#Herbal-medicine

[wellnessrevisited]

Starting the New Year Strong: Setting Yourself Up for Success in Health and Wellness

As the new year approaches, many of us find ourselves reflecting on our goals and aspirations, particularly when it comes to health and wellness. The start of a new year feels like a fresh slate—a chance to leave old habits behind and cultivate a lifestyle that promotes balance, energy, and happiness. However, resolutions often fizzle out before February. To avoid this cycle, it’s important to…

[ink-the-artist]

mage

[wizardsaur]

This is your friendly reminder that herbs aren't inherently safe.

Natural doesn't mean Safe.

Lightning is natural. Opium, therefore heroin and opiate drugs are derived from poppies. Cinnamon oil will burn your skin. Lilies are toxic to cats and will cause organ failure. Activated charcoal will neutralize your prescription medications and literally anything else in your system. St. John's Wort will destroy your serotonin production and mess with your happiness threshold if it DOESNT KILL YOU FIRST.

So anyway.

Do some damn good research every time you go to eat, breathe, bring around your pets, bathe in, or smoke something. Be safe please.

[crazycatsiren]

I'm gonna go ahead and say this one more time, as someone whose ancestors literally evolved traditional medicine, 'cause I been seeing some dumb shit on social media again.

The average joe schmol doesn't possess enough knowledge of actual traditional medicine to know what the hell they're doing. Chances are, they end up whipping some rando concoction that at best does nothing, at worst is toxic.

The difference between medicine and poison is often the dosage.

Herbalism, alternative healing, home remedies, they do have their places in the modern world. But unless you really know what the fuck you're doing, you're better off and much safer with something FDA approved, than listen to some white lady with dreadlocks on TikTok who calls herself a "natural healer" and literally teaches you how to poison yourself.

I research and study herbs for fun, and my herb collection is way bigger and more practical than some souped up pretty picture on the internet. And you know what's the first thing I go for when I have a migraine? Excedrin.

When in doubt, modern medicine first, everything else supplemental.

[reasonsforhope]

"Despite the Central Appalachia ecosystem being historically famous as coal country, under this diverse broadleaf canopy lies a rich, biodiverse world of native plants helping to fill North America’s medicinal herb cabinet.

And it turns out that the very communities once reliant on the coalfields are now bringing this botanical diversity to the country.

“Many different Appalachian people, stretching from pre-colonization to today, have tended, harvested, sold, and used a vast number of forest botanicals like American ginseng, ramps, black cohosh, and goldenseal,” said Shannon Bell, Virginia Tech professor in the Dept. of Sociology. “These plants have long been integral to many Appalachians’ livelihoods and traditions.”

50% of the medicinal herbs, roots, and barks in the North American herbal supply chain are native to the Appalachian Mountains, and the bulk of these species are harvested or grown in Central Appalachia, which includes southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, far-southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee.

The United Plant Savers, a nonprofit with a focus on native medicinal plants and their habitats, has identified many of the most popular forest medicinals as species of concern due to their declining populations.

Along with the herbal supply chain being largely native to Appalachia, the herb gatherers themselves are also native [to Appalachia, not Native American specifically], but because processing into medicine and seasonings takes place outside the region, the majority of the profits from the industry do too.

In a press release on Bell’s superb research and advocacy work within Appalachia’s botanical communities, she refers back to the moment that her interest in the industry and the region sprouted; when like many of us, she was out in a nearby woods waiting out the pandemic.

“My family and I spent a lot of time in the woods behind our house during quarantine,” Bell said. “We observed the emergence of all the spring ephemerals in the forest understory – hepatica, spring beauty, bloodroot, trillium, mayapple. I came to appreciate the importance of the region’s botanical biodiversity more than ever, and realized I wanted to incorporate this new part of my life into my research.”

With co-investigator, John Munsell at VA Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, Bell’s project sought to identify ways that Central Appalachian communities could retain more of the profits from the herbal industry while simultaneously ensuring that populations of at-risk forest botanicals not only survive, but thrive and expand in the region.

Bell conducted participant observation and interviews with wild harvesters and is currently working on a mail survey with local herb buyers. She also piloted a ginseng seed distribution program, and helped a wild harvester write a grant proposal to start a forest farm.

“Economic development in post-coal communities often focuses on other types of energy development, like fracking and natural gas pipelines, or on building prisons and landfills. Central Appalachia is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. I think that placing a greater value on this biodiversity is key to promoting a more sustainable future for the region,” Bell told VA Tech press.

Armed with a planning grant of nearly half a million dollars, Bell and collaborators are specifically targeting forest farming as a way to achieve that sustainable future.

Finally, enlisting support from the nonprofit organization Appalachian Sustainable Development, Virginia Tech, the City of Norton, a sculpture artist team, and various forest botanicals practitioners in her rolodex, Bell organized the creation of a ‘living monument’ along Flag Rock Recreation Area in Norton, Virginia.

An interpretive trail, the monument tells the story of the historic uses that these wild botanicals had for the various societies that have inhabited Appalachia, and the contemporary value they still hold for people today."

-via Good News Network, September 12, 2024

[reality-detective]

The medicine they made you hate and convinced millions of people to spray chemicals to rid it from their lawn. 🤔

[spoiledbratblog]

A lil Plant 🌱 Medicine ain’t never hurt nobody

[pansyfemme]

there is a jar of very dark black liquid with ‘DO NOT DRINK’ written on it like 20 times in my parents fridge.. whats everyone’s guesses

[cuties-in-codices]

strangely shaped roots

in a book of medicinal plants, bavaria, c. 1520-1530

source: Munich, BSB, Cod.icon. 26, fol. 18v, 15v, 46v and 60v

[l0calcatz]

the virgin phlegmatic vs the chad with balanced humors

[wandoffire]

HERBS for Digestive Health🌿

To help improve and ease digestive disorders and issues.

Ginger

widely used to treat nausea, bloating and soothe digestive issues

Turmeric

used for digestive weakness and inflammation

Chamomile

helps settle inflammation and anxiety related stomach issues

Fennel

great to reduce bloating, cramping and relax stomach muscles

helps break down food

Cinnamon

helps regulate circulation, blood sugar levels, and digestive function

Rosemary

supports healthy digestive functioning

Increasing your consumption of some of these even slightly could make a big difference over time! Should be used with caution.

[grimoire101]

Herbology × Magick🍃

Follow @foxwitchmoon on IG for more🌿🔮🌙🧿🕯🪻🗝✨️

[witch-of-the-creek]

I’m so very sick of plant blindness in conservation, and in the wider world in general

If you buy or ‘wildharvest’ an endangered, threatened, or protected plant, you are a trophy hunter.

It doesn’t matter if it’s for spiritual reasons. It doesn’t matter if it’s already been harvested. You are bankrolling the destruction of a species. You are contributing to the growing demand.

The loss of any plant species can cause a trophic cascade, a having a devastating impact on the ecosystem it was a part of.

[crazycatsiren]

And since I deserve a treat, like I always do, I ordered a new herbalism book: Herbalism for Beginners, written by native American herbalist Latoya Meyers.

[lunasapphire]

Y’all I made my first ever salve yesterday!😁