Directions from Arts Center to Medaille Formal Lounge

When entering in through the Arts Center main entrance, take the first flight of stairs you see.
From there, walk forward until you reach the Art Gallery sign and take a left.
Keep walking forward until the end of the corridor, then turn left and go down the corridor and leave through the door that leads outside.
Proceed forward until there is a split in the sidewalks, take a left (the middle path) not the sharp right and you should see a line of large buildings. These are the residence halls.
The first building that is closest to you should have a sign in the front indicating it is Medaille.
Go in the first entrance of Medaille and go up to the first floor.
Go through the doors and the Medaille formal lounge should be on your left.
The doors should be open during event time.
   

Community Read

Nazareth College will be presenting a community read revolving around the book To Become a Human Being.

Place: Medaille Formal Lounge on the Nazareth College Campus at
4245 East Ave  Rochester, NY 14618
Parking: Arts Center Parking Lot
Date: March 21, 2012
Time:7:00 to 8:30PM
What: We will be split up into small discussion groups of 8 and there will be refreshments as well. The directions from Arts Center to Medaille will be up soon and there will also be students that can help guide people to Medaille should they become lost.

We hope to see you there for the discussion of this great book!

Signs of Spring!

While some look for signs of spring in the plant world such as pussy willows and skunk cabbage blooms, others look to our feathered friends to harken the season.

Many look for the American Robin to return, but I find them to be poor weathermen. Too often I have seen them shivering in snowstorms! There are, however, birds that are much better predictors of the coming season. I personally I have seen Turkey Vultures in the past two weeks. They are migratory birds who return to this area each spring with much better accuracy than the robin.

Another sure harbinger of the impending spring is the Redwing Blackbird. The following picture was  submitted to us. It is of the first person to spot a redwing blackbird at Ganondagan. Very nice!!

If you have seen any signs of spring at Ganondagan that you wish to share, please send your photos to us at friends@frontiernet.net!

-kim

Redwing Blackbird spotted at Ganondagan

Botanical Medicine Certificate Program

Native Medicinal - Trillium grandiflorum

Our good friend, Dr. Les Moore, is offering another series of his Botanical Medicine Certificate Program courses. These classes are excellent if you wish to learn more about medicinal applications of plants. Some of the plants covered are native, wild medicine plants while others are from other places and traditions. 

 Please contact Classical Formulas for details and registration. See their website for more details.

-kim
-----------------

Botanical Medicine Certificate Program - Medical Herbalism Part III

April 26, 2012 through May 24, 2012

(Previous students: NOTICE A START DATE CHANGE!)

Native medicinal - blackberry (Rubus sp.)

The Medical Herbalism classes is a three part series in the Botanical Medicine  Certificate program offered by Dr. Moore, ND, LAc.  These classes are offered at Clifton Springs Hospital through the Integrative Medicine department, The Botanical Medicine Institute, and Classical Formulas. Each series of classes have a similar format however, they will contain different and new information with shared teaching from Dr. Moore, Master Herbalists, and/or guest speakers. These classes are appropriate for health care providers, herbalists, and anyone interested in Herbal medicine.

Dr. Moore has an extensive background and education in the field of botany and Herbalism, both eastern and western.  Dr. Moore received a Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine and a Master of Science in Oriental Medicine from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine.

You may register for the whole series, or at the beginning of each class. If you choose to register per class, please give us advance notice so that we have enough materials made for you. Students may begin ANY series at ANY time with no prerequisite of a previous series - each series is an independent module.  Students completing all three of the series (Parts I, II & III) will receive a certificate upon attendance verification and program completion.  Class size is limited.

Chamomile blooms (Matricaria chamomilla)

COST: $120 for the series or $25 per class.

Contact: Classical Formulas for registration at 315-462-0190 by Friday, April 20, 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: All classes are held on Thursdays at Clifton Springs Hospital from 6:30-8:30 pm with the exception of the herb walk on Saturday May 5, 2012, which we be held at the Ontario Pathways Trail, Phelps, NY at 9:00am.

Keep watch for information about the Homeopathy program and a date for the Homeopathy program information session....

Medical Herbalism Part III - Course Descriptions

Yellow Dock Root (Rumex crispus)

Class 1 - Botanical Medicine/Single Herbs - April 26, 2012 
Learn about herbs to soothe gastrointestinal tract, nervous system, digestion, allergies and detoxification.

Class 2 - Herb Pairs/Drug Interaction and Adjunctive Cancer Therapy - May 3, 2012
This class will focus on paired herbs that are therapeutic for specific conditions. Information on interactions that can occur between medicines and herbs will also be discussed as well as herbal dosages for children.

Class 3 - Plant Identification/Herb Walk - May 5, 2012
This class will be a 3 hour walk to identify plants in the surroundings area. You will learn about their habitat, history and uses.  This class will meet at the Ontario County Pathways trail, Route 96, Phelps, NY.  Bring water and snack, dress for the weather and wear appropriate footwear.

Class 4 -  Herbal Therapeutics - May 10, 2012

Native Medicinal - Joe Pye Weed 

This class will focus on spring detoxification, diseases of toxicity, and Pancha Karma. Pancha Karma is detoxification and bio-purification from traditional Indian Medicine.

Class 5 - Herbal Medicine Making - May 17, 2012
Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.  Healthy eating, herbal teas as well as discussing wild crafting and tips on drying and storing herbs.

Class 6 -  Herbal Formulas and Modifications - May 24, 2012
Herbs used in herbal formulas can act synergistically and can be tailored for each unique individual, even as a person or environment changes. This class will consider how formulas can be used and altered to address specific changes.

