I think we have all heard and can agree that sitting at a desk all day is not the best thing that you can do for your body and overall health. Most of us can attribute some of the aches and pains we feel at the end of the day to stress and the amount of sitting we did. Several studies have linked movement in classrooms to increased brain function. If we know that physical activity helps children learn in a school, imagine what it can do for us at work!

The brain utilizes up to ⅕ of oxygen usage. After sitting for 20-30 minutes, blood pools in our hips and isn’t being carried to our brains, which increases energy, releases stress, and calms the mind and the body. Bodily movement is the signal for our brain to wake up. 

Most offices aren’t set up to have morning and afternoon recess, so here are some small things that you can do to stretch your brain. 

1. Take a drink of super cold water. The more you drink, the better!
2. Go outside. The change of scenery and fresh air will break up the monotony quickly. 
3. Reposition yourself at your desk or your chair, so you are using different muscles. Maybe even stand up. 
4. Put on your headphones and listen to your favorite dance music. 
5. Have a short laugh with your co-worker. It releases endorphins!

Herbs and spices have been used by cultures worldwide throughout history, not only as flavor and color enhancers but also for the many health benefits found in them. The standard American diet is lacking greatly in this very important food group. For example, I read an article many years ago that stated the only time that the very beneficial herb turmeric was included in the American diet was as a coloring agent in yellow cake! 

Herbal food practices have been around for centuries, and one of my favorite examples is Masala Chai. Chai tea, as it is most commonly known, originated from India and Siam. The folklore surrounding Chai dates back to about 5000-9000 years ago to an ancient royal court. It was said that the reigning king created the recipe as a healing Ayurvedic beverage. Chai has been prepared in many different ways with various ingredients, and it wasn’t until the 1930’s that black tea was added to the drink. It was served hot or cold and before or after meals for minor ailments. Today’s science and research on herbs show that herbs with bitter qualities aid in digestion, can you guess what kind of herbs are in Chai!?

We can add more herbs to our diets by using fresh and dried herbs. We can add them to salads, drinks, sweets, and main dishes. We can make teas, elixirs, and bitters. We can infuse oils and vinegar. We can take tinctures and supplements. 

One of the easiest and my favorite ways are cookies! This is a great way to introduce herbs to your diet. Get creative with flavor combinations. I love lavender, rosemary and cinnamon, rose and hibiscus, basil and lime, lemon and lemon balm, tulsi and honey, mint, and raw cacao. I also love rosemary and cinnamon, rose and hibiscus, basil and lime, lemon and lemon balm, tulsi and honey, mint, and raw cacao. 

Shae’s Herbal Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar/sweetener of choice, I like to use monk fruit
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp extract of choice, vanilla, almond, orange, etc. 
• Pinch of salt
• Herbs, spices and/or edible flowers

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
3. Decide if you want to add herbs/spices to the dough or place on top.
4.  Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
5. Add salt and extract and mix. 
6. Slowly add in flour and mix until it just comes together. 
7. If you are adding herbs to your dough, add and mix now. If it looks too dry, add butter 1tbsp at a time. If too wet, add flour. 
8. Fold dough together until it forms a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
9. Take the dough out and get a heaping tablespoon full, roll into a ball and then press into circles about ¾ inch thick. 
10. Gently press or sprinkle herbs or flowers onto top of cookies. 
11. Bake 16-20 minutes until golden. 
12. Allow it to cool slightly, then transfer to a cooling rack. 
13. Once cool, dust with powdered sugar, if desired. 

It can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Most Americans consume caffeine daily, whether it’s drinking their favorite soda, having their morning coffee, or indulging on a piece of chocolate, but is it healthy? And how much caffeine should we consume? Here we will explore the pros and cons of caffeine and allow you to decide for yourself whether it is good or bad for you. 

Before we get started, I would like to put a myth about caffeine to rest, and that is the myth that caffeine dehydrates you. This misinformation can be traced back to a 1928 study where it was found that caffeine was a diuretic. The details from this study became misinterpreted, and the rumor spread that it caused dehydration. Although it causes increased urination, it does not cause you to lose more fluids than you have taken in. That would certainly be a drawback, but as there is no truth to it, it doesn’t make our list.

Cons

1. Anxiety: Consumption of caffeine is known to exasperate anxiousness and may contribute to panic attacks.
2. Blood pressure: Caffeine temporarily raises blood pressure. Some doctors believe lengthy inconsistency in blood pressure may lead to cardiovascular health problems. However, the spike in blood pressure seems to be more substantial in individuals who do not drink caffeine regularly, i.e., your body adapts with regular consumption. 
3. Causes head discomfort: Caffeine can treat or prevent head discomfort. It can also cause it from withdrawal or the reversal of the blood vessels narrowing. 
4. It can be part of an unhealthy lifestyle: A study has shown that males who consume excessive amounts of caffeine may experience an early death. However, those who reported higher caffeine consumption were also more likely to smoke and have poor fitness. Correlation may not equal causation. 
5. Insomnia: Caffeinated beverages may cause insomnia and sleep latency (difficulty falling asleep). Most average caffeine drinkers are aware of this and take precautions to avoid caffeine in the evening. 
6. Acid reflux: Caffeine can contribute to the development of acid reflux. This is because it can relax the lower esophageal sphincter (LEG), which acts as a valve and keeps stomach acid from backing up into the esophagus.  
7. Withdrawal: Caffeine is known to be addictive. The withdrawals may include headache, fatigue, low energy, irritability, anxiety, poor concentration, depressed mood, and tremors. 
8. It’s not for everyone: Some people may experience gastrointestinal distress, excitability and shaking, overstimulation, or rapid heart rate with even small amounts of caffeine. These people should avoid caffeine. 

Pros 

1. Increased energy and vigilance: When you consume caffeine, it causes mild central nervous system stimulation, making you feel more alert and less fatigued.
2. Memory support: Caffeine helps you stay attentive and focused and has been shown to help boost memory consolidation. Studies have even shown that regularly drinking coffee may support your body against some neurological decline.
3. Alleviate head discomfort: Caffeine can help alleviate head discomfort due to its anti-inflammatory properties and by narrowing blood vessels. This is why it is often added to over-the-counter medications. It can make the medication up to 40% more effective. 
4. Longevity: Studies have shown positive life expectancies for some who moderately consumed caffeine regularly throughout their life.
5. Pre and post-exercise: Caffeine can be used as a pre-workout energizer and has the added benefit of reducing post-workout muscle soreness by up to 48%.
6. Quality of Life (QOL): Coffee, in particular, is the second-most consumed beverage in the world (next to tea). It’s high in caffeine, but more than that, it is part of our culture and cultures around the world. It brings us together socially. We like the way it makes us feel. We enjoy the way it tastes. We love the routine of buying it, making it, and drinking it. And we certainly love the atmosphere of a good coffee shop! All of this improves our quality of life by making us feel happier and connected. 

There are many contradictions when studying the pros and cons of consuming caffeine. There are many factors to consider, and what is right for one person may not be right for another. Most of the health risks were when caffeine was consumed at higher doses. Most of the benefits were achieved at moderate consumption (200mg - 400mg daily). I believe, like with many things, moderation is key. 

Science is amazing. Mother nature is spectacular. 

I love to garden, and like you, I want to be responsible for what I add to my soil and what can go downstream.

Giving your soil what it needs to grow healthy flowers and food is a gardener’s ongoing adventure. So when I heard that maybe you have enough iron in your soil, but your beloved maple tree may not be able to consume it, I had to know why. 

According to soil-biotics.com, “Humic acids chelate nutrient compounds, especially iron, in the soil to a form suitable for plant utilization. Thus, the nutrient supply of plants is optimized…The most important feature of humic acids lies in their ability to bind insoluble metal ions, oxides and hydroxides, and to release them slowly and continually to plants when required.”

Over the years, I added and added and added organic matter and some fertilizers. With that, I had good results. Then I found Humic acid, and my yard and garden got much better. Humic is part of the organic matter decomposition process. It gets a step closer to turning my soil content into proper food for my plants. Using it means I need fewer fertilizers, the yield is better, the amount of potential runoff is low, and it gives my garden a better chance of living green and healthy. 

You can apply humic acid in several ways:

Dry Powder - with a dust mask on, you can mix it into your garden water and leave it to do its work. I believe in a “disturb your soil as little as you can” garden. So avoid tilling year after year. There is evidence you will lack mycelium growth if you till too often.  

Granular - with a mask, you can spread on all soil - Garden, grass, and working beds. Water it in and try not to disturb soil unnecessarily. 

Liquid - My last choice. Transporting all the liquid weight is less than ideal, but it may be best for you. You can add the granular or powder to water in a watering can and apply directly to your garden.

Many of you may be composting really well, which will add the same reactive qualities to your soil. But for most of us that may compost what you can and need a little help, this is a great way to help your soil out. I have put on a 2x application on the same day, so it is a very gentle addition to make. 

One word of warning. This natural addition is dark brown to black, so it will turn your white leisure suit to a gray leisure suit. It has always washed out well for me, but be warned! 

We have never been more connected - or disconnected, in human history. The internet and social media outlets allow us to connect in amazing ways. I met my husband through an internet dating website. I have met many of my friends through common online groups. I learn so much through groups and pages I follow. When used correctly, these avenues can be beautiful and amazing ways to connect, keep in touch, learn, grow, and become a better human.

In the same breath, these outlets deeply disconnect us, insight conflict, and lead to terrible things from addiction and bullying to death. Suicide accounts for 13% of teenage deaths in the United States. Social media is one of the biggest contributing factors to depression, loneliness, and anxiety in adolescents and adults. Social media creates a breeding ground for predators, extremism, and comparing perfectly presented lives to our own. 

Because this is such a relatively new thing, with problems and issues that we have never encountered before and few rules to regulate its use, we must take on the task ourselves to practice self-control and self-care surrounding the media. 

Constant media consumption can be mentally and emotionally exhausting and draining. Especially when our feeds are filled with negativity, sadness, despair, and all the bad things happening in the world. Personally, I can’t quit social media altogether as it is my job and a tool for connection. So I have come up with my own plan for media self-care.

Here are some steps I have taken to be more aware of my media consumption. 

I limit screen time and content I am viewing. One of the very first things that I cut out was news and commercials. Mute commercials, install ad blockers. Turn off the tv when it’s emotionally draining. If you absolutely have to watch/listen, give yourself a time limit, and stick to it. Many smartphones have internal settings to put a time limit on apps, and if there isn’t one already built-in, you can download an app. 

All screens need a curfew because they all emit blue light. Blue light exposure may increase the risk of macular degeneration, contributes to digital eye strain, headaches, and fatigue. Blue light interrupts sleep schedules by throwing off circadian rhythm, and it affects our levels of melatonin and REM. If screens are absolutely necessary, add a blue light filter, dim the brightness or use blue light glasses. 

Social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter all use algorithms to show you targeted content. If you start seeing a lot of negative things on your feed, start “liking” more positive and happy things, and watch how fast it changes. 

Don’t be afraid to cut out the toxic. If something you are seeing bothers, offends, or creates a negative feeling inside you, get rid of it. To improve your feed, unfollow pages, mute, block, or unfriend people and groups that aren’t creating happiness. 

Seek out positivity, connection, and learning. Find pages and groups about what interests you, where you can make like-minded friends. Fill your feed with things that will add value to your life. I find pages that give me healthy affirmations so that when I am mindlessly scrolling, I am including affirmations that help bring me back to the present. Consciously start choosing and creating spaces that benefit you. 

Check out different platforms. I have noticed that Facebook tends to be more negative in content and the way people interact with each other, whereas Instagram has a more positive push. Pinterest is a good place for learning. TikTok may be the happiest place on the internet. Find a platform that will help you meet your social media goals. 

We have to find ways to combat comparing. Iyanlay Vanzent said it best: “Comparison is an act of violence against the self.” If we find ourselves comparing and feeling like our lives don’t seem as amazing as the lives presented online, we need to look at why. Try to divert your thoughts to what is good about your life. Encourage realness by being raw. Post pictures of the not great, the ugly, the not perfect. Show others your real authentic self without filters. 

Don’t be afraid to take a break. One day, a week, a month, just on weekends - whatever you can commit to will do you good. We have to remember that social media is a tool for us. WE get to choose what it does and how it affects us.

Tea's (Camellia Senensis) origin story is shrouded in mystery, but the most well-known story going back 5,000 years, to 2732 B.C. in Southernwestern China. According to Chinese legend, Emperor Shennong, the God of Agriculture, sat under a tree. He was boiling water to drink when leaves blew off a nearby branch and into the pot. It quenched his thirst, stimulated him, and left him feeling refreshed. He wrote, "Tea is bitter, drinking it one can think quicker, sleep less, move more nimbly, and see more clearly."

Through the Zhou dynasty, tea was embraced for its health benefits. It was usually made into a heavy, bitter brew, mixed with other ingredients, and used in many new religious rituals. Tea was reserved as an imperial tribute to the emperor's court up until the Tang dynasty. There was usually far too much for one person to consume, so it trickled down and was consumed by the emperor's court, family, and visitors.

The Tang dynasty (618-907) marked the golden age of tea. During this time, tea consumption became more widespread, mainly because it was made fashionable by the Tang dynasty's nobility. Tea became easily accessible, used by the common people for everyday pleasure, and as a muse and medium for scholars and artists. This can be traced to the literary work of Lu Yu. His book, the Ch'a Ching, describes the uses, preparation, benefits, and types of tea available. It also taught a traditional tea ceremony, incorporating spiritual aesthetics that reflected Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist religious thoughts. Due to its increasing popularity, tea started to be taxed and exported. Emperor Taizong strategically married his niece, Wen Chang, to the Tibetan king to secure peace between the two countries, with the bonus of obtaining horses. Wen Chang introduced tea and Buddhism to the Tibetans. Tea was and is still a crucial part of the Tibetan diet, which does not grow vegetables very well due to the terrain. Tea provided them with the much-needed nutrients their meat-heavy diets needed. This marriage would mark the beginning of the tea export to Tibet and neighboring regions; the next notable spread was to Japan, thanks to a Japanese monk, Saicho. Tea wasn't popularized in Japan until the Sung dynasty (960-1279). Then, Eisai, a Buddhist monk, brought powdered tea known as Matcha and plants that would begin tea cultivation in Japan. Through the Sung dynasty, tea became one of their most substantial exported goods. Through the re-opened Silk Road, tea was able to spread into Central Asia and Africa.

It wasn't until the 17th century when global trade began to take off that tea would spread further thanks to a Portuguese missionary attributed to bringing tea to Europe. It also spread to Russia via the Silk Road and Europe by sea routes. Dutch merchants were the first to seriously trade tea through the Dutch East India Company. As in China, tea started in Europe as a medicinal drink. Its popularity would rapidly spread to Paris, London, and Amsterdam as a novelty for wealthy aristocrats. The first established tea shop in London was founded by Thomas Garraway in 1658 C.E. It grew in popularity with the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. She adored tea. From there, tea became a staple throughout Europe and the American colonies. Tea reached American colonies in the late 1600s, becoming the most popular beverage in America by 1765. By the 19th century, tea had made it to the majority of the world. Each culture has variations of preparation, blends, and drinking customs. Tea is still the most widely consumed beverage in the world!

A few fun facts about Tea:

• All tea comes from one plant, the Camellia Senensis. The difference between green, yellow, oolong, black, and white is the leaves' processing. 
• Black tea is called red tea in China.
• Darjeeling tea gets its name from the location it is grown. 
• Iced tea was popularized at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair. The tea wasn't selling due to the hot summer, which prompted the vendor to pour tea into glasses packed with ice. Some people think this was the invention of ice tea, but it was first noted in a housekeeping magazine in 1851.

"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration."

- Nikola Tesla

In physics, a field is an area under the influence of a force, such as gravity or electromagnetism. A field theory is a physical theory that employs fields in the physical sense. The laws of nature that affect large objects like planets, people, or pool balls don't apply to smaller objects like atoms, molecules, or subatomic particles. It appears that the universe operates on two totally separate sets of laws unless there is a force that unites them that we haven't discovered yet. Albert Einstein spent the latter years looking for the theoretical explanation of this undocumented force, known as the "unified field theory." 

What if the world of the supernatural could also be tied together with one unified theory? American author and investigator John Keel proposed just such a theory. Best known for his book The Mothman Prophecies, Keel has another book entitled The Eighth Tower. He postulates that there is a singular intelligent force behind all religious, occult, paranormal, and UFO phenomena. He spent a large portion of his lifetime interviewing witnesses of a myriad of paranormal events and circumstances. He concluded that there must be a force or intelligence that coalesces and materializes its energies just outside the boundaries of our known electromagnetic spectrum - a spectrum that Keel coined "The Superspectrum." He said, "This is a hypothetical spectrum of energies that are known to exist, but that cannot be accurately measured by present-day instruments. It is a shadowy world of energies that produce well-observed effects, particularly on biological organisms, namely people." He also says, "This super spectrum is the source of all paranormal manifestations, from extrasensory perception, flying saucers, little green men, and tall hairy monsters. It is hard to pin down scientifically, because it is extra-dimensional, meaning that it exists outside of our own space-time continuum, yet influences everything within our reality." 

While this theory may sound pretty nuts, remember everything in our world that is seen, heard, or felt is done through frequencies, waves, or vibrations. We can only sense a small fraction. We can only hear a small portion of the available sound waves, measured in a unit of frequency known as hertz, which is why we can't hear the tone when we blow into a dog whistle. Humans can also only see a small fraction of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum. At the same time, bees, for example, can actually detect ultraviolet light, which helps them to find nectar and flowers. Could all of this weirdness exist in a field just outside of humans' normal biological perception? Are some people better able to pick up on it than others? 

