SWSBM

The wind starting blowing 24 hours ago, and I think it may never stop. Bisbee is getting a cold front, the clouds are racing over the tips of the Mule Mountains, the street of Brewery Gulch are filling with dust storms and tumble weeds are flying high; take shelter! Everything on our porch blew over, but we rescued our humming bird feeder before it flew to Mexico. We heard what sounded like a piece of corrugated tin flying through town a few hours ago; no rain yet, but tomorrow seems like the day.



Neil and I are greatly enjoying the South West School of Botanical Medicine. We are really glad that we came here; this is exactly what we were looking for. The first three weeks of school we concentrated on human physiology with an herbalist from Oregon. We spend the majority of the day sitting at our desks typing and writing pages of notes. Michael Moore, the reason that we all come here, is awesome. He is a man like no other. His knowledge and brain is like a warehouse and all of us, even him, frequently get lost in there. Our tasks as students is to keep him on track when he starts wandering too far from the herbal path…he is a lover of pop culture and obscure trivia, and he is a master of human perception. He takes stereotypes to a new level, but he really seems to have human nature down to a tee, the way he explains each herb and the scenario and personality type that they would be useful for is usually side spitting. You have to see him to believe him. Anyone who comes to visit should sit in on some class; you wont be sorry.

We sit on our butts from about 1-7 Monday thru Thursday, and have Fridays off; a glorious reprieve. The hardest part of class is the sitting. We don’t go out in the field (although next week 7 Song, an herbalist from Ithaca, NY is coming to teach us botany, maybe we’ll go outside) with class, but there is much hiking an exploring to be done of these crazy lands. I checked out a ton of books from the library to see what animals live in these lands: coati (this weird lemur/raccoon thing, jagarundi, jaguars, bobcats, cougars, ringtails, otters, minks, jackalopes, etc. etc. I can’t wait to see more than the tail of the deer I saw in the Riparian area yesterday.

Well, we’re just sitting here with some friends, trying to do our taxes……free fun provided by the feds, thank a lot Uncle Sam.

And then, 24 hours later: The rain came last night, the wind bashed things around and drunk people howled at the weather from down in Brewery Gulch. A Wild night.

ALOE-HA

ALOES



I’ve been meaning to write some more herbal things on this gurggle, and this seemed like it would be interesting to some folks. We all know aloe as the sunburn remedy, but it has a lot more to offer our culture than just relief from over indulgence in UV rays.

“Aloe vera,” as we refer to the plant is actually Aloe barbadensis, and is a member of the Lily family. We saw pictures of aloes in N. Africa, where they are native, and they are huge trees with little aloe plants at the top!

Aloes make two types of medicine: the latex from the inner leaf is “used as a bitter shitter” to use Mr. Moore’s words. This will produces copious, watery evacuations accompanied with intense griping. But, if you are constipated, it is likely due to improper eating habits, improper foods and stress; you need to look at the upper GI tract from a solution. The second medicine is the inner gel, which most of us are most familiar with. The gel- is a muck-polysaccharide, virtually identical to our body’s polysaccharides-polysaccharides.

As with most natural health products, the quality varies dramatically from brand to brand, the best way to use the medicine is to get it you, but even the worst of the products are strongly anti-diabetic. Aloe is a great plant for off setting type II, adult onset, diabetes, a problem for many people in our sugar culture. Take one tablespoon of gel once a day for lowering blood sugar and diminishing insulin resistance. Aloe is especially good for the stocky, fat, or plump diabetic. That’s right, you can use it to prevent the diabetes, or use it to help if you already have it. Aloe also lowers triglycerides, which is a problem not limited to diabetes alone. The use of this plant is a harmless approach to lowering blood sugar and type II diabetes.

The gel, scooped out of the leaf, will keep in the fridge for a month. This is a great treatment to use early in life or early in a sickness before your other organs get worn out and broken. And, as a side note, the pads of the Prickly Pear as well as the juice can work in a similar way.

Additionally, the leaves of aloe can be used for radiation burns. They pull feral fluids out of a burn and help it heal more quickly. This is why is works for sunburns so well – as well as anything that runs the risk of blistering and peeling; it is anti-inflammatory.

The gel can also heal stomach and esophageal ulcers that result from making stomach acids when your stomach is empty -- a learning body habit as a result of eating for comfort. There are a lot of things that work, but this is predictable. The best thing about aloe is that you can beat the streets to find your medicine making this a good option for the poor folks.

HOT TAMALE!

Tamale Making


We're trying to get the feel of the southwest, so we thought we'd make some tamales....Our friend Kat lives in a hotel here in town and we spent the evening making pulled pork, roasted pablano and chedder tamales. MMMMM. {i dont think they were as good as the ones we made Markham ladies...the masa was too dense}.

El Tigre

This weekend we drove over to Sierra Vista where there is yet another military base: Fort Huachucha. We bought a new camera, but suprise, suprise, the stupid memory card we have doesnt fit...technology wins again. In the mean time we can take about 8 pictures on the card that came with it, here are a few:


This is us at Ramsey Canyon, a Nature Consevancy Preserve, where there is actually water and trees and things with leaves.

On the drive home we took the small road that runs along the border. This mountain dominates the scene around here, it is technically called San Jose Mountain, but i like to refer to it as The Sleeping Lion, and sometimes as El Tigre.

THE SLEEPING LION



El Tigre is a dangerous place that has become a major passage way for drug traffiking. We are told that no one goes there but the border patrol and drug runners; never the less it still draws people. El tigre is also the name for the rare and elusive jaguar.


Jaguar sightings have been few and far between in the past decade, but there are stories that confirm this magical cat's existance in the area. The range of the jaguar used to be from central america to northern Arizona, but poachers, hunter and ranchers have ensured that the numbers have dwindled to a point where, officially, there probably arent any jaguars around here. Unofficially, well, that's a different story. It is said that adult mountain lions need 50 square miles to survive and hunt. Jaguars may need twice that much space to roam. So, I like to call the mountain El Tigre, and know that the jaguars are watching us and keeping thier distance.

Gila National Forest

NEW MOON OVER GILA CANYON


these photos are from our way out to AZ. we took a day detour to drive up through the Gila National Forest to check out the Gila Cliff Dwellings. We dont have any pictures of that, but we went hunting for the LightFeather hot springs down into this canyon. We were in a riparian ecosystem; one of a few in the desert. It's where high elevation and water come together and life thrives. Geronimo was born here at the head waters of the Gila river.

Neil in search of hot springs


We had to cross the Gila a couple of times, wading throught the freezing cold water, searching for the hot springs....

Amy, hot on the trail...

Everything is so different, walking down into a canyon becomes a little scary -- we dont even know what animals live here, we have no idea what we may encounter...


Piping Hot Algea.

When we finally found the springs, the water was so low that the cold water pools had all dried up. The hot water was coming right out of the mountain side, the whole place was steaming. 130F! We couldnt even put our feet in, it was like making soup out of your self.

Local Wears

After we got stranded in Texas, we felt like we should try to blend in better. Here is one attempt. Now I'm trying to scuff them up; good rattlesnake protection.

Anarchist Coffee Clutch

We held the camera up to the light and this is the image we captured:
pavement pounders, carnies, anti-establishmentarians, the young hard core youth, and wizened warriors of Bisbee. Weird.

a subtle reminder

po box 928
bisbee, AZ
85603

i wasnt kidding about needed mail.

*calamus beer*

Acorus calamus


For all those lucky enough, or foolish enough, to have taken a bottle of our Calamus beer, and to those of you who were there for the brewing and still thought we were crazy….We talked about Acorus calamus this week in herb school, which is good considering I am currently writing a book on the subject and need all the help I can get. We learned an interesting thing that makes a hell of a lot of sense. Like many palluvial plants, that grow in the wetlands, they are highly anti-fungal, an adaptation that has allowed them to thrive in mucky water for thousands of years. Calamus is also the oldest living monocot, so you would think that this plant probably has some extra special tricks up its sleeves.
So here is the part that you probably have already guessed if you have tasted our brew…it didn’t carbonate because the anti-fungal properties of the root killed all the yeast! So, that is why the beer is flat and we had to mix it with PBR. However, it is still a great calamus fermentation and you can still enjoy all the wonderful attributes of the root. Take a step outside yourself.

Another important lesson: Last year Micah gave us a jar of strawberry jelly – a little half pint that she canned herself. My nature, as most of you know, is to save, store and hoard things for the apocalypse. Well, we carried that 2,200 miles, and, the apocalypse has arrived. Home tastes better from far away. Thanks Mic.

Hot Licks

Hot Licks BBQ



For those of you present and sober at the Bisbee Quiz (courtesy of sara rouse) you may remember hearing of Hot Licks. The correct choice was (C) they offer vegetarian fare. What we smell every day wafting up the hill is no vegetarian entree. It basically always smells like bacon. mmmmm. We haven't tried it yet for fear that we might love it and spend too much money; it ain't cheap. 86 steps up you can see our house on the top right.


