From HerbMentor.com, this is Herb Mentor Radio.
You are listening to Herb Mentor Radio on HerbMentor.com. I'm John Gallagher. My guest today is Demetria Clark. Demetria is an herbalist, aromatherapist, midwife, doula, and traditional medicine maker. She's founder of the Heart of Herbs Herbal School and Birth Arts International.
Demetri is also a proud mom of two boys.
Her love of all things herbal and kids led her to write the brand new book, Herbal Healing for Children, A Parent's Guide to Treatments for Common Childhood Illnesses, with a forward by Rosemary Gladstar. This is by Healthy Living Publications and is available at your favorite bookseller. You can visit Demetria at heart of herbs dot com, where there are all sorts of courses available. Welcome, Demetria.
Hi. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me on.
It's awesome. It's an honor to have you here, and, thanks for sending your book over. I've been really enjoying it.
You know, the the the first time we have folks here on Herbalist Radio, I love getting their stories because that's what it's about. You know? People listen and love to hear about herbalists, where they learn how they learn. So, how did you first get into using herbs?
Well, I was a military child for part of my childhood, And I think it was just the mix of different cultures and talking to people about different things that they use to stay healthy. It wasn't it wasn't, wasn't something I did on purpose. It was just kind of an organic, process for me. I was just nosy.
I guess that's probably the best way to put it. I just, Why do you eat that? And why do you cook that like that? And, you know, I was just one of those kids.
And then I, when I was eight years old, I believe, we moved to New Hampshire, and we lived near, a person who ran a really large herbal company, and I was friends with their daughter. And so I'd always pick the mother's brain and, you know, and my mother worked at a health food store. And and I kind of went through, like, this time period where I just wanted to, like, learn all these different things, and I was just gonna be, you know, different than everyone else. And and then that just kind of grew and grew and grew.
And it's just always been a natural extension having family from Appalachia, the White Mountains.
You know, it's just one of those one of those things.
Did you have family from Appalachia?
I mean, the the so did your family pass down some remedies?
Did your did your parents use remedies when Well, my mother did some natural remedies, and a lot of the the folkloric traditional remedies where, you know, baby's teeth and put some whiskey on their teeth.
You know? Just fun stuff like that. But, you know, from that, you you have a natural, or at least I did. I wanted to know why that worked. Mhmm. You know? So I went from there and, you know, of course, it was Irish whiskey.
No. But you just you just you know, if if it's something that you're interested in, you can kind of connect anything to it.
So it just kind of went that way. And then, of course, there were the different mentioning, you know, poultices and, you know, if the baby's sick, you can do this and, you know, just little tidbits that I still hear to this day from my grandparents.
Oh, wow.
So were you into, I mean, were you into nature a lot as a kid? Did you spend a lot of time outside and playing with plants and things or, you know, like picking things and whatnot?
Like Yeah.
Definitely. My we didn't have a television.
So, basically, there was two things that happened in my house you read, or my mom got sick of us driving her crazy and told us to go outside.
So we made you know, we would make our own shelters, and I had friends that were kind of the same way. And so, you know, we'd make up little teas and make up little things, and then I started getting migraines, from getting a bunkum head.
And I I decided one day that I was gonna figure it out, and I did.
And I, for a long time, was able to take care of my migraines through a series of what probably sounds like totally bizarre practices to anyone else, but I used to chew on mountain laurel leaves and dip my head into a very icy stream after taking a a run.
Wow.
So, yeah, it was just like this that, you know, only a kid would come up with something like that.
Right. And then I learned later why that worked. You know? The contracting of the blood vessels, the mild, you know, painkilling properties in certain plants.
And because little kids pick and chew on plants all the time, or at least I did.
And, because I was little, it never occurred to me that it wasn't safe.
You know? I mean, I was just a kid. Right? So through that was the process of elimination. I was always such a nerdy little kid, always in my own atmosphere.
So it's just kind of a natural thing that I came to, and then I read all these books about different kinds of girls who were nature girls and, you know, all this kind of stuff.
So So it seems like a couple key components to your upbringing were that you explored a lot and you questioned a lot.
Yeah. Probably much to my mom's and I kept questioned everything.
You know, I just I just wanted to know why. I mean, and I think, like, now with with my children, that's one of the questions I don't mind answering.
You know, I think that because my mother, even if I was driving her crazy, would take the time to say, well, I don't know. Go find out, or this is why. And so now, my children feel very comfortable asking and talking to me about anything, and I think it was just that foundation that my mother had built for me.
And I never doubted that I could figure something out. That it never occurred to me that I couldn't figure something out.
So, you know, just I think that kind of that little combination there.
So that's that's interesting because, you know, for me, it was being a parent that got me interested in using herbs more because I didn't know how you know, didn't come with an instruction manual, so I wasn't sure how to take care of them. So, but you were already there and on the road and learning. And, so by the time you were a mom, you probably knew a lot of stuff already.
Yeah. I used to. Well, when I was pregnant, you know, my midwife would say, well, like, you could try this or take iron, and I was like, ugh. No way.
I don't wanna get constipated. I'm gonna do this instead. Is that safe? Yeah. It is.
Don't worry about it. I'm fine. You know? And then the same with my children. My husband was in the service for five years, and I would say to the nurse practitioner, Well, no.
I'm not gonna do this with my kids. I'm gonna do this instead.
And luckily, there was a nurse practitioner at the time who didn't say you can't do that or that's not safe. She said, oh, okay. Well, tell me how it goes.
Alright. That's great.
You know? So it's like a weird it always seems to be that I bump into the right people at the right time when I need it, and then that further spurs on my, ability to learn and retain information and to seek out new forms of doing things.
So for you, it was an over a period of time, many mentors learning different things here and there and kind of piecing your education together.
Definitely. I mean, that I've done a lot of informal training, formal training, college. You know? I I'm a total I'm a nerd.
So, you know, I'm always taking some college class, and sometimes it relates to herbs or some offshoot of herbs and health. And then other times, it doesn't. I mean, I just really believe that everything is interconnected.
So even if I'm taking, you know, a class that has to do with something where maybe you would say, woah. What does that have to do with herbs? Eventually, something clicks.
Right.
And it does. And then, okay, this is how it can further assist me in a whole family or a whole health treatment.
Well, you know, I wanted to point that out because, on HerbMentor, where, you know, I hear a lot of folks in their journey is, you know, a lot of people like to or, well, some people only have the ability to learn certain ways. Like, some people wanna become a practitioner or something or something like that. They're a consultant, so they go to different schools. And other people, you know, just love learning at home, piecing together what they can.
And then, you know, sometimes people can't do programs they'd like to do. And it's just kinda cool to see, here's somebody who learned over time, just was really inquisitive, questioned a lot, explored a lot, and here she's got a book. You know? So so, you know, that's pretty cool, and I think it just gives a lot of, you know, inspiration to folks.
Oh, thank you.
Especially the part when when you when you, we and we can set the record straight here that you weren't actually the Grateful Dead's herbalist.
No. No. No.
That would have been really cool.
But no. That was just some a few students of mine had come to me, and they had been deadheads, and they remembered me. And you and then it just kind of went from there. I mean, hey. If they're listening, I'll totally kick it down with you and hang out. I'm not too proud to beg, but, you know, you know, I mean, it was just like one of those silly things. But I'd gotten a few emails about it, and I figured, I should probably jokingly set the record straight that although it's not a job that I would turn down, it's it's not true.
So which means that we could have been, if I was using you know, learning about herbs at the time, I I might have run into you at a at a show because I I went to plenty of them too.
Yeah. I used to, make teas for pregnant women, and, someone got a dog bite, and people would just kind of find me. And I was really young when I first started going to Grateful Dead shows, and I mean, really young.
Way too young. But, you know, it just there seemed to be people that were attracted to that in me. You know, I was very stable. I, you know, took care of myself. I took care of the people that I was with, and and I think a lot of people in that environment need someone who's stable. I wouldn't say I was like a mother figure because they were all older than me, but I made sure people ate, and I made sure people were healthy.
And that's probably why my husband fell in love with me because he used to be always hungry back then.
He he was just like, this girl's where the food's at.
But, no.
But, I mean, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, it's an environment where there is a large group of people who it's an underserved health care environment potentially, especially back then.
And there were people coming down off of drugs, and people just always seemed to find me.
You know, Zendaya, I'm working on a project with Sevensong, and, and I was just with him for, five days at the rainbow gathering.
And, it was a similar kind of situation where, you know, with people getting treated and all. And, it was really it was really an interesting experience. I can't wait to share that with people because, of course, I had my video camera with me. And we'll see.
So, we'll people get to see that in the future. But so, so your book, I I took a look on Amazon there too, where where, of course, it's for sale. But, you know, I like would you have a place you prefer people pick it up because, you know, it supports the author? Do you you buy it on your site?
Or I have, I'm getting ready to make it available, but only autographed and personally inscribed copies on my website. And so, folks but thank and you know what?
I'm not proud. You can buy it wherever you want. I don't care. Just buy it.
Just buy it. Just just buy it.
You know, I mean, you know, get it used.
Get it whatever. I you know, my husband and I were sitting down talking with some people, and one of them was an accountant.
And he said, You know, girl, this book is only fourteen ninety five. And I said, yeah. He goes, well, we just took our kid in for, you know, this, this, and this, and it was easily four hundred dollars after co pays and all this stuff. He goes, you could easily save three to six hundred dollars a year. I was like, well, you can tell people that. That's fine. So I mean, it is it can be really an investment into your child's health care.
What I like is the simplicity of the approach. A story I have is that, I remember, when my now twelve year old son was a baby, he had constipated, wasn't really happy.
And, and I just wrote an article about constipation this morning.
No. But I had this, like, simple I had this simple little herb book. Like, somebody had it was from an herb shop in Port Townsend in Washington here. And somebody had, like it's one of those things where it was some local person who had, you know, hand stapled and copied and put this real basic thing together. And it's like twenty pages or something. And and and and then and and it was all done on a typewriter, you know, and then you could tell.
Oh, nice.
And and the remedy that it just used fennel seeds, maybe some licorice.
Concentration was, you know, and it was it it was an experience like this that that really made me an early convert as a parent early on and kinda really wanted me to look more into this.
And so, you know, it was that kind of, like, very simple and powerful experience of using herbs with children. Do you have a good story like that? Something very simple that would just, you know, that just would would be has been amazing to either yourself or your clients or your students?
Oh, well, there was, about ten years ago, Someone in Louisiana who I had known called me and her son. Basically, they said, your son cannot come back to school unless he takes a riddle in. And I knew this little boy when he was younger, and I was like, wow. You know, that's kind of an interesting thing to say to a parent.
We homeschool, so, you know, I wasn't quite aware of how strong armed they could be at the time.
And, so I made her up a blend.
And I said, you know, try this. Let's try some diet stuff. Let's make sure he's getting plenty of exercise and lots of sleep. You know, a lot of the basics.
And, she called me back, and she ordered twelve bottles because other people couldn't believe the difference in her son. They wanted it for their children.
And, of course, I was like, oh, you know, let's maybe these people should call me. I'm not sure if, you know, we should just be shipping out. But it was a really simple simple blend that just you know, it was just one of those things. And I just think sometimes parents being given the smallest tool Right.
They can build off of that.
Right.
So that was pretty profound for me, just the anxiety and the fear and, you know, her her utter powerlessness over this situation where someone's saying, you know, we're gonna your kid can't come back to school unless this happens.
Right.
Was just, you know, putting someone in that position, and she really didn't wanna drug her child. She just and she ended up not in the teachers. I got a note from one of the teachers that was like, thanks a lot. I don't know what you did.
But, you know, it was something like that. And the mom forwarded it to me and said, look. You know? This is or she not yeah.
She forwarded traditional mail. I guess it's still called forwarding. Right? Well, I'm all in the world of electronic mail.
I don't even remember what they call it. But, anyways so, you know, it was it was really sweet. But, you know, sometimes I just think that there isn't one thing.
It's just little things constantly for me. Just saying, wow. You know, my son's presenting with an ear infection, and let's do this instead. And then it's all gone, and and your heart is relieved, and, you know, you've said, okay. Well, I'm powerful in this way now. I know what to do when my child is ill this way. And it was just really these these steps, especially with my children, empowering and not being afraid.
A lot of parents are afraid to tell their health practitioner that they're doing herbal stuff with their children, and I always say don't do that. First, it makes them hate herbs. It makes them fearful of herbs. And second, that's not an honest relationship. And if you can't have an honest relationship with your health care provider, you need to find someone else.
Right.
Or say this is what I'm doing, and that's it.
Right.
And if you don't like it, tough. But we need to take a stand. These are our children, and we are the experts of our kids. No one else is.
You know when your kid is sick. Your kid smells different, feels different. Their skin is different. I mean, look at those cues.
Open yourself up to receiving those cues, and you will know you know, you I mean, I'm sure you have children that if one of them was starting to get sick, their poop would smell differently, or their boogers running down would be a different you know, you just know these things as a parent.
So Right.
Exactly. And just their behavior more than anything.
Yeah.
So, like, when I and then I opened I was looking through your book, and then I saw that exact remedy that we used that time, and you call it you call it fennel gripe water.
Yeah. Gripe water is like a thousand years.
Yeah. And I was like, oh.
It's awesome. It is just like What is what do they mean by gripe water? Just like what I don't that that Well, griping pain is where it got its name from.
And then, because it was an alcohol based or tea based, that's why it was called the water. But you can find it in the oldest pharmacopoeia rest, references. You can find it all over the world. It's sold.
We lived in Europe for three and a half years, and their system is set up differently, obviously. But, you know, so they have herbal remedies in grocery stores and, at the Apotex and the pharmacies and all of these different places, and they all had gripe water. I mean, it was everywhere. I mean, adults would take it.
It's kind of like Pepto for I can see why.
It was the most it was the most amazing thing.
You know?
Take a shot of grape water if you're an adult, and then you'll feel better a few drops for a baby.
Right.
You know, it's pretty, you know, it's a pretty simple remedy. And anyone can make it. You can use dill dill or fennel. You don't have to use you know, it isn't a rigid recipe.
You know? So if you went and and googled, you know, gripe water, you could find hundreds of of recipes that you can try, and find the one that works best for your child.
Know, like, you know, and and then in that little book I was talking about that I had bought, what was different at the time about that and other books that I had, especially for children, they always seem to make them so big and complex. And and and and, you know, I just, like, I wanna look up the condition, you know, and I wanna see what to do. Like, that's what you need. You need a a quick reference.
