cultural heritage

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National Herbalist Day

Hail Brave Hearts

Enjoy the nutrition of the land and the many medical marvels that it reveals.  It’s a new day dawning for the Herbalist.  A day of worthy mention.  National Herbalist Day!  Wow!

The subject matter is superb.  Now that spring is here, the welcome backyard medicine cabinet is opening it’s doors.  New spring teas from fresh shoots, leaves and plants.  Lovely.  Fit for any larder, the beautiful abundance of natural goodness is in your yard.

The most obvious, killer weed, that notorious Dandelion.  Awesome!  The nutritional value of this plant is a keeper.

Plantain, St John’s Wort, Daisy and many more.   A special day for those of us, who seek natural remedies for those aches and pains.  I’ve been lucky with Nettle, Red Currant, Apple Leaf and Rose Hips, but these are just a few of the many natural wonders of the wild world.  Home made salves and soaps, fragrance and tea.  Natural healers to boost energy, to calm, to induce sleep, to improve circulation and help achy joints and achy pains.  Your garden is an Earthly delight.  Those pesky weeds, so hard to get rid of , might freshen your breath, improve your eyesight, add luster to your hair and make it shine.  The self indulgent gardener might even find a cure for what ails themselves.  There are many good gardening books which will help to plant an herbalist garden.

But are natural remedies important?  They are, if you want them to be.  Do they actually provide cures?  Yes, they do.

To quote Chris Dalziel at Jobillee Farm.  who has a  book Growing Abundance, the Garden You Harvest in a Week.

Monday is National Herbalist Day!  It’s a day to acknowledge the herbs that keep us well, help our gardens grow better, make our food taste better, and give us abundance.  Its also a day to recognize the herbal mentors in our life.

Who taught you about using herbs in the kitchen, the garden, and the apothecary?  Did you learn from a mother, a grand parent, a neighbor? Are you self-taught from books and the internet? Did you take a class? Or are you just beginning to learn about herbs as an adult?

Learn about Plantago major — Plantain

I love teaching children about herbs.  My 2 year old granddaughter knows to look for plantain (Plantago major) if she gets a bee sting or a mosquito bite.  “Plantain” comes from an old French word meaning “sole of the foot”.  It grows in compacted areas, where the footprint of humans or animals have compacted the soil.  Its a healing plant for the soil as much as it is a healing plant for us.

Often plantain is the first herb that people learn to use.  It can be an “a-ha” moment, when you hand them a leaf and tell them to put it on the “ouch”.  Relief is fast.

I’ve had the privilege of introducing plantain to tough motorcyclists, stung on the hand while riding, hikers, farmers, beekeepers, wee toddlers, and grumpy teens, mowing a lawn. Plantain is just one of the many gifts that God gives us to nourish and heal us.
Gun Control
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Gun Control

Good Day Brave Heart

It’s seldom a bad day with so much to do.

Exit the warm contentment of the cozy, familiar structure to the bright snow-covered future that awaits you in the outdoors.  It’s a fantasy world of snow laden trees, martins leaping along the way and birds chattering to each other.  What do they say?  Only your own spirits will determine their message.  The sundog shines in a glorious ring around the sun, indicating a weather pattern on its way.  The brightness of this glory world is the psychedelic wonder of yesteryear.  It’s no wonder that they thought that LDS was safe.

Minds bend in the staggering difficulty of the task.    The unfathomable human experiment of the day.

Hunting and trapping, the need to survive, the human is a new predator in this place.  Now the competition for the food supply has increased and new hunters are on the land.  Hunters with families and small mouths to feed.  Tiny tots with growing pains, hunger pangs and shill cries.  Feed us! cloth us! save us! The howls stop when the hut vanishes in the snow and the hunt for animal tracks begin.

This new human brings a new kind of weapon to the wild world of big game hunting.  Gone is the bow and arrow, now it’s the rifle.  Guns.  Guns to protect us, guns to hunt with, guns to be dependent upon.  Guns for survival, guns for livelihood, guns for trade and barter.  Guns.   Only the need for ammunition is a drawback in the use of guns.  Stock the larder with as much provision for the winter as you can, and don’t forget the main one, your gun.

