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Aptitude, ability, accessibility: Exploring the healing powers of the mountains
Life was looking up when Bill Bowen was 25. He’d just landed a job as a logger, and as a lifelong hunter, nothing beat getting paid to be outside in the woods every day. But less than a week later, his world took a drastic turn. A tree fell on him, and the years being confined to a wheelchair stretched out hopelessly before him.
Let the dandelions grow: Herbalism and traditional Appalachian folk medicine
The green growing world is both medicine cabinet and grocery store, and it’s all around us. A lot of people spend good money every year to rid their perfect lawns of a weed—the dandelion—that could otherwise provide them with vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin B complex, plus zinc, iron and potassium. Dandelion is also recommended as a liver tonic or a mild laxative, and dandelions have a long history of being used for their diuretic properties, to help counter all of the salt that had to be used in preserving meats before refrigeration existed.
ALSO in the print edition:
Furry and four-legged facilitators
Animal therapy programs offer youth and adults a way of improving their mental, emotional, and physical skills.
Saving our Southern forests
Invasive species have wreaked havoc on the native landscape. Find out which culprits are doing the most damage and what is being done to restore the trees of life.
A way with words
Narrative medicine combines storytelling with healthcare as both a way for those affected to express themselves and as a way to communicate more than test results and symptoms to doctors.
Plus photo essays, mountain perspectives and more!
