Deb Soule, owner and founder of Avena Botanicals, has been profiled by the Demeter Association on their website for her work as a Biodynamic farmer. Avena is the first Demeter Certified farm in Maine. Check out her interview here:
http://www.demeter-usa.org/meet-farmers/

New Moon in Aries

On Wednesday, April 10, just before the dawning, at 5:35 AM, EST, the Sun and Moon will unite in this powerful initiatory constellation of Aries. As you remember, the Sun entered this constellation on the spring equinox on Wednesday, March 20th at 7:02 AM. The Moon at that time was in the constellation of Cancer. The Sun and the Moon were courting one another, knowing they would unite but resisting overtures until they could hide in the darkness of the Moon in her newness.

 This is a powerful Moon to begin the cycles of your soul's urgings. What is it that your heart dreams of? Well, this is the Moon to ceremonially plant the seed of your essential self; from your head to your heart.

The last new moon in Aries was in March, of 2012, close to the equinox, and full of seeds. What were you initiating then? Do you remember? And, was the cycle completed? If not, this may be a good time to affirm its completion. Will it take another year of cyclical time? Uncompleted tasks can become shadows and hide in the underworld. They can skirt the surface of dreaming, playing in the twilight of the psyche, waiting for full acceptance.

So here is your opportunity to either begin again, or affirm completion. If you can affirm completion, then, now it is the moment to expand the garden of the heart.

 Aries rules the head. Most specifically, the top of the head to the nose. I would like to introduce an old idea. When the Sun goes into Aries on the equinox, and when the Sun and Moon align during their newness, it is an excellent time to nurture your head; That is, your hair and your face; the eyes, ears, nose and mouth; the top and back, as well. The ancients considered the head to be connected to the soul as it aligned with the heart. Whatever way you think to nurture the top of your body with herbs, water and affirmations that support the well-being of your head is important now. This sounds funny, really, because we are not always accustomed to thinking in these terms. Nor are we accustomed to nurturing our head. Maybe our feet and our hands but not our head.

Conversely, this is not a good period to have surgery on any of the parts of the head previously mentioned Stay away, if possible from any burden or strain to the top of the head, the eyes, the ears and the nose. this is not to create fear but to act skillfully with these body parts at this time

This is a good time to take actions to relieve recurring headaches, eye strain and sinus issues.

Another practice to coordinate the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and the body as a whole is to practice the ancient Vedic art of Nadi Shodana. Our ancestors, and by ancestors I mean to say, all of our human progenitors not just our particular ethnic inheritance, believed the left nostril is under the influence of the moon and the right, by the Sun. The new moon in Aries is an excellent time to initiate this practice in order to attune to this cycle. It is helpful to perform this practice during the new moon but it is a practice of communion and alignment with the cosmic cycles that is known as svara yoga. This is a complete science of attunement to the greater and lesser cycles but we will begin with Nadi Shodana.

 Take the thumb of your right hand and close the right nostril. The thumb is not really a finger but the repository of divine will and logic. Breath in through the left nostril of the moon. Then, release the thumb from the right nostril and press the left nostril closed with the "ring" finger and the pinky. The last phalanx of the pinky is ruled by Aries (appropriate here) and the ring finger by Cancer. Exhale through the right nostril. Repeat the process. If this seems difficult to accomplish for various reasons, then you can try, Anuloma Viloma, which is visualizing, as you breathe the life-giving prana, flowing up the left nostril, to the third eye area and then down through the right nostril. And then, reverse. Whether one accomplishes this through visualization or through physical manipulation of the nostrils, the effect is the same. The nose is an instrument for altering cortical activity and aligning the microcosm and the macrocosm.

Thus, we breathe with the Sun and the Moon and create balance and harmony.

An excellent herb to drink at this time is Stinging Nettle (Urtica spp.). Nettles is ruled by Mars. Mars is the planetary ruler of Aries. This new Moon arrives at the time when Spring is approaching in the temperate climates of the North. After the inner journey of Winter, the Sun begins her journey Northward. The energy of Spring shape-shifts our body's into an emergence from the underground into the glorious hands of the Sun. Nettles is one of the plants that can assist us with this transition from Winters stormy darkness into the sap flowing wonders of this season. Nettles is beginning to show herself, as she peeks out from the damp, cold earth. Her tender green leaves miraculously lifting their fingers up toward the Sun. So, it may not be time to pick her, just yet. For this you may need to use last years' left overs. To drink last years dried nettle leaves is an excellent way to transition to her young fresh leaves when they are ready to be offered in the next few weeks. Nettles cleanses, purifies and moves the energy outward as an herb ruled by Mars can do. Because most living beings slow down in the winter months, at least for humans, nutrient absorption is lessened. There is more congestion and constriction. The muscles, glands and organs lapse into a mood of slowness and restfulness. But then, when SPRING springs, the atmosphere of the body lifts in delight to the awakening and warmth inherent in the season. Nettles, again is the herb of choice.

