The Spring Has Returned And So Did I (as a blogger)!

I have been plotting my great comeback to the blog for quite a while, struggling to find the right topic to kick (re)start.

And today, while enjoying my morning cup of coffee and listening to the birds, looking around and absorbing all that great energy of returning spring, I realized that that´s it!

So, as the spring returns and the new cycle of rebirth and life starts all over again, it is actually a perfect opportunity to jump in on the blogging train again.

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Paying Attention To The Dogs´ Needs For Fasting: A More Spiritual Approach And A Few Herbs To Help With Nourishing And Cleansing

Couple of weeks ago, we felt our dogs´ needed a day of fasting. They all felt "stuffed", some ate reluctantly, some did not even touch their food and some did not look hungry at all, despite normally being ALWAYS hungry.

We honored their choice and gave the entire pack a day of fasting, 24 hours to be exact for the adults and 12 hours for the puppies and special needs dogs (aka "The Specials").

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Keeping Your Canine Seniors Fit and Healthy

Who wouldn´t wish for their beloved animal companion to live a long, happy and healthy life?

While most of us wish our animals would live forever, we know that the life cycle does not allow for this and we wonder what can we do for them to keep them by our side as long as possible, without pain and suffering, but vital, full of energy and spark.

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Our Domestic Dogs: Omnivores or Carnivores?

No matter how unbelievable it may sound, the fact is, that our modern dogs share 99% of their DNA with the wolf.

However disturbing or fascinating you may find it, this is what it comes down to, regardless of our love or hate of the wolf.

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Omelette with Wild Herbs

You have no idea how much I have been looking forward to the day I will be able to pick a handful of wild herbs and make a meal and fresh herb tea with them!

Our winters and time of frost without any vegetation are so long, and it isn´t until the end of May before we can see some green grass and leaves on trees again.

I also realized that I haven´t shared much from my cooking with herbs and generally from the life on the husky homestead for a while, so here is a recipe for my first fresh spring wild herb omelette.

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The Best Coat Conditioner

Have you ever experienced your dogs having a dull coat? Perhaps even some bold spots, although she or he isn´t scratching or licking on it? Dry, discolored, even split hairs? Rusty coloring on your otherwise black dog? 

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then your dog might be very likely suffering from not enough Omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids in her or his diet.

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Nourishing, Energizing and Restorative Spring Herbs for Your Dog

Spring time is time of birth, re-birth and awakening.

Although it is energizing just by itself, the bodies of all the Earth´s creatures are tired, depleted of energy, yet longing for the re-birth and time spent outside, being active.

While I have pondered and covered a lot of the spring needs of our dogs and together with my friend Erica, who specializes in animal acupressure we have touched the spring time care in our co-authored article Acupressure, Herbs and Nutrition for Spring which follows mostly the five element theory, let´s take a bit closer look at the spring wild herbs that mother Nature offers at this time of the year.

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The First Herb Walk of the Season aka of Dogs, Coltsfoot and Wild Woods

Back home again and straight ahead to what I love the most - my dogs, the wild nature of the Great North and herbs!

What is even better yet is that I can combine all of the above at once - grab couple of the fur kids and head into the woods and highlands for a day trip of hiking, wild crafting and simply being where our hearts reside.

My timing of my trip abroad for workshops and lectures was perfect this time, I returned precisely at the time of the very first spring herb beginning to bloom - my favorite Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara).

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Dandelions And Other Herbs For Your Dog´s Spring Care

Howdy all!

I am back home from my wonderful two week trip to Czech Republic, where I had so much fun and met so many wonderful folks and their dogs during my travels, meetings and herbal workshops.

And because the spring time there was just amazing, I couldn´t help myself and had to run to the meadows every time I could, to recharge amongst all the green fresh color and thousands of blooming dandelions.

So I shot this quick video for you, about one of my all time favorites, the happy little sunshine in a pocket as I call the nutritionally, energetically and medicinally rich beauty, officially known as Taraxcum officinale.

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Hand Made Pottery, Self Sufficiency, Simple Country Life and other Musings

I am totally in love and I have to share it with you!

It may come as a surprise to many of you, but no, it is not a new puppy, or kitten, or any other critter... :)

It is the artwork of Ziva Slavec, a Slovenian pottery maker, and more specifically, the little collection she made for me.

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Acupressure, Herbs and Nutrition for Spring: A Holistic Approach To Your Dog´s Health in the Season of Rebirth

Here, as promised in my previous blog update, is an article I co-authored with my friend Erica Friebel, in which we would like to give you some ideas how you can support your dog´s health and address her or his needs during the season of Spring, with the help of acupressure, nourishing herbs and foods.

