Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate


John Kallas - 2010
    John Kallas makes it fun and easy to learn about foods you've unknowingly passed by all your life. Through gorgeous photographs, playful, but authoritative text, and ground-breaking design he gives you the knowledge and confidence to finally begin eating and enjoying edible wild plants. Edible Wild Plants divides plants into four flavor categories -- foundation, tart, pungent, and bitter. Categorizing by flavor helps readers use these greens in pleasing and predictable ways. According to the author, combining elements from these different categories makes the best salads.

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World


Paul Stamets - 2005
    That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how. The basic science goes like this: Microscopic cells called “mycelium”--the fruit of which are mushrooms--recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essential elements as they break down plant and animal debris in the creation of rich new soil. What Stamets has discovered is that we can capitalize on mycelium’s digestive power and target it to decompose toxic wastes and pollutants (mycoremediation), catch and reduce silt from streambeds and pathogens from agricultural watersheds (mycofiltration), control insect populations (mycopesticides), and generally enhance the health of our forests and gardens (mycoforestry and myco-gardening).  In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find chapters detailing each of these four exciting branches of what Stamets has coined “mycorestoration,” as well as chapters on the medicinal and nutritional properties of mushrooms, inoculation methods, log and stump culture, and species selection for various environmental purposes. Heavily referenced and beautifully illustrated, this book is destined to be a classic reference for bemushroomed generations to come.

WitchCraft Cocktails: From Aphrodite's Love Potion to Mercurial Grounding Elixir, 75 Seasonal Drinks Infused with Magic and Ritual


Julia Halina Hadas - 2020
    For centuries, witches have been using spirits of all forms during rituals and celebrations. Now, today’s modern witch can learn how to make the perfect powerful witchcraft cocktail. All you need is a delicious and easy recipe, a bottle of your favorite booze, and a desire to get witchy. In WitchCraft Cocktails, you will find 75 recipes for alcohol-based beverages that are sure to help you in your craft. Designed for healing, spells, offerings, and just plain fun, there’s nothing these boozy drinks can’t do! Need a love potion to help woo your lover? Maybe a tincture to heal a cold? Or perhaps you’re looking for the perfect witch-themed signature cocktail to serve at your next gathering. Regardless of what you’re looking for, this book has you covered and includes tips on how to use your witch’s brew to further your practice—and have fun!

Cannabis and Spirituality: An Explorer's Guide to an Ancient Plant Spirit Ally


Stephen Gray - 2016
    In this authoritative guide, editor Stephen Gray and 17 other influential voices of the modern cannabis movement explore the spiritual benefits of cannabis and offer guidance on how to interact with the intelligence of this plant ally, a companion and supporter of humanity for millennia. Exploring cannabis spirituality in practice, Gray’s chapters examine dosage, strains, and methods of intake; the use of cannabis to open the creative channels; how to conduct group ceremonies with cannabis; and cautions and counterindications for cannabis use. We hear from Chris Bennett on the religious and ritual use of cannabis from pre-biblical times to the present, Joan Bello on marijuana and the body-mind connection, Dee Dussault on ganja yoga, Kathleen Harrison on humanity’s co-evolution with cannabis, and cannabis shaman Hamilton Souther on working with the spirit of cannabis. The contributors explore the spiritual future of this plant ally as well as the ritual use of cannabis by the Rastafarians of Jamaica and the Sadhus of India. The chapters from Brazilian ayahuasca shaman Mariano da Silva and ayahuasca apprentice Francisco present wisdom on comingling the sacramental medicines of cannabis and ayahuasca. Revealing the potential of “the people’s plant” to enhance a wide range of spiritual practices, such as meditation, yoga, chanting, visualization, shamanism, spirit work, and explorations with other entheogens, this guide shows how cannabis is an effective ally on the awakening journey, unlocking the receptive energy in us all and helping us to feel connected to nature, to each other, and to ourselves.

Common Herbs for Natural Health


Juliette De Bairacli Levy - 1987
    Juliette de Bairacli utilizes her Gypsy wisdom and decades of studying herbs and healing to create a book filled with natural remedies and recipes. What a treasure! Her respect and love for the plants, the earth, and the medicinal knowledge garnered from people of all ethnic origins is powerful, practical, and sensible. My gardens and personal health are already benefiting from this intelligent and tender book.

How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine


John Jeavons - 1979
    Updated with the latest biointensive tips and techniques, this is an essential reference for gardeners of all skill levels seeking to grow some or all of their own food.

The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City


Kelly Coyne - 2008
    Rejecting both end-times hand wringing and dewy-eyed faith that technology will save us from ourselves, urban homesteaders choose instead to act. By growing their own food and harnessing natural energy, they are planting seeds for the future of our cities.If you would like to harvest your own vegetables, raise city chickens, or convert to solar energy, this practical, hands-on book is full of step-by-step projects that will get you started homesteading immediately, whether you live in an apartment or a house. It is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics.Projects include: How to grow food on a patio or balcony How to clean your house without toxins How to preserve food How to cook with solar energy How to divert your greywater to your garden How to choose the best homestead for you Written by city dwellers for city dwellers, this illustrated, smartly designed, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. Authors Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen happily farm in Los Angeles and run the urban homestead blog www.homegrownrevolution.org.

