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Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden : Newsletter index : 2003 News : Summer 03
Coming Soon...
Volume 4, Number 4 Summer 2003
We're Pleased With Our New Affiliation With Natural Healers
Natural Healers.com is a web site that offers practitioners and schools of natural healing a wonderful portal for reaching people about their services and programs. From schools of massage to chiropractic colleges, from holistic health practitioners to big-name herbalists like Michael Tierra and Rosemary Gladstar, this site has them all. And now it has the Hi`iaka's Healing Herb Garden Learning Center as well.
Natural Healers states that they are "dedicated to providing the best information to prospective students of natural healing techniques." And that they do!
Through Natural Healers, we are promoting our educational Garden tours, Saturday mini-classes, our 3-day and week-long workshops, and our Live and Learn at the Garden residency internships. The response so far has been terrific. Be sure to check out our new Learning Center page at www.hiiakas.com/learning.htm.
Summer Visitors Brought Joy to the Garden
As part of our commitment to be of service to our local community, we were pleased to welcome several civic groups for Garden tours this summer.
On August 14 a group from the Waimea Senior Center visited; the German Club paid a visit on August 23; and on September 18 we were delighted to welcome 10 participants of the Hilo Adult Day Center. Garden Manager Theresa is involved with this group as an instructor and was instrumental in referring them and leading the tour. Bless their hearts, all members were true troopers, as they hiked over the uneven paths with their canes and walkers.
Noni Infomercial Features Barb and Garden Manager Theresa
On July 10, a crew from New Generations video company interviewed and taped Barb and Theresa speaking about the miraculous Noni fruit for an infomercial that will air on cable channels later this year. Sponsored by Dr. Richard Becker of Dallas, the infomerical is intended to generate sales of his noni products. We shared our experiences with the healing powers of this plant and demonstrated several ways of using it. Check www.bioinnovations.net.
Updated Kava Kava Safety Info
As a grower and proponent of kava kava (`awa in Hawaiian), I try to keep current with laboratory studies to determine the safety of this traditional Polynesian beverage. The latest issue of Herbalgram magazine (issue 59) features an ethnobotanical study titled "Lack of Evidence of Kava-Related Hepatotoxicity in Native Populations in Savaii, Samoa." In it the authors state, "Precipitated by events in Germany and Switzerland where both governments issued statements concerning the potential of liver damage of kava, the US Food and Drug Administration stated that it is 'advising consumers of the potential risk of severe liver injury associated with the use of kava-containing dietary supplements'."
"To the authors' knowledge, no studies in animal models or clinical observations in a carefully controlled double-blinded study in human beings have been made to examine potential hepatotoxicity of kava or kava extracts... In none of our interviews with traditional healers or with Western-trained healthcare professionals was a linkage reported between kava drinking and liver dysfunction despite nearly universal participation by adult males in kava ceremonies or informal kava use... No one reported major clinical signs of liver malfunction in association with kava drinking, such as yellowing of the eyes, brown urine, and changes in stool, even when asked specifically for signs of such symptoms... Based on the uniformity of these reports and the complete lack (my emphasis) of any diagnostic symptoms of liver damage reported among the Samoans... we believe that the assertion by the FDA... should be subjected to rigorous testing and verification."
Our Classes and Retreats Are Being Well-Attended
Our Saturday morning mini-classes are popular with locals and feature such topics as noni, kava, how to build a raised bed on a solid rock lava flow, compost making and other gardening and herbal topics.
Our three-day retreat, "Beyond Traditional Herbalism: Secrets of the Kahuna La'au Lapa'au" is scheduled for October 9-11, November 14-16, December 12-14, January 9-11, and we will continue to offer it once a month from now on. It's a great chance to get together with other herb-loving friends and learn about the Hawaiian healing traditions. Check out the new "Learning Center" page on my web site or contact me if you would like complete information about it.
Pick Up a Copy of the Latest Herb Companion Magazine
I was pleased to write a "Regional Round Robin" for the Fall issue of this national magazine (and receive payment for it!). In it, I speak of the seasons in Hawai`i and how gardening here is so different from other climates. Here's an excerpt: Living so close to nature as we do in Hawai`i connects you to the earth and her wondrous power, over which you quickly realize you have no control. Then that becomes a comfort because you can relax and let go of a lot of things that you might have held onto and tried to control in your previous life on the mainland. One of my central philosophies of gardening in Paradise is that if a plant is adapted to the whims of the weather and can survive times of drought as well as soaking month-long rains, that plant is happy in my garden. If it cannot survive such dramatic climates, it will not succeed here. I tell people that if a plant survives, I'm glad; if it doesn't, "too bad, so sad."
We Lost An Old Friend
After a good fight with old age diabetes, my dog Taffy passed away on July 8 at the age of 13. When I moved here in 1998 with four animals, who underwent a 30-day quarantine on Oahu, I told them that they had better live a long time. Taffy is the first to depart, after almost five years of enjoying life in Hawai`i. Amber, who is almost 16, and I miss him dearly.
Taffy was born in San Jose, California in 1990. Found homeless by friend Karin Arrigoni, I gave this sweet waif a home for life.
