Slippery Elm Balls for Digestive Distress

Medicine doesn’t have to taste gross or be filled with ingredients that a normal human cannot pronounce (let alone comprehend where they came from!).  In fact, one of our first lines of medical help can be in the form of healing, all-natural products from plants we can identify outdoors that are made in our own kitchens with ingredients we trust.  This is herbal medicine. It is people’s medicine.

The following recipe is for a fun, easy to make, and even easier to eat herbal ball that helps to calm digestive issues.  Eat too much? Have heartburn? Feeling a general sense of malaise in your digestive region?  Give a slippery elm ball a try! Continue reading

A Hike to Blue Hen Falls Set to Emerson

We took a walk along part of the Buckeye trail (a trail that if taken in its entirety circles around all of Ohio) in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to enjoy the autumn colors and find Blue Hen Falls.

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Why Bats are Awesome + Bat Crafts

I’ve never quite understood some people’s revulsion toward bats. Recently someone told me, “I understand bats are important for the environment, but they just aren’t very attractive.”  Continue reading

The Fall Garden and Her Vegetable Soup

The peak of gardening has passed, but there are still plenty of things to be seen, done, and harvested this time of year.

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Toadstool Foray

It feels so wonderful to be in the woods this time of year. The cycle of nature is so obvious, so vibrant, so crunchy beneath the feet and so colorful overhead.  A perfect time for hunting mushrooms! Continue reading

Mabon. The Start of Fall.

Saturday was Mabon, the beginning of fall, and I can feel the change in many ways.  It’s amazing how abruptly it becomes obvious that the days are shortening, shadows are longer, the humidity of summer has broken, and that nights now require blankets. Continue reading

Magical Monarchs – Part 2

As you’ll recall from Part 1 of Magical Monarchs, we witnessed the transformation of tiny monarch larvae into fat caterpillars.  Ultimately, the caterpillars underwent an amazing metamorphosis and became chrysalises that we transferred into emergence chambers.  Once in their emergence chambers they sat in their beautiful green capsules for nearly two weeks. Continue reading

Magical Monarchs – Part 1

An Amazing Journey

Last weekend, a monarch was feasting in my backyard. As I sat outside watching her flutter around the flowers and amidst the bees, I noticed several other monarchs catching air currents just above the treeline.

These butterflies are preparing for one of the most astounding migrations on the planet — one that is longer than any other butterfly in the world. Continue reading

Urban Nature

Yesterday, I felt the desire for a nature retreat and I thought about going to spend the day at my parents’ house.  However, the trip was not in the cards for the day, and so I decided to do what I usually do and look for nature near my home in the city.   Continue reading