September 2012 Volume 4 Issue 9 zine Planting a Seed of Knowledge for a Lifetime of Herbal Wisdom In Praise of Prunella 1 ! WrittenWritten and Illustrated and by Kristine Illustrated Brown by Kristine © 2012 KristineBrown Brown " Herbal Roots Zine is a monthly activity magazine created to teach kids about medicinal herbs. All writings and illustrations are created and owned by Kristine Brown and are subject to copyright laws. All rights reserved. Please do not distribute this packet outside of your immediate family or use any part of it for resale value. Libraries are welcome to print out a copy to place in a binder for their loan system. Commercial and classroom rates are available. All information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. Text and Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Kristine Brown Herbal Roots zine 8801 State Route 162 Troy, Illinois 62294 [email protected] Herbal Roots zine ISSN 2166-4668 (online) http://herbalrootszine.com/ https://www.facebook.com/herbalrootszine 1 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown Table of Contents Note to Parents 3 Calendar 6 Herb Spirits 7 All About...Prunella 9 Scramble, Search and More 14 Herbal Botany 17 Herbal Lore 19 Songs and Poems 22 Herbal Recipes 23 Coloring Page 28 Herbal Crafts and More 29 Maze 32 Herbal Journal 33 Crossword Puzzle 35 Resource Page 38 2 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown Note to Parents Dear Parents, This past month I felt a change in the air, Summer has lost his grasp and Autumn is quickly taking hold. This is not to say he has taken over, oh no, it is still hot and dry but there is a subtle change all the same. We, like much of the United States this year, have suffered from a drought. Our summer consisted of about 2 inches of rain total for the entire 3 months and took its toll on many of our plants, including the hardy native plants. Many chose to flower and seed early, insuring life for next year. Prunella seemed to soldier on though and while she was a bit smaller than usual, continued her growth as scheduled. We are now heavy into harvest time for Prunella and will be drying her for use in teas, poultices, liniments, lip balms, salves and more as she is such a great herb to have on hand. Her common name is Heal All, Self Heal or All Heal, all indicating her use as a panacea. And, it’s no wonder, she is quite an amazing herb with lots of healing actions! This month we have a variety of herbal remedies to try out with Prunella including lip balm, liniment and cream. Prunella grows like crazy all over the world and is easy to grow if you can’t find her in your location. As a member of the mint family, once you get her established, you’ll never have to worry about her growing around you again! In addition to this booklet (which we recommend you print out a copy per child who will be using it), this month you will need (see the Craft and Recipe Sections for specifics on each): Ingredients Dried Prunella Fresh Prunella (if available) 3 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown Note to Parents Coconut oil Cocoa Butter Shea Butter Raw Honey Vitamin E capsules Beeswax Borax Rubbing alcohol Alum Mild dish soap (such as Ecover or Dawn) Supplies Mini crock pot Hot pad Spatula Strainer Glass measuring cup Bottles Labels Needle or knife tip Lip balm tubes Saucepan Candy thermometer Stick Blender 4 oz. wide mouthed jar Jars 4 oz. bottle Stainless steel pot Wool roving, play silks, wool yarn or other natural dye materials Tongs Directly after this note is the calendar. If you’re not sure how to incorporate Herbal Roots into your daily learning routine, use the calendar as a way to get started. Subscribers have found this to be a great starting point whether they are homeschoolers trying to fit Herbal Roots Zine and herbal learning into their daily school routine or public/private schoolers trying to fit a few minutes of herbal learning into their hectic after school routine. My hope is that this calendar will be a starting point to get kids exploring herbs on their own and learn to bring a bit of 4 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown Note to Parents herbal joy into their everyday lives. Be sure to check in with our blog! Every Monday we offer a giveaway. You can sign up for a chance to win all sorts of great items including wooden animals, clay pendants and a free issue of Herbal Roots Zine. Also, to new subscribers, I’d like to suggest investing in a binder of some sort to put these monthly sheets in. One per child if possible so they can each have their own little herbal book. They’ll be pasting actual samples of the herbs in here along with keeping a journal of all their thoughts and explorations of each particular herb. That will create a wonderful memory to last through the schooling lifetime! They are building an herbal foundation of knowledge to be used for the rest of their lives. These are real herbs that can be found almost anywhere or grown very easily. Having this knowledge is very powerful and will stay with them for a lifetime! A great way to introduce Herbal Roots zine is to have them decorate a cover page for their own binder. You can also download a ready made binder cover on our website at: http:// www.herbalrootszine.com/freebies/. You might also consider having them make a Herbarium if they haven’t already. Directions can be found on our website. Look for the link on the left hand column of the page! Most of all, have fun. Learn, explore, discover, taste and dream. The herbs are playful and we should be too. Until next month, Peace and Herbs! 