Today I’m interviewing Vera Duhart – she talks about her family’s Gullah Ancestry and the traditional African American herbalism called Hoodoo.
Vera's Family is from the Sea Islands, USA – Picture Google Images Creative Commons Wikipedia
This interview is really a conversation between two friends and you’re listening in. It's another great interview and I learned so much. I was asked a question, what is herbalism? The listener knew about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) but didn't know much more than that.
I explained herbalism is a general term and can be a part of folk, traditional and ancestral medicine using plant and naturally grown ingredients such as roots, bark, mushrooms, leaves, flowers, etc., for general health or treating illness. It's also been referred to as folk medicine, a system of knowledge, beliefs, and religious practices related to a particular culture or group.
Think of herbalism as a general term similar to the word medicine. We know there are specialties—orthopedics, neurology, GI, gynecology, etc.
Herbalism is similar – there is Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM – originating in, yes, China. There is Ayurveda which originated in India. There is Native American etc.
Some traditions, such as western herbalism, are now a blend of many ancient traditions here in the United States. Native American, Shaker, Appalachia, with some old-world European influences.
Because of the intense European colonization, the indigenous people and their tradition(s) either have become extinct or what's left wasn't well documented, and researchers have spent decades filling in the gaps for the rituals and recipes.
When slaves were brought to the US their beliefs and healing practices came with them. there were no doctors on the islands and the slaves had to heal themselves. This is how Hoodoo Medicine became part of the Gullah culture. Picture Google Images Creative Commons Wikipedia
Hoodoo Herbalism is one of those traditions that is slowly being lost. Thankfully there are some researchers who have done some research on Hoodoo and other slave medicine traditions.
Vera enlightens us on her Mother's traditions – she also blows my mind with an old recipe that has an ingredient that one would assume was for the spiritual part the healing ritual – but instead actually has healing properties.
Book by Faith Mitchell – picture by Brenda J. Sullivan
Bottle Tree – Its thought it originated in the Congo. Slaves created bottle trees – mostly using blue bottles to trap the spirits inside the bottle at night. When the sun came up the spirits couldn't find their way out and would be burned by the sun. Picture Google Images Creative Commons
Vera shares her memory of her Mother and Grandmother adding spider webs to a cold and flu drink to help reduce a fever. Picture Canva
Have you ever heard of using cobwebs in your herbal preparation? Well, as you hear neither did I. According to Vera, this was a common ingredient in her Mother and Grandmother's herbal tool kit.
Wanting to learn more, I did some research on this unusual ingredient. I first asked my fellow herbal colleagues at the Herbal Academy. This is an international group, and there are thousands of us attending classes. Using cobwebs for stomach wounds but using it for fevers, the answer was no.
Then I received a message from a woman on the other side of the world who gave me a link to a website mentioning a document from a doctor in 1860. This led me to the original publication called the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science. A European doctor, by the name of Robert Jackson, wrote about his research on reducing fevers in British Soldiers in the West Indies. One of his experiments was using cobwebs for the purpose to reduce fevers.
Section N – Cob-Web of A Sketch of The History And Cure of Febrile Diseases citing Dr. Jacksons research using cob-webs to reduce fevers.
On page 259 section N Cob-webs in the section, Dr. Jackson writes that he met the late Dr. Gillespie of Edinburgh who mentioned the use of cobwebs for treating fevers in 1801 with some success. So he decided to do some research to prove Dr. Gillespie's claims.
During this time period, the British were at their height of the slave trade, and The West Indies, especially Barbados had the largest slave harbor in the islands. One can assume, these doctors learned about the benefits of using cobwebs to reduce fevers from the indigenous people on the islands.
Historically we know it was a common practice for researchers to claim credit for other people's work/ideas especially if they are people of color. This appears to be no different.
