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Episode 41: Interviews and Stories from Dynamic People - Emily Garland-Haberkorn

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In this episode of Ready To Connect: Interviews and Stories From Dynamic People, we sit down with Emily Garland-Haberkorn who is a kitchen witch. Listen to learn about all that being a kitchen witch entails. You can find more about Emily by visiting her website www.kitchenwitchbotanicals.com.

Want to share a story or experience? Send us an email to readytoconnectpodcast@gmail.com or reach out to us through our social media. Consider becoming a supporter through Patreon and get access to bonus content. Get Ready To Connect!

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SPEAKER_00

This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of their affiliated organizations.

SPEAKER_04

Welcome back to Ready to Connect Everybody. I'm Lisa. I'm Heather. And I'm Ryan. And today we are going to continue our series of interviews and stories from dynamic people with someone we met at the New Age Fair in Weathersfield. That was a wonderful place for us to meet some people to bring on our show. We're going to be talking to a kitchen witch, Emily Garland Abercorn, in a minute or so. But until then, what have you been up to, Ryan?

SPEAKER_01

Oh wow, okay. Let's see if I remember what happened. So Yeah, so there's an interesting story I wanted to tell both of you, actually. That happened this weekend. So I was out driving around and uh I ended up getting lost. I didn't have the GPS on, and because I thought I knew the way where I was going, but apparently not. That's okay. Instead, while I was driving. Wait, are you a typical man who won't stop for directions? I wanted to try to figure it out. Alright, yeah, you weren't helping.

SPEAKER_03

Let's face it, in Connecticut, you're gonna end up on a main route at some point.

SPEAKER_01

Eventually, yes. Yes. And and so what happened is as I was driving, and I realized I missed the turn, I was like, oh geez. But I thought about when I was younger and driving with my grandmother and how we would just be out driving, and she was very good at just going with the flow and figuring it out. And so a little backstory here. Uh there's a story that has gone through past down our uh family members here where my grandparents were out in, I don't know, Arizona, let's say. They were trying to get to a destination and they took a wrong turn. And my grandmother was in the passenger seat telling my grandfather, hey, you know what, just follow that van. And he was like, okay. Because he knew to trust her. So it was just a random van that pulled out in front of them. He followed the van, and the van ended up being going exactly where they needed to go.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, yeah. So I was thinking of that, and I was at a stop sign and I was like looking into which way, and I saw a bird, you know, uh get up from the grass from where I was and fly down the road that was diagonally across from me, and I heard this way. And I was like, okay. So I just followed the bird and I went and uh got onto the road that I needed to get onto.

SPEAKER_04

So do you think the bird and the person said this way was your brother?

SPEAKER_01

I think it was her. Yeah. Very cool. It was it was really cool, and it was just clear as day saying like this way, and I was like, I'm gonna follow that bird. I mean, I was interested in the bird anyway. Of course you are. So yeah, it got my attention.

SPEAKER_03

I love it.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, so I had to share that with both of you because I was like, wow, what an interesting experience. Absolutely. Yeah, what about both of you? Anyone do anything fun or interesting this weekend?

SPEAKER_04

I had a fantastic weekend. It started actually Thursday night and went all the way to Sunday. Oh wow, okay, yeah, uh once a year. Um there are four of us that gather in Springfield um near Springfield, they have something called the StamperCon, which is basically a big um convention or used to be much bigger than it is now. COVID really did a number on it, as well as online shopping is that a number on it too. But a lot of vendors that carry different types of supplies for people who enjoy making their own cards or doing any kind of paper crafting, different kinds of mediums gathered to show you the new products, um, have you sample, try things out, and then of course purchase. So um myself and three other ladies, Betsy, Kathleen, and Pat. I only see Pat and Kathleen really once a year. Betsy I see a little bit more often. Um we gather, we get a hotel suite um that has two rooms. We basically explode all our art supplies into one room and we spend the whole weekend creating if we're not on the floor at the vendor place uh at the convention, you know, looking around. So it was a weekend of just being creative with other creative souls and just having a good old fun time, you know. You enjoy the hot tubs, you enjoy the the food because we have a little kitchenette, so you know, it's just it was just a great weekend and so that was this past weekend. Um and it it for a while there when my kids were young, I kept missing them because my daughter's dance recital was always on that weekend. Oh and I had to miss, you know, a full day, couldn't really do the stay over part kind of thing. But now that we're empty nesting, I could do that more often. So that was my weekend. It was all spent with, you know, my fingers and ink and and just glue and stuff. Laughing, getting a good time.

SPEAKER_03

What about you, Heather? You had a good weekend? Oh yeah. Jumped in the car, drove myself down to Quantum, put my kayak in, there you go. Paddled around, did a little fishing, just soaking up the sun, still kind of recovering from that. Sunblock needed to be reapplied, and apparently I didn't reapply it, but you know, it's okay to be red. Um I'll be rice white again soon. Did not get the Italian skin, so um, just soaking up the sun and just being near the water, it grounds me. So, and Quantog is one of my favorite beaches or um breachways to go to.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, good weekend. Great way to spend it. Yeah, awesome. Okay, let's bring in our special guest today, Emily Garland Habricorn, who has a business known as the Kitchen Witch Botanicals. So happy to have you here today, Em. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you. I hope you're ready for all our questions. Oh, I am, I am.

SPEAKER_03

Let's get right to it. All right. So, Em, for listeners who are just meeting you for the first time, who are you and what is Kitchen Witch Botanicals?

SPEAKER_05

Um, I'm Emily, but everybody calls me Em. Um, Kitchen Witch Botanicals is a bisexual, woman-owned business um focused on all natural and organic skincare, um, organic herbs, spices, tea blends, um, crystals, and um, I also do handmade brooms, kind of my hobby turns, you know. Hey, do you want one?

SPEAKER_03

Um but yeah, there's something for everybody, I think. So you're making bassomes. Do you sell them? Yes, yeah. Oh, incredible, incredible. Yeah, very, very cool.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's very uh it's a very meditative kind of thing, and it helps me to if I'm if my you know my mind's racing and I'm trying to just like be present in the moment, that's kind of the easiest way to do it because I'm just so focused on, you know, because you it's like a whole body activity to make them. So, you know, just and then counting like okay, I've done like three wraps, all right. Now I gotta like make it, it's so it's just it's a good way for me to like stop thinking for a second and focus on one thing.

SPEAKER_03

I totally get that. I totally get that. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes you just gotta turn it off, right? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Um, so what first called you towards herbalism, plant medicine, and kitchen witchery?

SPEAKER_05

Um, the uh the kitchen witchery came first. Um after college, I kind of felt drawn to cooking. Um, I'm completely self-taught. Um, and it I not to toot my own horn, but I turned out to be pretty good at it. Um and uh basically somebody once said to me, probably as a joke, but like, oh look at you, you little kitchen witch. But something kind of went off in my head and I went, wait a minute. Wait, what? So um, you know, it kind of it kind of took off from there. And um, you know, later I was I was having a reading done um by a friend of mine, and well, she's a friend now. She I just met her that day, and I'd never met her before, and she told me that she saw me working as a healer with plants, and at the time I couldn't see it, so I just like I filed it away and wasn't really thinking about it. Um, and then COVID happened, and we were all really forced to sit with ourselves and kind of ask ourselves some questions and figure things out, and um the herbalism kind of happened around then. I can't really pinpoint an exact moment when it happened. I it was probably, you know, middle of a doom scroll, you see a video, and then all of a sudden you see another one, and then it's you know the rabbit hole off you go.

SPEAKER_03

And then your subsconscious is just screaming, this is my path, this is my path. Exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So it really gave me COVID, you know, there's a there's a silver lining to every cloud, and it kind of gave me the time to find my path. And you know, I also I also kind of remembered when I was, you know, 13 or 14, I saw practical magic for the first time. And I remember seeing Sandra Bullock and her little apothecary and thinking to myself, yeah, I kind of want that. Like that sounds like a great little life, you know. Um, and then I signed up for an intro to herbalism class, and that was it. Hooked. Nice. Wow, nice.

SPEAKER_04

I think I read in some of the um information we were passing back and forth that you're interested in pursuing um herbalism.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, yeah, I'm working towards becoming a clinical herbalist. So right now, you know, I just you know, I make stuff for friends and family, but ultimately I really like to um develop that side of it and and help people in a more profound way.

SPEAKER_04

Could you possibly explain the difference between a clinical herbalist and a kitchen witch?

SPEAKER_05

So, I mean, for now, you know, the thing with herbalism in the United States that's kind of interesting is there's no real regulations, no regulatory body for it. Um, there's the American Herbalist Guild, which is um, you know, they have their own very stringent and specific requirements for being a member and being listed as an herbalist on their page. Um, you know, you have to um reach a certain amount of study hours and and you know, um internship hours and things like that. But overall, I mean, unfortunately, anybody off the street can just say, Yeah, I'm an herbalist, I can help you. And so, you know, I'm working towards basically I'm taking a lot of my classes through Herbal Academy. They're not paying me, but I will sing their praises to anyone that will listen. Um their classes are so in-depth and I'm obsessed. But anyway, um I'm working through their advanced course now, and then they have a clinical course after that. Um, at which time I can start seeing clients, um, and I can really kind of start seeing people on more of a you know, uh a clinical environment. Um, right now it's, you know, really just like I said, friends and family, but um eventually I wanna wanna help everybody.

SPEAKER_03

So yeah. Well, for now though, how can everyday cooking um become a ritual instead of a chore?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I think that, you know, it's it's all the little things. It doesn't have to be some big, you know, big change that you make, some kind of, you know, I think people I think people blow it out of proportion a little bit. It can be something as simple as, oh, I have this specific candle that I light when I get into the kitchen and start cooking. Or, you know, especially there's certain herbs that you can just you can hold them and you can infuse them with your intention before you throw them in the pot. You know, bay leaves are incredible for that. Um, so and I think it's I think it's all about, you know, and and like stirring in your intention and really just kind of like focusing it. It doesn't have to be this like, oh, I have to make this big ritual out of it, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it's a it's a really great reminder as Reiki practitioners, right? We we have them infuse Reiki into their food right out the gate, right? And so not being Reiki trained, somebody listening to this not being Reiki trained, you're you're showing them, you're telling them how you can infuse your food with love and magic and positivity, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I always say that love is found in the kitchen. Yeah, I think that's where it comes in. It's I think that's one of the greatest expressions of love that you can give to somebody is by cooking them something.

