THE DAILY CUPPA WALKABOUT COLLECTION #4
Herbs and Plants For Health And Community
Our walkabout collection is rich with recipes and memories and a touch of Caribbean wonder.
Around the world, we gather, celebrating with our families and our communities. As we say goodbye to Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and the Khmer Water Festival, we look forward to the joys and blessings of Christmas, Santa Lucia Day, Kwanzaa, and many more.
As our Walkabout writers bring us stories about herbs, plants, recipes, and traditions; we become more aware of how diverse our wonderful world is. And yet, wherever we travel, we find families and communities making preparations and celebrating together.
This is our world.
When I. Trudie Palmer writes about her garden, I feel the magic and it’s as though I’m with her — at least as I experience my little garden.
I love my garden filled with medicinal and herbal plants, spices trees; avocado just going out of season, a few still hanging on for no real reason except that they are too high for me to pluck and enjoy on what we call butter bread — bread that has travelled on more planes than I, to the diaspora desiring a taste of home.
I’ll never visit her Caribbean garden, but I am comforted that we are on the same human journey for health and love of plants and community. You’ll find Trudie’s story below in our long-form section.

Your Daily Walkabout Guides
Enjoy the selection of stories from your guides.
Saturday:
Jane Frost (Jane Grows Garden Rooms) leads us into the world of Australian Bush Tucker with bites — tasty bits about native plants and their uses.
If I traveled, I’d go to Australia. This week Jane introduces us to a different type of ginger. She inspires me to study the different types of ginger and explore similarities and differences. This one was used in crafts — that’s new.
Sunday:
James Beaufait presents a lush Hawaiian feast of traditions, food growing, delicious herbal treats, and sumptuous recipes as he brings us to the islands.
I won’t be meeting the native fishing boats for my special tuna, but I’ll be adapting this yummy recipe — I’m thinking chicken for me. All those seasonings and some Hawaiian music for my meal.
Monday:
Kris Bedenian celebrates Northern hemisphere home cooking as she blends her skills in traditional food preparation techniques with modern healthy adaptations.
Kris gives another tip for those wanting to cook at home. Homemade lunches don’t have to be a sandwich. Home cooking is healthier than carryout or prepackaged store-bought foods. Great idea, Kris.
Tuesday:
JM Heatherly shares his love of herbs and herbal lore as he indexes herbs and their uses to lead the younger generation into the magical world of plants.
I totally enjoy JM’s stories about plants. His love of learning about plants shines through in these well-organized pieces. Love the lore he includes with each plant profile.
Wednesday:
Nancy Blackman brings the ancient wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a warm Korean flair for using herbs and spices in the home kitchen.
Popeye is known around the world, and through several decades of children, for coming to the rescue, thanks to his consumption of spinach. A warm reminder that we are one world rich with healthy eating traditions we can share.
Thursday:
Julie Gaeta combines her expertise as a Health Coach and traditional Mexican cuisine chef with a healthy twist to share recipes for smoothies, teas, and much more.
I purchased a goji berry tree a few years ago. It didn’t take off, but that could have been my ignorance of its needs. The best way to purchase goji berries, in my opinion, is in bulk. Frontier Herbs is my favorite source. Organic and fresh. Julie packs a lot of information and a recipe in her plant stories.
Friday Surprise:
Jennifer Dunne is our surprise guide this week. Pomegranates are my winter season treat. I still get them for my grandchildren and neighborhood kids. Love what she shared about them.
Our Fellow Travelers
Haley Creighton
KL Simmons
Lifestyles
Health is more than what we eat — it’s how we live our life. My bias is there are many practices that enhance our health, and not all are physical exercise.
Hudson Rennie
Julie Gaeta
Memories
Barb Dalton’s grandmother's recipe for chocolate cookies. When having a treat makes it worth it.
JM Heatherly Tells us how his mom makes mashed potatoes.
Long-form Articles We found Along Our Way
I. Trudie Palmer
Juana Flor
KL Simmons
From wherever you are, we celebrate herbs, plants, and home cooking for our health. We gather, celebrating with our families and our communities. As we prepare, we remember our past celebrations and recreate parts of them.
Our Walkabout writers brought us stories about herbs, plants, recipes, and traditions, offering us ideas and options which we can incorporate into our lives as we seek health and strengthen our families and communities.
Though I’ll never visit places like I. Trudie Palmer’s garden in the Caribbean, I know from reading her story that we have much in common. She writes about the community garden she started, and the free breakfasts served.
One world seeking health and connecting families and community.
Join The Adventure
Think about what inspires you to grow your food, forage, and cook your meals and share with us.
Come along with us on our walkabout.
Submit your recipes, herb, gardening, and plant lore for our gathering of all stories tagged ‘walkabout.’ Link your long-form stories tagged ‘walkabout’ for our collection.
The information presented in the articles in our Walkabout series is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Each writer writes from their own experience and/or research, as such, their content is shared in good faith for informational use only.
Nutrient-dense whole food from plants — from grapefruit, asparagus, spinach, turmeric to blueberries — can be a problem if you’re eating processed foods and taking prescription medications. It may take your body a while to get used to any diet changes. Always consult with your physician or a qualified health care provider before making any lifestyle or dietary changes.
Thank you, dear readers and writers, for stopping in your busy day to read our stories, comment, and give us a clap.
Writers put a lot into their stories. If you’re not a Medium member and would like to have access to reading as many stories as you want on a zillion topics, please use one of the above writer’s memberships links to sign up. They get a small percent of your fee at no cost to you. You’ll find the link on a long story on their profile page. I know it takes some of your precious time. I appreciate that.
You can purchase I. Trudie Palmer’s creations which support her work in the Caribbean here:
Past Walkabout Collections
Collection #1
Collection #2
Collection #3