On today's episode Heather Irvine teaches us all about the hawthorn tree.  She wrote an excellent monograph on hawthorn, which you can find HERE.  "Hawthorn is one of those country herbs whose leading quality one might at first describe as benevolent. It is much more powerful though!  A great tree, low and broad in stature, it occurs wild in edge-lands of landscapes or occasionally planted for beauty, especially with respect to its generous white blossoms or deep red fruit in the fall and winter. It serves food and sanctuary to wildlife. Overzealous thorns protect birds and smaller critters from those larger ones which receive a memorable gauge and at best a pause to lick one’s wounds! In and around a Hawthorn’s understory, clumsy human types get so focused on the prize… zeroing in on more flowers or more berries, faster, receiving a poke followed by a clumsier startled retraction. Birds and squirrels laugh at us for sure!" - Heather Irvine Today’s episode is brought to you by the Herbal Academy. An excellent online herbalism school as well as resource. The mission of the Herbal Academy is to teach the art and science of herbalism and to honor our intrinsic connection to nature. The Herbal Academy is dedicated to teaching and promoting a lifestyle of wellness and vitality through the use of herbs, sound nutrition, and optimal health practices. They offer high quality and affordable herbal studies programs where they present many herbal traditions with a focus on sustainability and stewardship. For a list of all of their courses you can head to herbrally.com/herbalacademy For more monographs: www.herbrally.com/monographs You can visit Heather online at GivingTreeBotanicals.com Let us know what you thought of the episode! Thanks so much for listening.