Gardening & Herbs

Take That, California!

Might Livingston, Montana Displace California as the Breadbasket of America?

Raymond Ziemkowski
September – October 2024 • Vol 4, No 12

Some of you may be familiar with “The Sleeping Clairvoyant,” Edgar Cayce’s readings and prophecies, which stated that, as our planet moves into Aquarius, cataclysmic Earth changes might occur, resulting in a dramatically different landscape of our planet—changes that would result in much of California and the West Coast falling beneath the ocean, and our own Livingston becoming one of the world’s five major food production and distribution centers. Take that, California!

If this idea is new to you, a 1977 article (LINKED HERE) by Owen Jones of the Livingston Enterprise was printed in Helena’s The Independent Record that documents and explores the details of this Cayce prophecy. Jones writes in this article, “If predictions come true, California will fall into the ocean, New York City will be destroyed, and the greater part of Japan will be under water. But Livingston will emerge from it all as the food distribution center of the world.”

Jones interviewed Billings resident Joan Galles, who was a regional representative for the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), which is dedicated to preserving and researching Cayce’s more than 14,000 readings in their library in Virginia Beach, Va.

According to Galles, geologists have studied Cayce’s predictions about Earth changes and found them believable. “Some of the changes could happen if the Earth were to shift on its axis,” she said. Many people believe deeply in the Cayce prophecies and some have moved away from “doomed” locations to areas predicted to be safe, like Livingston.

As to the timing of such an event, Jones quotes Galles, “No one really is sure when the Earth changes that Cayce predicted will come about,” adding that, “Cayce’s research has timed the changes to begin when two famous volcanoes erupt simultaneously. When Mounts Pele and Etna both start erupting, people in California have 90 days to leave or learn to swim. And Livingston had better prepare to be the most important city on Earth!” Okay!

Whether or not an Earth-axis shift triggers Cayce’s scenario of cataclysmic events, there is an “axis shift” occurring on our planet right now in how global food production and distribution is feeding our populations. And like Edgar Cayce’s prophecy, Livingston and surrounding regions are right in the middle of it.

Big, industrial agriculture, based on toxic fertilizers and pesticides, GMOs, mono-crop farming, centralized packing and processing, and inefficient water and soil conservation are all creating a backlash of environmental and health issues around the globe. Our ability to grow and distribute food to feed our populations has never been more vulnerable.

To counter these problems and to return control, security, and food sovereignty back to local communities, new holistic strategies and initiatives are gaining traction. This will return us to smaller, local and regional production, processing, and distribution of our food—not only here in Livingston and Paradise Valley, but also in rural communities around the globe.

New technologies are creating super-rich soils. Accelerated growth and yields are being developed and put into practice. Innovative water-conservation strategies are working with Mother Nature to hold moisture in our soils and landscapes rather than being lost to evaporation and runoff.

Here in Livingston, Paradise Permaculture Institute, a non-profit started in 2014 by Mona Lewis, is right on cue, sponsoring a workshop by Mark Shepard, author of two groundbreaking books, Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers, and Water for Any Farm: Applying Restoration Agricultural Water Management Methods on Your Farm. Event dates are September 6th through 8th, 2024.

Mark Shepherd’s New Forest Farm located in Viola, Wisconsin, has evolved from worn-out row-crop fields to a 106- acre showcase, commercial-scale, perennial agriculture operation. This is one of the most famous agroforestry permaculture systems on the planet—plus it’s economically successful!

Mark Shepard heads up Restoration Agriculture Development and Forest Agriculture Nursery, but he’s most widely known as the author of his award-winning books. Restoration Agriculture is based off his experiences at New Forest Farm and represents his belief in the ability of sustainably-grown, perennial food crops to feed us into “our resource-compromised future.”

From his more recent book, Water for Any Farm, (and by taking the workshop), you can learn about his keyline adaptions and ways to optimize water across your property.

This workshop is an opportunity for all gardeners, farmers, ranchers, conservationists, permaculturists, biological researchers, scientists—and anyone who cares about the future of world food production—to experience hands-on methods of moving and saving water on the land that will increase the production of animal and food crops, rebuild soil, and contribute to local food sustainability.

Check out Paradise Permaculture Institute and details of the upcoming workshop with Mark Shepard HERE.

