Off the Beaten Track

Saw a bear today, driving home from Goldthread Apothecary's farm.

Adult black bear, standing in the middle of the road on S. Shirkshire Road, near the Wilder Hill Rd end. I stopped, he opted to get off the road, I went on.

Think I got most of the 'hitch' in my hip worked out... did something wrong this past weekend that kinked it :P

L and I are officially registered for Saturday-only at Steampunk Revolution (Nashua, NH), June 10. Not a lot of time for time-off, but gotta do it once in a while! I'd wanted to register for the weekend but niece B and nephew C are having their baby christened on Sunday so we're assuming they'll be too busy with family to take care of L's chickens while we'd be away. And of course, now we want to get back on Sunday in time for the ceremony.

Meantime, herbal class today!

Humans try all sorts of ways to deal with stress, some better than others. Time for sleep, meditation, and exercise are all good ones but sometimes those just don't happen or are insufficient to stress levels.

L and I have started taking ginseng, which takes 1-4 weeks to have a noticeable effect. Ginseng is not recommended for younger folks, in fact I myself might be a little young but as I'm past child-bearing age, I'm giving it a go. There are other herbal adaptogens, so depending on how stress shows itself in your body (nervous, muscular, digestion), you can choose something that will help your body to cope with the stresses in your life.

I'm nowhere near ready to even suggest what specific folks might want to use, but the folks at Goldthread Apothecary can no doubt help. I can't say, after 1-1/2 weeks, that I'm feeling significantly less stressed, but I have been getting a bit more stuff done than I thought I would, and life is less crazy-making overall, so I'll say tentatively that it seems to be helping.

Of course, life will also be less stressful when the electricians aren't coming here every week :P

Last night I posed the question at Concentus' practice as to whether anyone knew where to get music by Adam de la Halle.... remembering only my general frustration with music research sites and forgetting that I'd found a book on his works at ABE books and had even ordered it. L's looked over the notation and is currently doing research on black note notation...

So, I'm kind of accomplishing things but it's a mystery to me how it happens...

http://littlebloginthebigwoods.blogspot.com/2012/05/first-cygnets-of-summer.html

Some widely varied reasons folks have been glad to have stores of food and water:
http://sharonastyk.com/2009/05/19/real-life-food-storage-stories/

Last fall after the Halloween storm, people were coming up to Ashfield because we had power and gas -- fortunately for these folks, the gas station had just gotten a delivery on Friday, just ahead of the storm. A day or two after, we were up at Elmer's and I got to chatting with a woman from Haydenville. She told me her sister had told her repeatedly that she should have some food and water stored but "we'd never lost power before". And even after they lost power, she'd figured that since the local power station was just down the road from her house, that power would be restored within hours. But the damage was so extensive because of all the downed trees that it would be days before they got power back.

On a less dramatic note, my mother always has plenty of canned, dried, and frozen goods and water as well. The water is a newer addition, something she started doing in California, but I grew up with a well-stocked pantry. She has always taken advantage of sales whenever possible, and this has ensured that her dollar goes further and she always has something to available to her. It was important when she was raising three children and it continues to be important as her mobility has decreased in more recent years.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers!

Happy Birthday embermwe!

Posting so I don't lose the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Herbs_Charm

One of the nine sacred herbs in this charm is Nettles.

I have a book somewhere on A-S medicine I need to find now...

Been reading up on Stinging Nettles, and found this great page:
http://www.acupuncturebrooklyn.com/alternative-health/nettles

A much-maligned but highly beneficial plant. Balancing/restoring kidney function, reduces benign prostate enlargement, helps with asthma and allergic rhinitis, helps clear congestion and phlegm, helps with arthritis, may possibly help with sugar-levels for diabetics (hasn't been tested on humans yet), good for the liver, helps with gout...

Contains Vitamins A & C and also K, iron, magnesium, potassium, manganese, silica, and calcium.