Life Histories of Edisto Island, South Carolina: Interviews from the files of Federal Writers' Project 1936 to 1940 by Chalmers S. Murray and Margaret Wilkinson – https://amzn.to/3swq07Q
Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African-American Healing by Michele E. Lee – https://amzn.to/3sy1SSb
Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo: Limpias Espirituales of Ancient Mesoamerican Shamans by Erika Buenaflor, MA.,JD https://amzn.to/2Oa23Eh
Healing with Herbs and Rituals A Mexican Tradition by Eliseo “Cheo” Torres https://amzn.to/3q2ongD
Show Sponsor
Farm to Bath| Our philosophy is to live a locally focused naturally beautiful life, a lifestyle choice that is infused into the products we make. The ingredients are locally grown and/or acquired and are as basic and pure as nature itself. Each bar is full of fragrant aromatics that provide a rich moisturizing lather with no artificial colors or preservatives added – naturally beautiful!
https://www.farmtobath.com/
My Garden Journal: A How To Garden Book For Kids| Gardening is a learned skill – everyone has to start somewhere, and a journal provides the best way to improve your gardening skills to ensure more successes and fewer failures.
The intent of this journal is to simultaneously teach basic gardening techniques while providing a place to record your journey with important information about the “how, when, and where” to grow food and flowers.
There are suggestions on themed gardens such as “A Harry Potter Garden”, “A Young Chef's Garden”, or a “Monarch Butterfly Superhero Garden” for budding Naturalists and places to either sketch or photograph your plants to remember their appearance for the next growing season.
You'll be amazed at how much you will learn by journaling about your garden!
Music
A special thank you to Gene Tullio for writing and producing this music. He has given me special permission to use this song for the show.
Gene's music can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. For more information please contact him at dreamshipmusic@gmail.com
Album: The Dreamship| The Forge Of Life| Copyright 2018
Social Media Links
Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We would love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.
Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We’d love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.
Bettylou Sandy Owner of Bettylou Organic Gardening, Manchester CT. Picture used with permission
Today I’m interviewing Bettylou Sandy, owner of Bettylou’s Gardening. She is a gardening consultant who loves to help others with their gardening.
Bettylou is also the Garden Coordinator for Spruce Street Community Garden and does historical gardening and history at the Cheney Homestead Museum in Manchester CT.
Bettylou is a treasure trove of information – so make sure you grab a notebook and take notes, or scroll down this blog and download her class notes.
Bettylou covers a wide range of topics – here are just a few she discusses.
Testing soil fertility – offering several different methods – scientific and folk methods.
Easy plants to grow and shortcuts
A Cool trick to growing potatoes that blew my mind!
A simple technique to keeping mosquitos from laying eggs on rainwater
Environmentally-friendly bug spray that will protect your plants from getting eaten.
If you think the season has already passed you buy – think again Bettylou has an answer for that as well!
I hope you enjoy the interview.
Personal Update:
Hubby in quarantine and isolation waiting for COVID test results. So he's sitting outside reading to our daughter who is sitting in the doorway. Picture by Brenda J. Sullivan
Things in my household are calming down. Its been about a week and a half now since our COVID scare (aka the Black Plague!)
Honestly, it was one of the most stressful and scariest weeks I’ve had in a very long time and I don't want to repeat that anytime soon.
The good news, we got through the weekend without calling an ambulance. Thanks to my herbal studies, I had prepared several herbal remedies for treating symptoms for cold and flu – plus I was glad I had a large bottle of Tylenol on hand.
We had 5 days where we were basically on our own with no medical support, although I did call the doctor's office COVID Hotline a couple of times to make sure I was treating his high fevers properly.
On Tuesday, my husband finally had his medical-zoom call with his doctor getting the results of his chest x-ray and first COVID test.
My pot of chicken soup full of immune boosting vegetables, herbs and medicinal mushrooms like Reishi Mushrooms. Picture by Brenda J. Sullivan
Over the weekend, I made lots of tea, a huge pot of chicken soup, and decanted several jars of immune-boosting, antiviral/antibacterial herbs that had been soaking in alcohol for 6 weeks or more. I had a few surprises on what worked and what took time to see improvements. I also did a little tweaking of recipes.