SPEAKER_04

Well, they say the kitchen's a heart of the home, so exactly.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

All this talk really reminds me of a class I took when I was getting my master's degree, and we were doing one on um basically cooking, you know, nutrition. And the person running it was saying the more holistic way to look at your cooking is honoring each step that you do. Right. You know, honor where that food came from, the farmers that you know, that grew the food, you know, the people who are now putting it together, all that kind of stuff, and then when you sit down to eat it, then you have like a full appreciation for what's on your plate. And so that it's intentioned to help you be more health healthy, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um absolutely, you know, it's it's I think it's um it's tough in this, you know, day and age where we've all got a million things going on at once, but trying to just find a few moments as you're cooking to just be present, you know.

SPEAKER_03

When you're cooking, do you have like um specific pots and pans that you like know they it's kind of like stoneware where or like you know, cast iron where you've sealed it with so much, you know, grease and love to have your specific pot?

SPEAKER_05

Yes, I've had um I have a Dutch oven that I've had for like 10 or 12 years. And let me tell you, I've made some incredible things in it, but um it's definitely that's that's my cauldron. Yeah, I I have made some really great stuff in it. Um, and I have an old um I have an old wooden kitchen spoon that I definitely collected from my mom at some point, you know. When I like, you know, when I moved out and I was just like, you know what, I need a bunch of like kitchen supplies, like she's not gonna miss that, you know.

SPEAKER_04

You know, I bet she did.

SPEAKER_05

I bet she did. Yeah, she's like, I can't seem to find anything in the kitchen. And I'm like, oh well, it's definitely not my kitchen. Um, but yeah, I still I still have that one spoon and I use it, you know, it even if it's like I I try to be a little gentle with it because it's so old, but like, you know, I'll I'll at least try to get a couple stirs in with it just because I feel like it has such a soul to it that I want to use it a little bit, you know. I'm not gonna maybe do a hard saute with it, but stir for some intention and then it you know gets lovingly cared for and put away.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, I can empathize with that totally.

SPEAKER_01

What what's your uh favorite thing to make? It may not have been on our list of questions, but I'm curious about this.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I know. Um, so pork is my specialty. Um I make I make a braised pork tenderloin that is I love it because it's versatile. You can kind of do just about anything with it. You can have it just like as it is, you could shred it up and put it in tacos on a pizza, you could put it over whatever you want. And it I make I usually make like three or four pounds at a time. So then I freeze some, and then I've got, you know, it's it's all a time's dinner.

SPEAKER_01

I know, right?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, right. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01

I actually didn't make that. Um we can stop by, right?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, absolutely. Dinners usually around six, okay? Perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_01

Uh do you believe our ancestors naturally practiced forms of kitchen witchery without calling it that?

SPEAKER_05

Oh, for sure. For sure. You know, um, I think I I I don't think it's has to be a conscious act, you know. I think, like I said, the act of cooking for someone in and of itself is an act of love. And and you know, think about you you make soup for your relative that's sick. I mean, that's a naturally healing and protective act, right? Like you're infusing that healing and protection energy that you wish for them into that food.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So whether they put a label on it or not, you know.

SPEAKER_03

And that goes across all cultures. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, when I'm when I'm sick, there's a Greek place down the street that does a lemon chicken and orzo soup that is absolutely a panacea for me.

SPEAKER_04

So for me, my go-to is always a tomato soup and grilled cheese.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04

When I was sick, or even or even it's it's pure comfort food, but when I was sick, that's what I wanted. That and grapefruits.

SPEAKER_05

Well, you know, the vitamin C, your body's probably craving it, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Chocolate pudding too.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, well clean jello.

SPEAKER_03

I think I know somebody over here.

SPEAKER_04

Some of the chocolate pudding just might have been mom's feeling bad for me. What can I get?

SPEAKER_05

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03

So you had said, you know, um bay leaves is definitely like a staple for kitchen witchery. Um, but like what other herbs do you feel spiritually connected to and why?

SPEAKER_05

Um, so oregano and thyme are two that I probably use the most, and I I always have them growing in my garden. Um, and garlic, obviously. Um, I just like that all three of them are just known for being healing and for warming the body. And, you know, they're also antiviral and antibacterial. So um, you know, it's really cool um just to see the kind of medicine you can make just by opening your own spice cabinet. It doesn't have to be this, like, oh well, I gotta go forage and like, which is wonderful if you have the opportunity. But there's there's stuff you can get in the spice aisle, you know, that'll you can make oil oregano and it's like antibiotics. You can make a um you can make a cough syrup with time, and it's I found more effective than most, you know, over-the-counter stuff. Um, and it doesn't have all the you know alcohol and chemicals and dyes in it that everything.

SPEAKER_03

You um do you forage bark for like birch bark for like tea and rubs and stuff?

