Episode 11 of Let's Talk Clermont. We sit down with Crystal Judge of Gracious Farm to explore the world of herbalism. Crystal shares how she built her apothecary, offers advice for anyone curious about herbs, and discusses everything from tinctures to fire cider. We also cover some Clermont County updates, plus upcoming local events. Tune in for practical tips, local news, and a great conversation.
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Unknown:
We've been living in sin so long. All Welcome to episode 11 of Let's Talk Claremont. I'm your host, Patrick, and, I really appreciate you listening, and I appreciate everybody who has been listening. We've been, we've been doing really well. We're growing, and it seems like more and more people are listening. And, you know, social media seems to be going well, so that's that's all positive things. And I've have, been having a really fun time doing this. So like I said, I really appreciate, appreciate everybody listening. If you are new, I'll just say, tell you kinda what's going on here. In the beginning, we do a little bit of news, and then you get to the interview. And then at the end, I'll just read out some events that are going on around the county.
And with all that said, I think we're gonna jump right into it because there are some interesting things going on in the county, that I think everybody should know about. We'll start with the Clermont County overall. The, commissioners are making amendments to the Clermont County subdivision regulations, and they're gonna hold a public hearing about this on July 9, at 10AM at the office of the board of county commissioners. And so what they're doing is the the original rule that was in that they wanna change in the subdivision, regulations, was that no building permits could be issued until all water and sanitary sewer infrastructure was fully built and approved.
So what they're proposing is is that builders can apply for permits at any time. The permits can be issued once the county accepts a performance bond. Construction of water, sewer, utilities must be completed before issuing a certificate of occupancy, and it aligns issuance of permits with section 105.4 of the Ohio Building Code. So what this seems to be trying to do is that if somebody wants to develop a large tract of land or any land really, but, suspect it's mainly for large developments. They're just trying to streamline that process, and they're saying you can start building and, you know, we can we can put in water and sewer later.
So if you have an opinion about that, and I'm gonna try to be there as well, I would head over to the office of the board of county commissioners on July 9. At least listen to what they have to say and give them input if you have any. Alright. So Batavia Township. There is a public zoning workshop on Thursday, June 12, and that'll be today because this will go out on, on the twelfth at 05:30PM at the Batavia Township Community Center. And so what this is is this is part of, the commission's effort to update and streamline the Batavia Township zoning resolution.
And what they're gonna talk about are some potential updates to the Batavia Township zoning revolution, and they're gonna review a draft before setting any formal public hearing dates. So this isn't an official public hearing. This is just well, like they said, it's a workshop. You can go and you can just listen to what they say. You can obviously have input if you have input, but this is this is like a preliminary to the public hearing. And I did try to find a little bit more details on this on the Batavia Township website, but the link to the notice takes you to a different public notice. It was some kind of zoning notice.
So if anyone in the township is listening or anybody listening knows somebody in the township, they should probably fix that link up. Milford, they have proposed city charter amendments, and there's gonna be public hearings, but there was a public hearing earlier this month. There'll be another public hearing on Tuesday, July 15 at 7PM at the Milford Administration Building. So what they're gonna do is, the charter is kind of like the constitution of Milford, you know, the rules that the council has to play by. So some of the things there's some kind of boring things that they're gonna do, but some of the things I thought were interesting was, they're gonna update council member eligibility.
So as it currently stands, you have to live in Milford, for at least ninety days before you can run for council. They're gonna change that to at least one year. So before you can run for council in Milford, if these changes go through, you're gonna have to have lived there for at least a year. There's also some timing that they're gonna change. So the new council is going to take aug take office at the regular meeting in January and not December. There's some changes to the council rules. There it's gonna require that rules be adopted within thirty days, replacing from time to time. So that's just gonna let the council update procedures when needed.
Public notice of meeting. So any special meeting notices, can, may be delivered electronically and must be posted on the city website and three bulletin boards twenty four hours in advance of the, special meeting. And there's some emergency exceptions to that. Executive sessions, it clarifies that the council may meet privately only after a roll call vote and only for the seven purposes already listed in Ohio's open meetings law. Purchasing and contracts, I thought this one was interesting. So there's a dollar limit. It I I believe this is how this works. There's a dollar limit, that if it is if any kind of contract or or purchasing agreement is below this dollar agreement, they don't really have to vote on it. It can just kind of go through. So the competitive they're gonna raise the competitive bidding floor to $40,000.
And I think the main purpose of that is to align it more with, you know, current inflation and just kind of update that that dollar amount. I think that's interesting. And this isn't to say that anything nefarious is going on, but that means that anything any kind of bid less doesn't have to be competitive. It could they can just assign that that, contract to whomever or whatever company. And again, I believe that's how that I'm like 90% sure that's how that that works. And, there's a they want to change public, publication of ordinances.
So instead of newspaper summaries, the full text is gonna have to be posted on the city website, and a public bulletin board within seven days after the adoption of the ordinance. So there's a lot of interesting things that they're changing, and there were some, like I said, there were some boring things, like, they're just changing pronouns, like, you're going to gender neutral pronouns and things like that. But those are the things I thought were interesting. So if you're in Milford and you have an opinion on which, you know, I I think you probably should, if you have an opinion on on your charter and and how your city works, I would really try to make it, make it out there on July 15 at seven, if for no other reason just to hear what they say. And, obviously, if you have an opinion about something, you can that's your opportunity to voice it.
So those are the the things that I found that I thought were interesting. I thought everybody in the county should know about. So with that, we'll just this is a value for value podcast, like I've said before, and what that means is if you find value in what we're doing over here, all we ask is that you send some value back, talent, or treasure. And as I've said many times, treasure is great. Get in touch. We'll figure out how to make that work. But time and talent are equally as important. If you have a skill that can help us, please let me know. And, you know, we'll figure out something, maybe we'll read your name off or something like that. You know, obviously, we'll thank you for for whatever value you send over to us.
You can follow us on Facebook. We're at Let's Talk Clermont Podcast, on Instagram at Let's Talk Clermont. And also please follow us on whatever podcast app you have, whether it's Spotify, Apple Podcasts. As I said before, I like Apple Podcasts. That way, you know, you'll get notifications whenever, whenever we put one of these out and you can listen to it. And we do wanna hear from you. We wanna hear, what's going on in your city, in in your community. What are you concerned about? What are you interested in? Let us know, and we'll talk about it. And if, you know, you have a complaint or you have a, you know, if you just wanna tell us great job, that's great too. And if you send something interesting, I'll read it out and everybody can can hear what you have to say. So please please do, get in touch.
Alright. So for our interview today, we have, Crystal Judge. She's one of the owners of Gracious Farm, and she is a real deal herbalist. I knew she ran like an herbal, she was an herbalist and, she has an herbal CSA, but when I went there, I was actually kinda blown away. The cover the cover image of this podcast isn't gonna do it justice, but you'll see, you know, she's standing in front of a huge wall of dried herbs. That that's like a fraction of what she has. She has a huge apothecary, and she was really great to talk to. And we talked a little bit about different herbal remedies, her CSA, and some places to start if you're kinda looking to get into herbalism.
The other thing I do wanna mention before we get into it that nothing that we talk about is in any way, shape, or form medical advice, just a a a disclaimer. So, you know, if you if you have some dire medical issue, don't take this podcast as as medical advice. Go go see, either a medical professional or whomever you wanna see, you wanna see, to fix that. So I just felt like it was necessary to say that. So with that said, let's get to the interview, and thanks for listening. Alright. We're recording.
[00:10:45] Unknown:
Alright.
[00:10:46] Unknown:
And the way I always start these things is just tell us who you are and what you do. Okay.
[00:10:52] Unknown:
Well, my name is Crystal Judge, and I am one of the owners of Gracious Farm. So we are an herb farm based in Southwest Ohio, specifically in Goshen, Ohio. And, we teach herbal learning classes. We have nature camp, an herbal conference, a botanicals and herbs fest. So we do a lot of events throughout the year, and then we also sell product, which is basically my medicine cabinet that I share with others.
[00:11:19] Unknown:
So how did you get into all of this? I mean, we're sitting here. You've got an entire wall of herbs behind you. I mean, that I imagine takes a lot of time to accumulate that kind of a pot to carry.
[00:11:30] Unknown:
Yeah. And, we switch it out every year. So Hopefully. Mhmm. Yeah. So every at the end of our season every year, all of the herbs are either used or, composted. Okay. And then, we start over.
[00:11:44] Unknown:
So, harvest So you harvest
[00:11:47] Unknown:
all of these Yes. Yearly? Yes. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, there's a few things in our apothecary that we don't harvest, like cinnamon because I can't grow it, but and I use it. But for the most part, I would say over 95% of our herbs are grown here on the farm and then harvested by me. So the harvesting is not, the part that takes a long time is the processing. Right? So the drying and and actually getting it in a jar. But my path started, about thirty years ago. Okay. And,
[00:12:20] Unknown:
So you've been doing
[00:12:22] Unknown:
something like this for about thirty years? Yeah. I started learning thirty years ago. Wow. Yeah. So for me, it was, more out of necessity than anything. Instead, I, I didn't really have access to health care at the time or I didn't have the the best health care. Yeah. So I started learning about it. And then when I I did have access to health care, I kinda fell off the wagon for a while Yeah. And followed the Western Medicine route. And then realized pretty quickly that that was not it it wasn't a fix. It wasn't gonna Yeah. You know, make things better, that it was actually gonna make my health worse.
And so I started leaning a lot heavier into herbalism once again. And, you know, I think that there's always a time and a place for western medicine and, you know, like,
[00:13:16] Unknown:
let's not die if we can help it. I mean I tell people it's like, you know, if I have cancer, I'm probably gonna go see a doctor. Break an arm. Yeah. Definitely go to a doctor. Go see a doctor. Yeah. But if I've got a cold,
[00:13:27] Unknown:
you know, maybe I can Well and, I mean, if it gets bad enough and you feel like you need to go just to confirm whatever is going on in your body, yeah, you but a lot of times, the doctors don't even have answers. So if you can go and get confirmation of this is what it is, here are my options, whether it's something that they wanna prescribe an antibiotic for or not. If it's something where you absolutely need to take the antibiotic, then go ahead and take it. But if it's something that they're like, well, you here's this in case, and here's some other remedies. And Yeah. And I've seen that doctors are starting to get more into that. I mean, my my kid was sick a couple I guess it was, like, last fall Mhmm.
A year and a half ago. And the doctor suggested honey. Yeah. So they are shifting Yeah. In a lot of ways. And I I was really surprised because he was so uncomfortable. Yeah. And we had been doing things, and he had been taking honey. So when we went and she was like, everything looks good. He looks fine. I know he's uncomfortable. We would suggest honey for his cough. And I was like, okay. Well yeah. I was like, okay. We we can do that. Yeah. Mhmm. So, you know, it's
[00:14:41] Unknown:
after doing this podcast for a while and interviewing some people, it seems like a very common experience. Is, you know, that people are going to docs and they're just kinda playing whack a mole with symptoms and giving you prescriptions, and then they turn to natural remedies. And lo and behold, they're good, you know. Well, you know,
[00:15:01] Unknown:
it's called a practice for a reason. Yeah. And they don't they don't always know what they're doing. I mean, they're not living in your body. So how can they tell you exactly what to do? People. Right. I mean Human error. It's a thing. I mean, they're smart people. They've they've done a lot of work to get where they are, but they're still people. Yeah. But when it comes to the pharmaceuticals, I mean, we're talking about drugs that are, you know, advancing very quickly. Mhmm. We don't always know the side effects. Mhmm. We know, you know, obviously, what they're intended for, but we don't always know the side effects. And so they're gonna affect people differently. A lot of times, your natural remedies are they might not be effective, and you might have to try different ones. But just like pharmaceutical, you have to keep taking it. You gotta take it over and over and over again to see a result.
There are certain things that you'll take it, and you're like, oh my gosh. That's that's working great. I just need to keep doing that. So it's a matter of making sure that you're getting it in your body multiple times a day through that process. Right. There are certain things that are gonna work. There are certain things that aren't gonna work. But what is great about herbs and herbalism in in particular and not being afraid or shying away from the medical, benefits or the medicinal benefits is that most of these herbs we're gonna work with are common herbs. Most of them are not gonna have side effects. Right. So it's not gonna hurt you.
There's been a lot of fear around herbs and herbalism in particularly the last sixty years or so. It's definitely vamped up where people are terrified in some aspects of herbs. I I've actually done what what are they terrified of? Well, like so as they have identified certain compounds and certain pharmaceuticals, you know, they'll say, oh, well, you can't take this with this because of the side effects. Or, you know, comfrey. There was one study where a woman had liver damage. And so it was like, oh, don't take comfrey internally. It's gonna cause liver damage. And that was something that went on for decades. But there's a lot of people that used to drink comfrey tea on the regular basis. And and there are certain ways that you can heal yourself with small doses of things versus overloading. I mean, you can eat a bunch of spinach and hurt your liver just the same. So the, the old saying poisons in the dose.
Exactly. Yeah. So but that has created a fear. Whether it's valid or not, that fear has been there. Now a lot a lot of people are starting to lean back into herbalism, and we've seen a huge increase since COVID. Yeah. I So That's not changed. COVID changed everything. You know, when I was talking to people fifteen, twenty years ago about herbs and herbalism and,
[00:17:44] Unknown:
about herbal remedies, you know, it was like I had a, you know, eye. I would've looked at you the same way. Mhmm. I mean, it it COVID changed a lot of my perceptions. And frankly, I think a lot of people lost significant amounts of trust in just medical establishments. Yeah. You know? And in my opinion, probably rightfully so. Yeah. You know?
[00:18:05] Unknown:
Well, it's it's not a bad thing. Mhmm. With that, we've seen a really big influx in people who don't really know what they're talking about. Yeah. So, you know, so there is a little bit of a fine line there, I suppose, with now, you know, and especially because there's so much marketing over anybody can can be an herbalist. All you have to do is open a book. And it's like, okay. Sure. No. But, you know, to be a master of anything. Right? You have to study it and you have to practice it. You know, when we when we look at doctors, we know that they've gone through an extensive amount of study, but they are still practicing. They will forever be practicing.
And that's the same thing with people who study herbs. You will forever be practicing. So to announce yourself an herbalist, especially when you're brand new at this or you just found out about it or you just opened your eyes about it a year ago or three years ago, it's very hard to take anyone seriously who, you know, has that mindset of, like, I am an herbalist. Yeah. I will forever study herbs. Yeah. And if other people believe or trust in what I'm doing and call me an herbalist, I have become more comfortable with that. Yeah. But you will not hear me announce Yeah. That I am that. Well, that's probably the mark of somebody who
[00:19:36] Unknown:
if it's that old thing of, people who don't really know what they're talking about, but know a little bit of it. They think they know everything. Well, they wanna tell you everything they know. Yeah. Right? But people who actually know a lot about something will always tell you, like, well, I don't really know that much.
[00:19:54] Unknown:
But they act there's a name for it, and I can't remember what it is. I I think part of that too is knowing that, you know, like I said, I don't live in your body. No. I don't know your experience. I don't know I don't know the medications and the things that you're taking. I mean, people don't disclose that with their own doctors. Right. And that's where they run into problems with pharmaceutical medications. They're taking supplements. They're taking vitamins. They might be taking, you know, some herbal things, and they're taking prescription medications. Yeah. And then what about the rest of their lifestyle?
There's so many components and elements, and and that's why I think for us, we really focus a lot on education. Don't tell me what you know. Let's come and practice. You know, let's practice together. Let's talk about ways that you can start to incorporate because none of this is gonna work if you're not gonna use it. Right. So it doesn't matter if you know how to make a tincture all day every day in every form if you're not gonna take that tincture. So then what is the what is the remedy for you, or how are you gonna take it? This switchel that I brought you, for instance, there are so many people who don't like tea. I am not gonna drink tea. I'm not gonna have anything with herbs in it. Something like this is a natural energy drink. It tastes good. A lot of people tend to like it over you know, because it tastes more like a Gatorade type thing. So it's like, okay. Well, I would drink switchel, you know, or haymakers punch or Yeah. You know, whatever, people are gonna call it. But, like, with my kids, they'll drink herbs in a lemonade form, and they'll drink it in they'll eat it in a freeze pop. They'll take elderberry syrup, and they will take tinctures.
My little guy. Yeah.
[00:21:38] Unknown:
I don't know. I just forgot what it was. So if somebody wanted to really get into herbalism, like, what are the things that you would suggest starting out with and and progressing along that kind of journey to figuring out what all these herbs do and and building an an apothecary like this? So it depends on your environment.
[00:21:58] Unknown:
When I lived in the city, I would, find everything around me. So, you know, when you're living in the city, you really should not harvest anything without permission. Yeah. You know, in the city Hamilton County, they don't want you touching anything. Some of our state parks, you're allowed to harvest aerial parts. But one, start identifying the things around you. Identify the things that are in your yard. If you don't have a yard, start to identify the things around the parks in which you live. You have to start with individual plants and try to learn as much as you can about them. Don't just try to cherry pick a little bit here and a little bit there and then start formulating things like, oh, I'm just gonna put all this stuff together because you really need to know how these things are gonna work together. Mhmm. You're you're not gonna wanna put, you know, a sedative with something that's gonna give you energy. Right. You know? Unless you want a fun night, I guess.
[00:22:57] Unknown:
But, you know, how Unless you wanna be able to rearranging your cabinets on it. Having a basic
[00:23:03] Unknown:
understanding of the plants around you is is a great start. Well, I imagine some of these herbs I mean,
[00:23:11] Unknown:
it kinda hearkens back to the beginning of our conversation, but I think people look at herbs and, like, oh, they're just plates and it's whatever. But some of these things can pack a punch. Oh, yeah. And if you're not careful, I think you could probably get yourself in some trouble. Well, you know, low and slow is always a thing. Now I'm not gonna lie. I I learned a traditional folk remedy.
[00:23:33] Unknown:
And through that, there was this older knowledge, but then there was also the that installation of modern fear. Yeah. And so there were certain herbs that I was told were absolutely off limit. Yeah. These are gonna make you crazy, like wormwood we brought up. This is gonna hurt your liver or this one could kill you or, you know Mhmm. I have come to understand these plants a lot differently than I did thirty years ago. Yeah. But I'm still very cautious Yeah. If I'm gonna use them. Wormwood, I know, is that is not a good feeling for me. Yeah. I will do it in small doses. I it's I tend to work with it more in, like, a burning.
So I love seining. I love burning things. That's always fun for me. And I feel like I get to connect with the plant Yeah. Yeah. Without having to ingest it. I love using things topically sometimes too because that doesn't affect me. But, you know, I tend to be very sensitive, so I can't take a lot of medications. Tylenol typically makes me throw up if I've had to have surgery or Novocaine or any my whole body starts shaking. I'm one of those that I am so sensitive to medication, and and herbs can be like that for me. So I have to be very slow with things. When I started taking blue vervain, my partner Phil was like, oh, you need this plant. He grew it for, like, two years. Mhmm. And kept telling me and it it was pretty. Yeah. But I was terrified of it. And so I would say, I don't have time. I don't have time to work with another plant right now. You know, there's thousands of plants. I only have so much time.
Then I finally started working with it, and, of course, I thought, I'm just gonna small dose, five drops of this tincture I made. Oh my gosh. That was way too much way too much. And so I definitely I it definitely affected my nervous system. My dreams were insane. Yeah. It was crazy. But now I take it daily, and I take about two or three drops. I do see the benefit, but I had to find the dosage. And so, you know, when when I'm talking to people about things that we make and things that we sell, I, you know, I tell them, just start really, really slow with this when you might wanna start with one drop or start with two. I can't I can't reasonably dose you on that because I don't know how you're gonna react to it. Yeah. And I know for me, I've had to be cautious with certain things, whereas other things don't seem quite as effective, and then I have to take more of it. So I might be taking a lot more of, you know, cat's claw or catnip or something like that. Lemon balm is another one.
Some people love lemon balm. We just use it as a hydrosol on our face. Yeah. It was refreshing. So very refreshing. I love it in that form. I can have it if it's small in a tusayan blend. So blending it with other herbs. But some people take a tincture of it, and they're like, oh, lemon balm is so good for anxiety. And I will be up all night peeing all night. So, no, that one doesn't work for me because now I'm uncomfortable and I'm sleep deprived. The exact opposite of what you wanted. Exactly. So it's not calming me. It's actually making everything worse. Yeah. So, yeah, you just have to find where things work for you. And a lot of that has to do with learning about the herbs, harvesting them, being in their environment, cultivating them.
You know, it's a it's a sampling, so to speak. And you have to curate your own apothecary and your own medicine. There's no point in having a 100 jars of something if you really only need 10 basic herbs, and that's what works for you. Right. But as you age and as you change and as your life shifts, so will your herbs. They they will shift. Now when I was young, I I took lemon balm a lot. I took higher doses of lemon balm. Still in blends, but higher doses. But now now, I mean, I'm gonna use it topically more than anything. I love the smell. I love having a bouquet. Yeah. And just, it smells so good. But, no, I don't wanna ingest a whole lot of that. So Well, I think that's
[00:28:05] Unknown:
I think it's easy to look at your health as kind of a static thing. Where it's, you know, I'm just an unchanging entity and then I I just need to put things in my body that help it, but it's
[00:28:18] Unknown:
you're not. You you you get older. You Well, and we we know that with, like, how incredibly strong and energetic we are as young people. Right? And then we get older and especially, you know, if you add elements of stressful work or children or anything like that, you're like, woah. I am tired. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I know. I know.
[00:28:41] Unknown:
I I know that. I've got two young kids. Yeah. I know I know what that's like. Yeah. So being able to shift and change
[00:28:48] Unknown:
what it is that you're doing so that it it fits your body. And and some of that is trial and error. It Yeah. You know, in in the way that you're gonna go to a doctor and perhaps be frustrated that they're not getting it right, you're gonna have moments of frustration when you're working with your herbs. Yeah. But I think the important takeaway from that would be don't give up and just keep trying to learn as much as you can. I mean, we're finding that a lot more people are getting into these older ways and wanting to slow down. I'm gosh. You see that with the influx of, like, sourdough every day. I make sourdough. Like, my wife makes sourdough. My wife cans. I mean, she does all that stuff. Yeah. But there were there were generations that lost. So our parents and some of our grandparents, that completely went away. And it only takes one to two generations to lose it completely.