Books play a critical role in my daily life and emotional well-being. When an extended period passes without reading, my emotions become more challenging to navigate. Being emotionally intelligent takes a certain discipline that reading seems to facilitate for the following reasons.

Adaptation: Mankind was built for learning, growth, and change. We are designed to continually adapt physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we become stagnant, we are no longer reaching for our full potential, and our emotions tend to get the best of us. Books help keep our emotions in check by facilitating new thoughts, questions and answers, and internal changes within our minds and hearts.

Intellectual Hunger: Our minds need to be continually nourished and stimulated by information, structure, and creativity. An ordinary daily routine, coupled with the stressors of our modern world, is not enough to feed our complex minds and emotions. If left to scavenge for content on its own, the mind fabricates worry and stress, leading to unwarranted and chaotic feelings. Books help feed your soul and grant peace, calm, and discipline. Additionally, books allow us to learn by way of others’ experiences.

Divine purpose: We are part of something bigger. Even when we dream at night, we are searching for answers, new concepts, and meaning. Books give us new ideas and often a refreshed purpose. They help us discover things about ourselves, strengthen us in new ways, and help us grow closer to our divine nature.

 It is sometimes easy to buy into the idea that you have to start an intense exercise regimen to achieve positive health results, but in reality, good health can be just a few steps away. At 24, I went through what was basically an intense six-month panic attack. My hormones were completely out of whack, and it took a long time for my body to rebalance. During that stressful and physically uncomfortable time, one of the things that helped more than anything was simply going for daily walks. Getting the sunshine, taking time to be moving, appreciating the outdoors - it was the best strategy I found for beating back the waves of panic.

The research backs up what I discovered during that time. Even just five minutes of physical motion can begin to reduce feelings of anxiety, and moderate exercise is one of the best medicines for anxiety and depression.  Studies have shown that people who do not regularly participate in intense exercise, but who have twenty minutes or more of walking in their daily commute still have lower blood pressure, lower rates of obesity, better mental health, and more. Almost anyone can do it, even if you have to go slowly at first for health reasons or if you aren’t used to physical activities. So stop reading, stand up, and go for a quick walk!

Letting Go of Emotional Suffering

“Get over it!” “Let it go!” “Move on!” Easier said than done, right? Emotional suffering is something that we are all bound to experience. Did you know that 1 in 5 adults in America suffers from a diagnosable mental health condition? It is hard to free yourself of past mistakes, feelings of shame, the pain of broken relationships, guilt, and grief. While it’s normal to get upset or have a bad day, you really shouldn’t unpack your bags and live in that emotional space, which, unfortunately, many people do. Holding onto your anger, sadness, or frustration for an extended period of time has many adverse effects on both the mind and body. As a society, we are taught to easily recognize signs of a heart attack or stroke - maybe we need to do a better job of recognizing the symptoms of emotional suffering so we can help ourselves and others before it’s too late. Suicide is now taking more American lives than highway accidents per year, and if we, as a society, learn the signs of emotional suffering, we can do a better job at getting people the help that they need and deserve. 

Some of the noticeable physical effects of mental strain that should act as a warning if you see them in yourself or others include:

• Sleep disturbances - sleeping too much or too little, or having nightmares. 
• Dramatic weight fluctuations or changes in eating habits. 
• Unexplained physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue, lack of energy, headaches, backaches, or stomach pains. These often act as a distraction from psychological distress. 
• A decline in personal care. When the body can’t handle the load, it tends to shut down. 
• Changes in personality and extreme mood swings that have been noticed by more than one person.
• Turning down social activities or finding little pleasure in things you once loved. 
• Experiencing little to no interest in sex. 
• Encountering compulsive or obsessive behaviors like hand washing, repetitive thoughts, or having irrational fears. 

Everything listed here can negatively affect your overall quality of life and can be long-lasting unless you learn to embrace and address your suffering. 

To begin the healing process, one first must invite the pain and welcome it into your world, releasing yourself from fear of suffering. By exploring that emotion, you can reach its source and understand its root cause, a freeing experience. Accept what is, and don’t deny your thoughts and feelings. Allow them to exist and acknowledge them - there is a reason you’ve hung onto them for so long. Once you’ve accepted them, you can move on to getting help, inviting happiness, joy, and satisfaction into your life. 

Start by practicing self-love. Speak kindly to yourself and surround yourself with people who also talk kindly to you and others. Engage in relationships that are mutually supportive and sever ties with toxic people who bring out the worst in you or bring you down. You get to choose your tribe! 

Don’t isolate yourself from good people. When you’re ready, reconnect with friends, volunteer, and say “yes” to social activities. You can ask for support without having to discuss what’s troubling you. Try to practice mindfulness through meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. 

Focus on taking care of your body. Make a conscious effort to get good sleep, eat a balanced diet, exercise, and stay hydrated. Get outside and take a walk or go for a hike! Being in nature is an excellent way to check in and reconnect with yourself. Listen to upbeat, positive music - and dance! All of these things work to repair your nervous system, bringing you an overall sense of wellness.

 Above all, remember that you are not alone, and by facing your pain, you’re likely to inspire others to address their own suffering more courageously. You’ve suffered long enough. Don’t allow negativity to hold you back any longer! Use it to propel you in a new, positive direction. Happiness is available if you choose to let go of your past. You are a warrior. Be brave. Stay strong.

“We do not heal the past by dwelling there; we heal the past by living fully in the present.” ~Marianne Williamson  

Gold panning has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a kid! Most of the time, it requires a lot of hard work, but it is easy to learn, and the rewards are awesome - it is also a blast! 

Now, you can't just go to any river or area and find gold. It does take a little bit of knowledge and time. Usually, the best places to find information about gold-bearing areas and prospecting in your area is your local and national clubs. You don't have to join a club, but I would highly recommend it. Most of them can offer advice, equipment, and give you access to club-owned claims. They even have monthly outings, which will help you get started on finding gold. So let's talk about the equipment and tools you are going to need to get started. I would consider these to be essential for anyone who is just starting out. You are going to want:

-  Gold Pan

- ½ Classifier 

- Small Garden Trowel

- Shovel

- Small Prybar/screwdriver

- Sniffer Bottle

- Gloves

- 5 Gal bucket

- Chair

Alright, so we've got our basics now. I would recommend you start in an area with a stream. Water isn't a necessity when panning for gold, but it makes everything ten times easier. You will also want to make sure that you are not going to be on someone else's claim and/or private property - get permission in advance if needed. Once you get to the water, you will want to scan the stream for areas where the water would have slowed down. Gold is heavy, and when the current of the stream slows down, the gold settles to the bottom. Things I look for when panning are big rocks, eddies, or cracks. Start by digging in these areas or scraping out cracks. What you are looking for is hard, compacted soil, gravel, and clay. This is where your gold is going to get stuck. 

Once you find this type of material, place your Classifier over your pan. As you are digging and scraping place material into your Classifier and gold pan. If you want to make things easier, you can put your Classifier on top of your 5-gallon bucket and scoop it into the bucket. I have a rule when I gold pan, and that is to never fill my pan more than two thirds full. If you add too much material, it makes it more challenging to pan properly 

and causes you to lose gold. 

For a beginner, I would say start with about a third until you get the hang of it. Now that we have some material in our pan, we will want to submerge our pan and Classifier in the stream. Make sure the Classifier is over your gold pan and give it a rough shake. This will cause all the smaller materials to drop out the bottom and into your pan. Take some time after to carefully inspect your Classifier for large nuggets that might not have made it through, and then set it aside. 

Now you are going to grab your pan with both hands and shake it side to side. You want to agitate the material so that the gold drops to the bottom of the pan. Slowly tilt your pan forward, allowing the material to slide to the edge of the pan, but not out. Any gold should be at the bottom of the pan at this point. Take one hand, scrape any larger material off the top of the surface, tilt the pan back flat, and give it another shake. Tilt your pan forward once again, this time dip the pan in and out of the water three to five times, allowing the lighter materials to wash off. Repeat this process until you have about half a cup or less of material. 

At this point, you should see quite a bit of black sand and possibly some gold. To separate the gold from the black sand, fill your pan with a small amount of water and shake the material you have left in your pan into one spot. Give your pan a gentle swirl, letting the water go over your material. It will create a tail of black sand, leaving your gold at the tip. Grab your sniffer bottle and suck up the gold into the bottle keeping it safe. That's it! It takes technique, but anyone can pan for gold!

The most diverse group among plant classifications is angiosperms. These are plants that produce a flower. There are 300,000 different species of flowering plants. The first flowering plants are believed to have  diverged from conifers about 120 million years ago. The reproductive organs of angiosperms are the flowers. For these flowers, the male reproductive element is the stamen, and the female is the pistil. When the two meet, a seed is produced. 

Pollinators are the animals that transfer pollen from one plant to another. There are about 200,000 animals that act as pollinators worldwide. They are responsible for pollinating approximately 75% of the plants grown for food, beverages, and medicines. Flowers developed over time to attract different pollinators. For example, Magnolia trees evolved before bees, and therefore depend on a beetle for their pollination. The structure of their carpel is harder than in most flowers to allow it to withstand the damage the beetle’s mandibles could cause. The beetles are attracted to the protein-rich pollen that the magnolia produces. 

When you think about pollinators, you probably think about bees. They are by far one of the top pollinators worldwide. The flowers that attract bees are full of nectar. They have brightly colored petals that are often blue or yellow, smell sweet, are open in the daytime, or have a landing platform. You may find it surprising that the largest pollinators (by size) are lemurs! Found on Madagascar, they are the primary pollinator of the Traveler’s Palm trees (ravenala madagascariensis). These trees can be up to 40 feet tall. As they reach in with their face and snout to get the fruit of the tree, they are covered in pollen, which they then transfer to the next flower. 

When you are growing flowers, it is essential to know how the plants are classified by their growth cycle. Annuals are plants that only have a one-year life cycle. They tend to bloom longer than perennial plants and go to seed. They can self-seed and come back the next year, but it is not reliable. Perennial plants return more than two years in a row. They are further divided into herbaceous and woody plants. Herbaceous plants have a green stem and die back to the ground each year, while woody plants have woody stems that remain above ground. Trees and shrubs are considered woody perennials. These plants don’t flower as long as annuals, but they can survive for many years. 

Biennials are plants that have a two-year life cycle. The first year they are a green plant and the second year they grow flowers and produce seeds, and then they die. Foxgloves and Hollyhocks are examples of biennials. Some plants are perennial in warmer climates and annuals in colder climates. If you live in a colder area, they may come back depending on winter conditions. 

Without going into the scientific naming process of plants, many commercial plant growers are cultivating plants that are hybrids, and they are often sterile. In some cases, creating a non-reproducing version has been necessary to allow some invasive plants to be grown in a typical garden setting. However, as beautiful as these are, they could deprive wildlife of some natural sources of food. There has been a lot of push towards growing natives plants for your native wildlife. 

Flowers, to me, are the reward of gardening. When I plant flowers, it feels like I succeeded. Hopefully, your plants will reward you with a beautiful flowering this year!

Meditation can take on many forms, from simple Grounding all the way to Transcendental meditation. Every kind of meditation is designed to help you relieve stress and focus on the now. I was always told that depression was looking back, and anxiety was looking forward. That is not always so, but that concept helps remind me to focus on the now. 

Grounding meditation is when you notice the things holding you up and the air flowing in and out of you with each breath. Let your thoughts move through you without judgment and without fixating. 

Another form is Focused Meditation, where you try to focus on just your breathing. Gently let wandering thoughts go and return focus to your breathing. Eventually, you will stop even thinking of your breath and find yourself in a place of peace, where nothing is running through your head - just the quiet of the now.

Insight Meditation is when you use the practice of meditation to develop qualities in yourself. You set an intention of what you want and focus on it throughout your practice.

Body Scan: This is when you focus on your whole body - the sensations, the feelings, the tightness, or discomfort - and slowly move your focus from the top of your head to your toes. It can do wonders to help your muscles relax without moving at all!

There are so many more, what kind of meditation do you like?

“I freaked out and bought a bunch of heirloom seeds. They’ll be here in a few days.” I told my perplexed wife, who, although well-intentioned, does not have a good track record with plants. She asked the obvious: “Why did you freak out?,” and, “What’s an heirloom seed?”

The freakout started when I realized just how dependent my family and I are on the supermarket and the national supply chain. The 2020 shutdowns and disruptions have had a ripple effect that will take time to fully understand. It caused processing plants to shut down and farmers to dump thousands of pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to restaurants and businesses that were affected by the nationwide COVID shutdown. My own company, Neural Balance,  was even backordered for a time on our product while we worked out supply chain issues and provided for additional safety measures.

My freak out peaked when I realized that if farmers and food distributors could not survive or stay in business to grow and distribute crops, it would be entirely up to me to feed my family. Toilet paper we could learn to live without. Food was another story. After all, how much-canned food and puddin’ can one family hoard?

It made me think of the promise and the power of the seed. Consider the tiny mustard seed. Matthew 13:31-32 says “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” 

In this precious stage of life, what is now much smaller than a Tic-Tac might one day be a mighty tree providing shelter and life to an abundance of living creatures or, it might be an Old Colossus Heirloom Tomato weighing in at nearly two pounds and becoming part of a tomato bisque soup to be enjoyed by your family on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Some of these seeds will even burst forth with herbs and plants such as the beautiful passionflower, the cornerstone of our patented herbal/mineral/vitamin blend, Anandanol. 

I received my package a few days later and was surprised to find that 50,000 assorted heirloom seeds and a packet of instructions all fit in a medium-sized padded envelope. And again, I was struck by the fact that these tiny seeds had the potential to feed my family and many of my neighbors for generations to come. This leads me to my wife’s second question… “What’s an heirloom seed?” 

Heirloom seeds are a glimpse back into history, the result of generations of faithful farmers who passed down seeds from generation to generation. Heirloom seeds are non-GMO, non-hybrid, and have been time tested to offer great taste and resilience. And, while seeds harvested from most of the fruits and vegetables available in your typical grocery store may not produce and certainly will not produce consistently, heirloom seeds are quite the opposite. Plants grown from heirloom seeds will produce consistent yields, you may harvest seeds from the plants you grow and, if properly cleaned, dried, and prepared, those seeds can be used the following season or stored for future use.

Some companies who sell heirloom seeds even offer variety packs that contain seeds that are suited for your region. As we are in hot and humid Florida, one of my choices included the “Arkansas Traveler,” a tomato known to thrive in areas that other tomatoes would find too harsh.

From the simple seed to the mighty tree to the tasty fruit, we are reminded that all life, in all stages, is precious and has potential.

Proper depth, temperature, and water are all it takes to awaken these small, dried miracles and cause their potential to begin to burst forth. Keeping them alive and causing them to flourish is a whole different conversation. Hopefully, I will be back next year with updates and baskets that overflow!

Gabriel Williams is CEO of Spectrum Research Group. An 18-year veteran of the natural products industry, Gabe is a husband, father, and purveyor of unsolicited advice. 

I'm always on the hunt for safer and smarter ways to clean my house, preferably without harsh chemicals. I'm a big fan of my steam cleaner, but you can't really bust out that big fat machine every time you want to sanitize the kitchen counter, ya know? That's where a new friend comes in - Hypochlorous Acid. Never heard of it? Neither had I. After doing some research, I found out that everyone is already walking around with it in their bodies. It's the substance that our white blood cells make to fight off infection!

Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) can be made by mixing precise proportions of three simple ingredients: salt, water, and vinegar. When an electrical current is applied to this solution, the molecules break apart and reform to create HOCI. HOCl is just as effective as bleach at killing dangerous bacteria and viruses. Yet, this powerful weapon against germs is 100% safe for humans, doesn't irritate the skin, is fume-free, doesn't leave a residue, is non-toxic, and is all-natural. You might be wondering, “why haven't I seen this miracle solution on the shelf at the store?” The answer is pure chemistry - the solution isn't “stable,” meaning the molecules don't stay in this form forever. They will eventually break down and turn into saltwater over time - not a good thing for chemical manufacturers looking for mass production and products with long shelf lives. 

However, several companies have recently started making electrolyzers that are small and efficient enough for household use. I bought mine from a company called Force of Nature. You merely empty one of their perfectly proportioned capsules of salt and vinegar into their electrolyzer with the specified amount of water. Turn it on, let it bubble for a few minutes, and you get HOCI! The solution is stable for about two weeks before you need to make a fresh batch. However, since activator capsules are only $1.25 to make 12oz, it's still more cost-effective than buying spray bottles of cleaner at the store. I also love how much plastic I'm saving from not buying individually packaged cleaners for specific uses. I sanitize my baby changing table and diaper pail, spray the inside of my kitchen trash can, smelly shoes, baby toys, and bouncers. I use it for kitchen and bathroom surfaces, doorknobs, toilet seats, tile, and floor spills with HOCI. I even keep a miniature bottle of it in my purse as hand sanitizer, since prolonged use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer can lead to skin allergies like dermatitis. Hypochlorous acid - a cleaner way to clean!

Sometimes you can’t save a tree. My last house had a pine tree that leaned further over the driveway every year, and with a trunk nearly two feet across, we didn’t want it on the cars! We cut it down and rented a stump grinder to grind it down below the lawn level. But what if you can’t get a grinder to the stump?