Unlicensed weapons have as many as you want to.  No one is watching.

The stealthy aboriginal makes his way to your shelter.  Maybe you don’t have to hunt today.  Maybe all that you have to do is to trade him a good gun and a round of ammunition for a side of moose, a rack of elk and a hind quarter of deer.  Maybe he will give his own much needed furs, from that rabbit, for a gun.  The indigenous people need the fur more than the fur trader do, but wildlife is plentiful, and trade brings wealth to this family.  Wealth to one, survival to another, a deal is struck.  It seems like a win, win situation.  The stealthy aboriginal so experienced in the ways of this land, looking to improve his own lot in life.  A gun for his hunt, a gun for his prosperity and a gun to protect him from the devil.

The homesteader is saved.  No more psychedelic sunshine.  No more mind-bending winter exposure.  No more lethargic, seemingly drug filled indecisive wanderings.   He is saved.  Saved by the aboriginal bell of necessity.  The gun is more powerful than the bow and arrow.

A shot rings out on the still land.  The skilled new hunter has already conquered.  More will come looking for this kind of trade.  More will seek the European for guns.

Guns for survival, guns to protect us.  Guns.  A new way of life.

The Wild Canadian Year: Canada’s toughest season, with only the hardiest prevailing – Winter – YouTube

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

 

 

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Feast

Praises to the Magnificent Almighty Man

Eat hearty.  Tis the season for delicious cuisine.  A summertime of hours of work brings us the much needed harvest.  With gratitude for our living, our survival, and our fabulously healthy diet.  The smorgasbord has arrived.  Joy to us, for this magnificent and decadent celebration.  Thanksgiving is a must.

We turn our attention to the bounty of the Earth.  A time of joy, of family of friends and fellowship.  The hardship of the toil of planting culminates on this holiday which saves us.  Eat well and share. This holiday comes from giving, sharing, community, peace and fellowship.  It comes from caring for people and taking care of people.  It is a time for the home, for the harvest and the homecoming.  As usual, we feast and remember with gladness, the story of Thanksgiving and the happiness of the people.

Eat, drink and be merry, oh joyous ones, the nurturing of this gift of food is for your health, wellness and continued enjoyment.  A delight for the grand chef.

Recipes abound for this season with the additional goodness of the meal plan already resolved.  Traditional cooking at it’s best.  The larder is full, the guest list is easy.  We put aside our worries for a moment and retreat to our bubble.  The safety of a circle of close friends and relatives who we can share with.  This has been an unusual year, 2020, but we still persevere.  Our gatherings are small, our journeys limited in distance and number.  We are cautious with our meetings and grateful for the advances in technology that surrounds us with people who we care for and still need to communicate with.  We still dine in style and share our thoughts and conversation through the fortunate support of social media, cell phones, ipads , computer and other gadgets.  The life line is still present.  We are still able to connect ourselves to the wide wide world out there.

With praises we are thankful.  In history the wide ocean separates the people from their families.  There is no where to go.  There is nothing else to do, but to have faith in God and to trust in strangers who might help them.  They faced illness and hunger and so much despair.  One hundred and thirty lonely people, cast out into an unknown world of much hardship.  Save us!  They landed, and fell into a tribe of indigenous people, unknown strangers, perhaps murderers, they met them anyway, regardless of their fear.

How fortunate to meet a compassionate  person who extended an invitation of peace, food, fellowship and acceptance.  How fortunate to meet those kinds of people, even today.  The people who will break bread with you, share the larder, extend an invitation.  The days of yore, when a broken group of stranded people, encountered the unexpected in a strange and wild land.  Give thanks for those fortunate few who were so lucky as to be included.  Feast and be merry, joy to us all.  This celebration of food is the making of a great nation, of great friendships.  It is to overcome starvation, to live in peace, to be a community and a country.

These are our instructions, according to history.

\written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 21, 2020

 

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Your Backyard Holiday

Hail Brave Hearts

Survive we must! In this blistering heat of summer with the quiet lakes to ourselves. The calm, the serene, the peace, the solitude. An unusual turn of the times. In this fine scenario of beach, less is more. Fewer beach goers to take over the sand, fewer families to splash and play in the water, fewer pets to avoid. Instead, it’s all for us. The Canadian holiday tourist is the new normal.

During a season which is constantly full of international guests filling every room for rent in the community, the chance for a Canadian summer holiday has been hard to come by for some. Last minute cancellations are rare.

The highways are quiet, we own the road. Drive to those scenic locations, there’s no one in sight. Easily find a table at the restaurant, there’s room for us. It has it’s beauty. We have our own special places to explore, unhindered. It has it’s beast. Finance.  It has another beast.  The bustling, busy beach scene is anything but quiet.  Our thoughts that this is for us is true, but so many of us!  

The quiet, the solitude, the peaceful Canadian get away, so special, so serene, so back to nature, so much to ourselves.  The jam packed tourist industry is all us.  All us!  The rush to save our relaxing and serene holidaying selves drives us to vacation madness on Canadian beaches.  Every inch is claimed.  Save us almighty dollar.  Spend your money at home this year.  The economic crisis of a pandemic virus has curtailed all of our luxurious international travel.  The resort haven of an idylic tropical getaway, forsaken for the vast remoteness of our own Canadian dreamland.  

https://www.parklandcounty.com/en/index.aspx

The food is divine.  Culinary delights abound.  There are endless opportunities for the sports enthusiast.  We meet and exceed international standards in so many ways.  Run  the trails, climb those mountains, paddle the lakes.  This year has been a pasttime of recreation and leisure, for those who were able to go out.  The great Canadian get away has been a pleasure, right outside your own back door.

A drive along a remote country road to a surprising little shop in nowhere.  A clean, immaculate hamlet way off the beaten path with surprising prosperity.  The endless recreation of lakes, parks and adventure.  The thrill of discovery of the history of this land, of who we are, who settled this place, who comes here.  The discovery of diversity, a mixture of agriculture beside industry, of recreation beside a bustling city, of unique culture  and diverse peoples all occupying the same land. The mixture of wilderness and sport, of wildlands and human populations.  This is us.  We planned it this way.  We planned this fun and enjoyment, we planned for the relaxation, we planned this unusual adventure.  A drive along a dusty gravel road to a restaurant in an unheard of village.  The pleasure of the local cuisine and the local people.  There are so many places to go, so many roads to travel, rails to ride, people to visit.  To spend our hard earned dollars in this magnificent country that has so many delightful treats for us to find.  

The pandemic has given many of us time.  Time to explore.  Discover it for yourselves.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 26, 2020

 

 

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Happy Birthday to Us

Good Day Brave hearts

A Happy Canada Day to you.

Today we celebrate the birthday of this great country. A village from the forest. A dream of national identity. A work of unity of life and lifestyle in a land so vast and diverse. The land, the people, the projects, all individually styled for an outcome of diversity and praises for all of it. The great land with its majestic mountains, it’s sweeping prairie, it’s thousands of lakes, it’s forests, it’s tundra, it’s landscapes so unique and awesome. The great land, filled with great people, great places, great adventure and great belonging.

Fill your cup, with the endless opportunity of Canada! The opportunity for exploration is immense, with so much enjoy. We are the second largest country in the world and have so much to see and to discover. The valuable history of sharing and caring for each other. The widespread plains of homesteaders striving to build a country from sea to shining sea. The great north, so wild and free.

This is our Canada. A vast and brilliant home to us. A place of nurturing our spirits, of learning, of wisdom. This is the country that we made ourselves, from our skills, our intelligence, our passions, and our sense of community. We built this. We chose this. We collectively decided that this is the Canada that we want, that we love and that is our home. We made this place special to us, ourselves.

This fabulous world of the wilderness and the great wild, is home for us. We save it because we adore it. It speaks to us, to adventure, to explore, to challenge ourselves to be smart, educated, strong and daring. This great land calls us to retain ancestral roots which tie us to a past time of athletic adventure, community and ingenuity. It calls us to the present, of eco tourism, the food supply, the great cities. It calls us to our future, to retain it all, to be proud, to learn from each other and to share our knowledge with each other. It calls us. Each and every Canadian, to do our duty of care for this great nation. This great country that we call our home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDluztBSaBc

It is with great pleasure that we celebrate this birthday. 133 years of a community of people spread out over a vast countryside of unique places to live in and to visit. The differences in cultures, in heritage, in ties that bind us. We are not all the same, but we are. We are all different, but we are one. We are all diverse, but we are the same. This is how we choose to be. Individual, healthy, strong, with a courage to be culturally diverse and still be united. To live together in multicultural unity. This is our goal and one of our freedoms. Respect for each other and for the intellect that brings us peace and opportunity under a flag that flies so freely.

Happy Birthday Canada. May our dreams remain alive. May our hopes be fulfilled. May our way of life survive us. May we be filled with the glory of this great nation. Happy Birthday, Canada. May you live forever!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

Canada Day, 2020

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Mother Dearest

Hail You Awesome Human

It’s a day for mothers. To remember them, to honor them and to celebrate the great joy of mothers.

The gift of comfort, of compassion and caring, the gift of time and love. The devotion of raising an offspring.  The wonder of creation and the joy of living.  Gifts.  These are gifts to us and to all of the living creatures on this magnificent planet.

And as all mothers do, it’s nurture and care.  Care or us, almighty great planet.  Care for us oh great divine.  Your powers are almighty and immense.  The spellbinding beauty, the magnificence of the creativity, the countless opportunity for learning and exploration.  Praises to you, oh great mother.  You and you alone in this cold and obscure universe.  You and you alone, so warm and fragile, so brilliant and inventive.  The fabulous great planet,  spinning its magical web of life and living, for all of us to enjoy.

The secrets of motherhood are to guide their offspring wisely.  Guide them to safety, guide them to security, help them to build a future on a strong, solid past.  The secrets of mothers is a love neverending, love eternally,  love with all of your heart.   

The joy of an offspring, so tender and tiny.  A cherished blessing from God.  The pride of their accomplishments, so few and so many.  They are yours.  They are from the great divine.  They are special.  That is a child.

Mothers everywhere, large and small, human and animal, raise their offspring dutifully, no matter what they are, or what they will become.  With praises and encouragement, with devotion and protection the babies are the center of our lives.  As they grow, we delight in their play, their growth and their childhood ways.  This is the devotion of mothers, to give encouragement and praises, to support and nurture, to always be there.  

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/05/9791671/mothers-day-history-feminism

In praises of mothers, great and small, this very special day for you, in recognition and celebration of joy of motherhood.   Happy Mothers Day to us all.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

May 10, 2020

 

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Saint Marie Among the Hurons

Hail Brave hearts

It is with great courage that we settle this country, filled with new adventures and difficult times.  It is with bravery that we meet these new people in their own homeland and on their own terms.  It is with faith and prayer that we negotiate a peaceful settlement, and with determination and recognition of the mission, that is required, proceed to our duty.  To the new land, and to the people of it, we meet.

Such is the sturdy vow of the missionary, the Jesuits who landed to fulfill their duty.  Bring the people religion.  Bring them to Christianity.  It is the solemn vow of the faith, these people must be saved.  Saved in the eyes of God, save their everlasting soul.  Save the people, even in death.

The mission was built in Huron (Wendake) territory, 1200 kilometers from Quebec.  Started in 1639 and lasting only 10  years, it was the first settlement in New France, in the province that is now Ontario.   It was set on a large tract of land between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay, in  Huron territory.  The the mission itself was on the Wye River.

Only a small group of men made the long journey from Quebec City to this remote place.  All martyred for their faith.  The Huron themselves, were curious and peaceful.  They allowed the mission on their land and allowed the Jesuits to preach to them.  Some converted, some did not, but pursue the faith is a must.  Fulfill the mission of their lives, they must.  Bring religion to the people.  Serve God.  No matter what the price is , it is not too high.  Serve God.  Bring Christianity to the people with the intention of everlasting peace.  Peace on Earth, goodwill to your fellow human.