SPEAKER_05

It's funny you mentioned that. I actually have in my yard, I have a cluster of three birch trees. Um, and yes, I do. And unfortunately, um they birch trees are are on the decline, actually. In their kind of, I don't know if they've officially been considered, but they're definitely like becoming an endangered species. Um, but when they die, um they are a prime growing thing for chaga mushrooms. And I actually have chaga growing on the tree outside, and I've just it's too I'm gonna have to get a ladder and like to get it to cut it down. But I have like three clusters of chaga growing up there that all my herbalist friends are like, oh my god, go get it! It's so expensive. So gold mine there, right? Oh yeah, oh yeah. But I mean, you know, you talk about foraging um occasionally, because there's so many weeds, you know, that are actually medicinal. People call them weeds, but really, you know, um, I had wild lettuce growing in my in in a random pot. And I was like, oh my god, I've got like one of the best pain relievers ever, just like as a weed in a pot that I meant to, you know.

SPEAKER_03

So in my yard, I have um Queen Anne's lace growing. Yeah. And I was I pulled them up over the weekend, and they're their carrots are were this long. They were they were at least three inches to four inches long. Um Queen Anne Lace carrots taste a lot like parsnips. Yeah, and it's totally natural.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I'm not a plant person at all. They come to me on their last breath to die, basically. I I'm the hospice for plants. I was gonna say you're a hospice. I'm the end-of-life duo love with plants. So um, so I don't know a whole lot about them, and I don't touch them. My husband takes care of it. I I I can keep silk plants pretty nice. Um so I don't know a lot about the different things. Like when you said I had wild lettuce in a pot and that's a pain reliever. Yeah. I didn't realize so it has to be a certain type of lettuce, or can I take some romaine out of my refrigerator and rub it on something and relieve pain? I guess No, no.

SPEAKER_05

So uh the the the name they call it wild lettuce, but it's not actually a lettuce. It kind of looks um, it kind of looks vaguely, the leaves kind of look vaguely like dandelion leaves. leaves. But there's a when you when you take the leaf and crack it open, there's a white like milky substance in there. And that's what relieves pain. So a lot of people will take the fresh leaves, break them up, and then tincture them. So then they can extract that substance out of them. And that's where they get the pain relieving from. But it's literally just a weed that grows all over the place.

SPEAKER_04

So all right so next time you're at my house, check for some wild lettuce for my neck.

SPEAKER_02

There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

That's good about how I was about to roll around in a bowl of salad. You know? I'm curious again not a question that we had on our list but I'm curious when you talk about open up your spice cabinet and I understand the medicinal value for certain spices oregano time and things like that, but I also have them in the form of essential oil. Is there a certain point where you prefer to use an oil over the spice or is the um natural plant better to use over the oil or so essential oils I essential oils I really only use for aromatherapy.

SPEAKER_05

That's for you know lavender oil to help ease a headache or you know maybe some eucalyptus to open up sinuses things like that. Essential oils really are are just far too concentrated to be used in a medicinal sense um or at least internal I should say um but as far as like infused oils now that's a force of a different color. So like a right when I mentioned oregano oil what I meant was I infuse olive oil with oregano and that's consumable. That you can you can take um I also bread dip it yeah yeah absolutely you could do that yeah one of the big tenants of one of the big tenants one of the um one of the big tenets of herbalism is using food as medicine. So absolutely you know like all this season's coming around maybe you have some bread with some oregano oil you know like it's it's it's great for that. And also just um I mean garlic is incredible for that kind of thing because like if I feel a cold coming on I will take a clove of garlic and I just grate it. And if you let it sit for five to ten minutes it builds up a compound called alicin and it's basically a natural antibiotic antiviral everything.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And I'll mix it in with a teaspoon of honey it's brutal but you just down the hatch do that like three times a day and it always cuts my colts in half.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah you say it's brutal it's it is brutal.

SPEAKER_05

It is yeah I mean because anytime you bruise garlic that gets that really sharp bite to it. So like it could be a little bit like to get down but necessary evil.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely um how important is intuition when you're working with the herbs and also like when you're working with the herbs and you're having someone over dinner is there like do you just choose herbs because you feel like this person like is your intuition kicking in while you're cooking and saying oh I need to add this because so and so's coming for dinner or is all your cooking kind of intuitive driven I mean definitely intuitive driven.

SPEAKER_05

I I rarely I rarely use a a recipe in in the way that like I'll use one for inspiration. I'll see you know something on Instagram pop up across my feed and I'll just you know kind of come up with my own way to make it from there. The only time I ever use like hard and fast recipes is if I'm baking. Yeah yeah I'm not a baker. You can't really like play and do like oh a little bit of that and a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah I love to cook but I don't bake so I can I can empathize with that. Yeah yeah this one over here Miss Lisa she is she's a baker.

SPEAKER_04

I do do a lot of baking baking's very um precise though it's very like almost like chemistry. I feel you could take a little bit more leeway and um use your intuition maybe more when you cook you know make some more savory dishes add a little bit of this a little bit of that you know that's that's where you get grandma's recipe of you just add it till it looks right.

