those regions for lifetimes. There are a few unsaturated oils, liquid at room temperatures that are also sun protective. Two come to mind, sesame oil which is the oil of India and Ayurvedic practices and Jojoba oil of the Southwest US and Mexico where the natives both ate the nuts and used the oils for cooking and eating.

Growing up in the Hawaiian Islands many years ago I remember that my first “sun lotion” was a mix of coconut oil and cocoa butter – hmmm…it smelled good and we were able to tan well and protect our skin from drying out. Then, as I got a bit older, baby oil (mineral oil and scent) was substituted on the erroneous assumption that tanning was enhanced by this new choice. The result of that experience was not pretty. Going back years later and seeing the skin of those who went to the mineral oil was a primary lesson for me in going natural! Their skin looked like leather, well tanned leather, thick and not pliant, as skin wants to be.

So the message I want to impart is to stay as natural as possible. There is a wealth of lovely oils that can nourish the skin as well as bring some sun protection for the times when you are out in the elements. Shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, mango butter and sesame and jojoba oils – these are the kind of protection and nourishment that your skin will love. And thank you for.

And loose the chemicals that come in commercial sunscreens. They could be causing as many problems as they claim to solve. Love your skin, feed it well and it will love you back and protect you. Have a great summer.

Age Spots - how to get rid of them!

2009-04-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

Age spots; we all dread the dark spots that develop on our hands and arms as we age. We don’t have to let them develop - a simple change in diet can fade old spots and will prevent new ones from forming.

I am often asked if I make a cream that will remove the age spots that appear on the face and backs of the hands and arms in women, as they get older. Men get them too but they don’t ask for creams! I wish there were such a cream as it would be so easy to hand over a jar and lucrative too! Age spots are formed on the skin by the foods that we eat and more specifically the oils. They are the result of oxidative damage to the cells in the skin. These damaged cells are also on the inside of the body where we can’t see them and are one of the factors in the aging process. A simple change of cooking techniques and if necessary improved quality of foods will help these darkened areas fade to be almost unnoticeable, a big promise but one that I have witnessed and experienced.

To begin, let’s acknowledge that oils are an important part of the diet and of a healthy functioning body, so it figures that the kinds that are consumed will make a difference in the quality of health that you enjoy. Olive oil, flax oil, fish oils are all part of a good diet but when it comes to cooking foods a saturated oil such as coconut and butter are superior because of that saturation. And, NO, coconut oil and butter will not contribute to heart disease!

Saturated oils are hard at room temperature in temperate climates because they do not have broken bonds that keep the mono and polyunsaturated oils liquid. These broken bonds on the carbon chains of oils are unstable and will attract an oxygen molecule when heated or exposed to strong light. This is the process of oil going rancid, it ‘dries,’ and is called oxidation. This is the source of dark spots in the skin – oxidative damage to the cells – so called age spots! Oxidation is in essence a burning in the body – a ‘fire’ in the cells that results in brown spots in the skin.

So for cooking, coconut oil is superior to the usual omega 6 oils; olive, canola, sunflower, etc. Cooking with saturated oils will protect the cells from oxidative damage from oxygen attaching to a mono or polyunsaturated oil. What about the health benefits of olive, flax, borage and the other healthful oils that we hear about? By all means, eat them as dressings, as dips, at the table but do not use them in cooking where heat and light will break them down and cause damage in the body.