The need for long-term thinking in medicine: Cinnamon as a case study

Here in Vermont, we are approaching the first anniversary of a storm that, over less than a day, poured an incredible amount of rain over the mountains, down the streams, and into narrow river valleys. The hill towns were quickly overwhelmed and literally swept away on huge torrents of water. These types of events are outliers, “hundred-year” floods. We tend not to think about them until they happen. If a river floods one spring, and washes away our garden, we could just build a retaining wall and be fine for years. But in Vermont, it seems that sort of thought process may have contributed to the severity of last summer’s event: narrower valleys, more constrained riverbeds, actually increased the torrent’s force and destructive power. As we rebuild, civil engineers are taking this into account.

Urban Moonshine herbal conference report

The recent week of warmth and humidity has taken a turn towards cooler weather today, and the south winds are freshening up and blowing in across the lake from the northwest now. But the full height of Summer’s glory was on display this Saturday, when over one hundred people from across Vermont and beyond attended Urban Moonshine’s first annual herb conference and the evening festivities that followed. I had an amazing time.

Aromatic plants – cultivating the scented garden within

It is legend that, some twenty-five hundred years ago, a ruler of  Babylon (or was it Niniveh?) commissioned a wondrous garden, terraced up from the flat plains between the rivers of the Fertile Crescent. Its levels were built of huge slabs of stone, elaborately carved and supported by high vaulted colonnades. Huge amounts of soil were transported to create hills and fields in this garden many, many feet above street level. Sundry species of trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs were brought in to plant its winding paths. Using giant corkscrew pumps, thousands of gallons of water were moved against gravity on a daily basis to keep the garden lush and green. The ancient historians named it one of the seven wonders of the world, and marveled at this oasis, high above the incessant bustle of the city, smoothed with endless marble and steeped in a deep, seductive fragrance from the constant bloom of aromatic plants.