SPEAKER_05

Right right right right you know oh like about that much you know now that being said when I do bake I do that you know teaspoon this I'll put pour a salt in my hand eh that's about right kind of thing. Yeah but technically baking should be very uh precise structure yeah the closest I've the closest I've gotten to baking as of late is I have a sourdough starter now.

SPEAKER_03

So everybody's into sourdough. Well it's mostly gluten free if you don't do you feed yours regular flour or gluten free flour?

SPEAKER_05

Mine's regular yeah yeah um but I I uh I don't know I like that it's like this this it's like this living thing and it just hangs out in my kitchen and I feed it once a day and you know it's been it's great and it's a way to again like I feel like sourdough you could be a little bit more loosey goosey with it you know like oh well I made this but then I added a bunch of caramelized onions to it. Great like it doesn't have to be as like precise as everything else. Yeah at least the way I do it. I know there are some people that are they get mathematical and they've got ratios and calculations and they're doing this and doing that and I'm like yeah no that's that's that would be our Mr Ryan if he was to do sourdough it'd all be by the numbers it would be yeah no I I I uh my sourdough is more chaos variety so um what are some common misconceptions people have about herbalism oh boy um where to begin on that one um I think I think the most common one the most popular one is usually that we're like anti-vaxxers um you know that we're very anti-science that we're kind of you know or that we reject modern medicine which is at least in in my case and most of the people that I know within herbalism that's absolutely not true you know it's all about balance you know if you've got a cold I got something for you like let me just I'll just whip something up in my kitchen no problem if you have pneumonia please go to the ER please like this is not you know it it it's it's all about like finding you know people people are are are quick to you know think that it's all very like earthy crunchy and it is there's parts of it certainly um but I I'm I'm not a miracle worker I you know if you need antibiotics you need antibiotics like there's only there's only so much oil oregano can do for you at a certain point so if you're having a heart attack don't call your naturopaths for the love of God go to please go to the ER and then and then when you're out of the ER and convalescing then come to me and we're gonna talk about things you can do for blood pressure and things that you can do to like improve your cardiovascular health I'm absolutely down to talk to you about Hawthorne like let's do that but when you're in crisis go to the ER.

SPEAKER_04

And it's interesting we say that because I remember talking uh during the height of COVID I remember talking and with a a bunch of different holistic medicine type people all different types of avenues and there was one woman I don't know what she did but she was saying that she had clients that when they had COVID they came to her and she would be able to put together whatever herbs and she was saving them.

SPEAKER_05

And come to find out it was only two people and and I'm saying like this is the wrong message to give in the middle of a pandemic if you have COVID yeah go to a doctor yeah oh my gosh you know like if you're if you're testing positive go please go get that checked out you know like it's I don't know it was just like I think you know it it is a broad misconception that most even most holistic people are anti-science anti and that's not yeah and I think you know I think a lot of us and and I and I certainly can say that I'm one of them you know I was driven to more um to studying more holistic methods of healing just because I think we've all been in a position where we've been disappointed with Western medicine. You know maybe it in my case I think it it came from my father having to be treated for liver cancer and all of the horrendous side effects that come with that treatment which I understand it can't be avoided but it starts to make you think about like what else is out there? What are your other options and things like that? You know obviously if you have cancer please talk to an oncologist. But yeah I think you know again everything's about balance you know happy to happy to give you a cold and flu remedy happy to you know help you with that persistent cough you know but if it's deep in your chest you have pneumonia go to the ER for sure for sure all right I'm curious to know um for grounding protection piece emotional healing uh what herbs would you typically recommend it's so funny you asked this because um right now I'm taking an herbalism class with Claire Bonin um I hope that's how you pronounce her last name um on Sacred Rage. If you're not I've been following her on TikTok for years if you're not following her do um she's a witch and an herbalist. And um anyway we're we did a unit um last week on burdock route and um we were asked to make a tea with it sip it sit with it and like see how it felt and it was so grounding that I really I could genuinely feel my lungs being pulled down towards the earth. And it was it it was and it had such a calming energy people you know when you when you look at herbs it's not calming is not something listed for for burdock but we all in the class were saying oh my gosh I feel just like almost like time has slowed a minute and I can take that time to think and like really just breathe a little bit easier. So it was really kind of a cool little like group experiment I guess. And and Burdock just has such an elder wisdom to it that I I really appreciated. I mean if you've seen um the roots because you use the root the roots can get four or five feet long just huge. It's like yeah um so it was just and also in um a lot of um Asian cooking it's actually used as a food they chop up the root and they will put it in food um back to food as medicine. But yeah that's kind of it it really has that burdock root has such a protective calming grounding energy that I really appreciated.

SPEAKER_04

Okay so and I gotta ask you this question then for someone like me who doesn't even know what burdock looks like um where do you find something like that? Is this where you would step in?