Raymond Ziemkowski is a native Montanan. He has been a student of many spiritual teachings since he was a teenager, often experiencing visionary dreams and insights. For most of his adult life, he has sold crystals, gems, and books spanning the esoteric teachings of the world religions. “Over the years,” he says, “I’ve listened deeply to the customers in my store. I consider the highest teaching and path, and the best book for them, to be the one that guides them to the next steps on their spiritual path.” Raymond is a long-time member of https://www.heartscenter.org/

2024-09-02T08:55:44-06:00Gardening & Herbs|

Lemon Lovers’ Herbal Alternatives

Tasty, Local Lemon Substitutes Available Year-Round!

Marlenea La Shomb, N.D., P.Tr.
Nov – Dec 2023 • Vol 4, No 7

Growing up in Arizona, we had the most juicy, delicious, tree-ripened citrus. Lemons are sweet when harvested fully ripe. Here in the mountains of Montana, no such thing exists, and I have looked for tasty lemon substitutes that grow locally, and with drying, are available all year round.

These are a few of my favorite ones: Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), lemon sorrel (Rumex acetosa), and new for me this year, lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora). All three plants are very hardy perennials that grow in most soil conditions and climates. They all will add a tangy, lemony flavor to any dish or herbal tea. The leaves of all three are full of chlorophyll—so needed in winter.

1) Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is an herb from the mint family. The leaves, which have a mild lemon aroma, are used to make medicine and to flavor foods. It contains chemicals that can have a sedative and calming effect. Lemon balm might also reduce the growth of viruses and bacteria.

People have used lemon balm for cold sores, anxiety, stress, insomnia, indigestion, dementia, and many other conditions. Use it fresh and dehydrate it for winter storage.

2) Lemon Sorrel (also known as Garden Sorrel)

This is a fast-growing and vigorous perennial herb dating back to medieval times, but it’s seen less often now. If you’ve never tried sorrel, be prepared to pucker up! The spring green leaves are packed with potent astringency and a lemony, citrus flavor.

Lemon sorrel bumps up the acidic quality of salads (just use less vinegar or lemon juice), and is great eaten raw. It also cooks down quickly in a sauté pan, like spinach, which makes it ideal for blending into sauces and vinaigrettes. When dehydrated for winter, it will lose some of the lemon flavor, yet remain excellent for your green drinks.

3) Lemon Verbena

This magical, healing plant is a must-have in the garden. It grows bush-like, with woody stems. It’s edible and useful for its a lemony flavor. The tasty young leaves are great as an addition to salads. The older leaves are used like bay leaves, as in soups, etc.

And it’s medicinal—you can use the leaves and flowers internally in the form of an herbal tea and externally as a poultice, oil or wash. Here are four of lemon verbena’s medicinal attributes, which is why this gorgeous, fragrant plant will add much to your garden:

  • Clears bronchial congestion. Use as a tea to treat bronchial and nasal congestion. It loosens phlegm, acts as an expectorant and calms the system. It has a mild sedative effect, so be careful driving.
  • Relieves arthritis, bursitis and joint pain. People have had significant relief of joint pain drinking this as a tea. Soothing effects build up over 2–3 months. If taken twice a day, pain can be steadily reduced.
  • Calms anxiety. Drinking the tea soothes the nervous system, relieves stress and lifts the mood.
  • Soothes Digestive Issues. This tea soothes and relieves indigestion, it calms both the stomach and intestinal spasms to relieve cramping and bloating.

        Harvesting Lemon Verbena.

Collect leaves throughout the year and especially before flowering. Extra leaves can be dried for future use and are equally beneficial in dried form.

        Lemon Verbena Tea.

Use 1/4 cup of lemon verbena leaves, fresh and crushed, with 2 cups of boiling water. Pour boiling water over the herb and steep for 5–8 minutes. Strain and drink one cup now and one cup later.

Mother Nature loves lemons too and has hidden their flavor and aroma in these valuable and beautiful herbs. ENJOY!

Send inquiries to Dr. Marlenea La Shomb by email to jumpstartyourhealth@gmail.com. Marlenea passionately works as a health coach and writer for all who are ready to find harmony and balance in body, mind, and soul through natural therapies and education.

