Our Mother Earth is a very special being. She provides for all our basic needs and she comforts us if we let her. During my two week sabbatical with her, after the death of my younger brother, I explored the surrounding woods and old home sites on a large acreage of land 45 minutes away from the closest town; and there I found my first wild medicinal and edible plants. It was the first time in my life that art wasn’t my only goal, my every waking thought. One time I even dream I pooped different colors of paint. So seemingly painting was even in my dreaming life.  I was becoming internationally known at the time and I was fixing to let it go.

During my stay in the woods I became one with Mother Earth and she soothed my aching, broken heart. My younger brother was like my twin spirit. His death pulled the rug right out from under my world. I was wounded and angry. I shouted to God, “Is this all there is to life!” I demanded. My brother had finally found his high school sweetheart. Their young son was only 6 months old. Finally, I felt my brother had found true happiness. As I walked down the old dirt road to the cabin I noticed a Hawk feather in front of me remembering the hawk sitting on the telephone line observing us the day we laid my brother to rest.

My brother always tried to tell me about the magic in life…be it information about plants or stones…he was a geologist. I’d always shrug and tell him I’d ask him about it if I ever needed the info. Now I would never be able to do that. So I dug up wild plants and potted them up to take home with me. It kind of felt like a way that I could still connect to him somehow.

After the two weeks were up, my husband, Lloyd came to pick me up in his truck. It was kind of funny. When he showed up so did a black hunting dog. As we started packing we left the cabin door open, which led through to another door, out to a pier. The black dog just walked right through and out to the pier like he belonged there.

Lloyd asked if we had any aspirin or anything because he had a splitting headache.

“Of course not.” I replied

“Well, I might have to drive to Troy to get something.” He sighed. Troy was 45 minutes away. He was looking at an hour and a half drive on top of the hour he’d just driven.

“I found a plant named Yarrow. It’s supposed to be good for headaches. You want me to make you a tea?” I asked enthusiastically.

“Ohm. You sure it’s yarrow?” He asked skeptically.

“Well I think so. I tell you what, I’ll make us both a tea and if it’s poisonous at least we’ll die together.” I said cheerfully.

“Alright then.” He replied.

For some reason it seemed okay to him as long as we were to die together. We had not been married long and he is my other best friend. So I went about making a tea as best I could. I boiled some water and put some of the plant along with some mint in the cups. I wasn’t sure what it would taste like, but I figured the mint would make it taste better. And so we drank our tea and went back to packing up the truck.

About 20 minutes later he shouted, “Gina!”

“What? You okay? Are you dying?”

“No, my headache is completely gone!” He grinned.

Whew! Hum. That was pretty easy. It didn’t require the hour and half drive, nor the gas, nor the expense. It took a few minutes to make and 20 minutes to work. That looked like a miracle to me!

God was already starting to show me that there is way more to life than I ever suspected.

When we got ready to the leave, the black dog, barked, “Ruupert!”

It meant “Can I go with you?”

So Lloyd looked at him and with a flick of the hand, said, “Load up.”
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And he did.

We called him Sam Rupert. Sam for short. He stayed with us for many years, as we moved from one place to another and then to the country, where Mother Earth would nurture us and the Holy Spirit would teach us and where God would help grow us up…of course we didn’t know all that then. And there Sam watched over our son and my younger brother’s son and my older brother’s daughter when they came to visit.
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“We threw away the TV, ate a lot of peaches, tried to find Jesus, all on our own” like the song says.
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Banana Peel Blocks Artery Disease Researchers from China Pharmaceutical University’s Department of Physiology have determined that a banana peel extract blocks the ability of oxidized LDL-cholesterol from sticking to and damaging artery walls. This means that the molecule blocks the process of artery plaque build up.

The molecule, 7, 8-dihydroxy-3-methyl-isochromanone-4 – also called XJP-1 – blocks the process of artery plaque build up by stimulating a metabolic process whereby it blocks the expression of two adhesion molecules called ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. These two molecules are typically produced when LDL-cholesterol is oxidized, turning the molecule into a free radical. It is this adhesion process that has been implicated in the process of artery damage, inflammation and the subsequent build up of plaque.
The researchers found that banana peel extract also slows down the process of inflammation that takes place among the arteries by blocking NF-kB and JNK/p38 processes. However, this inflammatory cascade is rooted at the suppression of the reactive oxygen species (free radical form) of LDL-cholesterol.

The build up of plaque inside blood vessel walls and their subsequent loss of elasticity – also called atherosclerosis – is a major cause of cardiovascular disease. It leads to an advanced form of hardening of the arteries – arteriosclerosis – and the release of clots that block arteries. When major arteries that lead to the heart or brain are blocked, heart attacks and strokes result.
The research was conducted using human endothelial cells in the laboratory in an environment that mirrored that of the bloodstream and artery walls.

The study was published in May’s Vascular Pharmacology Journal, an Elsevier Inc. publication.
The XJP-1 is a class of molecules called plant phenols. Plant phenols – also called polyphenols when there are multiple phenols in one molecule – are abundant in the plant kingdom. Examples of plant phenols include tannins, lignans, flavonoids, gallic acid, ellagic acid and many others. For example, the phenol epigallocatechin gallate found in green tea has also been shown to block the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol.