WELCOME

Welcome to My Mushroom!

Hey there! Nice to see you! Thanks for stopping in. I officially launched A Snail's Pace Apothecary today (Saturday, August 19th, 2023). I'm super proud, super nervous but also super excited. I know that is a lot of supers in one sentence but there is a good reason for that!

I'm Ginger by the way, nice to meet you. A little background on my excessive use of the word "super" is really because that's the way I feel NOW- in this moment, right now. I feel super. I've dealt with a disability for many years and then in September of 2022 I was diagnosed unexpectedly with Type 2 diabetes. I won't bore you with all the details but I obviously had to completely change the way I was eating and honestly, how I was living my life. When 2023 rolled around, I had all that under control but was facing another health challenge which took many months to diagnose. Ultimately it was my gall bladder causing many of my issues and that was then removed. I feel fantastic now and decided I really was tired of big pharma and hospitals and that whole scene-I mean I was beginning to know hospital staff I was there so often!

A family friend was all into the " hippy dippy" stuff AKA herbal medicines and I of course just wrote it all off as "that witchy stuff" because I didn't know or understand anything about it. That was until I discovered that dandelion tea was reportedly able to help lower blood sugar levels for people like me with Type 2 diabetes. I was like, "yeah, right" so I decided to forage some dandelion from my yard, wash it well, chop it up, dehydrate it and then make some tea with it. It does have an earthy taste, not bad but because I don't add anything to my tea, I was drinking it just as it was-strong, dandelion tea. And I drank it, probably 24 oz or so throughout the day. I felt no difference except that I was giving my body something super healthy and direct from the earth and that was such a fulfilling experience (more on that later). Around 1 a.m., my blood glucose meter (I wear a cgm or continual glucose monitor called a Dexcom) sounded off a critical low blood sugar alert. My sugar had dropped to 40!! Normal people run at 80 or so but 40 is a critical low for a Type 2! I followed emergency protocols and luckily recovered but definitely was going to closely monitor my dandelion consumption! To say I was convinced was an understatement. After months on 2 diabetic medications and suffering all the horrid side effects from those, I had never experienced such a quick response, even with fast acting insulin!

Needless to say, I encourage everyone to consult with their Dr before trying any herbal remedies and I am absolutley smarter now about researching them before ingesting them. For the last 6 months I have thrown myself into herbal classes, books, online courses, seminars, webinars, and research!! My goal is to become a Certified Herbalist and would like to eventually help others help themselves naturally! I do want to say that I by no means am against prescription medication! I do believe in antibiotics and medical care when I know it's beyond the scope of my herbal and/or medical knowledge and I certainly would treat a broken bone with a medical professional in that field. So with that being said, I'm still a beginner herbalist! I invite you to follow along with me, if you want to, and we can traverse this herbal journey together!

If you do, follow, subscribe or whatever you need to do to! I will be blogging my experiences, good and bad, posting helpful info, doing giveaways and eventually some educational videos!

Questions? Ask me. I'll answer anything with the truth. For now, forage on and be one with nature.

With love and mushrooms,

Ginger

A Snail's Pace Apothecary