Canada’s first Christmas Carol, the Huron Carol, written in 1642 probably by Jean de Brebeuf.

Saint Marie among the Huron is a historical place of hope, dreams, hardship and abandonment.  The security of the Jesuits, lost to the increasing hostility of the Iroquois in the insistent war with the Huron.  Iroquois with guns, Huron with bow and arrow, missionaries with prayer.  Peace among us, oh mighty human.  This territory belongs to the Huron, the land of the Wendake.

http://www.saintemarieamongthehurons.on.ca/sm/en/HistoricalInformation/TheSainteMarieStory/index.htm

But the dreadful incessant war proved the Iroquois to be a stronger and more aggressive people.  Intent on murder, they continued their assault on the Huron and would not leave.  Some of the Huron  who survived  fled to neighboring tribes, and to Quebec to re-establish themselves, on Ile de Orleans , just east of Quebec city in 1650.  By 1649 the mission was in ruin, burned by the Jesuits so that the Iroquois couldn’t inhabit it.  The Huron had departed, the Jesuits were gone.  Gone, but saved.  Other peace remained.  The fur trade was still active, with trade and negotiation still intact.  With the loss of this mission is an uncanny coincidence.  The city of Montreal, founded in 1649.

 

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 10, 2020

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Challenges of Discovery

Hail Brave Hearts

The never ending adventure to voyage and discovery to meet and greet the new people, to learn their ways.  Peace among us is a priority, gifts and exchange, routes of travel and a path to the new world.  Discover, trade and progress, learn the language, the customs, the society.  There are many peoples, many societies, many worlds to discover.  Come with this explorer into the heart of our land and meet the people, listen to their stories, share their passions, learn their wisdom.  This is New France, in 1615, with an exploration into the aboriginal territories of Ontario, as far as Georgian Bay and Lake Nippissing, in search of a route to the Orient.

The Orient.  That spell binding, alluring destination of dreams.  Silk, spices, riches.  The Orient!  Find the route through Canada, we know it’s there.  Yes, it is, but not this time.  Not in 1615, when the world was forested and filled with mighty, turbulent rivers, with rapids and waterfalls to portage.  Not in 1615 when every few hundred kilometers brought new nations of aboriginals to meet and negotiate with.  As skilled and brilliant as these explorers were, the land is too large, the peoples too many, the dangers too difficult and the demands too great.  Still, the path to the Orient exists, but the people need to know these explorers, before extending such a substantial gift as the whereabouts of this sought after trail.

Samuel de Champlain 1604-1616

Travel and travel and travel, is a must.  Explore the world around and before you.  Go to these uncharted lands.  Bring peace, negotiation and prosperity with you, if you can.  It’s a daunting mission, to be the explorer, to discover and collaborate with people of unknown character.  Meeting them in their own land, on their own terms.  Peace and skilled negotiation.  The intellect soars as the negotiations are successful and the peoples minds are set at ease, with this friend.  Gratitude for such necessary gifts, as some burdens are lifted and some work is eased.  Sharing and caring, the beginning of a new world.  The start of a new land.  This is now New France, being explored and documented and carefully mapped.  Each river that is traveled, each new tribe that is encountered, each new language that is spoken and the forest of trees, plants and animals to marvel at as well.  All carefully described, by this well educated person, who knew the land so well.

This is the life of a great explorer, Samuel de Champlain.  His mission of discovery was so successful that it formed peaceful and prosperous relations with several aboriginal tribes and the French people, who earnestly sought common bonds and  well intended relationships with the people of the new world.  The needs for these negotiations for the fur traders were high.  In the end Champlain died in Quebec city with only 150 settlers living in the colony.

With the explorer, came the missionaries.  Jesuit priests from France, intent on bringing Christianity to the people of Canada.  This seemed necessary for the aboriginals to understand the religion of the French people  so that they would have a common bond in humanity to share.  Peace among the people, brothers in Christ.  Although the aboriginals had their own religion, with their own after life, it was deemed essential to bring these people to Jesus.  Such was the quest of the Jesuits who pursued this mission to the ends of their lives.