And that was what was really cool about it. So I appreciated that too. I'm like, oh, good. This is written by a mom.
Well and, also, a lot of this stuff, what I wanted is for it to be you know, in a situation where your baby has colic or constipation, they're crying. I mean, they're they're all, you know, balled up or really extended, and their their abdomen's distended and hard, and you know what's going on. You don't wanna be running to the health food store. You don't want to see if there any of your neighbors have something at eleven o'clock at night. Well, who doesn't have dill or fennel? I mean, it comes even in those, like, little prepackaged, what is it?
Spice racks that you can get fully loaded from the store. Is the herb quality there? Probably not. But in a pinch, will you risk it?
I wouldn't know. I mean, if I was like, my baby's been screaming for two hours, and, yeah, these may not be the best dill seeds in the world. Well, I'm not gonna care. I'm gonna say, okay.
They're just as good of any quality that you can get in a grocery store. I'm gonna either get some from the grocery store, or I'm gonna use these, and I'm gonna go to town, and I'm gonna have this baby feeling better, and then I'm gonna go and say, okay. I need to get a better supply. But a lot of these things are available to most people if they cook.
Mhmm. Mhmm.
If you cook, you have a lot of these herbs already, and that's really important is just being able to say to yourself, what do I have in my backyard? What do I have in my medicine chest? And what do I have in my kitchen? Right. And going from there.
Yes. And, and and why I personally I just as a parent at the time liked having, like, a few books, written specifically for children is because, I would just feel safe, just at which herb was okay to use in a higher amount or whatever, you know, because some are just safer to use with children and and then all. And so you just kinda keeps it, like, you're not having to wonder. Like, oh, I use this to say, I use this for a cold, but can I give it to my kids?
We're going, Well, look at one of your kids' herb books and and and see, you know, like, and and and trust, you know, and and and that to me was was huge. Just as like having a little, you know, mentor right there for you when you need it. So you're just talking about, you're just mentioning, you know, what, what what, to grab in the kitchen and all and that sort of thing. And so what else I'd like to actually talk about now is, let's say, a parent's listening to this who's gonna be a parent or is thinking about being one or is one and is a little bit new to this.
And and, you know, some sometimes it's, Demetria, it's really about, confidence. Like, for I just remember being in that place as well as, yeah. I have these error books and they say this, but, you know, can I trust it? Or or what do I really use?
Or how do I really you know, what remedies do I really have or use? And I and I think that, for me, it was just that over time experience. Like, I had that experience with fennel. I knew fennel was safe.
I saw it in that book. It said it was for kids. I tried it. It worked, and now I know that works, and that's in my apothecary.
So what about, what would you recommend? Let's say pick ten or it can be five or whatever. Or what are some main herbs and remedies, whether it's a type of tincture to just have premade with or or things to make teas with, salves, whatever? What what do you think that every parent should have in their apothecary?
Well, my first suggestion is an ear oil, a Molinere oil with garlic and echinacea. It's an infused oil.
Do not put it in a dropper bottle because it doesn't last as long. Put in a in a bottle with a tight lid and have a separate separate dropper for it or a pipette.
Another thing that I really like is Saint John's wort oil infused.
You can use that on all kinds of of issues. It has has a lot of great properties as most people know. But if you're a new mom, it's really I find it's really good for postpartum depression when applied topically.
Kind of as an oil, just covering the body, putting some in a bath, and relaxing in it. I truly feel that that oil feels like applying sunshine to your skin when it's an infused oil.
And I've said that for about ten years now, and I think people at first thought I was crazy. But I've had about four hundred people tell me, oh my gosh. That's so true. I was not I was so blue, I you know, after the baby was born because that that happens naturally, and then there's other issues that can occur that are more serious. And it's just kind of the same for a grumpy baby. Giving a grumpy baby a, massage that's a perfectly safe oil to use for infant massage.
It doesn't have any essential oils in it, so you can't accidentally overpower the baby.
You know? And just doing a a nice infused, oil with it is I think that's just lovely. And it's great for your hair and your skin and all of that stuff too.
So it's great for baby skin and cradle cap and diaper rash. And, I mean, I just used to make it in, you know those, what is it? It's in a gallon, like, pickle jar. I used to buy those and make it in that, and I'd use I'd go through tons of it. I mean, although I have all these recipes in the book, I did keep things pretty simple for my kids because I was very busy. I was running an herbal school. I was running a skincare company at the time.
So I really liked I really liked simple remedies personally. Mhmm.
And then, of course, a good salve.
And What do you mean by that, like, a good salve?
Well, one that's antimicrobial, antibacterial.
I mean, the salve thing kinda comes from figure out what kind of kids you have.
You know, like, if you've got grubby kids who are always getting into stuff, then, you know, a good power punching stab that's gonna be good for cuts and scrapes and bruises, you know, something that, you know, if you have kids that get bruised all the time, something with arnica in it would be good. But if you're applying it to open skin, then maybe something with with plantain or, some essential oil of lavender. And still, you can still really keep it simple, but, you know, you have to be kind of in tune with what kind of kiddos you have.
Yeah. Exactly.
And then I just like, you know, whatever is on hand. Like, I don't really I guess I just don't really think about it too much because I I know that, there's so many uses for one error.
Sounds, you know, natural to you, whatever's on hand, but you have to remember that there are people out there, who still are are trying to, you know, just figure out what to have on hand.
So so what are some of those? Like, what are things on hand?
Here?
For diarrhea. That's one of my treatments, for diarrhea.
And we traveled a lot. We've traveled all over the world. My kids have been to something like, I don't know, fifteen countries. And so the black the and I would even, I'd bring it with me. You know?
When we were in Egypt, we were, you know, faced with a diarrheal crisis in the family.
And, you know, it's great to have on hand along with, you know, rehydration salts. It'll it really packs a punch. It can also be used for bruising or tired eyes.
I mean, there's just so many uses for it that it's a great one to have on hand.
In what form? I just would bring the the leaf. Just the leaf.
Okay. Because if you're traveling, you can make a pot of tea almost anywhere. Mhmm. You know, I've had I've gotten hot water from markets.
Mhmm.
You know?
And then you can allow it to cool. If you're in a hotel, you can use a washcloth or a compress or you know, so you can drink it. You can, you know, just wash out wounds with it. I mean, it's just really a great one to have on hand.
That's great. That's a lot about raspberry leaf that I haven't heard before.
Yeah. And and the black raspberries, not red raspberry. Though that's good too. Now if that's all you have on hand, because a lot of pregnant women have red raspberry leaf, it'll work for that also. But, the black raspberries are are my preferred for those issues.
A calendula is a favorite in my household.
Diaper rash, cracked skin, cuts and scrapes, sore muscles, you know, you name it. It's great, and you can use it as a tea, a wash, a salve, an infused oil. I mean, it has a lot of great uses.
So I like that one.
Let's see. I like, food herbs, caraway, cardamom, fennel, and you can use those in different combinations.
Anyone listening and doing your learning your plans course on Herb Manager will know will, that your your your homework is what family are they all in? Don't tell them. Don't tell them.
I won't. I won't. I won't.
No cheating.
