Preview episode of a brand new podcast called Heal You, Feed You, Kill You - a kid-friendly show that will start new conversations around the many ways plants intersect with our lives.
Ever wondered how to talk to your kids about Plant Medicine? The topic can appear daunting, but Diana Krach and Danielle Simone Brand unravel just how to navigate this intricate subject. This riveting episode underscores the importance of educating our young ones about substances like cannabis and mushrooms, sensitively addressing our fear-based upbringing and its influence on these conversations. They also talk about using gardening as a communication tool to teach children respect for plants.
Turning the spotlight on literature, they recognize its potential as a catalyst for introducing children to Plant Medicine. They delve into kid-friendly titles such as "It's Just a Plant," "The Root Family's Very Special Garden," and "Why Mommy Gets High," each taking a unique approach to education on the topic. Acknowledging older kids too, we emphasize the need for suitable literature. This episode is more than just a conversation; it's an invitation to spark curiosity and change perceptions about the intriguing intersection of plants and health. Be prepared for an insightful journey into Plant Medicine and its influences on parenting.
Important links:
It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana: Ricardo Cortes: 9780976011729: Amazon.com: Books
Mitragaia.com (use code YHPOD for 10% off)
Speaker 1 0:23
Welcome to Getting Personal With plant medicine. I'm your host, Diana Krach. And today I am joined by Daniel Simone brand. And we're doing something a little different for this episode. It is actually a preview of our currently untitled project. TBD, podcast, we know what the concept is, which we will touch on more later. But we don't have a title yet. So stay tuned for that. But anyway, we felt like this message had to begin some point, right, we had to get this started. So we're putting this out there and hoping that we get some kind of feedback from listeners and let us know, you know what more you'd like to hear in the future. And this podcast preview I feel is aligned with Getting Personal With plant medicine. Audience I should say, because that's what we'll be talking about. So plant medicine is rapidly becoming normalized through legalization and social media. And every media platform or publishing company or social media app is filled with content about those curious about herbalism and alternative therapies. But there isn't a lot out there on how to discuss plant medicine in a way that doesn't stem from prohibition on how to discuss plant medicine with children. That is I mean, it's it's really where we need to begin, we need to start with the young ones.
Speaker 2 2:14
Be really do you really need to do because, you know, like, they're deaf, they're gonna be the ones carrying the message forward and, you know, making the policies and living on this earth in the future.
Speaker 1 2:25
Right. It sounds cliche, but I guess it's not considering some people are literally running political campaigns against the younger generation. So it is valid, right. And you actually wrote a short guide about that in the newest issue of Kenny curious magazine, Canna curious magazine. And, in that piece, you pointed out that finding a place to start can be challenging.
Speaker 2 2:55
Yeah, it Yeah, I can, you know, like, I talked to people, you know, especially women and moms a lot who were like, I just don't know how to have a conversation or when it should happen, or you know, exactly how much detail I should go into. And you know, they're usually talking about cannabis, but plant medicines in general, I think, you know, that date applies to so many things, mushrooms that many of us are incorporating in our everyday lives. And you know, it's a lot of, there's a lot of plants out there that we use psychoactive and not. But you know, we stopped to talk talk about it, I think you have to start somewhere. And, you know, it's gonna look different just depending on your kids ages, and you know, where you live, obviously, in your own knowledge of knowledge, how you use the plant, like, you know, if you're, you know, if you're a medical consumer who's who's consuming daily, multiple times a day, and it's a much bigger part of your life and then just sort of after work once in a while, that looks different to so I think there's just a lot of factors involved. And, you know, something that's a big topic to explore.
