treasures from the museum of maritime medicine

this spring i was lucky enough to attend international symposium of natural dyes in la rochelle, france. it was an amazing meeting of chemists, artists, craftspeople, and leaders from all around the world working to preserve and protect natural dye traditions while finding new meaning and beauty of color in our modern world. there will be lots of upcoming posts on the conference, but for now i'd like to share some snaps from our field trip to the museum of maritime medicine in rochefort, france. at the museum we saw a beautiful collection of plants, collected on sea voyages and used for medicine. the museum was a cabinet of curiosities just waiting to be photographed.

botanical illustrations of woad.

an old drawing of a dye atelier in action.

bottles of medicinal herbs

when life hands you galangal

i'm back tracking a bit, but as i was looking through some photos from our recent trip to india i had to post this one. in month 4 or so, i really began craving different cuisines. i realized how lucky we are in the bay area to have so many cultures mixed together and to have so many food traditions woven together. i thought hard about what i could make while in our house in chidambaram, going to the markets and smelling different greens and roots and decided i would make a thai feast.

i decided to make a green curry and a peanut, red chili eggplant dish with brown rice and green mango salad.

garden garments part 2

the dark grays from the kadukkai seeds with iron bath and vellum (unrefined whole cane sugar)
gorgeous resist patters from clothespins with onion skin dye.

red sandalwood with added neem for some medicinal properties.

annatto.

hi friends, we are back in action in sunny bay area. i am taking a step back and returning to india to post about our second garden garments workshop that took place in chennai. this time around we had 25 people from all different backgrounds and ages and it was a truly inspiring and fun afternoon. we experimented with 7 different dyes: nocchi (Vitex negundo), turmeric, onion skins, madder, annatto, kaddukai (myrobalan), and red sandalwood.

la ville fertile: urban gardens in paris

a wonderful exhibit on at the palais chaillot right across from le tour eiffel. questions the use of space in the urban landscape. and ponders the reality of living in an green urban jungle one day.

one of patrick blanc's masterpieces. this one is at the musee du quai branly.

a garden design by burle marx, one of the most renowned landscape architects, famouse for his design along the copacabana beach in brazil.

spring blooms at the large botanical garden right in the heart of the city.

the viaduct converted into a lush green walkway. la promenade plantee, from appx the bastille to gare du lyon and further.
lovely plantings along the rue de roisers in the marais (the place to go for a good street falafel)
by the gare du nord station. another PB masterpiece

enough sleep, plenty of water, and laughter (ok, and just a few organic beauty products)

today i'm going on a bit of a tangent to share with you the contents of my toiletry kit, specially equipped for these 4 months in india. they are nearly all organic, natural and made from plants. i dont usually do advertising here on the blog, but i am really happy with these products and from what i know support the businesses who make them. i admit that i went on a bit of a splurge to create this kit before i left the states, but sometimes when you're really far from home some organic beauty/health products really do the trick to revitalize and rejuvenate. the kit does include a few items that i've picked up here.

but, no matter what, i truly believe the best cosmetics/medicines are enough sleep, plenty of water, and laughter.

here we go!

dental care: we use rupam's one drop only tooth gel made with himalayan rock salt, miracle soap flower essences, myrhh, peppermint, spearmint, clove, cinnamon and anise oil. you really only need one drop and this small bottle has lasted us 9 months so far. rupam makes her herbal products in sonoma and can be found at the grand lake farmer's market on saturdays. i always carry around some cloves and some cardamom pods as they are the best mouth freshener after a meal and also work great for motion sickness or nausea. these tea tree cinnamon toothpicks are also super refreshing and helpful when eating out or an the go.
hair care: shikakai (Acacia concinna) is an amazing plant whose seed pods are dried and ground up to make wonderful hair powder that leaves your hair feeling luxurious and smooth! everyother day i use our tried and true dr. bronner's miracle soap. nothing beats his fair trade, organic, castille soap. we like the unscented baby-mild kind. if you haven't seen the documentary on him, i highly recommend it-- what a guy! i picked up this cute wooden comb at the local pharmacy here.
health: could not live without these 5 little bottles! from the left: rainbow grocery's home blend multivitamin and mineral with green superfoods & whole food concentrates (1 a day!), source naturals wellness herbal resistance liquid - 1 dropperful a day for prevention, several during times of imbalance, wellness fizz - i take this before long crowded bus or train journeys, and finally two great tinctures made by wishgarden herbs - these have been so helpful. the serious cough soother also works great for sore throats and the digestive-ease has been the perfect antidote to questionable street food.

weleda: "in harmony with nature and the human being since 1921" is a great swiss company whose name comes from the name of the celtic goddess of wisdom and healing and whose practices are based on rudolph steiner. they make amazing body care products. i believe they also make homeopathic medicines, but have yet to try those. the wild rose eye cream on the far right is probably the biggest splurge on this page, but it smells so beautiful and is really refreshing. i dab on a bit every night before i go to sleep. skin food in the middle is a lotion that i swear by, it is made from all organic sunflower seed oil, pansy, biodynamic calendula and rosemary this stuff is to die for. and my wild rose deodorant helps combat the sticky heat in addition to being a soothing scent.