5 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown September 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 Get 5 6 7 8 started Time for Start Review Giveaway with the a botany your Prunella Monday* Herb lesson! liniment with the Spirits See page today. crossword. page. 17. 9 10 11 12 Have 13 Sing 14 15 Make you been about Tell a Giveaway some journaling Prunella. friend about your Monday* infused Prunella Can you Prunella’’s oil today. exper- add some story. iences? verses? 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Have you Share Make Giveaway tried the your Word some lip Monday * cream photos on search balm for yet? our Flickr time! your lips. page.** 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Try Listen to Fill out Giveaway dyeing Flora Finish the 2nd Monday* with dela your part of Prunella. Terre.*** liniment. the Herbal 30 Spirits page. *Go online to Herbal Roots’ website at: http:// herbalrootszine.com to see what’s new there! Every month I’ll be giving away a copy of Herbal Roots and many more goodies including plants, clay pendants and wooden critters made by local mama artists. **Have any pictures to share? Post them on our Flicker page at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/herbalrootszine. We’d love to see what you’ve been up to! ***See the resource section for links to great articles on this month’s herb! 6 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown Herb Spirits Visualizing herbal spirits can help you understand and remember the herb better. Before you read anything about Prunella, take a few minutes to fill out this page with your thoughts and feelings. After you have learned all about Prunella, fill out the second page with how you view Prunella after learning about her. Compare your answers and see how your understanding and knowledge of Prunella has changed and grown over the course of this issue. There are no right or wrong answers. Part 1: Fill out BEFORE you learn all about Prunella. j What color is this Herbal Spirit? _______________________ j What body type?(long, lean, plump, wispy, stout, etc.) ________________________________________________________ j Any particularly pronounced features? (eyes, ears, feet, belly, fingers.....?)___________________________________ j What personality? (fiery, calm, flighty, aggressive, grounded...)_____________________________________________ j Age? (baby, youth, adult, crone...)_______________________ j Ethnicity? ____________________________________________ j Gender? (male, female, gender neutral) _________________ j Herbal Spirit energy (cooling, warming, drying, moistening?_____________________________________________ j Element? (fire, water, earth, wood, metal, air, etc.) ________________________________________________________ 7 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown Herb Spirits Part 2: Fill out AFTER you learn all about Prunella. j What color is this Herbal Spirit? _______________________ j What body type?(long, lean, plump, wispy, stout, etc.) ________________________________________________________ j Any particularly pronounced features? (eyes, ears, feet, belly, fingers.....?)___________________________________ j What personality? (fiery, calm, flighty, aggressive, grounded...)_____________________________________________ j Age? (baby, youth, crone...)_____________________________ j Ethnicity? ____________________________________________ j Gender? (male, female, gender neutral) _________________ j Herbal Spirit energy (cooling, warming, drying, moistening?_____________________________________________ j Element? (fire, water, earth, wood, metal, air, etc.) ________________________________________________________ j j j j How did your answers change?___________________________ How did they stay the same?_____________________________ Did any of your changes surprise you?____________________ Why or why not?_________________________________________ 8 Written and Illustrated by Kristine Brown © 2012 Kristine Brown All About…Prunella! Prunella is often called Self-Heal, Heal All, All- Heal, Woundwort and Carpenter’s Herb. Because of these varied names, I prefer to refer to her by her botanical name Prunella.