Robert Young Pelton’s Come Back Alive is a pun on survival guides. At least, that’s what I thought when I picked it up. As it turns out, the books makes fun of most other survival guides, but takes itself seriously – slightly disturbing, as most of his advice is questionable. It focuses on urban survival (driving, crime, etc) and, of course, war zones, forsaking wilderness survival for another time (or perhaps I just glazed over the wilderness sections, knowing they wouldn’t hold much of value).
It’s written in the same dark humor found in DP, so I would recommend it for fans of RYP, but only as entertainment.
There’s a lot of garlic around here not doing anything, so today I decided to make a tea, using this recipe as a base. It claims:
In Mexico, or Spain for that matter, garlic tea is served up for coughs or colds. People swear by it! The garlic oils inhibit cough and cold microbes, and they are effective decongestants. Lemon juice reduces and thins mucus, which makes it easier to unclog a stuffed up respiratory system. Lemon juice also changes the body's pH, making it less hospitable to viruses and bacteria.
I altered the recipe a little bit to fit the ingredients I had laying around, and the tea turned out great. A bit too much honey for my taste, but other than that, great. 16oz of the stuff is sitting in the fridge for me to try chilled tomorrow.
3 cups waters
5 whole garlic cloves
3oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
As much Italian honey as is left in the jar
The stuff was practically solid, not that cheap liquid honey you get at the supermarket. Were I to toss it into a measuring cup, I'd guess it would report about 4oz
2 pinches of Lemon Balm
Bring 3 cups water and garlic cloves to a boil
When boiling, turn down heat and add lemon juice, honey, and Lemon Balm
Return water to boil for 30 seconds or so, allowing chunky honey to liquefy
Strain, serve, enjoy
Now if only I was sick, I could report back the medical benefits.
Update: That stuff went right through me. Perhaps it cleans the kidneys?
Second Update: It’s tasty cold, though the honey all sunk to the bottom.
And so another midsummer’s new Moon birthed in the Gifford-Pinchot. This is becoming a ritual of some sort. I’ll have to continue it next year, regardless of what festivities are held there.
The Tenth Annual Autonomous Mutant Festival was a success, I’d say. Hobos, hippies, punks, gypsies, clowns, and all other sorts of degenerates gathered in the enchanted forests of Cascadia for celebration, music, chemicals, and what-not. Sadly, the weekend brought with it those who were there only for the booze; the type you wouldn’t pay a second glance to here in our culture of make believe, but, thrown into a forest of Mutants, looked incredibly out of place with their buzz-cuts, blue jeans, and white XXL undershirts. Their drunken idiocies are part of why I chose to break camp early.
Providence is Daniel Quinn’s autobiography. Though it obviously differs from Ishmael, a work of fiction, I kept feeling that while reading Providence, I was reading what that book would be, had it been narrated by Ishmael.
The book tells of Quinn’s 50 years leading up to writing Ishmael, from growing up in the Great Depression, to studying as a Trappist monk under Thomas Merton, and his eventual rejection of Christianity and its god.
At one point, Quinn describes what he experienced as a Trappist monk when he was allowed to go outside for the first time in three weeks:
I turned and faced the sunshine, and the breath went out of me as if someone had punched me in the stomach. That was the effect of receiving this sigh, of seeing the world as it is. I was astounded, bowled over, dumbfounded.
Everything was burning.
Every blade of grass, every single leaf of every single tree was radiant, was blazing -- incandescent with a raging power that was unmistakably divine.
I was overwhelmed. In a single second of this, of seeing this truth, tears flooded my eyes and poured down my face as I walked along...
What I was seeing was reality, was the world as it actually is, every moment of every day.
What struck me so about this, is that the passage describes something akin to what I experienced after opening my eyes after meditation in the arboretum upon Sehome hill – though more of a white radiance than raging flames. Perhaps there’s something to that, no?
The book is a recommended read for fans of Quinn’s other works.
I went to Baker Blues festival yesterday. My third or fourth year, I think. They moved to a new location this year, and amped the whole thing up to three days.
Music this year eclipsed the past. Chris Duarte? The closest thing living to a Hendrix or Vaughan today.
The Spell of the Sensuous is a mystical trip into the heart of animism. Magician David Abram bridges the questioning of Civilization with a look at traditional Shamanism – the “ecological dimension of the shaman’s craft.” From the first paragraph of this text-book of Deep Ecology, I was hooked. Abram’s claim is that, as humans, we have cut off contact with the non-human world, and that this is a deadly way to live. He waxes poetically on the emergence of the phonetic alphabet, analyzing that as the act that severed our connection with the sensuous, feeling world.
It is an amazing book that with every word tears away the veils of perception – shows you the world in a different light. I’ve read it twice now. Once, I started it before leaving for Thailand, and finished it there in the North. And again I picked it up towards the end of my trip and completed it upon return. It has carried me on my journey, There and Back Again.
I was linked to Mountain Rose Herbs through LearningHerbs.com. They are a “global provider of bulk organic herbs, spices, teas, essential oils and other herbal miscellany,” and have become my standard herb provider.
In my order was their Tea Sampler, which includes the following:
Dream Tea
This infusion blend is based on an ancient formula said to evoke powerful and colourful dreams. It is especially blended for the dreamer, stimulating vivid and easily recalled dreams. A light, minty yet, rich flavor. Very enjoyable after a rich or large dinner. Contains: peppermint*, mugwort* and damiana leaves, chamomile* flowers, gotu kola* and rosemary* leaves, rose petals* and, a pinch of stevia*.
Traditionally used for- Enhancing dreams
Fairytale Tea
A delicious drink for children and adults. A delightful and inspiring infusion blend full of flowers & fairy magic; perfect for bedtime stories.
Contains: calendula*, red clover*, lavender* and chamomile* flowers, lemon balm*, catnip*, spearmint*, skullcap* and thyme* leaves, oatstraw*, lemon peel* and, a pinch of stevia*.
Traditionally used for- Encourage calming
Peace Tea
This is a gentle and calming nervine blend; a chance for reflection;an opportunity to imagine a peaceful world. Takes the stress out of life for a while. A wonderful infusion drink for meditation and quiet moments.
Contains: Chamomile* flowers, spearmint* leaves, passionflower herb*, rose petals*, lavender* flowers and, cinnamon bark*.
Traditionally used for- Encourage relaxation
And I purchased a bag of 21st Century Tea:
There are so many ways that our immune systems can be overwhelmed ... air, water, workplace, stress etc. This infusion blend is not only helpful, but comforting, strengthening and delicious. Contains: Red clover blossoms*, nettle* leaves, pau d'arco, alfalfa* and sage* leaves, St. John's wort* herb and a hint of ginger* root.
Traditionally used for- General health and taste
I love all the teas. They’re all, without doubt, the best tasting I’ve had.
I also picked up some dried Lemon Balm for ice tea and a little powdered goldenseal root.
LearningHerbs.com is run by John Gallagher, one of the creator’s of Wilderness Awareness School’s Kamana program. The site offers a DIY kit that caught my eye a while ago, but I only recently decided to order. It came last Wednesday.
Included are the instructions and ingredients to make an echinacea tincture and an herbal salve. It’s amazing how simple both are to create, and they both provide a great confidence boost for an herbal noob like myself.
The salve I’ve been using for about a week as a lip balm and on itchy bug bites. It works great for both. I was only able to get my hands on some vodka a couple days ago, so the tincture still has another 6 weeks to sit before I can report back on that.
For anyone interested in herbs, I definitely recommend forking over $50 for the kit. I love it. It also includes access to a 7-day online course, that I’ve yet to begin, but plan to when the time is right.