Nettles can be used, also, externally as a large tea for whole body or hand and foot baths and as a rinse for the head; Hair rinse, eye and mouth rinse.

To prepare nettle tea, take 1/4 cup of dried nettle leaves and place into a glass quart jar. Cover with almost boiled water, cover and then let the tea steep over night. Drink the well steeped tea in the morning; cold or warm. As a cold tea it has more of an affinity for cleansing the kidneys by diuresis. For a full bath, add the nettle tea to your bath water and bathe in her emerald luxury.

The Aries new moon brings an aliveness, a richness, a warmth of spirit. A period to uncover your nurturing plans for the year as the Moon moves through and embraces all of the constellations. One after another, touching every part, loving all places in your heart, and the heart of the cosmos.

Stay tuned for the next new moon in Taurus. That moon will be a solar eclipse on May 9th. May this moonth (month) carry you sweetly. May you begin to dream your hearts desires into the colorful buds of Spring.

Kwah Wa'Adabisha ThD

Astrologer, Herbalist, Therapist

Deb Soule

Herbalist, Biodynamic Farmer, Author

The Avena New Moon Series

Avena botanicals is introducing a monthly new moon series that is based on the movement of the
moon through the different constellations. As living beings, we are integrally connected to the whole
cosmic web. When we live in balance with this web, in this case, the cyclical nature of the moon, we
can become attuned to the nature and significance of the moon's spirit with our own essence.

As the moon travels through each of the different constellations it casts an energy that guides our
activities. We will be most focussed in this series with the moon's effect of different parts of the body,
healing and wholeness, as well as those plants that are either ruled by the moon or the planet that
governs the constellation the moon is associated with.

We will begin this series with the new moon in Aries. Aries is traditionally the beginning place. We will
end in approximately 13 months with the new moon in Pisces, the ending place. But the ending is in
turn the beginning, for each ending gives birth to the next phase in the spiral of life.
Whenever the moon is new, the sun, and the moon are in the same constellation for a time. It is the
marriage of the sun and moon, so to speak. The coming together of the luminaries. Two of the most
important influences on the lives of beings on our precious home, Earth.

We pray that this series can be helpful in guiding you. May all beings become whole.

Kwah Wa'Adabisha, ThD
Astrologer and Herbalist

Deb Soule
Herbalist and Biodynamic Gardener

Join Deb in the kitchen to talk about Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera). She discusses it's medicinal uses, dosage and preparation as a traditional powder. Learn how to prepare a cup of Ashwagandha milk, and about Deb's favorite things to add to this deeply nourishing medicinal beverage.

An Honoring of Russell Libby, 1956-2012
Director of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

On January 6, 2013, over 200 people gathered together in Unity,
Maine, the home of MOFGA’s Common Ground Fair site, to honor
Russell Libby. Russell gave more than thirty years service to MOFGA:
as a volunteer before becoming the Executive Director in 1995. With
his leadership and vision, MOFGA built the Common Ground Fair
in Unity and grew it into the largest state organic association in
the United States. Thanks to Russell, MOFGA is a national leader
in educating and supporting the next generation of farmers who
will benefit from his vision of strong, sustainable local agriculture
and healthy, vibrant communities. Russell made twenty trips to
Washington, DC over the last few years, working hard to ensure
that small farms everywhere would be protected as “so-called” Food
Security policies were (and still are) being created. Recently the state
of Maine lowered their flags to honor Russell.

Author Wendell Berry wrote after a friend of his died: “ His new
absence from the world has made him newly and insistently on my
mind.” This is how it is for me with Russell. Avena Botanicals has
been certified by MOFGA as an organic grower for 28 years and I
have known Russell most of that time. I once sent him a note after he
visited Avena, thanking him for taking an interest in the cultivation
of medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs continue to be marginalized-
perhaps misunderstood-by food policy makers and large-scale
farmers who focus only on vegetables, fruit and animal production.
Russell valued the herbalists in Maine just as he did all the farmers he
interacted with.

