Clara’s House is a dream come true! Ainslie
smiles, “Being involved at Clara’s House is a big
part of my life. I love it! To care for people is so
important, and I feel so lucky!”
Inviting all locals to join the hospitality,
Ainslie encourages, “People need to be aware
of our programs, so that we can serve most
effectively. For example, we didn’t start out
offering support groups, but as we listened to
the needs, we offered solutions.”
Where kindness is medicine, where guests
rest securely, where healing begins in the garden,
where miracles happen every single day-come
visit Clara’s House! From Ainslie to the thankful
guests and eager volunteers who serve, each
remembers a little lady named Clara who built
her dream established upon the foundation of
kindness. ☐
THROUGH THE MUSCADINE continued
Bitter
Greens,
Spring
Cleaners
Katherine Smith, a local from Pinebluff, is
an Alaskan greenhorn and accidental poet.
She’s living to make life that is art.
THROUGH THE MUSCADINE con't. next column
GIVING BACK con't from p. 32
The Foundation of FirstHealth Clara
McLean House, Healing Garden.
20 First Village Dr.
Pinehurst, NC 28374
910-715-4220
Bitter Greens
by Katherine Smith
Spring comes early to these parts. The sun
touches the earth and calls up slivers of feral
greens. We taste them—tender, assertive, bitter.
The taste kindles something deep in our bellies
that has been sleeping for a winter; for a hundred
years. Bitter alkaloids in wild plants co–evolved
with our bodies for the very purpose of waking
us up.
Bitter is the warning taste of poison.
Think deadly nightshade, castor bean, white
snakeroot. It is a taste our bodies know well
and respond to accordingly. It slows gastric
motility so we feel full faster and consume less.
It supercharges liver function and increases
bile, rapidly detoxifying in a learned fight for
survival. What could be a better strategy by
nontoxic plants like dandelion, ground ivy and
yellowdock to deter grazing than to evolve the
aversive taste of bitter?
Bitterness challenges the body, and this
challenge leads to resiliency. Increased digestive
enzymes break down carbohydrates, bile breaks
down fat, and the clean, slowed delivery of
broken down nutrients to the blood stream
regulates blood sugar. And while, outside of
arugula and turnips, cultivated vegetables lack
this bitter challenge, luckily, we can eat the
weeds.
Chickweed is the poor man’s barometer, with
succulent leaves that fold up before rain and
night above a happy trail of fuzz running up
the stem’s vein. Medicinally, chickweed moves
lymphatic congestion associated with fatty liver,
rheumatism, slow metabolism and slow healing
ulcerations. Iconic Appalachian herbalist
Tommy Bass used chickweed as a mild appetite
suppressant, helpful for weight loss if taken an
hour before meals.
Nettles grow from a place of protein
accumulation on land, near the compost pile
and chicken coop. When ingested, they bring
iron, calcium, magnesium, and protein to assist
disorders of deficiency like anemia, low blood
pressure, allergies, and the accumulation of uric
acid that exacerbates rheumatism and gout.
Violet, with its vanilla taste of sweet hay, is a
cooling demulcent for dry mucous membranes
and heat and congestion in the lymphatic and
respiratory systems. In traditional Iranian
medicine, violet-infused oil was dabbed into the
nostrils for insomnia, a use that has been well–
studied in clinical trials to improve sleep quality.
Wild garlic, like the garden variety, helps
expectorate phlegm from the lungs, lower high
blood pressure by improving circulation, and is
a powerful antimicrobial that alone can reverse
many upper respiratory infections and cases of
candida and warts.
Dandelion improves liver function,
stimulates bile, acts as a potassium-sparing
diuretic, diversifies gut microflora, and tones
and strengthens the kidneys and ureters. There’s
a belief amongst plant people that the medicine
you need comes to you, so it’s no wonder our
backyards are full of this cleansing panacea.
And then, there’s ground ivy, the evergreen
herb that stays with us all year. Once a popular
remedy for kidney complaints and lead toxicity,
ground ivy moves hard congestion. It is helpful
for upper respiratory infections that lodge in
the ear, tinnitus, jaundice, monomania, and
clearing heavy metals from the body.
These spring cleaners, and many more,
are tonic and tart, with that hint of bitter our
bodies remember so well. They stimulate
detoxification, digestion and circulation to
sweep out winter’s excess. Cabbage, potatoes,
canned beans and corn have filled and warmed
our bellies during hibernation, and now spring
brings the sharp mineral tang of renewal. Juice
it, chop it into a salad, infuse it into a tea, simmer
it into a vegetable stock, or gather it whole as an
edible bouquet. This is, afterall, the time of year
associated with fertility, and raucous new life is
wooing. The taste of wild reminds us of where
we’ve come from and calls us, again and again,
into the relationship that never ends. ☐
No. 138 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.33
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