You know, and and, you know, of course, then there's herbs like, you know, a lot of people really like chickweed. You can eat it. You can, you know, have it in a tea. You can, you know, use it in a salve or an infused oil.
I really like comfrey leaf. I know there's a big out there about comfrey.
We're we're total comfrey fanatics on Urban Answers, so you go go go.
Okay. Well, I know my so my son broke his collarbone. He was playing tag, and he fell over like a brick, if that makes any sense. He just kind of, like, fell over straight and broke his collarbone.
And I took him to the emergency room after I said, wow. Your bone's really broken. This is you know, I brought him inside and put something on it. And what I put on it was, comfrey oil, and then, I put arnica on it. And we get to the emergency room, and they said, well, I don't think it's broken. We're not gonna do an X-ray.
He's too calm.
And he goes, well, it doesn't hurt. My mommy put arnica on it. And then, of course, there was this flutter of, what are you putting on him, and what is it? And they're looking up my name on the Internet, and they're looking up what Arnica does, and, you know, all this different stuff. And and they did an x-ray, and it was totally broken.
But I continued with the comfrey oil, and it was supposed to be in a sling for six weeks.
And by two weeks, he wanted to use his arm so badly, and it was like a fight just to keep him stabilized. And when you feel the break now, you can't even tell where it was broken. Mhmm. And it it's been like that for a while. So I I really you know, to me, that was just like, I love myself for comfort.
Well, yeah. We used it as well. My son broke his wrist. So her oh, it seems like anyone at the sun's out there has probably broken something at some point. Yeah. Probably has that story.
Yeah.
Between the furniture and the bones, it's like Before we had it in our garden, there was this nice patch that grew near the post office.
And so every while he had his broke his arm that whole period, I'd be walking to the post office. It's perfect timing for comfrey leaf season, you know.
And I'd go to the come home with my mail and some stalks of comfrey, make up the poultice and slap it on.
Totally. Totally. You know? My new garden here doesn't have big comfrey yet, and, I just can't wait. I'm, like, just so nervous that something's gonna happen before I have access to it. Right?
Right. Right. Exactly.
And, what other things you like? What about for things that might be helpful for, more cold and flu types of things?
Well, I love elderberries.
I love, I love making an elderberry syrup.
I usually do, like, a gallon, and then my my kids will put it on pancakes or in their oatmeal, and I kind of just use that as, a preventative.
So I really like I really like it, and I make a really yummy elderberry syrup. So I'm a I'm a cook from the old school. I love cooking, and so if I can combine something into a food, then, you know, why not? Right? It just makes life easier.
And garlic. I really like garlic. I like ginger for cold and flu. I like making horehound candy for my kids, to you know, for sore throats and helping with coughs.
Having visited a lot of different places and moving a lot, Even though my kids are homeschooled, they have gotten their fair share of weird funkiness from from other places, and it's always nice to have these things on hand, you know, just to, you know, assist them with their their colds and flus because it seems like they don't get the same ones as all the other kids.
You know?
It's like, oh, got some weird thing from, you know, Spain or something. You know? And, you know, and that's just because they're in a different environment.
I like Mullen too for coughs and bronchitis and asthma. You know? I I really think that's a good a good herb to have on hand.
But, I mean, there's so many different things. It's kind of like deciding between your favorite child.
Mhmm.
You know, like, what, you know, what's your favorite kid?
Well, I don't have It's not so much favorite.
It's just, it's just really things that, you know, folks can just look into first.
And I think that's and I think that's, great about keeping it simple and there's so much information out there. It's like we get an information overload and and keeping and finding your place where you want to learn about, herbs for kids and and, you know, that's what's neat about just going over, apothecary idea like you have. You you I mean, you list several herbs in your book, which gives, you know, and all, but I was just curious on what you thought of those were the were the ones that, you know, make sure you have on hand like, I I imagine chamomile. Right?
Yeah. And sage and thyme, and I always tell people, sage and thyme is good for sore throat. Mhmm. S t. You can't forget it.
So you can make a tea with sage and thyme and a lot and that's accessible.
People have that in their in their home spice racks.
Right.
But, you know, if you're gonna treat your family with your home spice rack herbs, get a better quality. That's my only secret.
That's very true.
Yeah. You know, maybe not get them from the dollar store, but in a pinch, you know, the where they're at. But, I mean, you know, just, you know, the highest quality that you can afford, and no drama about the quality. Don't feel bad if you can't afford the, you know, four hundred dollar an ounce organic whatever.
Just do the best that you can and feel okay with that. Yeah. Because there I think there's a lot of I wouldn't say classism with that, but it's kind of a well, you know, a one upmanship, and that's I think that's counterintuitive, and it's not very supportive. And we need to support each other on our different herbal journeys and not look down on people for doing the best that they can possibly do and offering a hand up instead of, a look down.
Well, you know, personally, my favorite my things herbs I'm fascinated the most by, and I really mostly like to stay in the realm of anything I can actually get at a supermarket, you know.
I mean, as far as like Very cool.
As far as like I mean, not just like I mean, like, well, besides things that I can just gather for free I mean, you know, around me, obviously.
But but I like I like as a you know, as a serve there there's two kind of survival skill things I think going on. There's one where you're where you're where you're, like, okay, live off the land. What's growing around east? And that's fascinating to me.
And the other part of fascinating is like, well, realistically, when I I my real life, I'm not put in many survival situations. So so I am traveling a lot and all. And it's just like, what can I get? Like, how can I utilize this market and the produce section and the spice section the most?
And you and and you mentioning here, you know, caraway, cardamom, fennel, garlic, ginger, sage, thyme, you know, and you can make an ear oil easily with garlic and olive oil and and and these kinds of things, which are, that's like a certain level, you know, of just being a skill set to be able to walk into any market or even if you're traveling and you're staying at a hotel and something happens, you can, you can run over to a a market and get something and help yourself without having to buy having to spend a ton of cash on some pills or something. Yeah.
Definitely. I mean, a lot of grocery stores now carry fresh rosemary, lemon balm, peppermint, the onion and garlic family, and then what's the other one that they all seem to have lately? Basil, oregano, thyme. I mean, if you look at those, you pretty much you're pretty much all set, and you can get them fresh. Like, you have a you know, someone's got a virus, you've got tons of you know, you can go get two bunches of lemon balm and make really strong infusion and knock that puppy out.
Well, and and and so maybe a a strategy is that, for folks is, you know, going through a book like yours or something and and seeing, like, alright. What are things that I can just that I already have first or I can get in my market easily no matter where I'm traveling?
And if there's things I start to rely on that I use a lot that I can't, then maybe when I travel, just make sure I have a little bag of whatever or a tincture of so and so with me, you know, just in case because I know that this works great.
Or if your kid's prone to ear infections, bring your ear oil with you, you know.
Yeah.
In a one ounce bottle.
Right.
So you can bring it on the plane.
Exactly. That's if you are, you know, carry on only. Yeah.
Yeah.
If you don't wanna pay the twenty five dollars for the package fee.
Yo. Yeah. I just heard about that.
That's Oh, it is? Yeah.
Oh, I love this. This is a great conversation. I like So, yeah. You know, recapping ear oil, Saint John's wort oil, a a good first aid salve, black raspberry leaf, you said mentioned rehydration salts, calendula.
Breast milk.
Breast milk.
If you're Yes.
That's a great remedy for almost anything while breastfeeding.
Right. Exactly.
Yeah. So I'll just throw that one out there, tell my breastfeeding sisters. So Exactly.
But, you know, I mean, there's a lot of cool stuff out here.
Keep it simple.
Yeah.
So, what I'd like to do now is, look at time here is that there on our mentor, there are some, in our forum.
Mhmm.
I mentioned that you were coming, that you're gonna be, here on the show. And, some folks are very excited about that. And, and so I wanted to ask you some of the questions that they submitted because that's a cool thing if you remember on there is, like, if I'm having someone on and I can able to do it, I like to, get questions from members so they can, have that opportunity to have, you know, herbal authors answer the questions for them and teachers and run schools and stuff, people like yourself. So, so anyway, Stephanie, was really in really into your stuff. So So she's she's really excited that you're gonna be here. Oh, cool.
Well, thank you, Stephanie.
So she heard, she wants her to lessen, from you in which you broke the constituents of pregnancy teas that they sell at stores like her co op. And so could you mention that or basically?
Yeah. Well, it's an article. She can find it online if she wants, or I can send you the link where we get off.
What could she Google? Hey. Wait. What would she look for?
She could gurgle gurgle.
Woah. What are those herbs in her pregnancy tea blend? And then Demetria or pregnancy herbs Demetriana. It should come up.
Great.
But, it what I did is I took a very common popular pregnancy tea blend, and I broke it down and said why these things are beneficial.
So I don't know if you want me to go through the different We'll mention or not mention three herbs and then and then we'll move on to the next question since we just gave everyone directions on how to find it.
And On Herb Mentor, I'll, put it I'll find it as well and link right from the article where this is being posted. Yeah.
Okay. Great.
So, so anyway, what are a couple of the ingredients in Famous Pregnancy Teas?
Spearmint, raspberry leaf, strawberry leaf, nettle, rose hips. Rose hips are one of my favorite, by the way. I didn't mention that. Fennel, lemongrass, alfalfa, and lemon verbena. And that was in the at the time when I wrote the article, that was in the most, popular pregnancy tea. And I'm pretty sure it was a traditional medicinal tea, but I can't be a hundred percent sure. Because in the article, I couldn't say who what was by.
I just kind of had to and then what I did is I I broke it down to why these things were good and some of the the vitamins and the minerals that were That's cool.
In the You know, when I when I started, when I I remember my early herbal classes that I had, our our teacher, had us go out into, markets and and look at tea blends and and tincture blends and, you know, match it up and and try to, you know, analyze what why they might be in there, which is a neat exercise. So Oh, for sure.
I'll have to remember that one.
It's a fun teaching tool.
I can't send them out and say and then they start to go, oh, wow. You know, and they start you know, you know, it's it's just fun, you know, to see how that's all done.
Yeah. Definitely.
Next, we have, Kyoki here and, let's see.
When should when should we wait and, wait and see to treat at home? So she's wondering, you know, sometimes you have to wait and see, and and what are signs of, like, this is immediate. Gotta go see your doctor as soon as possible.
And so she maybe some common sense guidelines, because, you know, as a mom, you know, like, your kid starts to cough and it's like, is is that a horrible cough or is that a bad cough?
So, anyway, what do you Yeah.
Well, first of all, some great advice I was given when I had my son was children bounce.
And I looked at the person, and I was like, what? Children are really resilient, and I think, we need to try to get a little bit more in tune with our kids and be less fear based when our children aren't feeling well. Though that's really easy to say, not always really easy to do because those are our babies. But sometimes just taking a step back, taking a deep breath, and going, okay.
My baby's miserable now. My baby's crying. What's going on? Let's go through the checklist, clean diaper, blah blah blah blah blah.
Okay. And then go from there because sometimes, you know, I had a woman call me, and her baby was crying and crying and crying, and she's been crying for, like, an hour.
She'd had a cloth diaper pin come open, and it was stabbing her baby in the long way.
Oh, jeez.
And she not that that's funny. That's not what I'm saying. What would it she was scared to death. And so and I said, okay.
Let's undress the baby. Let's make sure that, you know and she goes, oh my goodness. She was so embarrassed. I said, look.
It happens to everyone. Don't you know? I mean, stuff happens. You know? It's not a big deal and you know?
But, you know, sometimes it could just be something really, really simple or, you know, other times your baby is really sick. So just sometimes remembering that, okay. Go through everything and make sure we've checked all of our boxes. Okay.
Now there's something wrong with our baby.
So if the baby is really lethargic, fontanels are sunken in, Skin is dry. The cry is high pitched.
For an older kid, maybe they're really lifeless, lethargic.
They're really pale.
Their breathing has changed. Their maybe their breath smells much differently, or when they go to the bathroom, you know, they're experiencing pain or if there's ever any blood or something just smells really off, those could be signs that something pretty serious is going on.
Another good sign is if your child is too ill to complain about being ill. So if your baby has been crying, crying, crying, and all these different things are going on, and then the baby stops and just kind of isn't really present. You know? Hey.
Hey. How are you doing? Are you and you're not getting a reaction. Because babies babies want to react to their parents.
I mean, you are the center of their universe when they're a baby. So if you're not getting that, then maybe that's when you need to say, alright.
It's time to go to the doctor. It's time to call somebody.
And, or if the child is older and their their speech isn't coherent. You know? If they're six or seven years old and suddenly they're just kind of like they're laying there and they're not really, you know, making sense when they're speaking. And, you know, those are kind of really outward, highly visible signs to kind of, you know, Pay attention to and make sure if your six year old isn't feeling well and they're not giving you coherent speech that they're not watching like SpongeBob or something. Because if your child is really distracted by the television or whatever or, you know, a book or a computer thing, then they're maybe not gonna be coherent. So maybe, you know, kind of getting rid of those things.
If any of that kind of stuff happens and the baby's under two months old, definitely make an appointment. Go to the doctor. Go to the emergency room. Don't be afraid of being, a paranoid mom. So many people don't seek out care because they're afraid of being, I don't know if it's belittled, but they're afraid of someone looking down on them or saying, oh my gosh. What are you doing here?
Mhmm.
You know? And, just completely, you know, letting it go. Don't don't care what they're thinking about you, what they're saying about you. So what if you're paranoid? I mean, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're not right. You you yeah.
So but you're part of that equation as the parent, and you have to feel well too. So if if, if if taking your child in to get things checked out is part of the equation of helping you feel well, right, then then go by all means.
Yeah. And and, you know, fevers, fevers over a hundred and four degrees, stiff necks, long term fever, fevers that, you know, are low grade and last, you know, a day or two, that, you know, rashes that look like bruises, seizures, coordination issues. I mean, any of that kind of stuff. Mhmm.
You know, if you're afraid your child has ingested something, call, poison control.
Call nine one one. I was watching someone's child, maybe almost twenty years ago, and they had some toner on the floor.
Mhmm.
The next thing I know, the child is covered with black toner.
And I called and, you know, they were like, oh, don't worry about it. Just give him a bath. It's fine. But I was in my in those few seconds between calling poison control, I seriously thought this is it.
This is it you know, I was just so nervous and so scared. I think I was fourteen years old, and and they were just like you know? And they're very kind and listened to me. And, you know, kids get into stuff.
So if you if you think that could be a problem, you know, call. Those people on the other end of the phone are experts.
If you call an emergency room and ask to talk to the duty nurse or ask to talk to, you know, an emergency room physician to determine whether or not you should bring your child in, they will talk to you. They will give you good advice. I mean, that's their primary function. That's their job.
And generally, they are very, you know look. They don't want you to bring your kid in if your kid doesn't need to be brought in. But if your kid needs to be brought in, they wanna see your kid. And they'll tell you. They'll say, well, give it a few more hours, or they'll say, you need to come on over now.
And, you know, we have to we have to try to have a more symbiotic relationship with our health care providers no matter what kind of provider they are.
Because if there isn't trust and if there isn't understanding, it's just gonna continue the way it is, and it's not working right now.
Thank you. Alright. Next question is, your treatment for ear infections, especially recurring ones.
Well, if your child is breastfeeding, then put some breast milk in the ear. I even say that in the book. That's like that you can Google breast milk ear infections, and there are studies up the wazoo.
It is truly, if you think about what is in breast milk, then it, you go, oh, okay. That's what keeps babies alive and keeps babies safe in horrible, horrible environments, in disease ridden environments, in war torn environments.
Breast milk is you know, fighting all of these different pathogens. And and so if you really think about it, it's simple. It's really simple science. Wow. Now some people obviously aren't gonna wanna do much with breast milk, though that's sad. Why put something to waste that's for free? But, you know, whatever.
And then I like an oil. So the the one I was talking about earlier with garlic, mullen flower, and Saint John's wort, it kind of has a triple whammy, and all of the the herbs act together to really assist with, ear infections. And then you can do something like echinacea or garlic tincture or garlic in the food, depending upon the age of the child.
I tend to like to keep it simple. If it's a reoccurring ear infection that does not get better with herbal treatment, then you need to find out what's going on. You know? Is there, you know, water in the ears? Is there, you know, is there a reason why?
And then go from there. A a lot of physicians now are trying to get parents to, you know, not use antibiotics for ear infections unless they're needed because we've had such a problem with overuse of antibiotics.
And so they're generally, if you talk to them about it, you say this is what you're doing. If you have to, bring them in information, educate. If they're gonna educate you, you're gonna educate them, and really try to, you know, get them on the same page.
Because I know I know a lot of doctors, and the thing that they keep saying is parents come in and say, I need an antibiotic for this even if it's not something an antibiotic will work for.
Like a virus.
And so we need to stop acting like that and grow up, you know, and say, okay. We need to find out what a good treatment is, not what I see on TV.
Right.
You know? Not And then hand washing and cleaning up and, you know, those kind of simple things. You know? If your kid has an ear infection and they like to pick their nose and eat it, well, let them.
It's a homeopathic treatment for disease. You know? Just, you know I mean, just look at things a little bit differently. You know?
Why, you know, why is your child getting your infections? Could it be dietary? Could it be, you know, their tubes? And just trying to figure it out.
K.
And my booger thing is backed up by research. It was just in so I can find the link if somebody needs it, but it is backed up by research.
So This is great.
Yeah. I'm the I'm the queen of boogers. Right? That's my new title.
Queen of a grateful day.
Queen of boogers and herbalist for the grateful day.
Yeah.
Pamela wants to hear what you have to say. And I I like this question, because I curious back when my kids were teething, back in those days. Well, I'd like to hear what she has to say about fevers in children who are teething. In addition, what is the proper protocol for a child running a fever higher than a hundred and one when there's no outward symptoms?
You know, like the kids running a fever and seems just fine. It's like it was like my daughter. She She would always run these one zero three fevers, and she'd do bouncing around just fine. I'd be like, what?
So those two things. How about the teething one first?
Well, with teething and fever, I mean, it, you know, it happens. And now you will go and you will speak to a physician, and the physician will say, teething does not cause fever or diarrhea.
Everybody knows who's had a teething child. They have a fever sometimes, and they definitely have diarrhea.
So it's just one of those things that happens.
If the child is okay, there isn't necessarily a huge threat for having a fever for a while.
I when I when my children were little, I decided to let them set their own fever clock, and I let them get a high fever monitored, and I let them break their fever. And now their fever never goes higher than that, And I know when it's gonna break. One more degree, fever's gonna break. Kid's gonna be fine. And we used to do that, but now we give Tylenol and Motrin and all this other stuff to break fevers when your child has a fever one hundred point two or whatever.
So knowing when your kid will naturally break a fever is helpful. Now, because it's a baby, you can do, you know, work with their, you know, doctor and say my child has a little fever. Otherwise, they seem fine.
You know, when should I worry? Not not what's wrong. When should I worry?
And then the way that you phrase your question and the way that you approach it is gonna change the way that things are taken care of. If you, you know, just say, well, what can I give my child? That's the question that's gonna get answered. So when should I worry? Because every child's different.
If your child has a hundred and two fever and they're not moving, you need to worry. If it's one hundred and two fever and they're talking and they often get very talkative when they have that one hundred and two fever and the cheeks are all all pink, and their eyes are sparkly, and they're bouncing all over the place.
And they're just their body is fighting something. Their body is fighting an infection, and they may be doing fine fighting that infection, and that naturally they're gonna take care of their own self. But you can also, you know, use herbs. I mean, it's just kind of figuring out, what's going on because there isn't one perfect thing for everybody.
Sometimes, you know, just taking a cool bath with your baby who's teething, the water is soothing.
You know? I'm not cold bath. You know, just not really hot water, and the two of you are in there comfortably and just kind of, you know, playing and, you know, just having that kind of relaxation. I mean, I always tell people to nurse through a fever if they're breastfeeding.
The child gets everything that it needs, and usually, you're breastfeeding when the fever breaks, and you're suddenly holding a very sweaty baby. But you know, just just really thinking about what, you know, what could be causing it. And, you know, with teething, you know, it's just something that happens. And they and often, you know, they say, oh, babies don't get fevers when they teethe, but I don't know if I've ever seen a baby not get a fever when they teethe.
So Me neither.
I'm around I've been around hundreds of babies. So Right. And, yeah, hundreds of moms.
So Exactly.
And if you're with all we're with your line of work. Yep.
Yeah.
Very cool. Now let's see. Before we get into last last question, there's one little question that may maybe a a quick answer to. But, but, one person noticed your book giving instructions on drying herbs in a microwave in their book, and she wanted to know your take on that since she's heard otherwise.
Well, yeah. I mean, it you know, the point wasn't of the book to say you have to do something this way or that way.
I just figured, I wouldn't necessarily salt herbs either for my medicinal use, but why not know how to do it? Because you never know. And that's kind of how I thought of it. Have I ever used a microwave to dry herbs? I did to see how it worked, but it's not, something that I would normally do. Would I say that I would never ever ever use it under any circumstances?
Nope. Because I don't know. I don't know what situation I'll be in. I don't know what country I'll be in. I don't know what I'll need.
Or you can be deep in the woods in a survival situation.
All you have is a microwave.
All I have is, like, my satellite for my computer and my microwave. I mean, what am I gonna do?
You know? But, you know, it was just one of those things I figured, you know, you might as well put it in there because you never know. Because this book isn't written for one kind of parent.
Oh, that's true.
So you never know.