People here aren’t too fond of the tourists, to say the least. Ironic because it is how most of them make money, but they still have no love loss for the wandering camera addicts. Our first weekend here we went to get a beer down stair at Hot Licks. The bar tender proceeded to be so rude I almost left, until, by a saving grace, the pit master, Jay, came in a told her how we had just moved in to town. Suddenly, it was a different tune. We were old friends; we were on their side, us against the tourists. We were happy to discover that PBR runs on most of the taps here. When we asked how much they were she held up a small 10 glass and said, "if you're a tourist they come in this glass and are $1.50," picking up a larger 20oz glass, “but for locals, they are $1.25."


Classic Bisbee.

Pounding the Proverbial Pavement

Finally glimpsed the most famous of the desert plants, the bulbous saguaro cactus. The one with quintessential cactus shape, the one is sure to be portrayed on neon signs. They look really funny and chubby, and most of them don’t even have those two arms. They are just like a fat body with holes from birds and decades of growth behind it.

We were surprised to see so much citrus, lemons and oranges growing all around the houses of Tucson, where water is no joke and there isn’t any. We’ve also been surprised by the level of homelessness. People everywhere, just pounding the pavement, back and forth and back again, life and luggage in tow. Ever since we passed through Texas we have noticed humans making a habit of roadside strolling. Highways, interstates, local roads, whatever. People are hoofing it to their locations, don’t matter how it takes to get there. Bisbee has a lot of the same wanderers. Actually I see people walking from the next towns to come to Bisbee for the daylight hours. From our porch I can see the “anarchist coffee clutch” who brew their own coffee, bring three air pots and styrofoam cups each morning to the little park in front of the coffee company shop where they sit and sip their free brew. People pounding the pavement to get there and sit on the bench.

Tucson was ok, we slept in the van and the train ran the whole night, so mot much sleeping was actually done. We went grocery shopping and ate Vietnamese food at a cute place that just opened today. We couldn’t decide what to get, so we just make us some stuff of her picking. Yum. It’s the first time I’ve ever had Pho, I was so stuck on the V5 I couldn’t see the light.

We’ve been learning a lot about the Apaches, Navajo, Pima, Tohono O‘odhom, Chiricahua and other peoples who lived here over the past 800 years. This is a really crazy place in every way. Not just the tourists who come out of the woodworks on the weekends, not just the group of 50 year olds you find smoking a joint behind your van, not just no rain, but, as previously mentioned, we are only about 5 miles from the border. The school is about 2, we can see Mexico and there are so many border patrolmen everywhere. They have blimp, you can see it flying around. Supposedly it can read the paper over your shoulder all the way in Tucson, I believe it. There are a lot of military forts and air force bases around here. We keep hearing the same rumor that all the Abu Ghraib officers and folks involved where trained there. Like the SOA of the Wild West. We drove through there today to check it out, all we saw was a group of people tailgating on the side of the road and holding poster boards that said “Go Home Illegal Aliens” and such pleasantries. It is also a transition zone for the whole region. South of the Rockies and the Sierra Madres, just north of the two north American great deserts, the Chihuahua and Sonora.

There are legends of “chivocabres”, which are said to be like desert goblins, they feed on negative energy and may be an unknown mammal. All the animals I have seen look like rabbits so far. The deer have bunny ears and so do the squirrels. There are javelinas, wart hog looking animals and jackrabbits that are the size of dogs. Then there are the coyotes and rattlesnakes and the dreaded tarantulas and scorpions. Seen none of the later yet, but have been brushing up on our snake survival skills.

Bisbee Photos

So this is the view of Bisbee, AZ, elevation 5,300 feet, founded 1880. We took this from our balcony.

Here is the veiw up toward the canyon (partially obstructed by our porch).
Feels like the amalfi cost without the water!


and our garden area looking down from our deck again


our bedroom with a really cute yardsale find


. . .and an ugly shot of the bed. . .


and finally, where the magic happens, the kitch.


neil would like me to add, "what up dawgs?" to this post, so i did.

these pictures were taken while our camera dedided it wanted to work. a small window of opportunity. we forgot to buy a new one this weekend in tuscon. what we didnt forget to buy was a lot of drinks at happy hour. we were served by the spitting image of one steven paul cardello.