2023-12-27T13:30:06-07:00Gardening & Herbs|

Holy Basil

Queen of the Herbs

Crystal Maceira
September – October 2022 • Vol 3, No 123

In this last printed issue, I have chosen to write about a very special adaptogenic herb. I must admit, I had neglected to get to know this herb until just recently. Now it is one of my top-ten favorites! I think it will be yours, too, when you find out just what this herb can do! Everyone knows about Basil. It is such an aromatic herb to cook with. But how many people know about holy basil?

The Hindu people revere this herb and have used it for many aliments in their Ayurvedic medicine. I will tell what it is, the therapeutic actions, nutrients, what it has been used for, some of the research that has been done on it, and its uses, dosages, and drug interactions.

What Is Holy Basil?
Ocimum tenuiflorum or Ocimum sanctum are both aromatic shrubs in the Lamiaceae basil plant family. Holy basil is thought to have originated in north central India and now grows throughout the Eastern world. Also known as tulsi, which means “the incomparable one” in Hindu, the holy basil plant is a perennial that has a light lemon scent and purple-pink flowers. It is also called “Queen of the Herbs.”

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A Year-Round Greenhouse

Near Downtown Livingston, MT

David Christopher Lewis
July – August 2022 • Vol 3, No 122

With our economy experiencing high inflation as food, gas, utilities and other consumer goods skyrocket, it’s a great time to grow food locally on our own properties. In addition to saving money, eating fresh produce provides a much healthier alternative to the equivalent grown in other states or countries.

In 2018, my wife Mona secured funding through grants and donations (via our 501c3, Paradise Permaculture Institute), to purchase from Four Season Tools Company what’s called a Rolling High Tunnel (RHT)—a greenhouse that can be moved on stationery rails to more than one position. In our case, the 30’ x 48’ RHT greenhouse we erected, from a kit with the help of a half-dozen friends, can now be moved by two to four people to three positions. This allows us to extend the growing season on both ends and grow hardy greens all through the winter!

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2022-10-07T06:00:19-06:00Gardening & Herbs|

Summer Savory

Enjoy this Flavorful Herb!

Marlenea La Shomb, ND, LMT
November-December 2020 • Vol 3, No 112

Summer savory (Satureja hortensis) grows well in the mountains of Montana. It is deer-resistant and it thrives in most soil types and weather conditions. There are about 14 species of this highly aromatic herb, but you can only find the seeds for the two of them. Summer savory is an annual in the same family as the perennial, winter savory. Savory leaves were formerly used to cure bee and wasp stings. Both summer and winter savory can be propagated from seeds sown in April. The seeds are very slow in germinating. The early spring seedlings are often topped off for fresh use in June. When the plants are in flower, they may be pulled up and dried for winter use.

This herb has lilac tubular flowers that bloom in the northern hemisphere from July to September. It grows to around 1–2 feet in height and has very slender, bronze-green leaves. Summer savory is a traditional popular herb in Atlantic Canada and Europe, where it is used in the same way that sage is in the west.

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2020-11-01T11:52:34-07:00Gardening & Herbs|

Wild Edibles!

Right in Your Own Back Yard

Marlenea La Shomb, ND, LMT
September-October 2020 • Vol 3, No 111

Parents are always looking for a fun way to engage their children, especially in these times. I came across the Wild Food Homeschool Teaching Guide, by Linda Runyon, from the Wild Food Company (OffTheField.com). Linda writes: “Over my decades of teaching about wild food, I’ve noticed that people who become interested in learning it often have two reactions — one right after the other. First, there are many who had no idea that FREE, tasty nutrition is available everywhere, right under their nose. Second, wheels start turning in their minds as they realize that they have come upon information that practically guarantees that they and their loved ones need never go hungry.”

Children are fascinated with the idea of going out in their back yard, or to an open field or forest, to find that the wild food growing there can be picked, washed, and eaten. They, soon after, become very interested in finding additional wild plants to identify and harvest. They love to help prepare meals that can be served using the foods that they themselves gather. The guide includes a “Rules of Foraging” list and a fun project where you rototill a patch of ground in your yard to just wait and see what springs up naturally to identify, harvest, and eat.

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2020-09-01T08:02:58-06:00Gardening & Herbs|

Nature’s Purest Water: Watermelon

Just Remember: Eat Them Alone, or Leave Them Alone!

Marlenea La Shomb, ND, LMT
July-August 2020 • Vol 3, No 110

Every child remembers summer-fun foods—my favorite was watermelon! When my first child was 8 months old, she grabbed my watermelon rind and started teething on it—her first food! Since then, I have watched and studied for information on these wonderful balls of Mother Nature’s purest water. Here’s a sampling.