Someone may say, oh, I love this, and it works great for me. And, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not you know, whatever works for you, I think, is what's important. And then you can go from there and find things that work better for you or fit with your ideals or whatever. But you know?
K. Thanks.
So, you know, one, I'm kinda combining a couple couple of questions here. Wow. People are gonna be psyched because very rarely can I get to everyone's question?
So, and this is around, seem to be a couple of questions around, information on on vaccines and immunizations. And and, you know, I know that can be a real it's a real subject, and some folks I've interviewed in the past said, you know, I don't really wanna tackle that one. But what's your, you know, I know we can't we don't have a whole lot of time left. I don't wanna put a whole lot of time left. I don't wanna put you in that kinda situation, but whatever you wanna say about for parents, maybe wondering what's the right thing to do.
Well, as far as vaccinations, I think parents need to figure out that part for themselves.
I I personally don't vaccinate, and, I don't I don't feel that my choice is perfect for everyone.
When my children go to college, we are going to sit down and see if that's something that they need to consider.
But my children have always been very healthy, and so have my husband and I.
And we breastfed our children for a long time, so they had natural immunity built in.
And I'm not afraid of a lot of, you know, of, you know, children get sick. They get sick if they're vaccinated.
See, vaccination doesn't guarantee you won't get sick.
And, so it just hasn't really been something that has been part of our life.
And there's a long, drawn out story about vaccination, which I don't know if it's something that people would be interested in but I don't know. Do you want me to say anything about it or Well, we had done, my first child received a modified vaccination, And he started screaming and threw his head back, and I reported it like I was supposed to to his doctor, and he said, it's not really worth reporting even though it says very clearly on the information.
And I went, You know what? This doesn't feel good to me. And we decided to stop right there.
And then, my collarbone breaking child decided to go step on a piece of rusty farm equipment while playing.
And, put a big gash in his foot, and I irrigated it. And because it had been farm equipment and it was rusty hundred year old metal, I decided that he needed to get a course of pediatric tetanus, and he hadn't had the tetanus vaccine. And, he went to the doctor, and the doctor said, okay. Well, I don't carry pediatric tetanus, so you have to go to the emergency room.
And so I said, okay. Fine. You know, we'll take him to the emergency room. They supposedly had it ordered for us.
And we get there, and as far as I know, that's what he's getting. And I even said more than once, this is just the pediatric tetanus. Right? This is just pediatric tetanus. And they said, yes, yes, and, yeah, we got the doctor's order and blah, blah, blah.
Well, we get home, my son is jumping on the couch, he goes as rigid as a board and falls over onto his face.
And I went, big swear word, and called my father, who was a doctor.
And I told him what happened, and I said, what should I do? And he said, well, if he's breathing, he's sleeping, you know, he's fine. You know? I didn't really think that there was anything really seriously wrong with him. I just thought his body was saying I need to sleep now.
And I called the emergency room doctor to find out. I said, what did you give him? And he told me, and I said, that's not what you're supposed to give him, and this is what has happened.
And he agreed with what I had been told, and he started crying.
And I guess what had happened is our attending had made the phone call in the ten minute drive from one facility to another to change it to the combination.
And that's what they did.
And so they gave him the DTaP instead of just the tetanus.
And my son had had a reaction to it.
And, since then, I know that both of my children don't do well with vaccines. So, obviously, they're reacting to something in it.
And, for me, it's just not something that I feel very comfortable doing.
It has to be something that is individual, and there's certain things that I feel the need for a vaccine is much more serious than something else. Like, I don't really think we need chicken pox vaccines.
Right. Right.
I just I think that's utter ridiculousness.
You know? And all these articles have been written about why they came up with the chicken pox vaccine, and that was to keep children from missing school and daycare because it was costing families too much money to stay home and take care of their children. So this was a good solution because parents can't afford to take a week off. Well, that's just something wrong in our culture when parents don't have time to stay home with their sick children.
So, I mean, that just addresses a whole slew of of other things. But, you know, just for me personally, it just wasn't something that I wanted to take a risk with with my kids. Now if my kids had been fine, maybe my thing would be different. But the the my point is is that, you know, for me, it isn't just, one way or the other.
It's just too complex of an issue, because there are benefits that we've seen worldwide with vaccination, and there are issues too that we've seen with vaccinations. And when you have drug companies funding the research that says something is good or bad and they also make the drug, you you know, It's all politics, and it's all dirty.
Yeah.
I need to go take a shower now. I don't know. But, you know, I mean so I we offer remedies, though, in the book for things like chickenpox and measles and and stuff like that. So parents have, an arsenal if, you know, their child, even if they vaccinate, does get sick.
You know, and and I think that, for us, it was, just the the parents need to educate themselves, and it's not just and I don't think it's just because it's, like, this liability cop out or something saying, like, Sam. It's also because when you choose not to vaccinate, when something is so ingrained in our culture at this point as the norm, when you have, like, your parents or your siblings or your friends start to bring that up and you and they find out that you're like, oh, you didn't vaccinate.
Having the information to be able to give them or at least to refer them to and feeling confident about it Because you don't want you know, you want you want to at least feel good about your you know, solid in your choices that you make. And, also, you know, if you're not like, myself or or my wife aren't necessarily debate or argumentative type of people who like to get in that kind of situation, that you yourself are, you know, solid in in in your and then so when, you know, people come up, like, in your school, like kids' school, and you're like, oh, you're opting out, like, in our state, you know, you're opting out of the vaccination, how can you do you know, some some people, like, some some people have been like, yeah, okay.
And then they just sign off. And other people at the school office might be like, oh my god, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that you just hold your center.
You know?
And then and because you can get Or your your kids are the reason why other kids get sick.
Right. Right. Right.
Really? Because my kids aren't sick. So you're confusing me here.
Like they just Or they don't understand that vaccines can cause shame.
I mean, that's why elderly people have to get the shingles vaccine now. I mean, the rate of shingles has gone up because of the chickenpox vaccine exposing elderly people to the shedding. And then so you can't get your two pox vaccine and then go hug grandma.
Right. Right. Right.
You know? I mean, like, let's make some connections here. You know?
But, yeah, it it can be a touchy subject and, you know, on both sides of the thing.
And any and anyone that, like and I've been in back and forths with family members on things and and literally on email, you could go back and forth all day on studies. Like you can find all the articles and studies and nobody's gonna win.
Well, they got a study for everything. Yeah.
I have to keep up booger.
You can you can find anything if you Google it based on what you're looking for. So so that doesn't work either.
Otherwise, people like, well, I found this.
Well, I found this. Well, I found this.
I was like, ah.
Yeah. Yeah. You just you're right. You have to be really comfortable with your decision and and hope that, you know, you know, that things go well. I mean, there's just there's nothing that, you know There's really nothing you can do. I mean, I just think in my family, personally, there's a predisposition for not reacting well to them.
Yeah. Yeah. I would say that with my kids too. We we chose eventually with the tetanus for them, you know, and, later because we didn't initially do anything vaccines. And, my daughter did fine with it. And, and that's because they are playing outside a lot, and they're barefoot a lot in their school, and they're at the outdoor school they're in and stuff.
And I said, alright, I might as well do that, you know, because there's lots of sharp things out there.
