As these things generally go, a big “natural pharmaceutical” company has somehow claimed the rights to the plant and is developing it as a commercial product. The indigenous peoples who first discovered the many uses of the plant and how it should be properly prepared have not gained any money from this deal, and furthermore, they are facing an incursion of companies coming on to their land to harvest the plant. Understanding this, we knew that it would be morally unacceptable for us to offer this herb if our product was essentially being stolen from the peoples who held it sacred.  So, we started growing kanna on our organic farm, ensuring that we can offer our clients a high quality product that is sourced in an ethical way!

Kanna is traditionally prepared in several ways, both of which are actually still the most effective methods of preparing the plant in a way that brings out its full healing potential while reducing unnecessary compounds that produce unwanted effects.  The Khoisan tribe take the entire plant and macerate it, then place the material inside special bags that were tightly sealed to prevent evaporation.  These bags are then placed outside under the hot sun to ferment for a number of days.  The contents of the bag are then put on to a flat surface and allowed to dry.  Finally, the dried plant material may be chewed as a quid or pounded in to a powder.  Similarly, the African Bushmen prepared kanna by burying the plant material in a hole and shoveling hot sand over it. After about an hour of this, the plant can be pounded in to a powder.

We do offer powdered, fermented kanna, but we are also one of the only sources for this Whole White Kanna Leaf. This leaf is naturally fermented and dried, giving it a wonderful sweetness, unlike most powdered kanna available nowadays. This kanna leaf is wonderful because, unlike the powder, it can easily be used as a smoking herb.  It’s quite pleasant when smoked on its own, and adds a potent potentiation to any blend of smoking herbs as well!

This whole white kanna leaf can also be taken like powdered kanna. One need simply take a small amount and put it between the cheeks and the gums, allowing the flavor the spread.  The effects will be mild and pleasant and will last for about 45 minutes to an hour.

It is important to mention once more that kanna acts as an SSRI, similar to many anti-depressant drugs, such as Prozac.  If ingested along with such a drug, or with an MAO Inhibiting substance or medication, it can have dangerous effects. However, if this warning is kept in mind, our sweet, potent Whole White Kanna leaf can be a truly beneficial and healing herb!

Traditionally, Native Americans would eat a 1 inch sections of the root as medicine, a 2 inch section to fight fatigue, and a 6 inch section as a visionary tool. Many Northeastern woodland tribes would also hang the roots in the house or sew it on to the clothing of their children in order to keep nightmares away. Calamus root was used as an incense in sweat lodges by the Cheyenne, and they also occasionally mixed the root in smoking blends or with tobacco.

Our whole Calamus root is another product that we grow in our completely organic ‘Private Reserve’ fields in Hawaii. We are the only provider of whole Acorus calamus root that we know of! The reason that we choose to offer the root in this form is that keeping the root whole ensures maximum potency – when the root is ground up, oils and alkaloids contained in the rhizome can evaporate, leaving you with a much less potent product. The primary active components of Calamus are the essential oils, so it is very important to maintain as much of them as is possible! Our Calamus is intensely aromatic and has a tangy sweet/sour quality along with a heat similar to that of ginger root, a uniquely potent flavor that you won’t find elsewhere.

There is a lot of Calamus root available over the internet, but most of it is from China, and is of a different variety that the true Acorus americanus Calamus root that we offer. Chinese Calamus does not have the same psychoactive or medicinal effects as American Calamus root, so it’s important to be careful when selecting a provider. This is another reason that we choose to offer the whole root – then you can see the plant for yourself and get a feel for what real Acorus americanus Calamus actually looks like!

We are proud to be able to work with Kona Kava Farm in Hawaii, a small, family run farm that produces extremely high quality organic kava that our clients and their customers absolutely love.  We have been working with Kona Kava Farm for many years now, and their products are invariably of an extremely high quality. Also, since we source our kava directly from the farm, we are always assured that it is fresh and made with the absolute best quality and care towards safety.

All of the kava that is grown by Kona Kava Farm is completely organic and produced in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. The farm is located on the fertile volcanic slopes of big island of Hawaii, where the climate and the micro-nutrient rich soil allow plants to grow and thrive in an unbelievable way. After all, that’s where the famous Kona coffee comes from! The farm has been owned and run by the same family for generations, from long before westerners even showed up on the island, so these folks really have a great amount of kava growing experience. They grow a noble strain of kava known as Mahakea which has a unique 4-2-6 chemotype. This makes for the most potent and sweet-tasting kava we’ve ever tried, and our clients seem to agree!

Kona Kava Farm rotates their crops regularly to ensure high quality, extremely potent kava year after year.  Their kava is composed of 90% lateral roots and 10% underground roots.  This means that most kava plants are allowed to grow for several years and only the new, surface level roots are harvested.  This is an extremely sustainable practice that does not damage the land on which the kava is grown.  And, of course, Kona Kava Farm kava is made ONLY of the root of the plant – kava made with stems and leaves can be poisonous, after all.

