Joe Bradley, Human Forms (2011). Via Canada Gallery

Learning wild living skills for me is both a pleasurable way to feel part of nature and a long process toward gaining literacy at off-grid living, so that I may have the option of unplugging some day, should I choose to. I sense that this is a vision shared by many people I know.

What I wonder is, to what degree does an embrace of this vision require the rejection of industrial civilization? There are a number of people who would say it requires 100 percent rejection, including all trappings of modern technology. If so, is it terribly ironic, then, that these same folks circulate their views on YouTube videos and social networking sites, which of course can only be viewed via industrially created technology? I’m not asking this question to be a jerk. Judgment isn’t useful. What I am getting at instead is, is there maybe something happening here that eclipses duality?

The internet is clearly useful for spreading information for free and communicating ideas far and wide, and I don’t know anyone who would argue differently. Just in the past year we’ve watched it spark revolutions, overturn laws, shame politicians, and sign petitions that support the rights of indigenous cultures in far corners of the world. The internet is an incredibly empowering and liberating tool. And not just the internet. I have a bookcase full of books, each of which was manufactured and shipped in some way by machines.

The honest truth is, industrialization has created empowerment and liberation all over the world and continues to do so more every day. It is as responsible for polluting and enslaving Nature as for saving it.

In my personal journey I find myself gradually bringing the wild into my life more and more. And yet, I do like listening to an iPod while I run. And I was thinking about how uncluttered my living room could be if I read books on a Kindle or a Nook. Should I feel guilty about that? How can we reconcile who we are with who we would like to be? What it does it mean to be true to our deepest love for Nature, and honoring dreams of a hunter-gatherer future, while being honest about how much we enjoy the many benefits and conveniences of modernity? The alternative reality does not yet exist on a broad enough or strong enough scale for any of us to choose it except in a very isolated way, and hermitage is not for everyone. I think that if we all became hermits, we would not be contributing very much in the way of creating possibilities for the rest of the world. Maybe we are in a transitional state and technology is temporary. If so, how do we choose which we bring in our lives and which we reject? What are our ethical obligations? Or is it cool to relax and embrace it before everything falls apart through a combination of natural disasters, solar flares, and economic meltdown?

What are your thoughts on all of this? What does it mean to you to be authentically yourself in the modern world?

Lemon Balm

My Kickass Antiviral Tea is dried wild leaves of:
* Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis
* Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis
* Mullein, Verbascum thapsus

Tinctures I include:
* Oregon grape root, Mahonia spp. <– for general ickiness
or
* Elderberry, Sambucus nigra <– specifically for flu

Optional additions:
* Yarrow (tea leaves or tincture), Achillea millefolium <– for colds
* Pine (needles for tea), Pinus spp. <– for colds
* Wild cherry (bark tincture), Prunus virginiana <– for sore throat
* Lemon juice (fresh squeezed from an organic fruit)
* Honey, ideally local and organic

I generally drink some version of the above tea 3 to 4 times a day and include 2 droppersful of the tincture per cup.

If you have a favorite herbal remedy for cold and flu, post it below — I'm interested!

Please share this post.

I asked the dog doctor if it would be okay to make Petunia some hawthorn medicine and give it to her myself, and he said “Yes, dogs can take all those herbal medicines people can take.” Hawthorn, Crataegus spp., is a traditional heart medicine for people. The spring twigs and autumn berries can be made into an alcohol or glycerin tincture that, if taken regularly over time, will strengthen the heart, steady the heartbeat and lower blood pressure.

To get further information on adjusting dosages for animals, I ordered the book Herbs for Pets by Gregory Tilford and Mary Wulff-Tilford, which multiple people had recommended to me on Facebook. The Tilfords say that you don’t have to make an extract — you can just feed the berries to your dog straight.

Coincidentally, there happens to be a nice big hawthorn tree at Petunia’s favorite dog park, where we go almost every day. Even better, this tree still has plenty of berries on it, which it seems to shed slowly all the time. At first, Petunia ignored the berries covering the ground, as do most of the dogs. She was initially wary when I picked them and fed them to her, but now she gobbles hawthorn berries like a vacuum cleaner.

It has been a little over a month now that she’s become a berry-eater, and already her heartbeat is steadier. The spasm is much more subtle; nearly undetectable. It worked that fast. Hawthorn is healing Petunia’s heart safely, naturally, and entirely for free.

It does have one side effect: dog gas. Actually, audible dog gas. Which in people would be gross, but in a dog is pretty hilarious. I laughed and laughed the day Petunia turned around to look at her butt in shock! (It’s not all that common — mostly happens when Petunia eats a ton of berries at once. She thinks these are the best treats in the world).

For info on how to identify hawthorn, and a tincture recipe, click here.

Please be careful where you harvest hawthorn. Only choose full-grown trees or shrubs in places you are familiar with, because Portland Metro and Portland Parks and Recreation actually spray chemical herbicides on small hawthorn bushes in our parks to try and kill them. They consider hawthorn a harmful invasive species in need of eradication — but I would beg to differ!

Tell your friends that hawthorn is free heart medicine for people and dogs — share this post!