Herbology At Home: Making Herbal Remedies: Natural health for the whole family - Simple formulas for making remedies at home


Anke Bialas - 2010
    The information is clear, concise and to the point and easy : ) I've been searching high and low for a relatively simple way to make cream and ointment and in 1 minute found exactly what I needed." Sonya Lowe - PHSeven Organic Herbs .."very helpful reference when you are making your own remedies at home What I consider very useful is the fact I finally have a book in my home library that is so easy, and fast to use. .... A ready reference with sound advice right at my fingertips I am in love Thank you so much for all you do and share Anke." Leslie Postin - Comfrey Cottages So you know that rosemary and sage are good for dark hair and that fair hair benefits from chamomile, mullein and marigold and you want to make an infusion to add to your shampoo base or to use as a hair rinse. How much herb do you use? How much water? How long do you let it infuse for? Your favourite women's magazine told you that a comfrey ointment is great for back pain and sprains, but they didn't give the recipe of how to make an ointment? When you already know what herbs you want to use and what herbal product you want to make you need a resource that covers the base formulas. Something that provides you with the ratios and the method of how to make your desired remedy. That's where Herbology At Home: Making Herbal remedies comes in. All your base formulas in one place, easy to read and small enough to keep on hand in the kitchen. Learn the age old methods of making herbal tea, tinctures, ointments, oils and much more. Assemble a herbal first aid kit and prepare natural, chemical free products for health and home. Herbology at Home: Making Herbal Remedies is a convenient, easy-to-follow guide to preparing natural, chemical free herbal remedies. With a common sense approach to safety and working herbal health into a busy, modern lifestyle this small, value packed Herbology manual is a BIG investment in your family's natural health.

Homemade Beauty: 150 Simple Beauty Recipes Made from All-Natural Ingredients


Annie Strole - 2014
     Homemade Beauty is a beautifully packaged collection of 150 all-natural skin, hair and body care recipes. From turning blueberries into a lush detoxifying mask to fresh lemongrass into a non-toxic bug repellent, Homemade Beauty takes the ubiquitous eat-local, farm-to-table concept and brings it to the beauty category.As reports on the dangers of chemicals in cosmetics become increasingly alarming and the aspiration to live a more natural life grows, many of us are eager to take beauty regimens into our own hands to ensure we are putting only the safest and most natural ingredients on our bodies. Commercially available organic beauty products are expensive, but they are easy and cheaper to make at home and most require 5 simple ingredients or less. Recipes like Almond Rose Body Lotion, Coconut Lavender Shampoo, and Brown Sugar Vanilla Scrub will enchant you with heady scents – and thrill you when you realize these pampering products take only 5 minutes to make!

The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Healing Remedies: Over 1,000 Natural Remedies for the Prevention, Treatment, and Cure of Common Ailments and Conditions


C. Norman Shealy - 1998
    This full-color encyclopedia offers over 1,000 natural remedies for the prevention, treatment, and cure of common ailments and conditions.

Encyclopedia of Natural Magic


John Michael Greer - 2005
    It also gives detailed information on 176 different herbs, trees, stones, metals, oils, incenses, and other substances, and offers countless ways to put them to magical use. With this book and a visit to your local herb store, rock shop, or your backyard garden, you're ready to enter the world of natural magic.

Llewellyn's Complete Formulary of Magical Oils: Over 1200 Recipes, Potions & Tinctures for Everyday Use


Celeste Rayne Heldstab - 2011
    Whether your intention is magical or medicinal, specially blended essential oils can enrich your life with their mystical, energizing, and transformative power.Within this one-of-a-kind portable apothecary, learn to select and mix 67 essential oils for a myriad of magical, medicinal, and spiritual applications. Spanning every purpose from inner calm and romance to healing and energy work to prayer and spellcraft, all 1,200 recipes are arranged alphabetically to make it easy to find precisely what you need.Step by step, Celeste Rayne Heldstab also shows how to create your own blends for spells, rituals, and remedies. Amp up their potency with correspondences for the elements, day of the week, time of day, Moon phase, astrological sign, herbs, and gemstones.Protection for house & home Love & passion Career & finances Dreamwork & meditation Beauty & skin care Fatigue, headaches, & other common ailments Praise: Celeste skillfully demystifies the process of using and blending oils by providing lucid, detailed, and easy-to-read instructions while emphasizing the magical power inherent in plants.--Judika Illes, author of The Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells

Garden Witch's Herbal: Green Magick, Herbalism & Spirituality


Ellen Dugan - 2009
    Deepen your connection to the earth and watch your magickal skills blossom. Ellen Dugan presents a variety of ways to honor and work with the plant kingdom in this charming hands-on guide to green magick and spirituality. Designed to enhance any tradition or style of the Craft, this handy herbal reference provides the physical description, folklore, magickal qualities, and spellwork correspondences for a wealth of flowers, trees, and herbs, and features forty-seven botanical drawings.Conjuring a Garden with Heart Green Witchery in the City Wildflowers and Witchery Magick of the Hedgerows The Magick and Folklore of Trees Gothic Herbs and Forbidden Plants Herbs and Plants of the Sabbats Herbs of the Stars Magickal Herbalism Praise: The conversational tone of Garden Witch's Herbal is a refreshing change from other garden-variety horticulture books and makes Dugan's herbal entertaining as well as informative.--New Age Retailer

Roots, Branches & Spirits: The Folkways & Witchery of Appalachia


H. Byron Ballard - 2021
    This book explores the region's customs and traditions for magical healing, luck, prosperity, scrying, and more. Author H. Byron Ballard--known as the village witch of Asheville--teaches you about the old ways and why they work, from dowsing to communicating with spirits.Learn the deeper meaning of haint blue doors, magic hands for finding, and medicinal herbs and plants. Discover tips for creating tinctures and salves, attuning to the phases of the moon, interpreting omens, and other folkways passed down through the generations. Part cultural journey and part magical guide, this book uncovers the authentic traditions of one of North America's most spiritually vibrant regions.

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities


Amy Stewart - 2009
    In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You’ll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother). Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.