Volume 4, Number 4 Summer 2003
We're Pleased With Our New Affiliation With Natural Healers
Natural Healers.com is a web site that offers practitioners and schools of natural healing a wonderful portal for reaching people about their services and programs. From schools of massage to chiropractic colleges, from holistic health practitioners to big-name herbalists like Michael Tierra and Rosemary Gladstar, this site has them all. And now it has the Hi`iaka's Healing Herb Garden Learning Center as well.
Natural Healers states that they are "dedicated to providing the best information to prospective students of natural healing techniques." And that they do!
Through Natural Healers, we are promoting our educational Garden tours, Saturday mini-classes, our 3-day and week-long workshops, and our Live and Learn at the Garden residency internships. The response so far has been terrific. Be sure to check out our new Learning Center page at www.hiiakas.com/learning.htm.
Summer Visitors Brought Joy to the Garden
As part of our commitment to be of service to our local community, we were pleased to welcome several civic groups for Garden tours this summer.
On August 14 a group from the Waimea Senior Center visited; the German Club paid a visit on August 23; and on September 18 we were delighted to welcome 10 participants of the Hilo Adult Day Center. Garden Manager Theresa is involved with this group as an instructor and was instrumental in referring them and leading the tour. Bless their hearts, all members were true troopers, as they hiked over the uneven paths with their canes and walkers.
Noni Infomercial Features Barb and Garden Manager Theresa
On July 10, a crew from New Generations video company interviewed and taped Barb and Theresa speaking about the miraculous Noni fruit for an infomercial that will air on cable channels later this year. Sponsored by Dr. Richard Becker of Dallas, the infomerical is intended to generate sales of his noni products. We shared our experiences with the healing powers of this plant and demonstrated several ways of using it. Check www.bioinnovations.net.
Updated Kava Kava Safety Info
As a grower and proponent of kava kava (`awa in Hawaiian), I try to keep current with laboratory studies to determine the safety of this traditional Polynesian beverage. The latest issue of Herbalgram magazine (issue 59) features an ethnobotanical study titled "Lack of Evidence of Kava-Related Hepatotoxicity in Native Populations in Savaii, Samoa." In it the authors state, "Precipitated by events in Germany and Switzerland where both governments issued statements concerning the potential of liver damage of kava, the US Food and Drug Administration stated that it is 'advising consumers of the potential risk of severe liver injury associated with the use of kava-containing dietary supplements'."
"To the authors' knowledge, no studies in animal models or clinical observations in a carefully controlled double-blinded study in human beings have been made to examine potential hepatotoxicity of kava or kava extracts... In none of our interviews with traditional healers or with Western-trained healthcare professionals was a linkage reported between kava drinking and liver dysfunction despite nearly universal participation by adult males in kava ceremonies or informal kava use... No one reported major clinical signs of liver malfunction in association with kava drinking, such as yellowing of the eyes, brown urine, and changes in stool, even when asked specifically for signs of such symptoms... Based on the uniformity of these reports and the complete lack (my emphasis) of any diagnostic symptoms of liver damage reported among the Samoans... we believe that the assertion by the FDA... should be subjected to rigorous testing and verification."
Our Classes and Retreats Are Being Well-Attended
Our Saturday morning mini-classes are popular with locals and feature such topics as noni, kava, how to build a raised bed on a solid rock lava flow, compost making and other gardening and herbal topics.
Our three-day retreat, "Beyond Traditional Herbalism: Secrets of the Kahuna La'au Lapa'au" is scheduled for October 9-11, November 14-16, December 12-14, January 9-11, and we will continue to offer it once a month from now on. It's a great chance to get together with other herb-loving friends and learn about the Hawaiian healing traditions. Check out the new "Learning Center" page on my web site or contact me if you would like complete information about it.
Pick Up a Copy of the Latest Herb Companion Magazine
I was pleased to write a "Regional Round Robin" for the Fall issue of this national magazine (and receive payment for it!). In it, I speak of the seasons in Hawai`i and how gardening here is so different from other climates. Here's an excerpt: Living so close to nature as we do in Hawai`i connects you to the earth and her wondrous power, over which you quickly realize you have no control. Then that becomes a comfort because you can relax and let go of a lot of things that you might have held onto and tried to control in your previous life on the mainland. One of my central philosophies of gardening in Paradise is that if a plant is adapted to the whims of the weather and can survive times of drought as well as soaking month-long rains, that plant is happy in my garden. If it cannot survive such dramatic climates, it will not succeed here. I tell people that if a plant survives, I'm glad; if it doesn't, "too bad, so sad."
We Lost An Old Friend
After a good fight with old age diabetes, my dog Taffy passed away on July 8 at the age of 13. When I moved here in 1998 with four animals, who underwent a 30-day quarantine on Oahu, I told them that they had better live a long time. Taffy is the first to depart, after almost five years of enjoying life in Hawai`i. Amber, who is almost 16, and I miss him dearly.
Taffy was born in San Jose, California in 1990. Found homeless by friend Karin Arrigoni, I gave this sweet waif a home for life.
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