Despite YouTube disasters, we CAN pull stumps safely and efficiently,* but it takes leverage - lots of it. Archimedes said, “give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand, and I can move the world.” Pulling stumps is like that—trees are seriously connected to the Earth! 

First, we need an anchor, or “place to stand” that won’t move. Trees are good at not moving (that’s why we have a stump problem). So first we’ll find 2-5 big trees a few feet apart, and not too far from our stump. Drive a stake about halfway between the stump and the trees to mark our anchor point. 

Next, we’ll make a sling of heavy nylon rope to go around each tree to distribute the force. Tie the rope to the stake, and run it straight to the first tree, wrapping tightly around the trunk 2-3 times, then back to the stake. Do the same with the next tree, and so on. (We wind around each tree 2-3 times to keep the rope from peeling the bark off the tree if it slips, but pad them with old towels, too.) Our sling now has two ropes to each tree (6-10 in all), coming together in loops at the stake. Tie the two loose ends of the rope into another loop, even up the loops, and attach a hook or chain so all the ropes pull evenly. We now have our anchor point to “move the earth!”

Now get a rope, cable, or chain cinched nice and tight around the stump. If the stump is tall, attach near the top, to use the trunk as a lever to help break the roots loose. If not, wrap it where you can, or dig it out enough to go under or around it. Cut any roots you can with a chainsaw, ax, or pickaxe. Bolts going into or through a stump may work too, but they’re dicey. 

Now we need pulleys for leverage! Small stumps, or ones with lots of roots cut through, might come out with a “come-along,” a hand winch with a pulley built-in. Bigger stumps need more pulleys—each one doubles the rope, and the force applied. With a “double sheave” (2 pulley wheels) at both stump and anchor, we can stand safely out of danger, apply 100-200 pounds of pull, and deliver thirty-two times more force at the stump (over 3 tons). Pull a little, dig, chop, lather, rinse, repeat—before you know it, your stump is out! 

You can also use a farm jack (5000 lb) to pull them straight out of the ground. Great for 4-6 inches diameter, with some digging and chopping. Just remember the jack is stronger at the bottom than the top, so lower it to get another bite if needed and stop if it starts to flex! 

*Removing stumps yourself can be dangerous. Ridgecrest takes no responsibility for the information in this article.

As a consumer myself, I too want to be able to purchase my dietary supplements from companies I can trust. Because I work on the regulatory side of nutritional supplements, I am privileged to be able to understand how “quality” and “cheap” do not go hand in hand. As with many things in this world, good, effective products just cost more than crappy ones. Focusing on cutting costs will leave you with lower quality products and dissatisfied customers. And each new year poses new challenges to keep prices affordable while meeting FDA and other regulatory requirements.

• In the case of DS, the old saying “you get what you pay for” is in many cases (not all) but in many cases,  true.  
• As a person that relies almost solely on herbs and supplements to care for the health needs of my family, I am just like anyone else in the way that...I like a good deal! I mean, I have a family of 8, come on! But, as a mom, the quality of those products reeeeally matters! And it wasn’t until I worked in the industry that I finally realized what I was paying for when purchasing a supplement, or how to know if the product I was getting was a good one!

So, I have 6 main reasons I want to share with your listeners on why paying a little more for your supplements is reasonable and worth the money!

 Below are six reasons that paying more for your herbal and nutritional supplements is reasonable and worth your money. 

• REGULATION: It is a myth that the dietary supplement industry is “unregulated,” one that I am tired of seeing on social media and TV shows! The dietary supplement industry is heavily regulated, much like the drug industry. In fact, dietary supplement regulations were built by using the same FDA GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) regulations as the Pharmaceutical industry, with slight modifications. The FDA does regular audits and carries authority to shut things down if the company does not comply with the law. The industry is also regulated by the FTC, FSMA, USDA (Federal and State), and more! Meeting all these regulations requires companies to have educated and experienced staff on hand and must do all it takes to follow good manufacturing practices, at any cost! Making sure the products you buy are meeting many, many rules to ensure your safety is a good thing for consumers!
• Before I can share the first reason, I have to debunk a myth that is still out there about ds, on social media, tv shows, articles that you read.  This myth is that “the ds industry is UNREGULATED”! This just simply isnt true! The DS industry is HEAVILY regulated, much like the drug industry with some alterations of course. The FDA regulations for ds were modeled after the drug industry.  The FDA audits ds mfr facilities and manfacturers are expected to meet what is known as Good Manufacturing Practices or else they can shut you down. They are also regulated by a handful of other regulatory industries both state and federal! 
• In order for companies to meet these regulatory standards and for them produce the highest quality and safest product, companies  NEED to have highly educated and experienced staff on hand
• TESTING: The more testing, the more cost, but your product is going to be safer, cleaner, and you can be confident you are getting what the label says. All good companies do testing, including identity testing to make sure the ingredients are what the vendor says they are, heavy metal testing (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, etc.) to ensure all are under allowable daily limits. This can be done on the individual ingredients, finished product, or both. Microbial testing for yeast, mold, and harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, Staph, and Salmonella. Other testing might include pesticides, testing for the presence or percentage of a specific chemical constituent, DNA, and more. 
• The next topic is one we wont get into on a technical level but it is one of the most important parts in asuring the safety and efficacy of your product! That is scientific testing. Good companies put a lot of focus on testing each and every ingredient.
• Tests include identity testing to make sure the ingredients are exactly what they say are and that they have not been adulterated, heavy metal testing (specifically for lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury). Microbial testing for yeast, mold, and harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, Staph, and Salmonella. Other testing might include pesticides, testing for the presence or percentage of a specific chemical constituent and potency of that constituent, DNA, Clinical studies, etc.
• Testing is not cheap! So, you can purchase a product for cheap that may or may not actually be safe or have what it says in it, or you can opt to pay a little more for a product that has been tested and has the documentation to back it. 
•  QUALITY & AVAILABILITY OF INGREDIENTS: Sourcing quality ingredients can be tricky in the global market. The industry has made considerable advances in making sure ingredients are not contaminated and that they are just what they claim, even from global sources requiring international regulation. But it costs for farmers to test components for purity. Because few herbs are grown on an industrial level, they are more susceptible to crop failure, demand fluctuations, natural disasters, etc., so times when demand exceeds supply costs skyrocket. 
• Because of all the advances, the ds industry has made in regulations and testing, it has really cut down on the supply chain in some cases in both good and bad ways.  While sourcing from the US is ideal, it is not always possible.  It used to be that you could order an ingredient from India lets say, but you really had no way of knowing if you were really getting what you purchased! Things were dyed or colored, fillers were added, mix ups were made, etc.  But now that happens much less.  Suppliers cant get away with that any more. 
• But, weeding out the low quality ingredients has reduced suppliers. These are the quality suppliers, but they are also required to meet regulations, provide testing, and their costs have increased as well which raises the costs for manufacturers and then the consumer. 
• Its additionally challenging with fewer quality suppliers if one year crops are down, and then costs for just one ingredient can sky rocket because it is so limited!  
• PRODUCTION COSTS: Research and development, formulation, ingredient sourcing/purchasing, and manufacturing all cost something! Think about large buildings and expensive machinery that require continual sanitation and maintenance, employees for assembly lines, quality control and assurance, laboratories, packaging, distribution, etc. And then there are costs in storage, distribution, sales, marketing, and more. Each minor detail adds up. Any cuts risk product quality and all aspects are essential to getting you good products. 
• A GOOD CAUSE: This reason is my favorite one. I would willingly pay a great deal more for a product knowing that a percentage of the profits are going to support causes and organizations designed to improve the lives of others, support the planet, and make the world a better place. There are so many companies trying to make a difference one sale at a time. Make your purchases count. 
• UNAPPROVED RESELLERS: Most companies have a few approved online vendors. But unapproved online websites selling a product at huge discounts force companies to raise prices to make up for lost sales. Without an authorized, traceable distribution, there is no guarantee these products have been transported or stored correctly to ensure effectiveness, or that the company will give you your money back if your purchase arrives damaged or expired. If an online product is severely discounted, you may be purchasing a compromised product. Trying to hold these companies accountable and cutting off their access can be a costly payroll expense, as well. 
• This will hit home to most ds customers. Ok, you know when you get online and start price shopping and your favorite product is 10.99 on one website and 29.99 on the actual company website? Why the heck is it so much more expensive on the company website? Well, most companies have approved online sellers. And they give those legit companies permission to discount the product a little.  But then there are companies selling products at a much lower discounted rate that does not account for all of the costs we just discussed which in the end forces companies to have to raise prices to make up for that loss and to pay additional employees to try and stay on the tails of these sneaky companies.
• Additionally, keep in mind when you find a product at a super discount there is no guarantee that it has been stored in a way that maintains the quality or effectiveness of the product. They really dont care about the quality or what efforts/costs went into the product to make safe or the well being of the customer, they only care about the buck. 

There are, of course, even more reasons to consider when comparing products and the costs of dietary supplements, but these are the ones that most directly affect you as a consumer. Be aware of the necessary costs and ask yourself, “What kind of product am I willing to pay for?” before making your decision. 

Questions to ask your supplement companies

1. Ask them what kind of testing is done on the product? At a minimum, they should be doing testing for ID on each individual ingredient,  heavy metals and microbial.   A company going above and beyond will often be doing additional testing. They should be transparent and willing to provide you with results when requested. 
2. Ask if they have COAs (certificates of analysis) for finished products and for each ingredient. 
3. Ask them if they are GMP certified or GMP compliant. Not all companies are required to be certified, but all ds companies should be GMP compliant. 
4. Look online, fda.gov for company FDA warning letters. These are made public by the FDA for consumers to see! You can search for any company by name and if they have received a warning letter, it will come up. 

Favorite products

1. ClearLungs is always my favorite product when I am trying to give my body the support it needs to stay well when all kinds of winter gunk is being passed around.
2. PhysiQOL will be one of my most recommended products at the beginning of the year for all of my friends and customers that have NY resolutions of working out as a support for the bodys natural recover process!
3. And Anxiety Free for a very busy and sometimes stressful holiday season!

If you want to be part of saving the planet, you may have heard that the only way to do so is to become vegan, which can be hard. But what if that isn't entirely true? What if making ethical choices in your meat consumption was just as good - if not better? 

It's no surprise that cattle have taken the negative brunt of the eco-friendly and climate change initiatives. It's easy to point a finger to mass meat production and blame them for their contribution to global warming. It's easy to point the finger at ruminants and argue they're destroying the land. Science and research, however, acknowledge a more nuanced story.

There are facts we know: it is true that meat production yields almost 1/5th of global greenhouse gas emissions. Ruminants indeed emit methane. However, it's not true that methane gas' impact on the climate is more devastating than carbon (methane has a 10-year half-life compared to the hundreds of years of carbon, and methane is being produced at about the same rate that it disappears or less than). It's true that the soil used to be 20% carbon. Currently, the soil is at 5% carbon and even down to 1% in many areas, yielding 15-19% more carbon, the more damaging particulate, in the atmosphere. It's true that with imaging and field scientists, we can see that desertification, the process by which fertile land becomes desert, is running rampant in the US and globally. This is rendering land useless for crop production. And this isn't a comprehensive list.

How do ruminants play a role in all this? First, let's define a ruminant: ruminants are mammals with a stomach with four compartments designed to digest tough materials. It includes cattle, sheep, goats, elk, giraffes, antelopes, buffalo, camels, and others (but not pigs and chickens). These animals get their nutritional needs from grasses and leaves, which are inedible to the vast majority of mammals. That's a critical note: ruminants can take otherwise indigestible material and turn it into food, milk products, and meat. When grazing naturally, they also leave behind fertilizer and plant material, which reinvigorates the land by retaining water.

Allan Savory, ecologist and founder of the non-profit Savory Institute, said, “because the fate of water and carbon are tied to soil organic matter, when we damage soils, you give off carbon. Carbon goes back to the atmosphere." Plant litter and ruminant waste provide the soil with the organic matter it needs to sequester carbon and hold onto the water when appropriately managed. Quite literally, ruminants reduce the carbon in the atmosphere by trapping it in the plant litter, only by walking over the land and pooping on it. Or again, as Allan Savory would say, “...large herds dung and urinate all over their own food, and they have to keep moving, and it was that movement that prevented the overgrazing of plants, while the periodic trampling ensured good cover of the soil, as we see where a herd has passed.”

The solution here, then, isn't universally meatless. In fact, we cannot survive without the existence of ruminants. They are integral to our ecosystem's success. The solution is well-managed animal agriculture. We're missing the simple act of movement of ruminants in the ecosystem. Holistic management of ruminant herds is what is changing the impact of carbon on the climate. We often think about the destruction of the rainforest as one of the most critical global factors in these moments. In actuality, our grasslands have a more significant impact on our climate because they make up the majority of the Earth's landscape. This is where desertification is causing the most harm - harm that makes it impossible to grow crops.

Current science is starting to realize the devastating trajectory desertification will have on our existence. Even if we were to remove all fossil fuel pollution, it wouldn't be enough to save the planet. We need vast herds to reinvigorate the land and soils and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Meat production doesn't need to go away entirely to save the planet. It needs to be re-employed in efforts towards holistic agriculture. How do you help? If it is within your means to do so, you buy from farmers who employ these or similar methods. When you buy from a local farmer, you're supporting efforts that improve our climate. You're also benefiting in other ways, especially your health. Shae wrote a great article on this topic, so go check that out. If you're meatless, you can donate to support these initiatives.

If you want to learn more about this topic, go visit the Savory Institute at savory.global. They are investing in actual and real change in the environment by using ruminants to reduce carbon in the atmosphere and restore our soil health. You can also watch Allan Savory's very inspiring TedTalk on YouTube.

Do you ever have a moment at night when you are still conscious, but you can tell sleep is coming? I know I am starting to fall asleep when I have a train of thought that I suddenly can’t remember or realize doesn’t make sense. This is the transitional period between sleep and waking called hypnagogia. 

Whether you desire to ease the transition to sleep, sleep better overall, or improve your lucid dreaming, breathing exercises can increase oxygen, calming your mind. Increased oxygen before bed can slow your heart rate and other bodily functions, preparing your heartrate for the slower pace of slumber. 

One of the most popular breathing techniques is the 4-7-8 breathing method: 

Allow your mind to empty. If a thought enters, don’t be frustrated. Once you notice the thought, just let it go and return to focusing on your breath and the feeling of air coming in and out. Breathing with your abdomen (and not your chest) inhale with your nose to a count of four. Hold your breath and count to seven. Exhale through your mouth, making a soft whooshing sound, and count to eight. Repeat this process at least four more times and see the difference it makes. 

It may come as a surprise to some that I love bugs! I find them absolutely fascinating and if I had known growing up that entomology was a thing, I would have gone into that field. I am always trying to find out more about creepy crawlies and was amazed to learn that some garden critters are more beneficial than harmful! 

One, in particular, is the “Armadillidium Vulgare” or the common pill-bug, potato bug, roly-poly, common pill woodlouse, slater, doodle-bug, or carpenter. They are one of the very first “bugs” I remember being curious about as a child. These little creatures are one of the most extensively investigated terrestrial isopod species according to “The World Catalog of Terrestrial Isopods." 

Roly-polys can be found in moist, dark environments and feed on decaying matter. They are actually crustaceans and are more closely related to crabs & shrimp than insects. They don’t have lungs and they breathe through gills. They carry their young in pouch-like kangaroos and lobsters. They do not urinate and can withstand high amounts of ammonia, it escapes through their exoskeleton. They have blue blood. When threatened they roll up into a ball. They are one of the best protectors of soil! Their guts contain microbes that help them feed on a dead organic matter where they then return the organic matter to the soil so it can be used further by fungi, protozoans, and bacteria. The process then produces a natural supply of nitrates, phosphates, and other vital nutrients beneficial to plants.

One of the most amazing and important things they can do is consume heavy metals found in soil. They are an indicator of soil pollutants such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic. They take in these heavy metals and then crystallize the ions in their guts. The toxins then become spherical deposits. They can survive in some of the most contaminated environments. They help to re-establish and stabilize healthy soil and prevent toxic metal ions from leaching into groundwater. Which can mean protecting well water from becoming contaminated. 

Roly-Polys are an important part of soil health and natural ecosystems. So next time I see them munching on my lettuce, I will just consider it payment for helping out my soil and do my best to remember, “If something is not eating your plants, then your garden is not part of the ecosystem.”

The 37th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 37 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. In the United States, the 37th Parallel is actually the defining border to parts of Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. But what if this latitudinal line means more? 

From Santa Cruz, California, to the Chesapeake Bay, the 37th Parallel has been dubbed the “UFO Highway” and the “Paranormal Highway” of the United States for being littered with histories of cattle mutilations, UFO sightings, reports of underground military bases, and ancient native sacred sites. The phenomena zone stretches about 70 miles either side of the 37th Parallel, roughly the area between the 36th and 38th parallels. Some of the most notable landmarks on or near the 37th parallel include:

- Area 51 in Nevada  

- Mesa Verde, Colorado, one of the largest ancestral Puebloan sites in the U.S.

