The articles in this, the second annual Healthy Living edition of Green Fire Times, represent a variety of perspectives related to health and the healing arts. We invited our readers to submit articles, and by presenting these perspectives, we are not necessarily endorsing particular modalities or approaches; rather, we are providing a forum that, to some extent, reflects the unique multicultural and philosophical makeup of our region.

You will find here age-old traditional cultural approaches, such as Indo-Hispano curanderismo, a metaphysical perspective, as well as a contemporary, holistic medical view. The thread that connects most of them is the relationship between our personal health and the health of the Earth. Environmental degradation has a direct impact on the health of our population, which in turn places demands on our healthcare resources.

Each dimension of health – physical, social, emotional, mental/intellectual, spiritual and environmental requires balance.

Jan-Willem Jansens

“Eat wholesome food in moderate amounts; do frequent, aerobic exercises but don’t over-exert the body; get enough sleep, rest and relaxation; think good thoughts and approach life with imagination and a positive attitude.”

This prescription for health and healing is rather universal. You can find all or parts of it in any popular magazine at your supermarket’s check-out lane, remember it from the wisdom your grandparent may have taught you, or receive it as advice from a healing arts practitioner or family physician.

Would this prescription also serve us to bring healing to the Earth and to our relation with the Earth? Would it help us live more sustainably? Why might a nature magazine, an experienced outdoors-person or farmer, or an engineer or restoration biologist give you a similar prescription for how to relate to Mother Earth? Might there be a relationship between our personal health and the health of the planet?

While this prescription is tested and true for a person’s physical health, society as a whole does not at all seem to advocate it or support it! To the contrary, many people consume foods and other products that are far from wholesome and in amounts unhealthy for their bodies and for the Earth. Many lead sedentary lives and have lost touch with their bodies and the physical exertion that used to be necessary to stay alive. Our contemporary ways of resting, relaxing and rejuvenating our bodies and minds are dominated by technological and consumptive recreational activities and gadgets that often use up lots of Earth’s resources, pollute and destroy the land and disrupt traditional communities.

The way our public media, political discourse, judicial systems and capitalist market systems are structured leads many people to believe and expect that freedom, peace and security come with free trade and consumption of whatever we want, no matter the true (and often hidden) cost and sacrifice.

Food

I still remember the first day I set foot in a supermarket after I returned to Europe from Niger in West Africa, where I had lived at the edge of the Sahara for three years. As soon as I stepped into the store, it was as if thousands of products were screaming out to me in colorful shapes and displays, and with special advertising images and supported messages broadcast over the store’s intercom: BUY! BUY! BUY! You have to have this! Now reduced in price!

It was overwhelming. I experienced more of a culture shock returning to my “own” world than when I arrived in Niger. Admittedly, most markets in West Africa are also very lively and colorful, and those vendors also want you to leave with their products. Yet, there is always the process of building personal connections in the markets and stores. Most of the products are local, grown with few external or technological inputs, and the packaging is minimal.

Most food products sold in New Mexico travel 1,500 miles or more to reach our stores. Their production, transportation and preservation require large quantities of fossil fuel; they have been processed in ways that require many times their volume and weight in water; and they create large amounts of by-products that, at best, are composted, and at worst, are discarded as waste. Most of our processed foods are produced with large amounts of corn and soy. Technologically important building blocks of our food staples, these crops are grown in ways that have cumulatively led to massive soil erosion, water depletion, oil and gas extraction, road building, large-scale land development, and agricultural systems that have rejected more diversified, small-scale and local farming practices. In sum, the by-products of these forms of food production contribute to the causes of human-induced climate change, as well as to large-scale land degradation and increased drinking water pollution and downstream flooding.

I believe that the super-sized, convenience-oriented mass consumption of food and other products lies at the heart of the human and environmental health problems of our “developed” society. After my supermarket culture shock, it dawned on me that our challenges with the sustainability of our lifestyles, the pollution we create, the degradation of our social systems and sense of community, and our growing health problems and healthcare costs are all related. These problems reflect how we relate to other people and to our natural environment, how we increasingly fail to see things whole in the world, and how we continue to consume products, services and information without asking any questions about what we really need and what the consequences are of our consumptive behavior.

Fortunately, I am not alone in my realization that to heal ourselves and the Earth, a change is needed in our consumption patterns. Since my arrival in Santa Fe in 1993, I have witnessed a remarkable resurgence of local food production and people’s awareness of the importance of wholesome food. A growing number of individuals and communities in northern NM have stepped up their food production activities in backyard gardens and community gardens. The recent Sustainable Growth Management Plan for Santa Fe County reports USDA data for 2007 that show an increase in farms, especially small farms up to 180 acres, compared with 2002. Gross income from crop sales in Santa Fe County increased from below $6 million in 1993 to nearly $8.6 million in 2007. It appears that some kind of prescription for healthier and more sustainable eating, living and consuming is gradually spreading throughout the region.

The message that is being developed about healthy food has many dimensions. The core revolves around eating food that is organic or, as much as possible, grown within a radius of 300 miles. Additional healthy food habits are of course to eat less (just enough), seek an optimal diet for your needs, and minimize meat consumption. Many local and regional organizations work on various aspects of these messages, such as Farm to Table, our local farmers’ markets, food co-ops, and local and regional business alliances that promote local food.

All these “new” ideas about food consumption have important health benefits for the Earth as well. Local food requires far fewer external inputs for its preservation, storage and transportation. Local food, at least in northern NM, is typically grown with local, renewable surface water supplies (river/acequia water), and few or no fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides or other high-tech inputs that degrade and pollute soil and water. Local food is grown for local niche markets, where people understand that the produce looks natural and is not necessarily homogeneous, unlike produce grown to pass food grading systems that ensure standardized visual characteristics. Therefore, the volume of rejects and waste is far smaller.

Going forward, we will need to pay much more attention to what food we offer children in our schools. While, for example, NM Consumers Alliance is lobbying for changes in national legislation to reduce or cut out the influence of corporate food distributors on food offered at schools, locally each of us must work with our educators, school administrations, and the students and their parents, to build awareness about healthy food production and consumption patterns. Together we can make huge strides in combating obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular illnesses, while starting corrective action on how our food is produced and how we may heal the Earth from the impacts of misguided food production practices.

Many schools are currently experimenting with the development of school gardens and Farm-to-School food programs. I believe that there is huge promise in building connections between schools and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) or other local farms and ranches to realize more wholesome food options in our schools. At the same time, we will increase the markets for local farms, thus harnessing greater economic strength for our local and organic food systems.

Physical Exercise

When my parents were young, many people still walked to work or to go shopping. In those days, many more people were involved in primary production sectors, such as forestry, farming, ranching, horticulture and fisheries. These professions required a significant amount of outdoor work and physical exertion. These activities also embodied a vast knowledge base about how to interact with the land, and this knowledge was shared by a significant part of the population.

Yet, in the period between 1982 and 2007, we lost more than 41 million acres of rural land (farms, ranches and forestry operations) to development in the US. In NM we lost 33% of our prime farmland during that period, according to the same study by the National Resources Inventory.

As a result, today only a select group of people still work outdoors, and most people have lost an immediate connection with the land. Outdoor work has become labeled as lower-class work, and most contemporary farmworkers are immigrant laborers. Many farmers, ranchers and foresters have no successors and struggle to find people who want to continue their businesses. Simultaneously, much practical knowledge of the land dies out, and there is a growing need for people with practical knowledge of ranching, farming and caring for the land who can educate and motivate young people for careers in food production and environmental stewardship and restoration.

Many people live sedentary lives, far away from nature and rural (food) production areas. This shift from active to passive lifestyles for the masses in our country has gone hand-in-hand with the increase of the services sector, the ongoing separation of duties, the development of supermarkets, the increase of vehicular transportation, and, most recently, the Internet. The celebrated lifestyle of doing things quickly, with the least effort, and from behind a computer screen, has left people without a natural opportunity for any daily physical exercise. Many people also have lost touch with the outdoors. They may only go outside to walk to their car or the bus. Fear and certain risks of the outdoors further discourage people from working or recreating outdoors or from walking or biking to certain local destinations.

As a result, many people greatly lack the physical exercise necessary to stay healthy and to understand and appreciate the outdoors. Additionally, our younger generation is left with what Richard Louv called “nature deficit-disorder.” In his now famous book of 2005, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Louv rattled the cages of educators, health practitioners and environmentalists alike by indicating that we collectively lose our connection with nature, leading to health problems and a degraded environment. Especially our youth are suffering from this loss of connection with nature, which Louv relates to the increase of learning disorders, physical and emotional health problems, and an entire lack of understanding about our food systems and their relationship to our personal health and that of the planet.

Many modern health problems associated with lack of exercise and activities outdoors can be countered by simple outdoor activities. New Mexico’s climate and landscape fortunately offer a plethora of opportunities to spend time outdoors, exercise, grow food and engage in environmental stewardship work. Long-time residents and newly arriving ones alike choose to live here because of the splendid beauty of our outdoors, its clean air, the surprisingly diverse natural habitat and the seemingly endless space.

I have been delighted with the rapid expansion of outdoor recreation opportunities across the state during the last decade. The rapidly increased protection of open space through conservation easements and public open space acquisitions or community preserves has allowed for the construction of a web of trails for hikers, bikers and equestrians. Trails are also being developed in urban areas for “alternative” commuting purposes. Bicycle clubs have formed to collaboratively maintain trail systems. Traditional outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, skiing and gardening are more popular than ever.

Yet, much more can be done to make physical exercise part of people’s daily pattern of activities, especially in our urban areas. Santa Fe and many other towns are built for car traffic, and many roads are outright dangerous to travel on by bike or on foot. In many neighborhoods, the distances between residential areas and community facilities are too large to comfortably reach other than by car. The ongoing construction of parks, sidewalks, bike lanes and trails, and plans for redesigning neighborhoods and commercial areas, are welcome solutions to outdated urban planning designs.

A unique opportunity I treasure in northern NM is that within a short distance we can physically participate in growing food and in land restoration and stewardship activities. Growing food in school gardens, community gardens or in collaboration with a CSA farm offers great opportunities to reconnect with nature and get physical exercise. For young people it also is a valuable possibility to explore food and natural resource production careers. People with an interest in getting their hands dirty can also turn to organizations, such as WildEarth Guardians or the Santa Fe Watershed Association, to learn firsthand what it takes to become a caregiver to the land. During stream restoration workshops, educational walks, tree planting events, and other educational activities we can connect with interesting areas and learn from peers about the land. In turn, such stewardship activities help build a constituency for the creation and maintenance of our growing network of trails, parks, wilderness areas, wildways and local farms and ranches.

Rest and Relaxation

Our predominant societies’ need for rest and relaxation has increased land development and the production of consumer goods. Many of our recreational activities are consumptive, polluting and disruptive of land and people. It is not unusual to find that people’s ways of rejuvenating their body and spirit don’t include physical activity and are not emotionally or spiritually renewing. Instead, television, personal computers and mass entertainment centers offer cheap and mostly passive means of relaxation.

The protection of peace and quiet, wilderness, wildways and night sky in our NM landscape is essential to a more natural and simple way of offering rest and relaxation amidst the hectic bustle of our society. We are blessed in northern NM with many remaining areas where these qualities can still be found. The conservation of these areas and the efforts to connect them in corridors for recreational trails and to support the natural dispersal of biodiversity is essential for fostering human, as well as plant and animal resilience.

Areas where natural wildness, night sky and the soothing sounds of wind and water are preserved are not far from home. Trail corridors, city arroyos, greenbelts in neighborhoods, and open areas between communities can all accommodate signs of nature and peace and quiet to relax the mind and body. In turn, these areas are vital corridors for stormwater flows, pathways for animals— from bobcats to mice, raptors to butterflies— and view lines that help us see the larger majestic landscape.

Such areas and pathways help us foster mindfulness of our outdoors as well as of our inner selves. These are good places to organize community collaboration events, such as ecological stewardship and restoration workshops, educational walks about wildlife or the area’s history, or art events, such as the 2010 Flash Flood in the Santa Fe riverbed that sought to stimulate community awareness about land and water use.

Imagination and Attitude

A path of healing is often an exploration of new territory, both physically and mentally. Our wellness is based on our power to rejuvenate, and our rejuvenation is dependent on our ability and mental energy to go beyond our conventional boundaries, to imagine a better future, to create new ideas and behavior and to realize that one has the power to pursue one’s dreams.

However, in a society where our physical territory is mostly artificial and indoors, where our information is fed to us by commercial media, and where our choices in life seem to be dominated by options limited to particular goods and services, it is possible to lose one’s natural compass. In the Geography of Childhood, Gary Paul Nabhan tells the story about his exploration of nature as a child, and how it shaped his critical thinking, his way of observing and asking questions. The book provides a strong argument for exposing children to nature exploration, and to the endless opportunities for wonderment and creativity. Yet, despite virtual travel opportunities, the geography of many children’s childhoods is shrinking, as may be their abilities to develop a sense of place, hope and resilience amidst the many challenges of our world.

As a result, many people are unable to see the connections between their personal health and that of their community and their physical and natural environment. Many people have no hope or concept of their potential role in healing themselves or nature. As we have been told that physicians are specialized to heal you when you’re sick, and engineers or environmental experts will take care of the planet’s ills, healing has become the responsibility of others, and own our personal leadership and imagination are considered of lesser relevance. As health or wellness is increasingly confused with the service of healthcare, or even worse, with the means to acquire the service, i.e. money, we are often made to believe that money can buy us happiness, health and prosperity— regardless of our personal attitude.

Yet, in the end, sustained personal health and sustained environmental and community resilience rely on unity of mind and spirit and an awareness and mindfulness about personal health, community, the Earth and their interconnections. As a center of the healing arts and a hub of many spiritual communities and gathering places, Santa Fe and its surrounding region offer exquisite opportunities for the exploration of the body, mind and spirit. Besides the many opportunities our region offers to be outdoors in nature, the native and historic cultures in this landscape can also offer great inspiration.

The simple common sense prescription offered in the beginning of this article will guide us to wellness, especially if we make healthy choices about our food, our physical exercise outdoors, our ways of relaxation and our personal attitude. I believe that this will eventually lead us to a paradigm shift in which we will see that our ways to pursue wholeness, health and wellness are all the same for ourselves and for the Earth.

Jan-Willem Jansens is an ecological planner and consultant, and the former Executive Director of Earth Works Institute. He lives with his wife and two children in Santa Fe.

Anthony Fleg, MD

Happy February to our Green Fire Times readers. With the holidays now a distant memory, most of you are back to work, working for a cleaner, greener planet. Beyond our work and activism, you probably spend time doing all you can for your partners, children, and family members.

A simple question remains – how much time and energy do you spend on your health? Does it even make it on the top ten of your priority list? And if the answer is “no,” are you willing to change that to a “yes” in 2012?

As a family physician, one thing that I find in listening to people tell me about their lives is that most of us (health professionals included) have our own health as a very low priority in our lives. I will hear people tell me how they go out of their way in sacrificing for their job, their children, their significant others and their communities. Rarely do I hear the same degree of effort being put toward appreciating one’s own body and health.

I like to give the simple scenario of an alien looking in from outer space and seeing New Mexicans rushing around 8-10 hours a day for their jobs, but unwilling to take 30 minutes of the day to exercise, relax or prepare a healthy meal. Ironically, we are ignoring the very bodies that allow us to do the other things we are so focused on doing. An analogy would be a race car driver who felt they were too busy with racing to worry about things going on under the hood or what type of fuel they put into the car. That vantage point gives a true look at how we value our health.

My hope is that you will take some time this month to think about how you can make your health a more central part of your life in the months ahead. What activities do you already do for your health? What areas of your health would you like to improve?

I do not think there is a recipe I can give for how to do this, but I will offer a few thoughts to help start you thinking in this realm:

1. Exercise is powerful medicine! Whether it is to relieve stress in a healthy way, a time to breathe, relax and meditate, or being done for specific health benefits (e.g. preventing high blood pressure, improving sleep, treating fibromyalgia), our bodies are meant to move! And for those of us who value Mother Earth and the simple pleasures of nature, a nice walk in the woods, a jog amongst canyons and mesas is one of the simplest ways to connect to the world around us. In terms of exercise, a simple goal is to work toward a lifestyle where you are getting 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week. Pick something that is fun to do, and get a friend of family member to go with you – both of these will make it more likely to be successful.

2. You may find it helpful to write down your goals, and to make monthly journal entries a way to track your own progress. Some people find that giving themselves grades helps as well: if improving your diet was an area of focus, you might give yourself a diet grade on a 1 to 10 scale. If your starting point is a 5, the initial question becomes, “What can I do to get to a 6?”

3. Small changes will be more sustainable! Many New Year’s Resolutions are long forgotten a few months later because they involve such large changes to one’s life that they are hard to sustain. Pick small challenges, and once you have accomplished each one and sustained it for 1-2 months, pick new goals to work toward.

4. Consider all of the dimensions of health – spiritual, mental/emotional, physical, and intellectual. For some of us, the most important health issue might be to find ways to reduce the stress we bear at the workplace, or even a small step of beginning to take lunch breaks. Others may feel that more attention to their spiritual practice, beginning to learn a new language, or finding healthier ways to resolve conflicts in relationships are important. What is most important is that you choose the areas that are most important for you, and then work on specific goals in those areas

Best wishes for the blessing of health for you, your family, and our communities in 2012!

Anthony Fleg is a family physician with the Native Health Initiative, a partnership to address health inequities through loving service (www.lovingservice.us). If you have questions or comments, please email him at afleg@salud.unm.edu

The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has announced another round of grants to expand School-Based Health Centers in rural New Mexico communities. Centers funded include: Ben Archer Health Center, Hatch ($500,000), Las Clinicas Del Norte, Inc., El Rito ($300,000) and the NM Department of Health, Santa Fe ($112,000).

“School-Based Health Clinics (SBHCs) provide students with medical attention when they need it, catching problems early on and preventing bigger problems later in life. They keep NM students healthy and learning,” says Beth Hamilton, Executive Director of the NM Alliance for School-Based Health Care.

New Mexico has more than 80 school-based health centers, which provide quality health services where the students are — in school. These centers are an important safety net, providing easily accessible healthcare when, in many cases, the closest clinic or hospital is miles away.

SBHCs in New Mexico have gained increasing public and media attention thanks to continued expansions funded in part by the Affordable Care Act. Last July, the HHS Department distributed $95 million to 278 school-based health center programs for capital improvements, including six in NM.

A few notes about School-Based Health Care:

• SBHC is an innovative first line of defense in the effort to provide inexpensive care, reduce bad outcomes and encourage a prevention model.

• An estimated 1/3 of NM students use school-based health centers for primary care.

• With parents’ permission, the centers provide basic health care services including immunizations, nutrition advice, mental health services, and help with peer pressure and bullying.

• SBHCs are vital to ensuring students who don’t get medical treatment anywhere else can get it at school.

More information about School-Based Health Centers in NM is available online at the NM Alliance for School Based Health Care website: www.nmasbhc.org. The Alliance is a nonprofit organization that collaborates with other partners to promote and facilitate comprehensive, culturally competent healthcare, including health education, in schools.

Juan Estévan Arellano

When we talk about traditional healing arts we usually think of the “sobador,” masseuse; “curandera,” traditional healer; “partera,” midwife or the different types of medicinal herbs that people consume, from osha to “hierbabuena,” peppermint; or any of the many plants used for medicine by traditional cultures.

But rarely do we think about the philosophy of the people and how it relates to health, because most don’t think of uneducated people as having philosophy. But in the Indo-Hispano culture, when talking to traditional people about health or life, they always talk about “una vida buena y sana,” a sound and healthy life, to which someone will usually add, “…y alegre,” and cheerful.

And this type of philosophy is usually tied to the environment. All one has to do is look carefully at the “ordenanzas,” or ordinances that settlers had to abide by when looking for a piece of land to settle. Below are examples from Book Four of the Laws of the Indies that give us an idea of how the Spanish Crown was very concerned as to where the people were to settle, so that they could have “una vida buena y sana.”

This idea was developed by Dr. Tomás Atencio and his wife, Consuelo Pacheco, based on their work in mental health and public health, and from the oral histories gathered by asociados of La Academia de la Nueva Raza during the ‘70s and ‘80s. When looking at the health of the people, the land and water are very important, for without water nothing can be done—food can’t be grown, houses and churches built, etc. El agua es vida, water is life.

Before a particular area was selected as a settlement, certain criteria had to be met. For that we go to Book Four, Title 7, Law 1. The new settlements shall be established under the conditions of this law. [Ordinances 39 and 40]. . . In… inland settlements, the settlers shall choose the site from among those that are unoccupied, or may be occupied by Our order, without being prejudicial to the Indians or natives, unless it is with their free consent.

When they make the plan of the place, they shall divide it into its squares, streets and house-lots, marked out with straight lines, starting from the main square and proceeding from it with the streets to the entrance and principal roads.

They shall leave enough open area that, even if the settlement greatly increases, it will always be possible to follow the plan and expand in the same way.

They shall try to have water close by so that it can be conducted to the town and properties, distributing it if possible, in order to make the best use of it.

They shall try to have the materials that are needed for buildings, farmlands, cultivation, and pastures, so as to do away with the considerable labor and expenses that result when the materials are far away.

They shall not choose sites for settlement in places of very high elevation, because of troubles with the winds and the difficulty of service and transportation. Nor shall they choose sites in places of very low elevation because persons are apt to become ill.

Settlements shall be made in moderate elevations which benefit from exposure to the winds from the north and the south; and if there are mountains or hills, the settlements shall be on the east and west sides.

If high places cannot be avoided, they shall make the settlements in places where they are not subject to clouds, observing whatever is most conducive to health, and considering unforeseen circumstances that can occur. They were also to be aware of poisonous animals and water where it remained stagnant.

Elders, among them Dr. Devon G. Peña’s grandmother, Margarita K. Peña, was very philosophical when talking about seeds,“La semilla es la memoria de la planta, de como vivir bien en este lugar,” the seed is the memory of the plant, of how to live in this place.

This philosophy of wholeness, wholistic health, of “una vida buena y sana y alegre,” comes not only from where settlements should be made, but also the importance of seeds, of “la memoria de la planta,” of how to not only survive, but thrive, in a specific environment. One might call this philosophy one of “querencia,” or sense of place.

Farmer, researcher and community leader, Juan Estévan Arellano has devoted most of his life to documenting the traditional knowledge of the Indo-Hispano in northern New Mexico, especially as it relates to land and water. He has served as mayordomo of the Acequia Junta y Ciénaga in the village of Embudo, and he is the translator-editor of the bookAncient Agriculture.

Camilla Bustamante

Effective public health promotion and education requires a genuine approach and understanding that the power of healthy choice rests with the individual—an individual who is likely culturally influenced. Whitney and Rolfes (2011) identified that the strongest influences on food choice are personal preference, habit, ethnic heritage and tradition. Secondary influences are social interactions, availability and economy, positive and negative associations, emotions, values, body weight image and nutritional value. Personal preference and habit are strongly influenced by ethnic heritage and tradition. Nutritional value is reported among the least influential reasons a person would eat a certain food, and availability and economy are strong factors in the hierarchy of decision-making.

Every country, and every region in that country, has ways of combining foods into meals. Meals established by traditions of recipe, preparation and ceremony of consumption are defined collectively. Food is a part of culture and culture is a part of individual identity as a mechanism, a tool, by which heritage is established. Societal and ecological influences implicate the relation of people to place and the food system in which they participate; food is about people and place.

Diabetes is a food-related disease that can be addressed with “culturally appropriate” food options. Heritage foods elicit “I like it” and “I’m accustomed to it,” says food scientist and nutritionist, Cecelia Garcia of New Mexico State University. In a discussion with Garcia, she shared that when working with diabetics to modify food preparation she often heard statements like, “I always have red chile with my eggs,” or “I must have bread with every meal.” Garcia said that verdolagas, quelites, torta de huevo con chile rojo, and salmon are integral to her values as meals she eats during Lenten season. She added that she, as a diabetic, is able to control her diabetes through diet and still eat the traditional northern New Mexico meals. Positive associations of family and community abound with ethnic heritage foods, particularly during a specific season.

Tradition as sustainability, particularly when traditional foods were established when people were more active, requires that physical activity continue as part of the overall lifestyle. “Keeping with our food traditions and introducing more physical activity is not a bad idea. Growing a garden is not a bad idea,” Garcia said expressively. The effort of growing and preparing brings a consciousness and respect for being a part of the food we eat.

Colonization, Symbiosis and Mutuality

Michael Pollan wrote extensively on the degeneration of food in America in The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, published in 2006. It is well known that diets high in fats and simple carbohydrates are often cited as leading culprits for poor health. When evaluating culturally appropriate food, it is important to consider the influence and integration of the early Spanish menu in northern New Mexico. The Oñate inventories, available at the Special Collections Center for Southwest Research at the UNM, establish the introduction of livestock, such as sheep, pigs and cows, which increased the fat content in the Native diet. The inventory includes avas, garbanzo and fruit trees as well as other varieties that did not survive, such as olive trees and certain tropicals.

There is evidence that the early Europeans learned from their Native neighbors, particularly in the integration of the staples of the three sisters, frijoles (beans), maize (corn), and calabaza (squash) as well as chile. These are foods that were more easily preserved and available during the winter months. Native Americans integrated mutton, pork and beef into their menu. Like peoples of many cultures, they ate a tortilla speculated to have been predominantly corn until flour became more available. Though certain varieties of wheat existed, the Santa Fe Trail provided bleached flour in abundance. For approximately two centuries in northern New Mexico, in relative isolation, there were exchanges of menus and preservation practices. It is hard to attend an event in New Mexico over the holidays where posolé isn’t served. This traditional dish applies Native science, and was taught to immigrant Spanish families to prevent mold growth by storing maize concho (corn) with “cal,” otherwise known as calcium hydroxide, which made the maize “pop” when cooked. The Native Americans provided the chileand maize and the Spanish provided the meat.

Although considered by some to be a traditional Native American food, frybread is laden with cholesterol and saturated fat, and reportedly originated around 1860, when Navajos were imprisoned for a four-year period at Fort Sumner and given white flour, lard, salt, sugar and powdered milk. Today it is often found at powwows across the country.

Tradition of Health

Current knowledge about personal health maintenance through moderation and exercise, as well as viable and relevant ingredient substitutes, have re-opened the door for evaluating the culturally appropriate diet as the most viable option for health. Home grown or locally grown food further casts a net of protection, as knowledge of the origination and management of food reduces the potential for exposure to pathogens.

Foods considered part of the traditional northern New Mexico diet evolved because they were traditionally safe. Pre-canning and refrigeration, food was dried and re-hydrated and boiled for preparation. Boiling beans kills microbials.

“We are no longer as active as we were,” states Cecelia Garcia. “We need to be conscious of our more sedentary lifestyle and need to be sensitive to chronic diseases, and modify recipes and products to the extent they are going to support us… Yes, you can eat lamb; just do it in a healthy way. You don’t need to use your renderings to fry your eggs…”

Being conscious of our food and preparing it by hand makes us more aware of the ingredients and quantity. A person knows how nutritious a meal is going to be by the choices made when putting the ingredients together. Our relationships with our food and each other call for “respeto y permiso” in the interest of further mutuality and culturally appropriate community health.

Camilla Bustamante, Ph.D., MPH, is Dean of Community, Workforce and CTE at Northern New Mexico College.

Susan Guyette

We all value our brains, but do we know how to take really good care of them? With all of the news about increases in Alzheimer’s, dementia and memory problems, acceptance of a likely fate is easy to slip into. A total of 5.4 million Americans now have Alzheimer’s disease (doubled since1980) and this number is expected to be as high as 16 million by 2050 (Centers for Disease Control 2012, www.cdc.gov). Clogged arteries can cause dementia. Contributing factors are deficient diet, lack of exercise and environmental factors such as pollution and heavy metals.

The better news is the improvement possible for mental clarity and high-level functioning through excellent care of your brain. There is much we can do to nurture, restore and even slow the aging process. Why should this be of concern? Children’s brains are developing, and after adolescence we are all aging. So whether considering the future of your child’s brain or your own, improving the odds with good care and nutritional support can foster a positive, sustainable outcome in aging.

Poor nutrition, eating damaging foods, environmental toxins, inadequate sleep and lack of exercise are all factors that can contribute to rapid degeneration of the brain. How we care for our brains greatly influences mental functioning and quality of aging. Several nutritional and environmental strategies are critically important for protecting your brain.

NUTRITIONAL STRATEGIES

Nutrition is considered to be the most important factor for staying mentally fit. Recommendations of David Perlmutter, M.D. in the Better Brain Book and Kenneth Guiffre, M.D., author of The Care and Feeding Your Brain, and Jeff Victoroff, M.D. in Saving Your Brain, point the way. Keep in mind that standard recommendations for good arteries and circulation also apply to the brain, since blood to the brain is necessary to carry nutrients and oxygen.

Nutrients needed for brain support include:

Omega-3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acids (“good fats”) are essential brain food because the brain is made of fat. (Trans-fatty acids create rigid, tough, slow brain cells.) Food sources: wild salmon, grass-fed beef, fresh greens, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, Omega-3 enriched eggs. The local pursulane plant is considered a “smart food.”

Vitamin C levels are almost 15 times higher in the brain than in other areas of the body. Vitally important to brain function, Vita-C is an antioxidant necessary for the manufacture of neurotransmitters, especially acetylcholine, the most important for memory processing. Food sources: parsley, sprouts, citrus fruits, strawberries, broccoli, potatoes, kiwi, red peppers (chile!), cabbage and leafy greens (kale, dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, Swiss chard and local, wild greens).

Vitamin E is an antioxidant also, and along with the mineral selenium, neutralizes free radicals that accelerate brain aging. Vita-E prevents deterioration of the brain, but may also possibly restore damaged neurotransmitter receptor sites on neurons. Food Sources: cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, beet greens, watercress, collard greens, Swiss chard, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower), nuts and seeds, nut oils, peanut butter, wheat germ, whole wheat and other grain sprouts.

Selenium is an elemental metal with antioxidant properties, working synergistically with Vita-E. Food Sources: Brazil nuts, broccoli, brown rice, chicken, dairy products, dulse, garlic, kelp, molasses, onions, salmon, seafood, vegetables, wheat germ and whole grains.

Magnesium is a free-radical scavenger that helps increase the antioxidative power of Vita-E. Food sources: apples, blackberries, blueberries, celery, cherries, figs, grapes, oranges, lemons, limes, papaya, peas, plums, potatoes, squash and walnuts.

Carotenoids are antioxidants potent in scavenging free radicals. Food sources: carrots, sprouts, apricots, sweet potatoes, spinach, celery, squash, red peppers, tomatoes, oranges and kale.

Vitamin B12 is considered “brain food,” for it is involved in the synthesis of methionine needed for protein synthesis, which produces the protective sheath that surrounds neurons and enables them to record and retrieve memory. Food sources: sea vegetables (dulse, kelp, kombu, nori), soybeans, eggs, meats, brewer’s yeast, mackerel, herring, dairy products and seafood.

Water is important (those eight glasses a day) for keeping the brain hydrated, critical for functioning and transporting nutrients.

Nutrients that scavenge free radicals are highly beneficial since these waste-products bind to proteins, membranes, DNA and the protein enzymes that help repair DNA—weakening the cells, impairing cell function and shortening cell life—causing impaired brain function and even cell death. Antioxidants absorb or scavenge free radicals.

Foods to avoid include fish with high mercury content (think big), fatty cuts of meat, fried foods, refined grains and starches (think white), bad fats, caffeine, high-sugar condiments, added sugar beverages, sugars and artificial sweeteners, and snack foods loaded with sugar and bad fats. Instead eat whole, natural foods.

While supplements are important, they are additions to eating the right foods (whole, nutritious, non-processed) as a first strategy. Supplements most often recommended include B vitamins, selenium, acetyl-L-carnitine, lecithin, ginko biloba, ginseng, vitamins C and E. Many traditional medicines recommend herbs as well.

AVOIDING ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS

The central connection is that all neurological disease begins with free radicals and inflammation. Neurotoxins off-gassing from synthetic chemicals in our everyday environments impair brain function by adding to inflammation and storing chemicals in fatty tissue.

Pesticides are neurotoxins— hey kill insects by destroying their nervous systems. As larger creatures we are not killed instantly, however, human nervous systems are impacted. There is a clear link between exposure to pesticides and increased risk for Parkinson’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), as well as other neurological diseases. Additionally, pesticides contain heavy metals.

Electromagnetic Fields: EMF given off by cell phones, televisions, computers, microwave ovens and close proximity to power lines can alter cellular metabolism and be toxic to the brain. An excellent source of information is Anticancer: The Instinct to Heal by David Servan-Schreiber, M.D.

AVOIDING HEAVY METALS

Aluminum: There is an abnormally high concentration of aluminum in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, up to 30 times more than the normal level. Even though there is some debate as to whether this aluminum is from absorbed sources or occurs in the brains of these patients, choosing aluminum-free products is the safe alternative. Sources of excess aluminum are: baking powder, antacids, drinking water, deodorants, shampoo, cookware and processed food. Avoiding eating canned food and soft drinks may reduce aluminum intake.

Lead is a neurotoxin particularly harmful to children’s learning and behavior and can also affect adult mental performance.

Mercury, a neurotoxin, is found in large fish and amalgams in teeth.

GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP

Sleep is important for avoiding memory problems, impaired concentration and difficulty coping with minor irritations. Why? Sleep deprivation reduces the time the brain needs to do “housecleaning,” such as taking up serotonin and norepinephrine, and processing memory traces from the day important to retention. Time length as well as quality of sleep affects our getting through all four sleep stages adequately in a night.

In summary, brain zappers include poor nutrition (most often from eating processed food), environmental toxins, alcohol, bad fats (trans and saturated), excess protein, heavy metals, sugars, coffee, cigarettes, a sedentary lifestyle, as well as stress. Brain boosters are: eating the brain support foods, eating organically, exercising to increase circulation, mental stimulation to the brain, relaxation, adequate sleep and meditation.

The downward slide nationally of good brain health is connected with eating the products of big agribiz, toxins in everyday products and the environment, as well as overuse of the pharmaceutical industry. Although memory loss and incidence of Alzheimer’s at an earlier age continues to rise, many solutions for good brain health are within reach. Whether your interest is in avoiding diseases of the brain or in just being sharper, every day, good brain care is worth the time.

Hey, we need to keep our brains to come up with solutions for the adaptation!

Better Brain Trail Mix

Walnuts

Brazil nuts

Pumpkin seeds

Sunflower seeds

Raisins

Dried apples or apricots

Susan Guyette, Ph.D. is Métis (Micmac Indian and Acadian French) and a planner specializing in cultural centers, cultural tourism and native foods. She is the co- author of Zen Birding: Connect in Nature and the author of Planning for Balanced Development (www.santafeplanning.com)

Michele Rozbitsky

Humanity is in the midst of a great evolutionary time. We are nearing the end of 25 years of purification that began in 1987 during what is known as the Harmonic Convergence. It is a chance to evolve to the more conscious way of living spoken of by the Hopi, Maya and many other indigenous cultures. We have been experiencing a great amplification of the polarities of the dark and the light, the negative and positive, and the great energies of destruction and creation.

Many have been experiencing being pushed to the edge of their sanity to deal with the demands and changes of this evolutionary vortex as we near the winter solstice paradigm shift of 2012, which will require humanity to take a leap in consciousness unlike any other experienced on the planet.

According to many Mayan elders, the solstice of December 2012 is the epicenter of the alignment back to zero point, to Source, and a chance to rebirth to a higher level of consciousness. This date begins the possibility of a Great Cycle of wisdom, harmony, peace, love and the return of natural order. This won’t occur overnight, and there are cycles of preparatory initiations to assist us in resolving the old way of being. But the outcome is truly up to humanity.

The spiritual impetus to evolve and take more responsibility for what we create is affecting all aspects of life, from the psyches of humanity to our society, our religions, our governments, and in the natural environment we call home. But it all begins with our inner work. It has been stated in many prophecies that the “Great Change Times” would be coming, and we have a choice as to how the changes will be carried out.

The waves of the unconscious and shadow realms and the deep secrets of humanity are entering conscious life. The spiritual barriers that have kept the negative energies in the underworlds are being broken open as Mother Earth twists and turns, responding to her own evolution, releasing all forms of negativity from her elements and cellular structure. Humanity is being pushed to respond to the breaking open of these long held negative patterns and emotions.

We are being stretched to our limits to release our cataclysmic fears and trust our ability to create another more positive outcome. It is time to connect once again with our instinctual natures and the natural forces of Mother Nature, and to make a leap in consciousness, a paradigm shift unlike any we have ever been able to make in any previous era. This takes place by working on ourselves in very deep ways. As we heal, we heal the world.

In order for healing to occur we must ask the big questions: Are we willing to bare our souls in honesty and truth when it is time to look at ourselves in the mirror of self-reflection? Can we love ourselves and others back to wholeness? It is time to gather and heal the energies and lessons learned from the hidden parts of our psyches, as well as from the collective unconscious of our ancestors, our religions and our countries, and then to bring all back into harmony and wholeness, so we can move forward in a profoundly new way of being. We are being asked to operate from a much more divinely aware part of our beings.

To the Q’ero, the descendants of the Inca of Peru, we are in the Great Cycle of the Taripay Pacha, the “Age of Meeting Ourselves Again,” a Golden Age during which we can step more fully into our energetic, spiritual bodies.

Many techniques and processes that can facilitate this work with the spiritually unseen forces are appearing and being shared within the human experience. Some examples are shamanic healing techniques, meditation, healing ceremonies, Reiki, Chi-Gong, chakra clearing, Light Body, DNA activation and breathwork, to name but a few. It is becoming more natural for people to acknowledge and work with these energies in the quest for personal growth.

In my 20-plus years as a psychotherapist and shamanic practitioner, working in alignment with the healing forces of Earth and sky of Santa Fe and the surrounding area, I have never seen such an amazing increase in the energies that are available for individuals to heal and transform at very deep and core levels, with much less processing and more profound rapid change as I have in the last few years.

The Light that is present in the Santa Fe area for both artists and healers, and the many ceremonies going on by people of all colors and spiritual paths, visits of medicine people from all over the world, as well as the presence of so many types of healing modalities and the directive to keep working on one’s self, in the view of many of us, makes Santa Fe the mini healing capital of the United States.

A Kahuna (Hawaiian medicine man) friend called me recently and shared a vision he had that Santa Fe had reached “the state of empty” and was ready for renewal. He said that there were sites known and unknown in and surrounding the town that need to be activated in order to open up the area to access even greater levels of healing energy. “The healing powers do not just come from the healers,” he said, “but also from the sacred Earth we live upon. They need to be worked with and not taken for granted.” He will be coming to Santa Fe to collaborate on this the week before spring equinox.

Hopi prophecy says that whatever occurs in the “Four Corners” area, from which they believe the present world we are in was birthed, profoundly affects our awakening into the next era.

So it is most important that we realize that we are in the time where we truly can become more conscious co-creators of our reality, with the use of our greater imagination and higher minds, and without the baggage of the past’s limitations, as we align with the spiritual energies awakening humanity and our beloved planet.

It is not always necessary to experience internal and external earthquakes to shake up the old paradigm that no longer serves humanity. We can make the shift by consciously working on ourselves. If we focus on healing now, the growth pains of this great paradigm shift can be more grace-filled.

Michele Rozbitsky, MALPCC, is a psychotherapist, shamanic practitioner, teacher and ceremonialist working in Santa Fe and long distance. She is the author of Journey to the Fifth World: Coming Full Circle in Healing and Transformation, a book that relates a healing path to and through 2012. You can see her on the OWN website on the Healing Dirt of Chimayo episode of Miracle Detectives by going to the links page of her website at www.journeytothefifthworld.com. For information on sessions, groups or workshops, contact her at earthstar3@earthlink.net

Michele is on the development committee for the September 13-17 Seed Graduate Institute conference on 2012, Wisdom from the Origins, in Albuquerque. The conference will feature many indigenous elders. For information, call 505.792.2900 or visit www.seedgraduateinstitute.org

Tori Lee

Blasts from the conch shell still reverberate in the ears. Copal smoke used in energy cleansings and healing wafts upwards, carrying the intentions of healers and learners who strive to impart and receive knowledge from nature. A soft drumbeat accompanies the sweet aroma of the smoke as it finds its way to the spirits of Earth and sky.

“The planet cannot wait any longer,” says Dr. Arturo Ornelas, Director of La Tranca Institute of Healing in Cuernavaca, Mexico. “We must begin to address environmental and human health problems holistically, not piecemeal. We must look to the natural world for healing.” Yet, in many cases we have lost the ability to speak with and listen to messages of healing from the natural world. Nature has given us the plants and the techniques to heal ourselves, but communication has broken down. Dr. Ornelas and many curanderismo healers consider the present time to be an important period of transformation, one in which people must re-imagine patterns of organized religion, education and medicine to become more holistic and humane.

One of the most sustainable, community-based healthcare models is curanderismo, folk-healing by trained healers who teach others how to help themselves using readily available objects, the body’s own energies, and various medicinal plants. This is often a viable approach for delivering basic healthcare to poor and/or rural populations with limited access to (or comfort with) modern Western allopathic medicine.

The Curanderismo Healing Festival and Workshop, held during the summer at the Institute for American Indian Art’s Center for Lifelong Education in Santa Fe, brings together two dozen healers from Centro de Desarrollo Humano hacia la Comunidad (CEDEHC) with homeopathic healthcare practitioners from the Southwest. CEDEHC is a Cuernavaca, Mexico-based training center for traditional Mayan and Aztec medicine. Everyone in attendance at the healing fair is there to share, teach, learn and transform hearts and minds; in short, to help people heal themselves, while recognizing the need to respect and regenerate the natural world, upon which our collective survival depends.

According to Dr. Allen Elkin, 80 percent or more of all general doctor office visits in the US are stress-related. The cost of stress-related illnesses, stress-induced chronic conditions, mental health issues and lost wages and productivity due to excessive absences, as well as the personal and social cost of stress and depression, run into billions of dollars annually. One of every six women in this country regularly takes prescribed anti-depressants. According to curanderismo tradition, much of this suffering and expense can be eliminated through energy cleansing and rebalancing remedies and techniques. This means that in many cases there is no need for expensive, inaccessible insurance-driven healthcare that treats only the symptoms of disease, not the totality of an individual. Curanderismo healing allows an individual to participate actively in one’s own healing and rebalancing of physical, mental and spiritual energies.

The Curanderismo Healing Festival has taken place in Santa Fe for the past three summers, but 2011 marked the first time a week-long healing workshop was held there. At the sessions over the weekend prior to the workshop, curanderismo healers offer their expertise to hundreds of local residents. Sobadores or sobadoras provide various types of massage to relieve stress and rebalance internal organs so that anger no longer resides in the liver, nor fear in the lungs. Using a heated glass cup applied to the skin to relieve stress, the massage helps the body heal itself. Other massage techniques stimulate the immune system to promote long-term healing. A curanderismo healer carefully and sympathetically reads the person and then acts accordingly. By listening with the heart, a healer learns how to sense another body, including that body’s imbalances, whether physical or emotional. Healers also perform limpias or cleansings using raw eggs or healing plants. [Personal disclosure: I have moderate arthritis in my left hip and knee. Walking up stairs is sometimes troublesome. Walking down stairs is painful and occasionally not possible. After one limpias treatment using a raw egg to remove toxins from my body, I walked down two flights of stairs pain-free and without breaking stride.]

One of the most powerful forms of energy cleansing is susto to treat emotional shock or fright. The healer uses medical plants such as purple sage to sweep away negativity from the body. This healing technique is said to be of great benefit to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in great emotional and physical pain. Susto is also used to benefit victims of sexual and other types of physical and emotional assault. Curandera master herbalist Maestra Doris mixes herbal remedies based on the unique needs of each person who comes to her for healing.

At last year’s curanderismo workshop, participants learned about medicinal plants and their uses. The Aztecs had a pharmacy of over 1,200 medicinal plants. Most interesting was instruction from curandera/herbalist Albertana Sanchez Flores on how to develop connections with the natural world to transfer the plant’s healing properties to the person in need. Communicating with the healing essence of a plant allows the healer to use whatever plants are locally available, even if that plant is not normally used to treat the specific condition presented. The healing intentions of both healer and seeker are of primary importance.

Workshop students also were taught how to make tinctures using the empacho technique to heal problems in the digestive system, including various eating disorders such as stomach cramps and excessive weight gain or loss. Students also learned how to prepare herbal remedies to dissipate the negative energy one may experience from mal de ojo or evil eye, which occurs when external factors cause pronounced physical and spiritual imbalance in another individual. Many of these healing techniques can be adapted to treat babies and young children. All of the medicinal plants used in instruction are readily available in Santa Fe.

As additional information on curanderismo events in Santa Fe and Albuquerque in 2012 becomes available, it will be posted on the website: http://curanderismo.unm.edu

Tori Lee is a freelance writer and would-be farmer in Pojoaque, NM. She writes on topics pertaining to social justice, sustainability and animal welfare.

Susan Waterman

One of the greatest gifts of a garden and from nature is the healing power of flowers. Flower essences, imbued with the gentle subtle energies of the flowers and Mother Earth, are a readily accessible form of nature’s healing potency. Flower essences are a portal from nature into feeling comfortable with oneself and with others. They are made from freshly harvested blossoms, and the “active” element is the energetic imprint infused into pure water.

Flower essences help harmonize a wide of range disturbing energy patterns and sustain emotional and physical well-being. For example, there are particular essences that help release fear; others relieve stress, help foster harmonious relationships or a calm passage through major life changes. Unlike herbal medicines and essential oils, flower essences contain only miniscule amounts of physical components from the plant source. Flower essences work according to their subtle energetic patterns, their life forces made available in potentized solutions.

In contrast, herbal medicines are made from the roots, stems, leaves and flowers of plants. The part that is used depends on the medicine and the source plant. The actual plant parts are processed into powders, teas, extracts and tinctures, depending on the plant and the application. Specific compounds and molecules are active and effective in the extracts. Essential oils are usually harvested by distillation from leaves and flowers to collect concentrated aromatic oils for various healing applications.

Flower essences can be made from flowers harvested from the wild or from garden-grown plants cultivated under pristine conditions. The 38 Bach Flower Remedies are the best-known flower essences. Dr. Edward Bach discovered the first three flowers for his remedies in 1928 along the Usk River in South Wales. His research in bacteriology and homeopathy led to his understanding that a particular illness could sometimes be explained as a physical response to a negative emotional state. Ultimately, his research led him to discover the remedies. Each remedy embodied a positive energy pattern that could harmonize or resolve a negative emotional state, often restoring physical as well as emotional health. Since Dr. Bach’s discoveries, several hundred flower essences have been described and are now available from different parts of the world.

Detailed study of the forms and gestures of plants and flowers reveals that each type of flower contains a quality that corresponds to a human emotion. The patterns of the flowers can be felt as life forces in nature and as observable physical characteristics. The close observation process unfolds through a personal interaction with each plant. “Flowers are the outward expressions of particular patterns of life force, patterns which express themselves in us as thoughts and feelings” (Julian Barnard, Bach Flower Remedies, the Essence Within). Having the direct experience of studying a plant enhances the use of the flower essence as a healing agent. The experience reflects the energy pattern that is the healing factor of the flower in the potentized water. It is this energetic essence that harmonizes and heals a negative emotional state and a concurrent physical manifestation.

Flower essences are easy to prepare. Beginning the process with a few moments of quiet or a simple meditation helps create a receptive state before working with the flowers. The energies of the flowers are captured in water by exposure to full sun in the garden or in the field where they are harvested. The day should be clear, sunny and calm. Harvest the flowers in the morning. Fill a glass or crystal bowl with about two cups (500 ml) of pure water (no chlorine or fluoride here). Snip the blooms from the plant and float them immediately in the water – avoid contact with your hand by allowing the flowers to drop directly into the water or carry them on a leaf. Use enough flowers to cover the surface of water.

The bowl should remain at the harvest site in full sun for three-to-four hours, or less if the blooms start to fade. When the flowers have transferred their healing potency to the water, remove the blossoms with a twig or stem of a plant. Mix the potentized water with an equal amount of brandy as a preservative. It is important to boil all glassware for 20 minutes prior to use. The source remedies are ultimately diluted two drops to 30 ml of brandy, a dilution of about 1:400. Combinations of three-to-six essences (two drops each in 30 ml) of several flowers can be useful in addressing a particular condition of un-ease. Generally four dropsfour times a day under the tongue is a standard dosage. The essences can also be sprayed in the mouth or in the environment.

A number of flowers that grow well in the high desert have been well described as flower essences. Chicory, Rock rose () and Mustard are Bach remedies. Chamisa, Cosmos, Dandelion, Echinacea, Evening Primrose , Manzanita, Mullein, Nasturtium and Yarrow are just a few that have also been used extensively to make flower essences, each addressing a specific state of un-ease.

Julian Barnard, in his book Bach Flower Remedies: the Essence Within, described the preparation for each of the 38 Bach Remedies. There are a number of online sources for flower essence information. The Flower Essence Society in Nevada City, Calif. offers extensive examples of plant studies and information on numerous essences on their website, www.fesflowers.com.

Susan Waterman has a Ph.D. in botany and over 25 years of experience in sustainable agriculture. For more info, visit www.harvestbyhand Questions? Email susan@harvestbyhand.com