So instead of handed down knowledge, now we are having to relearn all of this mostly on our own. Yeah. And so, you know, maybe with technology, maybe with, you know, the advantages that we have now, we'll be able to do it more efficiently and and do it better Yeah. In some ways. And, hopefully, it'll stick around so that our children don't have to teach themselves and that they're not a step behind. But then again, this could be a good thing for us because we're not hindered by old ways that maybe weren't as effective or weren't as efficient. Yeah. And we're finding better ways to navigate that. There was this painting. I wish I could remember the name of it,
[00:30:19] Unknown:
but it was a you there were these big crumbling Roman aqueducts. Right? And there was a sheep herder kind of in the shadow of them tending to a sheep. And that's kind of because I think even still today, we don't know how to make Roman concrete. So it it's like things like that. You know, you look at these big structures and things that people did in the old year, like, wow, how did they even accomplish that? Yeah. And you're right. You're like,
[00:30:44] Unknown:
if we lose these skills, we lose them. Yeah. Like, they're gone. Some of them, they're completely gone. Yeah. We're not always gonna find better ways of doing stuff. And like you said, sometimes we we can't figure it out at all. You know? So, you know, anything that we can do to to help our children, you know? And and my kids are growing up with it. So, you know, they get annoyed sometimes. They get bored with it sometimes. You know? My daughter is like, oh, I don't wanna harvest this thing. I don't wanna go do this thing. But I see this shift from her being not happy about it to the remembering and the meditative part of it where she she does look so peaceful. And, of course, when she's done, Oh,
[00:31:29] Unknown:
you know, so I feel like a daughter for very similar people. You know, it's funny. I've interviewed a couple of people who are in like canning herbs, things like that. And you get a very common story where they say, you know, my grandmother can't, and it was some of the best memories I have. Mhmm. You know, I love just, you you know, diving into these old ways of living and old ways of doing things. And I think there's a lot to that. I think a lot of people are not just revisiting the practices, but revisiting memories of
[00:32:01] Unknown:
loved ones. You know? Yeah. I mean, it's it's the the memory or the comfort of that and also the slowing down. Yeah. You know? I mean, we weren't rushed like like I am now with my kids sometimes. And, I mean, I keep I I try to keep our schedules minimized, you know? But even so, we live in a society where there's so much rushing. Mhmm. And I remember taking forever to do things just so we could go get ice cream No. Later. Yeah. You know? And and and the snapping of the the beans or going and harvesting the blackberries or whatever it was that we were doing,
[00:32:42] Unknown:
and that slowness. You know? I I recently talked to a guy. He was supposed to be promoting his wife's business, but his wife was a little shy. So he came over and we talked about hunting because I I hunt. And we both were, you know, just being out in the woods for, you know, eight hours in a stand. You might not see anything, but the world kind of goes away. And it's it's just a wonderful you realize how fast paced things really are. And just that slowing down is I think it's I think it's not just beneficial, but almost necessary for your mental health.
[00:33:19] Unknown:
Boredom, I think, is a key point Yeah. To having good mental health. Yeah. I I was listening to a podcast recently where,
[00:33:28] Unknown:
a guy said he needs to be bored. Like, he needs time to be bored. That's when the creativity happens. It does. It really does. Every time I'm bored, I'm like, well, maybe I could think about this and do this thing and that the other time. And and having that time and space
[00:33:42] Unknown:
instead of being frazzled trying to put something together, you almost make you you can create the entire thing in your brain. So when you execute it, you're like, whoop. That just happened. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. I yeah. Anytime because I was telling you earlier, I make mead.
[00:34:01] Unknown:
I will think about the process for a week Mhmm. Before I even crack open a a thing of honey Yeah. To do it. You know? Like and it's it's good to just be engaging your mind like that. Yeah. It absolutely is. So can you just talk about some of your favorite herbs? And I I you know, I said that and I saw the look on your face. I was like, well, this might be a broad question. It's like asking somebody who their favorite kid is or something. Yeah. Well, you know, I Let me back up. Let me reframe that question. What are some of the herbs that broadly speaking have the the best benefit for people?
[00:34:48] Unknown:
Yeah. So, I would say at the top of my list would be nettle. Okay. Because it's Like stinging nettle? Stinging nettle. Okay. Because it's so nutrient dense and it has so many medicinal benefits. The list is long, but it also is a survival food. Dandelion would be right there with it. Does dandelion do they have medicinal properties? Absolutely. Yeah. So dandelion root and leaves, we know that more as your, digestive cleanser. It is it's gonna help with inflammation, all sorts of things as well, but it's also really high in polyphenols. So the flower specifically, anything that's high in polyphenols is gonna help against degenerative diseases. What is a polyphenol? Polyphenol phenol is a a a compound within the plant, and it's in our fruits and vegetables. It's in our herbs.
So those compounds can help with, like, not it's it's not the same as your nutrient content, but it's gonna help your body with, certain aspects of, like, if you have inflammation or if you have certain diseases. So polyphenols help with your degenerative diseases, your cancer, your heart disease, your diabetes, your MS, all of those types of things. So having higher amounts of that, it's gonna help your body defend against those things. So you are less likely to develop them. And there's a lot of plants that are high in polyphenols, but dandelion is right up there at the top of the list. But, also, dandelion has had over 200 studies, probably more now. Yeah. And so we know for a fact that that can help Yeah. In a lot of cases. And it's interesting because people will spray a chemical causing thing on it Yeah. Yet it could potentially be the thing that helps prevent the cancer if you were ingesting it. So it's definitely up there. So, like, a lot of the edible, a lot of the edible plants like your, burdock root, you know, you can make burdock slaw that's used as a side dish often, Plantain, clover or any of the clovers.
[00:37:06] Unknown:
So what you said plantain. That's a fairly common one. What what do you use plantain for? So plantain has the nutrient,
[00:37:15] Unknown:
it's nutriently comparison to spinach. Okay. And dandelion is too. So those, we have nutrient facts about. A lot of herbs, we don't have all of the information, but there's certain herbs that we do. So you can actually look up nutrient facts for dandelion, and you will find that. Yeah. Same thing for plantain. I think stinging nettle is another one. But plantain can be used as spinach substitute.
[00:37:41] Unknown:
And Does it taste like spinach?
[00:37:43] Unknown:
I I think very similarly. If you get the young leaves, it it will. The older leaves are gonna be a little more bitter, taste a little more like grass, but then again, to me, spinach tastes like grass. Yeah. I wouldn't say I'm a huge spinach fan. But Yeah. But, I mean, if you're using it in cooked recipes, you really can't tell the difference, in my opinion, between plantain and spinach. With dandelion, if you use that as a substitute, you can because it's a little more bitter. Mhmm. Yeah. Whereas plantain doesn't have that bitterness to it. Okay. So, yeah. So, like, anything that you can make a yard salad out of. So, basically, a lot of the weeds that pop up in your yard, those would be my top herbs for not only medicinal uses, but also because they're edible and you could survive on them.
If we were looking at just specifically medicinal, I would say pine, white, eastern white pine. I've been hearing more and more about pine. Mhmm. It's high in vitamin c. Okay. And it can also help with secondary, infections, so, like, respiratory infections. So, say, you catch a cold. If you're drinking pine, you're less likely to get an upper respiratory infection, bronchitis, or pneumonia. And we know once it starts getting to that point, now you've got some severe problems. You could also use Mullein to help heal the lungs, and and that would work really nicely. But that's, like, once you've gotten to the point where you need something to heal your lungs. Yeah. If you were drinking pine from the beginning, you probably didn't need it.
Holy basil would be my number one for flavor and overall, like, mood enhancement, and I would put milky oats right there with it. So milky oats is one of those that can really kind of calm your nervous system, and those two together are really wonderful. We have them in, what is called a courage blend, and I I say that's a hug around your heart. It's got Saint John's wort and holy basil and milky oats and and all of these things that are really gonna help. I say that it's it's courage in the face of, anger. Mhmm. So, you know, a lot of times we have this, like, rage within us because we can't control, you know, whether we're caretaking or we have a stressful job or whatever the We've got a couple of kids running around that are driving you nuts. Exactly.
And and you still have to do the thing Yeah. But you're struggling with it. And it's there are often times that I will make a cup of the courage to say and and just sit down and chill out. Rose is in there too. Yeah. You know, so like a heart softener. The things that really when you feel that wall around your heart and you're just like, oh my gosh. That will help kind of soften everything a little bit so that you can still have the courage to face your day because you still gotta do all the things. Right.
[00:40:45] Unknown:
I might need to get some of that because I'll tell you, I I'm a pretty easygoing guy. I have never been more mad in my life than I've been mad at my five year old at times. Yeah. Like, I'd
[00:40:58] Unknown:
irrationally angry Yeah. About something irrational that she's done. That's exactly it. I mean, I I thought you know and and I've been hung high strung throughout my life, but, you know, just hyperactive. But I spent a lot of time learning to chill. Yeah. You know, like, two decades worth of just chilling out and being able to, you know, go with the flow and, adapt to things very quickly. It's really something that's important. You do. Yeah. And I thought I mastered it. I did. I did. And then I had my daughter.
[00:41:34] Unknown:
Yeah. That's
[00:41:35] Unknown:
something very familiar. And I thought, oh my gosh. Yeah. That rage of, you know, I am I am I've never loved someone and been so mad at them at the same
[00:41:47] Unknown:
time. Oh, it's incredible. It's incredible how much you love them and how much you just get incensed. Mhmm. Absolutely incensed. Like, I've I've never yelled at anybody. Ever. I'd like I have a I have such a long fuse. I would I would actually have counted that as a weakness of mine that I have a long fuse and I wouldn't stick up for myself. And then I have a daughter. Mhmm. It's like, nope. That shoes got that fuse got really short really quick. Yeah. My partner is the same way. Like,
[00:42:17] Unknown:
I can count on one one hand how many times I've heard him raise his voice. Yeah. And most of them have been at my daughter.
[00:42:27] Unknown:
I love I've for the record, I love my daughter very much. Mhmm. She's wonderful. But it's just that's
[00:42:34] Unknown:
just the work of growing a little human. Yeah. And, also, she's probably a lot like you. Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah. You know? She is. What we when we see things we don't necessarily like about ourselves and our kids, it makes us insane. Yeah. It's us. Like, she's And that's where herbs could help. Yeah. Bringing it back to herbs. You cannot do anything about it. You really can't do anything about it. So that's what I love about having an apothecary is that regardless of whether I have put together a plan or done something because I know I needed it in the past, There can be moments where I am completely lost, and I have no idea what I need. And I will intuitively come to the herb wall, and I will just grab, like, five different things, and I'll put it together. And that was exactly what I needed at that moment. And so that, to me, is the benefit of building an apothecary. We are doing,
[00:43:33] Unknown:
an herb CSA this this summer. I did wanna ask you about that because that's a really cool idea. So I've always wanted
[00:43:40] Unknown:
an herb CSA where there was actually herbs, not products, not some something that somebody made and they're making it for everybody. I wanted something that was, like, a little bit more, and I never found it. I have since found one other, farm in Oregon, I think Yeah. That has something similar. But, basically, we take 10 herbs. I put together a book of all of the herbs, that are gonna be in our CSA. And so you've got all the uses and things that, you know, how you could use it. And then I create videos for each, herb where I tell them how I would use it. And so everybody in our CSA gets those videos, and then they pick up their fresh herb. And they get to decide if they're gonna use it fresh, if they're gonna dry it, you know, what they're gonna do with it.
And they're able to make their own medicine. So, I think that it's important to connect with the plants even if you don't have access of growing the plants. I don't you know, my original goal was to be the, you know, dried herb supplier of Ohio. But but I don't like that because I feel like I could do all that work. Dried herbs. I mean, the life force is is is leaving Yeah. The plant. Not that they're not beneficial. They still are. That's how powerful plants can be. But if you have access to it in a fresh form, I mean, golly. So you would advise fresh herbs over dried herbs? Typically. I mean, there are certain things, you know, you have like, certain applications that you're making. Like, if you're gonna make something with an oil, you're gonna have to dry it out. You can't water an oil, don't mix.
So there are certain things that you do have to prep the herb beforehand. But, yeah, I mean, if I'm making a digestive bitter or if and, obviously, it's the same. You have to dry it out. But if I'm making a digestive bitter or a tincture, flower essence has to be, you know, fresh. I mean, that's you know, I got some of those working right now. So, when it's a beautiful day like this, there's certain plants that just jump out at you like, hey. You know? It's time to make that medicine. And and so that's how you kinda ebb and flow with certain things. I try to get the videos out for the CSA a little bit ahead of time so that they can think about it. Like, the ideas that they're gonna reference the book, that they're gonna look at the video, that they're gonna have some sort of inspiration. And by the time they come and pick up their 10 herbs, they're gonna know what they're gonna do with those. And I know that's not gonna work for everybody because of busy schedules and things like that, and they're gonna flounder about, and some of them are just gonna dry all of them. Yeah.
But beforehand, I released what the herbs were. You know, hey. Get your apothecary jars together. Get your labels on there if you know you're gonna dry everything. You know? So I tried to prepare them. This is our year. So like I said, I'm sure there's plenty of people who are fumbling about through the CSA, getting their feedback, and and being able to advise people for future years. We'll have a limited number of CSA because we only have a certain capacity. Sure. But, you know, I feel like that could be a really great thing for people to completely immerse themselves in herbs and herbal learning and build their apothecary. Gonna say it's like an apothecary starter kit. It is. And, actually, I don't wanna jump in too much, but can you just explain what a CSA is? It's a community supported agriculture. So in the ways that a lot of farms would do it with fruits and vegetables or whatever they have We got one right at our house. Yeah. We're doing it with herbs. And like I said, I just haven't seen anything like it before. But peep by people buying a share, it helps us to continue with our seeds and our watering and, you know, in growing the things.
And that allows us then to, you know, provide the abundance that we have. And, you know, year after year, you know, we we can harvest all of it because harvesting takes no time at all. Right. But processing it Yeah. Takes forever. And so we just don't always have the capacity to process it. So a lot of things would end up in our compost. Now we don't mind that just going back into the land. Yeah. But sometimes, especially when they're really good, useful herbs, it's like, oh gosh. You know, I wish somebody could use this. But we also don't wanna give everything away for free because that doesn't benefit us. Putting it back into the land benefits us more than giving it away and and taking it off the land. So it's kinda like there has to be that equal energy exchange where people are willing to support us.
It's not easy to run a farm. No. And it is definitely not cheap. No. And the margins are
[00:48:25] Unknown:
super thin. So bad. Yeah. So we It's not for the faint of heart. It isn't. And and that's where
[00:48:31] Unknown:
you know, I have a background in event planning, and that's where I am able to supplement, you know, with tea parties, with Yeah. Nature camp, with all of these things. I told my wife, oh my gosh. They have fairy tea parties. She's like, oh, really? Well, we So you might see my wife and my daughter come to one of those. Themed ones, and the fairy one is is gonna be a lot of fun because that one's so kinda magical. Yeah. I feel like the witches two party was a lot of fun as well. Yeah. Did you do it around Halloween? We do it in November. Yeah. The November, right around my birthday. So, because I like that one a lot. But yeah. I mean, you know, we'll we've done a lot of different themes, and and we'll kinda work through those as we, you know, decide which ones are our favorite.
And that's the other thing too. I mean, when planning events, you have to have people show up. Yeah. If they don't show up, that's a whole lot of work. Yeah. For it's also kind of a gut punch too. Like, oh, nobody nobody wants to do the thing I want. It sucks. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I mean, it's it's what keeps our farm going, because we, you know, we don't make enough money selling plants. We don't make enough money selling product. So people coming to our events and and actually participating in herbal learning or the herb conference or, you know, those types of things, where there is a fee involved, that
[00:49:57] Unknown:
that keeps us operating. Yeah. You know? I mean, everybody's everybody's gotta put a roof over their head and food on the table. Yeah. Especially for people who start things and are creative. Because as a as a copywriter starting out, I always felt bad charging people. You know? Mhmm. It's like and it's like, I can't believe somebody wants to pay me to do this. You know? You just at least for me, you know, kinda him and haw about it. But then I've gotten over the years, I'm like, no. You gotta pay me. I mean, that like, that's an artist mentality, though. Like, having a hard time putting a price on your on your services or your products.
[00:50:32] Unknown:
Companies have no problem doing that, so we need to get over that I know. And and put a price on it. And there are definitely times that I undercut myself because I'm like, oh, I want people to be able to afford it and go and do the thing. But the solution for that was, you know, we do volunteer days. Mhmm. And you can use those hours as a credit towards any of our events. Yeah. So, you know That's really nice. Yeah. So, like, the herb conference, you know, we had, I think, six different volunteers that came out. And it's like, okay. Come in. Help us. Get ready for this. Do the thing, and then you can come to these events. Yeah. And so that helps if people have time. There's no barrier. Mhmm.
And that and that's always been really important to me because, you know, when herbal classes and herbal things started popping up, and and I started taking notice of them, like, in my mid twenties, I couldn't afford them. Yeah. You know, because I I had the house and the car and and all the things. You know? So, the only way that I was able to participate in a lot of events was some sort of work trade. And what I didn't love about that is typically when you were doing some sort of work trade, you were working the whole time, and you didn't get to enjoy it. So what we try to do is offer volunteer hours before the event. Mhmm. You're helping us get ready for the event, and you just enjoy. That's really nice. Just hang out and enjoy. Yeah. That's really nice.
[00:52:00] Unknown:
It's it's really nice that you do that. Yeah. So you talked about growing plants. off, how you said you grow a lot of this stuff. Like, what I'm worried I'm gonna ask this, and it's gonna be just, like, a gigantic list of herbs that you grow here. But what what are some of the herbs that you that you do grow? Is it a gigantic list of herbs? Because I I have a different question if it's a gigantic list of herbs.
[00:52:26] Unknown:
What I said like, with the CSA book, that was 85 herbs that we grow on our farm that people will be able to have in the c s a CSA. We have so many more than that. Hundreds of plants that are growing here. My my plan is to have a book of all of them Okay. In within a year. So there's more than 85 that you grow. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. I
[00:52:56] Unknown:
I don't wanna be nosy or anything, but how much I haven't seen the whole property. Is it? We we only have just over five acres. And that's what I was about to say. Yeah. Because my next my supplemental question, if that was the list was too exhaustive, if somebody wants to start growing their herbs, what are some of the ones that are easiest to start with?
[00:53:15] Unknown:
So I think herbs that are easy to start with that are beneficial in a large capacity, but would be like yarrow, holy basil, chamomile, lemon balm. Did I say lemon balm? Bee balm, roses. You you gotta have roses.
[00:53:35] Unknown:
Milky oats are super easy. What do I have milky oats? I don't I don't think I would have So it's a grass, and,
[00:53:40] Unknown:
the the grass part is called oat straw when you harvest it, and the very tip tops are milky oats. When you squeeze them, milk like, a milky substance comes out. Now they're both beneficial, but they can be separated. They have slightly different actions. You can put them together or we separate them. It has a short growth span, so it right now, it just looks like grass. Mhmm. And then and you harvest it in a in about a month. So you only need two and a half months, I would say. For It's pretty fast growing. Yeah. And then you cut it down, and then you've got that space. You could put something else there Yeah. As long as you're rotating it.
Saint John's wort is another really good one. Now we grow some interesting things that a lot of people don't grow. Like, we we grow some things that are annuals, and we grow some things that self seed. So, like, clip dog, it can be really good. Lemongrass can be really good. The marshmallows are great. Mugwort, motherwort, a lot of different types of sage, basil, thyme, all your antivirals. I mean, a lot of people consider them culinary. But, I mean, if you're looking at, like, face steams and and, you know, when you're congested and clogged up, we grow a lot of horseradish.
Super easy to grow, but that's great for your fire cider. Rose of Sharon is something that, I use a lot of. Raspberry leaf. So raspberries,
[00:55:11] Unknown:
your blackberries that when postpartum.
[00:55:14] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. And you can take it more towards the end of your pregnancy, but it all women should be if you have a uterus, you should be, you should be taking raspberry, like, probably regularly. Really? Mhmm. What are the benefits? There's contradictions, but, for most most women would be okay with it. And what what does raspberry leaf do for women? Well, it helps to tone your uterus, and there's just so much, around women's health that we don't fully understand.
[00:55:43] Unknown:
And I There's a lot around women I don't understand, to be honest with me. But just in general. With raspberry leaf, it's
[00:55:49] Unknown:
it seems to be one of those herbs that women benefit from so much. Mhmm. I know that if I'm not taking it regularly, I might start having some issues with just my cycle or you know, there's just so much that goes on with that. And so during the end of my pregnancy, raspberry leaf and elderberry were two things that I used a lot, and, and I think that they helped and benefited me a lot as well. So my midwives had things to say about that, but I'm not gonna get into that on a podcast because, you know That's fair. Yeah. You can talk about elderberry. That is one of,
[00:56:27] Unknown:
every time we have, like, an elderberry tincture Mhmm. At our house, and every time I feel like I have a cold coming on, I drink some of that. I put in some water and I drink it. And, man, it just seems
[00:56:40] Unknown:
to really nip it in the bud. Yeah. It's gonna help you get over it quicker. Yeah. I mean, I've got we've we were outside most of the day this morning. I've got some sinus something going on. So, you know, when we're done, I'll probably take a shot of fire cider and elderberry syrup, maybe some shield just to be sure. So that's like your oosniac calendula. That's another really easy one to grow because you just throw some seeds in the ground and it pops up. That has elderflower in it. Elderflower actually is even more beneficial than the berry. Okay. More powerful. Oh, you know, it might be I I it's elder something. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it it it could be the berry or the flower. It could be a combination of both. But before you leave, we'll make sure that you sample our fire cider, our elderberry syrup.
[00:57:22] Unknown:
Well, you talked about fire cider because I think I've heard from a couple of people about your fire cider. Mhmm. I don't know what it is to begin with. So could you just tell me what this it's because it seems, like, people talk about it as if it's some kind of, like, miracle drink. I'm not I'm not even kidding. Like, people said, yeah. I started drinking this fire cider, and it's cured everything. Yeah. Well, And I'm not saying that it doesn't. I think that because fire cider feels so good and especially if you stop taking it, you're like, woah. I don't feel
[00:57:54] Unknown:
great. The fire cider works really well. Fire cider is immune boosting tonic. It's been around for thousands of years. We don't even know when it came about. It was just one of those things that were really handed down, and that's how I got it. I started making it about twenty five years ago. So when people say, oh my gosh. That fireside at Gracious Farm is so good. That's because I've been making it a really long time. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, you I can give people the recipe. I could tell people exactly how to make it, but there's just something about knowing how to do something for a really long time that that makes it really, really good.
And so fire cider is typically used as an immune boosting tonic in a similar way that you would take your elderberry syrup, but it helps because of the apple cider vinegar, in particular, and and that's how it steeped. It helps with indigestion of, like, acid reflux. I I I healed a bleeding ulcer with it. And I mean, it's spicy, which is weird. That
[00:58:59] Unknown:
when you say acid reflux, wait a minute. It's got hot peppers and Mhmm. Apple cider, like, all these acidic
[00:59:06] Unknown:
Yeah. Things that you would think. I can't even eat tomatoes without having acid reflux, but I can do shots of fire cider just fine. Now I wouldn't be doing, like, five shots of fire cider every day. That's too much, and you're probably gonna have some gastronome problem. Yeah. Apple cider vinegar is very acidic. But it it's a great way. It tastes good, so it's really great way to, you know, get the apple cider vinegar and get all these other beneficial things like your horseradish, your onion, your garlic. So it does help you get over colds and flus faster. It helps with inflammation and circulation.