- Monument Valley and Shiprock, two of the most sacred places in the Navajo Nation 

- Dulce, New Mexico, home to a supposed secret military base

- Los Alamos, New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was developed and tested

- Taos, New Mexico, home of the unexplained “Taos Hum” (see the November Knick Nac in our 2020 issue)

- Fort Knox, Kentucky, which holds roughly 4,580 metric tons of gold bullion, over half of the Treasury's stored gold 

- Hopkinsville and Hellier, Kentucky, known for legends of Goblin encounters

- Norfolk, Virginia, location of the most recently released UFO videos shot by U.S. Navy that the Pentagon acknowledged and confirmed as real footage in 2020

Since the 1960s, there have been over 10,000 reported cases of cattle mutilations in the United States. The epicenter spans across Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma, along the 37th Parallel. Could it be possible that the 37th Parallel correlates with a highway of “hot spots” for paranormal activity?

In one of my favorite films, Joe vs. The Volcano, Meg Ryan explains to Tom Hanks that if she had a boat (she is sailing one at the time, but it isn't hers) she would sail "away from the things of man!" That line always resonated with me, because I love our natural world! 

One of the real joys of getting out in nature is to see the incredible variety of different plants and animals that share our world with us. And while seeing the wild critters themselves is always fun, it often takes a keen eye. So I am always amazed at the traces of them you can find, even after they have crept away, unseen or unnoticed, to other haunts!

Here are some different kinds of animal tracks. How many of them do you recognize? How many of them have you ever seen in the wild? Where do you think would you be most likely to see them? Soft dirt or sand? Fresh snow? Muddy banks? Fresh concrete? (Just kidding!) The answers are printed upside down at the bottom of the page. No cheating now!

If you study these animal markings carefully, you will begin to notice common elements. Things like the length of the foot, the number and arrangement of toes (front and rear may be different), and the nails' length becomes apparent. For example, it's often surprisingly easy to tell the prints of a grizzly from a black bear by the nearly linear arrangement of the toes and the claws' length. Of course, it also helps if you know what kinds of animals are native to your area. It's easy to tell a fox from a coyote paw print, for example, if only one lives in your region. Then again, someone may have taken their dog for a walk. A cigarette butt near a poo pile is a dead giveaway, as are bits of a candy wrapper or a slipper embedded in the pile. Excellent work, Watson! Sherlock Holmes would be proud!

If you see a footprint in the wild that you don't recognize, remember to pull out your phone and take a snapshot to puzzle or amaze your friends later. (Do the same when you see an herb or flower you want to look up later!) This leads us, finally, to a quick hint on track #13: if this is what you see on your phone screen, turn around quick! That bear is behind you!

You may have seen some Little Free Libraries around on the internet or perhaps even in your own neighborhood. What are they, and how do you start one? 

The Little Free neighborhood library movement started in 2009 with Todd Bol. He built a little library to honor his mother. She had recently passed away and was a lifelong book lover and a school teacher. His initial design was a wood structure that looked like a one-room schoolhouse. Bol had a goal to install 2,500 Little Free Libraries around the midwest. As of today, there are more than 100,000 worldwide. 

A Little Free Library can be any shape or size. It is up to your own imagination and creativity. The Little Free Library website has kits and plans you can select from. You can even purchase them pre-made on Etsy. I started a Little Free Library, and it was made and painted for me by my husband and kids from a used kitchen cabinet that they found. 

The intent of a Little Free Library is that any passerby can select a book for free if they leave a book. That way, the library remains fully stocked. However, Little Free Libraries have been made into Little Free pantries or blessing boxes people can help those in need by stocking a box. The whole idea of the Little Free Library system is to provide for the common good and give 24-hour access to books to those that do not have them. One in three kids living in poverty does not have any books of their own. A Little Free Library could change that and allow those kids to feel the joy of reading. 

The person who oversees the Little Free Library is the steward. The steward is responsible for the upkeep and care of the library and the selection within their library. I have decided that in my Little Free Library, we will primarily have children's books. I decided to do that because they are smaller and I can fit more into the library. Because of that, it made the library's location very important that the kids who visit are safe. I didn't want them to stand in the street to access the library or be in danger. Our library is located on a post close to our front door so that anyone can safely access it. Anything negative would be caught by the camera on our doorbell. Little free libraries are generally welcomed by communities. Before installing one, you want to make sure you are following any laws or codes that your city or state may have. 

After you have the basic set up arranged for your Little Free Library, you can register it online. On LittlefreeLibrary.org, you can pay a registration fee to receive an official plaque to adhere to your library and a charter number so you can sign up to be part of the interactive map of libraries they have online. If you want to visit a Little Free Library, you can search the map for those located in your area. 

There are resources for stewards to order books at a deeply discounted rate so that the books in your library will remain fresh and new to those patrons that stop by. 

There are also a lot of resources and ideas on how to publicize your library. There are groups on social media and tons of ideas to promote your library to your neighborhood. As a coincidence, I received my library in early 2020, and I put it out just as the COVID-19 quarantines started. Libraries and schools were closed to the kids in my community. I promoted it on the neighborhood Facebook page and reached out to people for donations of books for kids. It has been fun to see different families come by and exchange out books, and to see how the inventory of the library changes on its own even when I don't see it. It helped give the kids something to do after a long day being stuck in the house to walk over and exchange a book, and I couldn't be happier that we did it. 

Think back over the games you have played in your life - the Rubix cube, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, board games, riddles. These are just a few ways we have found joy and pleasure using our brains to solve puzzles. You get a pleasant feeling trying to riddle them out, and an even better flow of emotions when you get it right. What is happening in your brain when you do this? We don't know everything, but we see this fun strengthens your mind, and we know you can rewire your brain. The most essential benefit (in my opinion) is becoming a better and faster problem solver in your everyday life.

Have you ever seen two people on each side of a couch, moving it into a new apartment? The spatial reasoning that it takes to solve getting the furniture around a bend or through a door can be honed playing brain puzzles! An excellent book to read on this topic is Thinking Physics, by Lewis Epstein and Paul Hewitt. This book has one physics puzzle after another. Do not let the “physics” part scare you. This book is full of things that happen in your world every day. Its the thinking through the “why” of it that is the fun, that makes you feel those good emotions and flexes your brain muscle. So give a physics puzzle a try!

Teeth have always been a sensitive subject for me (pun intended!). I have a confession to make… I have Dentophobia- the fear of dentists. This stems from childhood and while I don’t have terrible teeth I am always looking for the best way to take care of them.  One day, when I was having some tooth pain, Nichole told me about Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Tooth & Gum Powder, and I got really excited. This launched my search for beneficial herbs for teeth. Since then I have found an Ayurvedic Herbal Toothpaste from Auromere and a Holistic Dental Therapeutic Rinse from Dr.H & Co called Heal.

Most of us know about cloves for toothaches, charcoal for whitening, and coconut oil pulling for overall health. But there is a myriad of other herbs that are good for teeth, who knew! 

Here is a list of some herbs that are all helpful for teeth in some way. I encourage you to do your own research on the benefits of each herb, as well as how best to use them. 

Herbal Mouth Rinse or Paste: 

Ingredients:

• Aloe Vera Juice for rinse
• Bentonite Clay for paste
• Distilled Water

Herbs: Include any or all of the following. You can use crushed, powdered, or whole herbs, however, powdered works best. 

• 3 parts White Oak bark
• 3 parts Comfrey root
• 3 parts Peppermint leaves
• 3 parts Horsetail 
• 1 part Prickly Ash Bark
• 1 Part Slippery Elm Bark
• 1 Part Cloves
• 1 part Bayberry
• 1 part Calendula
• 1 part Sage
• 1 part Thyme
• 1 part Plantain Leaf
• 1 part Rosemary 
• 1 part Stevia Leaves
• 3 drops myrrh essential oil (per 8 oz)
• 2 drops tea tree oil (per 8 oz)
• 2 drops peppermint oil (per 8 oz)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (per 8 oz)

Directions:

1. Place herbs and barks (not essential oils) into a pan on the stove. 
2. Pour in enough water to completely cover the herbs. 
3. Brings to a brisk boil, then reduce, let simmer for at least 30 minutes. 
4. Strain liquid through cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer. Add essential oils & salt. 
5. For rinse: combine the liquid with equal parts of aloe vera juice. Use 1-2 tablespoons for each rinse, spit out, do not swallow, and shake before use!
6. For paste: combine the liquid with bentonite clay until it makes the desired consistency, then brush teeth as normal.

Store in a jar with a lid. Use within 7-10 days, longer in the refrigerator. 

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I love soup. It’s one of my favorite dishes, there are so many you can make, different bases, different flavor profiles. Practically good all year round, say maybe for summer and I would probably argue I could find some good ones for summer too!
 

My all-time most treasured is chicken noodle soup. I have made it my mission the last ten years to perfect this recipe best I can. I think I have done a pretty good job and anyone who tastes it, tends to agree.
 

There is just something so satisfying about a warm, savory bowl of chicken noodle soup. Reminiscent of a tender grandmother's embrace. A comforting reminder of childhood. Mmmmm.
 

When I cook, especially the dishes I try to perfect, I am not just looking to satisfy taste buds. I want to create an experience. I want that experience to have feeling, to reach deep down into a primal place and connect one with nourishment. Nourishment not only for the body but for the mind and spirit. I want the delicate smells and bold flavors to permeate and dance with the senses. When a person thinks of chicken noodle soup I want them to think of the time when I fed them, and I want them to crave it. It’s probably the perfectionist in me, but it’s how I show my love.

I am not a person who believes in secret recipes or keeping things to myself. I think the more love and joy and deliciousness that can be spread the better! So I thought I would put together how I make chicken noodle soup that will blow the socks off anyone who tries it. Hopefully! 

You have to start with a good base. I prefer to make mine with homemade bone broth or chicken stock. When I make either, I will freeze it to use for later. But in the, more common than I like, event that I didn’t do that, I will use store-bought. It must be stock or bone broth and I never use low sodium. Chicken broth and broths and stocks with low sodium, lack on flavor, as well as nutrients.

The whole chicken and nothing but the whole chicken. I prefer the whole chicken when it comes to the meat of the soup. This way there is light and dark meat, you get the essential fat and it just tastes better than plain chicken breast. I love roasting chickens and a whole chicken is quite a bit cheaper than chicken pieces. The chicken skin gives it this richness I can’t duplicate without it. I have found the best way to roast a chicken is this: load it up with your preferred spices, put slices of butter under the skins, drizzle with olive oil and for some sweetness just a touch of honey. Preheat your oven to 500*, roast the chicken for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350* and continue roasting until thoroughly cooked. Generally 15 minutes per pound of chicken. Then shred and add to the soup. If you are feeling lazy a store-bought rotisserie chicken will do just fine. Keep in mind the flavor profile you are going for, as some flavor profiles like southwest, may not jive well with your chicken noodle soup. I do put the chicken skin and even some of the bones, like a whole wing or drumstick, into the soup while cooking it and then will fish the unwanted parts out. 

Spice of life. Don’t rely on just the chicken and vegetables to flavor your soup. I generally use the same spices for my soup and only vary if I want to increase the heat level. Fresh herbs are better than dried, but dried will do as well. I typically use a combination of the following: rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic (whole cloves), bay leaves, oregano, lemon, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, seasoning salt, parsley, marjoram. Season to preferred taste.

Eat your veggies! I have tried adding different vegetables and I always come back to the tried and true. Celery, carrots, onions. That’s it. Super simple. If available I use the rainbow baby carrots, they tend to bring a different flavor profile. 

Noodles!  I am super picky about noodles, they can break or make your soup and really do make quite the difference. My first choice is homemade noodles, hands down. But that can be quite intimidating, and unless you know what you are doing can have a high rate of failure. The next best option is frozen egg noodles, I prefer Grandma's Brand. If I have to use a dried noodle I always go for old-fashioned or homestyle wide egg noodles. 

I think these are the key elements to a really good chicken noodle soup. Other than the noodles it's relatively healthy and you could always switch out the noodles for zucchini noodles or gluten-free noodles. 

Do you have your own favorite tips for soup? Did you try the following recipe and want to share your experience? Be sure to email us at info@rcherbals.com! 

Happy souping and enjoy the recipe below: 

Shae’s Perfect Chicken Noodle Soup:

 Ingredients: 

• 1 whole chicken or rotisserie chicken 

• 64 oz or 2-3 boxes of 32 oz. chicken stock (more or less depending on how much broth you want)

• 2 tbsp olive oil or butter

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 bag of baby rainbow carrots or 2-3 large carrots, sliced to desired size

• 2-5 celery stalks, or more depending on how much you want, sliced

• 16 oz egg noodles 

• 1 lemon, if you are roasting your own chicken

  • Herbs:

    • 1-2 sprigs rosemary & thyme

    • 2-3 tbsp parsley, chopped

    • 2-3 tbsp garlic, minced 

    • 1 clove garlic, whole

    • 1-2 whole bay leaves

    • 2 tsp oregano

    • 1tsp garlic powder

    • 1 tsp onion powder

    • 1 tsp ground yellow mustard

    • Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Roast chicken until fully cooked, season with desired herbs. The more seasoned the chicken, the better the soup. Reserve the juices from cooking the chicken and add to soup later. 

Shred chicken and set aside. Heat oil or butter on medium-high heat. Add onion, cook until translucent. Add carrots and celery. Cook over heat about 5-10 minutes until just before they are soft. Add spices and herbs, stir. Add stock, remaining juices from cooking the chicken and chicken. Bring to a boil, add noodles then turn heat down to a simmer. Let simmer until noodles are desired softness.  Garnish with fresh parsley.

As an herbal supplement company, it is our job to stay on top of what is new and hot.  Thousands of medicinal herbs exist in the world, and new ones are popping up all of the time!  Some (other) companies will jump on trends to make a buck, which is okay, as long as specific considerations and criteria are met.  Companies should develop products based on supporting the health and well-being of their customers.  Ingredients should be effective, sustainable, affordable, high quality, and safe.

At RidgeCrest Herbals, we have always prided ourselves on our own innovation and catching the good herbal trends before they become the mainstream fad.  When Coleus was first put into Thyroid Thrive, finding anyone who was growing and selling it was a real problem.  On another project we worked on, we hunted an entire ingredient show floor for Maqui berry with no success.  Despite that, we knew it wouldn’t be long before people were talking about the high ORAC value of this ingredient!  Boswellia has been around for thousands of years but hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves for quite some time.  Long before it began to gain its recent popularity, it was the main ingredient in PhysiQOL because of its powerful historical uses. 

 Trends are a funny thing, they pop up, and suddenly everyone is talking about them.  In the case of herbs, many of these trends are ridiculous and expensive, often these are the ones that come and go quickly (such as green mango).  Others are well desering of all the attention they’ve received.  Due to their effectiveness, they stick around for decades at a time.  Below is a list of the most deserving “trendy” herbs of the past decade and the uses they are most known for:

 1.       Maqui berry:  For those not aware of the term ORAC, or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is a test for showing the level of antioxidants in food.  Maqui berry scores at the very top of this chart as far as antioxidants go.  Antioxidants are known for many health-inducing benefits.

2.       Coleus Forskohlii:  This is a favorite for supporting the thyroid and relating organs (hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands).  It is a very safe herb for overall glandular support.  Because of how well it supports these glands and the chemicals they naturally produce, it grew popular in the weight loss support category.  As we know, weight loss has been a big trend for a long time now, with lots of herbs coming and going, but Coleus Forskohlii can do so much more!

3.       Rhodiola and Ashwagandha: These herbs are considered to be adaptogens.  This term has also become extremely well-known in the past decade.  Adaptogens are the mildest, safest herbs that fight stressors within the body.  They are a favorite for those looking for adrenal support and to combat stress and anxiety.  They do not have one specific action but instead work based on the body’s inherent ability to restore itself, as needed, to good health.

4.       Turmeric:  This brightly colored root has been known forever as a culinary ingredient, specifically in Indian food.  Sourced mainly from India and Asia, it’s reasonably sustainable and easy to grow.  A good source is pesticide-free and helps support farmers, which is a massive benefit with some herbal trends.  Turmeric’s popularity grew based on the ability to help support healthy joints, bones, and muscles, especially in the case of over-exertion or discomfort.

5.       Boswellia:  Historically known as Frankincense, this resin has been documented in ancient and historical texts and was initially known for a massive array of holistic uses.  This decade, it is mostly known as support to the body for maintaining healthy systems free of excess inflammation.  It is best coupled with Myrrh.

6.       Elderberry:  Elderberry this, Elderberry that!  This berry is easily one of the decade’s favorite trends in the immune category!  It is in capsules, tablets, powders, flavors, liquids, gummies, syrups and lozenges!  It’s a very hardy bush that is easy to grow and care for in a variety of growing conditions.  There are lots of recipes online for fresh homemade remedies and many affordable pre-made products on the market, mainly for immune support.  It is also beneficial for nerves and more.

In 1901, sponge divers pulled a lump of metal, encrusted in the remains of a wooden box, from a Roman shipwreck. The mysterious box was 13.4x7.1x3.5 inches (34x18x9 cm) in size. The find was first dated to about 60-70 BC, though some still argue it may be up to 150 years older. A year after the discovery, a Greek archaeologist noticed what appeared to be a bronze gear embedded in some of the crust. He wasn’t taken seriously. Conventional wisdom said that clockwork didn’t exist until after 1300 AD, despite Aristotle describing gears and Archimedes possibly making geared mechanical devices, including an odometer and a “planetaria” over 200 years before.

It took a long time for X-ray and other imaging technology to uncover the inner workings of this box. It became known as the “Antikythera Mechanism” after the Greek island near which it was found. As time went on, the device was found to have at least 30 handmade gears, and maybe several more, some of which corresponded to known motions of the sun, moon, and planets in relation to the stars. Dials with labels and pointers were discovered and decoded, showing that the device was a very complex analog computer that could accurately predict phases of the moon, tides, positions of celestial bodies, solar and lunar eclipses, and other events, well over 400 years into the future. Is this Archimedes’ famous “planetaria?” Or a descendant of that device?