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Herbs and Health Care for Dogs by Seasons Mini Series

The spring is here and with it comes a lot of new energy and ideas and projects!

I am overwhelmed by your huge interest in herbs and natural health care for your dogs and have been working the whole winter a number of ways how to share my knowledge and experience in this field with you.

So let me start by introducing the first project called Herbs and Health Care for Dogs by Seasons.

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The Old World Barter Market - List of My Offerings

My Instagram friend @wildwoodgatherer is hosting an awesome event called the OLD WORLD BARTER MARKET. If you are in Europe and have any handmade offerings from handcrafts, pottery, knitting, yarn, paintings, to jewelry, herbal remedies, etc. and you have an Instagram account, please feel free to join in! All you need to do is visit @wildwoodgatherer and find her post about the barter market.
You can also go to my account @katerinas_naturalway and see what offerings I have ready for barter, and let me know what you have available for exchange. 

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RIZEY – HORIZON HUNTER Kipp d´Amundsen

It feels like yesterday…..

I held Your tiny little warm body in my hands. There was so much energy, life, every grasp for air You made, you were swallowing life, wanting to go and live it.

It feels like yesterday…

You ran full speed and played hide and seek with Your brothers and sister, learning to crawl on top of that wooden bench by the fire pit, as the weakening autumn sun blessed You with its golden rays.

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The Darkness And The Light

Today, on the day of Winter Solstice, the sun rose at 9:41 am and set at 2:01 pm here, in the North.

Yes, 4 hours of daylight, my friends. And when it is overcast or snowy, there is this blue light instead. 

The word "light" definitely has a different meaning up here during this time of the year, mostly because although the sun does "rise", you never actually get to see it. 

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Winter Solstice Blessings

The wise crone arrived today in the northern hemisphere, covering Mother Earth with her long white hair.

Whispering a silent lullaby for every living creature to slow down and rest while traveling within.

As the longest night of the year sets on us, like the shadow of a raven´s wing, we are guided by our inner light on this journey to meet and reconnect with our wise inner selves.

Tomorrow winter will bring back the Sun, and for that I give my gratitude.

Many winter blessings to you all!

Lots of love and light,

Calming Herbs For Your Dog And Calming Animals The Natural Way

For centuries, herbs have been proven as our great allies for healing and addressing many different ailments of people and animals alike. 

So it is no surprise that there are herbs and herbal remedies that are very effective for calming dogs that are stressed, scared, panicked, nervous, traumatized, suffer from anxiety and other similar emotions.

In this article I would like to show you a few safe herbs and how they can help calm your dog, without harmful side effects, as well as what types of herbal remedies are safe and effective, and some principles when turning to herbs for help with calming your animals, what to be careful about and what to avoid.

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Labels, Labels, Labels!

This is a bit of a rambling - complaining - struggling - happy - grateful - accomplished kind of post :) Please bear with me, while I get to the bottom of it :)

If you think I have lost my mind (or have nothing better to do with my time) to be writing a blog post about labels, you are not far from the truth, because I nearly did loose my mind over those LABELS. 

As a matter of fact, I, at one point, could not stand to even hear the word LABELS.

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Bone Marrow Broth For Your Dog and Cat´s Great Health

It is the time of year again - the season of cold, wet, subzero conditions (unless you are in Australia, of course :)) that have a major impact on our animals´s and our immune systems and general health.

Winter has its demands on our bodies and the immune system has to deal with a lot.

The wet, cold, icy, snowy conditions, together with the changing of temperatures as we take our dogs out from warm apartments and houses for a walk outside and back again, all this makes for example arthritic animals get worse in their symptoms than during the warmer months.

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Herbal Calming, Stress and Fear Relieving Preparations

The time of New Year´s celebrations is approaching and for most of our animals it means time of trauma, stress and fear of fireworks, even a possible danger when shocked animals run away in panic and get lost or injured.

One way to support them effectively, and make the experience of New Year celebrations as easy and stress free for them as possible, is the use of all natural, herbal calming, fear and stress relieving preparations.

My little animal apothecary Katerina´s Natural Way offers three preparations, suitable for this kind of situation - the FEAR REMEDY and the RESCUE REMEDY, which are blends of Bach Flower Essences and wild flower essences from my own wild harvest, and the CALMING SPRAY - a blend of herbal infusions, flower essences and selected essential oils, safe for animals.

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