It there's just so many things that it can help with that it it is an overall immune boosting tonic, but it's it's an elixir as well. So
[00:59:51] Unknown:
So what else is in it besides, you know, obviously, hot peppers and cider vinegar.
[00:59:55] Unknown:
Or is this a is this So there no. No. No. There's there's hundreds of recipes. So there's a funny backstory of fire cider. So fire cider is one of those things that it it has been around forever. There was a company who tried and I'm not gonna name drop on here, but, like, there's a company that try they they trademarked it. Oh, really? The trademark office approved it because they didn't know the herbal lingo. So then they started going after herbalists, and there were five herbalists in particular who were sued. During this time, I had somebody drop into my DMs and say, you need to cease. So I just called it something else. So for, I think, two years, we called it oh, I don't remember. I'd have to look at my labels, but, like, fire water. Yeah. So, you know, something. Sire fighter. Yeah. And that's what I've done with the thieves. So thieves was also another remedy that, you know, Young Living took their patent and, you know, with essential oils, which is not essential oils weren't even made back then during the plague. So it wasn't a thing. But they took that name and they patent it. They've had that patent for, like, twenty five years. So on our bottle for the thieves, it's intentionally spelled wrong, and that's my way around it.
Well, I'm sorry. What is Thieves? So Thieves is apple cider vinegar base, but it has, like, the herbs that the thieves used during the plague, so so to speak. So it's like rosemary, thyme, garlic, oregano is in it. But that's that's separate because that's just apple cider vinegar with certain herbs. And I like it, but I don't love it. Mhmm. Not like the fire cider. So the fire cider, I treat more as food. So in our recipe, we use horseradish, which we dig that up, and so it's the freshest it can be because horseradish starts to lose its flavor. Onions, garlic, peppercorns, and we use two different types of peppers depending on which one. And then I like to put all the citruses in it. So I have orange and lemon and lime, and then it's apple cider vinegar. And then you let that sit for four to six weeks. You strain it, and you add equal parts of honey.
So good. It's so good.
[01:02:07] Unknown:
It sounds well, I'll be honest. That sounds I don't know what that sounds like. It sounds like it might be a bit much, but everybody says it's it's not that it tastes. Yeah. So there's because I I used to do shots of apple cider vinegar in the morning just because it's good for you. Yeah. My wife washes her hair with it. That's actually how I came about the fire cider in the place because I have really bad acid reflux,
[01:02:33] Unknown:
and I had ulcers. They they've run-in my family. So I was telling this woman I called grandma Betty. She's the person that started teaching me about herbs. She wasn't related to me, but she was still my grandma. And I told her, every time I try to take the apple cider vinegar, I I start gagging before I can even get it to my face. And she said, well, you just need to make fire cider. And I'm like, what's that? And she's like, well, it's just a better way to take it. So she was the one that taught me how to make fire cider way back in the day, and and I I'm still not sick of it twenty five years later.
You know, I go through phases, like, you know, yesterday, I took two shots. You know? And there's definitely times where I won't take any at all, and then I'm like, gosh. Why do my joints hurt so bad? I haven't been taking fire cider. But there's so much honey in it that on a spice level of one to five, I would say it's around a two. So as long as you can handle that, it's it's good. But we use it as a salad dressing. I put it in all of our soups and stews, pretty much isn't just like a tonic? Like, you could actually I cook with it. Mhmm. That's how I get it into my family's diet. They're not gonna do all this stuff. Phil can't stand apple cider vinegar, so I've gotta, like, mask it into things. But I do that with dandelion and nettles and, you know, whether I'm powdering it or I am blanching it and putting in the freezer. Any anything that would have a green thing in it, I'm sneaking it in there. And, usually, the the powdered herbs work better for my daughter because if she sees green, she's not gonna eat it. So I have to, like, sprinkle it in there. You know? Yeah.
[01:04:09] Unknown:
So you talked a bit about processing. And could you just, I guess, go into that a little bit? Like, how you process something? Because I know there's if somebody wanted to, again, get into this, you do have to be
[01:04:24] Unknown:
intentional with how you process your herbs. Right? Like, whether you do an alcohol extraction or water extraction or Mhmm. All these different things. Can you just talk a little bit about that? Yeah. So, I mean, if you're doing it for sales, there are certain laws that you have to follow. I mean, you know, a lot of herbs aren't regulated, but certain things are. And so, you know, if you're looking to, you know, have a an herbal business, then you need to get on Ohio Cottage Laws. You you need to figure out what it is that you need to do. For drying. You know, you're not supposed to use dehydrators unless you have a commercial kitchen, so you're supposed to hang dry everything. Now when it comes to personal use, you know, having a quality dehydrator is probably gonna be the best route.
You can use other methods like the oven method, and we really can't use the outdoor method anymore. One, the sun is too hot, and, our humidity in Ohio is out of control. So you're just always gonna have moisture, and then you're gonna have so much heat. You're gonna burn the herbs. So that method So drying them in the sun could actually burn them? Yes. Okay. You'd when your herbs are dried, they should be the brightest color. And I think that's what a lot of people don't understand because when they buy their herbs from these larger companies Sure. They get them in, and they're kind of brownish.
Yeah. And so they think that's what that looks like. That's not what it looks like. If it is nettle, it should be bright green, not brownish, slightly green. Yeah. If it's red clover, it should be pink, not brown. So I I think a lot of people don't have a full understanding of of when you're processing something and you're keeping the nutrients in that plant versus drying it to death, essentially, and losing I'm I'm sure it still has medicinal benefits. And plants are If you're gonna go through all the work, though. If you're gonna go through all the work, you wanna do it right. You know, elderflower, if you did it right, they're gonna look more yellow, not brown. Yeah. You know, there's gonna be times it's it's gonna lean more towards brown because you kept it on there too long or your temperature was too high or whatever.
That, again, I mean, it takes a lot of time invested. So do different herbs are there
[01:06:45] Unknown:
better ways of drying
[01:06:47] Unknown:
Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. And, I mean, we're talking about hundreds Yeah. Of herbs just here. So to try to get into that would be Yeah. Incredibly difficult. But, I mean, that's where, like, our herbal learning classes and our CSA classes come in handy because I feel like you learn a lot from that. You know, I'm always gonna misspeak in some regard. Wow. But when it comes to that kind of stuff, like, if you're standing there with me and I'm telling you, you know, I'm like, well, this didn't work because of this. I've always got some weird story that goes with stuff. Well, it's perfect for a podcast. But, I mean, you know, it's it's one of those things too where it's like you'll remember it, and that's the same with identification.
You know, if I'm holding up a violet leaf and I'm showing you how it's a heart, it's gonna help your heart and your lungs. Like, you know, you can think about it in the terms of, like, what does that plant look like, and how does it relate to my body? And does it look like the thing in my body? Right. And so those connections and the the stories help us remember.
[01:07:48] Unknown:
So what would you say, like, again, if somebody's trying to process these things in general, how would you dry an herb?
[01:07:54] Unknown:
So, typically, if you're using a dehydrator, I would keep it on a lower setting. Okay. A lot of our herbs, we're gonna dry, you know. We tend to stick to one fifteen number. If it's a more delicate herb, might go lower, and just keep an eye on it. You just gotta keep checking it and making sure that it's not, you know, drying too fast or getting too brown. I mean, you wanna make sure that it's got your beautiful color to it. You know, I just dried lilac. And I remember the time I ever dried lilac, I was so disappointed that it was, like, this brownish yellow color. And I was like, oh, it doesn't even look good. It doesn't smell good. But now I know I was drying it at too high of a temperature too quickly.
And now, I mean, they're a vibrant purple, and they smell just like they came off the the plant. And that's what I want if I'm gonna make medicine. Yeah. If I'm gonna tincture something with a flower, I'm typically gonna add a little bit of glycerin because that brings the flavor out. So it's all these little tricks that you learn along the way that you're not you're not always gonna get just by looking up something on the Internet. You know, most of the recipes for elderberry syrup, they irritate me to death because, you know, in the instructions and I've actually miswritten this before. You know, in handouts I've had, you know, you bring your elderberries to a simmer. No. Never do that. Like, don't don't do that.
You wanna keep the temperature low enough because you're losing medicinal benefits. So, basically, if you're heating things up too much, you're gonna lose medicinal benefits. You know, some people say that the tincture, you should dry it beforehand. I I don't I don't think so. I mean, I learned initially how to make they were bitters. I mean, I was told they were tinctures, but they were bitters, with fresh herb. And if you make you know, I mean, you can do science experiment. You know? Do it with dry. Do it with fresh. There is a flavor difference. Oh, yeah. There is a slight flavor difference. So, you know, you have to find the ways that work for you, but, also, like, depending on the times that it's, you know, where you're busy or where you have you know, sometimes you just have to dry the thing and stick it in a jar and make that medicine later. And the idea of, you know, saving it for later when you really need it and you don't have access to the plant. I mean, Saint John's Wort is a perfect example of that. You know, we need that when it's when it's sad, when, you know, January, February roll around. We haven't had sun in, you know, weeks or months. Yeah. And it's just depressing.
That's when you need that sun medicine. And if you don't harvest it in the summer, then you're not gonna have it for the winter when you need it. Right. And, you know, we always would harvest on the summer solstice because that was, like, that was the folk tradition. You always harvest it. Yeah. Well, over the last five years, if you wait till the summer solstice, it's all burned out. Yeah. So, you know, our temperature has definitely changed. I I don't know. This year is weird. Yeah. Maybe we're going back now. Although, I don't know. Today was, like, you know, extreme humidity. We just went from, like, I was shivering yesterday to, you know, now I'm like, you know Yeah. Welcome to Ohio. Right? Yeah.
[01:11:06] Unknown:
I'm still not convinced there won't be a snowstorm in a couple of weeks. Maybe. I mean,
[01:11:11] Unknown:
you never know here in Ohio.
[01:11:15] Unknown:
So, you talked a little bit about tinctures. Can you go into the process of making a tincture and if, you know, some of the things that you would advise people to do if they are trying to do that at home?
[01:11:26] Unknown:
Yeah. So, I mean, a tincture is a pretty easy process. If you're using fresh herb, you can just pretty much fill your jar and then get a high quality alcohol. We like to use buckeye because it's made in Dayton, Ohio, super close to us.
[01:11:40] Unknown:
And is that just like a like an Everclear almost?
[01:11:44] Unknown:
No. So okay. So alright. So if you're you know, you were talking about Everclear earlier. There are a lot of men in particular who really like to go high on the alcohol percentage. Sure. And, you know, so say you're using a 100 proof or, you know, higher. Yeah. It's gonna take less time for the alcohol to extract, you know, the volatile oils or whatever the compounds are of that plant. Alright? So you're gonna get it out in less time, but now you've got this high potent alcohol. Yeah. Well, if you're putting that in your mouth, I mean, it's gonna burn. You know, try to put that in a kid's mouth. Because I was in college. I I know. Yeah. So most like, especially if you're so if you're working with roots, you might want or mushrooms, definitely. You you're gonna wanna go to a 100 proof. But when you're talking about flowers and leaves, that is unnecessary.
Stick to 8080%. Wait.
[01:12:53] Unknown:
80 proof. 80 proof. So that'd be 40%.
[01:12:56] Unknown:
Yeah. Percent alcohol. And that's where, like, Buckeye vodka or Northside vodka because they're local to us. Yeah.
[01:13:06] Unknown:
You know, always trying to Do they use local grains? Just out of curiosity. I mean, at some point, I don't know if it matters. Yeah. I don't know.
[01:13:14] Unknown:
I I don't think so with Northside, but I think Buckeye does. Interesting. I'd have to look and and double check. But anytime there's a small local business Yeah. I'm gonna That wasn't more like them. Yeah. That wasn't like But I know, like, when you're getting closer to Columbus and they're gonna have more of your, like, Ohio grown versus, like, being down here in Cincinnati. I mean, you're not you know? Well, they People don't have access to it. If you're if you're making vodka, I don't really know Mhmm. How much a load I mean, as long as it's not, like, super sprayed, I suppose. You know? Like, that's more what we're trying to avoid. Right? So, so, yeah, so an 80 proof vodka would be fine.
[01:13:54] Unknown:
I think my wife used an 80 proof for vanilla.
[01:13:57] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly it. Because you don't want it to be too I I mean, my kids will just take the tincture, so I don't want it to be too high where they're not gonna take it. So if you're using fresh herb, you're just gonna fill your jar full and then pour your vodka over. It can be that simple. We're talking about folk medicine. So you've got different, different branches off of herbalism. Yeah. Okay? And so, you know, now we're starting to label herbalism in a lot of different ways depending on, you know, where it came from or if it's clinical or, you know, whatever. But I operate on more of a folk tradition. You know? So if it's dried, you're gonna fill your jar about a quarter of the way, and then you're gonna fill the rest with your vodka. So depending on the size of the jar, obviously, is how much you're gonna use. But you're you're using, like, a one to four ratio on that. Whereas, with fresh herb, you know, I mean, I don't know if that would be a one to one. I mean, you're just kinda filling it. You're not trying to pack it, like, too heavy. But, again, when it comes to measurements, that's a little bit that's a little bit difficult unless you're getting your skin, and I'm not. You know, I know there are people out here who do. I would be one of those people. Well, you've gotta measure exactly what you're doing here and and make sure everything's getting, you know, written down precisely. I am one of those people. I am not. I am not.
I don't have the attention span for that or the brain power for it. And that's also not how I learned. Yeah. So I think it just depends what's important to you, how do you want to make your medicines. And, again, that's where it becomes very personal to you. Yeah. You know? And I've taken these, certifications and courses where I'm just like, oh my god. I can't with this guy. You know? I can't. I can't. These measurements are ridiculous. Just throw it in a jar. Why are you using that herb? We have this that grows. You know? Yeah. So I definitely think that anything that is within your local ecosystem is gonna be a lot more powerful than buying, you know, so called exotic herbs from overseas or everywhere else. Because whatever's working and growing within our system is gonna be better for our body. You know, I tried to use, turmeric curcumin for years for inflammation. Yeah. And I found that goldenrod actually works way better. Really? Mhmm. Because I I use turmeric and,
[01:16:30] Unknown:
curcumin Yeah. For, like, you know, joint pain, things like that. Yeah. Yeah. It worked pretty well. Yeah. I mean, it did initially
[01:16:37] Unknown:
for me, and then I'm like, I don't think it's working anymore. And now I've been using Goldenrod for ten years, and
[01:16:45] Unknown:
it works. That stuff grows everywhere. Everywhere. I mean, a lot of this stuff, we I think a lot of people would classify them as weeds. Absolutely. Yeah. And I don't. No.
[01:16:54] Unknown:
You know, the only weed I see around here is grass.
[01:16:58] Unknown:
Man. The non native grass. Don't get me started on grass. I hate grass. I hate lawn. Arch nemesis. My I think my wife hates this about me, but I just don't understand the point of a lawn. I've never understood it. I've never understood why people just It's a class system. I I don't Yeah. I guess. I I I honestly don't. Actually, you know, I did hear
[01:17:22] Unknown:
I did and I The better your lawn, the better you are as a person. Yeah.
[01:17:27] Unknown:
Okay. I lift with these guys in the morning at a gym, and I I told one of the guys there, Brandon, if he listens to this, I'm gonna tell a story on him. He was talking about his lawn and how much he likes to, you know, get it nice and perfect and things like that. I said, man, I don't get that. I've got better things to do with my time than Mhmm. Like, comb my grass.
[01:17:46] Unknown:
Right. That's why these guys are, like, you know, one guy gets out there and mows his lawn, and then all of a sudden three guys are out there mowing their lawn. I'm like,
[01:17:54] Unknown:
I actually so this and then it might have been I don't know. I have all these things in my head, and I never know where I hear them from. Mhmm. But lawns actually originated around when was Andrew Carnegie around? Was that, like, the twenties or thirties? Something like that. So all these, I guess, you'd call them industrialists. They would have their homes and they or I think Carnegie specifically brought the idea of a lawn over from Scotland. But in Scotland, they would have lawns because they have sheep and they eat sheep to eat the grass. Well, Carnegie brought that over and then, you know, people in the middle and lower classes would look at that and go, well, I want a lawn like Andrew Carnegie. And so everybody started planting lawns.
[01:18:34] Unknown:
Again, I don't know how true that is. Yeah. Sounds true. It's a false story. I know I've always heard that it's a it's a class system type of thing. So, like, that doesn't surprise me. I think that with a lot of things, we have multiple, stories of origin. Yeah. And and the same is true for herbs. You know, if you look into folklore about herbs, you know, it depends on where where it originated from or where it was naturalized or when it was introduced, but everybody's got different stories about about herbs, you know, the the warnings or the the magical element of it. Yeah. And,
[01:19:12] Unknown:
when you talked about wormwood or earlier, I I like absinthe a lot. Mhmm. I used to. I used to. Well, I like I like the flavor of it. Yeah. Me too. But when I was younger,
[01:19:22] Unknown:
I finally found because I'm, you know, I looked into it. I used to have it shipped over. Oh, well, and finally, they started making you could actually put warm wood in. I think you can I'm pretty sure you can. If if not, then I somebody was lying to me about Oh, no. I I I would actually order it from England and have it shipped over. Yeah. I can't do that. I paid a lot. It was, like, $80 a bottle. And that was, like, my party trick. Yeah. You know, when I lived in Mount Lookout with, like, all the young people, we'd come back from the bar and it'd be like, let's do a show to the Absa. Well, I can't tell you how disappointed I was. Oh, yeah. You didn't trip out like you were hoping. No. It was like, it's a nice licorice, and, yeah, I feel drunk, but, like, I'm not gonna cut off my ear. Whatever
[01:20:04] Unknown:
effect the wormwood had, the alcohol was More intense. Far more intense. Far more intense. Yeah. And I know wormwood does things. I mean, it's it's not like an innocuous
[01:20:14] Unknown:
herb. You know, I think it's one of those things too. Like, we were talking about dosage. I think it has to be dosage. And then if you're considering, like, the amount of time or the length of time that you're taking something. Also, we, you know, found out later that the whole story of Van Gogh cutting off his ear was actually not true. So, you know, it's like, oh, he went crazy and, you know, whatever. Edgar Allan Poe was also an alcoholic. Like, I wonder what was in his, you know, drink because he was nuts, but Yeah. Awesome. I mean, I loved reading his stuff in high school. So That was great. You know, always reciting things. I was that weird goth kid, you know, always quoting Quoting the Raven. Oh, gosh. Yes. That's a great poem. I can't remember It is a great poem. I know I read it my junior year, and everybody's, like, at the end looking at me like I am crazy.
[01:21:02] Unknown:
Well and, again, this might be another apocryphal story, but, I heard the reason Absinthe got the name that it got was in the build up to World War one. You know, it was huge in France. I mean, they have the green hour. Right? And everybody's drinking Absinthe like crazy. It's very cosmopolitan. Mhmm. You know, there's writers and artists, and they're just having a great time in France. And the government of France looked at this, and then they looked at Germany and all these guys in spiked helmets, and they're building up their army. And then they looked at their population in France and what we gotta cut this out. Mhmm. The Germans are about to steamroll us, and all of our population
[01:21:39] Unknown:
is just too much fun. Is just having too much fun drinking Absa. So they banned it. They said, we can't do this anymore. Well, and it was an art form too. Like, you know, when New Orleans when when they reintroduced, Wormwood and and you could go down to, like, New Orleans and they were doing it right with the sugar and, you know, it was like this And it gets that nice juice. Yeah. And and you were like, oh my gosh. This is so amazing. Yeah. I mean, it's a good time. You know? And so And And it's a delicious drink. I mean Mhmm. There's a lot of lore around Absa. Yeah. And if once you cut through that, it's just a really good drink. Same same with herbalism, though. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of lore around it. And I feel like in some ways that has scared people away. You know, mead pretty much disappeared just because of, you know, alcohol Yeah. In general. You know, mead was also something that was typically made by women, and the men were like, it go too drunk. So we're gonna take this over.
But it started with herbs and herbs and honey, and that was it. You know, that's why we love herbal beers. They're not as potent. They're super easy to make. I'm I'm trying to convince Phil to hold a glass because he's the one that knows how to make it. How do you I guess, you know, he said Phil knows how to make it. I mean, you know, it's because I'm really interested. I do wanna make a mess with you. It's a it's a multistep process. But he doesn't use hops, though. Right? No. Okay. Well, I mean, he has used it just for flavor. Sure. I love hops, and and we use it in, like, a lot of our tesane blends. I mean, we use it in our good night. I'm sorry. Real quick. What is it tesane? You've said that word a couple of times, and I meant to ask you earlier. I I'm not familiar. So to saying is the more the Appalachian pronunciation of, Tisson Okay. The French word.
And I've heard probably five different French people say it five different ways. So, you know, it's kinda like tesaine. Tesaine. Tesaine. It is what we know as an herbal tea. So Okay. Tesaine is herbs steeped in water. Okay. And then you've got an infusion, which is herbs steeped in water for longer. Herbal tea would really just be the tea leaf with herbs in it. Mhmm. But most most of us don't see that. In marketing, they just packaged herbs and called it herb tea. Herbal tea. So it's what most people know as herbal tea. It's it steeps the same way. You know, when you're talking about tea leaves specifically, depending on what type of tea leaf, you have different steep temperatures.
Herbs pretty much are all the same steep temperature unless it's a root, but it's lower than most of the tea leaves. Is it really? Mhmm. I thought herbals were supposed to be I've got this. Do not boil your water. Really? Yeah. Okay. So I Because if you do, you're drawing out the bitterness of the herb. You're burning it, essentially. Sure. Yeah. So, you wanna keep your temperature below boiling. So I always say steaming and not boiling. Somewhere I mean, one seventy four to 200 is probably a good temperature. Anything over one seventy four is gonna evaporate alcohol. So if you wanna add your tinctures but you don't want alcohol, warm up your water Boil it right away. Put your, tincture in your in your, in your tesane.
[01:24:59] Unknown:
I have this, I got this when I was single, which is probably odd, but I I like tea. Mhmm. So I got this Breville tea maker, and I love it because it's you can program it to hold it at a certain temperature Mhmm. And then it'll steep. Yeah. The herbal tea setting is at two twelve, so it'll it'll boil the water before it puts it in there. Yeah. I wouldn't do that. Yeah.
[01:25:20] Unknown:
I won't do that anymore. Yeah. Yeah. I just I feel like if well and you can play around with it. Do your herbs at a lower temperature and then do it at that higher temperature. Make two cups, keep them exactly the same, and then taste them. And you can decide. Yeah.
[01:25:39] Unknown:
So this kind of, again, hearkens back to the beginning of our conversation, but I'll find so my wife, you know, post COVID just more and more into natural remedies and things like that. And she'll come to me and say, oh, I'm, you know, I'm gonna use this thing for this, that, and the other thing. And then I'll go Google it because I just wanna know what she's doing and make sure it's safe. Mhmm. Nine times out of 10, I'm getting the hit as, like, a WebMD or a Mayo Clinic or something. And nine times out of 10, these these pages will say, you know, be very, very careful. It could cause all these terrible, terrible things. Mhmm. So not that I don't trust that, but where would you go for really good accurate information about or specifically online, but if there are books you like? Mhmm.
[01:26:26] Unknown:
Well, I mean, I do have some of my favorite books. I mean, I don't think any book is perfect. No. And that's partly why I started making my own sheets on herbs. But I would say when it comes to online resources because, you are gonna get the hits on the same same ones over and over. I would check three to four resources and then cross reference. Yeah. I mean, you know, elderberry is one of those where they're like, oh, pregnant women shouldn't take it. Yeah. My iron would plummet so much with my pregnancies that elderberry's elderberry syrup was the only thing that would get my iron up. I mean, the iron supplements they were giving me, I mean, not only were they hard to take, but my numbers still weren't getting where they needed to be. And then I would just take elderberry syrup, and all of a sudden There's iron Oh, your iron's working. You know? And and it's like, okay. Well, you guys are saying that we're not supposed to do any of these things, but I don't I don't think you know what you're talking about. Yeah. You know?
[01:27:32] Unknown:
So And that's my concern is I know there's benefits to all these things. But, I mean, you take mugwort or wormwood, for example. You look those up online, you're gonna get to a WebMD page on your hit on Google that tells you, you know Stay away. Yeah. It'll kill you. Mhmm. Yeah. And then it's just not true.
[01:27:49] Unknown:
Honestly, I don't think that there is an online resource that is gonna be that helpful. I I feel like, they're a good launching point. They're a good starting point, but you need to you really need to find people who have experience with these herbs who have worked with them for a long time and and find out from them. Yeah. You know, comfrey was one of those where I was super worried it was gonna kill my liver. And what is comfrey? I don't know. So comfrey is also known as bone set, but it it's it's a plant we have around all of our fruit fruit trees that fixes the nitrogen. It helps with bones, tissues, tendons, muscles. I mean, it was what they use for broken bones before we had surgery. Okay. Knit bone is another word. It it helps your bones come back together. Really? But, you you know, typically, we use it for, like, bruises, sprains, that kind of stuff. But that was one that I was told and never internalize it. Don't take it internally.
But I had pulled my psoas muscle, which is pretty intense, and the doctors can't do anything for it. And I had heard, Rosemary Gladstar at an herb, symposium talk about using,
[01:28:55] Unknown:
Comfrey internally. So we use this for your so because the psoas is around your groin. Right? The Comfrey back? Yep. All the way up. Yeah. Because my lower back, I think it's my because I I lift pretty regularly, and I've been having a lot of trouble with my low back.
[01:29:08] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, this when you pull your psoas, you can't walk. Oh, I know. I mean, it it jacks you. And my doctor was like, I can give you pain meds.
[01:29:19] Unknown:
I when I There's nothing I can do. I pulled it. I'm I don't know for a fact that it was my psoas, but I couldn't walk. I was bent over. Yeah. I was in my mid twenties, and I just was lifting like a moron. But that was the same thing. I went to a doc, and they're like, oh, I'll give you a muscle relaxers. That's not gonna help me. I can't walk. Mhmm.
[01:29:40] Unknown:
Yeah. I I used a cane for a few days, and then I thought, you know what? Scared as I am to use this Comfrey. And mainly, it wasn't that I was afraid to use it just because of the plant itself. I mean, I'd heard all these warnings, but also I drink alcohol. So that was my concern. Like, I drink alcohol, and then I'm gonna take this herb that's hard on my liver. So that was the concern, and I thought, you know, I I can't even move. I got a, you know, two year old running around. Worry about my liver off. I'm like, I feel like I'm dying. So Yeah. Like, what's what's it matter?
So I drink it internally for a few days, and it was like, I didn't pull it at all. It was fine. Really? And I've had issues where I you know, this was couple months ago. I I hurt the back of my knee, and my my knees welled up twice the size. I'm like, I don't have time for this. Like, not only do I not have time to be injured, I don't have time to go to the doctor. I don't have time to go to physical therapy. And so I did the poultice for a couple days. I did the ice and the heat and was taking the painting sure, which is like a cat's claw, catnip skull cap. You know? Mhmm. And then I was like, I was gonna have to drink the comfrey. And sure enough, next couple days, I feel fine. And I'm, you know, walking around like nothing happened. And I'm just like, why don't I just do this immediately?
Right. That fear from twenty five years ago still resonates in my brain sometimes, you know, that, oh, don't use that herb internally. So I think that when it comes to okay, so when it comes to some of the contradictions and the studies, like, you can look some of that information up. I mean, we've got government websites. Try to find the danger. Try to find specific cases where somebody got hurt Yeah. Doing something because
[01:31:30] Unknown:
it's pretty hard to find. I was gonna say it's tough to find. Yeah.
[01:31:34] Unknown:
And, I mean, sometimes you'll find, like, one study, you know, where they took 200 applicants and five people had a reaction.
[01:31:42] Unknown:
Where they, like, shoved them full of this stuff. Yeah. It's like, oh, they're all getting sick. But then again, you have to look at the dosage and the frequency. And, you know, I
[01:31:51] Unknown:
I I think most people are gonna be cautious of stuff, and they're not gonna overdo it. Some people will.
[01:31:58] Unknown:
You know? Are there any herbs that are actually, like, you need to be very careful with these? Well, I mean, there's poisonous herbs. You know? What are some of them? Because if you're if you're traipsing around out there, you know? Yeah. So around here,
[01:32:13] Unknown:
snakeweed, I think that's what it looks like, boneset, which is not comfrey. Not to be confused with comfrey, but bone set is a tall white plant that can help with cold and flu and things like that. And it's got a look alike that's about half the size that grows all over here. I think it's called snake weed. And that one, if you if you take a bunch of that, it's going to make you pretty sick. Now, most of these plants that are going to make you sick, you are going to vomit and have diarrhea. That's going to be your day. So it's not going to, like, kill your dad. Right. I mean Assuming you don't have to worry about that. Keep trying to take it, I mean, it's gonna kill you.
Poison hemlock, you know, people are getting respiratory issues with that. I know somebody misidentified it as wild carrot in the young state and and got pretty sick. Yeah. I think they were having issues with their kidneys and liver.
[01:33:11] Unknown:
So, yeah, I mean, identification is Or is there any, like, nightshade? Or,
[01:33:15] Unknown:
Well, I mean, unless you're doing a flower essence, you stay away from all nightshades. Well, then and that's Yeah. Shades around here. People go out wild foraging. I mean, I think most of them are cultivated, but some like your morning glory and moon flowers and stuff, you're gonna see those around. I mean, we have them growing. We have Jamesonweed.
[01:33:31] Unknown:
You have Jamesonweed.
[01:33:32] Unknown:
Mhmm. But, again, in low doses
[01:33:35] Unknown:
Active doses of Jameson. Oh, okay. I was gonna say. I've heard I think Phil has. I've heard wild stuff about it. Yeah. Because that's startora. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So but I do use it as a flower essence. Okay. And what what do you what do you mean you use it as a flower? Like a So a flower essence,
[01:33:52] Unknown:
no. So a flower essence is when you, it's like the highest vibrational herbal medicine. You're kinda getting into the homeopathy Okay. Homeopathic medicine. So you're taking the flower and you are, capturing the essence of that flower through water and sunlight or some people use moonlight. So you're basically floating the flower in water for a certain amount of time, and then you preserve it by, making your mother essence, taking the water that you have from that, matching it with brandy. That's your mother essence. Okay. Then you take a separate bottle, and you make half water, half brandy.
And then you take depending on your size of bottle so say you're working with, an ounce, you might take thirty drops or sixty drops of that mother essence and put it in that bottle. So that's how little that you have in that bottle, and then you would take about five drops of that. Okay. So you're you're you're taking a very low
[01:34:50] Unknown:
amount of this plant, but it Which is a Jimson weed, I think is probably a good idea.
[01:34:56] Unknown:
Yeah. But it's flower essence work with your emotional well-being. And so these flowers will help meet you on a cellular and emotional level. So you're not taking higher dosages like you would for a tincture or drinking a cup of it like you would in an herbal tisane.
[01:35:11] Unknown:
Okay. You mentioned earlier different veins of herbal medicine. Mhmm. Can you can you talk about, I guess, maybe some of the main branches or go into more of, like, the one you practice compared to the others? I mean, you've got, like, clinical herbalism.
[01:35:27] Unknown:
You've got the folk traditional herbalism. You've got, different cultures. So I I think it depends on region and where you're at. Also I mean, I feel like now that colleges are offering classes, they're really starting to label. Yeah. You know, how what types of herbalism there is and how how people are practicing. For me, I feel like it's that's just so far out of my realm because I am more in the like, I'm a garden granny, you know? Like, I'm just I'm just walking around here, you know, connecting with the plants. I don't have time to sit in college courses.
Well, you're also missing out on the practical experience if you're just taking a class. You know? Yeah. I mean, study has never been, like, my strong suit. I mean, I do spend a lot of time, especially in the winter, you know, researching and cross referencing. I mean, we've got a little bit of our library here that you can see, and I and I've always got books open if I'm preparing for classes and things like that. I'm checking through references and making determinations of how that fits with me and what's true for me. But most of my study is, very intentional time spent with plants from, you know, the seed to the observation to the harvest to the process to the medicine making. And, you know, a lot of people will just learn about certain things, and they will buy things ready made or they'll buy the herbs already dried, and then they start to formulate.
I I can't. I feel like there there would be such a connection loss there for me personally that it it wouldn't matter to me. I also do not wanna diagnose people. I don't ever wanna get into clinical herbalism because I will never diagnose somebody, and I will never tell them exactly what they need to be doing. If they come to me with questions, I'll say, well, this is this is how I would approach it if it were me. Right. And that's all I can do. I think I'll I'll probably put a disclaimer before the interview starts. Yeah. Absolutely. None of this is medical advice. Not medical advice at all. We don't we don't diagnose, treat, cure. No, baby. Nope. Nope. I don't So if you're asking for entertainment purposes only. Not medical advice at all. Entertainment purposes only.
[01:38:11] Unknown:
So specific to Southwest Ohio, are there any are there any native herbs medicinal or otherwise that you really can't find anywhere else that are kind of spectacular?
[01:38:21] Unknown:
Or I guess they don't have to be spectacular. But I mean, you know, we have certain species of things. I mean, you know, when you're looking at, like, goldenrod and stuff, there's, like, 200 different species. So if you're going to certain parts of Appalachia or you're going up, you know, to the Northeast, you're gonna have a different variety. So, like, our varieties are specific to to us, and I think that's one of the reasons that it's important to get your herbs locally. Because if you can't grow them or harvest them yourselves, you should find somebody who is doing that, especially with the native species because you're gonna have more of a benefit again because it's growing in your ecosystem. Right. You could get that same plant or that same type of plant, but a different slightly different species. I mean, you know, the mugwort that they have grown wild all over the roads of, you know, Maine and Massachusetts.
It's not the mugwort that we have growing here. Sure. They look totally different. And, I'm sure the medicinal qualities are very, very similar. But, you know, when you start getting closer to the Appalachian Trail, I feel like if there was one whole area that would be the most medicinal. And and I think that's why so many people flock to, like, North Carolina. But you've got such a diversity of plants. We have the Appalachian Trail an hour from us. Right. And I've spent a lot of time going through there. And I really appreciate it because, you know, out here, we've got farmlands, which have just mowed everything down. And so, yeah, we've got all these wild things that aren't native to us, but they are repairing the land, and they can repair us as well, like diesel.
Right. Yeah.
[01:40:12] Unknown:
So and don't give away any secret spots or anything. But if people wanted to go out and wild forage, where would you recommend that they go?
[01:40:21] Unknown:
I mean, I think more than ever, that's getting harder and harder to do because of private property and private land. My suggestion to people is there are a ton of people who have land who don't do anything with it. Mhmm. Find somebody that's got 10 acres or 20 acres or whatever and ask them if you could walk their property. Ask them if it's okay to take some things. Yeah. Because there are certain parks you can go to. There are some parks you can ask permission. They might have to get in in writing. We've done that before for a big harvest where we're like, we need a lot of this root. And they're like, that's an invasive. Take it. Take all of it.
But you have to get it in writing. So I think that's the important thing is, you know, I've seen too many, videos of people getting chased off land or people freaking out. Well, I mean, because somebody's up and somebody's in my yard. Right. What are you doing here? And and, I mean, you're not supposed to be picking on roadsides and stuff anyway. So if you're interested in in harvesting and and wild crafting in particular, you need to start reaching out to people in your community. You need to find people who have land, and and that's how I started. I would find everybody that I possibly could who had land, and and I might have to drive forty five minutes, especially when I lived in the city. But I was like, I'll come out. I'll I'll find the things. And there were plenty of things. I mean, that was such a learning opportunity for me too because there were plenty of things that I would see, and I'm like, I don't know what this is. So I would take a lot of pictures or take a specimen with me and then later identify it. So I might have to go back because then I found out that was a really useful herb, and I didn't harvest it because I didn't know what it was. So then it's like, okay. I gotta go back out. But, you know, I remember the time I discovered goldenrod. I filled my car with goldenrod.
I geeked out on that because I was like, this is this is gonna be my solar energy. You know? Like, this is gonna help me so much, and it still to this day is one of my favorite plants. And our Blue Mountain, tosane that we sell is still one of our number one selling to say in. Awesome.
[01:42:27] Unknown:
Well, I'll be honest. I don't know if I have any other questions. That's quite alright. You can always come back. Well, I'd love to if you have me. Because I'd I've talked about this a lot, and I feel like I talk about it too much. But I I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of terroir of, you know, like in France, you can only get a Bordeaux from France because the where they grow the grapes, the land, and parts of character to them. And, you know, I gave you a bottle of mead. I'd make mead. I'd love to make a methylogen or or even a fruit mead or some kind of mead. That's one of the reasons I love honey Mhmm. Is because you're not gonna get honey here that you're gonna get even in, like, Dayton. You know? It's just it really is the character of the land. Mhmm. And it make and thinking about make a methyl gem, which would be like a an an herbal mead or, or fruit mead or something like that. I'm just always trying to think of what can I use around here that's really gonna impart that kind of idea of terroir? So Mhmm. It was a long winded way of saying, I'm definitely gonna come back here if that's alright with you. We'll talk about all kinds of stuff.
But I do wanna give you an opportunity to plug all the things you do and let people know how they can, you know, get in touch with you, get involved, and all that stuff. Yeah. So,
[01:43:43] Unknown:
we do some social media, Instagram or Facebook, but the best way to find out is to periodically check our website, which is the graciousfarm.com. And, we've got our CSA. We'll have, any upcoming, herbal learning classes that we have. Our botanicals festival date is up and all of our tea parties. This year, we will be vending. You know, we kinda go in and out with, how often we're vending depending on what's going on in our lives. But this year, I'll be I'll be out in about a little bit more than than I have in the past few years. So you'll you'll be able to catch me at some different events, but, yeah, the website would be the best way. If you, you know, go in the contact us page, if you got any questions or anything, I'm the one that answers all of those. And, we have a farm store that is open on our property.
It is a twenty four seven self serve, farm store. What do you have in there? We so we sell not only all of our products. So all of our tusanes, tinctures, bitters, fire cider, elderberry syrup. We also have, there's about seven other vendors in there. So we have local honey. Nice. We've got Earthganix and, a few other vendors as well. So get your honey from? So Mike Wolf lives here in Goshen, Ohio, and he's been doing it for about, I I know over a decade. So somewhere between ten and fifteen years. And, I'm pretty sure his bees pollinate our, flowers. So we sell his honey, for our fire cider and our bulk honey from savior bees. Savior bees, which is an upcoming podcast. Yeah. And Patty's Patty's gonna be a ride, I think. They've got, hives. They work with other, beekeepers, but they've got hives around here Oh, yeah. That aren't too far. Yeah. Save your bees.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They've got some
[01:45:39] Unknown:
just a little bit east of here and a little northeast of here, I believe, as well as Anderson. And I'm sure she'll tell you where she's got her hives. She's gonna tell me a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. She's I'm really excited for it, and I'm really hoping I can keep it under four hours. I'm not sure if it's gonna be possible, though. You might have to have multiple podcasts or No. I have a feeling she's definitely gonna be one of those where it's like, alright. We'll we'll do multiple of these because Yeah. I'll tell you, I was on the phone with her. And like I said, it was a four hour comm I think I know everything about her. She probably knows everything about me, honestly. Because like I said, I was part of the problem. I mean, I don't know if you part of the reason I can do this is is because I can talk. Yeah. For sure. But but I'm I'm really looking forward to talk to it. And Yeah. I really enjoyed and it's I wanna make sure that you've plugged all the things that you Yeah. I think so. I'm good. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you. Then I'm gonna call this successful, and I really appreciate you having me out here. Yeah.
We're gonna call this a podcast. Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. I hope you enjoyed that interview. I really enjoyed talking to Crystal as I've enjoyed talking to all the people I've talked to. I know I've said I'm bound to get a bad interview at some point, but, hasn't happened yet. And, you know, there's just a lot of really interesting people doing interesting things right here in Clermont County. So, thanks again to Crystal for sitting down with me, and, I guarantee you we'll we'll get her back on here and talk more about herbalism and and all the things that, that she does out there at Gracious Farm.
So let's let's, talk about some events going on around the county. We have the cicada jewelry class, June 12, that'll be today at 7PM in Clingland Park. And if you go there, you'll be able to create some, resin jewelry using real cicada wings. It's free. You should register, and it is, only for ages 10 and up. And I don't know about anybody else, but I'm I'm really looking forward to the cicadas going away. I'm I'm getting a little tired of that constant drone every time you go outside. So, hopefully, those those bugs will be leaving us soon. We have the Union Township summer concert with Hi Fi Honey on June 13 from 7PM to 9PM at the Union Township Civic Center Amphitheater.
It's just gonna be a concert featuring Hi Fi Honey that and they just seems like they just play a smattering of, different kinds of songs, like pop and rock and country. And like all of these Union Township Summer Concerts, there will be a food truck and a farmer's market that's, food trucks and a farmer's market that, starts at 4PM. And, admission to all of this is free. So, if you're looking for some good music, go out there. The Sunset River Paddle on June 14 at 7PM at Shiloh Park. It is a guided sunset canoe trip on the Ohio River, and you're gonna explore around the Crooked Run Nature Preserve. All the equipments provided, it is free, but you do need to register, and it is for ages 12 and up.
June in Old Williamsburg, and this is gonna be from June 19 from the from June 19 to June 21 at the Old High School Grounds. And it's gonna kick off Thursday at 3PM, and it'll continue, through Saturday night. And it features a five k color dash run, a lively parade. There's gonna be craft vendors, food vendors, carnivals, carnival rides, kids activities, live music, perhaps most importantly, a beer garden. An admission to that is also free. There is a, sweetheart stroll, Friday, June 20 at 08:30PM at the Keeley Nature Preserve. It is a romantic lantern. It is a lantern lit stroll, for anyone, through the park. You just pick up a lantern and a trail map and then you can, at your own pace, explore the trails.
And it's, free admission. So, nothing better than a free day. Summer Solstice Celebration of Color. This is on June 21 at 4PM to 8PM, and this is going to be at various sites across the county. So, check out the Clermont County Park District event page to, to see where this is gonna be. But there'll be outdoor art art installations, interactive activities, local vendors, food trucks. So if you're looking for something fun to do on the longest day of the year, check that out, and it is also a free event. Yoga in the park on June 21 at 9AM to 10AM at Sycamore Park.
It's a free morning yoga session, for teens and adults, and all levels are welcome. So even if you're beginning or if you know nothing about yoga and you just wanna give it a shot, head out to Singapore Park on the twenty first. Claremont County Library's Night Out in the Park Nocturnal Creatures, That's gonna be on June 24 at 06:30PM at, Chiloe Park. It's gonna feature the dream weavers storytelling troupe, so that should be fun to hear some good stories. And there will also be evening nature activities and it's all going to be focused around nocturnal wildlife. You do need to register and you can do that through the library.
Creek Days at the Park on June 27 at 1PM to 3PM, There's another event, Sycamore Park. And it's just a family friendly creek exploration, and there'll be a naturalist there. You get to go stomping around the creek and looking at, you know, all the cool stuff there. They do tell you wear closed toed shoes, because you're gonna be in a creek. We've got gotta catch them all at Pattison Lodge. That's gonna be June 28 at 1PM to 4PM. And it's a Pokemon Go route. Plus, there'll be some indoor games and a live animal presentation. So, if you're into Pokemon, go check that out.
The twenty twenty five river sweep at Shiloh, that's gonna be June 28 from 9AM to 12PM at Shiloh Park, and it's a volunteer river cleanup day. There'll be some canoe and kayak support, and this is for adults and teens. And it, you know, it's sounds like a really great volunteer event. You know, keep our river clean and, you know, spend time out outside and in the nature in nature and should be good. Lastly, we have Shaw Farms opening day on June 28 from 9AM to 5PM. It'll be at Shaw Farms in Milford, and then they're kicking off the strawberry season. So you can go there, pick some strawberries. There'll be some family activities.
So, you know, if I I love fresh picked strawberries. I don't know who doesn't. So if you're into that, go check out Shaw Farms on the, twenty eighth. Those are all the events that we have for you. And like I said in the beginning, we are a value for value podcast. So if you find value in what we're doing, all we ask is that you send some value back in the form of time, talent, or treasure. You can find us on Facebook at let's talk Claremont podcast. We're on Instagram at, at Let's Talk Clermont. You can, follow us on whatever your favorite podcast app is, whether that's Spotify, you know, Apple podcasts, or, you know, whatever it is, please give us a follow. And that way, you'll know exactly when we upload all these, new episodes.
And we wanna hear from you. Shoot us an email at info@let'stalkclaremont.com. Tell us what's on your mind. Tell us what you're concerned about. You know, tell us what we're doing, you know, what we're doing great, what we're doing not so great. And like I said in the beginning, if you got an interesting note, I'm happy to read it so everybody can hear, hear what you think. I've got another oliveism to wrap this up. It's it's a very short one, but when she said it to me, it kind of put me on my back foot. We were walking around, and she just looks at me and she goes, dad, you know I eat grass. I said, you eat grass? She goes, yeah. I like eating grass.
And she pretended to eat grass, and I said, you have to stop eating grass. You're not a cow. And she just laughed hysterically. So I'm really hoping that's a joke and that my my daughter is not out there in the world just chomping down grass. I to be honest, I'm not a 100% sure one way or the other. But, so that's that's your ollivism for the day. Thanks again for everybody who's listening, and we will see you next time.
We've been living in sin so long. All Welcome to episode 11 of Let's Talk Claremont. I'm your host, Patrick, and, I really appreciate you listening, and I appreciate everybody who has been listening. We've been, we've been doing really well. We're growing, and it seems like more and more people are listening. And, you know, social media seems to be going well, so that's that's all positive things. And I've have, been having a really fun time doing this. So like I said, I really appreciate, appreciate everybody listening. If you are new, I'll just say, tell you kinda what's going on here. In the beginning, we do a little bit of news, and then you get to the interview. And then at the end, I'll just read out some events that are going on around the county.
And with all that said, I think we're gonna jump right into it because there are some interesting things going on in the county, that I think everybody should know about. We'll start with the Clermont County overall. The, commissioners are making amendments to the Clermont County subdivision regulations, and they're gonna hold a public hearing about this on July 9, at 10AM at the office of the board of county commissioners. And so what they're doing is the the original rule that was in that they wanna change in the subdivision, regulations, was that no building permits could be issued until all water and sanitary sewer infrastructure was fully built and approved.
So what they're proposing is is that builders can apply for permits at any time. The permits can be issued once the county accepts a performance bond. Construction of water, sewer, utilities must be completed before issuing a certificate of occupancy, and it aligns issuance of permits with section 105.4 of the Ohio Building Code. So what this seems to be trying to do is that if somebody wants to develop a large tract of land or any land really, but, suspect it's mainly for large developments. They're just trying to streamline that process, and they're saying you can start building and, you know, we can we can put in water and sewer later.
So if you have an opinion about that, and I'm gonna try to be there as well, I would head over to the office of the board of county commissioners on July 9. At least listen to what they have to say and give them input if you have any. Alright. So Batavia Township. There is a public zoning workshop on Thursday, June 12, and that'll be today because this will go out on, on the twelfth at 05:30PM at the Batavia Township Community Center. And so what this is is this is part of, the commission's effort to update and streamline the Batavia Township zoning resolution.
And what they're gonna talk about are some potential updates to the Batavia Township zoning revolution, and they're gonna review a draft before setting any formal public hearing dates. So this isn't an official public hearing. This is just well, like they said, it's a workshop. You can go and you can just listen to what they say. You can obviously have input if you have input, but this is this is like a preliminary to the public hearing. And I did try to find a little bit more details on this on the Batavia Township website, but the link to the notice takes you to a different public notice. It was some kind of zoning notice.
So if anyone in the township is listening or anybody listening knows somebody in the township, they should probably fix that link up. Milford, they have proposed city charter amendments, and there's gonna be public hearings, but there was a public hearing earlier this month. There'll be another public hearing on Tuesday, July 15 at 7PM at the Milford Administration Building. So what they're gonna do is, the charter is kind of like the constitution of Milford, you know, the rules that the council has to play by. So some of the things there's some kind of boring things that they're gonna do, but some of the things I thought were interesting was, they're gonna update council member eligibility.
So as it currently stands, you have to live in Milford, for at least ninety days before you can run for council. They're gonna change that to at least one year. So before you can run for council in Milford, if these changes go through, you're gonna have to have lived there for at least a year. There's also some timing that they're gonna change. So the new council is going to take aug take office at the regular meeting in January and not December. There's some changes to the council rules. There it's gonna require that rules be adopted within thirty days, replacing from time to time. So that's just gonna let the council update procedures when needed.
Public notice of meeting. So any special meeting notices, can, may be delivered electronically and must be posted on the city website and three bulletin boards twenty four hours in advance of the, special meeting. And there's some emergency exceptions to that. Executive sessions, it clarifies that the council may meet privately only after a roll call vote and only for the seven purposes already listed in Ohio's open meetings law. Purchasing and contracts, I thought this one was interesting. So there's a dollar limit. It I I believe this is how this works. There's a dollar limit, that if it is if any kind of contract or or purchasing agreement is below this dollar agreement, they don't really have to vote on it. It can just kind of go through. So the competitive they're gonna raise the competitive bidding floor to $40,000.
And I think the main purpose of that is to align it more with, you know, current inflation and just kind of update that that dollar amount. I think that's interesting. And this isn't to say that anything nefarious is going on, but that means that anything any kind of bid less doesn't have to be competitive. It could they can just assign that that, contract to whomever or whatever company. And again, I believe that's how that I'm like 90% sure that's how that that works. And, there's a they want to change public, publication of ordinances.
So instead of newspaper summaries, the full text is gonna have to be posted on the city website, and a public bulletin board within seven days after the adoption of the ordinance. So there's a lot of interesting things that they're changing, and there were some, like I said, there were some boring things, like, they're just changing pronouns, like, you're going to gender neutral pronouns and things like that. But those are the things I thought were interesting. So if you're in Milford and you have an opinion on which, you know, I I think you probably should, if you have an opinion on on your charter and and how your city works, I would really try to make it, make it out there on July 15 at seven, if for no other reason just to hear what they say. And, obviously, if you have an opinion about something, you can that's your opportunity to voice it.
So those are the the things that I found that I thought were interesting. I thought everybody in the county should know about. So with that, we'll just this is a value for value podcast, like I've said before, and what that means is if you find value in what we're doing over here, all we ask is that you send some value back, talent, or treasure. And as I've said many times, treasure is great. Get in touch. We'll figure out how to make that work. But time and talent are equally as important. If you have a skill that can help us, please let me know. And, you know, we'll figure out something, maybe we'll read your name off or something like that. You know, obviously, we'll thank you for for whatever value you send over to us.
You can follow us on Facebook. We're at Let's Talk Clermont Podcast, on Instagram at Let's Talk Clermont. And also please follow us on whatever podcast app you have, whether it's Spotify, Apple Podcasts. As I said before, I like Apple Podcasts. That way, you know, you'll get notifications whenever, whenever we put one of these out and you can listen to it. And we do wanna hear from you. We wanna hear, what's going on in your city, in in your community. What are you concerned about? What are you interested in? Let us know, and we'll talk about it. And if, you know, you have a complaint or you have a, you know, if you just wanna tell us great job, that's great too. And if you send something interesting, I'll read it out and everybody can can hear what you have to say. So please please do, get in touch.
Alright. So for our interview today, we have, Crystal Judge. She's one of the owners of Gracious Farm, and she is a real deal herbalist. I knew she ran like an herbal, she was an herbalist and, she has an herbal CSA, but when I went there, I was actually kinda blown away. The cover the cover image of this podcast isn't gonna do it justice, but you'll see, you know, she's standing in front of a huge wall of dried herbs. That that's like a fraction of what she has. She has a huge apothecary, and she was really great to talk to. And we talked a little bit about different herbal remedies, her CSA, and some places to start if you're kinda looking to get into herbalism.
The other thing I do wanna mention before we get into it that nothing that we talk about is in any way, shape, or form medical advice, just a a a disclaimer. So, you know, if you if you have some dire medical issue, don't take this podcast as as medical advice. Go go see, either a medical professional or whomever you wanna see, you wanna see, to fix that. So I just felt like it was necessary to say that. So with that said, let's get to the interview, and thanks for listening. Alright. We're recording.
[00:10:45] Unknown:
Alright.
[00:10:46] Unknown:
And the way I always start these things is just tell us who you are and what you do. Okay.
[00:10:52] Unknown:
Well, my name is Crystal Judge, and I am one of the owners of Gracious Farm. So we are an herb farm based in Southwest Ohio, specifically in Goshen, Ohio. And, we teach herbal learning classes. We have nature camp, an herbal conference, a botanicals and herbs fest. So we do a lot of events throughout the year, and then we also sell product, which is basically my medicine cabinet that I share with others.
[00:11:19] Unknown:
So how did you get into all of this? I mean, we're sitting here. You've got an entire wall of herbs behind you. I mean, that I imagine takes a lot of time to accumulate that kind of a pot to carry.
[00:11:30] Unknown:
Yeah. And, we switch it out every year. So Hopefully. Mhmm. Yeah. So every at the end of our season every year, all of the herbs are either used or, composted. Okay. And then, we start over.
[00:11:44] Unknown:
So, harvest So you harvest
[00:11:47] Unknown:
all of these Yes. Yearly? Yes. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, there's a few things in our apothecary that we don't harvest, like cinnamon because I can't grow it, but and I use it. But for the most part, I would say over 95% of our herbs are grown here on the farm and then harvested by me. So the harvesting is not, the part that takes a long time is the processing. Right? So the drying and and actually getting it in a jar. But my path started, about thirty years ago. Okay. And,
[00:12:20] Unknown:
So you've been doing
[00:12:22] Unknown:
something like this for about thirty years? Yeah. I started learning thirty years ago. Wow. Yeah. So for me, it was, more out of necessity than anything. Instead, I, I didn't really have access to health care at the time or I didn't have the the best health care. Yeah. So I started learning about it. And then when I I did have access to health care, I kinda fell off the wagon for a while Yeah. And followed the Western Medicine route. And then realized pretty quickly that that was not it it wasn't a fix. It wasn't gonna Yeah. You know, make things better, that it was actually gonna make my health worse.
And so I started leaning a lot heavier into herbalism once again. And, you know, I think that there's always a time and a place for western medicine and, you know, like,
[00:13:16] Unknown:
let's not die if we can help it. I mean I tell people it's like, you know, if I have cancer, I'm probably gonna go see a doctor. Break an arm. Yeah. Definitely go to a doctor. Go see a doctor. Yeah. But if I've got a cold,
[00:13:27] Unknown:
you know, maybe I can Well and, I mean, if it gets bad enough and you feel like you need to go just to confirm whatever is going on in your body, yeah, you but a lot of times, the doctors don't even have answers. So if you can go and get confirmation of this is what it is, here are my options, whether it's something that they wanna prescribe an antibiotic for or not. If it's something where you absolutely need to take the antibiotic, then go ahead and take it. But if it's something that they're like, well, you here's this in case, and here's some other remedies. And Yeah. And I've seen that doctors are starting to get more into that. I mean, my my kid was sick a couple I guess it was, like, last fall Mhmm.
A year and a half ago. And the doctor suggested honey. Yeah. So they are shifting Yeah. In a lot of ways. And I I was really surprised because he was so uncomfortable. Yeah. And we had been doing things, and he had been taking honey. So when we went and she was like, everything looks good. He looks fine. I know he's uncomfortable. We would suggest honey for his cough. And I was like, okay. Well yeah. I was like, okay. We we can do that. Yeah. Mhmm. So, you know, it's
[00:14:41] Unknown:
after doing this podcast for a while and interviewing some people, it seems like a very common experience. Is, you know, that people are going to docs and they're just kinda playing whack a mole with symptoms and giving you prescriptions, and then they turn to natural remedies. And lo and behold, they're good, you know. Well, you know,
[00:15:01] Unknown:
it's called a practice for a reason. Yeah. And they don't they don't always know what they're doing. I mean, they're not living in your body. So how can they tell you exactly what to do? People. Right. I mean Human error. It's a thing. I mean, they're smart people. They've they've done a lot of work to get where they are, but they're still people. Yeah. But when it comes to the pharmaceuticals, I mean, we're talking about drugs that are, you know, advancing very quickly. Mhmm. We don't always know the side effects. Mhmm. We know, you know, obviously, what they're intended for, but we don't always know the side effects. And so they're gonna affect people differently. A lot of times, your natural remedies are they might not be effective, and you might have to try different ones. But just like pharmaceutical, you have to keep taking it. You gotta take it over and over and over again to see a result.
There are certain things that you'll take it, and you're like, oh my gosh. That's that's working great. I just need to keep doing that. So it's a matter of making sure that you're getting it in your body multiple times a day through that process. Right. There are certain things that are gonna work. There are certain things that aren't gonna work. But what is great about herbs and herbalism in in particular and not being afraid or shying away from the medical, benefits or the medicinal benefits is that most of these herbs we're gonna work with are common herbs. Most of them are not gonna have side effects. Right. So it's not gonna hurt you.
There's been a lot of fear around herbs and herbalism in particularly the last sixty years or so. It's definitely vamped up where people are terrified in some aspects of herbs. I I've actually done what what are they terrified of? Well, like so as they have identified certain compounds and certain pharmaceuticals, you know, they'll say, oh, well, you can't take this with this because of the side effects. Or, you know, comfrey. There was one study where a woman had liver damage. And so it was like, oh, don't take comfrey internally. It's gonna cause liver damage. And that was something that went on for decades. But there's a lot of people that used to drink comfrey tea on the regular basis. And and there are certain ways that you can heal yourself with small doses of things versus overloading. I mean, you can eat a bunch of spinach and hurt your liver just the same. So the, the old saying poisons in the dose.
Exactly. Yeah. So but that has created a fear. Whether it's valid or not, that fear has been there. Now a lot a lot of people are starting to lean back into herbalism, and we've seen a huge increase since COVID. Yeah. I So That's not changed. COVID changed everything. You know, when I was talking to people fifteen, twenty years ago about herbs and herbalism and,
[00:17:44] Unknown:
about herbal remedies, you know, it was like I had a, you know, eye. I would've looked at you the same way. Mhmm. I mean, it it COVID changed a lot of my perceptions. And frankly, I think a lot of people lost significant amounts of trust in just medical establishments. Yeah. You know? And in my opinion, probably rightfully so. Yeah. You know?
[00:18:05] Unknown:
Well, it's it's not a bad thing. Mhmm. With that, we've seen a really big influx in people who don't really know what they're talking about. Yeah. So, you know, so there is a little bit of a fine line there, I suppose, with now, you know, and especially because there's so much marketing over anybody can can be an herbalist. All you have to do is open a book. And it's like, okay. Sure. No. But, you know, to be a master of anything. Right? You have to study it and you have to practice it. You know, when we when we look at doctors, we know that they've gone through an extensive amount of study, but they are still practicing. They will forever be practicing.
And that's the same thing with people who study herbs. You will forever be practicing. So to announce yourself an herbalist, especially when you're brand new at this or you just found out about it or you just opened your eyes about it a year ago or three years ago, it's very hard to take anyone seriously who, you know, has that mindset of, like, I am an herbalist. Yeah. I will forever study herbs. Yeah. And if other people believe or trust in what I'm doing and call me an herbalist, I have become more comfortable with that. Yeah. But you will not hear me announce Yeah. That I am that. Well, that's probably the mark of somebody who
[00:19:36] Unknown:
if it's that old thing of, people who don't really know what they're talking about, but know a little bit of it. They think they know everything. Well, they wanna tell you everything they know. Yeah. Right? But people who actually know a lot about something will always tell you, like, well, I don't really know that much.
[00:19:54] Unknown:
But they act there's a name for it, and I can't remember what it is. I I think part of that too is knowing that, you know, like I said, I don't live in your body. No. I don't know your experience. I don't know I don't know the medications and the things that you're taking. I mean, people don't disclose that with their own doctors. Right. And that's where they run into problems with pharmaceutical medications. They're taking supplements. They're taking vitamins. They might be taking, you know, some herbal things, and they're taking prescription medications. Yeah. And then what about the rest of their lifestyle?
There's so many components and elements, and and that's why I think for us, we really focus a lot on education. Don't tell me what you know. Let's come and practice. You know, let's practice together. Let's talk about ways that you can start to incorporate because none of this is gonna work if you're not gonna use it. Right. So it doesn't matter if you know how to make a tincture all day every day in every form if you're not gonna take that tincture. So then what is the what is the remedy for you, or how are you gonna take it? This switchel that I brought you, for instance, there are so many people who don't like tea. I am not gonna drink tea. I'm not gonna have anything with herbs in it. Something like this is a natural energy drink. It tastes good. A lot of people tend to like it over you know, because it tastes more like a Gatorade type thing. So it's like, okay. Well, I would drink switchel, you know, or haymakers punch or Yeah. You know, whatever, people are gonna call it. But, like, with my kids, they'll drink herbs in a lemonade form, and they'll drink it in they'll eat it in a freeze pop. They'll take elderberry syrup, and they will take tinctures.
My little guy. Yeah.
[00:21:38] Unknown:
I don't know. I just forgot what it was. So if somebody wanted to really get into herbalism, like, what are the things that you would suggest starting out with and and progressing along that kind of journey to figuring out what all these herbs do and and building an an apothecary like this? So it depends on your environment.
[00:21:58] Unknown:
When I lived in the city, I would, find everything around me. So, you know, when you're living in the city, you really should not harvest anything without permission. Yeah. You know, in the city Hamilton County, they don't want you touching anything. Some of our state parks, you're allowed to harvest aerial parts. But one, start identifying the things around you. Identify the things that are in your yard. If you don't have a yard, start to identify the things around the parks in which you live. You have to start with individual plants and try to learn as much as you can about them. Don't just try to cherry pick a little bit here and a little bit there and then start formulating things like, oh, I'm just gonna put all this stuff together because you really need to know how these things are gonna work together. Mhmm. You're you're not gonna wanna put, you know, a sedative with something that's gonna give you energy. Right. You know? Unless you want a fun night, I guess.
[00:22:57] Unknown:
But, you know, how Unless you wanna be able to rearranging your cabinets on it. Having a basic
[00:23:03] Unknown:
understanding of the plants around you is is a great start. Well, I imagine some of these herbs I mean,
[00:23:11] Unknown:
it kinda hearkens back to the beginning of our conversation, but I think people look at herbs and, like, oh, they're just plates and it's whatever. But some of these things can pack a punch. Oh, yeah. And if you're not careful, I think you could probably get yourself in some trouble. Well, you know, low and slow is always a thing. Now I'm not gonna lie. I I learned a traditional folk remedy.
[00:23:33] Unknown:
And through that, there was this older knowledge, but then there was also the that installation of modern fear. Yeah. And so there were certain herbs that I was told were absolutely off limit. Yeah. These are gonna make you crazy, like wormwood we brought up. This is gonna hurt your liver or this one could kill you or, you know Mhmm. I have come to understand these plants a lot differently than I did thirty years ago. Yeah. But I'm still very cautious Yeah. If I'm gonna use them. Wormwood, I know, is that is not a good feeling for me. Yeah. I will do it in small doses. I it's I tend to work with it more in, like, a burning.
So I love seining. I love burning things. That's always fun for me. And I feel like I get to connect with the plant Yeah. Yeah. Without having to ingest it. I love using things topically sometimes too because that doesn't affect me. But, you know, I tend to be very sensitive, so I can't take a lot of medications. Tylenol typically makes me throw up if I've had to have surgery or Novocaine or any my whole body starts shaking. I'm one of those that I am so sensitive to medication, and and herbs can be like that for me. So I have to be very slow with things. When I started taking blue vervain, my partner Phil was like, oh, you need this plant. He grew it for, like, two years. Mhmm. And kept telling me and it it was pretty. Yeah. But I was terrified of it. And so I would say, I don't have time. I don't have time to work with another plant right now. You know, there's thousands of plants. I only have so much time.
Then I finally started working with it, and, of course, I thought, I'm just gonna small dose, five drops of this tincture I made. Oh my gosh. That was way too much way too much. And so I definitely I it definitely affected my nervous system. My dreams were insane. Yeah. It was crazy. But now I take it daily, and I take about two or three drops. I do see the benefit, but I had to find the dosage. And so, you know, when when I'm talking to people about things that we make and things that we sell, I, you know, I tell them, just start really, really slow with this when you might wanna start with one drop or start with two. I can't I can't reasonably dose you on that because I don't know how you're gonna react to it. Yeah. And I know for me, I've had to be cautious with certain things, whereas other things don't seem quite as effective, and then I have to take more of it. So I might be taking a lot more of, you know, cat's claw or catnip or something like that. Lemon balm is another one.
Some people love lemon balm. We just use it as a hydrosol on our face. Yeah. It was refreshing. So very refreshing. I love it in that form. I can have it if it's small in a tusayan blend. So blending it with other herbs. But some people take a tincture of it, and they're like, oh, lemon balm is so good for anxiety. And I will be up all night peeing all night. So, no, that one doesn't work for me because now I'm uncomfortable and I'm sleep deprived. The exact opposite of what you wanted. Exactly. So it's not calming me. It's actually making everything worse. Yeah. So, yeah, you just have to find where things work for you. And a lot of that has to do with learning about the herbs, harvesting them, being in their environment, cultivating them.
You know, it's a it's a sampling, so to speak. And you have to curate your own apothecary and your own medicine. There's no point in having a 100 jars of something if you really only need 10 basic herbs, and that's what works for you. Right. But as you age and as you change and as your life shifts, so will your herbs. They they will shift. Now when I was young, I I took lemon balm a lot. I took higher doses of lemon balm. Still in blends, but higher doses. But now now, I mean, I'm gonna use it topically more than anything. I love the smell. I love having a bouquet. Yeah. And just, it smells so good. But, no, I don't wanna ingest a whole lot of that. So Well, I think that's
[00:28:05] Unknown:
I think it's easy to look at your health as kind of a static thing. Where it's, you know, I'm just an unchanging entity and then I I just need to put things in my body that help it, but it's
[00:28:18] Unknown:
you're not. You you you get older. You Well, and we we know that with, like, how incredibly strong and energetic we are as young people. Right? And then we get older and especially, you know, if you add elements of stressful work or children or anything like that, you're like, woah. I am tired. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I know. I know.
[00:28:41] Unknown:
I I know that. I've got two young kids. Yeah. I know I know what that's like. Yeah. So being able to shift and change
[00:28:48] Unknown:
what it is that you're doing so that it it fits your body. And and some of that is trial and error. It Yeah. You know, in in the way that you're gonna go to a doctor and perhaps be frustrated that they're not getting it right, you're gonna have moments of frustration when you're working with your herbs. Yeah. But I think the important takeaway from that would be don't give up and just keep trying to learn as much as you can. I mean, we're finding that a lot more people are getting into these older ways and wanting to slow down. I'm gosh. You see that with the influx of, like, sourdough every day. I make sourdough. Like, my wife makes sourdough. My wife cans. I mean, she does all that stuff. Yeah. But there were there were generations that lost. So our parents and some of our grandparents, that completely went away. And it only takes one to two generations to lose it completely.
