My Lady Garden: Organic GYN's Weekend Action

Curious about what an organic gynecologist does on the weekend? I thought I'd feature a few videos and photos of my organic dye garden as well as some awesome recent workshops with Rebecca Burgess, my mystic friend and inspiration for all things natural and uber-local.

First, here's a vlog I made today on my garden.



Second, here's a blog Rebecca compiled on a Natural Dye Workshop in my backyard.

Third, here's a quickie tour of my garden. Check out the horsetail: provides a gorgeous salmon/pinky color and reduces bone loss.



Photos by the brilliant Madeleine Tilin.

Rebecca Burgess Makes Me Happy - Clothes that Heal

Yesterday I joined mystic Rebecca Burgess and herbalist Cheryl Fromholzer as they pioneered the emerging yet ancient field (love that!) of medicinal dyes for our clothes in a local workshop. entitled "Healing Clothes: Making Dyes & Natural Medicine." Ancient because it's been done for 2500+ years, mostly documented in the Ayurvedic tradition. Modern because it's low carbon footprint, super-eco and, well, sexy. Above is a dress by a New York designer named a.d.o. clothing that Rebecca introduced me to - herb-dyed in indigo, organic loveliness. As used in the dress above, we worked with indigo, madder root, turmeric, nettle, rosemary and fennel.

I noted during the workshop that nearly all the medicinal properties of the dyes we discussed included lymphatic cleansers. Hello? Doesn't that make sense in some higher order system that what we wear against our skin would also work on the system immediately beneath our skin, namely the lymph that scours our cells, seeking the bad guys, turning them out, sending all the fluid love back to the heart? We all need a rigorous lymphatic system, as that keeps us taut and pert (we, the women of 40+, particularly need this).

Why does working and learning from Rebecca make me so happy? I have a few ideas: perhaps it's her charisma and buoyant energy. Always good to surround oneself with people like this. Perhaps it's her naturally-dyed clothes offering: a gorgeous alternative to the conventional, toxic clothing world. Or her way of educating us to lessen our carbon footprint in a way that feels accessible and less sanctimonious than, say, riding a bike to work (how do I do that with 2 kids to drive to school 5 and 10 miles away?).

Rebecca lives a radical concept: wear clothing from within 150 miles for one year. She is a mystic from another world, as many of you know from my previous posts. We've hosted her here in Oakland a few times previously. Check out her Fibershed Project right here. Oh, and what could be better than her explaining it herself....



Gathering Thyme is a gorgeous space in San Anselmo. Cheryl is a co-founder and opened her beautiful space last October. We sat in a circle, talking about the medicinal properties of the luscious colors we were to use that day in our dye baths, including....

• Turmeric - our most potent anti-inflammatory. Rebecca chatted about the ancient Ayurvedic tradition of wearing robes dyed in turmeric for skin disorders or for obstinate bladder infections, and sleeping on turmeric sheets. Sounds far better to me than sleeping on flame retardants. Cheryl taught us about how it protects the liver as well. Take as a capsule, sprinkle turmeric powder on your food or sleep on turmeric-infused sheets. Rebecca talked about drinking turmeric drinks while traveling in Bali.

• Next came Madder Root.  Just damn pretty, let alone powerful at dissolving kidney stones and getting rid of parasites.

• Indigo was the third feature.  In Ayurveda, indigo was used to help people become more conscious, to treat a condition called "moha," or unconsciousness. In other words, indigo opens the upper chakras and opens your reality.  Also used for preventing malaria or any mosquito-borne disease - folks would wear silk dyed in indigo.

Rebecca turned me onto a local designer, Ocelot, who offered this yummy combo of madder root and indigo. Looks like a painting to me.

Charlotte, who assisted Rebecca, made a lovely prayer flag out of the dyes we used today. Each swatch below is a different natural fiber such as silk, hemp/cotton, raw silk. I'll end with that.

Botanical Alchemist | Organic Fashion Designer

Was surfing Etsy last weekend, minding my own business, when I came across a mystic from North Carolina named Andrea Crouse. Check her out. That's Andrea (above), modeling her Tulsi dress in organic stretchy wool.

Here she is (above) in her super foxy fall shirt made of organic hemp/cotton with pin tucks in all the right places around the waist. As many of you know, I've declared Mondays to be "Mystic Mondays" - help me find mystics like Andrea. They inspire me, feed my soul, and hopefully feed your soul too.

Planning a green wedding? Here's THE DRESS.... made of organic stretchy wool. Lusciousness. 

Now I'm always looking for what to wear to the office that doesn't disrupt my hormones.

How 'bout this number?

As Rachel Zoe would say: Bananas.

I asked Andrea quatro preguntas.

SG: What draws you to natural dyes?
Andrea Crouse:  I love the idea of working more directly with nature's color bounty and discovering different plants, insects, and minerals that can yield hues that are impossible to get with synthetic dyes. I was also drawn to them out of a desire to find the most eco-friendly way to impart color on my clothing. However, I have come to realize that each have there limitations and some naturals dyes can be very dangerous too.

SG: Have you noticed any health benefits since changing to nontoxic clothing?

Andrea Crouse: I started wearing almost all organic clothing when I was in my early 20s so I didn't really have any health problems that went away. However, one of the reasons I decided to work exclusively with organic fibers was my father being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when I was a teenager. At that time they where linking the disease to prepubescent exposure to an environmental toxin. As a boy my father spent summers swimming in a Lake that was later found to have batteries dumped there during that time. I wasn't sure what I was going to do as an adult but I did know that it had to be as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Above: Andrea's Babydoll dress in hemp/organic cotton with the yummy pin tucks all the way 'round the waist.

SG: What are the challenges to working with organic fabrics and natural dyes?

Andrea Crouse: Because organic fabrics change from season to season much more then GMO or super controlled crops, it is impossible for me to be super consistent with my colors. I have noticed the same fabric will take the same dye in different ways from one roll to the next.

The type of clothing I can make is limited to what is possible with plant fibers.....however, this is a wonderful challenge that I enjoy! I may also be adding leather and sheepskin from local organic farms...hopefully by next Fall!

SG: Leather and sheepskin? Bring it! What are the benefits of working with organic fibers and natural dyes?

Andrea Crouse: I know that the materials I am working with are safe for my family and clients and of course the beautiful planet we call home.  I'm providing green jobs for my community.  There are always new and amazing advances in the organic world that I get to incorporate into my designs while at the same time working with these materials is deeply connected to human history and a time when natural materials where all we had.

SG: OK, friends. You heard it here first. Now, I need to get me some organic undies. Ideas? Andrea, can you hook me up?

Natural Dye Workshop -

Just in case you're interested - this is part of my documentation process!

Join us January 30, 2010 for the next Natural Dye Buffet! Add yourself to our email list for the details.

Special thanks to Rebecca Burgess and the talented, soulful women who joined us yesterday in my yard!



Make a free photo slideshow

Alchemist Next Door: Create Clothes That Heal

Hokahay! Today is a fine day to dye - natural dye, that is, in the back yard of our LEED-Platinum green home with a group of intrepid women gathered to learn about natural dye and integrative medicine. Our group - moms, artists, gardeners, professors, activists - learned first about the toxic and completely unsustainable conventional clothing industry, and then dived deep into another model. That model, introduced to me by Eco-Artist Rebecca Burgess, is about creating clothes that heal, clothes that are radically local, and rather than harming you through your skin and also the workers who make them, they leave no impact, no residue, no or very little carbon footprint.

Above you see the range of color that Rebecca has gathered locally from plants such as black walnut, horsetail, indigo, cosmos, sage, and eucalyptus.

We made a vat of dried cosmos and added boiling water. Let sit for a few minutes and it's ready - rather like tea....

I love the black walnuts, gathered by urban foraging (below).

Here are some of the menu items in our dye buffet: horsetail, madrone, coffeeberry, logwood, black walnut, cosmos and coreopsis.

We dyed some local wool in Logwood (below).

Here is some silk long underwear and a scarf from the Logwood dye vat that I did.

We're planning our next workshop on January 30. Join our mailing list for more details. This will be a workshop for those who want more advanced training or want to learn the basics.

Botanical Bliss: Wear Organic, Eat Organic

Today I sit with the question: If we are all so clear about eating organic, why are we not wearing organic clothing? Our conventional clothes contain toxic fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides/insecticides, heavy metals, endocrine disruptors, teratogens (causes birth defects) and carcinogens. The question lingers from a blissful day yesterday spent at a "Native Dye" workshop with my friends and colleague, eco-artist Rebecca Burgess, at the California School of Herbal Studies (CSHS) in Forestville, CA (County of Sonoma). 

Rebecca was very kind to let me crash the workshop, which she has taught twice before at CSHS, and to speak to the students on the topic of "Toxic Endpoints of Conventional Clothing: Endocrine Disruption, Heavy Metal Exposure & Cancer." My unofficial title: "These Jeans Are Killing Me."

A friend texted me, after hearing the title of my talk, "Look at you going all NRDC on us."

Good point.

After driving at high speed the 72 miles from Oakland to Forestville and dragging my 5-year-old daughter behind me (she was off school for Sukkot) at 7am, I turned onto the long liminal driveway to CSHS.

"Donkeys!" shrieked Maya, my youngest kid, her impatience with the drive a distant memory.

"Yes, Donkeys!" I affirmed. "Or Burros?" I'm not so good at distinguishing the two. Too rounded to be horses. Not llamas. Woah, I'm noticing animals again. We entered sacred space. Hassles of leaving the house so early and traffic on the 101 receded as we both took in the landscape: luscious herbs and flowers, silence, farm animals, brilliants smells and sights of Indian summer in Sonoma.

We parked and walked into the red building ("The Barn") that you see above. I'm a conventionally-trained doctor and never take my kids with me to work. When I did in the past, I get people who look at my young kid, then me, then the kid, then quickly away with a withering sigh.

I walk into CSHS and a group of twenty-something women, all beaming warm and inviting energy at us with shining eyes, greet and welcome us. Estrogen and oxytocin (the hormone of love and bonding) boils over the pot in this place. My daughter grins ear-to-ear and settles right in, ready to make new friends.

I set up our Powerpoint and look for tea - my stainless steel commuter mug needs a refill. There's a big hot water urn in the corner that I spy, but... uh, where's the tea? There's a conspicuous lack of tea bag options next to the hot water. Oh, I get it. All these women were nursing Mason jars filled with steeping flowers and plant bits. Hello, they are Herbalism Students! These peeps are way beyond tea bags.

Rebecca and I finished setting up her steaming vats of natural dye: indigo (naturally fermented) black walnut, coffeeberry, California sage, Madrone, Eucalyptus. Powerpoint begins. Rebecca flashes her slide that is the segue to my brief presentation - how conventional dye causes all kinds of health problems (short list that I've augmented: lymphoma, bladder cancer, asthma, contact dermatitis, hypothyroidism, estrogen dominance), and naturally-dyed clothing actually has healing properties (again, Rebecca's work to which I've added my own thoughts), such as: 

• Pokeberry (see photo below) acts as a lymphatic cleanser
• Woad - contains 20 times as much glucobrassica as brocolli and I hypothesize may improve estrogen dominance similar to DIM (di-indole methane)
• Horsetail - decreases bone loss in women

Radical idea of clothes that heal, not hurt.

Here's Rebecca preparing a pokeberry dye vat for us:

Those pretty berries above got smooshed and made into this gorgeous dye vat - remember this cleanses your lymphatics to work with these berries and wear them.

And here is an organic cotton food/snack bag I dyed with the pokeberry. Take it to the farmer's market next time you're gathering apples or persimmons.

This feels like prayer. My kind of prayer.

Now why bother, you might ask. Great question. Part of my presentation was to take a common toxic clothing item - your beloved jeans and tell the back story of how they were made. In the US, women on average own 8 pair of jeans. I'm no exception and happen to love my Sevens for All Mankind, my Dolces and my Luckies. 

I know there are heavy metals used in getting that pretty denim color, and pesticides and fertilizer used in growing the cotton. Do conventional pesticides and fertilizer act as endocrine disruptors and slow my thyroid and stimulate my estrogen receptors in my boobs? Um, yes. I never really put it together as I did while preparing yesterday's presentation - and to state very directly: my beloved jeans are hurting my health. Here's a few soundbites:

• 2/3 pounds of toxic pesticides and fertilizer are used to make one pair of jeans
• water from conventional denim textile companies is full of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, chrome, copper, zinc, antimony
• 7 million pounds of toxic chemicals are used annually for cotton in California alone

If this sounds outrageous, that's because it is. If you need a visual of what you're putting on your skin every time you dress in conventional jeans, try this one. This is from a CNN story published in April, 2010, on the "Blue Jean Capital of the World" -- Xintang, Guangzhou. This textile village produces 200+ million jeans per year. Check out the black nasty water coming out of this village and emptying into China's Pearl River (how sad and ironic that this black stuff is entering a river named for pearls?). I'm not a water pollution person, but as an integrative doctor, I can say that the black muck of heavy metals, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors on your jeans cannot be good for your body.

As the local Chief Medical Officer in Guarngzhou, Dr. Tony Lu, states, this black muck is full of chemicals that may be: "neurotoxic, carcinogenic, they disrupt the endocrine system. They cause cancer of different organs."

People, we have alternatives. We are on board with organic food, but let's take the next step and get mindful about what we put against our skin, and especially the skin of the most vulnerable among us, fetuses in utero, babies, children. 

Here are a few more pics of the brilliant Rebecca Burgess, spreading the good word. 

Let's find some foxy organic cotton jeans, colored with natural dyes. My Seven jeans now hold less appeal, Now, I'm eye-ing my Lululemon brightly-colored yogawear in a whole new way. 

If you're worried the alternative is not pretty, check out some of the samples from our workshop yesterday.

While it's true that I'm a relative beginner at changing out my wardrobe, Rebecca is much farther along of the path. She writes a gorgeous blog, and walks the talk - she now wears for the next year clothing that is sourced and dyed with local resources within a 150-mile radius. The experiment is called "fibershed" and I can't wait to check her heavy metals before and after. So much fun for this integrative gynecologist!