Oregon Grape: A Toast to Nature's antiviral
Hello Friends!
I’m reaching out to day to update you all on what’s up with Goodness Tea, to share about a favorite wild therapeutic plant I love, shout-out to good work I see going on, and invite you to join in some projects. Please write us to keep the friendship growing, and let me know if this is helpful!
Thanks!
Last season I had the pleasure to attend the Eat Local First Farm to Table Trade Meeting for the Olympic Peninsula, and a Regenerative Community Leaders Gathering at OrcaSong Institute. Through friends made there, we now offer Goodness Tea at the Port Townsend Food-Coop, the Orcas Island Coop, and Kitsap Community Food Coop. Woot woot! Please support these stores! If you send me a picture of a smiley you and our tea or treats on the shelf there, I will send you a SwellCoin worth $5 of Goodness Tea! That’s right!
Coming up, find us at the Port Townsend Farmers Market (Wednesday and Sunday), the Poulsbo Farmers Market (Saturdays) and the Port Angeles Farmers Market (Saterday- with SisterLand Farms). We have live healing plants, brewable bouquets, dried tea, chocolates and snacks, with offerings by The Bloodcatchers Collective when Cera is there. Later in the season we will be teaching at the NOMCON in Eugene this summer, and the NW Permaculture Convergence this fall (more on that below). ***Please note that due to Covid-19 sweeping the land, our tea shop is only open for puckup/delivery and some of the farmers markets are closed***
Powerful Plant Highlight: Mahonia the antiviral wilderness warrior
Mahonia rapens, low growing Oregon Grape
In this time of everything going viral, I appreciate forces of nature that imbue us with extra resilience. Mahonia is a genus of evergreen shrub that is abundant in our northwestern woods. Mahonia aquifolium, M. nervosa and M.repens are native in the northwest, while M. intermedia and other varieties native to asia are found in ornamental gardens and can be weedy invasives in the southeastern US. All of these plants have a bright yellow root that is rich in the compound berberine. Look it up! There is quite a bit of research on mahonia, and even more on berberine as an antiviral. This ally can be found in most patches of woods out in these parts! have been using it regularly for over 8 years to treat infections and upsets. As I understand it, berberine will seek and destroy the baddies in your system while leaving beneficial flora intact so your immune system doesn’t suffer like it does with normal antibiotics (or natural ones like goldenseal). Please, research mahonia and berberine, go find some and be strong! Mind that you harvest <0.5% so there is plenty to grow back for years to come. I’ve attached a few videos at the end for your viewing pleasure.
Local Love
I am thrilled to see growing momentum with the Olympic Mountain Growers Cooperative and will be (hopefully!) sourcing much of my herbs from them in the years to come. If you are an Olympic Peninsula region grower, wildcrafter or consumer of plant medicine and products, please fill out this survey to shape the organization! (https://forms.gle/yTwhietBwS11aye96)
Affinity Invitations
Nation of Makers is holding its national conference in Eugene this June, creating space for makers to share projects and grow DIY culture. I will be presenting on applying permaculture design principles with Tiffany Y’Vonne in an interactive session geared to illustrate what this movement looks like across the map. Do you have something to share? Submit your idea or join us and maybe we will see you there!
The Northwest Permaculture Convergence will be gathering at Sahale Ecovillage the last weekend of September for a campout/conference/workparty/celebration all focused around earth-care, people-care and fair-share- the theme for 2020 is Cultivate Community . Goodness Tea will be sponsoring this event (providing free hot tea all weekend), and I will be teaching about food preservation that capitalizes on some of my favorite communities to cultivate: beneficial bacteria and herbal guilds. I’m rocking hands-on classes demonstrating how to create wild ferments (like krawt) and capturing fresh wild and cultivated herb harvests through dehydration (making herbal teas and fruit/veggie leathers). Please join us! The NWPCC still needs coordinators, work-tradors, sponsors and presenters for this fall. If you’d like in on that action check out northwestpermaculture.org and sign up!
Special Goodness Teatime CSA Offer
We setup our CSA! The Community Supported Agriculture structure is designed to help farmers have a little more dependability throughout the seasons, while giving our supporters great deals and dependability in offerings right back. If you’d like to get a regular shipment of tea, chocolate, fruit leather or amazeballs right to your door, now you can! Use offer code GOODFORME for $5 off any CSA option available through our store through plans purchased through the end of April. Are you a local? We also have a 15% discount option on any plan for local pickup, use CSALOCAL and see you soon! Happy spring!!!!
Please be in touch and stay strong,
Shaelee