Good news, after 3 COVID tests he (2)/ me (1) (yes, I got tested too!) we were negative. The final diagnosis for Hubby is a mild case of pneumonia! I have to say that although I was sorry he was sick – I was thrilled to know it was pneumonia. I can deal with pneumonia because there are TIME TESTED TREATMENTS!!! There is nothing for COVID.
God Bless my neighbors Danielle and Rylan. They checked in with us daily and picked up fresh fruits and vegetables and other perishables that we were low or had run out of. They would drop grocery bags on our doorstep and run home. So THANK YOU!
During this ordeal, at times, I felt like I was in an alternative universe. Paul had to be isolated and quarantined and I was caring for our daughter alone. I couldn't leave the house and my husband had to live in the basement banished from being on the upper floors for at least 7 – 10 days.
It was crazy! One day he's fine, and the next he's in fetal position shivering under 4 blankets and I could hear his teeth chattering with a 102.8 fever!
He said the nights were the worst. He would go from burning up putting ice packs on his forehead to freezing so badly he's under layers of blankets with the heat turned up high. His shirts and bedding were often soaked with perspiration.
At one point his fever got as high as 104! Thankfully, within 24 hours of starting the antibiotic, he improved just as quickly as he got sick. Crisis over!
Our daughter thankfully didn’t catch or at least so far – didn’t catch whatever we got and took things in stride.
I ended up coming down with a sore throat and sinus infection. It could have been from the stress – I don't know. I declined medical treatment because I was responding to my own herbal remedies. Eating my herb-infused homemade chicken soup and drinking my own special immune-boosting tea helped!
Later this summer, I’ll circle back and do a podcast on lessons learned and the protocols I created in treating my husband as if he had COVID. How I navigated this crisis over a weekend when our doctor offices and walk-in clinics were closed.
I’ll also share my temperature log and a supplies checklist/shopping list so you can quickly review what you already have and what you need to get before a crisis hits your home.
An important thing to do during an illness as serious as this (high fevers – congestion), is to track certain information so healthcare providers can quickly assess your situation.
In my 23 years of experience caring for a severely disabled child, living in and out of hospitals, and far too many emergency department visits. Plus past experience working in a convalescent home and home hospice care. Writing your symptoms down helps you remember how you got to your present situation.
I can guarantee by the time the “shit-hits-the-fan” and you have to call 911 or transport yourself or loved one to the hospital, you will be exhausted, overwhelmed, and possibly not feeling well yourself to remember critical details or chain of events.
Having a medical log with basic information about the symptoms, dates, times, body temperatures, over the counter medications, or herbal remedies taken (and why you took it) is valuable information to those trying to figure out what's going on.
Medical providers don't have a crystal ball that can magically determine what's going on with you/loved one upon arriving at their facility. You have to help them figure it out.
Usually, lab tests and x-rays must be done to rule things out and that takes time. The more details you can provide the more accurate decisions can be made about proper diagnosis and treatment(s). This saves time, fewer mistakes are made and may ultimately save a life.
My advice is to prepare your supplies now – so when an illness hits your home you are prepared!
The Black Lives Matter Movement:
As promised in the show, here are links to books and organizations that might interest you if you want to support our black and brown brothers and sisters in the fight for equality and justice. If you search around you can find all kinds of issues that may be of interest to you. Racism runs deep in our institutions and there is still a lot of work that needs to be done! The more hands helping the faster things can move forward.
I am an avid reader and love to read biographies – especially about women in politics. I'm currently reading Stacy Abrams new book “Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America”
For me – this book is a jaw-dropper! I had witnessed racism when I chaired the Connecticut State Advisory Council on Special Education over 10 years ago. I'm not surprised that racism is rampant in our state and the federal bureaucracy.
After seeing the push back from state officials (among other things) on our recommendations on how to make education more equitable as it related to children in special needs – I resigned from the Council. I was tired of the years of fighting and being harassed and I was a volunteer!