If the quality of the kava root isn’t enough, we’re blown away year after year by the wide variety of products that Kona Kava Farm offers, and by the new products they are constantly developing. Despite being such a small farm, Kona Kava Farm is able to offer not only processed kava root, but delicious instant kava drinks and chai, kava capsules, kavalactone pastes, kava concentrates, and more! They are always coming to us with innovative new kava products that we’ve never seen anywhere else, and they’re always of the best possible quality.

People have reported using kava to assist them in dealing with conditions ranging from mild to moderate anxiety, depression, OCD and ADD to migraines, muscle pain, insomnia and many more. Of course, kava is not a substitute for medication from a doctor, yet many individuals who report suffering terrible side effects from prescription medication report wonderful results with kava.  Many others have reported that kava has helped them to stop or decrease their use of alcohol! Furthermore, kava is said to improve the sex life and to allow individuals to connect with each other in a stronger, more effective way. And if it weren’t enough that Kona Kava Farm produces such sublime kava, one of the owners, Makaira, puts up regular posts on her Kava Blog that provide tons of fascinating information on the history, benefits and politics surrounding kava. It’s great to know that our kava producer is so passionate and knowledgeable about this plant, and those things certainly show in the product!

Our clients have been asking us for Indian Warrior for YEARS now, and we’ve finally found a great source!  It is important to note that Pedicularis densiflora is a hemi-parastic plant species, meaning it draws nutrients and toxins from the surrounding plants and soil. This means that if the plant is growing near any polluted areas or poisonous plants, the end product will contain some of these toxins.  So, we finally found a source of Pedicularis densiflora that is grown outside the vicinity of toxic plants, such as poison oak, to prevent the absorption of unwanted alkaloids from nearby flora.  Then, we prepare our 15x extract using pure ethanol and cold extraction methods. We do all of our extractions in small batches, meaning that we can preserve the precious alkaloids that make this plant unique and effective. Since Indian Warrior is hemi-parasitic, it is essential to find a source for it that is grown safely and carefully.  Otherwise, the plant can actually be somewhat toxic, and will not have the beneficial medicinal effects that it is meant to.

Pedicularis densiflora is sold as an incense only, and is not for human consumption.

We’re proud to source our Kava from Kona Kava Farm, not only because they’re a small, family-run farm, but they have Kava with a unique Kavalactone lineup of 4-2-6.  This not only makes for a potent Kava, but it makes it far less bitter than Kava found virtually anywhere else, including Fiji.  All it takes is placing a single 100% Guaranteed order to find out for yourself.

And even better: The FDA protected Kava in the early 2000′s, lifting a worldwide ban on this product that was put in place due to one purposely faulty study that came out from Germany in the 1990′s.  This allowed this potent, natural, psychoactive herb to become part of the mainstream.

In addition to Kava, one of our latest developments has been for a company called SweetSmoke Herbs, who specialize in herbal smoking blends that have no illicit or illegal substances in them, unlike the vast number of herbal smoking blends on the market, including the ever-present “Spice” which contained a dangerous research chemical called JWH-018.

Even more exciting is that traditionally, this rare herb was also used as a dream catcher as well as a vivid dream inducer. To induce dreams, the instructions are quite simple:

- Soak 4 ounces of ground Rattle Root in a bottle of wine for 3 weeks.  The Todas people actually grind up the seed and pulp and make an alcohol specifically for this purpose.

- Take 2-3 whole rattle root pieces and shake the rattle over one’s head and then feet in clockwise circles 3 times.

- Place the herb under the pillow one uses to sleep on, helping to initiate a deep sleep with vivid imagery.

- Enjoy a half glass of the rattle root soaked wine 30 minutes to 1 hour before going to bed.  This will help cause visions and facilitate vivid dreaming, but it’s far more potent when accompanied by the final step:

- Grind the seeds of a Rattle Root into an espresso-like powder.  Blend this powder with finely-ground Blue Lotus flowers.  Carefully place the blend in a rolled cigarette or a pipe, and enjoy with the half glass of wine.

One may wonder why more haven’t heard of this ancient, sacred herb, especially since it’s mixed with the infamous “Blue Lotus” petals.  According to Rätsch, “Because the traveling herbs, as a rule, are utilized to increase shakti or to obtain secret information from nature, their use is usually not revealed to others.”

The Shaman’s Rattle Root was used by Tantric alchemists as an aphrodisiac, and was also ground up for use in the native “Gudakhu” visionary tobacco smoked in Hookahs.  Hookahs are enjoying a revival in coffee shops around the world, and there can often be nothing like adding some of the Rattle Root powder to any Hookah blend.  Even better is that Rattle Root blends extremely well with the Daganda Herbal Smoking Blend that’s offered in various places on the internet and specialty shops.

REFERENCES:

- Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, INDE