Interviews on Herbal Radio with Thomas Dick | Featuring Leah Song and Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia
Welcome to a very special episode featuring Leah Song and Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia. We love the soulful tunes from this sister duo and get the feeling that their music resonates with a lot of other folks in the herbal community as well. It was certainly wonderful welcoming Leah and Chloe as our live musical guests for our first virtual Free Herbalism Project (FHP) back in May 2020. After the FHP collaboration, we knew that we wanted to get to know them a little better.
Herbal Radio producer, Elise, sits in with Thomas for a lovely conversation with Leah and Chloe. We talk about their upbringing, inspirations, relationship to the herbal community, herbs that support them while on tour and at home, as well as the slow music movement. We hope you enjoy!
Sustainably Foraging So-Cal | Tea Talks Roundtable
In this new “Tea Talks Roundtable” series, Jiling gathers four local Ventura and Santa Barbara county herbal teachers to discuss sustainable foraging in southern California (aka. So-Cal). Learn more about the Ventura area’s Mediterranean climate, ethical harvesting considerations, and some of the plants that make this area special. We discuss building relationships with plants, spring nibbles, gardening, white sage, horehound, tasty naturalized plants, warrior plants, and conclude with some of our favorite easy to grow medicinals. Enjoy the chat! Learn more about these Ventura area herbal teachers below:
Horsetail | A plant walk with jim mcdonald
We recently had the pleasure of going on a plant walk with our talented herbalist friend jim mcdonald and learned some fascinating information about horsetail (Equisetum sp.). Sometimes called scouring rush, bottle brush, or shavegrass, this botanical ally has been on the planet for more than 350 million years and is rich in minerals, especially silica, which is why you sometimes see it in formulations for healthy skin, hair, nails, and connective tissue. However, horsetail contains thiaminase, which breaks down the necessary thiamin (vitamin B1) levels in the human body and can lead to thiamin deficiency. But did you know that if you decoct horsetail in boiling water or extract it in alcohol that is above 30%, you can destroy the thiaminase without losing the silica and minerals? That is an herbalism hack worth knowing! Learn more about horsetail with jim mcdonald!
Learn more plant facts with jim: https://herbcraft.podia.com
Follow jim on Instagram and TikTok: @herb.craft
Follow jim on YouTube: @herbcraft
Herbs Are Not Pharmaceuticals | Featuring Dr. Christopher Hobbs
This podcast episode comes from Dr. Christopher Hobbs’ presentation for the Fall 2022 Free Herbalism Project. This was a virtual event that took place over Zoom on October 14, 2022. Dr. Hobbs discusses why herbs and herbal medicine is fundamentally different than drugs. Since the pandemic, the popularity of herbal medicine in households has continued to grow rapidly. Dr. Hobbs help us to look closely and practically at how herbal medicine can transform your health and wellness while helping to relieve symptoms and chronic ailments. His presentation also details why choosing herbal medicine as our first line of prevention and treatment in most ailments can not only benefit us—side benefits rather than side effects—while being completely sustainable and beneficial for our beautiful planet and all the inhabitants. Dr. Christopher Hobbs occasionally references slides throughout his presentation. You can find his slides by watching the presentation on our YouTube channel.
Plant Stories | Featuring Julia O. Bianco
For this week’s Plant Stories podcast, we interview multi-disciplinary artist Julia O. Bianco. Julia was a Deep Ecology Artist Fellow at the United Plant Savers (UpS) Sanctuary, one of our favorite non-profit organizations focused on protecting native medicinal plants, fungi, and their ecosystems. Hear how an online foraging class, the artist in residency program at the UpS Sanctuary, and the plants Julia encountered in the Appalachian foothills, all helped to shape the course of her life and her creative inspiration. Julia closes the show by reading three of her nature-inspired poems.
Body Into Balance, With Maria Noël Groves | Tea Talks With Jiling
Jiling and Maria discuss favorite easy-to-grow herbs for a medicinal herb garden, “remedy gardens,” favorite herbs for delicious teas, increasing access for herbal classes within a for-profit business model, and more. We hope this conversation inspires your spring planting, growing, learning, and harvesting projects!
An Integrative Wellness Approach | Featuring 7Song
In 2006, esteemed herbalist 7Song (@7Songsevensong ) reluctantly attended a planning meeting for a new clinic in his hometown of Ithaca, New York. He was surprised to learn that there were plans to provide an herbalism practice alongside other alternative therapies and conventional healing modalities–an approach in which our mainstream healthcare system often falls short. Not only was this multi-faceted approach fresh and exciting, but all services would be offered to the community for free. Seventeen years later, the Ithaca Free Clinic is still serving Tompkins County with 100% free integrative medical services.
Interviews On Herbal Radio With Thomas Dick | Featuring Rosemary Gladstar
We hope you enjoy this week’s episode as we chat about Rosemary’s upbringing, the importance of bringing community together towards action, her current favorite simple tea blend (listed below), and so much more.
The Importance And Limitations Of Scientific Research For Herbalists
Learning to read and assess scientific research articles is an important skill for the modern herbalist. The information is literally at our fingertips, however, we do need to know how to interpret it. As herbalists, our information is scrutinized. Someone can be on seven medications with dangerous side effects, but when something goes wrong, it will be blamed on the lavender in their deodorant. If we make the wrong claims, we can risk serious repercussions.
Botany Everyday, With Marc Williams | Tea Talks With Jiling
Marc and Jiling discuss one of Marc’s previous keynote conference topics, “Weaving and Mending: Herbalism from the past, in the present, for the future.” Learn about empowerment through weeds, heart-songs, ancestral honoring practices, global healing traditions, and more.