Starting in 1979, Dr. N.W. Walker, who wrote Colon Health—The Key to Vibrant Life, states: “The cause of death is colon neglect. Flush it out! Maintain the water balance in your systems. The human body consists of 65% to 70% water. About one gallon is eliminated every 24 hours and must be replenished.”

In 1988, Ann Wigmore, ND, DD, in The Alchemy of Change, wrote: “Watermelon is a real treasure! It is classified as both a fruit and a vegetable. It is the most alkaline of any of them. It provides a great aid for overcoming any acid condition. Considering our present hazardous water conditions, watermelon contains the best natural water.

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2020-07-06T09:33:50-06:00Gardening & Herbs, Recipes|

Eat Your Microgreens!

The Gourmet Herbalist

Marlenea La Shomb, ND, LMT
March-April 2020 • Vol 3, No 109

Looking out at the snow-covered garden and frozen ground, as winter lingers on, I count on my greens to provide me with chlorophyll, known as “liquid sunlight.” I recently had the wonderful opportunity to meet Sam Mascari, owner of Montana Roots in Livingston, and to tour his magical greenhouses. Right before my eyes, I saw what I had previously only read about—an aqua-ponic, recirculating, greenhouse ecosystem! It starts with the tank of fish that provides fertilizer, which is then pumped into a biological filter bed that is rich with worms and beneficial bacteria.

Montana Roots is a year-round, sustainable farm that grows a variety of microgreens, shoots, leafy greens, herbs, and edible flowers. Sam explained to me the difference between sprouts and microgreens. Sprouts, grown in a jar, are more the germinated seeds and the roots; whereas, microgreens are eaten after the first leaves (called cotyledons) emerge from a plant. It grows in soil that is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant. Upon germination, the cotyledon becomes the embryonic first leaves of a seedling, before adult leafing occurs.

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2020-03-02T10:41:17-07:00Fitness & Nutrition, Gardening & Herbs|

Eating with the Seasons: Warming Foods

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Marlenea La Shomb, N.D., LMT
November-December 2019 • Vol 3, No 107

Yes, the temperatures are dropping, making it the perfect season to reach for warming foods. Think: Herb teas, hot lemon-ginger water, broths, soups, stews, sauces and gravies, crockpot, slow-cooked meals, and warming smoothies. Include: Garlic, onion, Mexican hot peppers, radishes, all types of sea vegetables. Use: Herbs like basil, oregano, peppermint, ginger, horseradish, mustard, paprika, cayenne, sage, and turmeric. Add: wasabi, umoboshi plum paste. Spices too: cinnamon, clove, star anise, licorice, nutmeg, allspice, and pumpkin-pie spice. Stir your rose-hips tea with a cinnamon stick!

Dr. Richard Schulze, ND, MH, is known for his natural-healing crusade. He reminds us: 1) Cayenne pepper promotes overall core warmth, circulation and heart health. 2) Horseradish root goes right to the head. 3) Ginger root goes out to the extremities and back in again internally, creating movement as a wave of warmth. There you have it—heart, head and hands!

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2019-11-04T08:33:32-07:00Gardening & Herbs|

Eating with the Seasons:

COOLING FOODS

Marlenea La Shomb, N.D., LMT
September-October 2019 • Vol 3, No 106

Did you know there are both cooling and warming foods? That’s right. We eat for many reasons, yet some are less obvious. For example, we eat foods that grow in our climate zones, the same zones that we plant by, because the plants that grow in our climate have built into them what we need to also survive well in our area. So here we are, leaving summer behind, and on the threshold of winter. Autumn is a transition season, not only for the plants and animals but also for us. All gardeners know that the critters will focus on eating different plants at different times of the year. Does your diet reflect that change?

Summer’s cooling foods, like bananas, grow in warmer climates. Does that mean I never eat bananas? Of course not, yet I choose to eat them in the hotter months and know they won’t keep me very warm in my neck of the woods at 20 below! Many people say, “Well, I eat a banana a day because I was told I need potassium.” Bananas are a source of potassium, but dates, by weight, have 50% more potassium than bananas (Prevention Magazine).

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2019-08-26T11:28:50-06:00Gardening & Herbs|
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