Coconut Cardamon Granola

Homemade granola is easy to make, and can be far more delicious and healthy than the store-bought variety. You can customize it to your needs, tastes, and desires... and the process of making it tends to make the kitchen and living abode smell amazing. I don't remember where I originally procured the below recipe, but it's one of my favorites. When I don't have one of the ingredients on-hand, or if I'm just feeling experimental (which is often the case), I just add or subtract ingredients at will, while keeping approximate proportions in balance. Have fun, and enjoy! 

Coconut Cardamon Granola 

1. Mix dry ingredients: 

- 2 C whole oats 

- 1 C coconut flakes 

- 1 C pumpkin seeds 

- 1/2 C almonds 

and spices: 

- 1.5 tsp cardamon powder

- 1 tsp cinnamon 

2. Mix wet ingredients separately: 

- 1/3 C honey (or your sweetener of choice--- adjust sweetness to taste) 

- 1/4 C melted coconut oil (or oil of choice- adjust fattiness to taste) 

- 2 T maple syrup

- 1/2 tsp vanilla 

3. Pour the wet group over the dry group, and mix. 

4. Bake at 275 F for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes 

5. Let cool. Store in an airtight container. Does not need refrigeration, but eat in a timely fashion. YUM! 

Oils, dried herbs, and incense added to my shop

I just added various Herbal Oils to my online shop, along with some dried herbs: Roses, White Sage, and an incense blend. Enjoy! 

http://linjiling.bigcartel.com/product/arnica-pain-relief-salve

Giraud Peak

​No words or photos can effectively convey the depth of this trip: the epicness of the landscape, the open rawness ​of my heart, the depths at which I was blasted open, again and again, and then wholed in ways that I couldn't even have dreamed imaginable. 

Giraud. When I walked away this time, crying tears of joy, hope, and gratitude, I promised to hold the image and feeling of this special mountain with me, as I continue climbing mountains for the rest of my life. 

I am grateful for life. I am grateful to struggle, dance, laugh, play, love, die, and live again, diving deep into the dark, to emerge even more brightly into the light. I am grateful to know what being fully alive feels like for me. 

My face sun-burnt and entire body sore, screaming with exhaustion and delight, I hop from stone to stone, my feet light, my body buoyant. As I leap up, I am in flight: a bird, borne of freedom, uplifted on the wind. As I land down, feet initially pointed to grab a good grip on the stone, then knees bending to gracefully drop myself, plumb line through the spine, weight sinking down through my feet, completely solid, deer-like, graceful, earthen, weighted. I laugh and cry into the stones and Earth, this Earth that holds my blood, knows my tears, and sing songs of gratitude, freedom, wholeness, and being. This song of being, this dance of simultaneous knowing and questioning, the cycles pulling faster and faster as the knowing lies within the questioning, my breath leaping and landing with my body across the stones, my thoughts taking flight with the descending clouds, my heart floats across the pure alpine lake, meandering down the streams, down and down to the Ocean, into the heart of the Earth, to evaporate back up to the Sky. I dropped down from this Sky, once upon a time, to land, gentle footed and singing, upon this Earth. 

I don't know where exactly, but I do know, "Up."

And once "up" has been achieved, then there is, "Down."

One foot after another, I leap... and pray. 

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(Below are 31 of the 300 images that I made, on this magnificent August trip. The images are made on an iPhone, thus perhaps grainy. If you can, I'd go explore the Sierra Nevadas, in person. They are truly breath-taking, and beyond photography. I hope that my journey, though I left out the details (too personal), may inspire and inform a bit of your own life journeys, the mountains that you climb, as well. Solstice blessings, my friend.) 

Jiling Botanicals

I just started a small online store, to sell my hand-heart-Earth-made botanical products and functional art! 

http://www.linjiling.bigcartel.com

I'll update on this blog whenever I add something new. 

Enjoy! 

Nourishing Infusions

A cup of hot tea can uplift a cold day. Small amounts of plants steeped in hot water for a few minutes make teas which can be delicious, but are not as potent as infusions. Infusions are larger amounts of plants steeped in hot water for a longer period of time. They extract more plant constituents, and can be used medicinally or nutritively, depending on the plant infused. Overnight infusions of nutritive food-like plants, plants that contain beneficial vitamins, minerals, and other supportive elements, can be an excellent addition to any self- care practice.

The standard ratio for making infusions is one ounce of dried plants (weight), to one quart of hot water (volume). If you don’t wish to measure out your plant material, then you can just grab a handful of plants. Grab more of lighter plant materials (such as leaves and flowers), and less of heavier plant materials (such as roots and bark). Add the plants to a quart jar, then fill the jar with freshly boiled water. Cover with an airtight lid, then let it sit overnight. In the morning, strain out the plant material, composting it back into the Earth. The remaining infusion can be drunk slowly throughout the day, reheated and drunk, or refrigerated and ingested slowly through a few days, based on your needs and preferences. Infusions, depending on the plant, can keep in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Here’s some suggestions for plants to create nourishing overnight infusions. There’s a *star next to the plants that grow around here (southern AZ) as weeds, or you can easily cultivate.

Energetically drying (many of these are mildly astringent or diuretic):

*Nettles leaf (Urtica dioica)

*Red clover blossoms (Trifolium pratense)

Raspberry leaves (Rubus spp.)

*Rose leaves and petals (Rosa spp.)

Energetically neutral:

*Oatstraw (Avena sativa)

Violet leaves and flowers (Viola spp.)

Energetically moistening (nutritive demulcents):

*Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila)

*Mallow leaves, roots, and flowers (Malva spp. and Althaea spp.)

Borage flowers (Borago officinalis)

Linden flowers (Tilia americana)

Nourishing infusions are best made with one plant at a time, to deeply understand that plant, and how it affects the individual. Once that base relationship has been established, then other plants may be added into the infusion. Energetically drying plants can be balanced by nutritive demulcents, for example. Different plants, with their different properties, can be artfully combined to create nourishing masterpieces to ingest, enjoy, and celebrate life, and our intimate relationships with the plant world.

(References: Kiva Rose and Susun Weed
Second photo credit: Teaching Drum Outdoor School) 

Reflection and digestion

Winter is a time of reflection and digestion of the year's experiences. Describe some of this year's highlights and challenges. What have you learned? How have you grown? What are you carrying into next year, and what are you leaving behind? 

Choose three words to sum up the experiences of this past year. 

Now, choose three words to encapsulate your intentions for next year. 

Warming up the Cold Season

Here’s two of my favorite cold season drinks to help warm you up from the inside out: fire cider from the Northeastern Appalachians, and Chai tea from India. Both of these drinks have their basic set of ingredients. But, like any good recipe, they gain character as you experiment with and personalize them. Enjoy! 

Fire cider was given its name, due to its fiery spicy contents, usually infused in apple cider vinegar. Simply fill a glass jar with equal parts of chopped up garlic, ginger, onions, horseradish, and cayenne or hot peppers. You can then add whatever herbs you may wish to infuse, such as bitters (ie. Burdock or Dandelion root), or berries (ie. Jujube dates or Manzanita berries). Just make sure that it’s mostly the base ingredients, so that it’s still spicy hot. Then, pack it all down with a fork, and cover with raw apple cider vinegar, with an extra inch of vinegar above the herbs. You can also add raw honey, for an extra anti-microbial, nutritive, and sweet boost. Let sit for 2 weeks, strain, then rebottle. Label, “Fire Cider” with red marker, and drink a shot glass full everyday as a general circulatory stimulant, digestive stimulant, and cold-season immune tonic. You can also integrate fire cider into your food in other ways, such as via salad dressing. Play with how many peppers or horseradishes you add, to modulate the heat to your preference. 

