Woodland Essence
Catnip - Nepeta Cataria.
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 20:11 — Lisa
I harvest Catnip in late June to early July as it is just starting to flower. I have a patch that I cultivate and many volunteers that have jumped ship and spread out across my property. I like to make both an alcohol tincture and a glycerine tincture (more on tincture making soon). Glycerine is much more palatable for children, but doesn’t preserve for as long. Catnip acts as a sedative in humans the opposite of how it acts in cats. Many eyebrows have been raised in response to my praise of catnip for children as most people associate catnip with the intoxicating and sometimes aggressive behavior it elicits in cats.
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The Wilds of Central New York and the Adirondacks
Sat, 04/25/2009 - 19:22 — Lisa
Welcome to By Earth, Root and Flower. I am Lisa and was born and raised in the Mohawk Valley in central New York State among the Adirondack foothills. The immigrants who first arrived in this region came from many different parts of Europe. My paternal grandparents were from Italy and immigrated to the small village of Dolgeville in the 1920’s to work in the industrial mills that were built along the West Canada Creek. My maternal grandparents were Irish and settled the high hills and meadows becoming mostly subsistence farmers grateful to be able to own their own land. Living in this area now and in the time before the first colonial settlements, were the Mohawk and Oneida tribes of the Iroquois Indians. I hold in my heart the deepest respect for these First Peoples whose teachings have impacted my life deeply.