SPEAKER_05

You would you would have those type of teas in your business that could be ordered I do yeah I do have um I do have some in my apothecary downstairs um but as far as sourcing herbs um you know because you want to make sure you're you're getting them from a reputable place um because some of them they just don't grow here you know um but my go-to source for herbs is Mountain Rose herbs um they're based out of Oregon they're very transparent about um where the herbs come from their sustainability that kind of stuff and they focus on organic so um that's usually my go-to if it's not something I can find locally nice very cool very exciting so earlier you mentioned that you collect crystals oh boy yeah but my question is is I I saw somewhere about you that you like copper based minerals and what's that about tell me tell me about how you're using copper based minerals in conjunction with the healing that you're doing with all your food so um I don't know if I necessarily am having it to do with any of the food but I mean I have them all over my house. Right now I'm I'm building my collection of like malachite azurite shatokite those kinds of minerals um I don't know there's something about there's something grounded and at the same time ambitious in the energy coming from those minerals that I just really appreciate at this time in my life where I'm you know still trying to build my business and I'm still trying to like you know really solidify my path and for some reason it just they've been speaking to me lately. I I don't know I've got a I've got a curio cabinet back there with my slowly burgeoning collection.

SPEAKER_03

So you have a copper pot that you use to cook with do you have copper glass um coffee mugs like for your coffee tea or coffee?

SPEAKER_05

I don't have I don't have a copper pot yet um the only reason being is like copper you have to be careful with what you cook in it. Especially like cooking really acidic foods like tomatoes and things like that. It can cause a chemical reaction that you don't want in your food. So um copper is more having like I have copper bowls that I have like little crystal tumbles in all over my house. And I have even this little cute copper um it's just a little like pomegranate that I got that's adorable. I have a little altar to Persephone so I just I got that I just thought it was so cute. I love it um but I don't typically use copper a lot to cook with only because of the the chemical things but I it looks cool. So I do have it around the house and I like the I like the color the warmth of it and yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Very cool very cool uh you mentioned um grounding so I'm I'm curious as to what advice would you give someone wanting to start an herbal practice safely at home?

SPEAKER_05

Um just you know take the intro class if you can find one um they're not paying me but herbal academy I mean their intro class is so in depth and so informative and they also have an offshoot um website called the Herbarium and it's literally this compendium of every uh herbal monograph. A monograph is essentially like an information card about an herb. And their monographs are the most in-depth I've ever seen they even have links to medical studies and medical journals and stuff so you can really like read up on these like in-depth studies that have been done on them. And they'll have like they'll also have at the bottom like side effects like what you should be aware of if there's any kind of like drug interactions, things like that. So that's been really an invaluable resource for me.

SPEAKER_03

And that's important to say out loud. Yes yeah you need to make sure whatever medications you're taking that these are you know that they're not going to interact with it because yeah I mean like working and have an interaction so you need I mean one of my favorite herbs one of my favorite herbs St.

SPEAKER_05

John's port um taken internally it interacts with pretty much every drug on the planet. So um it's important to be aware of that. But if you use it topically it's incredible for nerve pain um and doesn't have the same effect.

SPEAKER_03

Right. See that's that's important to know where Saint Yeah right yeah that's that's especially because there's a misconception about St. John's ward that it's a great antidepressant like a low dose antidepressant which if you use it topically it's great for people who've had um something I've experienced actually um nerve-ending issues with surgery you want to put that topically on there to help and to you know uh soothe that instead of always have to take that pill right I I actually um about a month and a half ago I sprained the daylights out of my ankle and the second I got home of course we weren't home and I didn't have access to what I have but the second we got home I grabbed my bottle of St.

SPEAKER_05

John's wort oil and I was just slathering my ankle in it and it was like incredible how quickly the pain went away.

SPEAKER_03

You can buy a cup of birch tea right oh yeah oh my gosh yeah and the St. John's not the lettuce not the lettuce yeah no yeah well lettuce will work in the pinch until we can get you to St.

SPEAKER_05

John's girl you go so we've been we've been asking um other guests this question um curious to know what your spiritual practice looks like do you do certain rituals in the morning versus the afternoon what do you try to incorporate into your day do you have special teas you drink in the morning meditations what what is what does M spiritual practice rituals look like um right now I actually um about a couple months ago I I finished I've been working on this uh herbal tea formula I call it the Divine Feminine and it is just this blend of um there's a little bit of chamomile in there but there's Damiana there's rose um there is uh mother wort raspberry leaf just kind of a whole bunch of different herbs and um it's incredible for hormonal balance and I like to have that in the mornings um you know just to kind of take that time to center myself um and you know I don't really I don't do I don't do rituals all that often I feel like because I I think about my whole life as being an ongoing ritual yeah um you know like especially and and it changes throughout the seasons just you know based on what I'm doing and and weather but you know lately I get up I take care of my animals I water my garden I'm and while I'm watering the garden I'm talking to them sometimes I'm singing to the plants I'm touching them I'm making sure that you know like oh you didn't have that spot yesterday you know what I mean and I think just that that connection and and having my hands in the earth and just really like being present in that moment with life growing is just so like critical. Yeah yeah my plants would be screaming get away get away no don't touch me oh no it's Lisa I do the same thing I'm out there every morning talking to them with my little scissors touching up everybody just making sure everybody's doing good and yeah I go um I have a I have a tomato plant that has exploded this week and I need to get out there and and prune it back a bit but uh yeah I I have you know I don't have a lot of land and basically a couple years ago I I took a look at my I have a little postage stamp of a front yard and I was looking at it and I was like the grass doesn't do anything for me and it doesn't do anything for anybody else but if I just put in a bunch of raised beds on my front lawn so now my whole yard in the front I say whole yard it's like 10 feet by five feet and it's just raised beds and one's full of garlic another one's full of cayenne this one's got tomatoes that one's got some other herbs and my window boxes are like chives, oregano, dill like nice yeah I love the creeping rosemary.