As early as 2700 BC, the Chinese may have had a gear-driven, direction-finding chariot that always pointed in the direction you pointed it at the beginning, no matter how you turned or wandered during your journey. Clearly, the ancients were much more clever than we generally suppose!

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Your inner child is the part of your mind affected during childhood where sensitivity develops faster than cognitive reasoning. The moments that shaped your inner child didn't have to be huge, traumatic events - it's not how bad the experience was but how you handled it in that immature state. In fact, when you look back on it as an adult, you may invalidate it with adult eyes. Yet you may be reacting to situations in negative ways because of what your inner child feels, sitting in your subconscious as a trigger.

To heal your inner child, you must learn to re-parent, working with this inner child with compassionate self-discipline. This means becoming conscious, acknowledging, feeling, and listening to the emotions your inner child feels. This might be very difficult, as pivotal negative experiences may have been blocked out - you don't want to remember. Validate those feelings and identify what happened to that inner child. Allow yourself to truly feel and accept those feelings; by doing this, we can lovingly release them. Identifying the root cause of this emotion can also help you discover other situations affected by the same emotional trigger.

By taking these steps to heal your inner child, you can benefit from self-compassion and love, personal power, and self-confidence. Moving forward, it will help make you a happier and healthier version of yourself with each step.

In 2008, scientists in Israel found a seed of a date palm that was 2,000 years old. When the seed germinated, it became the oldest known seed to grow. What conditions did this require?

Germination of seeds occurs in five stages. They are: Water (Imbibition), Oxygen (respiration), light or darkness, temperature, and development into a seedling.

Imbibition is where a seed starts to absorb water. As the seed begins to absorb the water, it swells and rehydrates the cells of the seed. Then the seed is activated and starts to release energy from its food stores. This swelling results in the seed coat bursting.

The seed needs oxygen to produce energy to break down its food stores. This is called respiration. If a seed is planted too deep, it will not receive enough oxygen to start the germination process.

Some seeds require a certain amount of light to germinate, but some require darkness. It varies widely, so it is best to refer to the specifications on your seed. Most seeds will germinate at room temperature. Higher temperatures increase germination to a point. Once that has been reached, germination rates decline. Once the proper conditions have been met, the seed will start to develop a radicle, which is the plant's first root. Depending on the group of plants, the development will differ between monocots and dicots.

When a monocot seed germinates, it produces a single leaf. It is usually long and narrow. Even when it is quite a round shape, there is only one seed leaf. Monocots tend to have fibrous root structure like grass. When a dicot germinates, it produces two seed leaves. They contain the food for the new plant, so they are usually fatter than the actual leaves. The first true leaves are often a different shape. Dicots tend to have a taproot as part of their root structure, like a dandelion.

Plants require sixteen different elements to be able to thrive and grow, and if it lacks one or more of these nutrients, it may not be able to complete its life cycle. The first of these are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. These promote photosynthesis. Plants receive these elements from air and from water.

Next are the primary macronutrients. They are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. In most commercial fertilizers, they list the ratio of these three elements or the NPK ratio. They are the three numbers listed on the front of the label. They indicate the percentage of each component in the fertilizer - the rest are fillers. So if you know your plants are nitrogen deficient, you are looking for a fertilizer where the first number is the largest.

Uses:

Upset stomachs, digestive discomforts, sore throats, heartburn, etc. Slippery Elm is essentially a thin protective coat that calms irritation and inflammation. It can provide relief for several issues. It is a much gentler solution than activated charcoal.

Ingredients:

Slippery Elm powder (source sustainably by buying farm-grown, not wildcrafted)

Raw honey (local is best)

Notes on ingredients: Because humidity varies based on your location and honey varies in its water content, I cannot provide you exact measurements to make these digestives. It is very much a recipe that you adjust by consistency, like bread.

Tools:

Stainless steel fork

Glass bowl

Pizza cutter (optional)

Wax paper (optional)

Instructions:

Pour raw honey into your bowl FIRST.

Mix in Slippery Elm powder in small quantities until the honey forms a dough-like consistency. Note: don’t add a ton of slippery elm at once, or you’re going to end up in a perpetual cycle of adding more honey and more slippery elm, and so on.

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For Immediate Release:

Contact: Nichole Petersen

Director of Marketing

800-242-4649

Nichole@rcherbals.com

RidgeCrest Herbals’ Thyroid Thrive™ Renamed ThyroNourish™

Highlights

• Thyroid Thrive™ is being renamed ThyroNourish™
• Retailers can continue to sell Thyroid Thrive™ inventory until new product arrives
• ThyroNourish™ will be the first of RidgeCrest Herbals’ products to move to the new bottle art and branding

Salt Lake City, Utah

RidgeCrest Herbals is excited to announce that our popular product Thyroid Thrive™ will now be known as ThyroNourish™. 

“We feel this name change will positively impact customers by creating a clearer understanding of what the product does. Using vitamins and minerals such as iodine from kelp, copper, phosphorous, and herbs like Ashwagandha and Bladderwrack, ThyroNourish™ provides the micronutrients necessary to nourish a properly functioning thyroid gland,” says Nichole, Director of Marketing. 

Current inventory in retail stores will not be affected. RidgeCrest Herbals will be continuing the sale of our current Thyroid Thrive™ inventory with plans to phase into the ThyroNourish™ product by August 13, 2021. “Retailers are free to continue selling Thyroid Thrive™ until they begin receiving the newly branded inventory,” says Chris Herbert, Director of Sales. 

Along with the new name, ThyroNourish™ will be the first product in the RidgeCrest Herbals line to move to the new logo branding and bottle art. Other products will be switched over in the coming months. “The new look and feel of the branding changes will allow customers to better understand the benefits of our products and has a more modern, earthy design that hearkens back to our herbalism roots and eclectic approach to formulation,” says Nichole. 

RidgeCrest Herbals’ ThyroNourish™ has been designed to naturally support thyroid function. Proper thyroid balance is key to good overall health and quality of life because the thyroid helps regulate your metabolism and balance your hormones, so supporting good thyroid health can go far in getting you to where you want to be. Our formula addresses the crucial relationships between organs within the endocrine system, providing nutritional support as well as herbal supplementation to help balance the thyroid, hypothalamus, and pituitary glands. ThyroNourish™ is a rich source of iodine, a necessary building block for certain thyroid hormones. Combine that with other important vitamins, building blocks, and herbs, ThyroNourish™ provides your body the nutritional tools it needs to help you function effectively.

Nestled in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains, Ridgecrest Herbals brings effective, eclectic, innovative botanical blends drawn from ancient global traditions to U.S. consumers. Seller of the #1 selling natural lung product ClearLungs, RidgeCrest Herbals has been helping you “Reach Your Peak” since 1994.   

“Your thoughts are powerful! It is possible to create a happier, more confident self and bring what you desire into your life!”

If you’re like anyone else who has picked up a self-help book, you’ve read similar statements - so have I. For years I heard this, and as much as I wanted to follow through on this advice, I never took that time to invest in myself. But at the start of 2018, I became very ill for close to 4 months.

I had been diagnosed with Clostridium difficile colitis after taking an antibiotic. I was put on a stronger antibiotic once diagnosed, but even after being cleared from the C-diff I was still experiencing stomach problems. I was put on many different medications and put through many tests to find a diagnosis, and they all came back clean. I became depressed, anxious, and struggled with an obsessive-compulsive order, becoming obsessed with germs and re-infection. Not knowing what was wrong or when I would be better was torturous. I had no idea how long this illness could last, and my quality of life was awful.

After so many negative tests, my doctor talked about the possibility of it being psychosomatic. This only increased my anxiety. I couldn’t fathom how my mind could be causing this, or why I would do this to myself. Therapy was suggested about a month and a half into the illness. I went to a Hypnotherapist my mom recommended.

I was familiar with therapy as I had gone years before, but this therapy was different. At each session, I was taught new coping skills, things like how to breathe diaphragmatically and how to stimulate the Vagus nerve to calm down. This was very important since I found myself having anxiety attacks and breakdowns at least once a day. At the end of each session, I was given homework. The first session I was given 2 CD’s to listen to on alternating nights. I did this for two months.

My second appointment I was asked about my fears and desires, and we created personalized affirmations. I would say these affirmations four times out loud - in the morning, afternoon, and evening. I was also writing them. This was done repetitively.

I was fully invested, and once I began doing the work I could feel positive energy around me. I started researching the power of positive thoughts and self-thought, and how they impact the brain. I was learning new things about myself and began feeling less anxious and depressed. I started to feel slight improvements. One powerful affirmation for my situation was: “All of my cells know what to do to heal. Every single one of my cells is filled with wellness, health, and vitality. I am the picture of positive energy and wellbeing. I am healed, healthy, and whole.” I also added visualizations, imagining watching my cells fill with everything they needed.

By doing this, I was affirming that my body was strong and that I was improving, even if only a small amount each day. I was my own cheerleader. These Affirmations were helping me re-wire my brain to think positively. After some time, I was finally in a better place psychologically - though I was still physically sick. It took a bit more time to discover my illness was due to black mold in my apartment. With that knowledge, I moved and never looked back. It still took time to heal, but within a month I was no longer stuck in bed with nausea and shaking. Armed with a more positive attitude and making the physical changes I needed for my health, I was on my way to a more positive existence.

Today I still use my affirmations. I change them up a bit for what I need in my life at various times, discovering new ways to grow. I make it a point to say them at least once every day, holding on to the positive energy it fills me with. I wonder where I would be without that work; I am happier and more confident than I’ve ever been. I took control of my thoughts, emotions, and behavior and it has only made me better. You can too!

When my husband and I moved into our current house six years ago, we underestimated one massive aspect of the property, and the likely reason that the home had been on the market for quite a few months: It had a big, overgrown, 60-year-old yard. Being first-time homebuyers with no gardening experience, we thought, “Hey, no big deal, what's a little yard work, right?" After taking out 2 tons of rocks, jacking out 35 stumps, laying sod, jackhammering out a cracked cement pond, pulling down vines, digging up and rerouting sprinklers, tilling our rootbound soil, and laying over 1000 feet of drip irrigation lines, we were finally ready to grow what we wanted to. It turned out that “a little yard work” was way more work than we ever imagined. We went to bed sore, scraped, and sometimes sunburned. We grunted, grumbled, and cursed while digging, tilling, jackhammering, clipping, and chainsawing.

Why didn't we quit? Because throughout this yard transformation, we were transforming, too. After realizing that something inside me was changing in my outlook toward gardening, I decided to look into whether there was scientific research that would back up what I was experiencing. Turns out, there is plenty! I'll go into a few of the studies, and how their findings align with my own:

Relief of Stress and Anxiety:  A 2017 meta-analysis in Preventive Medicine Reports that looked at 22 different case studies concluded that gardening is positively correlated with a reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms. Taking this yard apart and putting it back together gave me a sense of control over something very chaotic when we moved in. It taught me how to break up a giant project, lay it out in a sequence of what has to happen first, and tackle it piece by piece. A new brain imaging study from Duke University shows that engaging the brain to stay busy with problem-solving appears to be a sufficient buffer against debilitating anxiety. Many adults struggle with generalized anxiety because they lack the experience or practice of complex problem-solving. Gardening has definitely helped me to be a better problem solver.

Exercise: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults get anywhere from 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. Gardening can be a great way of achieving it. According to a Harvard Medical School study, a 125-pound person performing an hour of general gardening activities burns 270 calories. Proper technique is always good to remember - lift with your knees when hauling potting soil bags. Kneeling is better than hunching when planting and weeding and be mindful of drinking plenty of water when working in full sun.

Gaining a Growth Mindset: Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has spent her career researching the distinction between a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset.” A "fixed mindset" assumes that one's character, intelligence, and creative ability are fixed. They can't change in any meaningful way. A “growth mindset” thrives on challenge, and sees failures as a springboard for growth and expanding one's abilities. Gardening is a beautiful way to foster a “growth mindset.” Once I got into the planting phase of my yard, every season yielded triumphs and failures. Some plants thrived, others didn't. Stuff bloomed, other stuff died. One year, a hail storm blew through and destroyed my entire vegetable garden the same week I had planted it. I had planted too early and took the lesson. “S**t happens” sometimes, and you just have to start again. A failure in one part of the garden doesn't mean I quit the whole yard - there's always next season!

Being a Mother: Last year, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. While I was pregnant and working in my yard, I often reflected on the lessons that gardening has taught me over the past years that I want to take with me into raising a child. Preparing the space, giving a plant a good start, daily care and nurturing, protection from harsh storms, keeping the weeds down, pruning back unnecessary things to make room for more blossoms, helping those blossoms to get noticed and pollinated, and honoring and valuing the fruit as it comes in, all done with love and patience. These are things that I learned in the garden. Plants and people grow in their own time, and you can't rush mother nature, but you can certainly give them a great space to grow in, and be a loving gardener.

If you are fortunate enough to have a patch of dirt (no matter the size) that you get to call your own, I encourage you to work that earth. The lessons you learn could be the most organic (pun intended) and worthwhile ones of your life.

When you find yourself cocooned in isolation and you cannot find your way out of darkness...

Remember, this is similar to the place where caterpillars go to grow their wings.

-Necole Stephens

Life is such a fickle, ever-changing, and evolving thing. Just when you think you’ve gotten the hang of it, boom! A pandemic hits sending all of your plans, goals, and dreams to the waste side. Whether it’s a pandemic, a shift in plans, or some other monkey wrench that throws us off the path we were sprinting down, times of darkness are bound to happen. 

Here’s the thing though—they don’t last. Just like when a caterpillar goes into its cocoon and it’s facing darkness for an unknown amount of time only to emerge as a beautiful butterfly, we emerge from our dark times better than ever. But being in the dark times can be hard when you’re knee-deep in it and not sure when it’s going to end. So what do you do in the meantime?

The optimist in me says you focus on growth and the beauty of gaining lessons that are pushing you to be a better person. The realist in me says growth is hard and doesn’t always feel worth it but just like caterpillars and plants when we have times where we feel buried in darkness, beauty is on the other side. 

I remember when I was in one of my darker times. I was going through the divorce of my first marriage. My dad sent me a ticket to come home and spend some time getting my head together. While I was home, I read two books by Iyanla Vanzant. The first one was “Yesterday I Cried”. I remember thinking, “what’s the point in doing all that crying”. And then something in me broke and the waterworks flowed. I cried hard. I mourned the forever I thought I was going to have with my ex. I released the guilt of having to file for divorce. It was truly cleansing. 

But sometimes being motivated to keep moving and emerge from the dark place is hard. 

Here are some ways to help you stay motivated as you push through the hard times:

1. Adopt a mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is when you’re fully aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment. It’s when you’re completely present in the experience. Being mindful during the down times and paying attention to how you feel (are you sad? Mad? Frustrated? Confused? Overwhelmed?) makes it so that you can meet yourself where you are making it so you can really address the emotions you legit have. 
2. Get help if you need it. Sometimes it’s hard to ask for help—I get it. But have at least one safe person that you can send a signal to when you need encouragement, help, a hug, whatever. I think far too often we think we have to be the ones to handle all the things. We don’t. It’s ok to get help with handling all the things—even if the help is just normalizing you. 
3. Have your hormones checked and make sure your body isn’t inflamed. You’d be amazed at the side effects of off hormones and inflammation. One of the things that I’ve found effective in managing my emotions during these times has been the AnxietyFree. The formula is perfect for helping you feel calmer and dare I say happier?
4. List out your controllables. In a world where SO much is out of our control, it’s hard to center yourself when you feel like nothing is within your grip. There are so many things that you DO control so, during these times, it’s more efficient to focus on that. Make a list of things you can do every day. Not a long list though—focus on 3 things daily. Mark them off as you complete them. The act of writing them down and crossing them off is so fulfilling!
5. Know that you aren’t alone. Even the most positive and happy people have dark times too. It’s part of the process. Seeds are planted in the dirt—it’s where they’re rooted before blooming through the surface into the light. We all have these uncomfortable moments of growth that will result in beauty. 

I truly hope that you know that for every ebb, there will be a flow that will lead you to an emergence of another beautiful aspect of you. 

Over half a million people travel each year to see the Peruvian wonder that is Machu Picchu. Far fewer have experienced the mysterious beauty of the Nazca Lines, which locals consider to be just as significant.

Located in the arid, coastal region of southern Peru, the Nazca Lines are a collection of over 1,000 large-scale geoglyph etchings in the ground. When seen from an aerial view, they make up an astounding collection of straight lines stretching for miles, beautiful geometric shapes, human figures, plants, and animals. While some are as small as 16ft long, many are at least the size of a sports field, with the largest stretching to 1,200 feet - about as long as the Empire State Building.

These etchings were created sometime between 200 B.C and 500 A.D by the Nazca. They were virtually unknown to the outside world until a century ago. Researchers believe the Nazca first created the designs on canvas, then used grids made with ropes and stakes to recreate the drawings to scale on the ground while being directed by someone in a high place. The pathway-like lines were created by removing the darker, blackish-red stones that covered the land, thereby exposing the white sandy rock beneath.

Many have believed that the formations refer to astrology or alien life. Recent research concludes that ritual ceremonies to encourage rainfall and fertility were held at some of these sites and that many lines led to natural sources of water used for irrigation.

