Musical Herbal Hexagrams

On Herb Digest recently I've been seeing posts about the connection between herbs and musical notes. Which caught my attention so I've started reading about that a bit. They are connected by being on a similar vibe or wavelength. Like people connect more strongly with some plants or music over others if they just pay attention.

Yet when I read articles like this one that breakdown the specific relationships so precisely I wonder how arbitrary those details are. According to this writer the musical note Te corrosponds with moon energy, and these plants: Cucumber, Rapeseed, Turnip, Melons, lettuce, linseed. I don't know? I imagine the author is describing the types of connections she has personally felt, but doubt there is universal application.

Moral of the story is I have to pay closer attention to the relationship between music and plants. Such as in the studies desribed in the Secret Life of Plants. Not that I'm about to embarck on extensive studies or anything. Maybe I will have to make room for this kind of information in my dream life.

I like this website that talks about a connection between herbs, music and hexagrams: http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?t=4371

So I think about dandelion, my "gateway herb". The hexagram works from the base up.   
Yin (What kind of plant, root) *Except dandelion is the whole plant, flower, root, leaf, etc.
Changing Yin (What part of plant, root)
Changing Yang (When to harvest, autumn)
Yang (What it affects, solid organs)
Yin (What it produces, devoids)
Yang (What it tastes, bitter)

 

In the I Ching, this is the 56th hexagram, Sojourning/Quest, Lu (LÜ), "The Stranger", which connotes exile. Read some of that interpretation here.

 

According to the writer on onlineclarity, the musical corrospondences to dandelion would be:



Yin (percussion, deep and spaced)
Changing Yin (stepping up halftone)
Yang (Non reverberant)
Yang (Higher octaves or female voice)
Yin (Silence)
Yang (Single voice or choir)

What kind of music is this? It's all over my head. I need someone who knows music to help me. I'm quite entertained.

Fertilizer Fun

I picked up some Marine Cuisine from Swansons during one of their sales for 75% off. Not bad! So now I am preparing to place an application on our mildew-infested garden.

This product is made by FoxFarm and is "guaranteed" organic. It's contents are "derived from" Cottonseed Meal, Blood Meal, Earthworm Castings, Fish Meal, Shrimp Meal, Crab Meal, Bat Guano, Seabird Guano, Kelp Meal, Urea, Ammonium Sulfate, Triple Superphosphate, Potassium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Sucrate, and Manganese Sucrate. Some of that sounds pretty fun but those long chemical names are intimidating. The product's note of caution states, "Please keep out of reach of children and pets. Contains manure and other by-products that could make pets sick. After using this product, always wash hands and exposed skin with soap and water." Oh. Should I really be using this stuff?

First I must arm myself with more information, besides just the back of the package. Although I appreciate it directs me to do more research at Association of American Plant Food Control Officials, since I've never checked out that website before. Extremelygreen.com provides a "Fertilizer Guide" I now find myself relying on. And then there's simple google searches. I am learning that many of those listed chemicals are various types of inorganic salts. It's strange to consider applying salt to the garden. But the bigger issue is that if I apply this stuff I won't be able to say I'm growing an organic garden.

But look at that packaging! It looks so harmless! Look at those creature's faces!

Beans, Peas, Seed Conference

My roommate printed out this zine created by the Seed Ambassadors Project all about seed saving. There is a cool organization in Port Townsend dedicated to saving heirloom seeds called Seed Dreams that I mentioned in a previous post. All of this, and it's September so I've got my mind wrapped up in saving seeds. I'll be saving some runner beans and peas from the yard. Honestly I don't really enjoy eating them and just prefer to watch them vine up their tendrils. So I'd rather save them then eat them.

 

The peas which were planted before I moved in are perfectly dried out on the vine. I will cut them at the soil level and leave the roots in place so that nitrogen is fixed. I will wait until the beans dry out then do then remove those plants so I can put in fall crop. Or perhaps garlic.

 

 

Here is one lonely pod of what remains from a planting by the side of the house. The seeds did not take so well there because the soil is in poor condition.

 

In other news, I'm very excited to attend the Dandelion Seed Conference this weekend, being organized by the Olympia Free Herbal Clinic, where I have secured work trade for the entire cost of participation. Seed saving will not be a topic in those workshops. But I will find so much inspiration there from established herbalists regarding healing and community building, I cannot think of a better way to spend a weekend for learning.

