How to practice sustainable agriculture
in college and still have time to study.
Showing posts with label Medicinal Plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicinal Plants. Show all posts

Thursday, June 5, 2014

A New Direction

The New Direction of Veggie Hoo




As you can see, I changed the subtitle of my blog from "how to be a healthy vegetarian in college and still have time to study" to "how to practice sustainable agriculture in college and still have time to study". This year, the word BALANCE has taken on a new meaning. Balancing school and friends, balancing exercising and sleeping, balancing relationships, balancing vegetables and carbohydrates, balancing my academics and extracurriculars. To balance is to give equal distribution.

For example, a place where I experienced balance and change was in my diet. I joined a crossfit class during the spring semester and as a result of continuous exercising early in the day, I was always hungry. I had stopped eating plant protein sources and was eating only vegetables and carbohydrates. During that time, I went to a healthy eating seminar at UVA and the speaker emphasized having a balanced diet. She said that 70% of the time she subscribed to a vegetarian diet, and 30% of the time she ate meat. The key to eating meat she said, "is that you have to be very stringent and cautious about where it's from and how the animals have been treated". At a farm that I was shadowing at, a farmer stated that stressed out chickens create eggs with more cholesterol so couldn't the same principle apply to any animals? Because of the eating seminar, I decided to start incorporating meat into my diet (very slowly) in February and my first meat source was wild sockeye salmon from Trader Joe's. I am not much of a fish fan so buying salmon was a bold move for me and incorporating it as my first animal protein source in lieu of a plant source was even more surprising! I marinated the salmon in lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper, wrapped it up in aluminum foil, and baked it in the oven and voila! Flaky delicious fish. 


In the meantime, I joined the gardening club at UVA and also went to the community garden events. My first flower ever planted at UVA was a calendula. We cut open 20 oz. soda bottles, put 1/2 cup of potting mix inside, and planted our seeds in them. I placed the flower in my apartment windowsill and the flower bloomed beautifully! And recently, I just learned that calendula's can be used for medicinal purposes: if you make a lotion or paste, it can be applied to your skin to reduce pain and swelling. 


This past year, I've realized my focus shifting. Here is my train of thought in 2 years and hopefully it can serve to explain the evolution of my blog: 



Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Edible and Medicinal Plants



Long before writing began, plants have been serving medicinal purposes in both Egyptian and Chinese ways of life. In the early 1800's, chemists began to extract plant ingredients as healing drugs and eventually, man-made drugs replaced plant based ones.



As a vegan, I find this very interesting because it seems like technology took us away from a vegan form of healing. In the past 20 years, herbal remedies have been increasing as a result of public dissatisfaction with prescription medications. 


This past weekend, I went on an Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk that was sponsored by the Rivanna Conservation Society. I’ve been to a sugar-addict class, a vegetarian cooking class, and even had a nutritionist, but never have I encountered herbal remedies. In the end, the walk was a lot of fun and very informative. The cool part of it all is that you can find these plants in your backyard! Here are my notes:



Flower
How to use and benefits
Picture
Plantain
Take leaf, chew up and can place on bee sting, mosquito bites, chiggers. Antiseptic and healing.
Cinquefoil
Both the roots and the herb are antispasmodic (controls muscle spasms), astringent (draws tissue together) and febrifuge (reduces fever). Young leaves – raw are a useful addition to salads
Blackberry
Fruit edible. Leaves and roots are astringent. Can be used on burns and poison ivy.
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JapaneseHoney Suckle
Flowers are used for making honeys and syrups. Leaves can be toxic but hard to absorb by human body. The stems and flower buds are alterative, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory. Helps with sore throat
(Stag’s Horn) Sumac
Fruit, when cooked can be made into pies and juice. Very sour. Bark is antisepctic, astringent, tonic (refresher)
Pine Tree
Edible inner bark. Needles are good source of Vitamin C, just don’t swallow it. Tea made of needles can help with lung congestion.
Yarrow
particularly valuable for treating wounds, stopping the flow of blood, treating colds, fevers, kidney diseases, menstrual pain.  Yarrow, elder and peppermint are a classic herbal tea combination used to treat colds.
Ox-eye Daisy
Edible in salads. The plant has been employed successfully in the treatment of whooping cough, asthma and nervous excitability
Red Clover
Can be put into salad. A delicate sweet herb tea is made from the fresh or dried flowers. The dried leaves impart a vanilla flavor to cakes.
Poke Weed
Mature leaves are poisonous. Leaves must be cooked before eaten. Berry’s are red and used as dye. Used in the treatment of diseases related to a compromised immune system
Lemon Balm
Leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Are used in flavoring alcoholic beverages with a lemony flavor. Called “gladdening herb”
Stinging Nettle
Only use young leaves. they are a very nutritious food that is easily digested and is high in minerals (especially iron) and vitamins . Flax-like fiber obtained from stem.
Wild Violet
Edible. Assists  
a
other herbs in performing their action. Helps with varicose veins. caution is advised, the yellow flowers of this species can make you sick.
Mimosa
Antidepressant inner bark. Yellow dye obtained from flowers. Pollen is very soluble in water.
Redbud
Abundant purple flowers in late spring. Flowers have nice refreshing acid taste, the flowers are rich in vitamin C and make a pleasant addition to salads
Hawthorn
Fruit is normally used for making jams and preserves. Medicinal heart tonic. Tree has distinctive spikes.
Day Lilies
An asparagus or celery substitute. An excellent sweet tasting vegetable. Can be used as laxative.
Autumn Olive
Fruit raw or cooked are juicy and pleasantly acid, they are tasty raw and can also be made into jams, preserves. Stimulant in treatment of coughs.
Greenbrier
Root can be dried and ground into a powder. Can eat tendrils. Used in treatment of urinary complaints.
Oak tree
Seed = acorns are edible. Used as antiseptic and astringent properties.
Dandelion
A pleasant tea is made from the flowers. Everything is edible except stem. Nutritious.
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Wild Lettuce
Can eat leaves as salad. Sap can be used as sedative.
Wood Sorrel
Resembles a clover but has heart-like leaves. Lemony taste. Can be used in soups and salads. Leaves can relieve pain, rich in Vitamin C.
Yucca
Looks like a giant asparagus. “food, rope, fire, and soap”. Stem cooked and used like asparagus.
Elderberry
Purple berries. Antiviral in vodka. Can make elderberry syrup against cold and congestion. Leaves = poisonous.
Passion Flower
Fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. Very fragrant. Increases sleep latency so you will stay asleep.