SPEAKER_03

I picked some up uh a couple years ago and it just keeps growing it just it's so awesome and it just it it's so aromatic versus just the straight plant. So yeah oh yeah if you need if you need some ground filler and you want to do good with that it creeping rosemary will take care of it.

SPEAKER_05

You know what I was really surprised by was I planted chamomile last year and it was it's listed as like a tender perennial and I mean we had the winter from hell and beyond. Yes and it came back and not only did it come back it is spreading quickly. I have a I have a six and a half foot bed long bed out there and it was in the one corner and I'm finding little sprouts of it coming up on the other side of the bed so it kiss you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah yeah so go up here kissing because that's not normal. Yeah I was like great welcome back hi very cool that's awesome um so If your soul had a signature herb or plant, what would it be? Oh my goodness. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, I would say it's probably a toss-up between Rose and Damiana. Um, Rose is so I was given, um, I took an herbalism class a year or so ago. And at the beginning of the class, we uh we were assigned an herb, and we were basically told that at the end of the year you have to do a project completely open-ended. You can do whatever you want. And I remember when I first got Rose, I was honestly a little annoyed. I was like, oh God, that's so boring. Like, that's such a basic, you know what I mean? And I and and then I spent some time with it and I meditated with it and I consumed it and I, you know, I put it on my skin in different ways. And by the end of it, I was like, oh my God, I needed this so much. And it's such a it's an herb for just absolute self-love and healing your heart, and you know, making and also opening your heart, but in a way that you're not just giving yourself away, you're you're doing it in a very conscious way, in a way that you're still protected. Because you think about a rose, the petals are so soft, but it's got those thorns down there in case anybody wants to try anything, right? So it's like I just love the I love the balance that it has. Um, and then Damiana is um, and I think this probably calls to the Scorpio in me, um, but it's definitely um, it's a bit of an aphrodisiac, and it just has this way of kind of lifting the heart and um really kind of opening you to new experiences. So I think that it's definitely a toss-up between those two. And oftentimes I'll make a tea with both of them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I have both of them actually in my um Divine Feminine tea for that reason.

SPEAKER_03

Very nice. Okay, cool, very nice. Do you ever do uh um lotus lotus petals with that with the roses and the dominant?

SPEAKER_05

I haven't tried lotus yet. Oh I just because it's it's tough to find a reputable source for them. Um it's not it's not easy to come by. I'll send you mine.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. I love I love using blue lotus petals in my in my teas. I'll put it in pea flower tea, I put it in my rose tea.

SPEAKER_05

I love pea flower.

SPEAKER_03

It doesn't have a strong taste, but it adds that um it just adds that euphoric, kind of uplifted, you can respect yourself kind of moment in the tea. I love that. Yeah, I'll send you, I'll send it off to you.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, that would pair really nicely with the Damiana, too.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and it doesn't have a strong flavor, so you can put it with anything. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So a couple of random questions here. Uh so one question that's also not on here that I just thought of. Have you thought about teaching classes about like creating the teas that you're making or other items that you're making?

SPEAKER_05

You're not the first to ask me. Um, I I definitely want to, um it's it's in the pipeline as far as as things that I I definitely plan on doing. Um you know, my focus right now is to, you know, complete my education, uh at least the core, you know, curriculum of it, and to eventually have a a storefront. Um I'm working towards that. Um, you know, I've been in business now for three years. Um, it's definitely in the probably five-year plan, I would say. Um I think once I have a space that I can really dedicate to it, then yes, I think I think classes will definitely um definitely be on the horizon for that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think there's a lot involved out when it comes to food and stuff like or just teas and whatnot, you might have to get involved with like the food administration and you right? Yeah, that would be shop.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah. Getting involved with the FDA is is unfortunately the next step there.

SPEAKER_01

So and um are there any strange or funny experiences you've had while working with herbs or spiritual practices?

