{"id":12671,"date":"2017-05-26T15:45:56","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T20:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=12671"},"modified":"2017-05-26T15:45:56","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T20:45:56","slug":"a-sandra-kynes-double-header","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=12671","title":{"rendered":"A Sandra Kynes Double Header"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love Sandra Kynes. She\u2019s an insanely prolific writer whose work never seems repetitive, is always accessible to the average reader even while being scholarly, and despite my only sporadic support she always personally mails a copy of each of her new books. And you know, I don\u2019t seem to see people talking about her as much as she deserves. I\u2019m hopefully going to remedy that now with a Sandra Kynes book review double header. These two book go together great, and I hope after reading this little article you\u2019ll be inspired to pick them both up!<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ First, get ready to get excited about gardening because I\u2019ll be talking about \u201cThe Herb Gardener\u2019s Essential Guide\u201d. On the cover it also reads, \u201cCreating Herbal Remedies & Oils for Health & Healing.\u201d But it doesn\u2019t do just that. Kynes takes you from how to design your garden, whether it\u2019s a single pot or a whole backyard, to understanding your soil, recommended tools, garden maintenance, and more! Seriously, it\u2019s like a super interesting gardening show in the palm of your hand!<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re through that you get to harvest. Kynes discusses the best way to store your herbs based on type and intended use. This is also where she gets into the nitty gritty of making herbal remedies, and as usual, she leaves no stone unturned. Teas, infusions, infusion oils, infusing with essential oils, decoctions, tinctures, bath oils and salts, compresses, creams, diffusers, powders and capsules, foot soaks, ointments, salves, balms, and still more! If that wasn\u2019t enough ways to use your herbs, Kynes also devotes time to culinary uses of herbs for good health, such as cooking oils, butters, and breads.<\/p>\n

Then she has a nice selection of profiles for assorted herbs. It includes the herb\u2019s uses, including precautions and contradictions, and their preferred growing environments. There is also a handy appendix that lets you look up herbs by the ailment they treat.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s just me, but \u201cThe Herb Gardener\u2019s Essential Guide\u201d got me really excited about herb and herbal gardening. <\/p>\n

$\"\"$ The other book I\u2019d like to address is \u201cPlant Magic: A Year of Green Wisdom for Pagans & Wiccans\u201d. This book is a reminder that Sandra Kynes is one of the queens of cataloging connections and correspondences. After all, she did write the book \u201cLlewellyn\u2019s Complete Book of Correspondences: A Comprehensive & Cross Referenced Resource for Pagans & Wiccans\u201d<\/a>. Whereas \u201cComplete Correspondences\u201d covered anything and everything you can imagine, \u201cPlant Magic\u201d pulls the huge interconnected web in to focus solely on plants. <\/p>\n

The book is primarily broken down into the 12 month of the year. Each month features \u201cOn the Calendar\u201d (essentially holidays like New Year\u2019s Day and Samhain), \u201cIn the Garden\u201d, (highlighting plants that bloom during that month), \u201cIn the Wild\u201d (profiling plants that can be found in the wild that month), \u201cIn the House\u201d (offering ideas of things to do with plants that are appropriate for the month). Of course there is a handy appendix that\u2019s a plant list\/quick guide, and one full of magical correspondences. If you are a Wiccan, Pagan, or magical practitioner that\u2019s into plants, I would call this book a must.<\/p>\n

For more information on \u201cThe Herb Gardener\u2019s Essential Guide\u201d, visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information on \u201cPlant Magic\u201d, visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"