So instead of handed down knowledge, now we are having to relearn all of this mostly on our own. Yeah. And so, you know, maybe with technology, maybe with, you know, the advantages that we have now, we'll be able to do it more efficiently and and do it better Yeah. In some ways. And, hopefully, it'll stick around so that our children don't have to teach themselves and that they're not a step behind. But then again, this could be a good thing for us because we're not hindered by old ways that maybe weren't as effective or weren't as efficient. Yeah. And we're finding better ways to navigate that. There was this painting. I wish I could remember the name of it,
[00:30:19] Unknown:
but it was a you there were these big crumbling Roman aqueducts. Right? And there was a sheep herder kind of in the shadow of them tending to a sheep. And that's kind of because I think even still today, we don't know how to make Roman concrete. So it it's like things like that. You know, you look at these big structures and things that people did in the old year, like, wow, how did they even accomplish that? Yeah. And you're right. You're like,
[00:30:44] Unknown:
if we lose these skills, we lose them. Yeah. Like, they're gone. Some of them, they're completely gone. Yeah. We're not always gonna find better ways of doing stuff. And like you said, sometimes we we can't figure it out at all. You know? So, you know, anything that we can do to to help our children, you know? And and my kids are growing up with it. So, you know, they get annoyed sometimes. They get bored with it sometimes. You know? My daughter is like, oh, I don't wanna harvest this thing. I don't wanna go do this thing. But I see this shift from her being not happy about it to the remembering and the meditative part of it where she she does look so peaceful. And, of course, when she's done, Oh,
[00:31:29] Unknown:
you know, so I feel like a daughter for very similar people. You know, it's funny. I've interviewed a couple of people who are in like canning herbs, things like that. And you get a very common story where they say, you know, my grandmother can't, and it was some of the best memories I have. Mhmm. You know, I love just, you you know, diving into these old ways of living and old ways of doing things. And I think there's a lot to that. I think a lot of people are not just revisiting the practices, but revisiting memories of
[00:32:01] Unknown:
loved ones. You know? Yeah. I mean, it's it's the the memory or the comfort of that and also the slowing down. Yeah. You know? I mean, we weren't rushed like like I am now with my kids sometimes. And, I mean, I keep I I try to keep our schedules minimized, you know? But even so, we live in a society where there's so much rushing. Mhmm. And I remember taking forever to do things just so we could go get ice cream No. Later. Yeah. You know? And and and the snapping of the the beans or going and harvesting the blackberries or whatever it was that we were doing,
[00:32:42] Unknown:
and that slowness. You know? I I recently talked to a guy. He was supposed to be promoting his wife's business, but his wife was a little shy. So he came over and we talked about hunting because I I hunt. And we both were, you know, just being out in the woods for, you know, eight hours in a stand. You might not see anything, but the world kind of goes away. And it's it's just a wonderful you realize how fast paced things really are. And just that slowing down is I think it's I think it's not just beneficial, but almost necessary for your mental health.
[00:33:19] Unknown:
Boredom, I think, is a key point Yeah. To having good mental health. Yeah. I I was listening to a podcast recently where,
[00:33:28] Unknown:
a guy said he needs to be bored. Like, he needs time to be bored. That's when the creativity happens. It does. It really does. Every time I'm bored, I'm like, well, maybe I could think about this and do this thing and that the other time. And and having that time and space
[00:33:42] Unknown:
instead of being frazzled trying to put something together, you almost make you you can create the entire thing in your brain. So when you execute it, you're like, whoop. That just happened. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. I yeah. Anytime because I was telling you earlier, I make mead.
[00:34:01] Unknown:
I will think about the process for a week Mhmm. Before I even crack open a a thing of honey Yeah. To do it. You know? Like and it's it's good to just be engaging your mind like that. Yeah. It absolutely is. So can you just talk about some of your favorite herbs? And I I you know, I said that and I saw the look on your face. I was like, well, this might be a broad question. It's like asking somebody who their favorite kid is or something. Yeah. Well, you know, I Let me back up. Let me reframe that question. What are some of the herbs that broadly speaking have the the best benefit for people?
[00:34:48] Unknown:
Yeah. So, I would say at the top of my list would be nettle. Okay. Because it's Like stinging nettle? Stinging nettle. Okay. Because it's so nutrient dense and it has so many medicinal benefits. The list is long, but it also is a survival food. Dandelion would be right there with it. Does dandelion do they have medicinal properties? Absolutely. Yeah. So dandelion root and leaves, we know that more as your, digestive cleanser. It is it's gonna help with inflammation, all sorts of things as well, but it's also really high in polyphenols. So the flower specifically, anything that's high in polyphenols is gonna help against degenerative diseases. What is a polyphenol? Polyphenol phenol is a a a compound within the plant, and it's in our fruits and vegetables. It's in our herbs.
So those compounds can help with, like, not it's it's not the same as your nutrient content, but it's gonna help your body with, certain aspects of, like, if you have inflammation or if you have certain diseases. So polyphenols help with your degenerative diseases, your cancer, your heart disease, your diabetes, your MS, all of those types of things. So having higher amounts of that, it's gonna help your body defend against those things. So you are less likely to develop them. And there's a lot of plants that are high in polyphenols, but dandelion is right up there at the top of the list. But, also, dandelion has had over 200 studies, probably more now. Yeah. And so we know for a fact that that can help Yeah. In a lot of cases. And it's interesting because people will spray a chemical causing thing on it Yeah. Yet it could potentially be the thing that helps prevent the cancer if you were ingesting it. So it's definitely up there. So, like, a lot of the edible, a lot of the edible plants like your, burdock root, you know, you can make burdock slaw that's used as a side dish often, Plantain, clover or any of the clovers.
[00:37:06] Unknown:
So what you said plantain. That's a fairly common one. What what do you use plantain for? So plantain has the nutrient,
[00:37:15] Unknown:
it's nutriently comparison to spinach. Okay. And dandelion is too. So those, we have nutrient facts about. A lot of herbs, we don't have all of the information, but there's certain herbs that we do. So you can actually look up nutrient facts for dandelion, and you will find that. Yeah. Same thing for plantain. I think stinging nettle is another one. But plantain can be used as spinach substitute.
[00:37:41] Unknown:
And Does it taste like spinach?
[00:37:43] Unknown:
I I think very similarly. If you get the young leaves, it it will. The older leaves are gonna be a little more bitter, taste a little more like grass, but then again, to me, spinach tastes like grass. Yeah. I wouldn't say I'm a huge spinach fan. But Yeah. But, I mean, if you're using it in cooked recipes, you really can't tell the difference, in my opinion, between plantain and spinach. With dandelion, if you use that as a substitute, you can because it's a little more bitter. Mhmm. Yeah. Whereas plantain doesn't have that bitterness to it. Okay. So, yeah. So, like, anything that you can make a yard salad out of. So, basically, a lot of the weeds that pop up in your yard, those would be my top herbs for not only medicinal uses, but also because they're edible and you could survive on them.
If we were looking at just specifically medicinal, I would say pine, white, eastern white pine. I've been hearing more and more about pine. Mhmm. It's high in vitamin c. Okay. And it can also help with secondary, infections, so, like, respiratory infections. So, say, you catch a cold. If you're drinking pine, you're less likely to get an upper respiratory infection, bronchitis, or pneumonia. And we know once it starts getting to that point, now you've got some severe problems. You could also use Mullein to help heal the lungs, and and that would work really nicely. But that's, like, once you've gotten to the point where you need something to heal your lungs. Yeah. If you were drinking pine from the beginning, you probably didn't need it.
Holy basil would be my number one for flavor and overall, like, mood enhancement, and I would put milky oats right there with it. So milky oats is one of those that can really kind of calm your nervous system, and those two together are really wonderful. We have them in, what is called a courage blend, and I I say that's a hug around your heart. It's got Saint John's wort and holy basil and milky oats and and all of these things that are really gonna help. I say that it's it's courage in the face of, anger. Mhmm. So, you know, a lot of times we have this, like, rage within us because we can't control, you know, whether we're caretaking or we have a stressful job or whatever the We've got a couple of kids running around that are driving you nuts. Exactly.
And and you still have to do the thing Yeah. But you're struggling with it. And it's there are often times that I will make a cup of the courage to say and and just sit down and chill out. Rose is in there too. Yeah. You know, so like a heart softener. The things that really when you feel that wall around your heart and you're just like, oh my gosh. That will help kind of soften everything a little bit so that you can still have the courage to face your day because you still gotta do all the things. Right.
[00:40:45] Unknown:
I might need to get some of that because I'll tell you, I I'm a pretty easygoing guy. I have never been more mad in my life than I've been mad at my five year old at times. Yeah. Like, I'd
[00:40:58] Unknown:
irrationally angry Yeah. About something irrational that she's done. That's exactly it. I mean, I I thought you know and and I've been hung high strung throughout my life, but, you know, just hyperactive. But I spent a lot of time learning to chill. Yeah. You know, like, two decades worth of just chilling out and being able to, you know, go with the flow and, adapt to things very quickly. It's really something that's important. You do. Yeah. And I thought I mastered it. I did. I did. And then I had my daughter.
[00:41:34] Unknown:
Yeah. That's
[00:41:35] Unknown:
something very familiar. And I thought, oh my gosh. Yeah. That rage of, you know, I am I am I've never loved someone and been so mad at them at the same
[00:41:47] Unknown:
time. Oh, it's incredible. It's incredible how much you love them and how much you just get incensed. Mhmm. Absolutely incensed. Like, I've I've never yelled at anybody. Ever. I'd like I have a I have such a long fuse. I would I would actually have counted that as a weakness of mine that I have a long fuse and I wouldn't stick up for myself. And then I have a daughter. Mhmm. It's like, nope. That shoes got that fuse got really short really quick. Yeah. My partner is the same way. Like,
[00:42:17] Unknown:
I can count on one one hand how many times I've heard him raise his voice. Yeah. And most of them have been at my daughter.
[00:42:27] Unknown:
I love I've for the record, I love my daughter very much. Mhmm. She's wonderful. But it's just that's
[00:42:34] Unknown:
just the work of growing a little human. Yeah. And, also, she's probably a lot like you. Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah. You know? She is. What we when we see things we don't necessarily like about ourselves and our kids, it makes us insane. Yeah. It's us. Like, she's And that's where herbs could help. Yeah. Bringing it back to herbs. You cannot do anything about it. You really can't do anything about it. So that's what I love about having an apothecary is that regardless of whether I have put together a plan or done something because I know I needed it in the past, There can be moments where I am completely lost, and I have no idea what I need. And I will intuitively come to the herb wall, and I will just grab, like, five different things, and I'll put it together. And that was exactly what I needed at that moment. And so that, to me, is the benefit of building an apothecary. We are doing,
[00:43:33] Unknown:
an herb CSA this this summer. I did wanna ask you about that because that's a really cool idea. So I've always wanted
[00:43:40] Unknown:
an herb CSA where there was actually herbs, not products, not some something that somebody made and they're making it for everybody. I wanted something that was, like, a little bit more, and I never found it. I have since found one other, farm in Oregon, I think Yeah. That has something similar. But, basically, we take 10 herbs. I put together a book of all of the herbs, that are gonna be in our CSA. And so you've got all the uses and things that, you know, how you could use it. And then I create videos for each, herb where I tell them how I would use it. And so everybody in our CSA gets those videos, and then they pick up their fresh herb. And they get to decide if they're gonna use it fresh, if they're gonna dry it, you know, what they're gonna do with it.
And they're able to make their own medicine. So, I think that it's important to connect with the plants even if you don't have access of growing the plants. I don't you know, my original goal was to be the, you know, dried herb supplier of Ohio. But but I don't like that because I feel like I could do all that work. Dried herbs. I mean, the life force is is is leaving Yeah. The plant. Not that they're not beneficial. They still are. That's how powerful plants can be. But if you have access to it in a fresh form, I mean, golly. So you would advise fresh herbs over dried herbs? Typically. I mean, there are certain things, you know, you have like, certain applications that you're making. Like, if you're gonna make something with an oil, you're gonna have to dry it out. You can't water an oil, don't mix.
So there are certain things that you do have to prep the herb beforehand. But, yeah, I mean, if I'm making a digestive bitter or if and, obviously, it's the same. You have to dry it out. But if I'm making a digestive bitter or a tincture, flower essence has to be, you know, fresh. I mean, that's you know, I got some of those working right now. So, when it's a beautiful day like this, there's certain plants that just jump out at you like, hey. You know? It's time to make that medicine. And and so that's how you kinda ebb and flow with certain things. I try to get the videos out for the CSA a little bit ahead of time so that they can think about it. Like, the ideas that they're gonna reference the book, that they're gonna look at the video, that they're gonna have some sort of inspiration. And by the time they come and pick up their 10 herbs, they're gonna know what they're gonna do with those. And I know that's not gonna work for everybody because of busy schedules and things like that, and they're gonna flounder about, and some of them are just gonna dry all of them. Yeah.
But beforehand, I released what the herbs were. You know, hey. Get your apothecary jars together. Get your labels on there if you know you're gonna dry everything. You know? So I tried to prepare them. This is our year. So like I said, I'm sure there's plenty of people who are fumbling about through the CSA, getting their feedback, and and being able to advise people for future years. We'll have a limited number of CSA because we only have a certain capacity. Sure. But, you know, I feel like that could be a really great thing for people to completely immerse themselves in herbs and herbal learning and build their apothecary. Gonna say it's like an apothecary starter kit. It is. And, actually, I don't wanna jump in too much, but can you just explain what a CSA is? It's a community supported agriculture. So in the ways that a lot of farms would do it with fruits and vegetables or whatever they have We got one right at our house. Yeah. We're doing it with herbs. And like I said, I just haven't seen anything like it before. But peep by people buying a share, it helps us to continue with our seeds and our watering and, you know, in growing the things.
And that allows us then to, you know, provide the abundance that we have. And, you know, year after year, you know, we we can harvest all of it because harvesting takes no time at all. Right. But processing it Yeah. Takes forever. And so we just don't always have the capacity to process it. So a lot of things would end up in our compost. Now we don't mind that just going back into the land. Yeah. But sometimes, especially when they're really good, useful herbs, it's like, oh gosh. You know, I wish somebody could use this. But we also don't wanna give everything away for free because that doesn't benefit us. Putting it back into the land benefits us more than giving it away and and taking it off the land. So it's kinda like there has to be that equal energy exchange where people are willing to support us.
It's not easy to run a farm. No. And it is definitely not cheap. No. And the margins are
[00:48:25] Unknown:
super thin. So bad. Yeah. So we It's not for the faint of heart. It isn't. And and that's where
[00:48:31] Unknown:
you know, I have a background in event planning, and that's where I am able to supplement, you know, with tea parties, with Yeah. Nature camp, with all of these things. I told my wife, oh my gosh. They have fairy tea parties. She's like, oh, really? Well, we So you might see my wife and my daughter come to one of those. Themed ones, and the fairy one is is gonna be a lot of fun because that one's so kinda magical. Yeah. I feel like the witches two party was a lot of fun as well. Yeah. Did you do it around Halloween? We do it in November. Yeah. The November, right around my birthday. So, because I like that one a lot. But yeah. I mean, you know, we'll we've done a lot of different themes, and and we'll kinda work through those as we, you know, decide which ones are our favorite.
And that's the other thing too. I mean, when planning events, you have to have people show up. Yeah. If they don't show up, that's a whole lot of work. Yeah. For it's also kind of a gut punch too. Like, oh, nobody nobody wants to do the thing I want. It sucks. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I mean, it's it's what keeps our farm going, because we, you know, we don't make enough money selling plants. We don't make enough money selling product. So people coming to our events and and actually participating in herbal learning or the herb conference or, you know, those types of things, where there is a fee involved, that
[00:49:57] Unknown:
that keeps us operating. Yeah. You know? I mean, everybody's everybody's gotta put a roof over their head and food on the table. Yeah. Especially for people who start things and are creative. Because as a as a copywriter starting out, I always felt bad charging people. You know? Mhmm. It's like and it's like, I can't believe somebody wants to pay me to do this. You know? You just at least for me, you know, kinda him and haw about it. But then I've gotten over the years, I'm like, no. You gotta pay me. I mean, that like, that's an artist mentality, though. Like, having a hard time putting a price on your on your services or your products.
[00:50:32] Unknown:
Companies have no problem doing that, so we need to get over that I know. And and put a price on it. And there are definitely times that I undercut myself because I'm like, oh, I want people to be able to afford it and go and do the thing. But the solution for that was, you know, we do volunteer days. Mhmm. And you can use those hours as a credit towards any of our events. Yeah. So, you know That's really nice. Yeah. So, like, the herb conference, you know, we had, I think, six different volunteers that came out. And it's like, okay. Come in. Help us. Get ready for this. Do the thing, and then you can come to these events. Yeah. And so that helps if people have time. There's no barrier. Mhmm.
And that and that's always been really important to me because, you know, when herbal classes and herbal things started popping up, and and I started taking notice of them, like, in my mid twenties, I couldn't afford them. Yeah. You know, because I I had the house and the car and and all the things. You know? So, the only way that I was able to participate in a lot of events was some sort of work trade. And what I didn't love about that is typically when you were doing some sort of work trade, you were working the whole time, and you didn't get to enjoy it. So what we try to do is offer volunteer hours before the event. Mhmm. You're helping us get ready for the event, and you just enjoy. That's really nice. Just hang out and enjoy. Yeah. That's really nice.
[00:52:00] Unknown:
It's it's really nice that you do that. Yeah. So you talked about growing plants. off, how you said you grow a lot of this stuff. Like, what I'm worried I'm gonna ask this, and it's gonna be just, like, a gigantic list of herbs that you grow here. But what what are some of the herbs that you that you do grow? Is it a gigantic list of herbs? Because I I have a different question if it's a gigantic list of herbs.
[00:52:26] Unknown:
What I said like, with the CSA book, that was 85 herbs that we grow on our farm that people will be able to have in the c s a CSA. We have so many more than that. Hundreds of plants that are growing here. My my plan is to have a book of all of them Okay. In within a year. So there's more than 85 that you grow. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. I
[00:52:56] Unknown:
I don't wanna be nosy or anything, but how much I haven't seen the whole property. Is it? We we only have just over five acres. And that's what I was about to say. Yeah. Because my next my supplemental question, if that was the list was too exhaustive, if somebody wants to start growing their herbs, what are some of the ones that are easiest to start with?
[00:53:15] Unknown:
So I think herbs that are easy to start with that are beneficial in a large capacity, but would be like yarrow, holy basil, chamomile, lemon balm. Did I say lemon balm? Bee balm, roses. You you gotta have roses.
[00:53:35] Unknown:
Milky oats are super easy. What do I have milky oats? I don't I don't think I would have So it's a grass, and,
[00:53:40] Unknown:
the the grass part is called oat straw when you harvest it, and the very tip tops are milky oats. When you squeeze them, milk like, a milky substance comes out. Now they're both beneficial, but they can be separated. They have slightly different actions. You can put them together or we separate them. It has a short growth span, so it right now, it just looks like grass. Mhmm. And then and you harvest it in a in about a month. So you only need two and a half months, I would say. For It's pretty fast growing. Yeah. And then you cut it down, and then you've got that space. You could put something else there Yeah. As long as you're rotating it.
Saint John's wort is another really good one. Now we grow some interesting things that a lot of people don't grow. Like, we we grow some things that are annuals, and we grow some things that self seed. So, like, clip dog, it can be really good. Lemongrass can be really good. The marshmallows are great. Mugwort, motherwort, a lot of different types of sage, basil, thyme, all your antivirals. I mean, a lot of people consider them culinary. But, I mean, if you're looking at, like, face steams and and, you know, when you're congested and clogged up, we grow a lot of horseradish.
Super easy to grow, but that's great for your fire cider. Rose of Sharon is something that, I use a lot of. Raspberry leaf. So raspberries,
[00:55:11] Unknown:
your blackberries that when postpartum.
[00:55:14] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. And you can take it more towards the end of your pregnancy, but it all women should be if you have a uterus, you should be, you should be taking raspberry, like, probably regularly. Really? Mhmm. What are the benefits? There's contradictions, but, for most most women would be okay with it. And what what does raspberry leaf do for women? Well, it helps to tone your uterus, and there's just so much, around women's health that we don't fully understand.
[00:55:43] Unknown:
And I There's a lot around women I don't understand, to be honest with me. But just in general. With raspberry leaf, it's
[00:55:49] Unknown:
it seems to be one of those herbs that women benefit from so much. Mhmm. I know that if I'm not taking it regularly, I might start having some issues with just my cycle or you know, there's just so much that goes on with that. And so during the end of my pregnancy, raspberry leaf and elderberry were two things that I used a lot, and, and I think that they helped and benefited me a lot as well. So my midwives had things to say about that, but I'm not gonna get into that on a podcast because, you know That's fair. Yeah. You can talk about elderberry. That is one of,
[00:56:27] Unknown:
every time we have, like, an elderberry tincture Mhmm. At our house, and every time I feel like I have a cold coming on, I drink some of that. I put in some water and I drink it. And, man, it just seems
[00:56:40] Unknown:
to really nip it in the bud. Yeah. It's gonna help you get over it quicker. Yeah. I mean, I've got we've we were outside most of the day this morning. I've got some sinus something going on. So, you know, when we're done, I'll probably take a shot of fire cider and elderberry syrup, maybe some shield just to be sure. So that's like your oosniac calendula. That's another really easy one to grow because you just throw some seeds in the ground and it pops up. That has elderflower in it. Elderflower actually is even more beneficial than the berry. Okay. More powerful. Oh, you know, it might be I I it's elder something. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it it it could be the berry or the flower. It could be a combination of both. But before you leave, we'll make sure that you sample our fire cider, our elderberry syrup.
[00:57:22] Unknown:
Well, you talked about fire cider because I think I've heard from a couple of people about your fire cider. Mhmm. I don't know what it is to begin with. So could you just tell me what this it's because it seems, like, people talk about it as if it's some kind of, like, miracle drink. I'm not I'm not even kidding. Like, people said, yeah. I started drinking this fire cider, and it's cured everything. Yeah. Well, And I'm not saying that it doesn't. I think that because fire cider feels so good and especially if you stop taking it, you're like, woah. I don't feel
[00:57:54] Unknown:
great. The fire cider works really well. Fire cider is immune boosting tonic. It's been around for thousands of years. We don't even know when it came about. It was just one of those things that were really handed down, and that's how I got it. I started making it about twenty five years ago. So when people say, oh my gosh. That fireside at Gracious Farm is so good. That's because I've been making it a really long time. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, you I can give people the recipe. I could tell people exactly how to make it, but there's just something about knowing how to do something for a really long time that that makes it really, really good.
And so fire cider is typically used as an immune boosting tonic in a similar way that you would take your elderberry syrup, but it helps because of the apple cider vinegar, in particular, and and that's how it steeped. It helps with indigestion of, like, acid reflux. I I I healed a bleeding ulcer with it. And I mean, it's spicy, which is weird. That
[00:58:59] Unknown:
when you say acid reflux, wait a minute. It's got hot peppers and Mhmm. Apple cider, like, all these acidic
[00:59:06] Unknown:
Yeah. Things that you would think. I can't even eat tomatoes without having acid reflux, but I can do shots of fire cider just fine. Now I wouldn't be doing, like, five shots of fire cider every day. That's too much, and you're probably gonna have some gastronome problem. Yeah. Apple cider vinegar is very acidic. But it it's a great way. It tastes good, so it's really great way to, you know, get the apple cider vinegar and get all these other beneficial things like your horseradish, your onion, your garlic. So it does help you get over colds and flus faster. It helps with inflammation and circulation.
It there's just so many things that it can help with that it it is an overall immune boosting tonic, but it's it's an elixir as well. So
[00:59:51] Unknown:
So what else is in it besides, you know, obviously, hot peppers and cider vinegar.
[00:59:55] Unknown:
Or is this a is this So there no. No. No. There's there's hundreds of recipes. So there's a funny backstory of fire cider. So fire cider is one of those things that it it has been around forever. There was a company who tried and I'm not gonna name drop on here, but, like, there's a company that try they they trademarked it. Oh, really? The trademark office approved it because they didn't know the herbal lingo. So then they started going after herbalists, and there were five herbalists in particular who were sued. During this time, I had somebody drop into my DMs and say, you need to cease. So I just called it something else. So for, I think, two years, we called it oh, I don't remember. I'd have to look at my labels, but, like, fire water. Yeah. So, you know, something. Sire fighter. Yeah. And that's what I've done with the thieves. So thieves was also another remedy that, you know, Young Living took their patent and, you know, with essential oils, which is not essential oils weren't even made back then during the plague. So it wasn't a thing. But they took that name and they patent it. They've had that patent for, like, twenty five years. So on our bottle for the thieves, it's intentionally spelled wrong, and that's my way around it.
Well, I'm sorry. What is Thieves? So Thieves is apple cider vinegar base, but it has, like, the herbs that the thieves used during the plague, so so to speak. So it's like rosemary, thyme, garlic, oregano is in it. But that's that's separate because that's just apple cider vinegar with certain herbs. And I like it, but I don't love it. Mhmm. Not like the fire cider. So the fire cider, I treat more as food. So in our recipe, we use horseradish, which we dig that up, and so it's the freshest it can be because horseradish starts to lose its flavor. Onions, garlic, peppercorns, and we use two different types of peppers depending on which one. And then I like to put all the citruses in it. So I have orange and lemon and lime, and then it's apple cider vinegar. And then you let that sit for four to six weeks. You strain it, and you add equal parts of honey.
So good. It's so good.
[01:02:07] Unknown:
It sounds well, I'll be honest. That sounds I don't know what that sounds like. It sounds like it might be a bit much, but everybody says it's it's not that it tastes. Yeah. So there's because I I used to do shots of apple cider vinegar in the morning just because it's good for you. Yeah. My wife washes her hair with it. That's actually how I came about the fire cider in the place because I have really bad acid reflux,
[01:02:33] Unknown:
and I had ulcers. They they've run-in my family. So I was telling this woman I called grandma Betty. She's the person that started teaching me about herbs. She wasn't related to me, but she was still my grandma. And I told her, every time I try to take the apple cider vinegar, I I start gagging before I can even get it to my face. And she said, well, you just need to make fire cider. And I'm like, what's that? And she's like, well, it's just a better way to take it. So she was the one that taught me how to make fire cider way back in the day, and and I I'm still not sick of it twenty five years later.
You know, I go through phases, like, you know, yesterday, I took two shots. You know? And there's definitely times where I won't take any at all, and then I'm like, gosh. Why do my joints hurt so bad? I haven't been taking fire cider. But there's so much honey in it that on a spice level of one to five, I would say it's around a two. So as long as you can handle that, it's it's good. But we use it as a salad dressing. I put it in all of our soups and stews, pretty much isn't just like a tonic? Like, you could actually I cook with it. Mhmm. That's how I get it into my family's diet. They're not gonna do all this stuff. Phil can't stand apple cider vinegar, so I've gotta, like, mask it into things. But I do that with dandelion and nettles and, you know, whether I'm powdering it or I am blanching it and putting in the freezer. Any anything that would have a green thing in it, I'm sneaking it in there. And, usually, the the powdered herbs work better for my daughter because if she sees green, she's not gonna eat it. So I have to, like, sprinkle it in there. You know? Yeah.
[01:04:09] Unknown:
So you talked a bit about processing. And could you just, I guess, go into that a little bit? Like, how you process something? Because I know there's if somebody wanted to, again, get into this, you do have to be
[01:04:24] Unknown:
intentional with how you process your herbs. Right? Like, whether you do an alcohol extraction or water extraction or Mhmm. All these different things. Can you just talk a little bit about that? Yeah. So, I mean, if you're doing it for sales, there are certain laws that you have to follow. I mean, you know, a lot of herbs aren't regulated, but certain things are. And so, you know, if you're looking to, you know, have a an herbal business, then you need to get on Ohio Cottage Laws. You you need to figure out what it is that you need to do. For drying. You know, you're not supposed to use dehydrators unless you have a commercial kitchen, so you're supposed to hang dry everything. Now when it comes to personal use, you know, having a quality dehydrator is probably gonna be the best route.
You can use other methods like the oven method, and we really can't use the outdoor method anymore. One, the sun is too hot, and, our humidity in Ohio is out of control. So you're just always gonna have moisture, and then you're gonna have so much heat. You're gonna burn the herbs. So that method So drying them in the sun could actually burn them? Yes. Okay. You'd when your herbs are dried, they should be the brightest color. And I think that's what a lot of people don't understand because when they buy their herbs from these larger companies Sure. They get them in, and they're kind of brownish.
Yeah. And so they think that's what that looks like. That's not what it looks like. If it is nettle, it should be bright green, not brownish, slightly green. Yeah. If it's red clover, it should be pink, not brown. So I I think a lot of people don't have a full understanding of of when you're processing something and you're keeping the nutrients in that plant versus drying it to death, essentially, and losing I'm I'm sure it still has medicinal benefits. And plants are If you're gonna go through all the work, though. If you're gonna go through all the work, you wanna do it right. You know, elderflower, if you did it right, they're gonna look more yellow, not brown. Yeah. You know, there's gonna be times it's it's gonna lean more towards brown because you kept it on there too long or your temperature was too high or whatever.
That, again, I mean, it takes a lot of time invested. So do different herbs are there
[01:06:45] Unknown:
better ways of drying
[01:06:47] Unknown:
Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. And, I mean, we're talking about hundreds Yeah. Of herbs just here. So to try to get into that would be Yeah. Incredibly difficult. But, I mean, that's where, like, our herbal learning classes and our CSA classes come in handy because I feel like you learn a lot from that. You know, I'm always gonna misspeak in some regard. Wow. But when it comes to that kind of stuff, like, if you're standing there with me and I'm telling you, you know, I'm like, well, this didn't work because of this. I've always got some weird story that goes with stuff. Well, it's perfect for a podcast. But, I mean, you know, it's it's one of those things too where it's like you'll remember it, and that's the same with identification.
You know, if I'm holding up a violet leaf and I'm showing you how it's a heart, it's gonna help your heart and your lungs. Like, you know, you can think about it in the terms of, like, what does that plant look like, and how does it relate to my body? And does it look like the thing in my body? Right. And so those connections and the the stories help us remember.
[01:07:48] Unknown:
So what would you say, like, again, if somebody's trying to process these things in general, how would you dry an herb?
[01:07:54] Unknown:
So, typically, if you're using a dehydrator, I would keep it on a lower setting. Okay. A lot of our herbs, we're gonna dry, you know. We tend to stick to one fifteen number. If it's a more delicate herb, might go lower, and just keep an eye on it. You just gotta keep checking it and making sure that it's not, you know, drying too fast or getting too brown. I mean, you wanna make sure that it's got your beautiful color to it. You know, I just dried lilac. And I remember the time I ever dried lilac, I was so disappointed that it was, like, this brownish yellow color. And I was like, oh, it doesn't even look good. It doesn't smell good. But now I know I was drying it at too high of a temperature too quickly.
And now, I mean, they're a vibrant purple, and they smell just like they came off the the plant. And that's what I want if I'm gonna make medicine. Yeah. If I'm gonna tincture something with a flower, I'm typically gonna add a little bit of glycerin because that brings the flavor out. So it's all these little tricks that you learn along the way that you're not you're not always gonna get just by looking up something on the Internet. You know, most of the recipes for elderberry syrup, they irritate me to death because, you know, in the instructions and I've actually miswritten this before. You know, in handouts I've had, you know, you bring your elderberries to a simmer. No. Never do that. Like, don't don't do that.
You wanna keep the temperature low enough because you're losing medicinal benefits. So, basically, if you're heating things up too much, you're gonna lose medicinal benefits. You know, some people say that the tincture, you should dry it beforehand. I I don't I don't think so. I mean, I learned initially how to make they were bitters. I mean, I was told they were tinctures, but they were bitters, with fresh herb. And if you make you know, I mean, you can do science experiment. You know? Do it with dry. Do it with fresh. There is a flavor difference. Oh, yeah. There is a slight flavor difference. So, you know, you have to find the ways that work for you, but, also, like, depending on the times that it's, you know, where you're busy or where you have you know, sometimes you just have to dry the thing and stick it in a jar and make that medicine later. And the idea of, you know, saving it for later when you really need it and you don't have access to the plant. I mean, Saint John's Wort is a perfect example of that. You know, we need that when it's when it's sad, when, you know, January, February roll around. We haven't had sun in, you know, weeks or months. Yeah. And it's just depressing.
That's when you need that sun medicine. And if you don't harvest it in the summer, then you're not gonna have it for the winter when you need it. Right. And, you know, we always would harvest on the summer solstice because that was, like, that was the folk tradition. You always harvest it. Yeah. Well, over the last five years, if you wait till the summer solstice, it's all burned out. Yeah. So, you know, our temperature has definitely changed. I I don't know. This year is weird. Yeah. Maybe we're going back now. Although, I don't know. Today was, like, you know, extreme humidity. We just went from, like, I was shivering yesterday to, you know, now I'm like, you know Yeah. Welcome to Ohio. Right? Yeah.
[01:11:06] Unknown:
I'm still not convinced there won't be a snowstorm in a couple of weeks. Maybe. I mean,
[01:11:11] Unknown:
you never know here in Ohio.
[01:11:15] Unknown:
So, you talked a little bit about tinctures. Can you go into the process of making a tincture and if, you know, some of the things that you would advise people to do if they are trying to do that at home?
[01:11:26] Unknown:
Yeah. So, I mean, a tincture is a pretty easy process. If you're using fresh herb, you can just pretty much fill your jar and then get a high quality alcohol. We like to use buckeye because it's made in Dayton, Ohio, super close to us.
[01:11:40] Unknown:
And is that just like a like an Everclear almost?
[01:11:44] Unknown:
No. So okay. So alright. So if you're you know, you were talking about Everclear earlier. There are a lot of men in particular who really like to go high on the alcohol percentage. Sure. And, you know, so say you're using a 100 proof or, you know, higher. Yeah. It's gonna take less time for the alcohol to extract, you know, the volatile oils or whatever the compounds are of that plant. Alright? So you're gonna get it out in less time, but now you've got this high potent alcohol. Yeah. Well, if you're putting that in your mouth, I mean, it's gonna burn. You know, try to put that in a kid's mouth. Because I was in college. I I know. Yeah. So most like, especially if you're so if you're working with roots, you might want or mushrooms, definitely. You you're gonna wanna go to a 100 proof. But when you're talking about flowers and leaves, that is unnecessary.
Stick to 8080%. Wait.
[01:12:53] Unknown:
80 proof. 80 proof. So that'd be 40%.
[01:12:56] Unknown:
Yeah. Percent alcohol. And that's where, like, Buckeye vodka or Northside vodka because they're local to us. Yeah.
[01:13:06] Unknown:
You know, always trying to Do they use local grains? Just out of curiosity. I mean, at some point, I don't know if it matters. Yeah. I don't know.
[01:13:14] Unknown:
I I don't think so with Northside, but I think Buckeye does. Interesting. I'd have to look and and double check. But anytime there's a small local business Yeah. I'm gonna That wasn't more like them. Yeah. That wasn't like But I know, like, when you're getting closer to Columbus and they're gonna have more of your, like, Ohio grown versus, like, being down here in Cincinnati. I mean, you're not you know? Well, they People don't have access to it. If you're if you're making vodka, I don't really know Mhmm. How much a load I mean, as long as it's not, like, super sprayed, I suppose. You know? Like, that's more what we're trying to avoid. Right? So, so, yeah, so an 80 proof vodka would be fine.
[01:13:54] Unknown:
I think my wife used an 80 proof for vanilla.
[01:13:57] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly it. Because you don't want it to be too I I mean, my kids will just take the tincture, so I don't want it to be too high where they're not gonna take it. So if you're using fresh herb, you're just gonna fill your jar full and then pour your vodka over. It can be that simple. We're talking about folk medicine. So you've got different, different branches off of herbalism. Yeah. Okay? And so, you know, now we're starting to label herbalism in a lot of different ways depending on, you know, where it came from or if it's clinical or, you know, whatever. But I operate on more of a folk tradition. You know? So if it's dried, you're gonna fill your jar about a quarter of the way, and then you're gonna fill the rest with your vodka. So depending on the size of the jar, obviously, is how much you're gonna use. But you're you're using, like, a one to four ratio on that. Whereas, with fresh herb, you know, I mean, I don't know if that would be a one to one. I mean, you're just kinda filling it. You're not trying to pack it, like, too heavy. But, again, when it comes to measurements, that's a little bit that's a little bit difficult unless you're getting your skin, and I'm not. You know, I know there are people out here who do. I would be one of those people. Well, you've gotta measure exactly what you're doing here and and make sure everything's getting, you know, written down precisely. I am one of those people. I am not. I am not.
I don't have the attention span for that or the brain power for it. And that's also not how I learned. Yeah. So I think it just depends what's important to you, how do you want to make your medicines. And, again, that's where it becomes very personal to you. Yeah. You know? And I've taken these, certifications and courses where I'm just like, oh my god. I can't with this guy. You know? I can't. I can't. These measurements are ridiculous. Just throw it in a jar. Why are you using that herb? We have this that grows. You know? Yeah. So I definitely think that anything that is within your local ecosystem is gonna be a lot more powerful than buying, you know, so called exotic herbs from overseas or everywhere else. Because whatever's working and growing within our system is gonna be better for our body. You know, I tried to use, turmeric curcumin for years for inflammation. Yeah. And I found that goldenrod actually works way better. Really? Mhmm. Because I I use turmeric and,
[01:16:30] Unknown:
curcumin Yeah. For, like, you know, joint pain, things like that. Yeah. Yeah. It worked pretty well. Yeah. I mean, it did initially
[01:16:37] Unknown:
for me, and then I'm like, I don't think it's working anymore. And now I've been using Goldenrod for ten years, and
[01:16:45] Unknown:
it works. That stuff grows everywhere. Everywhere. I mean, a lot of this stuff, we I think a lot of people would classify them as weeds. Absolutely. Yeah. And I don't. No.
[01:16:54] Unknown:
You know, the only weed I see around here is grass.
[01:16:58] Unknown:
Man. The non native grass. Don't get me started on grass. I hate grass. I hate lawn. Arch nemesis. My I think my wife hates this about me, but I just don't understand the point of a lawn. I've never understood it. I've never understood why people just It's a class system. I I don't Yeah. I guess. I I I honestly don't. Actually, you know, I did hear
[01:17:22] Unknown:
I did and I The better your lawn, the better you are as a person. Yeah.
[01:17:27] Unknown:
Okay. I lift with these guys in the morning at a gym, and I I told one of the guys there, Brandon, if he listens to this, I'm gonna tell a story on him. He was talking about his lawn and how much he likes to, you know, get it nice and perfect and things like that. I said, man, I don't get that. I've got better things to do with my time than Mhmm. Like, comb my grass.
[01:17:46] Unknown:
Right. That's why these guys are, like, you know, one guy gets out there and mows his lawn, and then all of a sudden three guys are out there mowing their lawn. I'm like,
[01:17:54] Unknown:
I actually so this and then it might have been I don't know. I have all these things in my head, and I never know where I hear them from. Mhmm. But lawns actually originated around when was Andrew Carnegie around? Was that, like, the twenties or thirties? Something like that. So all these, I guess, you'd call them industrialists. They would have their homes and they or I think Carnegie specifically brought the idea of a lawn over from Scotland. But in Scotland, they would have lawns because they have sheep and they eat sheep to eat the grass. Well, Carnegie brought that over and then, you know, people in the middle and lower classes would look at that and go, well, I want a lawn like Andrew Carnegie. And so everybody started planting lawns.
[01:18:34] Unknown:
Again, I don't know how true that is. Yeah. Sounds true. It's a false story. I know I've always heard that it's a it's a class system type of thing. So, like, that doesn't surprise me. I think that with a lot of things, we have multiple, stories of origin. Yeah. And and the same is true for herbs. You know, if you look into folklore about herbs, you know, it depends on where where it originated from or where it was naturalized or when it was introduced, but everybody's got different stories about about herbs, you know, the the warnings or the the magical element of it. Yeah. And,
[01:19:12] Unknown:
when you talked about wormwood or earlier, I I like absinthe a lot. Mhmm. I used to. I used to. Well, I like I like the flavor of it. Yeah. Me too. But when I was younger,
[01:19:22] Unknown:
I finally found because I'm, you know, I looked into it. I used to have it shipped over. Oh, well, and finally, they started making you could actually put warm wood in. I think you can I'm pretty sure you can. If if not, then I somebody was lying to me about Oh, no. I I I would actually order it from England and have it shipped over. Yeah. I can't do that. I paid a lot. It was, like, $80 a bottle. And that was, like, my party trick. Yeah. You know, when I lived in Mount Lookout with, like, all the young people, we'd come back from the bar and it'd be like, let's do a show to the Absa. Well, I can't tell you how disappointed I was. Oh, yeah. You didn't trip out like you were hoping. No. It was like, it's a nice licorice, and, yeah, I feel drunk, but, like, I'm not gonna cut off my ear. Whatever
[01:20:04] Unknown:
effect the wormwood had, the alcohol was More intense. Far more intense. Far more intense. Yeah. And I know wormwood does things. I mean, it's it's not like an innocuous
[01:20:14] Unknown:
herb. You know, I think it's one of those things too. Like, we were talking about dosage. I think it has to be dosage. And then if you're considering, like, the amount of time or the length of time that you're taking something. Also, we, you know, found out later that the whole story of Van Gogh cutting off his ear was actually not true. So, you know, it's like, oh, he went crazy and, you know, whatever. Edgar Allan Poe was also an alcoholic. Like, I wonder what was in his, you know, drink because he was nuts, but Yeah. Awesome. I mean, I loved reading his stuff in high school. So That was great. You know, always reciting things. I was that weird goth kid, you know, always quoting Quoting the Raven. Oh, gosh. Yes. That's a great poem. I can't remember It is a great poem. I know I read it my junior year, and everybody's, like, at the end looking at me like I am crazy.
[01:21:02] Unknown:
Well and, again, this might be another apocryphal story, but, I heard the reason Absinthe got the name that it got was in the build up to World War one. You know, it was huge in France. I mean, they have the green hour. Right? And everybody's drinking Absinthe like crazy. It's very cosmopolitan. Mhmm. You know, there's writers and artists, and they're just having a great time in France. And the government of France looked at this, and then they looked at Germany and all these guys in spiked helmets, and they're building up their army. And then they looked at their population in France and what we gotta cut this out. Mhmm. The Germans are about to steamroll us, and all of our population
[01:21:39] Unknown:
is just too much fun. Is just having too much fun drinking Absa. So they banned it. They said, we can't do this anymore. Well, and it was an art form too. Like, you know, when New Orleans when when they reintroduced, Wormwood and and you could go down to, like, New Orleans and they were doing it right with the sugar and, you know, it was like this And it gets that nice juice. Yeah. And and you were like, oh my gosh. This is so amazing. Yeah. I mean, it's a good time. You know? And so And And it's a delicious drink. I mean Mhmm. There's a lot of lore around Absa. Yeah. And if once you cut through that, it's just a really good drink. Same same with herbalism, though. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of lore around it. And I feel like in some ways that has scared people away. You know, mead pretty much disappeared just because of, you know, alcohol Yeah. In general. You know, mead was also something that was typically made by women, and the men were like, it go too drunk. So we're gonna take this over.
But it started with herbs and herbs and honey, and that was it. You know, that's why we love herbal beers. They're not as potent. They're super easy to make. I'm I'm trying to convince Phil to hold a glass because he's the one that knows how to make it. How do you I guess, you know, he said Phil knows how to make it. I mean, you know, it's because I'm really interested. I do wanna make a mess with you. It's a it's a multistep process. But he doesn't use hops, though. Right? No. Okay. Well, I mean, he has used it just for flavor. Sure. I love hops, and and we use it in, like, a lot of our tesane blends. I mean, we use it in our good night. I'm sorry. Real quick. What is it tesane? You've said that word a couple of times, and I meant to ask you earlier. I I'm not familiar. So to saying is the more the Appalachian pronunciation of, Tisson Okay. The French word.
And I've heard probably five different French people say it five different ways. So, you know, it's kinda like tesaine. Tesaine. Tesaine. It is what we know as an herbal tea. So Okay. Tesaine is herbs steeped in water. Okay. And then you've got an infusion, which is herbs steeped in water for longer. Herbal tea would really just be the tea leaf with herbs in it. Mhmm. But most most of us don't see that. In marketing, they just packaged herbs and called it herb tea. Herbal tea. So it's what most people know as herbal tea. It's it steeps the same way. You know, when you're talking about tea leaves specifically, depending on what type of tea leaf, you have different steep temperatures.
Herbs pretty much are all the same steep temperature unless it's a root, but it's lower than most of the tea leaves. Is it really? Mhmm. I thought herbals were supposed to be I've got this. Do not boil your water. Really? Yeah. Okay. So I Because if you do, you're drawing out the bitterness of the herb. You're burning it, essentially. Sure. Yeah. So, you wanna keep your temperature below boiling. So I always say steaming and not boiling. Somewhere I mean, one seventy four to 200 is probably a good temperature. Anything over one seventy four is gonna evaporate alcohol. So if you wanna add your tinctures but you don't want alcohol, warm up your water Boil it right away. Put your, tincture in your in your, in your tesane.
[01:24:59] Unknown:
I have this, I got this when I was single, which is probably odd, but I I like tea. Mhmm. So I got this Breville tea maker, and I love it because it's you can program it to hold it at a certain temperature Mhmm. And then it'll steep. Yeah. The herbal tea setting is at two twelve, so it'll it'll boil the water before it puts it in there. Yeah. I wouldn't do that. Yeah.
[01:25:20] Unknown:
I won't do that anymore. Yeah. Yeah. I just I feel like if well and you can play around with it. Do your herbs at a lower temperature and then do it at that higher temperature. Make two cups, keep them exactly the same, and then taste them. And you can decide. Yeah.
[01:25:39] Unknown:
So this kind of, again, hearkens back to the beginning of our conversation, but I'll find so my wife, you know, post COVID just more and more into natural remedies and things like that. And she'll come to me and say, oh, I'm, you know, I'm gonna use this thing for this, that, and the other thing. And then I'll go Google it because I just wanna know what she's doing and make sure it's safe. Mhmm. Nine times out of 10, I'm getting the hit as, like, a WebMD or a Mayo Clinic or something. And nine times out of 10, these these pages will say, you know, be very, very careful. It could cause all these terrible, terrible things. Mhmm. So not that I don't trust that, but where would you go for really good accurate information about or specifically online, but if there are books you like? Mhmm.
[01:26:26] Unknown:
Well, I mean, I do have some of my favorite books. I mean, I don't think any book is perfect. No. And that's partly why I started making my own sheets on herbs. But I would say when it comes to online resources because, you are gonna get the hits on the same same ones over and over. I would check three to four resources and then cross reference. Yeah. I mean, you know, elderberry is one of those where they're like, oh, pregnant women shouldn't take it. Yeah. My iron would plummet so much with my pregnancies that elderberry's elderberry syrup was the only thing that would get my iron up. I mean, the iron supplements they were giving me, I mean, not only were they hard to take, but my numbers still weren't getting where they needed to be. And then I would just take elderberry syrup, and all of a sudden There's iron Oh, your iron's working. You know? And and it's like, okay. Well, you guys are saying that we're not supposed to do any of these things, but I don't I don't think you know what you're talking about. Yeah. You know?
[01:27:32] Unknown:
So And that's my concern is I know there's benefits to all these things. But, I mean, you take mugwort or wormwood, for example. You look those up online, you're gonna get to a WebMD page on your hit on Google that tells you, you know Stay away. Yeah. It'll kill you. Mhmm. Yeah. And then it's just not true.
[01:27:49] Unknown:
Honestly, I don't think that there is an online resource that is gonna be that helpful. I I feel like, they're a good launching point. They're a good starting point, but you need to you really need to find people who have experience with these herbs who have worked with them for a long time and and find out from them. Yeah. You know, comfrey was one of those where I was super worried it was gonna kill my liver. And what is comfrey? I don't know. So comfrey is also known as bone set, but it it's it's a plant we have around all of our fruit fruit trees that fixes the nitrogen. It helps with bones, tissues, tendons, muscles. I mean, it was what they use for broken bones before we had surgery. Okay. Knit bone is another word. It it helps your bones come back together. Really? But, you you know, typically, we use it for, like, bruises, sprains, that kind of stuff. But that was one that I was told and never internalize it. Don't take it internally.
But I had pulled my psoas muscle, which is pretty intense, and the doctors can't do anything for it. And I had heard, Rosemary Gladstar at an herb, symposium talk about using,
[01:28:55] Unknown:
Comfrey internally. So we use this for your so because the psoas is around your groin. Right? The Comfrey back? Yep. All the way up. Yeah. Because my lower back, I think it's my because I I lift pretty regularly, and I've been having a lot of trouble with my low back.
[01:29:08] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, this when you pull your psoas, you can't walk. Oh, I know. I mean, it it jacks you. And my doctor was like, I can give you pain meds.
[01:29:19] Unknown:
I when I There's nothing I can do. I pulled it. I'm I don't know for a fact that it was my psoas, but I couldn't walk. I was bent over. Yeah. I was in my mid twenties, and I just was lifting like a moron. But that was the same thing. I went to a doc, and they're like, oh, I'll give you a muscle relaxers. That's not gonna help me. I can't walk. Mhmm.
[01:29:40] Unknown:
Yeah. I I used a cane for a few days, and then I thought, you know what? Scared as I am to use this Comfrey. And mainly, it wasn't that I was afraid to use it just because of the plant itself. I mean, I'd heard all these warnings, but also I drink alcohol. So that was my concern. Like, I drink alcohol, and then I'm gonna take this herb that's hard on my liver. So that was the concern, and I thought, you know, I I can't even move. I got a, you know, two year old running around. Worry about my liver off. I'm like, I feel like I'm dying. So Yeah. Like, what's what's it matter?
So I drink it internally for a few days, and it was like, I didn't pull it at all. It was fine. Really? And I've had issues where I you know, this was couple months ago. I I hurt the back of my knee, and my my knees welled up twice the size. I'm like, I don't have time for this. Like, not only do I not have time to be injured, I don't have time to go to the doctor. I don't have time to go to physical therapy. And so I did the poultice for a couple days. I did the ice and the heat and was taking the painting sure, which is like a cat's claw, catnip skull cap. You know? Mhmm. And then I was like, I was gonna have to drink the comfrey. And sure enough, next couple days, I feel fine. And I'm, you know, walking around like nothing happened. And I'm just like, why don't I just do this immediately?
Right. That fear from twenty five years ago still resonates in my brain sometimes, you know, that, oh, don't use that herb internally. So I think that when it comes to okay, so when it comes to some of the contradictions and the studies, like, you can look some of that information up. I mean, we've got government websites. Try to find the danger. Try to find specific cases where somebody got hurt Yeah. Doing something because
[01:31:30] Unknown:
it's pretty hard to find. I was gonna say it's tough to find. Yeah.
[01:31:34] Unknown:
And, I mean, sometimes you'll find, like, one study, you know, where they took 200 applicants and five people had a reaction.
[01:31:42] Unknown:
Where they, like, shoved them full of this stuff. Yeah. It's like, oh, they're all getting sick. But then again, you have to look at the dosage and the frequency. And, you know, I
[01:31:51] Unknown:
I I think most people are gonna be cautious of stuff, and they're not gonna overdo it. Some people will.
[01:31:58] Unknown:
You know? Are there any herbs that are actually, like, you need to be very careful with these? Well, I mean, there's poisonous herbs. You know? What are some of them? Because if you're if you're traipsing around out there, you know? Yeah. So around here,
[01:32:13] Unknown:
snakeweed, I think that's what it looks like, boneset, which is not comfrey. Not to be confused with comfrey, but bone set is a tall white plant that can help with cold and flu and things like that. And it's got a look alike that's about half the size that grows all over here. I think it's called snake weed. And that one, if you if you take a bunch of that, it's going to make you pretty sick. Now, most of these plants that are going to make you sick, you are going to vomit and have diarrhea. That's going to be your day. So it's not going to, like, kill your dad. Right. I mean Assuming you don't have to worry about that. Keep trying to take it, I mean, it's gonna kill you.
Poison hemlock, you know, people are getting respiratory issues with that. I know somebody misidentified it as wild carrot in the young state and and got pretty sick. Yeah. I think they were having issues with their kidneys and liver.
[01:33:11] Unknown:
So, yeah, I mean, identification is Or is there any, like, nightshade? Or,
[01:33:15] Unknown:
Well, I mean, unless you're doing a flower essence, you stay away from all nightshades. Well, then and that's Yeah. Shades around here. People go out wild foraging. I mean, I think most of them are cultivated, but some like your morning glory and moon flowers and stuff, you're gonna see those around. I mean, we have them growing. We have Jamesonweed.
[01:33:31] Unknown:
You have Jamesonweed.
[01:33:32] Unknown:
Mhmm. But, again, in low doses
[01:33:35] Unknown:
Active doses of Jameson. Oh, okay. I was gonna say. I've heard I think Phil has. I've heard wild stuff about it. Yeah. Because that's startora. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So but I do use it as a flower essence. Okay. And what what do you what do you mean you use it as a flower? Like a So a flower essence,
[01:33:52] Unknown:
no. So a flower essence is when you, it's like the highest vibrational herbal medicine. You're kinda getting into the homeopathy Okay. Homeopathic medicine. So you're taking the flower and you are, capturing the essence of that flower through water and sunlight or some people use moonlight. So you're basically floating the flower in water for a certain amount of time, and then you preserve it by, making your mother essence, taking the water that you have from that, matching it with brandy. That's your mother essence. Okay. Then you take a separate bottle, and you make half water, half brandy.
And then you take depending on your size of bottle so say you're working with, an ounce, you might take thirty drops or sixty drops of that mother essence and put it in that bottle. So that's how little that you have in that bottle, and then you would take about five drops of that. Okay. So you're you're you're taking a very low
[01:34:50] Unknown:
amount of this plant, but it Which is a Jimson weed, I think is probably a good idea.
[01:34:56] Unknown:
Yeah. But it's flower essence work with your emotional well-being. And so these flowers will help meet you on a cellular and emotional level. So you're not taking higher dosages like you would for a tincture or drinking a cup of it like you would in an herbal tisane.
[01:35:11] Unknown:
Okay. You mentioned earlier different veins of herbal medicine. Mhmm. Can you can you talk about, I guess, maybe some of the main branches or go into more of, like, the one you practice compared to the others? I mean, you've got, like, clinical herbalism.
[01:35:27] Unknown:
You've got the folk traditional herbalism. You've got, different cultures. So I I think it depends on region and where you're at. Also I mean, I feel like now that colleges are offering classes, they're really starting to label. Yeah. You know, how what types of herbalism there is and how how people are practicing. For me, I feel like it's that's just so far out of my realm because I am more in the like, I'm a garden granny, you know? Like, I'm just I'm just walking around here, you know, connecting with the plants. I don't have time to sit in college courses.
Well, you're also missing out on the practical experience if you're just taking a class. You know? Yeah. I mean, study has never been, like, my strong suit. I mean, I do spend a lot of time, especially in the winter, you know, researching and cross referencing. I mean, we've got a little bit of our library here that you can see, and I and I've always got books open if I'm preparing for classes and things like that. I'm checking through references and making determinations of how that fits with me and what's true for me. But most of my study is, very intentional time spent with plants from, you know, the seed to the observation to the harvest to the process to the medicine making. And, you know, a lot of people will just learn about certain things, and they will buy things ready made or they'll buy the herbs already dried, and then they start to formulate.
I I can't. I feel like there there would be such a connection loss there for me personally that it it wouldn't matter to me. I also do not wanna diagnose people. I don't ever wanna get into clinical herbalism because I will never diagnose somebody, and I will never tell them exactly what they need to be doing. If they come to me with questions, I'll say, well, this is this is how I would approach it if it were me. Right. And that's all I can do. I think I'll I'll probably put a disclaimer before the interview starts. Yeah. Absolutely. None of this is medical advice. Not medical advice at all. We don't we don't diagnose, treat, cure. No, baby. Nope. Nope. I don't So if you're asking for entertainment purposes only. Not medical advice at all. Entertainment purposes only.
[01:38:11] Unknown:
So specific to Southwest Ohio, are there any are there any native herbs medicinal or otherwise that you really can't find anywhere else that are kind of spectacular?
[01:38:21] Unknown:
Or I guess they don't have to be spectacular. But I mean, you know, we have certain species of things. I mean, you know, when you're looking at, like, goldenrod and stuff, there's, like, 200 different species. So if you're going to certain parts of Appalachia or you're going up, you know, to the Northeast, you're gonna have a different variety. So, like, our varieties are specific to to us, and I think that's one of the reasons that it's important to get your herbs locally. Because if you can't grow them or harvest them yourselves, you should find somebody who is doing that, especially with the native species because you're gonna have more of a benefit again because it's growing in your ecosystem. Right. You could get that same plant or that same type of plant, but a different slightly different species. I mean, you know, the mugwort that they have grown wild all over the roads of, you know, Maine and Massachusetts.
It's not the mugwort that we have growing here. Sure. They look totally different. And, I'm sure the medicinal qualities are very, very similar. But, you know, when you start getting closer to the Appalachian Trail, I feel like if there was one whole area that would be the most medicinal. And and I think that's why so many people flock to, like, North Carolina. But you've got such a diversity of plants. We have the Appalachian Trail an hour from us. Right. And I've spent a lot of time going through there. And I really appreciate it because, you know, out here, we've got farmlands, which have just mowed everything down. And so, yeah, we've got all these wild things that aren't native to us, but they are repairing the land, and they can repair us as well, like diesel.
Right. Yeah.
[01:40:12] Unknown:
So and don't give away any secret spots or anything. But if people wanted to go out and wild forage, where would you recommend that they go?
[01:40:21] Unknown:
I mean, I think more than ever, that's getting harder and harder to do because of private property and private land. My suggestion to people is there are a ton of people who have land who don't do anything with it. Mhmm. Find somebody that's got 10 acres or 20 acres or whatever and ask them if you could walk their property. Ask them if it's okay to take some things. Yeah. Because there are certain parks you can go to. There are some parks you can ask permission. They might have to get in in writing. We've done that before for a big harvest where we're like, we need a lot of this root. And they're like, that's an invasive. Take it. Take all of it.
But you have to get it in writing. So I think that's the important thing is, you know, I've seen too many, videos of people getting chased off land or people freaking out. Well, I mean, because somebody's up and somebody's in my yard. Right. What are you doing here? And and, I mean, you're not supposed to be picking on roadsides and stuff anyway. So if you're interested in in harvesting and and wild crafting in particular, you need to start reaching out to people in your community. You need to find people who have land, and and that's how I started. I would find everybody that I possibly could who had land, and and I might have to drive forty five minutes, especially when I lived in the city. But I was like, I'll come out. I'll I'll find the things. And there were plenty of things. I mean, that was such a learning opportunity for me too because there were plenty of things that I would see, and I'm like, I don't know what this is. So I would take a lot of pictures or take a specimen with me and then later identify it. So I might have to go back because then I found out that was a really useful herb, and I didn't harvest it because I didn't know what it was. So then it's like, okay. I gotta go back out. But, you know, I remember the time I discovered goldenrod. I filled my car with goldenrod.
I geeked out on that because I was like, this is this is gonna be my solar energy. You know? Like, this is gonna help me so much, and it still to this day is one of my favorite plants. And our Blue Mountain, tosane that we sell is still one of our number one selling to say in. Awesome.
[01:42:27] Unknown:
Well, I'll be honest. I don't know if I have any other questions. That's quite alright. You can always come back. Well, I'd love to if you have me. Because I'd I've talked about this a lot, and I feel like I talk about it too much. But I I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of terroir of, you know, like in France, you can only get a Bordeaux from France because the where they grow the grapes, the land, and parts of character to them. And, you know, I gave you a bottle of mead. I'd make mead. I'd love to make a methylogen or or even a fruit mead or some kind of mead. That's one of the reasons I love honey Mhmm. Is because you're not gonna get honey here that you're gonna get even in, like, Dayton. You know? It's just it really is the character of the land. Mhmm. And it make and thinking about make a methyl gem, which would be like a an an herbal mead or, or fruit mead or something like that. I'm just always trying to think of what can I use around here that's really gonna impart that kind of idea of terroir? So Mhmm. It was a long winded way of saying, I'm definitely gonna come back here if that's alright with you. We'll talk about all kinds of stuff.
But I do wanna give you an opportunity to plug all the things you do and let people know how they can, you know, get in touch with you, get involved, and all that stuff. Yeah. So,
[01:43:43] Unknown:
we do some social media, Instagram or Facebook, but the best way to find out is to periodically check our website, which is the graciousfarm.com. And, we've got our CSA. We'll have, any upcoming, herbal learning classes that we have. Our botanicals festival date is up and all of our tea parties. This year, we will be vending. You know, we kinda go in and out with, how often we're vending depending on what's going on in our lives. But this year, I'll be I'll be out in about a little bit more than than I have in the past few years. So you'll you'll be able to catch me at some different events, but, yeah, the website would be the best way. If you, you know, go in the contact us page, if you got any questions or anything, I'm the one that answers all of those. And, we have a farm store that is open on our property.
It is a twenty four seven self serve, farm store. What do you have in there? We so we sell not only all of our products. So all of our tusanes, tinctures, bitters, fire cider, elderberry syrup. We also have, there's about seven other vendors in there. So we have local honey. Nice. We've got Earthganix and, a few other vendors as well. So get your honey from? So Mike Wolf lives here in Goshen, Ohio, and he's been doing it for about, I I know over a decade. So somewhere between ten and fifteen years. And, I'm pretty sure his bees pollinate our, flowers. So we sell his honey, for our fire cider and our bulk honey from savior bees. Savior bees, which is an upcoming podcast. Yeah. And Patty's Patty's gonna be a ride, I think. They've got, hives. They work with other, beekeepers, but they've got hives around here Oh, yeah. That aren't too far. Yeah. Save your bees.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They've got some
[01:45:39] Unknown:
just a little bit east of here and a little northeast of here, I believe, as well as Anderson. And I'm sure she'll tell you where she's got her hives. She's gonna tell me a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. She's I'm really excited for it, and I'm really hoping I can keep it under four hours. I'm not sure if it's gonna be possible, though. You might have to have multiple podcasts or No. I have a feeling she's definitely gonna be one of those where it's like, alright. We'll we'll do multiple of these because Yeah. I'll tell you, I was on the phone with her. And like I said, it was a four hour comm I think I know everything about her. She probably knows everything about me, honestly. Because like I said, I was part of the problem. I mean, I don't know if you part of the reason I can do this is is because I can talk. Yeah. For sure. But but I'm I'm really looking forward to talk to it. And Yeah. I really enjoyed and it's I wanna make sure that you've plugged all the things that you Yeah. I think so. I'm good. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you. Then I'm gonna call this successful, and I really appreciate you having me out here. Yeah.
We're gonna call this a podcast. Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. I hope you enjoyed that interview. I really enjoyed talking to Crystal as I've enjoyed talking to all the people I've talked to. I know I've said I'm bound to get a bad interview at some point, but, hasn't happened yet. And, you know, there's just a lot of really interesting people doing interesting things right here in Clermont County. So, thanks again to Crystal for sitting down with me, and, I guarantee you we'll we'll get her back on here and talk more about herbalism and and all the things that, that she does out there at Gracious Farm.
So let's let's, talk about some events going on around the county. We have the cicada jewelry class, June 12, that'll be today at 7PM in Clingland Park. And if you go there, you'll be able to create some, resin jewelry using real cicada wings. It's free. You should register, and it is, only for ages 10 and up. And I don't know about anybody else, but I'm I'm really looking forward to the cicadas going away. I'm I'm getting a little tired of that constant drone every time you go outside. So, hopefully, those those bugs will be leaving us soon. We have the Union Township summer concert with Hi Fi Honey on June 13 from 7PM to 9PM at the Union Township Civic Center Amphitheater.
It's just gonna be a concert featuring Hi Fi Honey that and they just seems like they just play a smattering of, different kinds of songs, like pop and rock and country. And like all of these Union Township Summer Concerts, there will be a food truck and a farmer's market that's, food trucks and a farmer's market that, starts at 4PM. And, admission to all of this is free. So, if you're looking for some good music, go out there. The Sunset River Paddle on June 14 at 7PM at Shiloh Park. It is a guided sunset canoe trip on the Ohio River, and you're gonna explore around the Crooked Run Nature Preserve. All the equipments provided, it is free, but you do need to register, and it is for ages 12 and up.
June in Old Williamsburg, and this is gonna be from June 19 from the from June 19 to June 21 at the Old High School Grounds. And it's gonna kick off Thursday at 3PM, and it'll continue, through Saturday night. And it features a five k color dash run, a lively parade. There's gonna be craft vendors, food vendors, carnivals, carnival rides, kids activities, live music, perhaps most importantly, a beer garden. An admission to that is also free. There is a, sweetheart stroll, Friday, June 20 at 08:30PM at the Keeley Nature Preserve. It is a romantic lantern. It is a lantern lit stroll, for anyone, through the park. You just pick up a lantern and a trail map and then you can, at your own pace, explore the trails.
And it's, free admission. So, nothing better than a free day. Summer Solstice Celebration of Color. This is on June 21 at 4PM to 8PM, and this is going to be at various sites across the county. So, check out the Clermont County Park District event page to, to see where this is gonna be. But there'll be outdoor art art installations, interactive activities, local vendors, food trucks. So if you're looking for something fun to do on the longest day of the year, check that out, and it is also a free event. Yoga in the park on June 21 at 9AM to 10AM at Sycamore Park.
It's a free morning yoga session, for teens and adults, and all levels are welcome. So even if you're beginning or if you know nothing about yoga and you just wanna give it a shot, head out to Singapore Park on the twenty first. Claremont County Library's Night Out in the Park Nocturnal Creatures, That's gonna be on June 24 at 06:30PM at, Chiloe Park. It's gonna feature the dream weavers storytelling troupe, so that should be fun to hear some good stories. And there will also be evening nature activities and it's all going to be focused around nocturnal wildlife. You do need to register and you can do that through the library.
Creek Days at the Park on June 27 at 1PM to 3PM, There's another event, Sycamore Park. And it's just a family friendly creek exploration, and there'll be a naturalist there. You get to go stomping around the creek and looking at, you know, all the cool stuff there. They do tell you wear closed toed shoes, because you're gonna be in a creek. We've got gotta catch them all at Pattison Lodge. That's gonna be June 28 at 1PM to 4PM. And it's a Pokemon Go route. Plus, there'll be some indoor games and a live animal presentation. So, if you're into Pokemon, go check that out.
The twenty twenty five river sweep at Shiloh, that's gonna be June 28 from 9AM to 12PM at Shiloh Park, and it's a volunteer river cleanup day. There'll be some canoe and kayak support, and this is for adults and teens. And it, you know, it's sounds like a really great volunteer event. You know, keep our river clean and, you know, spend time out outside and in the nature in nature and should be good. Lastly, we have Shaw Farms opening day on June 28 from 9AM to 5PM. It'll be at Shaw Farms in Milford, and then they're kicking off the strawberry season. So you can go there, pick some strawberries. There'll be some family activities.
So, you know, if I I love fresh picked strawberries. I don't know who doesn't. So if you're into that, go check out Shaw Farms on the, twenty eighth. Those are all the events that we have for you. And like I said in the beginning, we are a value for value podcast. So if you find value in what we're doing, all we ask is that you send some value back in the form of time, talent, or treasure. You can find us on Facebook at let's talk Claremont podcast. We're on Instagram at, at Let's Talk Clermont. You can, follow us on whatever your favorite podcast app is, whether that's Spotify, you know, Apple podcasts, or, you know, whatever it is, please give us a follow. And that way, you'll know exactly when we upload all these, new episodes.
And we wanna hear from you. Shoot us an email at info@let'stalkclaremont.com. Tell us what's on your mind. Tell us what you're concerned about. You know, tell us what we're doing, you know, what we're doing great, what we're doing not so great. And like I said in the beginning, if you got an interesting note, I'm happy to read it so everybody can hear, hear what you think. I've got another oliveism to wrap this up. It's it's a very short one, but when she said it to me, it kind of put me on my back foot. We were walking around, and she just looks at me and she goes, dad, you know I eat grass. I said, you eat grass? She goes, yeah. I like eating grass.
And she pretended to eat grass, and I said, you have to stop eating grass. You're not a cow. And she just laughed hysterically. So I'm really hoping that's a joke and that my my daughter is not out there in the world just chomping down grass. I to be honest, I'm not a 100% sure one way or the other. But, so that's that's your ollivism for the day. Thanks again for everybody who's listening, and we will see you next time.
Introduction and Podcast Overview
Clermont County Subdivision Regulations
Batavia Township Zoning Workshop
Milford City Charter Amendments
Value for Value Podcast Model
Interview with Crystal Judge
Getting Started with Herbalism
Favorite Herbs and Their Benefits
Herb CSA and Apothecary Building
Fire Cider and Its Benefits
Reliable Herbal Information Sources
Gracious Farm Events and Contact Information
Upcoming Events in Clermont County