Taking the train all over India, I became accustomed to the sound of the Chai-vendor screaming, “Chai-ya, Chai-ya, Chai-ya!” in most towns I passed through. The basic ingredients of Chai include Cinnamon, Cardamon, Ginger, Clove, and Black Pepper. All of these plants are energetically warming, or circulatory stimulants, and digestive stimulants too. I like to mix other herbs into my Chai blends, depending on my desired herbal actions. Here’s one of my favorite recipes, developed by my friend and fellow herbalist, Lauren Stauber. This blend includes relaxing and uplifting Rose, decadent and sensual Cacao, and anti-inflammatory Tumeric, for an anti-oxidant, circulatory stimulating, digestive, and delicious Chai blend.

(Ingredients are listed in parts by volume, or proportions)

Cacao Tumeric Rose Chai

Rose petals 1 part

Cacao nibs 1 part

Cinnamon 1 part

Ginger 1/2-1 part to taste

Licorice 1/2-1 part to taste

Cardamon pod, crushed 1/8 part

Clove 1/8 part

Black pepper 1/8 part

Nutmeg (optional)

Tumeric powder, add 1/4-1/2 tsp per T of herbs

Decoct (simmer) 1 T herbs plus Turmeric per 1 C liquid, via the double-boiler method: fill a cup with liquid, set that into a pot of water, and boil the whole thing. Use full or up to 1/2-diluted dairy or nut milk to decoct herbs into. Add a spoonful of coconut fat, butter, or other oil to a less fatty milk, as this concoction needs fat, to be most effective. Simmer on a low flame for 10 – 20 minutes, covered. Strain, and sweeten with honey if you wish. Enjoy staying warm through the cold season!

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(photo by Joy Kudasik from the last day of class with 7song last year, at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine) 

(re)MO(ve)MENT(al)

A prayer. Sparrows, butterflies, ravens, hawks, turkey vultures soar overhead. I'm sitting where, a few weeks ago, I saw a Diamondback Rattlesnake stretched across the road, in the backcountry behind town, wedged between Mount Raisin and Red Mountain, surrounded by golden waving grasses, dirt, stones, and sand of multiple hues between tannish white and peachy orange. Junipers and Acacias, Yuccas and Mesquites, and a blue true dream of sky that yes, encapsulates my sitting here under it, on coppery Earthen soil, a road that I've walked on before, and today walked to--- the low guttural caw of ravens, awkwardly riding the thermals, with one graceful hawk soaring far above them, gliding with nary a wing movement, every so often the subtlest angling of wings or tailfeathers, to direct the air. Deer in the forest, nibbling neon green fresh grass growth, fresh grass under cover of mesquites, oaks, and sycamores, streamsides, hilly, vines hanging, herbs underfoot. I smile as I run through here, then slow to savor and appreciate it--- reminds me of other forests I love, this small one that I jogged down the dried river bed to get to, who I've not yet even known for one season, but already find familiar and comforting, in its abundance of shady trees, and plant life. Here now, hillside--- surrounded by grass and sky, no covering trees shading, supporting, protecting, hiding. Naked sky, bright blue, completely exposed. Ravens cawing excitedly, sparrows' alarm call, the final cicada, one headless fly, then another. Sudden realization/ appreciation of where I currently am. Sun warming back, hunger in belly, parched throat, gentle breeze, the smell of dirt with every inhale. I could walk forever. I could stop and sit here forever. Anything could happen at any moment--- this stillness is pregnant with possibility, the birdsong and wind echoing into forever, a slight whiff of some sweet final remnant of summer on the wind, the overwhelming dryness, the golden hues surrounding me, resplendent against the blue sky mystery that wraps us all. What hope? Where? Deer strutting through the forest, one leg in front of the other, proud yet aware, and cautious. Creaking trees, swaying in the wind. Seeds buoyed by their pappus parachutes, drifting to lands distant, neighboring, or both to replant. One little seed bulging with all the genetic material to create a whole new plant, more seeds. Purple butterfly, encircling my head, then away down the road. Biting fly. Onwards.