Carhagouha – 1615 site of first Mass in Ontario

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 28, 2020

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The Iroquois of Hochelaga

Hail! You awesome human. We meet and we are joyous. It is with gladness that we greet the newcomers to our great land. Come, eat, fill your bellies from our larder, you will not starve among us. We feed you, we accept you, friend, speak with us. We will teach you and help you, friend, come to our village, for conversation and peace among us.

You, oh lofty European, with your fine boat, your interesting garment, your unusual style. How intriguing that you should come here to meet us. Tell us about yourselves, your passage, your ways, your reason for being here.

And so, the dialogue occurs. A conversation on the island of Montreal, between the explore Jacques Cartier and the Iroquois of Hochelaga.

The kindness of the  people, the curiosity, goodwill, companionship and generosity all marked in the captains log.  A fine people of bravery and fellowship, standing at the gateway to the interior of Canada.  A brave new land.  A people of skills and craftsmanship who built a fortress of wood with a village of longhouses inside it.  A people who farmed the land, planted crops, fished in the waters of the St. Lawrence River.  A people with some invention, with tools and self sufficiency, that were able to rely on their wits and toil for their survival.

https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/french-canada/the-mystery-village

These are the  people who are lost to us, only six years had passed and they are gone.  Where did you vanish to, you kind and courageous people?  Where did you go, when we needed your stories?  Your kinship is important to us, yet you vanish into history.  A people of fame, marked in the year 1535 and gone 6 years later in 1541.  Man the builder.  A fortress of wood, with longhouses inside it.  A village to protect the 1500 occupants.  The historical significance of this site is immense, since the builder has tools and a method of construction which was unique to them.  They also had social order which helped them to live congenially in such a confined space.  But where did you go,  oh fine human?  A human of intellect and high aptitudes, of compassion and caring, vanishing into the unknown in such a few short years.  

The mystery of Hochelaga still haunts us, as we excavate Montreal.  Although the people vanished, the message survived.  Come, friend, speak with us.  The exploration of Canada and later the fur trade.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 1, 2020

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St. Christopher

Hail Brave hearts

The seas are rising and the crossing is dangerous. The water swells and ripples. The current is too strong and the rapids are too long, the danger of the crossing is too great for our skills. Save us! Or we shall perish. Be the strong and be the mighty, be the back that we can cling to, be our arms that plow the water, be our legs that withstand the current. Be our strength, be our courage, be our transport across the torrent. Hail to you, oh great Saint Christopher, patron saint of the traveler.

We are weary, tired and weak, you are the strong, give us your hand. You are strong, powerful and mighty, we are small, weak and puny. Help us with your bravery and the powerful strength of your body. Lucky are we to meet your acquaintance, the sight of such an enormous man. Courage and kindness to help these strangers, who are so desolate that they need his hand.

The crossing is difficult, the child is too heavy, all of the weight of the world on his back. This is the Christ Child the Redeemer of history, the merciful, the wondrous child. A small load, but so heavy, he carries our weighty sins. I am small but you are mighty, St Christopher, carry me.

Carry me across the turbulent oceans, carry me across the perilous land, carry me across the arid desert, deliver me home, by your strong hands. St Christopher we plead to you, save us, by your mighty strength. We are the travelers who need your company, your support, your superiority. we are the travelers who will perish without your generosity. Hail, St, Christopher save us! We know you can.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Christopher

For centuries you have saved us, with your mighty, muscular build. Save us always, oh great and mighty one, our adventures are still perilous. Take us across the swelling ocean, take us to our home in this brave new land. Save us in our journey, as we cross the turbulent sea, save us in our travel to this new country. You are the mighty, you are the strong, we are the week who depend upon you. Support us in the grand adventure, carry us across the seas. Stay with us while we explore this wild, untamed new land.

Hail to you oh St, Christopher, we raise your medal high. You have been so much to us, and to you, we are meerly passersby.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes