Alchemica

This year, I moved on to some new patches at home along with my own medicinal herbs and culinary stuff: For the herb beds I used Red Clover and Self-Heal as edible living mulch and focused on plants like Chamomile, Moldavian Dragonhead, Lemon Balm, Yarrow, Mexican Tarragon, Roselle, Tulsi, Marshmallow, Echinacea etc The other things were - A bee and butterfly and flower garden (even has a bee motel) - A 'medicinal weed patch' The Bee and Butterfly flower garden has things like Rose, Yarrow, Chamomile, Anise Hyssop, Mexican Tarragon, Lemon Bergamot which are useful medicinally, but primarily this is also a place away from consumption where I make room for and nurture the feminine in life. It is a place I appreciate beauty, sensuality and healthy sexuality I find rather than being something you need to consume from the garden, often it's connecting with the moment and multi-sensory enrichment via nature that is more therapeutic. It's also good to have a dynamic of novelty/new elements coming into play so each day you get to notice something. It's a 'Positive Vibes Garden' with a free plants box still. I tried to incorporate elements that to me are useful to day-to-day boost mental well being, particularly that encourage contact with the moment and a sense of connection. To me, those beneficial aspects include multi-sensory enrichment and company from 'friends'. I know it makes my day when something like a cool insect comes to visit. It provides sensory enrichment with vibrant bold colours (sunflowers, Cosmos etc) and diverse plants, tastes and smell. It tries to draw in nature - particularly winged creatures. The Medicinal Weed Patch has Dandelions, Wild Chicory, Crystal Ice Plant, Milk Thistle There's also purple carrots, chamomile etc spread between it It's a patch where I reflect on our need to love the unloved aspects of both ourselves and others to heal. Where we have to not fight with the darkness within and around us but accept and grow beyond it. Where when we nourish the darkness with mutual kindness, care, compassion and respect, it can lessen it's hold and be food for healing where we don't fight the old but focus on building the new of better, more loving ways It teaches us we can take the unloved weeds of life and through loving them, nourish health

I've generally thought Tulsi Vana was 'clove basil' ie O. gratissimum while the other Tulsi were the O. sanctum/ O. tenuiflorum but could easily be wrong? From The Medicine of Basil post O. gratissimum The plant exhibited various biological activities including antidiabetic, muscle relaxant, anthelmintic, antinociceptive, antihypotensive, antileishmanial, antioxidant activity, anticonvulsant and anxiolytic activity. O. gratissimum contains a high quantity of essential oil (3.2-4.1%), ocimol, gratissimin, β-sitosterol, flavonoids, linolenic acid and polyphenolic compounds and is a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory with neuroprotective effects [1] The chemical analysis of essential oils showed eugenol and 1,8-cineole as principal compounds and trans-caryophyllene as a sesquiterpene in higher proportion [2]. The essential oil anti-convulsant, sedative and anxiolytic properties and leaves of O. gratissimum contain constituents which possess anticonvulsant and anxiolytic-like activities [3] [1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/13880209.2010.506489. [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20559750 [3] http://www.phcogres.com/article.asp?issn=0974-8490;year=2010;volume=2;issue=1;spage=36;epage=40;aulast=Okoli O. sanctum/ O. tenuiflorum O. tenuiflorum is used for treatment against a headache, constipation, kidney infections, cough, cold, and diarrhoea. The medicinal properties in Tulsi are mainly due to the presence of a variety of phenolic acids such as caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, flavonoids, and essential oils. Chavicol methyl ether (estragol), linalool, eugenol, 1, 8-cineole, and methyl cinnamate are the main compounds responsible for the typical aroma in the basil plant. Leaf extract enhances specific cognitive parameters in healthy adult volunteers [1]

Did you ever get far on this @LikeAshesWeFade? While I think you can do a lot medicinally with Salvia officinalis and that should be more widely appreciated medicinally, showing potent modulation of CNS receptors [1], AChE inhibition etc with cognitive and mood-enhancing efficacy [2], I'm interested if the White Sage is even more useful for cognition and mood - as you've highlighted, as far as we know, the biological properties extracts from S. apiana aerial parts were limited to the screen of the cannabinoid or opioid receptors activity (It showed moderate CB1 activity and some constituents opioid activity) [3] S. apiana is particularly rich in phenolic terpenes. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31196061 [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5318325/ [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28025900 Full thesis on the topic including extraction etc : http://thesis.honors.olemiss.edu/622/1/Taylor Hayes Thesis.pdf

For rapid result tasty microgreens during the warmer weather while waiting for other plants to mature, sunflowers have become a definite favourite. A couple of dollars gets you a HUGE bag of birdseed (attract some birds while you're at it). Just wash, soak overnight, super densely plant out in soil and harvest in a couple of days... and repeat From experience, birdseed is a little too unclean to try sprouting in a jar even after washing but is fine done as microgreens Sunflower microgreens, contrary to many of the greens I have, have a super pleasant, mild sweetness that would be enjoyed by most They are high in protein and minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron and a source of good fats. They demonstrate numerous beneficial effects [1] including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, wound-healing and cardiovascular benefits. The antioxidant capacity of H. annuus was also much stronger than other microgreens and a proposed to be beneficial for metabolic disorders and diabetes [2]. [1] https://dx.doi.org/10.1186%2Fs13065-017-0328-7 [2] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf300737y

I've been revisiting this, switching caffeine for Alpinia galanga Ended up fermenting a non-alcoholic galangal beer (similar to ginger beer) with 25g/L dry A. galanga (found a nice pungent powder) and some fresh rhizome. Several attempts have been made to develop another natural product which has similar effects as caffeine without producing adverse cardiovascular and nervous system side effects. Of the galangal extracts, the aqueous extract of A. galanga was found to be the most efficient in enhancing the mental alertness which was further assessed by a well-designed clinical study in the human population: it was "more efficient compared to caffeine to maintain the mental alertness without inducing the caffeine-crash like symptoms" It has actions of inhibiting dopamine reuptake leading to an attention-enhancing effect with additional AChE inhibition and has neuroprotective effects. [1]. [1] https://m.scirp.org/papers/86091 I modified the recipe from [2] and did a quick ferment using (for a 5L batch): 300g grated fresh galangal 125g dry galangal 1tsp cinnamon powder Tsp of cloves 250g sugar (added a non-fermenting sweetener to taste) 5 L of water 3 lemons Got a brew I enjoy but my taste buds are fried so be warned - a family member who had never had galangal didn't like it. You'll want to filter the majority of the galangal out after making the tea if you don't want a thick mess

An experiment in 'Plant Spirit Art' Do you feel plants have a spirit? If nothing else, they have an personal, often unconscious imprint of how you relate to them which you can seemingly tap into through things like art. Been trying Plant Spirit 'Art', art purely for the process, not the outcome, where I take a moment to sit with the plant and actually connect. Taste a bit, maybe make a tea, smell it, see what feelings and memories it brings etc then quickly as possible without letting my analytical judgement get in the way, paint with the plant and it's 'energies' Some are quite intense energies that inspire a depth of feeling and connection, others are more subtle This is probably the most 'in the moment with the plant' and connected I've let myself be and it's in a way liberating and nourishing, even though super simple For example, tried to create a piece of succ-y art. Wanted to see what would happen if I shut my thinking off and just 'became one with the succulent' - what would happen merging the succulent spirit with paint, in the moment? Painted 100% with succulent, connecting with the spirit of the plant and just totally going with it. It succs but what do you expect? Feel it's an interesting way to explore the space and spirit of a plant, if I actually had artistic ability

Complimentary plant material - PM me. Not intended for therapeutic use or otherwise consumption - if anyone has TLC plates or anything, love to see something like that M. crystallinum (lots) or D. bosseranum (less) aerial parts, dried not fermented.

Cheers @Micromegas Pretty confident it's the one that gets used as a green for culinary purposes, game enough to have a taste anyway after checking with a few places. Being not a coastal person, haven't spotted it myself but haven't been looking Interestingly. the Garden of Eden states it contains "large quantities of oxalic acid" as sodium and potassium salts so it's odd it's finding such wide use in culinary circles without much mention of any risks.

Can anyone confirm that this wild find in fields of mallow is what I'm after? Edible: The crystal ice plant can be used steamed, stir-fried or blanched and is a great complement to seafood dishes. Medicinal: Aside from the above findings: May be a "promising functional food for the prevention of diabetes" [1,2] and have anti-obesity effects [3] It also has beneficial dermatological effects [4] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31089648 [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24374864 [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26390196 [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25592948 If so, happy to offer dried research material etc

How is your attunement to the spirits of the skies going? I've been exploring this, more as feather finding. It's a really nice (and 100% free) flow state searching for feathers and you really attune and connect to the environment around you - I feel you can interpret your 'feather findings' psycho-spiritually, in a more spirited way than reading tea leaves... I find I often find feathers that are in some way deeply relatable to life. I like to make little objects out of them. For example, yesterday's feathers to me are a reflection of my current struggle between lower and higher energies, learning to re-integrate shadow aspects, embrace dark and light and coming to a greater peaceful unity between the opposing duality to a greater whole Today, this one found me: To me, this is the feather of 'spirit triumphing over darkness'. Even when life is beating you down, there's a glimmer in the spirit to overcome the darkness.

For reference: From a reputable source, the seeds of M. crystallinum gave seedlings with expected glistening bladder cells

This is a new start for me. I got a mandala mindfulness mug started by a woman and finished it. It's simple art for me but it's a personally big step I used to gaze at women with the eyes of fear, now I'm finding I can gaze into theirs with eyes of love and healing. They are my mystery angels and medicine women. How can I love them better? Having a bit of trouble sleeping as for once, I have those divine beings called women running wild in my mind

Inspired by something my sister gave to me to give to my mum... Yep, it would succ without you, friends, family, caring kind people and supportive people I've met through SAB. So I've been sowing succulent seeds and got some free spares - Delosperma bosseranum x 2 significant quantities - Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (50 seeds) x 2 I've checked viability for both and they've germinated fine on the heat mat for me If you want a pack of each sent to sow, the first two people to tell me what their life would succ without in this thread get free seeds Sow with intent to manifest a kinder, more loving world Soon I'll hopefully have "life would succ without you starter packs of plants" to give to people of succulents I've known and loved In case no one has said it to you today and you're feeling down:

Thanks @HillLily. Hard to hear about your isolation, without knowing the reason could you try to form some connections in your community that might break that via your front yard? Ie. over here we have "Grow Free" carts where it's give what you can, take what you need but a simple something even a box that could form connection? A shared simple herb bed etc. Wish you brighter days, best wishes

You gotta start vibrationally imprinting your plants with positive vibes and start giving them to strangers... Words of kindness and giving are powerful Sow the seeds of what you want in life... be intentional. Here's an example. I recently started a free plants section of my garden out the front, it's been a nice change for me Here's an example of ingraining those positive kindness vibes as you sow And ditch the alcohol ASAP