And so my son on, the second course that they have him do of the tetanus only, he did not react well. And, but my daughter did just fine with it. So he's a he because my son's very sensitive, to things. So Mhmm. We didn't continue it, you know, because that would just be counterintuitive.
You know?
Yeah.
So anyway, I was just sharing that for those as just as a story, you know, just to say that And and and our and our choices on that were based on books and things we read and and things. There's lots of great resources. There's Aviva Ramm has a book on it. Right?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. And she's fabulous.
So that's that's some place you can look and and and educate yourself. So so I think that's a good response for folks, just hearing two parents having a discussion about, you know, because it wasn't about it. It's not black and white. It's a process, and it sounds like you and I have both gone through these processes.
And and Yeah. And and did it from a certain place and not just like, oh, I'm like alternative and stuff and then we don't get vaccines.
Yeah. See now I was gonna make that worse, but I figured it wouldn't be cool if I did. So I'm glad you did. So you've opened the door.
So let let me and my final question links to that. And, that is what do you say to advice? Because, you never know who's gonna be listening to this little episode here that we're having together.
You're just advice for confidence in parents, for feeling safe.
Educate yourselves. You know?
Take a herbal course like yours, or yeah. Or mine. You know?
Read. Don't don't be afraid to ask questions.
You know, I think that, you know, learn about about nutrition and and learn about ways to, you know, be healthier as a family, and have a supportive partner. Mhmm. You know? You can't you you make sure you guys are on the same page about things that are important, you know, when it goes into this because, I mean, it's you know, I have so many clients and so many parents that I have worked with who've said things like, well, we chose to not do this, but it really was the mom's choice or the dad's choice.
And the other one wasn't on board, and that leads to tension. And nobody's going to be nobody's going to be feeling good about a decision if in the back of their mind, they're so afraid that their partner is gonna think that they failed as a a parent. And so, really, you know, we really need to start talking about these things before we have children and making it part of, you know, our social conversation about caring for children and confidence and not being afraid of health care providers. You know, there isn't one god of all health care providers.
There isn't one health care provider that's any better than anyone else, and that's something that we really need to embrace. That if you if you feel you get a lot of benefit from having, like, a Reiki treatment, much more so than taking a drug, then why is one held in more esteem than the other? It's about making yourself feel good and making and making your children feel healthy and happy and well. And that isn't there isn't one one level of care that should be more you know, more powerful in the community, or more anything.
We need to start acting as community practitioners and people who work within their community and, you know, embracing a lot of the information that's out there. If parents have questions, you know, the Department of Health has all kinds of information that's free, that your government provides. I mean, really look into what your community resources are. If they need assistance with nutrition, if they need assistance with getting access to food, there's programs that'll help parents.
In the community I live in, one in four children has one meal a day. So find out your statistics. Find out what's going on in your community. Make yourself a part of it, even if it's just, you know, working in a community garden or getting a volunteering at a breastfeeding group or, you know, growing herbs in your own backyard, but getting involved and making it part of a social dialogue and embracing that within yourself and within other people and not saying you know, I've talked to so many people at different herbal conferences and midwifery conferences in the United States and Europe, and they're very much like, well, I went to this herbal school, or I did this program, or I you know?
And and we need to stop that.
Agreed. Yeah.
You know? We need to stop this kind because that is what the you know, everyone kind of feels like they're in this big conflict with, modern medicine versus traditional medicine and not allowing them to have that influence on us.
And we need to embrace each other and say, oh, wow. I don't I don't I don't do anything with traditional Chinese medicine. That's so awesome. You know?
And then really kind of, like, embracing each other's differences and and, you know, and then doing that as parents too, you know, and not saying, well, I never ever would formula feed my baby. That's just disgusting. You know, hearing that person's story and communicating with that person and not seeing everything that you think is wrong with the way that they parent. Because you bring that then into your setting because you feel like you have to perform for some audience that isn't there.
And it's just not fair to do that to yourselves or each other.
Did that make any sense for you?
That was beautiful.
That was it. I just love how forgiving and inclusive and, you know, you are. That's just creative. And and and, yeah.
That's, I have been beaten down well by my children.
I know.
Yeah. Me too.
There's nothing left.
There's no ego. There's nothing left anymore. Some people find it very religious.
I liked what you said about the support of the the spouse because I mean, there's not a parent in the world who multiple times in their parenting doesn't feel like they failed on something.
And, and and, and what, you know, And it's at that moment that the spouse needs to go, no, honey. You're awesome.
You know? You're doing another thing, and that's what keeps the marriage going. It keeps our spirit strong in that relationship. And there's you know, I it's no fun. I know. And not everyone can be in that, you know, be that lucky. But, I mean, it's it's, I I'm fortunate to just be in that kind of relationship where it's like, you know, we we see eye to eye and we help each other out, you know, and stuff.
Yeah. And, I mean, that is I mean, that's rare. I mean, my husband and I had made a lot of decisions before I was even, you know, eighteen years old on how we wanted to raise our family, and we were both on the same page. We just happened to bump into ourselves in a massive ocean of the world.
But, you know, but people people can also learn different ways and to be patient with each other.
And, you know, there there I have a lot of students who who would say to me, my husband thinks I'm nuts.
Okay.
He thinks this herbal stuff is nuts, but he said if I really wanna do it, he's gonna let me do it. We're gonna pay for it, save up money, whatever.
And then three months later, my husband took all of my sag down to the garage and sold all of it. He wouldn't believe it. You know? So if we just work and be open with each other, it's like, you know, I had That's great.
One student who was a truck driver, He got four other truck drivers to sign up, and they would talk to each other on the CV about their lessons. I mean, you never know, you know, what kinds of you know, it's the movement. It's you know? And it's always moving, and it's always fluid.
And if we do things that hinder each other, we're gonna stop that. So the field will stop growing. It'll you know? And it won't be as diverse and complex and beautiful as it is now if we if we don't continue to educate ourselves and to be open and accepting of whatever path people come from.
Right.
Right. Well, everyone, I suggest you go to heart of herbs dot com because, Demetria has some really cool distance and online courses and, herbal certification, aromatherapy certification.
If you're interested in these things, surely check that out. And, and if you have kids, pick up a copy of herbal healing for children because it's, it's, definitely, as far as, you know, kids in remedy books, that's that's my, it's my top pick.
Thank you.
Well, you know, there's some great books as well like, if you wanna involve your your kids in herbs like in that more like working with them. Of course, Leslie Tierra's book is great. They're they're they're what's really great is there's some different kids and, children herbal books that they have all different approaches and and purposes and things. And and, this, but this, like, you know, when you need, like, hey, my kids got this, colic or my my kids got a burn.
It's like, bam, you're there. And it's a few paragraphs. You quickly read what you need to know and can get your remedy out. And it's good to get something to go through it ahead of time before you have a situation because you can, make sure you have certain things in your apothecary that resonate with you.
So that's, heart of herbs dot com once again and told you all about the book and a four by Rosemary Glassstar. And you know if Rosemary Glassstar does it for, then it must be a badass book. Right?
Oh, thank you. She's so lovely.
She's the sweetest person.
Yeah.
She really is. I have to aspire to such sweetness.
There she's there for all of My dog just started barking up a bunch of ice.
Can all just, get sweetness infusions from Rosemary. Alright. So to meet you, Clark, thanks so much for spending time with us on Herb Mentor Radio.
Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
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