A simple YouTube search will amaze you, but just like the Grand Canyon, there is nothing quite like being there yourself. Tourists can look from an observation tower, or even better, take an hour-long plane ride overhead.

image pending

You've likely heard about microdosing somewhere. By definition, microdosing is the act of consuming minimal amounts of a psychedelic substance to achieve a benefit while minimizing undesirable side effects. It's a new trend that has emerged from the need for alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs for mental health conditions. For some, it is merely a way to foster more creativity or attain a higher-self. Many individuals have added microdosing to their regular routine (hello, Reddit). They frequently report they are more creative, have more energy, enjoy better focus, and maintain improved relational skills. They also show reduced anxiety, stress, and depression.

With states like Colorado and California decriminalizing the use of these psychedelic substances, we see more and more scientific research. Though most of it currently leaves some efforts to be desired, the potential is clear, and scientists are pushing for further scientific validation. For instance, a study (Beckley Foundation, 2016) done on psychedelics was for those who suffered from treatment-resistant depression (TRD). They discovered that “Psilocybin was well-tolerated and induced rapid and lasting reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms.” Patients in this study reported that they attributed the treatment's effectiveness to “a greater willingness to accept all emotions.” The experience accelerated an emotional “conformation,” a challenging return to old traumas that had led to “emotional breakthrough and resolution.” Another pilot study (Grob, Danforth, & Chopra, 2011) done for anxiety in stage-4 cancer patients yielded the following: “Some of the data revealed a positive trend toward improved mood and anxiety.”

The most recent research from the Netherlands (Prochazkova, 2018) suggests that taking a small dose of the psychedelic substance psilocybin may improve both convergent and divergent thinking in ways that promote cognitive flexibility, creativity, and single-solution problem-solving. As Prochazkova and her co-authors said: “Taken together, our results suggest that consuming a microdose of [psychedelic] truffles allowed participants to create more out-of-the-box alternative solutions for a problem, thus providing preliminary support for the assumption that microdosing improves divergent thinking.”

Other promising research has demonstrated that psilocybin has the potential to help with addiction. In one study (Johnson, Garcia-Romeu, & Griffiths, 2017), over 80% of long-term smokers who took psilocybin for cognitive behavioral therapy quit entirely after six months, outperforming their drug counterparts, which sits at a 35% success rate over the same amount of time. Another proof-of-concept study (Bogenschutz, Forcehimes, & Pommy, 2015) done on alcoholics demonstrated a change in drinking habits and increases in alcohol abstinence. Hallucinogens have even shown benefits for certain types of head discomfort, including extended periods of remission after treatment with the psychedelic substances. (Sewell, Halpern, & Pope Jr, 2006 & Schindler, Gottschalk, & Weil, 2015)

There's also growing evidence that psilocybin and other psychedelics have the potential to rewire the brain. When brain imaging is captured under the influence of a psychedelic, researchers have noted a decreased blood flow to particular areas involved in emotional responses to fear and stress. Contrarily, they also observed increased stability in other brain networks associated with depressive symptoms. Carhart-Harris says, “Based on what we know from various brain imaging studies with psychedelics, as well as taking heed of what people say about their experiences, it may be that psychedelics do indeed ‘reset' the brain networks associated with depression, effectively enabling them to be lifted from the depressed state." (Carhart-Harris, Roseman, & Bolstridge, 2017)

 In terms of what is happening now, there is research underway, funded by the US government, for Phase 2 of a study testing psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). It is slated to be fully completed by December 2020. Perhaps, by the time you read this, the research may be available (see https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03775200). Also, there are lots of great resources out there. I only mentioned a handful of the research available. If you’re curious and want to learn more, the world of information is at your fingers.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. The information in this article is solely the opinion of its author and in no way reflects the official stance of RidgeCrest Herbals regarding microdosing or psychedelics. The information in this article has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.

Soda bread is made using baking soda as a leavening agent. The Native Americans had long used ash as the first form of baking soda. When combined with sour milk (we now use buttermilk), which contains lactic acid, a chemical reaction takes place that causes carbon dioxide to bubble. It was popular in the early years of the settlement of America by the Europeans, (as it was cheaper than regular bread) and didn’t require maintaining a specific temperature for the yeast to rise. It gained popularity when it was included in the 1796 book, American Cookery. Its adoption by the Irish came because it was cheaper than regular bread. Traditional Irish bread was mostly flat because of the poor quality of local wheat that did not rise well. They were also able to cook it on a griddle, since many poor Irish did not have stoves that made this type of bread. This made it a common and popular way to bake bread. The traditional X cut across the top of the bread is said to have been a way to ward off evil spirits. Today Irish Soda Bread is baked in millions of households across the U.S. to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (and to help absorb the alcohol consumed).

Below is a basic recipe. You can find online recipes that include nuts, fruits, and seeds. 

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 ½ cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 ½ tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together until it forms a ball - do not knead, that will make the bread tougher.

Flour hands and workspace.

Knead and shape into a smooth ball.

Dust the ball lightly with flour and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

With kitchen shears or knife, cut an X into the top of the ball.

Bake until golden brown, around 35 min.

Let cool as long as you can control yourself, but while still warm, slice and eat with butter.

You will want to use the bread within a week. It will tend to dry out, so it is best to store the bread in an airtight bag.

You can keep it frozen in a freezer for up to 3 months.

Ask around in your family - many have recipes passed down for generations. It can create an added sense of connection to history and your family tree while you bake delicious bread!

Do you ever find yourself struggling to remember your dreams? Do you not dream at all? Dream journaling can help you remember your dreams, even if you don’t seem to have any. You can use an object, called a “Dream Anchor,” in your bedroom that you concentrate on while waking. This technique is based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Your brain will start associating dreaming with the object, which helps improve recall.

 Dream journaling allows you to have more vivid dreams, meaning you’ll remember the details better each time you write them down. This helps you gain control over your state of mind, making you much more aware of when you’re dreaming vs. when you’re awake.

Dream journaling has many benefits. It improves your memory and overall health, helps reduce nightmares, increases awareness, allows you to explore your subconscious, and improves your creativity. It only takes a few minutes each morning! Just give “expressive writing research” a quick Google, and you’ll be able to see the difference it makes for overall health.

How do you start? Easy peasy. Simply grab a plain old notebook and write it in immediately when you wake up. Keep in mind that this journal is only for dream documentation and shouldn’t be used for anything else. Sometimes starting with just a sentence or two is enough.

Research

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F/core-reader

Even Winnie-the-Pooh knows that the only real reason for being a bee is to make honey! Honey has impressive properties. It tastes better than refined sugar on toast, has a lower glycemic index, and helps the body build allergy resistance to local pollens and hay fever. It can support healthy cholesterol and triglycerides levels. It has antioxidant, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. It promotes the natural recovery of wounds and burns. Last but not least, it is just perfect if you are feeling a little eleven o'clockish, and need a little smackerel of something.

But are you aware of all the other great things bees do? Of course, you know they pollinate flowers—that goes without saying. But they also haul pollen back to the hive, where it is stored and fermented to make “bee bread,” which feeds the colony. Beekeepers can arrange to collect some of that pollen as the bees land, forming crunchy pellets that can be consumed as a dietary supplement, either in powder form or in capsules. Bee pollen is anti-inflammatory, full of antioxidants, great for the immune system and liver, and reduces stress and fatigue.

Beeswax is used by bees to store honey and for brood cells to incubate young bees. Beeswax burns cleaner, brighter, and with a more pleasant fragrance than tallow, so it was a premium candle source throughout history. Today, beeswax is also popular in lip balms, skin creams, polish, and conditioners, to name just a few. Oh, and candle makers still love beeswax as well!

Propolis is a sticky, greenish-brown compound that bees use as a protective coating for their hives. Bees make propolis from the sap of evergreen trees, but like honey and pollen, it has many regional variations. It has been shown to have healthy properties for wounds, inflammation, and cold sores. It is even being studied for other exciting advancements in healthcare!

Royal jelly is a substance created by nurse bees and used to feed young bees and the queen. In fact, queen bee larvae grow up in specialized queen cells filled with royal jelly, which causes them to grow into queens instead of the usual worker bees. It does not seem to have the same effect on people! However, royal jelly does have many nutrients and antioxidants, as well as properties useful for wounds, blood pressure, brain function, aging, immune function, PMS, menopause, and more.

Did you know that bees temperature control their hives? In the winter, they close off extra entrances to make them more defensible and keep down drafts. The bees' motion inside the hive keeps it substantially warmer than the air outside. In the summertime, the sun beating on a beehive can make it too warm inside. So bees will line up at the entrance, beating their wings to force more cooling air into the hive and keep the temperature down. Pretty smart for insects, aren't they? Of course, the colony is run entirely by females, so maybe that explains it.

Even angry bees can help you feel better. Bee venom contains a variety of compounds that have been used in traditional medicine for relieving pain, including arthritis. It sounds strange, but people catch some bees and hold them against their skin on the affected joint, forcing a sting! Compounds in bee venom have recently been shown to have multiple health properties that may aid the immune system.

Remember that old wives’ tale that bees die after they sting you? Well, the old wives were right, they do! Unlike a wasp stinger, a bee stinger is barbed, so it can't easily be pulled out of your skin. In fact, the venom sac usually ruptures the bee's abdomen, killing the bee as it is brushed from the angered victim's skin. So we recommend that you leave those hard-working bees alone, and find other ways to soothe your sore joints. For those who are tempted by bee venom, stinging nettle quickly comes to mind as an alternative!

Finally, we recommend that you do all you can to help our bee friends. After all, they pollinate a third of our food supply, so we should do all we can do to return the favor—that's just good karma! Host a beehive if you can. Make sure there is a water source near the hive—you may not think about bees getting thirsty, but they do! Learn about bumblebees, mason bees, solitary bees, and other pollinators, too. Our European honeybees (Apis mellifera) are not native, after all.

In Western European folklore, particularly Irish folklore, there are legends of babies - and sometimes even adults - stolen off to the Faerie Realm while leaving a faerie in their place. The most common term for these creatures is Changelings. They are also known by other Western European countries as Mamuna, Wechselbald, or Boginki. There were many theories regarding why this would happen. The humans were destined to be servants, as payment for the faeries blood dues with the Devil, crossbreeding, or out of malice. They may be taken because of faeries wanting a strong, healthy baby instead of a sickly one, or for elderly fairies looking for comfort in their last years. Sometimes, the child would be replaced by a block of wood or wax replicating the child, which would appear to grow sick, followed by the child's death.

Changelings were often suspected if a child began to appear weak, feeble, and sickly. Increasing signs included thin, bony limbs, growing uglier in appearance and behavior, and dark eyes wise beyond their years. If a child ate well yet remained malnourished, experienced developmental delays, or had any physical deformities, these were also considered signs of a switch.

One way to surprise a changeling to reveal itself was by tricking it into speech or making it laugh. You could also use herbs, salves, and seeds, leave eggshells by the fireplace, mistreat it, whip it, or put it in the oven. Most parents believed that once the changeling revealed itself, their child would be returned. In contrast, some believed if they were nurtured and loved to become healthy and happy, the faerie parents would desire them again and switch them back.

To protect a child from being switched, you could have the child baptized, keep the fire lit in their room before baptism/christening, tie a red ribbon around the baby's wrist, have it wear a red hat, or placing an iron, a knife, or scissors above the cradle.

RidgeCrest Herbals’ ClearLungs Extra Strength Wins Taste for Life Magazine’s Essential Supplements award

Highlights

• ClearLungs Extra Strength wins Taste For Life Magazine’s Essential Supplements Award
• This is the first award for ClearLungs Extra Strength, but the tenth award for the ClearLungs Family. 
• ClearLungs Extra Strength promotes lung health for year-round support.

Salt Lake City, Utah

ClearLungs Extra Strength is one of the country’s best-selling natural lung health products. The New Hampshire-based Taste For Life Magazine has announced its 2021 Essential Supplements award. RidgeCrest Herbals is thrilled to have ClearLungs Extra Strength win the award for Respiratory Support. This is the first award for ClearLungs Extra Strength, but the tenth award for RidgeCrest Herbal’s ClearLungs family of products.

This award comes at a crucial time when, more than ever, people are looking for natural lung support options.

RidgeCrest Herbals based ClearLungs Extra Strength on a remedy of thirteen ingredients effectively used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for nearly 2,000 years. The ClearLungs Extra Strength product is part of RidgeCrest Herbals’ ClearLungs Family, including ClearLungs Original, ClearLungs Liquid, ClearLungs Immune, and ClearLungs Sport. 

In 2015, then-Marketing Director Will Christesen desired to give something back to RidgeCrest Herbals’ customers to thank them for their loyalty. He conceived of a publication similar to the Almanacs of the past, that would inform and entertain while giving readers a true taste of the personality and people of the company. The first Almanac was published in 2016 and enjoyed a quiet success. Now, five years later, preorders for the 2021 Almanac smashed through all possible expectations. Now the president of the company, Will says,

“We have been blown away by the response of our customers to the Alamanac and are proud to share this part of ourselves with them. This is truly a labor of love from the entire company each year, and it is amazing to hear that it touches people’s lives the way we hoped it would.”

Today, RidgeCrest Herbals is excited to announce that the 2021 Almanac is now available digitally. It contains recipes, planting tips, informative articles, homesteading ideas, and fascinating stories from around the world. Physical copies were in such high demand they are no longer available, but you can read the digital copy here. 

Nestled in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains, Ridgecrest Herbals has been bringing effective, eclectic, innovative botanical blends drawn from ancient traditions around the world. Seller of the #1 selling natural lung product ClearLungs, RidgeCrest Herbals has been helping you “Reach Your Peak” since 1994.   

For more information, email info@rcherbals.com.

How you spend your time shows what you value most. Couples who spend quality alone time with each other weekly report higher levels of happiness, positive communication, and sexual satisfaction. This is at a rate three times greater than those who don’t spend that time together. That is a significant payoff without even having to leave the house, and a powerful preventative to costly counseling, which may become necessary if you don’t date your partner.

Date nights in can be just as meaningful as date nights out, as long as you plan it out, put effort into your appearance, and stay focused on each other. Ideas include playing games and laughing together, taking turns reading an enjoyable book aloud while the other gives a foot massage, having drinks while watching the sunset from the porch, or going for a leisurely stroll while talking about your future dreams.

Plan to go out for a date at least once a month and more often if possible. Every now and then, splurge on something special, especially for your birthdays and anniversaries. No matter what you do, keep a specific night of the week blocked off for date nights and stick to it.  Brainstorm date night ideas together and take turns being the one to plan the date. Don’t be afraid to try new things to show your partner you are willing to do something they enjoy. Every now and then, make the night’s events a total surprise for the other person to keep things exciting. Try ax throwing or a shooting range, a four-course food-truck-hopping date, couple’s yoga, or kayaking. You can even test-drive expensive cars you have no intention of buying or get a tattoo together.

Create a date night playlist of music you both enjoy. Make sure your vehicle is clean and smells nice. Spritz romantic essential oils like sandalwood or ylang-ylang or diffuse these oils in the house. If you or your partner are alloromantic, romance often starts in the mind and needs to be built up in advance. Do an act of kindness for your partner that morning. Write a love note for your partner to find midday or send them a flirty text message while at work to let them know that you are looking forward to your time together. Put extra effort into looking your best, like you did when you were first dating. Take notice of the energy your partner put into their appearance, and be sure to compliment them.

When on your date, avoid talking too much about your children or stressful topics. Use this time to get to know your partner on a deeper level by being a good listener and asking deep questions. Appreciate their positive qualities, and speak words of encouragement. Give them the gift of presence by staying away from your phone and TV. Show affection on your date, and don’t forget to flirt with them like you used to!

“Do what you did in the beginning of your relationship and there won’t be an end.”

-Tony Robbins

Your pineal gland - said to be the third eye - is located in the brain. It produces melatonin, controls circadian rhythms, reproductive hormones, and regulates time.  Its significance can be found in ancient cultures throughout the world. Called the Anja- 6th chakra (located just above the midpoint of the eyebrows) in Ayurvedic culture, in Egypt, the Eye of Horus. Hindu Deities are depicted with a third eye. It is represented as a pinecone (which forms Fibonaccis’ Golden Ratio!) in carvings of Sumerian gods, in ancient Greek mythology, and in Cambodian temples in Angkor Wat.

The Third Eye is the gate that leads to inner realms and higher consciousness. When balanced, it can help you tune into vibrations/energy. It is the center for intuition, foresight, imagination, perception, lucid dreaming, astral projection, and supreme universal connection. Here is where we transcend duality, switching perception from “I” to “we.”

When blocked, you can have a lack of clarity, get feelings of confusion, uncertainty, being spiritually stuck, and not being able to see the bigger picture. Fluoride, artificial hormones, additives, sugar, artificial sweeteners, radiation, and electric and magnetic fields are thought to calcify/block your third eye.

Ways to open/activate your third eye:

Activities: Sungaze (be sure to research the safest way to do this!), meditate (both guided & transcendental), chant, pray, dance, or do yoga. Practice breathwork, gratitude, and trusting your own intuition.

Crystals: amethyst, purple sapphire, violet tourmaline, rhodonite, sodalite, quartz

Essential Oils: Lavender, Sandalwood, Frankincense

Nutrition: raw cacao, goji berries, garlic, lemon, watermelon, banana, honey, coconut oil, hemp seeds, cilantro, parsley, seaweed, chlorella, spirulina, blue-green algae, raw apple cider vinegar, ginseng, vitamin D3, chlorophyll, bentonite clay.