Echinacea Purpurea Dreams

Bouncing around Port Townsend this weekend I purchased a few seed packets at the Food Coop - one for echinacea. The seed company is "Seed Dreams", a producer of heirloom seeds. I'm so excited to plant those. I also just transplanted a coneflower plant I purchased at Swansons during their perennial plant sale.

Of any medicinal plant I'd like to cultivate it would be echinacea. The plant re-seeds in the fall so perhaps I didn't need to purchase seeds. But it's a seed company I can get behind.

Echinacea is a widely accepted method of natural medicine in a world hasty to consume aspirin. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated it's efficacy in aiding immunological healing. Of course other studies have shown little to no effect. So what's to believe? It starts with paying attention to the plant's effects on your own body. I was first instructed to drink it in form of tea when I was close to catching a cold. I tried that out and it was fine. Still caught the cold though. A couple years later I was prompted to take it in capsule form and later still, in tincture form. These forms are more concentrated and so you have a higher dose. I found the tincture to be quite useful if I used echinacea at the outset of a cold. Rather than after the damage was done.

Not only does the form of medicine matter, but the part of the plant too. The root of the plant is most commonly used for tea. Now that I am reading about echinacea a little online I'm find that the upper parts of the plant are supposedly more beneficial. -> "In Germany (where herbs are regulated by the government), the above-ground parts of Echinacea purpurea are approved to treat colds, upper respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, and slow healing wounds. The root of the Echinacea pallida plant is also approved for the treatment of flu-like infections."

Read more: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/echinacea-000239.htm#ixzz261TYEBeX

Unfortunately it's recommended that plants aren't harvested for at least 3 years. So I may never get to harvest from the plant I just put in. But I'll get some seeds to save out of it.

September's Vitamin C

With the season changing again, people are going to get sick. Should you take Vitamin C? That is a fallback choice for most people I know - the use of Emergen-C (a powder energy drink that contains 1600% of the USDA recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, 416% of the recommended vitamin B₁₂ daily value, and 500% of the recommended vitamin B₆ value based on a 2000 calorie diet. Seems a little excessive don't you think? Whatever is not used will just be urinated out anyway. And a healthy diet ensures one receives their proper usable amount.) Studies have not demonstrated that Vitamin C enhances the immune system during times of illness, although it exists in high concentrations in immune cells. As yet an arbitrary connection.

But really, what is the purpose of ascorbic acid/Vit C? It aids cell oxidation and helps prevent scurvy. Scurvy leads to the formation of brown spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from mucous membranes. That's kind of gross and would be nice to avoid. But it doesn't mean you need to take it when you feel a cold coming on. Yet maybe ascorbic acid's role as an antioxidant is more valuable - aiding to fight cardiovascular disease, hypertension, chronic inflammatory diseases, and diabetes. Apparently it is also "pro-oxidant", reducing transition metals in the body.

Vitamin C in it's natural plant forms can be purchased grown or harvested locally. For example:

Plant source	Amount (mg / 100g)
Indian gooseberry	445
Rose hip	426
Blackcurrant	200
Red pepper	190
Chili pepper (red)	144
Parsley	130
Broccoli	90
Loganberry	80
Redcurrant	80
Brussels sprouts	80
Wolfberry (Goji)	73
Elderberry	60
Strawberry		60
Kale		41
Cauliflower		40
Garlic		31
Raspberry		30
Spinach		30
Cabbage raw green		30
Blackberry		21
Potato		20
Tomato, red		13.7
Cranberry		13
Tomato		10
Blueberry		10

Get it in your diet right! The first time!

Falling Into the Garden

Last week the clouds and air temperature started to transition. Time to accept the fall/winter garden will demand it's attention. I've been considering full plans yet I know my patterns. Plans will be abandoned to what I can chore day to day. (How much will I get done this September?) I've been reviewing fall/winter garden guides and have gone through our seed collection. The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide is helping me keep food crops like spinach, lettuce, and alliums on my mind. I recently planted some perennial herbs from a couple different plant nurserys - feverfew, echinacea, thyme, and so forth.

But the real fun comes from throwing down seeds (I also love pushing garlic cloves into the ground) so the other day I aligned a couple rows of mustard and spinach where the kale trees live. Now the great wait to see what sprouts. The mustard green seeds are from 2003.