HERB BENHAM: Good food, live music and recommendations worth celebrating - The Bakersfield Californian

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This was a different Thanksgiving and I knew it was different after everybody sat down and I got ready for my toast by doing silent, elocutionary scales. This toast opens the gates of the Thanksgiving celebration and I give it because of my unassailable standing in the family.

As I opened my mouth, drawing in enough air to feed the pearls of wisdom soon to come, Sue began speaking and when she finished somebody else picked up the Thanksgiving thread and I was left silent, mouth open, trying to decide whether a third toast was superfluous and would render the hot food lukewarm.

“We are still standing,” I lobbed in apropos of nothing, even though at that moment we were sitting and eating.

“Still standing,” made sense in terms of a larger toast but was now more emblematic of a man who had lost his standing.

Loss of speech did not translate into loss of appetite nor loss of the pleasure of eating a good meal with people for whom you care.

It is a good day when Betsy Kinney calls, this time to say that she and Wendall recently celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. Betsy remembered their honeymoon in New York where they went to the 21 Club, danced to Tommy Dorsey and listened to Frank Sinatra.

Betsy, 97 and Wendall, 102, live at Rosewood.

“Wendall is good,” she said. “He has no aches or pains.”

Betsy is good too.

It has been months since many of us have heard live music and over Thanksgiving our oldest son, Herbie, played a 40-minute concert with Nina Porter, daughter of Claire Uricchio, owner of Uricchio’s, and Gordon Porter on the back deck.

What a pleasure to hear live music again, under the beautiful clear skies, with the red and gold leaves falling to their own cadence.

We dragged out the white bistro chairs and hosed off the summer dust. Two chairs here, two chairs there. A baby adding his own spin on the chorus. A dog nosing the turf, hoping to find something he hadn’t found before.

If I’m in charge, musicians and restaurateurs get special dispensation and our wholehearted support through and beyond this.

Life is richer with both.

Speaking of richness, Susan Wolfe responded to the column about always having a bag of chocolate chips available if all other dessert options disappear. Susan upped the ante with some espresso chocolate chips:

“As I got the package down for a small handful, I thought I should ask: Have you tried these?? I think they are better for munching than regular!”

Espresso chocolate chips. Talk about something that will make your brain do jumping jacks.

Another COVID silver lining. These were the sweetest pomegranates in years. Could it be that pomegranates are like grapes, which often respond to adversity (steep, rocky slopes, sparse water) by producing the best wines?

Probably not, but it sounds good and in the quest for the upbeat, why not just make stuff up?

I don’t consider myself a royal watcher but this caught my eye:

“In Opinion: Meghan Markle reveals that she had a miscarriage in July, and suggests a question to ask loved ones in this year of loss: 'Are you OK?'”

Good question. Do we ask that enough. If we don’t, we could start.

No doubt by now, you have heard about or watched “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix, but if you haven’t, do. You don’t have to play chess to appreciate this seven-part story about an orphan chess prodigy who becomes a champion. It’s got a happy ending and this is no time to turn down a happy ending.

Musical recommendation of the week (if I haven’t mentioned it before): Seldom Scene’s song “By the Side of the Road.” Great bluegrass group from about 30 years ago. The album is “Baptizing.” Every song is full of life.

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November 30, 2020 at 11:34PM
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HERB BENHAM: Good food, live music and recommendations worth celebrating - The Bakersfield Californian

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Former PD high school sports reporter Herb Dower dies at 88 - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

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Herb Dower, a former Press Democrat reporter who for three decades brought great care, precision and thoroughness to covering high school sports throughout the region, has died.

An athlete himself and an exacting newsman no less committed to prep sports than newsroom colleagues were to reporting on government or education or business, Dower died at his longtime Sebastopol home on Oct. 29. He was 88.

From 1961 through 1990, Dower was renowned at North Coast high schools as a sports writer who showed up reliably at football, basketball and baseball games, track-and-field competitions and other sports events. He kept meticulous records and, as former longtime Montgomery High School of Santa Rosa baseball coach Russ Peterich put it, “He told it like it was.”

Tom Bonfigli, who coached basketball at Santa Rosa’s Cardinal Newman High for more than 30 years and now is at Petaluma’s St. Vincent de Paul, said of Dower, “He was the voice of prep sports in the Redwood Empire.”

"Sometimes his statistics were better than the coach would have,“ Bonfigli said. ”His rankings were always pretty close to right because he had such a good understanding of all the teams.“

“He was an extremely, extremely responsible, professional journalist. He was respected by everybody: coaches, players, the community.”

Bonfigli added that Dower “was more than just a person covering a game.” Dower, the coach said, ate and breathed and slept prep sports, while addressing underlying issues that affected the players and coaches on and off the field.

Bonfigli said he’s certain, too, that through his coverage Dower generated interest in high-school sports and attracted spectators to games.

“He made sports fun,” Bonfigli said.

Former Press Democrat sports editor Ralph Leef said, “Herb was totally dedicated to local sports. It was his life.”

Leef recalled that higher-ups at the newspaper asked Dower if he’d care to write some about professional Bay Area sports teams, but he wasn’t the least bit interested.

“While Dower was a kind, soft-spoken gentleman,” Leef said, “he held firm his beliefs that the newspaper should spend most, if not all, of its resources on coverage of Redwood Empire sports.

Another former Press Democrat sports writer, Bill Nichols, said, “One of the things he was most proud of was helping girls' sports blossom in the Empire. The PD hardly covered girls sports until he began keeping records and stats for their teams. He also pushed to have equal coverage for both boys' and girls' teams.”

As a younger man, Dower played basketball and fast-pitch softball. He was a great supporter of Santa Rosa’s former, nationally acclaimed Guanella Bros. softball team.

Herbert Evan Dower was born in 1932 in Negaunee, Michigan. His family moved to Sonoma County when he was 4 or 5 years old.

He attended public schools in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, and in 1950 graduated from Sebastopol’s Analy High. He then studied English and math at Santa Rosa Junior College and San Francisco State College.

One evening in Sebastopol in the '50s, a group of young men spoke with a group of young women at a drive-in. Herb Dower and Petaluma native Katy Lea Barr took notice of each other.

“I think right then my dad asked my mom out. That’s how the story goes,” said daughter Lea Ann Woodruff of Sebastopol. Her parents would be married 56 years.

Right out of college, Herb Dower went to work for the Sebastopol Times newspaper, predecessor to the current Sonoma West Times & News.

“I think he had to cover everything,” his daughter said.

After a few years, Dower moved to The Press Democrat and began to dig into high-school sports. Come summer vacation, he and his wife loaded their five kids into the Chevrolet station wagon and towed a camper trailer to national parks and other natural wonders.

Katy Dower died in 2012 at age 76.

Daughter Woodruff said that in addition to his family and prep sports, her dad loved music.

“He had a crazy amount of albums,” she said. Every night, the sports writer flipped on his turntable and savored a few of his widely varied records.

He collapsed at home on Oct. 29 with heart failure.

In addition to his daughter in Sebastopol, he is survived by his sons, Gary Dower of Santa Rosa, John Dower of Sebastopol, Thomas Dower of Forestville and Robert Dower of Brazil, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Herb Dower’s family suggests memorial contributions to the National Park Foundation at www.nationalparks.org/support.

You can contact Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.

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December 01, 2020 at 11:44AM
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Former PD high school sports reporter Herb Dower dies at 88 - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

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The Herb Column: Living Earth - Comstock's Magazine

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Daniel Fink says he decided to move to California and become a regenerative cannabis farmer on his first night in Nevada City. In 2008, he came to visit some friends who took him to a memorial service for a man who had been farming organically in the area for 40 years. He says more than 300 people showed up to honor the old farmer, many of whom had apprenticed with him decades earlier and now ran their own farms.

“I just knew that I was in a new kind of community — a different kind of place than I had been in before,” Fink recalls. “And immediately I knew I had to live here. I felt called to the area because of the culture and community and the heritage of organic farming.”

Although he had never grown cannabis commercially, Fink was not new to horticulture when he launched his business in 2019. He worked in a flower shop as a young man, where, he says, he quickly graduated from floor sweeper to commercial orchid cultivator. He says he immediately fell in love with orchid growing and has always enjoyed growing plants. “I grew a little bit of pot as a kid,” he says, “but I didn’t apply any kind of scientific method. It was just for fun.”

These days, there is a lot of science and complex horticultural methodology being undertaken at Fink’s Down Om Farms outside Nevada City, where he grows cannabis that is available at The Sanctuary and WEEDCo Delivery in Sacramento and at various locations in Nevada County and Lake Tahoe. 

For starters, his 1-acre cultivated field looks like a pot garden planted in a vegetable patch because he is cultivating microbes in his soil, and plant variation is good for microbial diversity. Fink’s cannabis plants grow amid flowers and strawberries and alongside tomatoes, squash, corn, peppers and dozens of other crops. There is also a flock of chickens and a small herd of alpacas, whose manure contributes to the compost that helps bring Fink’s soil to life. Ultimately, to Fink and other farmers engaged in the regenerative agriculture movement, it’s the soil that matters most.

Cultivating His Soil

Regenerative agriculture is a global effort to fight climate change by utilizing growing practices that sequester carbon in the soil. These include fairly common practices such as crop rotation and cover cropping, and also more ambitious techniques such as no-till farming and permaculture. The most important thing to these farmers is regenerating the soil. The best way a small cannabis farmer can contribute to this movement, Fink says, is by cultivating a polyculture rather than growing just one crop. 

Down Om Farms owner Daniel Fink has discovered that cultivating a variety of crops alongside his cannabis allows him to grow award-winning weed with almost no organic fertilizer.

Polyculture means having many species of plants coexisting in the same garden space, ideally in the same soil, Fink says. The practice is based on ideas developed over four decades by Elaine Ingham, a microbiologist who coined “soil food web,” and showed that plants’ roots interact with microbes in the soil in a complex exchange that delivers nutrients efficiently. In a polyculture environment, whether it be a wilderness forest or a diverse garden, the roots intermingle, creating a higher degree of microbial diversity in the soil itself. 

“In a lot of ways,” Fink says, “farmers like me think of ourselves as microbe farmers. We’re cultivating a microbial population in the soil that keeps everything healthy.” He does speak of cultivating his soil, which he builds with compost that includes the alpaca dung, wood chips harvested from his 7-acre property and various fungi, including oyster mushrooms. He says putting in the effort to create living soil eliminates the need for fertilizers or pesticides. 

“It really does take a lot of the guesswork out of the plant cultivation” he says, “because everything is available to the plant in perfect proportions. The plant asks the soil for what it needs, and it’s readily available.” 

From a purely business point of view, Fink says, the fact that he imports less than 50 pounds of fertilizers and other inputs per year saves him lots of money. And as his soil continues to improve, those inputs will diminish: “In a matter of years, I will be producing the highest quality cannabis in the most sustainable way for almost nothing.”

Now, he says, the two greenhouses in which he cultivates his cannabis starts cost him $1,000 to reset each spring. He says that number would be $5,000-$8,000 for a conventional organic farmer who uses bottled organic fertilizer. (A practice which, Fink points out, creates a lot of plastic waste.)

Fink has evidence that his methods are effective — his Sour Limon flower, which he markets through the Grass Valley Growers Cannabis Cooperative and under the Farm Cut label, was awarded an Emerald Cup at Northern California’s premier cannabis competition in December 2019, competing in the the sun-grown category with about 1,000 other farmers and placing 11th. “I grow good weed,” he says. “I grow really good weed.”

Building a Regenerative Movement

Gretchen Giles sits on the board of the Garberville-based International Cannabis Farmers Association in Humboldt County, a group of growers and scientists working to promote the benefits of sun-grown herb. She agrees that regenerative practices produce a superior product. “The purity of it is extraordinary,” she says.

Farmer Daniel Fink grows his cannabis plants amid flower, fruit and vegetable crops.

“Indoor growing is an unfortunate outgrowth of prohibition and the need to hide the flower,” Giles says. “And because indoor grows are heavy users of electricity and water, it helps the more we can grow outdoors, in the ground and in the sun.”

She says she has visited dozens of outdoor cannabis farms, mostly in the Emerald Triangle region (Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties) that are in various phases of movement toward regeneration. “Once you get into that world and see the beautiful cannabis growing outdoors, enjoying its full cycle in the ground, it’s hard not to get absolutely obsessed with it,” she says.

The regenerative movement has received a big boost in recent years through the work of Michael Steinmetz and his company Flow Kana, which he founded in 2015. Working exclusively with a network of sustainable farmers, Flow Kana is a cooperative like the Grass Valley Farmers Cannabis Cooperative, but at a much larger scale. The company worked with 75 farms last year, handling all of the post-harvest logistics: testing, drying, trimming, processing, packing and distribution. The company’s products are widely available and can be found throughout the Capital Region.

In 2017, Flow Kana bought the original Fetzer winery and vineyard in Mendocino County for $3.6 million, where it plans to open the Flow Cannabis Institute, which houses the operation and will welcome tourists. Steinmetz says regeneration is at the heart of his company’s mission, and all of his farmers are committed to regenerative farming and are somewhere along the journey: 100 percent grow organically under the sun, up to 70 percent grow vegetables that they consume themselves and another 30 percent are producing vegetables for the market.

“Our farmers are people who unplugged from the matrix and moved to Northern California and are living off the grid,” he says, “and they are doing so because they want to help make a better planet.”

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November 30, 2020 at 09:51PM
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The Herb Column: Living Earth - Comstock's Magazine

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AU: Launch of gourmet herb brand paying off - FreshPlaza.com

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In 2018, a Victorian growing operation launched its own herb brand that now consists of 20 different varieties. Based in Heatherton in Melbourne’s south-east, Butler Market Gardens is experiencing high demand for its gourmet herbs. General Manager – Sales and Marketing Andrew Smith reports on the factors driving this demand.
After launching ‘Butler Gourmet Pantry’ two years ago, Butler Market Gardens (Aust) Pty Ltd® is reporting continued growth and expansion of its sales and customer base. In 2019, it recorded moderate growth of 83 per cent (coming off a small base). However, 2020 has reached a new level of growth, tracking 188 per cent up on 2019 – and demand is continuing to grow.

The growing operation attributes the success to a number of factors, as outlined below.

A focus on product quality and sustainability.
Traditionally, most herb supply for Melbourne is trucked down from Queensland during winter. Issues such as dehydration and temperature injury during transport cause on-going quality problems. Consumers buying Queensland-grown herbs in Victoria would often be purchasing a product that is up to a week old – not a good result for the category.

In 2019, Butler Market Gardens invested in a three-hectare heated protected cropping facility. The facility is located in Lyndhurst, less than 50 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD. Two million units of herbs are grown annually from this facility. Production is all-year round, ensuring consistency of supply using a combination of hydroponics and drip irrigated pots.

The growing techniques and environment ensure the best quality is achieved, and freshness is ensured through the product being picked, packed, and distributed to customers within 24 hours of orders being placed.

In keeping with the business’ sustainability focus, the facility features a 2.95-megawatt biomass boiler. It operates by burning renewable organic materials such as wood chips, shavings and off-cuts to produce heat – materials that would otherwise go to waste. The heat is transferred into the protected cropping environment to assist plant growth when the outside temperature falls below optimum growing conditions. The result is the replacement of natural gas with a more environmentally friendly alternative, and a reduced heating cost of up to 60 per cent.

Consolidation and investment into Melbourne market operation.
The main distribution point for the range is the Butler Market Gardens grower stands 733-737, located in the Melbourne Market, Epping. Recent investments that have been made to improve the team and its resources, meaning it is operating efficiently and easily able to take on new customers and volume. The team is led by the business’ Market Manager, Frank Attana. Frank is an experienced herb and leafy vegetable wholesaler.

An increase in marketing and social media activity.
Butler Market Gardens has recognised driving the success of the herb category involves not only marketing to its customers, but also to the end consumers. It has increased recipe/serving suggestions via various social media outlets and there are further plans being made in this space.

The range consists of 20 different herb varieties that are packaged in either smaller serve punnets or larger sleeves. All are barcoded. Specially made trays can be provided to retailers to display punnets neatly. Herb varieties include basil, chives, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, continental parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, curry leaves, lime leaves, lemon grass, Thai basil, Vietnamese mint, lemon thyme, tarragon, marjoram, curly parsley and watercress.

Butler Market Gardens will continue to explore local sales avenues before considering export as the company pursues further production expansion.

Source: Ausveg

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November 30, 2020 at 07:54PM
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COVID blamed as Spartanburg eatery Herb 'N Eats to close - Spartanburg Herald Journal

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Bob Montgomery   | Herald-Journal

A Spartanburg restaurant is closing, the victim of a continued drop in business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We did not want to ever make a post like this, but we must say that this COVID-19 pandemic has beat us," owners Sedrick "Chef P" Posey and Autumn Cooper Ballew wrote on their Herbs 'N Eats Facebook page. 

"With a saddened heart, we must post to you all that we are having to shut our doors for good."

The restaurant's last day will be Tuesday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is located at 827 Union St.

Last March, the owners told the Herald-Journal business dropped 50 percent shortly after the coronavirus outbreak prompted Gov. Henry McMaster to order all bars and restaurants to close in-house service.

More: Herb’N Eats puts down roots on Union Street

The eatery was one of several in the Upstate that moved to take-out or delivery in order to survive.

Since then, the governor has allowed dine-in service to return to restaurants and bars, with certain face mask and social distancing restrictions.

Loan briefly helps

Monday, Ballew said the business did get a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan several months ago to cover payroll for four employees.

"It helped for a month, but then it was gone," she said. "We're a small business with eight tables and not very deep pockets."

"Business never really picked back up where it was enough to stay open," Ballew added. "The last three months were the worst, even with the dining room open.

'Scared to come out'

She said lunchtime was the eatery's bread and butter.

"That's what we needed to get back – lunches, but we never got that back. With everybody working from home, they don't go out to lunch.

"We never had an issue with masks or distancing, but the public is still scared to come out. There comes a point where you have to make a decision – how long can you hang on."

More: Herb ’N Eats plans new brick-and-mortar restaurant on Union Street

Ballew said she and Posey have made many friendships over the past few years, and are grateful for their business and support.

Jenna Fawcett of Spartanburg organized organized a GoFundMe page with a $3,000 goal to help the owners meet expenses. Through Monday morning, $824 was raised from 20 donors.

"Unfortunately, COVID-19 has taken its toll and they're being forced to close down the business they've built together from the ground up," Fawcett wrote. "Holidays are right around the corner, and they've put everything they have into this business to keep it afloat."

Future plans

Meanwhile, Ballew said she hopes Herb'N Eats will be able to reopen someday.

"We plan to come back, but COVID is not something we can compete with," she said.

Ballew and Posey launched their mobile Herb'N Eats venture with a food truck in 2017, featuring melted Gouda cheese and bacon smothered burgers, along with macaroni bites and fries covered in custom spice blends.

More: New food truck Herb ’N Eats hits the streets of Spartanburg

They opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Union Street in early 2019, near the Mary Black Rail Trail.

Among their top sellers have been the Trifecta Burger -- a Hereford beef patty covered in smoked bacon and Gouda cheese sauce, American cheddar, arugula, tomato and red onions; and the aloha chicken quesadilla, featuring honey teriyaki grilled chicken, grilled pineapples and grilled red onions along with cheddar and jack cheeses and fresh cilantro.

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November 30, 2020 at 11:33PM
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COVID blamed as Spartanburg eatery Herb 'N Eats to close - Spartanburg Herald Journal

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Hearty and healthy: Chicken, vegetable medley and herb soup recipe - Daily Californian

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Looking for something comforting, filling and delicious? Well, lucky for you, this soup is filled with hearty vegetables, delightful flavors and healthy proteins that will keep you full and warm this winter!