Russell was a poet and wrote the following poem of which I wrote a
response that follows his poem.

A Pledge
By Russell Libby
(after a news headline “Now the Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will
Destroy Us”)

If this is true,
that the world we have known

will not be,
that ice and storms from the North
will be matched by dry wind from South and West,
where else to be
but here?

We’ve know that a world
stealing from the future,
burning the past in tailpipes and smokestacks,
is wrong,
and we are complicit.

Yet the wagon we bought twenty years ago,
wheels and frame, body to be added, only needs
four legs or eight to pull it.
(My two are adequate only for short hauls.)

Hanging on the wall of the shed
is a two man saw, big enough
to drop and buck a dozen cords of firewood
if the winter lasts and lasts,
the snow does not melt.

We could move with the many,
But that only concentrates the problems to come.
And the mysteries, the questions-
I’m curious about what might still grow where.
The Russett from the Bean Road should fruit soon.
Sheep still make sense, for now; chickens too.
The energy of seeds, their sharing.
Vikings are eleymus, wild rye-grass, for grain:
can we too?

And still I return to love
love of place,
love of neighbors,
love of you.

If the world we know is to crumble,
the world we create can only start where we are.

My last breath will still carry hope
for the future,
And love for the present, and you,
though many dark days may yet pass.

Russell, An Herbalist’s Pledge In Response To Yours

I was not aware of how deep your commitment to
social, political, and ecological justice was until I read your poem
A Pledge, written after a news headline
“Now the Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us”

I wish that we could have dialogued about this face to face.
But that is not possible now.
Perhaps our dialogue can happen in even grander ways-
in the in-between times of sleep, where they say
those who have passed return to instruct those who are left living.
Rudolf Steiner is one of those who gave such instructions.

Russell must have left a long to-do list for Heather and the entire MOFGA staff.
May grace be with each of you as you settle in to a work space without Russell.

May the Libby home be filled with an unspeakable light
that warms your hearts through this transition time, and beyond.

May we herbalists grow and prepare more medicines that
ease stress and despair, build resiliency, and offer protection from toxins.

And for all of us in the farming community, and for all of us who eat food-
May we dedicate our daily lives, as Russell did,
on behalf of our precious planet, in small and grand ways.

The South African poet and author Breytenbach once said to writer Terry
Tempest Williams:
You Americans, you have mastered the art of living with the unacceptable.
Russell knew this and gave us instructions when he wrote

If the world we know is to crumble,
The world we create can only start where we are.

Life is so magnificent, and death so tender, so shimmering, so seemingly final, yet
so mysteriously not.

Thank you Russell for your leadership and love.

Please visit MOFGA’s website, www.mofga.org, to watch a video of Russell’s final
address to Maine farmers and to make a donation to the Russell Libby Memorial
Fund in support of Russell’s goal to lay the foundation for a sustainable, human-
scale economy.

Join Deb this week on the hillside gardens with a hedgerow of Thyme. She discusses medicinal uses, planting and harvesting.

Last week the Avena gardeners dug Astragalus. This is one of the few plants that, after washing and chopping, we actually cook on a low simmer for about 12 hours. This helps release the medicinal properties from the root, as tradition has done by holding a practice of making it into soup stock or tea. Deb speaks of growing, harvesting and preparing this plant for medicine.

The Hawthorn harvest! It's that time of year again, the berries are red and full and we're ready to make Hawthorn Berry extract. Deb talks about growing and harvesting Hawthorn throughout the season, creating a natural deer fence, and the scope of medicinal qualities that this beautiful plant offers.

When most of the garden is beginning to go dormant, Eleuthero is finally in bloom! Eleuthero (also known as Siberian Ginseng) is native to Northeast Asia, so this plant loves the colder weather, coming into full bloom in autumn here in Maine. Deb tells of her experience with Eleuthero and of it's medicinal uses as an adaptogen and overall strengthening herb.
Try some of our amazing Eleuthero here: http://www.avenabotanicals.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=eleuthero

This week, Deb introduces us to her beloved 25 year old Rosemary shrubs, so special to her that Avena has built a sun room in our new production facility just for them. They'll be happy and warm through the winter months without fear that the greenhouse will lose heat, and the Avena staff will delight in seeing them every day when most green things have gone.

Deb discusses both medicinal uses and the way in which we care for these plants on a yearly basis in the colder climate.