my cosmetics: josie maran argan (Argania spinosa) oil stick, Tatcha Japanese blotting papers made in the 300 year old geisha tradition of 100% Abaca (Musa textillis) with specks of gold, Julie Hewitt organic Camellia Balm (i use it as lip balm and eye balm), RGB nail polish - formeldehyde, toulene and DPB Free!!! and tokyo Milk solid perfume scented with rose, geranium and hyacinth (this is the one product listed here that i am unsure of).

mosquito repellent: certainly among the two most critical products. i love both of these all natural repellents that i picked up here. i think it's always best to use whats available locally to combat the local mosquitoes. the citronella balm is made by last forest herbal products and the Collibri roll-on is made in Auroville from lemongrass, vetiver and a blend of other herbs.

miscellaneous: blum naturals organic chamomile towelettes are so refreshing after an overnight train journey or to fold up over your eyes after along day in the dust and pollution of the city, couldn't live without natracare's organic cotton, biodegradable, perfume and chemical free tampons, aveeno naturals sunblock, and cleanwell's organic anti-bacterial spray made from thyme and oregano oils.

sources:
bay area, usa- pharmaca integrative pharmacy, herringbone at erica tanov, rainbow grocery, rupam's apothecary, berkeley bowl

chennai, india - econut, restore, naturally auroville

natural dyes at the organic mela, chennai

Last week I was a part of a wonderful "organic mela" put on by the Safe Food Alliance and ReStore Chennai. the mela (festival) was held in the Semmorzhi Poonga, the new park in central Chennai. It was a hot Saturday afternoon and there were hundreds of people who were coming through. The various booths included information on GMO, pesticides, local varieties of rices, and vendors selling organic groceries and handloom, organic cotton shirts. There was delicious food and the most refreshing drink made from organic palm sugar and lime juice.

I hosted a small table on natural dyes. We showed off some of the beautiful samples made by a friend highlighting local sources of plant dyes. I prepared a cold turmeric bath and those who came by made a little textile from the bright yellow color. I believe that we raised awareness about textiles and the abundance of local sources for beautiful color. It was an inspiring day for me and I am very thankful for the opportunity!

To see more photos visit this link

Crossandra infundibuliformis, Firecracker flower or Kanakambaram

our shrub in the backyard

never ending blooms!

very cool seed packet i found at a roadside seed seller in chidambaram

my harvest for today's garland

tying on

making my way, pair by pair, knot by knot

final garland

i had a blast today doing something that i've always wanted to do, but never got around to it - making flower garlands to wear in my hair. one of the simple luxuries of being in india is always being able to buy flowers in the market to tie in your hair. while usually they are made of jasmine, these kanakambaram (Tamil) flowers are another favorite. when i was little i would always prefer these bright orange flowers to the fragrant white jasmine. the flowers last a couple of days without wilting and the peduncles (flower stalks) are strong and forgiving when tying the flowers together.

we're lucky to have a large shrub in the back yard that seems to unceasingly produce flowers. i harvested a handful and sat down to begin stringing.

you start by taking two flowers and tying then end to end together with a knot. then you continue to add pairs until you have a full "maram" (as they sell them in the market) or arms length worth.

i was brainstorming on what sturdy and florabundant plants we could use in the bay area to make garlands, any ideas?

coco de mer, double coconut, beautiful rump

a seedling growing

i was horribly afraid one of those 20 kg seeds would fall on my head

these strange coconut palms, native to the seychelle islands, were quite the sight at the royal botanic gardens in peradineya, sri lanka. the seeds are the largest and the heaviest in the world taking 5 years to mature and weighing upwards of 30 kgs!! it is a true case of island gigantism having also the largest female flowers of any palm and the longest leaves!

there's a story that when sailors came across these floating seeds in the ocean (where they get the name 'coco de mer'), they imagined them to be the beautiful buttocks of island ladies. this mythology corresponds with the archaic botanical name Lodoicea callipyge, where 'callipyge' is from greek words meaning "beautiful rump!" This later contributed to the legend that the nuts were aphrodisiacs.

With the seeds being highly valuable and prized, the plant is now threatened in its native environment with only two wild populations remaining, but can be seen in botanical gardens throughout the world.

Its true botanical name is Lodoicea maldivica and it is the sole member of the genus Lodoicea.

the nuts are apparently used in ayurveda and chinese traditional medicine.

A truly strange and intriguing plant!

all fruits begin as flowers.

banana's have one of the most beautiful inflorescences (cluster of flowers on a single stem). when you peel back the brachts (often mistaken for petals) to reveal the fruits forming inside it really is a treasure and an image that reinforces teh fact that all fruits begin as flowers. i remember going out to some school gardens while working at the uc botanical garden and showing children the banana flower next to a bunch of bananas. it was an aha moment that i continue to have to date!

banana flowers (varzhapou) are used in south indian cookery. they add a special flavor to masala vada and can also be made on their own. this recipe is from one of my great aunties and is made with buttermilk.

chop up the flowers into small bits and boil in 1 cup of buttermilk plus a pinch of salt and pinch of turmeric until tender. remove from heat

heat oil and add mustard seeds (most), urad dal (a little), fenugreek seeds (very few) and a couple of curry leaves

add spice mixture to banana flowers! serve as an accompaniment to rice and sambar.

variations can include adding grated coconut, red chilis or garlic.

bananas are another multipurpose plant, cultivated throughout the world for its fruit, flowers, stems - all for eating and also its fiber, which can be made into strong yarns and textiles. its leaves are used as plates and parcels.

for more information look to Dan Koeppel's book " Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World" and visit his banana blog here.