I suspect things still haven't changed much on that front. I could go on about the injustice and racism in our educational system! But I won't. Just know I'm still angry about what I heard and saw!
What I'm so shocked and angered is the depth and breath many are taking to suppress certain segments of our population is unbelievable.
After recent events with people trying to vote in Georgia earlier this month – it's real! It's happening now! In America!
Do you think your vote is safe right now? I'm talking about today as I write this blog posting – June 22, 2020 – Think again!
VOTING IS YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT!
DONT FORGET THAT!
Voter suppression is a huge problem in Georgia and Stacy and her team are working hard to fight it, but they are also warning us it's not just in their state of Georgia. Voter beware! It's happening across the country!
As an American, it is your Constitutional Right to vote and should never be confused as a privilege – as some conservative supporters will argue. No one or organization should have the authority to take that right away from you or anyone else by imposing unreasonable qualifications or blaming lack of staff, equipment failures, shortages etc. Be warned “they” are trying!
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of eligible voters have already been blocked. It's pervasive in many states. Especially swing states or states with conservative leadership. The time is now before the November election read this book and find out how you can help fight voter suppression in your community.
Page 68… regarding current attempts to purge state voter rolls… “As the 2020 election nears, conservative groups are filing lawsuits demanding the purging of rolls, including in the swing states fo Wisconsin and Michigan, where approximately 35,000 votes between them helped decide the 2016 election. Fair Fight 2020 is working with leaders in these states as part of our initiative to protect the right to vote in battleground states for the Presidency, the U.S. Senate, and down-ballot races like secretaries of state, attorneys general, and state legislative chambers. Our system of participatory democracy begins with the license to vote, and without it, a citizen will not be heard. But assuming a voter makes it onto the list of eligible voters, the next question is: will they be allowed to cast their vote?
Page 11…Since 2008's election of the first black president, we have achieved extraordinary victories. Millions of Americans, too used to seeing themselves only on the margins or not at all, have participated in historic and hopeful wins in the House and hard-fought victories for the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races. However, across the country, we witness a “power grab” from the minority desperate to hold on to power.
The examples bound: Native Americans living on reservations in North Dakota were told that in order to vote, they had to have street addresses – where none existed.
In Mississippi, impoverished elderly folks who needed an absentee ballot had to pay for a notary public to submit the ballot – resulting in a new-fashioned poll tax.
In Georgia, tens of thousands of people of color had their applications for registration held up because of typographical errors in government databases and a failed system called “exact match.” of the 53,000 applications blocked by this process, 80 percent were from people of color.
Page 12 …Today, the ones barring access have shifted from using billy clubs and hoses to using convoluted rules to make it harder to register and stay on the rolls, cast a ballot, or have that ballot counted. To move forward, we must understand the extent to which the shrinking conservative minority will go to create barriers to democracy. Citing voting rights experts and my own work in expansion of voting access for the past twenty-vie years, here I will not only explain the problem but offer concrete solutions to fix it.
I highly recommend getting this book! If you want meaningful change, it has to happen at the polls – we must elect leaders willing to fight for all people and not just those with money or special interest groups.
Make sure you check out Stacy's nonprofit/PAC Fair Fight 2020 – volunteer, donate – learn what you can do locally. In full disclosure, I have donated to this nonprofit, and support their work. If we want to be a truly united country, we have to secure the right to vote for all Americans and not just a few!
We promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights. Fair Fight brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications.
Voter suppression of voters of color and young voters is a scourge our country faces in states across the nation. Georgia’s 2018 elections shone a bright light on the issue with elections that were rife with mismanagement, irregularities, unbelievably long lines and more, exposing both recent and also decades-long actions and inactions by the state to thwart the right to vote. Georgians and Americans are fighting back. Fair Fight Action engages in voter mobilization and education activities and advocates for progressive issues; in addition Fair Fight Action has mounted significant programs to combat voter suppression in Georgia and nationally.