“We have all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo, and the computer's not even on its feet yet."

- Samuel L. Jackson, Jurassic Park

 Every time I hear that line, I relate to it. I have the hobby of Bonsai - a wonderfully peaceful form of art showing the most beautiful characteristics of each tree that mimics the long brutal years a tree would display in its natural setting. All in a pot that you display and meditate over. At the same time, you need to not just keep it alive, you need to give it what it needs to thrive. You become a botanist at the same time.

I have a strange love for Bonsai - I guess it may be strange altogether. To care for a plant that takes up a 2-foot space in your yard, work on it hours upon hours, feeding, transplanting, reducing growth, guiding formation - all this has to happen at the right time. The right time of year, the right time for the formation of leaf, branch, and tree, and even the right time of day. All too often, you try all the things you know while seeking help, yet you can see that the tree is slipping away. It will die, leaving an empty pot and break your heart.

But don't feel bad for me. There are collections around the world on display—trees well over a hundred years old. Treasures to a club or a collection cared for by a well-trained botanist and lifelong bonsai artists. That is pressure. Trees that are not even appraisable. Gifts from other countries to the US and US presidents are on display in DC. When you have lots of time check out some of the collection here: www.bonsai-nbf.org/collection

So why Bonsai?

There's something about the challenge. The structure you learn during the journey gives satisfaction as you work to provide a tree that which it needs to be happy. Doing so brings me happiness. I have a long history of enjoying Bonsai. I learn new things every year. I win some, and I lose some. When I lose, there is usually something big that I have learned in that loss. Here are just some of the things I take away from practicing Bonsai:

The discipline you develop while building a close relationship with a tree: The cycle of caring is constant from watering and moving and feeding. It's like having a clock inside my mind. I am like a child asking to hear a story before bed, signaling the brain for a peaceful sleep. I visit the trees and calm myself from work and the world.

The inspiration in nature: Most people involved in Bonsai find inspiration in nature. Walking a path out in nature, seeing a tree that has found purchase in a small crack between rocks and has weathered the winters, the deer nipping at it, and the wind. It may have used root power to open the crack wider over the years. In that, the inspiration is glorious. It found a way to live and be happy and to show it’s beauty. I want that - I want to have that perseverance.

The inspiration in your Bonsai: I have a vision when I think about the birthplace of Bonsai in China and Japan. I think of a densely populated city in a tiny yard or patio, you may find a well-trained bonsai, the owner pondering and falling into the tree. In his mind, he is an inch tall standing under his inspiration. He is not just looking at his tree, he is with his tree in nature. Standing or sitting on a root coming from the trunk, a soft green patch of moss under his feet. This is a lesson for me. We live in a world of pressures. This example tells me I do not need a massive yard or to be inspired or miss the experience of being deep in nature. It tells me to turn off the world and practice getting lost. To slow and meditate. To care, to look into the balance of the tree. To find what it needs and give back to it. To find answers from those wiser than me. Well, I guess we should do these things with all things we love and want to be better at. I am grateful to my father, who years ago showed me why I would want a little tree in a pot and asked me to help with his art and inspiration.

I hope you enjoy looking at the website in this article. At the time of writing, the collection was closed for Covid-19 safety. Thanks to technology, we can visit, ponder, and read about this fantastic collection's history.

As we all know, this past year has been a tough one. For me it has brought a lot of time process how I got to this point in my life, and to work through some things. With the help of crowd-sourced psychology on social media, I have been able to learn a great deal about myself, my childhood, why I am the way that I am, and what I should do about it. This has led to me making some changes, recognizing situations in my life that don’t work for me, processing how I got to them, and coming to terms with letting them go.

One of the things that I have changed recently had to do with the responsibilities in my life. I had one obligation that was causing me a lot of stress, anxiety, and extra work. It was something I had taken on when I first got married in 2015, and now as a single mom in a pandemic, it would push me over the edge from coping to tears when something came up that I had to deal with. But I had made a commitment to it, and I was sticking with it, despite what it was doing for my mental health.

This obligation was once again frustrating me recently, and I reached out to a good friend in a similar situation and asked her how she coped with it. It turned out that she was much more passionate about it than I was, and ready to take on more. We discussed at length, and in the end, she took over my responsibility for me. 

I felt immense guilt over the idea of giving up. I still feel immense guilt, actually. But looking back at how I ended up in that situation, it wasn’t something I had ever really wanted. It was something my ex-husband, wanted me to do. He could be volatile and abusive, so I went along with a lot of things back then trying to keep him happy without any thought about what I wanted for myself. It was all about keeping him in a good mood. Now, divorced for almost two years, why was I still holding on to a responsibility that was time-consuming, expensive, stressful, and that I hadn’t actually wanted in the first place, especially when there was someone out there whose life could be enriched by taking it on for me? Someone who would do an even better job than I was capable of doing? 

It’s been several weeks now, and while I still feel guilt, my life is so much easier. It’s like a load has been lifted from my shoulders, and I am starting to see things in a new way. I have more time to enjoy my son, and I feel much more in control of my life. 

So the point is, it’s ok to simplify your life. It’s ok to look at what isn’t working for you and make positive changes. Self-analysis is crucial to understanding yourself and how to be happy. So what can you change in your life to make it work for you better?

“The potential of every human brain is unbounded, infinite. Everyone is equipped with the physical machinery in his brain physiology to experience, through Transcendental Meditation, that level of intelligence which is the ocean of all knowledge, the ocean of all energy, intelligence, and bliss."

- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

As I've gotten further into my thirties, my desire for inner peace has become a bigger priority. Between having my first child with scary labor in 2019 and enduring a pandemic six months later, my stress levels went up into uncharted territory. A couple of my friends had mentioned on social media that they had started doing something called Transcendental Meditation to manage their stress. I remember thinking, "That's interesting..." and quickly forgetting about it. However, the topic just kept coming up - whether in magazine articles I found myself reading or on podcasts I followed. Transcendental Meditation was practically forcing its way onto my radar, so I decided it was time to investigate for myself. I began asking the following questions and then finding out the answers:

What is Transcendental Meditation? Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a simple and effortless technique. A person silently repeats a given mantra (a Sanskrit word/sound that contains no meaning to the meditator) while sitting with their eyes closed for twenty minutes, twice a day. Amidst the repetition of the mantra, the mind settles down naturally, transcends beyond a waking, sleeping, or dreaming state, and enters the fourth state of consciousness. It is a state of unbounded awareness.

Where did it come from, and how did it become popular? The practice of TM goes back thousands of years but was brought to the public by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian guru who learned it from his teacher in the Himalayas. He extracted the technique from its Hindu context and began teaching it in India in 1955, then taking it on a world tour and to the US in 1959. Teachers were trained, and learning centers were opened across the country to make it widely available after Maharishi's departure (he passed away in 2008).

Is there any science to back this up? Yes! Because TM is taught through a standardized method with certified teachers, it is easier and more accurate to gather data from TM than other methods. With over 600 studies performed, and over 400 of them published and peer-reviewed in scientific and medical journals, the evidence shows that TM is highly effective. It can make a positive impact on reducing stress and anxiety, boosting energy and creativity, and lowering blood pressure. It's also been shown to help with symptoms of depression, insomnia, addiction, PTSD, and ADHD. One of the most intriguing aspects of TM is what it does to your brainwaves while you are meditating. During ordinary waking consciousness, electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns are generally scattered, disorderly, and rapidly changing. Thoughts are continually coming and going, and each wavelength is different. However, when the brain settles into the TM technique's practice, brainwaves become rhythmic and orderly. They start to line up with one another and move synchronously over large areas in the frontal regions of the brain, extending eventually toward the posterior areas. This is called EEG coherence.

After reading a few books and talking to friends who had taken the course, I contacted a teacher in my area. The entire course is only four visits over four consecutive days. On the first day, you receive your mantra and learn how to meditate one-on-one with your teacher. You then spend the following three days doing group meditation sessions with other students and discussing them. After that, they turn you loose and tell you to meditate for 20 minutes, twice a day. At my first lesson, my teacher performed a lovely little ceremony and then gave me my mantra. As I began to repeat my mantra, I felt like I was peacefully sinking down into a body of water. The lower I got, the more I felt like I was able to look up to the surface, where all of my everyday thoughts were tossing around on the waves. But down below in the depths, it was silent and still. I knew that this was something that not only would I take the time to do every day, but I would ENJOY taking the time to do it. It was refreshing to walk skeptically into that building and walk out, able to access a part of my mind that I had never experienced before. The three other group lessons were really interesting because I got to hear how other people experienced TM. Although everyone transcended during practice, everyones' stories were individual and unique.

I'm over six months into twice-daily practice now, and the differences are already incredible. I feel like my anxiety has disappeared altogether. I have more energy during the day. I'm more patient with the tasks of being a new mom. I feel like I have better problem-solving skills, and I react less to everyday annoyances like bad drivers or long lines. Everything just...flows better. I would recommend Transcendental Meditation to everyone, it has been one of the best discoveries of my life.

One of the most spectacular things to experience at Yosemite is the Firefall. Towards the 2nd week of February, the waterfall at Horsetail Falls glows orange and red as if the water turned to fire. The conditions for this must be absolutely perfect. The winter’s snowpack must have been enough to supply the waterfall, the temperatures in February must be warm enough for the snow to melt, and the sky must be clear at sunset. Then you can view the Firefall for about ten minutes of total wonder.

The phenomenon wasn’t documented until 1973, but it wasn’t the first Firefall that happened at Yosemite. In 1871 before Yosemite was a national park, James McCauley was able to build a hotel at Glacier Point that had beautiful views of Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley. As legend has it, McCauley set up a fire in the evening at the top of Glacier’s Point to cook dinner for his guests, but no one came. Angered, McCauley flew into a fit of rage, kicking the embers over the cliff. This delighted the guests staying in the valley below. By 1917 the park had a nightly ritual. In the summer evenings, the people at the top of the cliff would call down to Camp Curry below, and those below would call up to “let the fire flow!” As the embers cascaded down the cliff, the campers below sang “Indian Love Calls,” then the Rangers would give a program. It was eventually discontinued. The man-made Firefall is no longer taking place. Still, you can stay at the campground below and imagine a pleasant summer evening in the mountains and calling up to the cliff, “let the fire fall!” Better yet, see the real thing in February!

The lotus was considered a sacred flower by ancient Egyptians and was used in burial rituals. This flower blooms in rivers and damp wetlands, but may lie dormant for years during drought, only to flower again with the return of water. Egyptians viewed it as a symbol of resurrection and eternal life. Nature has given plants this incredible restorative state of dormancy.

Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be closely associated with environmental conditions. Dormant seeds are in a state of suspended animation, delaying germination until the conditions are right for survival and growth. For perennial plants, dormancy is triggered when adverse growing conditions are present. It is important to remember that plants are not dead during this time; they are just conserving energy and preparing for the next stage.

Almost all plants go through periods of dormancy, and not all are in the winter. Some plants go through a dormancy period in the heat of the summer to conserve the moisture they need for survival. Grass that is winter-cold hardy often goes dormant in the heat of the summer to preserve moisture. Once the stress has passed, the dormant grass will green up again and come out of the inactive state. When plants go dormant, it is an excellent opportunity to do some late spring pruning before the new growth starts.

Many online nurseries will ship plants in a bare-root or dormant state. When you get a straggly root in the mail, it can seem pretty iffy. But that root has the power it needs to grow into the beautiful plant you want. Just be sure to get it in the ground as soon as possible, so it doesn't emerge from dormancy before it is the right time. 

Some species of seeds can remain dormant for up to 50 years, waiting for the right conditions to present themselves so the plant can be ready to grow. Seed dormancy occurs through a few different methods, some of which happen outside the embryo, others inside it. An example of an external process is a hard seed coat, which stops the seed from absorbing water and sometimes air. The hard seed coat may need to be broken by heat, freezing, or by passing through an animal's acidic guts. Dormancy may also be triggered by factors inside the embryo, especially chemical changes, which need to occur in the seed before it germinates. Some seeds, for example, require a period of light or dark to germinate. 

Gardeners will often carry out processes that imitate these natural ones to break dormancy and get seeds to germinate, for instance, by chilling seeds to imitate cold weather or by applying abrasives to weaken the seed coat. One of the surprising conditions that seeds and plants may need is smoke and fire. We usually think of these as destructive and not necessarily beneficial for life. However, in 2004, researchers in Western Australia conducted a study to discover which chemical in smoke acts as the “phoenix factor” that brings dormant, fire-reliant seeds to life.

The giant Sequoia trees of California have also been studied to find the connection between fire and seed propagation. After a period of extended fire suppression, it was discovered that the sequoia trees were not producing seedlings as expected. They found that Sequoias rely on fire to release the seeds from the cones. It is a fascinating process, allowing the Sequoia to thrive in conditions other trees cannot benefit from in the same way. The fire exposes the bare soil for seedlings to take root, minerals from the ash nourish the earth, and open holes in the forest canopy allow the seedlings to receive the sunlight needed. All while also eliminating the competition from other tree species. It's incredible!

So the next time you see a dormant seed or plant, think of the incredible power it contains and what it can do if provided with proper conditions. 

It’s bigger than an elephant. It’s even bigger than a blue whale. It’s the largest living organism in the world and spans a total of 2,200 acres or about four square miles (yes, you read that right). While it’s biological origins might surprise you, it’s been around between an estimated 1,900 to 8,650 years. It’s known commonly as the “honey mushroom” or Armillaria ostoyae.

Discovered initially in Washington state, the fungus DNA was traced all the way to Malheur National Forest in Oregon. To say this find astonished researchers is a gross understatement. Its size was first recognized while scientists were trying to find the culprit behind the dying conifer trees, which were suffering from severe root rot. This fungus feeds on the roots of these evergreens by drawing their water and carbohydrates, using self-produced digestive enzymes. These thick black tendrils, called rhizomorphs or “shoestrings,” extend out to obtain nutrients over vast distances, which allow it to grow so big and why it is considered pathogenic.

Mushrooms aren’t just the bulbous caps and stems we see reaching up from the ground - that is only a small fraction of their existence. On the surface, you might see two completely different mushrooms distant from each other, but these two mushrooms may belong to the same entity underground. Fungi have an underground communication network that is known as mycelium, usually white (you’ve likely seen this if you’ve ever dug up dirt). These tendrils, which look remarkably similar to our nervous system network, can span miles and are generally an essential factor in the health of a forest.

Currently, scientists are working with this fungus to help prevent further degradation of the forests. Introducing other species of fungi and disease-resistant trees seems to be their method of choice to keep the humongous fungus under better control.

When you've had a hard day and want to unwind, few things feel as good as a nice, warm bath. Ever wondered why a warm bath feels so good? Here are some of the scientifically-proven benefits:

Relief for achy muscles and joints: Because water is buoyant, it reduces gravity's pull on joints. When submerged, the body weighs about 90 percent less, diminishing weight and compression of the joints. Warm water also raises body temperature and increases circulation, which encourages better movement. Heat also gets your blood moving, which can help sore or tight muscles to relax.

A healthy heart: Taking a warm bath can help reduce blood pressure, according to some research. Reduced blood pressure can help in preventing more serious heart conditions. Be sure to consult your doctor if you have a heart condition, because a hot bath will also raise the rate of your heartbeat.

Better sleep: A theory that a colder core body temperature can help to induce sleep is why some scientists recommend sleeping in a cold room. A warm bath before bed can yield similar results. At night, our body temperatures naturally drop, which signals the production of melatonin. Soaking in a warm bath will raise your body temperature, then exiting to a cool room will more rapidly cool it down. This may instigate the production of melatonin and better prepare you for a good night's sleep.

Decreased anxiety and improved mood: Dr. Bruce Becker of Washington State University says that 20 minutes of sitting in a 102°F tub changes the autonomic nervous system similarly to stress and anxiety-reducing activities like exercise. Dr. Becker also says that regular bath or hot tub sessions even have a positive effect on problem-solving.

Burn calories: A Loughborough University study has shown that an hour-long soak in a bath in 100°F water burns the same amount of calories as a 30-minute walk. The study also showed a reduction in blood sugar levels and a reduction in inflammation, both beneficial for long-term sufferers of diseases like type-2 diabetes.

Fungi are masters of emergence. We can learn from them on many levels. 

Most of their lives are spent in a silent yet interconnected experience that is unseen by humans. However, they are constantly emerging in the vast array of ecosystems in which they are immersed. The mushroom mycelium (the root-like structure of the edible and beneficial mushrooms) is the ‘body’ of the mushroom. The mycelium carries out all of the critical activities of life except for reproduction. The mycelium digest, absorb, protect, sense, and expand or grow, allowing them to emerge and interconnect with the ecosystem around them. Their metabolic functions have a critical impact on continued life on the planet. Fungal mycelium decomposes organic matter, sequesters carbon in the soil, liberates minerals from rock into the soil, and shuttles nutrients among the vegetation covering vast amounts of our planet’s surface. Mycelium also has the capacity to impact microorganisms and even macro-organisms providing a balancing influence on the microbiome and the macro-biome. Mycelium is the shepherd of life on Earth.