Beautiful Blooms

An orchid at the Sonnenberg Orchid Show

Our friends at Sonnenberg are holding their annual orchid show this weekend. It starts today and goes through sunday. (Please see their website for times and details.) I visited their orchid show today - as I do every year. It's a treat for the eyes and soul to see the colorful and gay blooms when grey skies and the sleeping brown Earth is all we generally see at this time of the year.

While the orchids at the show mostly hail from various tropical locations, the orchid family is a very wide-ranging group and can be found on every continent save Antarctica. What may be surprising to most people reading this, is that orchids comprise the second largest plant family after asters with over 20,000 different species.

Did you also know there are wild orchids growing right here in NY State? Around 60 species of orchid are native to New York, though a third of them are rare to see since they are considered endangered or threatened. Unfortunately the orchids here are like many plants - they struggle to survive in their native ranges. Recently I ran across the following piece of information:

"At least one of every eight plant species in the world - and nearly one of three in the United States - is under threat of extinction, according to the first comprehensive worldwide assessment of plant endangerment." --- ”Plant Survey Reveals Many Species Threatened With Extinction,” NY Times, April 19, 1998

The native grass pink orchid (Zurich Bog)

One person who I shared the information with told me it was depressing. Depressing to be sure. But the truth none-the-less and not a truth we can hide from. We all have a hand in either being part of the problem or part of the solution. Please do whatever you can to preserve our natural, green spaces. Loss of habitat is one of the biggest causes of these extinctions. I know you, like myself, want the next seven generations to see not only orchids but all other plants and animals living and thriving rather than only being a picture in a dusty book!

I urge you to visit Sonnenberg this weekend. Celebrate the beauty and diversity of one of Mother Earth's gifts, the orchid. I hope the blooms lift your grey winter spirits as much as it did mine!!

-kim


More information on NY State Orchids:
"Orchids of New York" By Chuck Sheviak and Steve Young

"Native New York Orchids" (YouTube)

New York Flora Atlas - Orchids

Seeing the Possibilities

Recycle Craft - Candy Wrapper Flowers

Regardless of ancestry, our forebears were not wasteful people. Though necessity, they saw endless possibilities in the cast-off waste items, such as corn husks, wheat stalks, or deer hooves.

The Seneca used the inedible dry corn husks to create dolls, mats, containers, and more. The Europeans used wheat and oat straw for similar purposes. Go the world over and you will find countless other such examples of this inventive re-purposing.

And in looking around the world, you will also find that many of these examples of re-purposing have grown not only into cherished traditional crafts and arts, they have become elements of the culture that created them. Many have created dolls from dried plant materials to be sure, but what is more Haudenosaunee than a faceless cornhusk doll? 

Whether it was generations of farming traditions or grandparents living through hard times like the Depression and post-WWI Germany, the "do-it-yourself" and "waste-nothing" attitudes were deeply ingrained in me while growing up. Being wasteful was just behind poor hospitality and dishonesty as sins in my house. Saving things that could some day be used was expected.

Many people in both my extended and immediate family have artistic and musical talents - with many varied paths of expression though. I'm no exception to my family and have my own talents. While I certainly can draw and paint, it is not my forte or my greatest love. But crafts - and I have tried many, are. I have tried so many different arts that I usually tell people that blowing glass and casting metal are two of the only ones I haven't tried.

I started my own journey as a craftsman and artisan at 8 years old. In those days, I had no money and no access to craft stores even if I did. So in a day when no one recycled, I did. I saw the possibilities in items destined for the garbage can. I saved them and literally had boxes of those "recycled" supplies.

Now many decades later with access to craft stores and the money for supplies, I still see with those same eyes. I can still see the possibilities lying below the surface of what others would call trash. Perhaps you can too. Here are the instructions for creating a whole bouquet of candy wrapper flowers that I came up with on Valentine's Day a few years ago. I hope you enjoy this and start your own eyes looking for those possibilities!

-kim

Creator’s Garden Medicine Plants: Da'ja's

Creator's Garden in Winter

If you've visited the Ganondagan State Historic Site, you have most likely have seen or taken a tour of the Bark Longhouse. What you may not have realized is that the garden beds arranged in a circle next to the Longhouse are a themed garden. This garden is called the Creator's Garden. It is a medicine wheel garden and it features plants that have traditionally been used by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people in healing.

Many of the plants in the garden are labeled so visitors may tour the garden on their own. The labels include the English, Seneca, and botanical name for the plants. (Note: the signage is usually stored for the winter.)

One of the plants you will find in the Creator's Garden is a matched pair (male and female) of the native shrub, the spicebush.  


Da’ ja’s (Spicebush, Lindera benzoin)
Da’ja’s (Seneca name) or spicebush is a medium-sized shrub (16’) that is often found in the shady, forest understory. Its foliage is aromatic with a unique scent that is somewhat like a cross between lemons and sassafras. The spicebush is dioecious (individual plants are either male or female) and so a pair of these plants is necessary to produce berries with a viable seed.

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

The berries turn scarlet in autumn and have been used as an allspice substitute. The leaves, twigs, and bark can be steeped to make a pleasant tea. Besides uses for tea and seasoning, this plant has also been used medicinally. The Haudenosaunee traditionally used this plant in remedies for colds, venereal disease, fevers, and measles [1].

The spicebush is the favorite host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) and the Promethea Silkmoth (Callosamia promethea).

The spicebush, native to North America, makes a wonderful specimen plant to add to your own landscaping. While it is typically an understory plant growing in full-shade, it grows quite nicely in the full-sun - as it does in the Creator's Garden. This hardy and pest-free plant requires no pruning or maintenance of any kind once established. Add multiple plants (at least 1 male and 1 female plant) if you are interested in having berries on the female plant.  It is a wonderful alternative to exotic, hard-to-keep, and/or invasive ornamental shrubs.

1. Iroquois Medical Botany by James W. Herrick


-kim