Fair Fight PAC has initiated programs to support voter protection programs at state parties around the country and is engaging in partnerships to support and elect pro voting rights, progressive leaders.
The second book I recommend is Michelle Obama “Becoming” I found her to be honest and candid about her feelings about politics in general – her feelings about her husband running for President, campaigning, living in the Whitehouse, her family, the 2016 election and personal attacks from “The Clown Candidate”, and life after the Whitehouse. I Loved, Loved This Book!
…And speaking of her husband, President Obama recently stated in a recent Town Hall broadcast about what’s been going with the protests in America – and I’m paraphrasing here…
He’s suggesting we don't stop! Make your local leaders uncomfortable until they agree to make meaningful changes. Don't give up on the fight for justice – if we want to change we need to confront our leaders and this…
– Most Importantly VOTE!
If you’re looking for ways to support or help – again check out the Obama Foundation – they can redirect you to local groups in your area that can use your support.
If you’re in another part of the world – I believe the Obama Foundation can help you find an organization in your country. Be brave and ask them. Find out what organizations are working for equality and human rights for all people in your part of the world.
Or check out the United Nations Human Rights Commission (see link below) and see if there is information for the country you live in.
And lastly circling back to gardening – I would be remiss to not include a link to Ron Finely’s website. He's from my home state of California and lives in South Central LA and is a community activist.
In 2010 Ron became famous for challenging local zoning ordinances in the City of Los Angeles to plant food in parkways which are owned by the city. In 2010 growing food on city property was illegal and people were fined if they didn’t remove the “illegal contraband” – as Ron said in his video clip – he just wanted to grow a healthy carrot without toxic chemicals. He quickly discovered growing anything but grass, dirt or a palm tree was considered illegal!
Thanks to his determination, he got the city to change its zoning ordinances. This was the beginning of “The Ron Finely Project” – Through this nonprofit, he teaches people how to grow their own healthy food in containers or small plots of land and how you can be a community activist and fight to get healthier food in impoverished cities and towns.
As Ron demonstrated in his gardening master class, he used a Nike shoe – and a drawer from an old dresser to plant in. His motto is, “If it can hold dirt you can grow something in it.“
Cheney Homestead Museum Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/cheneyhomestead/
Show Sponsors:
Farm to Bath| Our philosophy is to live a locally focused naturally beautiful life, a lifestyle choice that is infused into the products we make. The ingredients are locally grown and/or acquired and are as basic and pure as nature itself. Each bar is full of fragrant aromatics that provide a rich moisturizing lather with no artificial colors or preservatives added – naturally beautiful!
Check out our website!
My Garden Journal: A How To Garden Book For Kids| Gardening is a learned skill – everyone has to start somewhere, and a journal provides the best way to improve your gardening skills to ensure more successes and fewer failures.
The intent of this journal is to simultaneously teach basic gardening techniques while providing a place to record your journey with important information about the “how, when, and where” to grow food and flowers.
There are suggestions on themed gardens such as “A Harry Potter Garden”, “A Young Chef's Garden”, or a “Monarch Butterfly Superhero Garden” for budding Naturalists and places to either sketch or photograph your plants to remember their appearance for the next growing season.
You'll be amazed at how much you will learn by journaling about your garden!
Music:
Special Thank You To Gene Tullio!
The music used in this show is used with permission and is created and produced by Gene Tullio.
Gene's music can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. For more information about his music, please contact him at dreamshipmusic@gmail.com
Album: The Dreamship| The Forge Of Life| Copyright 2018
Social Media Links:
Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We would love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.
Please follow us on all our social media outlets. We’d love to hear if you tried the recipe(s) from these podcasts.
Living and Lovin Herbs Website: https://livingandlovinherbs.com/ Instagram: @livingandlovinherbspodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingandlovinherbspodcast/?modal=admin_todo_tour Twitter: @Livingandlovin6 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuHD-5N2tPYDbWwI4wzIJA Thompson Street Farm LLC: https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/ Brenda J. Sullivan Books: https://brendajsullivanbooks.com/
