Partnership with ABF

I am very excited to announce that I have partnered with ABF - the oldest Swedish organization dedicated to education for adults.

In cooperation with ABF Jämtland (and specifically the Strömsund office aka the best branch office ever!) I will be hosting and holding a number of herbal lectures, courses and workshops, with focus mostly on the following:

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Herbal Course and Workshop: Natural Self Care during Autumn and Supporting Our Immune System with Herbs

While summer is officially still here, when I wake up in the morning and step outside the door, one look around the wilderness that surrounds the farm tells me that autumn is slowly but steadily moving in.

It is a perfect time to start thinking of possibilities how to support and strengthen our immunity and nurture our body and mind before those long months of darkness and cold arrive, and before the upcoming flu and cold season hits us, slowing us down from all those important tasks that still need to be done before winter is here.

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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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Nourishing, Energizing and Restorative Spring Herbs for Your Dog and You

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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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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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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Balto´s Natural Way Story

Balto joined our pack as a six year old experienced sled dog and racing veteran, retired from another kennel´s team. Since then, he ran and pulled many miles in our teams, in training and also on races, teaching the younger dogs a lot of skills, as he was an excellent lead dog with a fabulous work ethic.

While Balto was at the bloom of his sled dog athlete career and full of energy, he was not, however, at full health. He´s been suffering from eczema on his paws, mostly between his toes, whenever the weather changed, when exposed to too much water or mud and during damp conditions. His previous owners spent a lot of time searching for the right type of food for him, and as it is in the typical allopathic medicine scenarios – Balto was way too often on antibiotics, eventually developing resistance. The vets believed he needed to be on hypoallergenic and grain free commercial dog food, and so did we at the beginning.

But because feeding him the “special” food did not make any difference, I have soon realized the problem has to be approached holistically.

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All What´s Good And New

Howdy all!
It has been a long time since I last updated the blog.

So much has happened since then, so much I was going to share and also a lot I did not know how to process, never mind sharing. 

Those of you who know me some time, know, that I am not a fan of sharing negative thoughts and news and that complaining will never be a part of my blogging, so let me just say that health and family are of the highest priority to me and at times of need, focusing on these two aspects of my life are the single most important things on my agenda. 

And that is in a nut-shell exactly what I have been doing pretty big part of the winter. 

But it isn´t all, so let´s dive into all the what´s good and new!

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Treating Gusty´s Infected Mouth Wound Naturally

One of our young dogs Gusty punched a hole inside his mouth while enthusiastically chewing on a meaty bone. Typically, the hole inside his mouth closed almost completely and a huge swelling occurred on the outside, on the side of his muzzle.

In the past, I would have put him on antibiotics, but not today, having learned a different approach the natural way.

Knowing my dogs more than well and knowing how nourished they are and that their immune systems are strong, I decided for reaching out to a holistic approach.

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Dill: A Nutritive And Healing Herb For Your Dog

I have been so focused lately on weeds and their medicinal and nutritive properties, that I have totally forgotten about garden or kitchen herbs.

A trip to my mini herbal garden in order to pick fresh oregano and basil for a sauce to go with Jachym´s home made pasta (which was fantastic, by the way and I might actually share the recipe some day) reminded me of the many amazing health benefits of these classic kitchen herbs.

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Top10 Most Read 2014 Blog Posts

Howdy all!

In my neck of the woods, we have 1 hour and 3 minutes till the end of the year and I decided to share the TOP 10 MOST POPULAR POSTS from Katerina´s Journal Blog - that means the ten most read by You and those You found most interesting this year.

I have to say that I got totally inspired by friend Lisa at Fresh Eggs Daily, who posted top ten blog posts from her blog about natural raising of chickens and ducks. If you own a flock yourself, or have a little (or big farm) with all kinds of animals, you should head over there, it´s a great information source!

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Podzimni Workshop Bylinky Pro Psy - Volna Mista

This is an announcement of changes in my autumn workshop Herbs For Dogs in Czech Republic, so it comes in Czech language:

Vážení přátelé, POZOR, ZMĚNA!!! 

Podzimní workshop Bylinky pro psy, původně konaný 20.-21.9.2014 byl z technických důvodů přesunut na první říjnový víkend! Bude se tedy konat ve dnech 4.-5.10.2014.

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Invitation To Workshop: Natural Nutrition, Herbs and Acupuncture For Dogs

I am excited to invite you to our upcoming workshop!

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Herbal Mix For Your Dog's Healthy Heat Cycle

You´ve never heard of female dogs having issues while they are in heat? At least  not the same kind as their human counter-parts: headache, stomach pain, cramps, bad mood,...?

Well, that does not mean that they do not ever suffer from any issues associated with the heat cycle at all or that herbal teas and certain herbs in their food won´t be beneficial.

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Natural Home Made Tick And Insect Repellent: A Favorite In Reprise

The tick, mosquito and other "bug" season is here. Let´s fight them off naturally, without the use of chemicals, harmful to our animals. 

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Healing Properties And Health Benefits Of Young Birch Leaves

This is a summary of the health benefits and healing properties of the young birch leaves, as I have written about them in one of my previous blog posts.

This version is for your free sharing to easily save on Pinterest or to share on your Facebook page with friends.

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Birch: The Miracle Tree

Nearly everyone has their favorite flower. Some of us have also our favorite trees. For me, that tree has always, without a question, been the birch. 

Not only are birches beautiful and I deeply admire them for their toughness and enthusiasm which they express, while striving even in the harshest conditions of the north and on poor soil, and the perseverance they manifest.

Birch is not only a valuable source of firewood used in the northern parts of our planet, its bark can help light a fire when other resources fail, and many beautiful and useful things, from canoes to furniture, baskets and dishes can be handcrafted from it.

But there is one more reason I love this tree and its special spirit and energy: It has an incredible account of medicinal uses due to its plentiful healing properties. 

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Curing Bolt's Injury The Natural Way

It was a Monday night and I was just finishing feeding the kennel. I was completely alone here, without a handler, without Jachym, but even more importantly, without any neighbors.

This remote life has already taught us many practical things - most of all, to be careful, precautious and be used to effectively and calmly handling different situations.

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