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Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

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SCHOOL | 7SONG | | Blog

Calamus And Cattail

March 15, 2017 by Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

Amy Siefert Keying Out A Plant
Box Turtle Shell, Payne’s Prairie Near Gainesville, FL

Additional Information:

Scientific Name: Acorus calamus and Typha latifolia

Common Name: Calamus and Cattail

Family: Calamus and Cattail

Common Name: Acoraceae (Araceae) and Typhaceae

Locale: Adirondack swamp

Specific Region: Adirondacks, NY

Description: A comparison of the leaves of Acorus calamus (with midrib on right) and Typha latifolia (on left)

Date: August 2,2003

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No Widgets

"Secondary" needs some widgets.

I’ve been thinking about this photo lately. It w

I’ve been thinking about this photo lately. It was taken in October 2011, which seems so recent, but it was 10 years ago. My mom was visiting me in Ithaca, and Pedro was enjoying the blanket with her.
Both of them are recently gone now. For everyone who has lost someone dear to them, you know what it is like. An event will happen which you want to share, but they are not there. (This is more about my mom, Pedro had typical cat tendencies of not revealing very much.) (Actually, my mom had some of that too.)
Both of them are common in my dreams, and I wake up and think about their loss. Especially my mom, who was a rock in our extended family. Any of us (and there are a lot of ‘us-es’) could call and she would listen. She might offer a bit of advice (especially if it was medical, as she was an RN), but more so, she would just listen so that whoever was calling would know that someone cared.
I am so very glad that she lived long enough for me to be a better son. I don’t think I was ever rotten (well, not after 20 years old at least), but with age comes insight, and with insight one becomes more adept at reading their surroundings and the people within them. And just letting her know the deep gratitude I felt about having her in my life.
And I miss Pedro as well. Especially around this time of the late evening, when he would get all cozy with me, and I would have to push him off the laptop but keep him close enough to share warmth and purrs.
I hope each of you out there gets care from those around you. This is such a primordial need. It doesn’t have to be much. A few kind words, or friendly knowing eyes pointed your way.
A very good night or day to you, ~7Song, January 22, 2021

For the past week, I have been replacing the metal

For the past week, I have been replacing the metal lids on the various herbal preparations with ‘medical-grade,’ leak-proof, BPH-free, plastic lids with a silicone ring. Why? Because the various liquids, especially alcohol and vinegar, eventually rust out the metal lids. I have used wax paper to prevent this, but then the lids do not close quite as well, and there is a loss of medicine due to evaporation.
This job is taking a while. I have labels on the sides of the jars as well as on the lids so that if one label gets ruined, I have another to help me identify the medicine. Some of the lid labels need to be replaced, but I generally double tape the labels so I can peel them off and re-tape them.
Some folks have asked me how old I let tinctures get before replacing them. Embarrassingly, there are a lot of ‘depends’ to this question. I gathered many plants when I first studied with Michael Moore in 1994-1995, and so some of the earliest medicines are from then. I don’t know how many of these I will use, but they have sentimental value to me (you should see my t-shirt collection). Also, some of the older medicines that I am keeping are because I have not gathered any of those plants since then, such as Frasera speciosa.
Other medicines seem too old to use and I pour them out and clean the jars.
When I asked in a previous post if people are interested in me doing a video of my apothecary, there seemed to be an interest. I will try to do that within the next 2 weeks. There are still many medicines to re-lid.
The medicines are ‘staged’ for this photo. It will be a while before I put them all back on the shelves in alphabetical order by their botanical names.
Thank you for your interest. I hope to inspire folks to get involved in herbal medicine. ~7Song, January 21, 2021
(Tonight’s playlist includes: Yo La Tengo, Eels, Beck and, Death Cab for Cutie).

Tonight I finally completed a project that Cal and

Tonight I finally completed a project that Cal and I started a few weeks ago. And that is organizing all the dried herb bulk containers at my home (aka, the apothecary). Cal sorted through all the plant material, as we composted some of the older herbs, and labeled all 66 boxes (they are not all in this photo). The herbs are organized by their scientific name. This is the first year that I printed and laminated the labels with spaces in between to add and subtract as we go through them for the Ithaca Free Clinic.
This kind of organization is one of my favorite late evening projects while listening to Sigur Ros, Boards of Canada, Elliot Smith, Mum and the like. (It is true that I don’t listen to the most upbeat of music.)

I have thought of doing a video tour of the apothecary here. Please let me know if this is something that interests you. ~7Song. January 18, 2021

These are some troubled and troubling times. So in

These are some troubled and troubling times. So instead of going on some political and cynical rant, I thought I would post this photo of a mother and chile White-faced capuchin monkey taken in Costa Rica at the beautiful Ocean Forest Ecolodge.

I recently posted a blog about staphylococcus aure

I am currently reading one of the best humorous 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑 fantasy ‘horror’ series I have in a while. It is ‘Tales of the Gas Station’ by Jack Townsend. I am now on volume two (the first volume is free with Kindle Unlimited). It has the aspects of a creepy horror movie, with strange and terrible things happening ‘at a shitty gas station at the edge of town’. The protagonist is surreally blasé about all the strangeness and death that goes around him. And this is the driving force that brings much of the absurdity and humor to these books. The basic outline of the story is that Jack, the young gas attendant, has to deal with monsters, murderers, psychopaths, and very strange things going on around him all the time. (Where did those garden gnomes come from? Who cares, just keep them out the lanes.). I really enjoy the authors writing. It is a bit spare and gets the point (and humor) across well. Please write a comment if you’ve read it and liked it or not. ~7Song January 6, 2021

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