Discussion Circle #2: Kava Kava, Lavender & Valerian (Plus the St John's Wort Discussion Winners!)

Welcome to the second ENGAGEMENT challenge for The Herbal HIVE! We're excited about having a CONVERSATION with you all about herbs, and we hope you like this way of interacting and exchanging information! We'll be creating collections all of these discussion circles so we can look back for information on each herb. If there's a herb you'd like to see featured, let us know in the comments below. This week's contribution is from Hive account@stayten who suggested three herbs - kava kava, valerian, and lavender. They are all known as powerful adaptogens and more, and because it's so hard to choose, we give you three to choose from!

First, let's get back to the winner of the St John's Wort challenge. Thankyou to Hive account@didivelikova, Hive account@trezzahn, Hive account@chacald.dcymt, Hive account@riverflows, Hive account@gentleshaid, Hive account@simplymike, Hive account@opidia, Hive account@strangenomad, Hive account@mamrita, Hive account@parauri, Hive account@minismallholding, Hive account@tere.alv, and Hive account@repayme4568 for joining in! A few things that were discussed were:

• the importance of research and looking at contraindications. Fair skinned people, for example, may experience increased photosensitivity when using this herb (thanks Hive account@minismallholding and Hive account@simplymike)
• St John's Wort is also great for menopause (thanks Hive account@tere.alv and Hive account@opidia)
• SJW was traditionally burnt at midsummer as a protection against evil spirits (thanks Hive account@mamrita)
• There are rumours you can smoke it (Hive account@edprivat, cheers)

Part post beneficiary is split between goes to Hive account@mamrita and Hive account@trezzahn for your engagement with this challenge this week. We hope you enjoyed your research and/or contemplation about this plant.

HOW TO JOIN IN (EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING!)

The point is to enjoy DISCOVERY. Even if you haven't heard of the featured herbs, you can join in by looking it up in a book or online and writing your fun fact below. You might even try a recipe for the first time!

You can also talk about a plant that has similiar effects. Maybe, for example, kava kava is good for sleep, but you prefer another herb. You can write about that!

Some Conversation Ideas

Make sure that you read other people's comments too - and respond to them. You might use what others say to start your own discovery or path to learning about this herb.

• Write about your personal experience with this herb
• Quote a passage from a herb book on your shelf about what you found out - you can take a picture instead if you like (make sure you reference/source)
• Does the plant grow wild in your area?
• Have you ever made a recipe from this plant?
• What mythology can you find out about this plant?
• What are it's constituents? What makes it medicinal?
• What are it's contraindications?
• Do you know a poem, a podcast, a film that you can share with us?
• Having read a little about St John's Wort, is there a herb you use that has a similar effect on you?

Post or Comment?

We don't mind! A short or long comment, a short or long post - whatever you like! Just make sure your post is posted in the community and the link is posted below.

We'd love you to reblog this post if you can - let's get the word out!

Rewards

We're going to be rewarding great comments with upvotes and at the end of the week, we'll send the writer of the best comment/post as a beneficiary of the next Discussion Circle! We'll also be throwing some ENGAGE tokens at you, and maybe some extra HIVE if you really 'wow' us!

We hope you're loving this new community. We're supported by Abundance Tribe and natural medicine folk, so our upvote is growing. We really, really appreciate delegations, however small - they help US nourish YOU!!

Suggestions

What herb would you like to see discussed in this The Herbal Hive's Discussion Circle? Let us know in the comments below!

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