Beyond the role that mushroom mycelium plays in our ecosystems, mycelium can play in human health and wellness. Mycelium and fermented substrate are emerging as the leading sustainable, beneficial supplements for the whole body. The synergistic support that mushroom mycelium plus fermented substrate have on immune functioning has been part of this emergence. The ongoing research published in peer-reviewed journals has been steadily occurring over the past ten years, growing almost imperceptibly, like mycelium growing unseen by most people. Similarly to mycelium expanding throughout its growth medium, the research has been consistently gaining ground and recognition in the scientific community. Mycelium and the fermented substrate are emerging as a unique, vigorous and complex modulator of the human immune response.* When used together, they synergistically engage immune cells to function more effectively.* Furthermore, they engage our body’s cellular regenerative capabilities.* Finally, they engage the checks and balances of the immune system, maintaining appropriate homeostasis.* Mycelium is emerging as nature’s predominant balancing influence for planetary ecosystems as well as human ecosystems.

Similarly to how mushroom mycelium impacts multiple aspects of our planet’s ecosystem, mycelium can also impact multiple systems of our bodies. The different species of mushroom mycelium are often associated with specific tissues and systems of our bodies. Lion’s Mane is the most notable, with emerging evidence showing support for our neurological tissues.* Chaga’s traditional use and research show evidence of its affinity for supporting the balanced immune response of our barrier tissues like the skin, intestinal tract, and the lungs.* Cordyceps has emerged as the revitalizer of the mushroom species, supporting increased energy, lung functioning, and oxygenation, muscle function, and libido.* Turkey Tail continues to demonstrate support of immune and liver health.* Reishi emerged centuries ago as a gentle, systemic tonifier, supporting cardiovascular health, neurological activity, intestinal integrity, liver detoxification, upper respiratory function, and stamina.* Understanding of the affinities of each mushroom species has grown over time, emerging from the mysterious and moving towards widespread recognition. 

Often when something new or unexpected emerges from the background, the status quo takes a defensive stance. For a host of reasons, some people recoil at the idea of change and protect what they believe to be true. It takes courage to observe objectively. It takes internal strength to release feelings of being threatened by emerging science and information that challenges what we think we know. It requires humility to open our minds to allow new information to bring understanding and wisdom. As the fungal mycelium perseveres as it grows and emerges through the soil, trees, and even stone, we must also persevere in our approach to learning and compassionate action in life. Mushroom mycelium are amazing beings that live a life of balancing the world they live in. They teach by action. We can learn through observation. We can decide to emulate mycelium and emerge from our personal bubbles to grow into beings that bring balance and wellness to all we contact.

 Jerry Angelini, MS, is the Head of Education for Host Defense® Mushrooms™.

 *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “You can achieve anything you set your mind to?”

Manifesting is intentionally creating something you want through attraction, belief, patterns, thoughts, and feelings. Life is an algorithm, like Facebook posts - what you give your attention to, you get back. By knowing this, we can use it as a tool to get what we want in life. And here’s the really juicy part, YOU absolutely can create what you imagine. YOU really are THAT powerful.

I know because I used to think I couldn’t. “That kind of thing only works for special people,” I used to tell myself. Then I started to practice and get better and better, and now my manifesting sometimes works so fast and easily that my jaw drops to the floor, and my head spins in disbelief. I remember driving home, being really frustrated, and discouraged about my job about five years ago. I thought to myself about the kind of job that I wanted. I wanted a job with more pay, a good vacation program, less micromanaging, more freedom, and a laid back, healthy work environment with like-minded people. Somewhere I could use my creative talents in a field I could be passionate in. Not six months later, I landed my job at RidgeCrest Herbals. My biggest manifest to date has been the home I moved into April of 2020. The accuracy of my dream board to my home is astounding.

Here is my no B.S. how-to on manifesting:

Think it through: I am serious when I say this, be careful what you ask for because you might get it. Sometimes we don’t think about what we want until we have it and then change our minds because we didn’t think it through. Make sure that what you are asking for is what you really want.

Check yourself: Become hyper-aware of what the thoughts you have surrounding what you want are. If you constantly tell yourself you don’t deserve something or aren’t worthy, you will stay stuck. Look deep and see where you need to heal. Stop the negative thoughts in their tracks. For example, money is something I have always had an issue with. The narrative has been that I can’t afford things. Now I interrupt those thoughts with “I allow money into and out of my life freely.” Be the gatekeeper of your thoughts.

Be clear: When you are setting your intentions, get very clear and specific about what you want. Don’t get caught up in the how. Think of it like ordering off a menu - you can have anything you want, you just need to order and let your waiter (the universe) serve it to you.

Be flexible: Sometimes, what we think we want isn't going to be exactly perfect, and that's ok. We need to have enough flexibility and gratitude for what we do get, and see the bigger picture. Sometimes what we get is just a stepping stone to what we really want. Not getting emotionally attached is one of the most important parts of manifesting. If we try to hold on too tightly, like sand, it escapes. Be willing to adjust your sights.

Visualize: See what you want. Meditate on it daily. Imagine the fine details - colors, smells, tastes, touch - try to involve your senses as much as possible. Make a dream board to look at every day. Create mantras and affirmations, and window shop for what you want. Drive the car, tour the house, imagine yourself doing the things you want to do. The more your focus is on what you want, the better.

Inspired Action! Dreams and manifesting are about more than believing. Things don't just appear out of thin air; you must take action. You have to work hard for what you want. You don't get something for nothing, what you give you get. If it's that shiny new car you want, start saving. If it's a promotion you are after, do everything you can to invest in yourself along the way. Work on your goals as often as you can, and don't forget about why you want the things you do.

Bonus tip: Be patient, especially if manifesting is new to you. These sorts of things take practice, but you will get the hang of it. One of my favorite things to remember by Rumi is: “What you seek, is seeking you."

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HomeSpun: Tips for Creating a Home Apothecary by Brittini Gehring, MH, Herbal Gaia

Everyone should have the essential tools on hand for the day-to-day needs of your family. Keep in mind that this space should be clean, cool, and absent of consistent sunlight to keep your herbs safe and effective. Here is a list of basics to provide a good starting point and help you grow your home apothecary!

Immune System Support

- Echinacea, Astragalus, Licorice root, Oregano

- Garlic - fresh raw, dried, oil, powdered, etc.

- Colloidal Silver

- Honey (for recipes)

- Occillium by Boiron

- Wellness Formula by Source Naturals 

- Old Indian Syrup for Kids by Planetary Herbals

- RidgeCrest Herbals ClearLungs

Gut Health

- Ginger powder

- Peppermint, spearmint, and/or catnip

- Slippery elm-powder, lozenges and lozenge recipes

(also works for immune)

- Probiotics

- Enzymes 

- Digest Gold by Enzymedica

- Lower Bowel Formula by Dr. Christopher

First Aid/Emergency

- Cayenne Pepper

- Lobelia tincture - (I use alcohol-based because it draws 

  the medicinal properties out better and adds to the

  relaxing effects).

- Topical first aid ointment - i.e. Colloidal Silver or

  Comfrey

Joint Support

- Turmeric, Boswellia

- Glutamine, Glucosamine, Chondroitin

- Arnica Montana (homeopathic)

- Cayenne Heat Ointment or Complete Tissue and Bone

  by Dr. Christopher

- Pain Liniment by Eclectic Botanica

- RidgeCrest Herbals PhysiQOL

Overall Wellness

- Essential oils - food-grade, aromatherapy, or topical

- Adaptogens - Rhodiola, Ashwagandha

- Nervines - Chamomile, Hops, Kava, Valerian (strong)

- Stress Decompress by Host Defense

- RidgeCrest Herbals Anxiety Free

- Flower Essences by Bach

Supplies:

- Tincture bottles with & without droppers. Jars work too.

- Alcohol for herbal preparations

- Vegetable glycerine

- Mortar and pestle and a strong blender

- Cheesecloth

- Fine strainer

- Tea strainers/bags

- Funnels

- Beeswax

- One or two oil bases of choice-almond, jojoba, etc.

- Capsule maker/capsules

Intentions don’t always turn out the way you plan them to. After years of chaos and life changes, as I sat in my living room in December of 2019, recently divorced, I set an intention for 2020. I know, right? As if anyone could possibly imagine what was about to hit. 

See, I wanted a boring year. I wanted a full year without any major changes in my life. I wanted a chance to settle, focus on the day to day routine, keep my head down, do the best I could at my job, and raise my toddler. 

A boring year? For me, yes. I’ve been working from home since March and not leaving the house for anything but groceries and a few camping trips. For society?...not so much. Covid-19, lockdowns, the economy disrupted, civil unrest, wildfires, a vicious political election, and, for Utah, a major earthquake and an incredibly destructive windstorm. 

However you planned your year to look, it’s likely it didn’t turn out that way. This year has hit some harder than others, and here’s what I would like you to think about as we say goodbye:

You made it through. You are still here. Maybe you know people that didn’t, maybe you are worse off than you were last year. But you did make it. I hope it has made you more compassionate about the pain of others. I hope it has helped you recognize your own strength. I hope you have found ways to help and support others and accept and support yourself better. I hope you have learned more about yourself. I hope that you have been kind to yourself. 

BUT: Even if you don’t feel like you grew this year - even if all you could do was move from the bed to the couch some days, and you don’t feel like you can handle looking on the bright side or finding meaning in your life. YOU MADE IT ANYWAY. That’s incredible and deserves to be celebrated. 

So even if you aren’t in the best place right now, I want you to know that’s ok. You don’t have to deal with hard things perfectly. You don’t have to be an inspirational story. You just have to make it through. 

And you know what? 

You did. 

Sleep is inarguably one of the most significant factors determining our health and well-being. Yet according to most statistics, roughly 50% of Americans don’t get the recommended 7-8 hours of nightly sleep they need. 

The effects of sleep deprivation go far beyond just feeling tired the next day. Lack of sleep negatively affects one’s hormones, weight, digestion, mental health, and immune system, causing a host of problems for the body. 

When you don’t get enough sleep, your immune system becomes compromised, and you are more susceptible to illness. In turn, this hinders your energy, work, and social plans. 

Inadequate sleep also causes us to hold onto and gain fat by suppressing the appetite-regulating and calorie-burning hormone Leptin.  If that weren’t bad enough, lack of sleep increases levels of Ghrelin. This hormone tells your brain when you need to eat, when to stop burning calories and when to store energy as fat. Just one night of poor sleep quality causes Ghrelin to increase by 15%, which in turn makes us consume an additional 200-250 calories more per day.

Sleep deprivation has been found to increase levels of stress hormones and resistance to insulin  Both contribute to weight gain, often leading to other health concerns.

As Matt discusses in his article on the subject, your circadian rhythm is the body’s 24-hour internal clock that is running in the background of your brain and cycles between sleepiness and alertness at regular intervals. This master clock is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN is a pair of cell populations packed with genes acting as the CEO, instructing the body to stay on schedule while taking cues from your environment.

The sleep-wake cycle is a pattern we all subconsciously follow. It helps govern brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration, when to sleep, eat and be active, metabolism, immunity, cognition, and other biological activities. The rising and setting of the sun is still the primary influence of our circadian rhythm. To keep our bodies healthy, we need to live in sync with this rhythm and encourage the healing effects of sleep. 

Blue light exposure from electronic screens like cell phones, tablets, and computers affects the sleep cycle by tricking the brain into thinking it’s daylight outside when used at night. In turn, this suppresses delta brainwaves, which normally induce sleep and the body’s natural induction of melatonin. If that wasn’t bad enough, blue light exposure boosts alpha brainwaves, which increase alertness, so that you think you aren’t tired and stay awake even more. Some people label themselves ‘night owls,’ but no one was designed to be nocturnal. Staying up at night will throw off the body’s cortisol schedule too, causing the adrenals to release cortisol at an unnatural time, increasing your stress and energy. Most surges of creativity, energy, and alertness are all hormone-induced feelings that are the side effects of staying up late and not getting enough rest.

Over time, the effects are tremendous for a population that already struggles with obesity, depression, anxiety, and diseases related to obesity and stress.

Many are on a continual roller coaster ride, not feeling energetic enough to exercise, eating more calories, not feeling sleepy at night, sleeping poorly, waking up unmotivated to workout. So the cycle continues.

If we get enough sleep every day, we can experience a multitude of positive effects. Benefits like better decision making and reasoning, more accurate problem solving, quicker reaction times, more positive attitudes, and increased alertness. Adequate sleep helps us handle stress, maintain a healthy weight, process and retain information, and generally makes us feel more peaceful and happy. 

With all these excellent benefits and negative consequences for poor sleep, most still don’t make sleep a high priority. It might help to start thinking of quality, adequate sleep as a vital medicine or daily supplement. The saying is true; Reasons reap results. You have to associate the reason to get more sleep as highly beneficial and DO IT (the most important thing) to secure the results. Develop a daily routine that honors healthy sleep because a great day starts the night before. 

Tips for good sleep: 

-Build a routine around your bedtime and stick with it. Set one alarm that alerts you to put electronics away and start getting ready for bed with adequate time for your nightly routine. Set another alarm to remind you to get in bed (without your phone!) at least 30 minutes before you want to be asleep.

-Keep your electronics charging far from your bed to remove the temptation to reach for it. 

-Make your room a sleep sanctuary; keep it tidy and beautiful and used primarily for rest. Make it dark and cool at night (62-70°)

-Use a white noise machine or fan to help drown out the other noises or if you’re uncomfortable with complete silence. 

-Don’t skimp when it comes to purchasing a mattress, pillows, and bedding. After all, you spend 1/3 of your life sleeping. 

-Reduce your caffeine intake during the day and especially in the afternoon.

-Exercise in the morning versus the evening as it might keep you awake

 Compound butter is butter infused with herbs, spices or other supplementary ingredients used to enhance flavor in various dishes or sauces. 

I was first introduced to compound butter when seeing a Youtube video where compound butter was made as a topping, placed over sous vide prepared steaks. Some of the compound butter from that video was a bit extreme though, such as blending whole fast-food chain cheeseburgers with butter. While the vloggers were all about that, I decided to start with more traditional ingredients. 

 I had been cooking sous vide steaks as well as smoking meats quite often, so it made sense to try out some compound butter myself. I also make various curries from time to time, so for my first compound butter, I decided to create one which was curry inspired. I left the butter out until it reached room temperature, then in a large bowl, I mixed it with equal amounts of turmeric, cumin, ginger, coriander, garlic powder, paprika, and freshly chopped cilantro. I then formed the compounded butter into three separate logs which I wrapped in parchment paper and refrigerated for later use. 

 I made three different dishes with this first batch of compound butter. First was a chicken curry I made with the compound butter as a base. I heated the compound butter in a large skillet. I then added red, green, and yellow peppers and red onions. I cooked them until caramelized, then I added cubed chicken, chicken broth, heavy cream, and Julienned parsnips.  I severed the curry over rice, and it turned out really good! The second log of compound butter was melted over grilled vegetables as a side dish to a roast I was smoking. Again, this was an excellent use for the compound butter. With the third log, I slow-baked some chicken. I first covered it in the oven at 225 degrees. Once the chicken reached 160 degrees, I pulled it out, uncovered it, and set in the oven to broil. I broiled the chicken for another ten minutes, covered it in the compound butter, let it rest, and served. 

 My second batch of compound butter was comprised of just four ingredients: butter, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. I used this compound butter to put over a roast I had smoked and over grilled steaks. I brought my roast and steaks to an internal temperature of 130 degrees. I then placed the meat on a wire rack, put a slice of the compound butter on top, and then let the meat rest.  

Other common blends include:

• Lemon, parsley, salt, and pepper
• Avocado, garlic, and cilantro
• Rosemary, paprika, and salt
• Blue cheese, soy sauce, dijon, and garlic
• Strawberry, honey, and vanilla extract
• Lemon zest, lemon juice, and thyme

The combinations are limitless!

    Making compound butter is a great way to prepare for any future meal, whether it's to enhance the flavor of a perfectly cooked steak, to create a tasty sauce, spread over bread, perhaps for baking, or to create a dessert. The possibilities are endless. I look forward to trying other combinations, and hopefully, you will too.  

It’s becoming more and more commonplace to use dairy milk alternatives, and the traditional dairy industry is quickly losing ground. New legislation has affected many of the alternative milk producers as the food industry claims that alternatives like almond milk aren’t “milk” because they don’t come from a mammary gland (remember, “an almond doesn't lactate!”). 

But why is the alternative milk scene gaining ground in the first place? If you look online, you’ll find very conflicting information. Wading through the mixed bag of dairy-funded research versus third-party research, you will see everything from, “milk is a superfood!” to “milk will kill you!” But on the ground, the answer is relatively simple: people feel better when they don’t drink pasteurized cow's milk. Their health improves, their children's allergies are reduced, they have better bowel function, skin conditions improve, etc. 

For years the dairy industry has pushed their “It Does a Body Good” and “Got Milk” slogans at us, claiming that the calcium milk provides is good for our bone health. But the actual research is inconclusive. Meanwhile, lactose intolerance is rising and evidence suggests that pasteurized dairy can be a major inflammatory for the gut. 

If you have ever considered switching to a dairy alternative, the options can be daunting. Almond, hemp, coconut, soy, the list goes on and on, and who knows when you are looking at that $3.00 carton if you will be able to stand even a swallow? So I set out to create a chart that lays out not only the flavors and textures but also the nutrients and everything else that might affect your decision. 

You decide for yourself which is best for you, even if cow’s milk is still your personal favorite. 

Side note: saturated fat has a bad rep, but contrary to popular belief, it is essential for a healthy diet. That’s another discussion for another day. 

ALL MEASUREMENTS ARE PER 1 C or 8 OZ or about 237 mL