EHAUS

Hey ya’ll! WE’RE BACK: unloading boxes, cleaning pots and pans, stocking the shelves with beans and soy sauce. Can’t wait to have it all in order and good smells coming from the oven, with fabulous people around.

Thanksgiving only happens once a year. Well, usually. For a lucky group of people, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie were consumed twice. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Ehaus hosted its annual Thanksgiving community meal. The all-vegetarian menu ranged from maple syrup braised brussels sprouts with tempe to spiced corn to palak paneer to vegan pumpkin muffins. In addition to all the food prepared by Ehaus, friends brought some of their own delicious concoctions as well. A long, scrumptious meal in rooms overflowing with people and a good time had by all – surely something to give thanks for!

As a part of a Haverford House project, some  students from Simon Gratz highschool, who are working on building a greenhouse at their school, came to Haverford to tour the arboretum’s greenhouse and cook dinner at EHAUS. Dinner was a great time, here are some flicks below. If you want to get involved with the project contact Sonya Williams, who lives in Haverford House, and would love to hear from you. Her email is sonia.l.williams@gmail.com.
Corey and Sonya have helped to get funding form Simon Gratz, and are now working on a the physical building of the greenhouse in the school. There is a lot of building, organizing, student outreach to be done, so definitely shoot them an email if you are interested in green houses, green things, building things to help people learn about green things, hanging with the youngins, growing plants, and yourself.

Check out the girls making chili inthe HAUS

hey y’all

I recently led an ehaus workshop  about “backyard herbal healing” – for people who are interested but couldn’t make it, I copied the handout below!

Some things the Wise Woman Tradition has to say about herbalism:

• Herbal healing is about healing holistically, not just treating symptoms! Every herb has many healing properties, in other words, there is no herb that is just good for easing headaches, or just good for helping your body to digest food.

• When making your own herbal medicine, it is VERY important that you know which part of the plant to use (root, leaves, flower), when to harvest it (burdock root is harvested in the spring when the ground is still hard…echinacea root is harvested in the fall when the tops have gone to seed, after it has grown for at least 3 years!), how to prepare it (dried or fresh? infusion, tincture, vinegar, or oil?), and how much of it to use (you only need 1 drop of poke root tincture…you can drink up to 4 cups of red clover infusion each day).

• Respect the plants you meet, and listen to them, because they have A LOT to teach you.

• CAUTION: if you are harvesting your own wild plants, you need to be absolutely certain that you are harvesting the right plant. Herbal medicine saves lives but it can also kill. Two plants can look deceivingly similar… for instance: burdock leaves have been mistaken for deadly nightshade… Queen Anne’s Lace looks a lot like Poison Hemlock. Misidentifying plants is extremely dangerous. (This warning is not meant to scare you away from the magic of wild plants, but I am not a certified herbalist! If you are interested in learning/doing more, please seek guidance from a reputable herbalist.)

What are “nourishing herbal infusions” and how do you make them?

“An infusion is a large amount of herb brewed for a long time…they are full of antioxidant vitamins, minerals, proteins, phytoestrogens, and hundreds of protective phytochemicals. I drink two to four cups of infusion daily, rotating through the different herbs, but mostly nettle, oatstraw, red clover, and comfrey.

1. Choose one herb: nettle, oatstraw, red clover, comfrey leaf, linden flowers, violet leaf, or mullein leaf. You may add a little mint or other seasoning herb, but use only one of the main ones at a time.
2. Place one full ounce, by weight, of any one herb in a quart jar. A canning jar is best.
3. Fill the jar to the top with boiling water. Stir the herb into the water and add more water until the jar is really full.
4. Screw on a tight lid and let it steep for four hours or overnight. 5. Strain the liquid out and refrigerate what you don’t drink.

I drink nourishing herbal infusions over ice, heated up with honey and milk, mixed with other beverages. Enjoy.” (Taken from Susun Weed’s website, www.susunweed.com)

NOTE: Since you need to use huge quantities of dried herb to make infusions, it is most time and cost efficient to order the herb online, in bulk. I order my herbs from an organic wholesale company called Frontier Natural Products – www.frontiercoop.com

And for your viewing pleasure… here are some of my favorite plant allies: (look for them in your backyards, they are even more beautiful in person..)

motherwort (leonurus cardiaca)

red clover (trifolium pratense)

check out the earth-centered project that just went up in Lunt cafe, art made by a bunch of ehausers…