Empowering Self-Reliance and Sustainable Living & Microbiomes
Empowering Self-Reliance and Sustainable Living & Microbiomes
I never imagined that I would one day use banana flowers as medicine. But, here in Ecuador, they hang in the garden, bold and purple, their petals opening one by one to reveal tiny hands of bananas inside. They looked more like ornaments than remedies, too grand to be anything …
We have all heard of taking turmeric (curcumin) with black pepper (piperine) to enhance the bioavailability and absorption of curcumin. Piperine, the bioactive compound found in black pepper, has been shown to significantly increase the absorption of curcumin by inhibiting metabolic enzymes that break it down and increasing intestinal permeability. …
Chaga is a medicine of paradox. It hides for decades in the heart of a tree, unseen and unnoticed, and then suddenly bursts outward in a rugged black form that looks more like charred wood than mushroom. It grows slowly, deliberately, intimately intertwined with its host, offering itself as both …
Reishi has always held a certain mystery for me, the kind of presence that feels both ancient and majestic. If Chaga is the king of mushrooms, then surely Reishi is the queen. Her polished, lacquered body glows with a deep red sheen, shaped like a throne or a crown, rooted …
Ashwagandha has become one of the plants I most treasure in our gardens. When I first planted it at my home, I wasn’t sure how well it would take to the Ecuadorian climate, but to my delight it has thrived both in the garden beds of my home and the …
Not all medicine grows in our garden. I deeply believe in using what we cultivate and forage here in Ecuador, but some plants are so profoundly restorative to the body’s inner terrain that they are worth bringing in. Slippery elm is one of them. This is not a tropical tree. …
Alfalfa has always struck me as a bridge between the earth and the body, a plant that works as hard beneath the soil as it does within our cells. When I walk through my gardens scattered with alfalfa plants, I see the familiar green leaves and tender stalks that the …
In the quiet of an Ecuadorian night, while you sleep, a bustling army marches across your garden. Small, coordinated, and persistent, ants can strip a plant of its leaves, harvest every fallen crumb, and carry more weight than their own bodies without you noticing until the damage is done. For …
There are certain plants in Ecuador that most people would not even stop to notice. They spring up through gravel roads, weave into the corners of gardens, and quietly line the edges of fields. To the eye that sees only order and crops they are weeds, nuisances to be cut …
We’re quick to toss what we don’t understand. The skins. The peels. The bitter parts. But sometimes what we discard is exactly what we need to heal. Pomegranate is a perfect example. Most people enjoy the juicy seeds, maybe even the juice, and toss the husk into the compost without …