Ingredients

• 2-3 chicken breasts
• 1-2 teaspoons salt
• Ground black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon onion powder 
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Butter (to your liking)
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 1⁄2 cup celery
• 1⁄2 cup mushrooms
• 1⁄2 cup carrots
• 1⁄4 cup potatoes
• 1⁄2 cup cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons thyme
• 2 tablespoons rosemary
• 16-32 ounces chicken broth (homemade recommended)

Directions

1. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder and garlic powder.
2. Pan-fry the chicken in butter until cooked.
3. Mince the garlic and dice the onion and celery. Chop the mushrooms, carrots, potatoes and cauliflower into bite-sized pieces.
4. Saute the onion, garlic and celery in butter.
5. Add the mushrooms, carrots and cauliflower.
6. Sprinkle in the thyme and rosemary. Cook until fragrant.
7. Pour in the chicken broth, then add salt and paprika to taste.
8. Mix in the potatoes and chicken.
9. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes before serving.

And there you have it! Feel free to swap the mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, celery or chicken for your favorite vegetables, meats, beans or lentils. Bring some warmth into your kitchen with this delicious chicken, vegetable medley and herb soup.

Contact Sera Smith at [email protected].

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November 30, 2020 at 03:40PM
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Hearty and healthy: Chicken, vegetable medley and herb soup recipe - Daily Californian

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Cope With Gardening Withdrawal By Starting an Indoor Herb Garden - Lifehacker Australia

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If you were one of the many people who really embraced gardening during the pandemic (or have been an avid gardener for years), you may find yourself going through seasonal withdrawal when it comes to your favourite stress-reducing hobby.

Those who live in areas with a harsher climate always knew this time was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier to fill the garden-shaped hole in their daily routine. Fortunately, there is something small you can do that can help you cope with this part of the year: Starting an indoor herb garden. (You may already have one of these, but you can always expand.) Here’s what to know.

How to start an indoor herb garden

Let’s begin with some advice from Lifehacker’s Senior Health Editor Beth Skwarecki, who suggests starting off with actual herb plants — not seeds:

My best advice for beginner herb gardeners is this: Don’t try to start your herbs from seed. They take forever. You can buy pots of herbs at any garden store or grocery store, eat a few leaves when you get home, and declare yourself a successful gardener minutes later, because look! You have an herb garden!

After that, your job is to keep the little herb plants alive. As Rachel Fairbank wrote for Lifehacker back in May, a lot of that comes down to making sure the plant is getting the sunlight, water and soil it needs:

Keeping a plant alive requires giving it the appropriate amount of sunlight and water, as well as the right soil and nutrients. How much of each will depend on the particular plant, and too much or too little will lead to yet another death. The key to is to research what your particular plant needs and figure out the right way to provide it and how to recognise the warning signs that something is out of whack if you’re doing it wrong. Although this sounds simple, it does take a bit of practice to get right (sorry, starter plants).

Even if you’re a semi-experienced gardener at this point, if you’ve never grown plants indoors, these tips may come in handy. If nothing else, you’ll get to continue the experience of nurturing plants and watching them grow, even when it’s gross outside. Plus, you’ll have your very own fresh herb selection to brighten up your holiday meals.

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November 29, 2020 at 03:46AM
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Cope With Gardening Withdrawal By Starting an Indoor Herb Garden - Lifehacker Australia

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Community: Herb Society dedicates competed Sensory Garden - The Advocate

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The Herb Society of America Baton Rouge Unit dedicated the ninth and final bed, filled with plants native to this region, of their Sensory Garden in the Botanic Gardens at Independence Park on Oct. 31.

In the blessing of the garden, Druid Art Scarbrough invoked gardens as health-affirming places and sanctuaries for the spirit, and welcomed the dozens of native perennial plants back to their native habitat in Baton Rouge.

The Herb Society started the Sensory Garden more than 30 years ago and took it through several iterations. The other large beds are named Lovely Lemon (lemon-scented herbs), Many Mints, Mediterranean Cuisine, Scarborough Fair (parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme as well as other English garden favorites), Hispanic Garden, Louisiana Cookin', Healing Plants and Asian Garden.

The Sensory Garden, with its plant labels showing common and Latin names of plants, allows visitors to learn about each themed bed. Broad edges of the raised beds and park benches give visitors a chance to stay a while.

While COVID restrictions have temporarily stopped the monthly meetings of the Herb Society, several safe, distanced, masked activities are being planned, including limited enrollment classes in the garden and a simplified Herb Day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 27 at the LSU AgCenter Botanical Gardens at Burden, 4560 Essen Lane.

Community: Kiwanis of Baton Rouge donates books to Grand Coteau Elementary School

Charity Ball Assoc. adds new members

The Charity Ball Association welcomed new members at an orientation on Nov. 8 at Vice President Mimi Plauche's home. Plauche and President Carolyn Winder welcomed the new members.

Each new member was presented with a gift welcoming them to the organization. The annual new member party was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slab Worx artist speaks to BRAL

Brad Joffrion, of Slab Worx Studio, discussed his functional art on Nov. 18 at the Baton Rouge Art League’s meeting at the LSU Rural Life Museum.

Laura Simpson chaired the meeting’s hospitality committee. Other committee members were Monica Bishara, Milam Brassett, Betty Efferson, Sarah Fergus, Carol Ridenour, Patricia Ryan and Cindy Snyder.

Community: Garner speaks to Woman's Club coffee

Audubon DAR discusses holiday traditions

Members brought a cookbook and a story to share about a favorite recipe or holiday tradition when the John James Audubon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution met Nov. 16 at the East Baton Rouge Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library. Many shared old family holiday recipes that will be compiled into a chapter cookbook.

Registrar Bridget May conducted a new member ceremony for Carol Evans and Gwen Hanna.

State and national DAR awards were presented to committee chairmen for chapter work of 2019. Over 55 certificates were earned along with four of the new DARLA statuette awards. DARLAs were awarded to the Service to Veterans Co-Chairwomen Georgia LaCour and Mary McKeough, American Heritage Chairwoman Sallie McKann, Children of the American Revolution Chairwoman Sue Badeaux and to the DAR Museum Outreach Chairwoman Margaret Tyler.

Community Service Awards were presented to Mary Kay Carleton and Caroline Tyler. They formed a group of over 100 stitchers from First United Methodist Church to sew cloth masks. “The Spirited Stitchers” made over 25,000 cloth mask that were distributed to hospitals, medical clinics, nonprofits, military bases and Native American reservations across the country.

Community: Baton Rouge State Fair Foundation, Fair award scholarships

DAR membership is open to women 18 and older who can prove lineal, bloodline decent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence. She must provide documentation for each statement of birth, marriage and death. For more information, contact mdtyler@cox.net.

Exchange Club aids 21 new teachers

The Exchange Club of Baton Rouge presented its 24th annual Adopt-A-Teacher program at the Nov. 19 meeting of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.

Twenty-one new elementary school teachers received grants — gift cards to School Aids — to help them buy start-up materials for their classrooms.

The teachers and their schools were: Kimiya Green (Bernard Terrace), Reid Waters (Broadmoor), Emily Stein (Claiborne), Aurrianne Allen Trotter (Glen Oaks Park), Kamryn Roberts (Greenbrier), Valerie Eller (Highland), Thomas Berthelot and Lena Fomenko (Jefferson Terrace), Katy Cook Spinosa and Megan Daley (Mayfair), Jackie Rotureaux (Northeast), Trenee Calamia (Park Forest), Jill LeBlanc (Riveroaks), Montana Morrison (Ryan), Anna German (Wedgewood), Erika Musgrove and Kendall Stewart (Wildwood), Lucy McAndrew (Winbourne), Madeline Corley, Erin Hebert and Sydney Lyle (Woodlawn).

Spinosa was adopted by the Baton Rouge Area Society of Psychologists. Other major partners included: School Aids, Neighbors Federal Credit Union, Capital One Bank, Louisiana Lottery Corporation, Juban Insurance Group, Giraphic Prints, Citizens Bank, Louisiana Companies, Safeguard Promotions and Printing, Exchange Club of Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Lions Club, Dr. Richard Flicker, Dr. Darlyne Nemeth, Dr. Curtis Vincent, Dr. Claire Advokat, Lillian Grossley, Ted Firnberg, Connie Bernard and Nadine Couper.

Including this year, 593 teachers have received grants through the Adopt-A-Teacher program since 1997, impacting an estimated 100,000 or more students. For information about membership in the Exchange Club and/or how to contribute to the 25th annual Adopt-A-Teacher in 2021, contact Richard Flicker at (225) 931-1626 or email flicker@premier.net.

Community: Zachary Kiwanis Club installs officers

St. Gabriel Kiwanis honors its veterans

The St. Gabriel Kiwanis Club met Sept. 21 at Fred’s Travel Center in St. Gabriel.

President Jesse Thomas and Secretary MiLisa York presented Anitra Lodge with a $100 Visa gift card for Thanksgiving. This is an annual event for the club. A certificate of appreciation was presented to Vice President Ronald Grace Sr. for his volunteer work with the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank during the recent Kiwanis One Day.

LAMISSTENN Division 8W Lt. Gov. Laura Gilliland installed new member Angela Martin Banks. Her father, Jerome Martin, was a longtime member who died in January. Gilliland presented the veterans of the club with an American flag and an American flag lapel pin. Those honored were Thomas (Army), York (Army), Melvin Lodge (Army) and Banks (Navy). They were thanked for their service by all in attendance.

Suffrage movement topic for Lagniappe

Caroline Kennedy, of the Louisiana Old State Capital Political History Museum, spoke about the suffrage movement, which ended with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote, when the GFWC Lagniappe Woman's Club met Nov. 16 at Broadmoor United Methodist Church.

Cathie Ryan was chosen Outstanding Club Member for 2020 and will now go on to district competition. Ryan won the prize in the scholarship raffle.

Trish Sedlin, Virginia McDonald, Loraine Skidmore, Cathie, Gynne Klimavicz, Sylvia Schwarzenbach, Debbie Harris and Pat Quartararo reported on work in community service areas, including domestic and sexual violence awareness and prevention, advocates for children, civic engagement and outreach, education and libraries, and environment.

Following the meeting, members put together Spirit Sticks to donate to an elementary school teacher to give to her students as rewards for special behavior and classroom work.

St. Joseph KC Council honored

The St. Joseph Cathedral Council No. 13632 of the Knights of Columbus has received the coveted Star Council Award from the Knights of Columbus, headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut.

The award recognizes excellence in membership, programming and insurance. The members of the Cathedral Council — which is part of an active Catholic fraternal benefit society consisting of 2 million Knights in over a dozen countries — have worked to achieve its annual goals in membership recruitment, charitable outreach, faith and family programming, involvement with the parish community and commitment to the pro-life cause.

The Link Lonk


November 29, 2020 at 06:00PM
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Community: Herb Society dedicates competed Sensory Garden - The Advocate

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HERB BENHAM: A fresh coat will benefit everyone - The Bakersfield Californian

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It was time to get the house painted. The paint had cracked, chipped and splintered like peanut brittle. The southern sun had baked swirls in it like far-off mountain ranges.

I couldn’t remember the last time it was painted. Who can? It seemed like yesterday but yesterday was probably 3,000 yesterdays ago.

The outside looked like one of those abandoned houses you see off the road in the middle of a field. Someone had lived there once, but they were long gone.

We chase paint. We never catch up. We’re always one paint job and a thousand yesterdays from the house looking smart.

A friend at coffee recommended his painter. He ranted and raved about him. He was foaming at the mouth like the top of the mocha I was drinking.

Brett came over a few days later. He wore a mask. I did, too. We looked like a couple of painting bandits.

I climbed on my high horse and asked if he understood the challenges of painting an old house. I wasn't trying to get into his business, or tell him how to do his business, I just wanted him to know he was dealing with an old house and an amber wave of paint.

“I live in Oleander,” he said. “I know all about old houses.”

There were nothing but old houses in Oleander. Even the new houses are old. We lived there 30 years ago and they were old then. Thirty years later, nobody has gotten any younger.

We walked around to the back of the house. The side that faced north. The side nobody would ever see.

“Do you want a Hollywood paint job on both sides?” he asked.

Good question. We only had so much money and Brett only had so much time. When we ran out of money, he ran out of time.

I wanted Hollywood out front, where everybody could see it. The side we saw when we walked through the front door. The side that can thrill or crush.

Look at it like a movie set for a western. The saloon, jail and house of ill repute look real in front. From the rear, it’s all jack rabbits, bee balm and the wind whistling through the prairie.

The north side was all about coverage. Make it look good, make it last but nobody would be using it as a backdrop for wedding photos unless they wanted a cord of olive in it.

A week later, Brett sent the bid, which included:

• Cover all walkways.

• Pressure-wash entire house.

• Scrape, patch, sand, caulk and prime all exterior house and trim.

• Paint two-coat finish.

• Prime all bare wood.

• Prep windows.

• Re-glaze windows.

• Prime and paint two-coat finish.

• Paint all exterior doors.

• Cleanup and touch-ups as necessary.

It also included a total for labor and materials and a senior discount.

Wait a minute. Did I read that correctly? Senior discount?

Senior discount. Was he calling me old? Brett was busy. Maybe we’d gotten a bid meant for somebody else.

I checked the address and the name on top of the bid. It looked right. Right or as right as a couple of seniors could look.

The discount was healthy. That’s bonus-healthy. It wasn’t inheritance-healthy, but it was a plane ticket across the ocean and a hot breakfast to boot.

I laughed. I think I laughed. Maybe I should have laughed.

No one is complaining. We’re grateful for the senior citizen discount at the movies. Medicare is fabulous.

However, this was my first senior paint discount.

I texted his wife.

“Thanks for the fair estimate, but I have one question: Do we look that bad?”

She said no; I think she said no. If she didn’t say no, she couched it with the winking eye emoji.

“We just wanted to make it more affordable,” she said.

You did. You broke my heart, shattered my dreams and punctured my illusions, but it’s affordable. Like the house, we could probably use a fresh coat too. A fresh coat over some good old bones.

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November 29, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Herb Kauvar Obituary (1927 - 2020) - The Daily Camera - Legacy.com

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Herb Kauvar, a driving force behind two iconic Boulder, Colorado businesses for more than three decades, died Oct. 24, 2020 at home. He was 93. "He just ran out of gas," says his son, Rick Kauvar. Herbert Sanders Kauvar was born May 17, 1927 in Altoona, Pa. to William and Bessie Silverstein, the youngest of three boys. Herb grew up in Geneva, Ohio, where he was a natural athlete, excelling in basketball, in particular. In 1944, he graduated from Geneva High School and requested permission from his parents to join the U.S. Navy at age 17. He was assigned to a destroyer as a signalman and was en route to Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped in August 1945. "He got shore leave to go into Tokyo, but he saw the state of the people, turned around and never set foot in Japan. It was too awful," says his son Jim Kauvar. Given an early discharge as part of the nation's post-World War II demobilization, Herb attended Ohio State University on the G.I. Bill, earning a degree in business. He went on to earn a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. He met Gilda Marks in 1948, and two years later, they were married. The newlyweds headed west to Denver to work in a newly formed business selling aluminum doors and custom furniture. Two years later he returned to Ashtabula Ohio to work for his father at the family shoe business in Geneva, until it was sold in 1959. The family moved to Boulder in 1960 when his father-in-law, Monroe Marks, and brother-in-law Floyd asked him to manage The Sink, a thriving 3.2-beer bar and grill adjacent the University of Colorado campus they had purchased in 1954. Herb, Gilda and their three children settled in a small rented house on 29th street in Martin Acres. With major assists along the way from his family and a series of talented and devoted student employees and managers, The Sink survived the '60s and '70s in various incarnations. During its heyday, The Sink sold more bottled 3.2 beer than anywhere else in the USA, and in 1968 Chuck Morris arrived on scene as manager and began experimenting with Friday Afternoon Club live-music events. "(Herb) changed my life. It was the heyday of The Sink," Morris, a Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee, said in a 2019 interview. The Sink soon began hosting and promoting scheduled live music upstairs in the newly constructed Fawcet Room. "From 1968 to 1970, the Sink hosted events and local bands including Chris Daniels, Tommy Bolin and Zephyr, TK Little, and others," Morris said. "Downstairs, we only had one band, which was the second appearance of CU dropouts, Flash Cadillac and The Continental Kids. "But the mainstay was still the very customized jukebox of 45s, cold Coors beer and Sinkburgers," Rick says. In 1969, Morris and Herb teamed up to resurrect the once-popular, but by then shuttered, Tulagi. "The Tule," which sold more tap 3.2 Coors beer than anywhere in the country was soon hosting future superstars, from the Eagles to ZZ Top and Bonnie Raitt, making it one of the nations top music venues. Herb sold the Tulagi in 1973 and in 1974 he decided to remodel The Sink and rechristen it Herbie's Deli (the name of a sandwich shop he had opened above Tulagi). While his younger son Jim managed the restaurant, Herb branched out and started Commercial Business Brokers that specialized in selling businesses and business opportunities. As the deli business/ 3.2 beer industry declined in the late '80s, Rick and Jim decided to bring back the classic Sink, with updated wall caricatures and all inspired during a trip to Zihuatanejo, Mexico in 1989. The original characters on the walls of the Sink were painted in the '50s by Mike Dormer including the iconic Angel and Devil over the bar's entrance. Herb had made sure the original artwork was preserved under the barn wood paneling that was installed during the 1974 remodeling. "My brother had the vision to bring back the history and to put in a 21 (and over) bar," Jim says. "Dad had fought us over that idea for years." Herb ultimately, if not reluctantly, agreed to remodel and resurrect The Sink --concerned that nobody would remember it! Following the removal of the wood paneling, Llloyd Kavich returned to Boulder to restore his earlier creations. The updated Sink, now with a full bar, and opened that fall now managed and owned by Rick and Jim. After a few years of "robust" business, the brothers sold the restaurant in 1992, ending the family's involvement after nearly 40 years. "We were good caretakers of the Sink's history, and we passed on something that is appreciated by students and alumni today," Jim says. In the late '60s and early '70s Herb invested in several residential properties on University Hill, income from which supported him and Gilda for many years. Gilda died April 18, 1993. Herb remarried in 1995 to Eunice Perlman who died in 2018. Herb was one of the founders of the Boulder Jewish Fellowship, now known as Congregation Har HaShem, when it opened in 1965. "Do you know what Har HaShem means?" Herb said in a 2012 interview. "Mountain of God. That's what it means. And that's where... our burial place is." Herb was a huge fan of Ohio State and CU sports and inspired his sons' love of fishing. He also loved playing golf and continued enjoying the sport into his 90's. "He was a very good golfer. We buried him in his golf shoes and put his putter in the casket," Jim says. At Herb's request, the family made sure that Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" was playing when he was buried next to his wife Gilda at Green Mountain Cemetery. Herb is survived by his sons, Rick Kauvar of Niwot, and Jim Kauvar of Lafayette; a daughter, Gigi Buchanan and her husband Frank, of Mercer Island, Wash.; five grandchildren, Matthew Buchanan, Kendra Buchanan, Lindsay Kauvar Buchanan, Griffin Kauvar and Grant Kauvar; and one great-granddaughter. He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers; and his second wife, Eunice. The family plans to hold a memorial event "bringing in all the old Sink Rats" and assorted luminaries from the Colorado music scene, at a date to be determined when G Brown's Colorado Music Experience podcast will be debuted. Memorial contributions may be made to the Boulder County Humane Society at boulderhumane.org or The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame at 720-581-3390

Published in The Daily Camera on Nov. 29, 2020.

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November 29, 2020 at 01:01PM
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These Medicinal Plants Have Evolved an Ingenious Way to Hide From Their Predators: Us - ScienceAlert

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On the wide open slopes of China's Hengduan Mountains, there are perks to being a wallflower. After thousands of years of human harvesting, a rare alpine flower - prized in Chinese medicine - is trying its hardest not to stand out.

In the alpine meadows where humans pluck the Fritillaria delavayi plant the most, scientists have noticed the perennial herb blends in better with the rocky background.

Avoiding the limelight in a drab environment is no easy feat when your leaves and bulbs are normally a bright green, so some populations of F. delavayi have turned more of a brown or grey to better match their surroundings.

Many plants are capable of such camouflage, usually as an attempt to hide from hungry hunters, but up here, the only real predators are us.

"Like other camouflaged plants we have studied, we thought the evolution of camouflage of this fritillary had been driven by herbivores, but we didn't find such animals," explains botanist Yang Niu from the Kunming Institute of Botany. 

"Then we realised humans could be the reason."

Normal green plants with low harvest pressure (A and B) and camouflaged individuals with high harvest pressure (C and D). (Niu et al., Current Biology, 2020)

Speaking to locals in the area, researchers estimated how each accessible population of alpine herb had been harvested over the past five years.

Using a model for human vision, researchers found significant colour diversity among herb populations - especially those that existed in areas with high levels of human harvesting.

This suggests human behavior is somehow shaping the evolution of these famous herbs, which are the most commonly used treatment in China for coughs and phlegm. 

F. delavayi plants sport a set of leaves that vary in colour from grey to brown, but it's only after their fifth year of life that they begin to produce annual bulbs of similar shades. Over 3,500 individual bulbs are needed to make just a kilogram of medicine.  

This slow and minimal growth is part of what makes the rare herb so cherished, but it's also what makes it vulnerable to overharvesting.

Changing colour is probably one of the only defences this plant has got against increased harvesting from humans. And so, it seems, the more we want it, the harder it is to find. 

To further test the plant's camouflage on real human vision, researchers set up a computer experiment in which participants were asked to locate various colours of the herb in 14 slides of its natural environment.

As expected, the more-camouflaged and less green plants were harder to locate as quickly.

"It's remarkable to see how humans can have such a direct and dramatic impact on the colouration of wild organisms, not just on their survival but on their evolution itself," says botanist and ecologist Martin Stevens from the University of Exeter.

"It's possible that humans have driven evolution of defensive strategies in other plant species, but surprisingly little research has examined this." 

The rare snow lotus is one of the few examples we have. Historically collected by humans, studies have shown this coveted plant has grown significantly smaller in the past hundred years.

There's even a theory that humans unconsciously drove the evolution of weeds from a pest to something more similar to wheat as plants tried to avoid being torn out of the ground.

That's a fascinating idea, and further research on harvested wild plants like F. delavayi might help us better understand what aspects of plant biology humans are truly capable of influencing.

The study was published in Current Biology. 

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November 29, 2020 at 04:28PM
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Cope With Gardening Withdrawal By Starting an Indoor Herb Garden - Lifehacker

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Photo: natalia bulatova (Shutterstock)

Though the weather has been unseasonably warm this week in many parts of the country, we know this isn’t going to last. And if you were one of the many people who really embraced gardening during the pandemic (or have been an avid gardener for years), you may find yourself going through winter withdrawal when it comes to your favorite stress-reducing hobby.

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Those who live in areas with a harsh winter always knew this time was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier to fill the garden-shaped hole in their daily routine. Fortunately, there is something small you can do that can help you cope with this part of the year: Starting an indoor herb garden. (You may already have one of these, but you can always expand.) Here’s what to know.

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How to start an indoor herb garden

Let’s begin with some advice from Lifehacker’s Senior Health Editor Beth Skwarecki, who suggests starting off with actual herb plants—not seeds:

My best advice for beginner herb gardeners is this: Don’t try to start your herbs from seed. They take forever. You can buy pots of herbs at any garden store or grocery store, eat a few leaves when you get home, and declare yourself a successful gardener minutes later, because look! You have an herb garden!

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After that, your job is to keep the little herb plants alive. As Rachel Fairbank wrote for Lifehacker back in May, a lot of that comes down to making sure the plant is getting the sunlight, water and soil it needs:

Keeping a plant alive requires giving it the appropriate amount of sunlight and water, as well as the right soil and nutrients. How much of each will depend on the particular plant, and too much or too little will lead to yet another death. The key to is to research what your particular plant needs and figure out the right way to provide it and how to recognize the warning signs that something is out of whack if you’re doing it wrong. Although this sounds simple, it does take a bit of practice to get right (sorry, starter plants).

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Even if you’re a semi-experienced gardener at this point, if you’ve never grown plants indoors, these tips may come in handy. If nothing else, you’ll get to continue the experience of nurturing plants and watching them grow, even when it’s gross outside. Plus, you’ll have your very own fresh herb selection to brighten up your winter meals.

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November 28, 2020 at 11:30PM
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Herb Rothschild Jr.: Lessons from the rise of 1930s fascism - Ashland Tidings

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Herb Rothschild Jr.: Lessons from the rise of 1930s fascism  Ashland Tidings The Link Lonk


November 28, 2020 at 03:00PM
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All Access Star Trek Talks 'Picard' Production, Herb Solow's Legacy, And Romulo-Vulcans On 'Discovery' - TrekMovie

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November 28, 2020 at 02:31AM
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The Furna vape makes swapping between herb and concentrate so much easier - Mashable

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The interchangeable oven chambers are incredibly useful. • Being able to flip the mouthpiece around to keep it clean was a thoughtful addition. • Furna's accessories are just as cool as the vape itself.

Less experienced or infrequent cannabis users will probably enjoy the Furna but are unlikely to actually buy it at such a high price point. • The battery died more quickly than anticipated. • Using it is tricky for less experienced cannabis consumers.

The Furna Vaporizer may not be the best choice for someone who doesn't consume cannabis often, but it's great for someone who likes to take their vape on the go.

⚡ Mashable Score 4.5

The information contained in this article is not a substitute for, or alternative to information from a healthcare practitioner. Please consult a healthcare professional before using any product and check your local laws before making any purchasing decisions.

Vaping on the go is more convenient than ever. 

Furna's vaporizer takes it to a whole new level, thanks to a nifty feature that lets you vape both dry herb and concentrate by swapping ovens. 

Furna, a Canadian company founded by former BlackBerry executives, is launching the modular vape system on Black Friday. The company's innovative system bridges the gap between vaping cannabis flower and concentrates, which often need two separate ways of heating up the weed. While there are a few products on the market that are designed for both products, users have to thoroughly clean the chamber when switching between herb and concentrate. With Furna's modular ovens, users can pack different types of products and then swap them out like pen cartridges. 

The Furna comes with the standards for most vaporizers on the market, like a rechargeable battery and a charging cord. What makes the Furna stand out, though, are its interchangeable ovens that can heat up both dry herb and concentrate. The set also includes a funnel, a silicone cover to keep the mouthpiece clean, several nibs (in different colors!) to differentiate between the two ovens, and a cleaning brush. It also came with a handy multitool that both tamps the weed and scrapes out the mouthpieces, and as a simp for multifunctional appliances, I was enamored off the bat. 

Image: Furna

Image: Furna

As my colleague Chris Taylor wrote during last year's mystery vape lung crisis, vaping state-certified concentrates are a less risky way to consume cannabis than black market vape pens, which may contain cutting agents to make a cheaper product. While the legal cannabis industry has made moves toward being more transparent with consumers when it comes to their products, some cannabis users are turning to vaping shatter, live resin, or wax that include various cannabinoids and terpenes that weed naturally has, without the harmful cutting agents. 

I don't particularly enjoy consuming concentrate thanks to one less than stellar experience. This is where Furna's interchangeable ovens come in handy; I'd rather vape dry herb, but I like having the option of vaping concentrates if I want to.

I was surprised at how quickly the battery for the Furna charged. When I removed it from the box, its display clocked in at 9 percent. In the two or so hours between plugging it in, packing the ovens, eating dinner, and actually using the vaporizer, it gained a full charge to 100 percent. It fell to 20 percent after two full smoke sessions, which is still pretty strong, but I was surprised that it didn't last longer. 

Having the funnel on hand to pack the dry herb was immensely helpful. I used a teaspoon to minimize weed crumbs, and then pressed the bud into the oven with the tamp like a tiny green espresso. The mouthpiece securely screws on to the oven, and can be inserted facing inwards for storage so the silicone nib doesn't get all gnarly. 

Image: mashable / morgan sung

Image: mashable / morgan sung

Packing the concentrate oven was a little more challenging, given my lack of experience with consuming it. I ended up scraping some live resin into the tamp multitool (which is actually supposed to be used for cleaning out the nibs, but hey, this worked). 

The entire vape is operated by two buttons, which control a sleek display menu on the side of the battery. Users can also set the temperature they want to vape at. Finding the right temperature takes some futzing around, but like most cannabis products, a good rule of thumb is to start low and slow.  

For the first round of vaping dry herb, I set the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius, or 356 degrees Fahrenheit. (You can change the temperature units in the settings, don't worry.) As Leafly reported in 2016, the 330 degrees Fahrenheit to 370 degrees Fahrenheit range is recommended for "functional relaxation." I took two hits and immediately felt the knots in my shoulders start to loosen. 

Image: mashable / morgan sung 

I had my roommates join me in testing out the dry herb oven, since they don't often consume weed. As less experienced cannabis consumers, they noted that although they didn't like the taste of marijuana, it had a less unpleasant aftertaste than most dry herb products they've tried. They did note that the Furna was less intuitive than the vape pens that they're more used to, and kept accidentally popping the oven and mouthpiece out of the battery. 

"Functional relaxation" was certainly a stretch though — while trying out the Furna, we settled into watching Jersey Shore: Family Vacation and instead of taking notes on my experience, I fell deep into an Instagram rabbit hole, checking on whether various cast members were still with their significant others. Despite my best efforts, these were the only thoughts I managed to write down: 

• mike the situation is married now???

• "It's hitting very gently. It's quite nice."

• tastes like dirt but not in a good way

After several hits each, none of us felt too high, and instead felt a comfortable euphoria that was just manageable enough to avoid couch lock.

Everyone processes cannabis differently, though, so your experience will likely vary.

I also tried out the Furna a few nights later at 200 degrees Celsius, or 392 degrees Fahrenheit. Leafly notes that the 370 degrees Fahrenheit to 430 degrees Fahrenheit range is recommended for "intense euphoria," sleep, and meditation. This was, unsurprisingly, a much more intense high, but despite the high temperature the vapor didn't taste metallic or burnt. It also wasn't harsh, and didn't leave me with the chest tightness and dry cough that I've experienced vaping with other dry herb tech. One of my roommates noted that the vapor actually tasted better at the higher temperature — again, finding the right vaping temperature is all about trial and error. 

Vaping concentrates, though, still may not be for me. The Furna uses temperature to control the dry herb oven, and wattage to control the concentrate oven. Swapping between the dry herb oven and the concentrate oven was a breeze, but two hits of the live resin heated at 10 watts, which is the lowest setting on the Furna, made me acutely aware of how often I was blinking. I wouldn't describe it as unpleasant so much as unfamiliar. 

This is where the Furna's modular feature shines.

Finding the ideal vaping experience takes some experimenting, and as someone who rarely (if ever) buys live resin, I may give the Furna another go with a different strain, or when I'm not already stressed out by the Jersey Shore cast's antics. This is where the Furna's modular feature shines. I probably wouldn't have tried live resin at all if I hadn't tested the Furna, since I didn't want to go through the hassle of investing in a vape that I may or may not enjoy. The Furna makes for a good investment for someone who's used to dry herb and is interested in dipping their toes into the world of concentrates. 

The interchangeability also came in handy when vaping with my roommates, who didn't want to try the live resin. Instead of going through the laborious process of cleaning out the dry herb, filling the oven with resin, trying it, cleaning it out again, and filling the oven back up with dry herb, all I had to do was pop out the dry herb oven and swap it for the concentrate oven. 

That being said, cleaning the ovens out was also fairly easy thanks to the tamp multitool. Seriously, I love that little thing. The Furna's modular feature that allows the mouthpiece to flip inward for storage, along with the silicone oven covers, will definitely be useful for vaping on the go. You can easily toss the enclosed vape in a pocket, bag, or glove box without having to worry about picking gunk out of it later. 

Overall, the Furna is a steep price for newbies, but well worth it for those who are more regular stoners interested in getting into concentrates. It's even better for experienced cannabis users who want to introduce hesitant friends to weed, but have something stronger for themselves. 

The Furna will be available on Nov. 27 for $229 and $299 CAD. Buy it here.

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November 28, 2020
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The Furna vape makes swapping between herb and concentrate so much easier - Mashable

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