SPEAKER_05

Um, so not necessarily with herbs, but I did have a kind of funny spiritual incident with Loki that spanned about it spanned about a year, year and a half, where it started started with a dog. Um we we um adopted this small dog. And from the moment he came into our house, it was just chaos, constant. You know, nobody was happy. He was he was going after the cats, he was 12 pounds and literally beating my a hundred-pound lab into submission, like just it was like never-ending chaos with this with this little dude. And I remember like about probably six months, maybe eight months into having him, I was sitting with a friend. We were just talking at the table, and we got talking about spiritual stuff, and and someone just casually said Loki, and his head popped right up and he looked directly at me. And I thought, that's odd, that's odd, that's weird. And so, like a few minutes, about five minutes later, I tried to do it again, and from a dead sleep, I'm talking this dog's head shot right up and looked directly at me, and I was like, You are not possessing my dog right now. This is crazy, and so it became this thing where he kind of uh popped up occasionally in my life at various times, and and one time in particular, I um things had been kind of thrown into upheaval, which is usually the first sign that he's poking around. And I grabbed, I have I have a bag of uh Nordic runes downstairs, and I and I grabbed them and I said, Listen, Loki, if this is you, you're gonna have to show me one of the runes with your name in it, with you, you know. And I reached in and pulled out Lagaz, and I was like, Oh my god, okay, huh? Um it's like all right, I'm gonna take your runes, I'm gonna put them under my pillow while I'm asleep. You're gonna tell me what you want, and I will do my best to give it to you, and then we're done. And he was like, Okay. So that night I'm just about asleep, and I just hear the word fun in my head, and I'm like, okay. So I just happen to be going to a concert the next night, and I said, Well, that's gonna be the fun you get. So I took his runes, put them in my pocket, brought him to the concert. I actually haven't heard from him since. But yeah, that was kind of a that was a kind of a funny, a funny time and and just random run-ins with him.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you know, you mentioned uh your dogs, and you let us know um off air that you spent time um working in a veterinary office. Oh yeah, and that you're a big animal lover. Do you use your herbs with your animals?

SPEAKER_05

Not yet, but I want to. Um, you know, especially uh I have a I have a lab that's older and he's really starting to get arthritic. And um, you know, with age, you know, his kidneys can't necessarily handle the the drugs to help with the pain. Um, so I'm actually it's funny you mentioned that I'm kind of in the middle of like researching which ones are safe and you know, if it's like a maybe it's a soak I can do or just something I can add to his food or something like that. Um, you know, thankfully he's a lab, so if I put it in his bowl, he'll eat it. Well, I might be able to.

SPEAKER_03

Well for now, make sure, make sure you're giving him glucosamine.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, yeah, he's all he's been on that since he was pretty much two or three.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, because I imagine what you can use for humans, you might not necessarily be able to use for all different types of animals. You have to really kind of change it up, and I think that's important to kind of make people aware.

SPEAKER_03

Well, the doses change too, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A hundred and uh you know, 70-pound lab, although my lab wasn't 70 pounds, but you know, for a 70-pound lab versus a 120-pound person is you know obviously too.

SPEAKER_05

It's funny too because um when we talk about dogs and how they process medications, sometimes they process it differently and a lot faster than we do. So, like, you know, if your allergies are bothering you, you take one Benadryl. If the way it works in dogs, you actually give them quite a bit more, but it's because they process it better and faster. Right. So, you know, and they don't get as like zonked out by it like we do. So different for and again, it's different for everything.

SPEAKER_03

So it is. It is. Um, what upcoming projects are you excited about?

SPEAKER_05

Um, well, we're we're we're right at the we're right at the beginning of my busy season because I'm always at different markets. Um, and I have my regular market that I'm at every Sunday, um, the Georgetown Farmers Market in Reading. Um that one just picked up. Yeah, that one just started. So I'll be there every Sunday from 10 to 2. And then um on my events page and my website lists everywhere else I'm gonna be throughout pretty much through uh September.

SPEAKER_03

You coming up to the Coventry Farmers Market? Sorry? You coming up to the Coventry Farmers Market?

SPEAKER_05

Might be a bit of a hike from Norwalk, but um yeah, yeah. Um I'm trying to keep I'm trying to keep things within the like hour kind of just you know, especially with the cost of gas.

SPEAKER_04

I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_05

Um you know, so right now most of my events are Norwalk, Fairfield County. There's a few um events towards New Haven, um, but most of my stuff is kind of around here for now.

SPEAKER_04

Just trying to then it was lucky that we were able to meet you in what in Weathersfield, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Weathersfield's right at the like hour limit for me. It's like hour, hour 10, depending on traffic. So I can, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Oh man. So where where can listeners find you, support and support your work and learn more about you?

SPEAKER_05

Uh, I mean, I'm on TikTok, Instagram, um, and all of those, there's links to my website. And like I said, I've got my events page. You can come find me at any any of those. Um, and like I mentioned, my Georgetown Farmers Market, I'm there every Sunday from 10 to 2.

SPEAKER_04

So well, before we say goodbye, we have a ritual here at Rage Connect where we pick an affirmation. And since the closest we have to a kitchen witch in our group is Miss Heather, why don't you pick it?

SPEAKER_03

All right, this is for us. All right, it says, I am willing to release all fears, worries, and concerns about money, career, safety, and protection. For this, I will be highly rewarded. Well, there you go. Perfect.

SPEAKER_04

Yay! I think all of us need to hear that one.

SPEAKER_05

That's like exactly what I need right now. Check that out. That's so cool. I love it. I love it. I love it. The pleasure has been all ours. Oh my gosh, this has been so great. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04

Well, thanks for being with us today. And uh we'll just schedule another one so you can go through your recipes.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Thank you for all our reasons out there.

SPEAKER_04

Uh, we'll be back in your ears next week. Until then, we'll be looking forward to connecting.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you for tuning in to ReadyToConnect. If you're interested in exclusive behind the scenes content, be sure to like, share, and follow us on social media by searching for Ready to Connect Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And for those looking to further support our podcast, consider subscribing to our Patreon at patreon.com slash ready to connect podcast. And until next time, get ready to connect.