Speaker 1 3:56
It's a big topic is complex, we don't have any definitive answers just yet. We would like to stress that point right now. But, you know, it's, it's all about finding something to start the conversation, like you said, so for me, books are a big help when it comes to myself, learning things, but also when I'm talking to my son about it, and, you know, I think that it is hard to find the right one, right? Like there's there's no book there's not one book that you can find that's like this is the answer to what I'm saying that that's a broad stroke. There might be a book out there that goes over every single plant and are in existence, but you know, that could be a hefty tome. I'm sure. So
Speaker 2 5:01
Let's start with a no. Yeah, exactly like, how to how to start those conversations. I think you're right, like books are wonderful. It's like, you know, that's just an easy segue into a topic or a conversation. And I did write about this for Kenny curious magazine, as you mentioned. So you know, books like in the cannabis space like for the last in the last couple of years, we've had a number of books come out to help educate kids and help start these conversations. So it's just a plant is the classic by Ricardo Cortez. Do you have that one? Did you read it with your son? Yes,
Speaker 1 5:39
I have. I mean, I don't have it but I have read it. Yeah, I've read the digital copy I should say. Sam Yeah
Speaker 2 5:51
but you know, I think that was like for a while that was like the one that that people turned to if they knew if they you know had access to it to start that cannabis particularly Canna reputation with kids. And then more recently, we've had the route families very special gardens I miss kindness Ramirez and why Mommy gets high but when he Brazil, and you know, both of them are you know that they're a little different, like Ms. kinases book is, is more focused on like education. There's a glossary in the back you know, terminology when it comes to cannabis kind of like the growing and and, you know, curing and creating products process, but you know, in a kid friendly way, and then why Mommy gets high is literally an explanation of why you know, of why went to Brazil, when she was a mom of younger children, she now has grandchildren, but she tells them this, like whimsical and, you know, rhyming kind of way, like the ways that it actually helped her be more, you know, a bit present and patient and creative mom. And, you know, I talked about that, too. That's, that's real in my, in my world. I also, you know, use cannabis for medicinal benefit, and it helps me just be a better parent, because it helps me live with less pain. But you know, I love that that perspective of like, you know, it helps me relax and be in the moment. And that's something that's important for parents, too. So all those books are interesting, and definitely worth checking out. If you've got little kids,
Speaker 1 7:26
yeah, well, for me, it's about trying to start from the beginning. Like, we're not even in the area of medicine quite yet. Because my son doesn't fully understand that concept quite yet. So having I found some books in the library, here's one called the ways I help in the garden. And I really liked this one, because I'll have it linked in the show notes for the record. But I like this one, because it shows it has little chapters, how cute helping dad, and it's like how I help dad in the garden, plant seeds. And it has illustrations, and the dad kind of looks like my husband. And it talks about growing the cucumbers and things like that. And you know how it basically is a very basic, basically basic, sorry, redundant there. It's a really cute illustration of how the plants become medic, not become medicinal, but become food, which is also medicinal. So yes, both both of those things. And then I found a Nat Geo kids, one about plants. And this one is a little bit more advanced. But it talks about leaves and the desert and like the shapes of the leaves, and the roots and all of that. I also use a lot of songs with my son, there are several YouTube channels out there. But we really like there's a couple that we really liked that talk about photosynthesis, chlorophyll, you know, the weather and how it affects the plants. So for me, that's what I use, but then I also have to start thinking about older kids as well because it's not like I never come into contact with older children. So I am still searching for some books that are for like, that would be good for older children to to read about plant medicine about plants in general.
Speaker 2 9:41
Yeah, I mean, if you find them let me know because yeah, my kids are 10 and 13. And my my 10 year old is my is my daughter, and she and I are interested in rituals and witchy stuff and also gardening. So there's a lot of interplay between those things. And I've found some good witchy books for her age like, or just to, like a little bit older and she can kind of, you know, identify read up, as they say. But, um, you know, and some of them have like some interesting glossaries, or you know about about herbs about various plants that you would use in ritual, as well as like descriptions of how to do them. But you know, really about plants, and, you know, sort of like the concept of the way that we use plants differently. For older kids, I think that that's something I haven't come across yet. I was going to add actually, that and when my kids were younger, we, we subscribe to this, like, the service where they mail you a book once a month through, it's called PJ library. It's a Jewish organization, basically, for literacy and for Jewish education. And we are, you know, Jewish ish. We're also, you know, Buddhists and pagans, and, you know, yoginis over here, but where we do have that heritage in our family on my husband's side. And the cool thing about Judaism, to me actually is how agriculturally attuned it is. And so there are festivals about like, you know, the harvest, and the first fruits in the spring, and, you know, various like moments of the agricultural calendar. And that would like come in pretty strongly to these children's books that like I think, establish the sense of, you know, just like paying attention to the seasons, and to the plants and how they can play a part in your like, ritual life as well as your like, you know, your actual life.
Speaker 1 11:35
That's a really great service I want. I want to look into that now. But
Speaker 2 11:43
yeah, it's really cool. They just send you a cool children's book every month. And, you know, they have themes of kindness and inclusion and good stuff.
Speaker 1 11:51
I love that. And also with the older children, I think it might go without saying, but we're going to say it anyway. Television, right? Yep. Yep. That's the easiest way for me to be able to be like, well, that is not accurate. Okay, that right? There is not how it will play out for you. Because I mean, how else are you? Also because I tend to watch things that maybe teens might
Speaker 2 12:24
not do you no shows are great. Like now that you mentioned it. You know, cannabis references do come up in shows that I watched with my kids here and there, I think I mentioned on on your highness podcast, but we've been watching mythic quest, this show that's, you know, like, it's TV 14. So it's a little bit like above my kids, but it's not really inappropriate. And it's more just like language once in a while. But you know, some of the situations like I do feel like I want to help contextualize for them. And that's, I think that's a good thing. You know, helping them understand sort of, like, adult potential, potentially adult situations with a little context. But anyway, cannabis comes up from time to time, weed comes up from time to time, and my kids totally get the weed references. Because, because I write about it and a big part of my life and stuff, and they hear me talking, you know, to people to friends and whatnot. And, and yes, I also had the opportunity sometimes to be like, what a stereotype like that was really, you know, not something that is reflective of most cannabis consumers that I know or of me, and you know, we get to kind of like, unpack it a little. So yeah,
Speaker 1 13:34
I have a thing. And another good thing is that there are a lot of like cooking competitions. I'm seeing cannabis infused and so many different types of programming. We have the cooking shows, we have the growing shows now there's that one with Jim Belushi. I haven't watched it, but you know, I just saw a pop up when I was scrolling through things like Okay, so now, I mean, pretty much we're covering almost every area on TV. Take suffer. Yeah, talk to your children.
Speaker 2 14:09
Your children. I think there's more we can do NTV and I'm hoping to actually do it. Yeah. I think we can have deeper conversations, you know, and further the general public and the can of curious public and maybe even like the cannabis consumers knowledge of the, you know, the plant and its context, and how we can like create a better future with it. And right, yeah, I think yeah, we can explore more.
Speaker 1 14:37
I mean, cannabis is a heavy consideration for us, as well as other psychedelics but just even thinking about how we grew up, right. There was not a lot of conversation about anything that wasn't deemed safe. Other than here's a sticker. Don't touch that. Right. You remember those stickers? Those Poison Control stickers. On Wi Fi only had those on everything. And instead of explaining like, maybe, you know, don't drink this because it could kill you. It's just don't touch that. If you see that sticker, like that sticker was doing a lot of work, right?
Speaker 2 15:18
That's true. That's true. And yeah, I mean, last I checked, stickers aren't great parents.
Unknown Speaker 15:27
keep them entertained for a little.
Speaker 2 15:32
Right? I mean, I think yeah, it's a blunt it's a blunt instrument, just like stick a sticker on things and be like, yes, you know, that that is a symbol, it's an end. I guess it serves a purpose. But I think we can have a more nuanced conversation. You know, like, I mean, it's a whole, the whole conversation and of itself, how cannabis should be labeled right fit on the legal marketplace like that. You're supposed to have child resistant packaging in most places, as well as labeling that clearly indicates that it's not for children that THC is present. But yeah, I think there are lots of different ways to do that, and
Speaker 1 16:08
having the conversation not to cut you off. But just to think about that a little bit. You know, people think having childproof packaging is just enough, right? I shouldn't say people that's broad stroking again, but there are some people who feel like the childproof aspect only pertains to keeping it out of their reach. And to me, it's about educating them, you know, and showing them what you're using and having them understand, even if you're not consuming around them, having them understand why you consume and why they can't yet is a major hole in the education portion of this, I feel.
Speaker 2 16:57
Yeah, I agree. I agree. It's, you know, it's a it's a nuanced conversation. It's one that like, changes as kids get older. We have an interesting perspective, because your child is younger than then my children. And I've had, I've had, like, you know, some years to have these conversations sort of little by little, like hammer it in. And I do think that's important is that, you know, like, you don't wait until you think, Oh, my God, I'm it's too late, almost too late. And then you sit down, you're like, here's all you need to know.
Speaker 2 17:29
Yeah, like a lot of important conversations, you know, I talk about this a lot. It's more of it's not a one and done, it's more of like, let's, you know, just take little opportunities to have to share a bit of information to ask some questions, maybe to answer some questions. It doesn't have to be like a big deal. It doesn't have to be a sit down, like scary conversation. And, you know, like, I think that's true about so many things.
Speaker 1 17:54
Yeah. And I think that a lot of it also comes from a place of fear, right? The conversations, we have our stem from fear, a lot of times we don't want our child to overdose on something, we don't want our child to put themselves in danger. We don't want to lose custody of our child. We don't want people to brand us as bad parents, but so a lot of that I feel fuels the conversation. And so even if you're extremely plant friendly, and you use plants in all aspects of your life, you might still be a parent who's not willing to immerse your child into that world because you're coming from a place of fear.
Speaker 2 18:40
Yeah, yeah, that's true. And, you know, I think that prohibition and criminalization specifically, and then, of course, all the misinformation around around prohibition, and, and the war on drugs, just intensified that fear. You know, we're gonna, we're gonna need some time. And some normalization, I think, to get over that. And, and you're right, like, I think that it's, it's easier in a sort of knee jerk reflexive kind of way to educate our kids about things that we want them to be careful of by scaring them. Because, you know, sometimes it feels like that's the only thing that works, let's be
Speaker 1 19:21
honest. And that's how we were raised. I mean, at least I was raised, I was raised in a very fear based household. So for me, it's like, even though I tried to fight everything that I grew up with him when I was conditioned by it still sneaks up on you a little bit, you know, and you're like, oh, wait a minute. There's that conditioning again.
Speaker 2 19:40
Right. And to be honest, like there are moments that as a parent of slightly older kids, I'm I have question Did I not instill enough fear about certain things? And then because I was afraid to be afraid, but because I was also trying to avoid that, you know, that fear based like, upbringing. I think there's a balance And to end to teach kids respect, you know, respect is not it doesn't mean cowering in fear or just or you know, like living fearfully, it means like understanding that some things can hurt you. And some things, we have to have discernment, right? Good judgment. And so teaching them to respect plants, I think is one, one layer of that one level of that
Speaker 1 20:23
respect is a big part of it. I mean, that's pretty much how I'm trying to focus my education with my child, I'm trying to basically come from a respect point of view, like, you need to respect fire, you need to respect water, you need to respect all of the elements, they can be amazing, they can create so many cool things, but also. And so that's kind of where I'm going with it. Because I'm like, this is the only way it kind of works for my brain. Because I come up with so many questions myself, when I'm trying to educate him. I'm just like, how does he know that something's poisonous? How do I know that it's poisonous? Is there another word we can use? And so I mean, it's like you said, it's ever evolving. And I think that we don't have hard and fast answers. But one, one other way that we can really kind of expand the conversation is to grow things, if you have the ability to grow any type of plants, and even if you don't taking your child to, you know, a garden center, or just outside somewhere and showing them, you know, this, this is something you can't eat, but it does this, this and this, and you're really good at that.
Speaker 2 21:52
Well, I try, I mean, one reason is because I like to be outside and I like to garden and that sort of thing. And I realized that it's a privilege to have like, some outdoor space where I get to garden, and I used to do it on window sills, for sure. And, you know, I live in a less desirable state for the privilege of having a yard some space around us, you know, but anyway, so we have a decent flower garden and my kids helped me out there we have, we have a decent veggie garden in the summers, we grow raspberries, lots of raspberries are going to come in pretty soon here, I'm excited. Um, so you know, in that process, and I do, you know, quote, unquote, make yard work and garden, it's more of a chore for my son, like just something he needs to like, you know, take off and then get to the rest of his Sunday usually. And for my daughter, if she's in the right mood, she enjoys it, because she, you know, she's the nature girl and likes to watch the butterflies and, you know, is a little bit more like interested in chilling and watching and doing but she'll do too. She definitely does. So, you know, so in that context of spending time outside and also going hiking and getting out in other ways, we have a river in our city that's really really beautiful and has a walking path on both sides that we go to pretty frequently. So you know, in all of this, like we do end up talking about plants as different things. So plants as food plants as medicine plants as food for animals and homes and shelter for animals. You know, something of beauty obviously that like the contributes to our enjoyment of the world and our well being you know, and medicine. And some of that medicine is stuff that my kids can access right now like, you know, manage for their upset tummies and, and my daughter likes to make me a little sachet of basil when I travel, because it's good for protection.
Speaker 2 23:52
She's like, do you have your basil with you, you know, when I'm leaving for the airport, and I have to have it. Sometimes I'm like, Oh, I have this little like sachet of dried herbs. I don't give stock. It's basil, I swear. But you know, yeah, the other thing is, I think a little little herbs that we grow are things that I talked about as being you know, very accessible and very, you know, safe as plant medicine. My daughter likes to talk about the coconut oil that we have in the kitchen as like, she's like, it's so safe that you could just like give a whole bunch of it to a baby and they couldn't do anything with it. They could put it in their mouth, they can put it in their hair like in their eyes, like that's, that's great. It's fine. I'm like yeah, oil is very safe. So you know, but then there are other plants that that we are need to be much more cautious of or much more respectful of and you know, I love mushrooms, but the mushrooms that grow randomly in my yard I can't identify and I don't know enough about to tell my kids it's totally fine to like, you know, handle them or anything.
Speaker 1 24:56
Side note, you just made me think it's something I just learned. If you take a picture of a plant with your iPhone, at the very bottom of it, it will have a little eye icon like for information and you can click on that and it will tell you the species of the plant.
Speaker 2 25:14
Yeah, so cool. Okay, I'm gonna try it because I love to I actually I have some plant identification apps that are not always correct. Right. And
Speaker 1 25:23
same I know I don't have a lot of luck with the plant identifying apps, but I've had luck with this photo.
Speaker 2 25:31
Okay. Wow. So species of mushrooms to do you think says
Speaker 1 25:35
all plants and I've tested it out? I have a weird mushroom growing in my dress Tiana's soil, but I've been told that that it was it means that it's healthy soil. So I'm like, okay, but yeah, it showed me that and showed me some of the other plants I had in my house that were mislabeled. So.
Speaker 2 25:58
Okay, I'll give that a shot. I don't know if I'd rely on it. Mushroom wise, right. Yeah. In terms of like, let's pick this and eat it. But yeah, exactly. It would be interesting. I would like to learn more about mushroom identification. I've been writing a bit more about mushrooms and Akash. There's so many varieties, and they're, they're pretty interesting, as Paul Stamets says, right. Mushrooms can. Mushrooms can heal you. They can feed you and they can kill you. Yeah. And that's kind of the truth about plants.
Speaker 1 26:32
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, I was going to say, and hemp, but then I was like, Can hemp kill you? Maybe someone could use it to kill you.
Unknown Speaker 26:47
This year crime part of the
Unknown Speaker 26:53
murder weapon.
Speaker 1 26:56
But you know, anyway, this just kind of further illustrates the fact that there's are there are a lot of plants to talk about. And there are a lot of ways to talk about them. There are spirits, plant spirits, this is something that I've always kind of known on some level, but have only recently started to delve into. And so that's what this podcast is about. Right? Like, that's basically the gist of it. But I'm going to let you tell us a little bit more because you do it more. You do it more beautifully.
Speaker 2 27:29
Do I now? Let's see. Well, so Diana and I conceived of this podcast early to demystify conversations about plants. And you know, there are many uses in our lives, including very much including plant medicine. And that's a broad umbrella that we use to describe cannabis, of course, and mushrooms, both functional medicinal, psychedelic mushrooms, lots and lots of different psychedelic plant medicines that we have out there. And you know, we're in a moment where there's a real Oh, awakening of interest, a renaissance of interest in plants, as you know, definitely food there's, you know, plant based diets are very trendy on one hand, and then plant medicines, as well. So, we think that, you know, from our perspective as journalists, and as moms, this is a great moment to have these conversations to help shape you know, give, give more parents confidence about having these conversations and help positively shape the next generations view.
Speaker 1 28:36
Absolutely. And we will be bringing in some really cool people to help us have those discussions. So yeah, stay tuned. And let us know if you have any questions because you know, we want to answer them as best as possible and we're always looking for ideas but we have plenty of our own as well so except for an idea on what to title it but we'll get there.
Speaker 2 29:05
Right. Right so far on title also our kids might make an appearance and give way and a little bit
Speaker 1 29:13
yes perspective. Absolutely. This is going to be a kid friendly podcast. I am going to say that right now.
Unknown Speaker 29:22
Okay, I will have to remember that once in a while.
Speaker 1 29:28
That's okay. That's why we have editing okay. And if we have any episodes that we need morning, we'll definitely do that. But you know, the idea is that it obviously it might be older children until you know, we figure things out a little more
Unknown Speaker 29:49
anyway,
Unknown Speaker 29:49
we are family friendly here. Yeah,
Speaker 1 29:51
family. That might mean something different for us than it does for us.
Speaker 2 30:02
Good Medicine is family friendly because it should be
Speaker 1 30:05
Yes, exactly. There you go. That's it. That's the tagline so before we end this episode, why don't you just tell people where they can find you and how they can best support you. I'll have links in the in the notes just for the record, but if you just have anything you want to throw out there before we end
Speaker 2 30:28
my website is the best way to reach out personalized Daniel C. Mon branded.com. and on Instagram at Daniel Seimone brand. That's it for the moment. I mean, I've got other thing. Let's just leave it at that All right, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 30:48
Thank you for listening to Getting Personal With plant medicine. This episode was brought to you by meter gaia.com and Your Highness media listeners can get 10% off meter gaia.com By using the discount code plant pod on their next purchase. That's meter gaya.com MITRAGAI a.com