Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden

Winter 2006/2007 Newsletter

A Great Day in Kona

February 24 marked the third annual "Grow Hawaiian" Festival at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, South Kona. I set up shop with copies of my book for sale, and just about sold out. Mahalo to all who bought one and expressed enthusiasm about it.

The Festival just keeps getting bigger and better each year. This year, it included hula, chanting, many presentations, a wonderful garden tour with David Orr of the Waimea Valley Audubon Center on Oahu, lots of information booths, free gardening advice and activities such as a lei making contest.

The highlight of the day for me was meeting Dr. Angela Kay Kepler, renowned author of many award-winning books on Hawaiian plants, and kind reviewer of my book, Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens. Of course, it was great to see David Orr again and have my photo taken with both of them (see home page at www.hiiakas.com) at the end of Angela's talk about heritage bananas, about which she is currently researching and writing a book.

Celebrating the Garden's 7th Birthday

It was a busy, fun-filled February, with my annual Garden Party happening on the 18th. About 50 to 60 people attended and we shared great pupus, fresh herb tea, garden tours, and a beautiful day out in nature. Some people from Hilo even made the "long" 20 mile trip out here for the festivities.

A special guest, Kathi Keville, Director of the American Herb Association, made the day extra-special with her presence and support. It's very gratifying after seven years to see that people are beginning to know about the Garden and appreciate the native and medicinal plants in which we specialize and evangelize about!

Spring Classes at the Garden

I've started up a series of classes here at the garden again and attendance so far has been promising. All classes include a garden tour, where we pick fresh herbs and make tea to enjoy during class. Also included are products that we make, which students can take home to use and enjoy. Here's the schedule:

March 3: Introductory Class: Essentials of Herbalism. Learn about the properties that are contained in medicinal plants and how to make herbal products from them.

March 10: Teas, Decoctions and Poultices: make a tea, a decoction and a poultice (for skin healing).

March 17: Herbal Skin Care with liniments, herbal oils and salves: make a liniment, an herbal oil and a salve.

March 24: Tinctures Elixirs, Cordials and Special Treats: for whatever ails you: collect plants from the garden and make a tincture.

March 31: Aphrodisiac Cooking and Massage Oils: Held at Josanna's Organic Garden in Kapoho, this special event will combine herbalism with great cooking, for the one you love!

April 7: Easter Saturday--no class today.

April 14: Herbal Cosmetics: make an herbal hair rinse, a wrinkle remover, a guava acne mask, a papaya leaf exfoliant, and more!

April 21: Herb-Drug Interactions and Equivalencies: Learn which herbs perform the same jobs as over-the-counter and prescription drugs and which herbs should not be taken with them.

April 28: Noni Needn't Taste Nasty: Learn all about Noni, the wondrous healing fruit. Make a healing skin cream and tasty culinary recipes.

I'm talking to the folks at Amy Greenwell Garden about holding a series of classes over there, so I will keep you posted in the next newsletter.

Freak Wind Causes Damage

It was windy all night Sunday night, Jan. 28, and on Monday it gusted to 45 MPH. Hot and dry too, after a January with tons of rain and the usual easterly tradewinds.

Sometime in the middle of the afternoon we lost electrical power and when I looked down at the garden about 4:30, I could plainly see the destruction: the wind had toppled a small structure I called "hale basil" (basil house). I expected it not to stand forever because I used large bamboo for the four cornerposts, which were cemented into pier blocks, and the bamboo (which turns out not to be such a great outdoor building material unless you treat it somehow that I am still not aware of), rots away and kind of turns to paper. The wind caught the fiberglass roof like a big sail, and it went down, narrowly missing a young avocado tree next to it. The next day, the wind blew the structure completely over!

WWOOFer Leah Hardeman points out the downed structure.

Taking Your Medicine

(From my February column in Hawaii Island Journal--www.hawaiiislandjournal.com)

When we think about plant medicine, should we eat raw plants in the hope they will help heal our ailments? Usually, that's not the preferred method of administering most herbs. "Direct consumption" is indicated for certain plants and ailments, but it's hard to get a therapeutic dosage this way and herbalists agree that making a simple tea or tincture is the best way to take your plant medicine.

Herbal preparations include the following:

* Tea (infusion): a beverage that combines plants and water.

* Decoction: a strong tea (often the base for a poultice).

* Gelatin capsules: pills that make taking herbs easier.

* Liniment: an herbal extract you rub onto the skin.

* Oil: an infusion of an herb in oil (often olive oil), usually for external use, or an "essential oil," a distilled extract.

* Poultice: a moist mass of herbs applied to the skin to relieve bites, wounds and sunburn.

* Salve (ointment): made from herbs, oil and beeswax.

* Smoking: a direct way of getting the benefits of an herb to the lungs for help with some coughs and bronchial congestion.

* Syrup: a liquid remedy, often used for coughs and sore throats.

* Tincture: a concentrated herbal extract in alcohol, cider vinegar, or glycerin. One of the easiest ways to take herbal medicines.

Special Guests, Friends and Volunteers Warmed the Winter

On February 1, herbalist Susan Perri visited from New York with daughter Charlotte. Longtime newsletter readers will remember Susan as the power behind the Blue Crescent School of Botanical Medicine.

February 10 marked my tenant Camille Rumsey's 23rd birthday. With her husband Shane and volunteer Leah, we hit a piñata and hooted and hollered around a bonfire.

Volunteers Brian Thurow and Sarah Layton accompanied me to Kona February 23-24.

To order Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens, visit Amazon.com or www.authorhouse.com.

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