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Meet the HempStar Homies... Pg 4 DIY-Bottle Cap Earrings... Pg 6 Health & Wellness- Get Rid of that Cold!... Pg 20 420 Meaning… Page 25
Illustrative ArtPsychedelic Art... Pg 26 Dispensary Review... Page 28 Introduction to HempStar……2 There & Back Again ...8 Mixed Media
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Quotables
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Global Action 10 Poetry 16
Photography 14
Recipes…18
Herbal Education....24
Greetings readers!!! I’m Lotus Blossom. I’m 21, a mommy of one and another on the way. I’m from the South American country on the Equator where warm is the weather and the heart of the people. Well, ok, so there are a lot of countries on the Equator. But where are the most beautiful nude beaches, the biggest rainforest in the world, Samba, capoeira, capoeira, and the Carnaval? Carnaval? Only Brazil, of course!! I’ve been here since 2001. Can’ Can’t say I don’ don’t miss Brazil cause I do! Can’ Can’t say I hate it here, but I also don’ don’t love it. My roots are in Brazil, but my heart is everywhere on this vast, beautiful planet. I’ve been homeless, houseless, hippie, trendy, rich, poor, sad, happy, sick, healthy, drunk and sober. I’m all about natural medicine, holistic living, ecoecofriendliness, consciousness in every action, spirituality,
dreadlocks, traveling, breastfeeding, unprocessed living, truth, sustainable farming methods, music, art, and much much more! As these issues go on, you will get to know me more bit by bit. I will enjoy our growing relationship, and if ever you have anything to say to me; whether a suggestion, a complaint, a compliment, or a rant, I will be more than glad to hear it. Please email me at lotusblossom@hempstarmaga zine.com! zine.com! Namaste. Namaste.
Recipe for Health Conscious Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Candies) You Will Need 1 Can of Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk 2 Tbsp of Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder ½ Stick of Organic Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter Chocolate Sprinkles A Heavy Saucepan
What To Do First of all, you might be wondering why not all of the ingredients on the list are organic. When shopping for a family, I try to prioritize what need to be and does not necessarily need to be organic. With the milk it is almost crucial due to the hormones, antibiotics, and inhumane treatment the cows receive. The cocoa powder should be natural due to the heavy preservatives and additives that may be present in the mix. The Organic butter is the same as the milk, and pure sweet cream butter just tastes so much better! Now you tell me where I can get organic chocolate sprinkles and I’ll be there!
TIP: If you want to make this a medicinal treat, just replace the regular butter with Cannabutter and it will then be called “Brigadeironha”, because Marijuana in Portuguese is Maconha. So there ya have it! Enjoy and always remember to use MMJ responsibly and to abide by all your local laws and guidelines! Add the butter and keep mixing for 5-10 minutes until it is well mixed and thick. Turn the heat off and set the mixture aside on a plate to cool for about 15-30 minutes or until it is cool to the touch. Grease your hands a bit and roll the mixture into small balls. Roll the balls in the chocolate sprinkles. Place each ball into small muffin Okay, now we’re ready to or candy cases or just leave them start the recipe! Mix the on a plate. Setting them apart just Condensed Milk with the makes it easier to keep the cocoa powder for about a sprinkles together. minute. It’s ready to serve! Enjoy!
Recipe for Health Conscious Cannabutter You Will Need 1 lb of Sweet Cream Unsalted Organic Butter 35-70 grams of Cannabis of your choice; if you use good quality cannabis go with 20-35 grams for a high potency, if you are using trimmings, go with 35-70 grams for high potency. 2 Cups of Water A Crockpot or Large Pot A Coffee Grinder Scissors Strainer or Cheesecloth Container for the Butter
*There you have it, your cannabutter is all ready for use. You may keep it in the fridge if you plan on using it very soon (within the week), or you can What To Do freeze it for prolonged freshness. When you are ready *First, you will need to to use it, take it out of the finely grind the cannabis refrigerator and let it sit to of your choice. If you soften, do not put it in the choose high quality buds, you may not need to remove the stems since they too are microwave as high amounts of covered in THC. However, if you choose to use plant trimmings, you have two heat will kill the THC in the choices; you can leave the big stems in or remove them. If you wish to leave the stems butter. Now you can make in, go ahead, just make sure you use the scissors to cut them into small pieces. You anything that takes butter and will want to cut the leaves into smaller pieces too so you can speed up the grinding replace the amount of regular process and fit more leaves in at one time. butter in the recipe for *After you grind the cannabis, set it aside and put the 2 cups of water in the crockpot cannabutter and you will have a or pot until it boils. treat you will not forget! Or *When it is boiling, put the butter in there and wait until it melts. will you‌ *Now that the butter is melted, put the cannabis in there and set the heat to the lowest possible. Mix it up well to make sure that there are no clumps or chunks unattended to. Don’t forget to read up on the *Leave the cannabutter to cook for 22 hours exactly. Do not overcook or undercook next issues for more delicious the butter. This time is required for the separation of the THC molecules into the recipes of medicinal treats and butter. health conscious goodies! *Check on it every few hours to make sure that it is not sticking to the bottom of the crockpot. Just mix it up gently and cover it back up. *After 22 hours, turn the heat off and leave it to sit for about 5 minutes. -Lotus Blossom *Please be really careful of the heat on this step! Use long sleeves and/or oven mitts to protect your arms and hands. Now pour the cannabutter liquid through a strainer and into a container.*note: specify the container size/ shape for easy extraction of butter!! Make sure to squeeze through as much liquid as you can possibly get out of the wet, soggy cannabis plant matter without breaking your strainer. *When you have done this, cover your container and set in the fridge for a few hours to overnight, in order for the water to separate from the cannabutter.*note: make sure that all the liquid and butter has seperated *Now, this step may be a bit messy. Put saran wrap or any plastic wrap you may have (even a cut plastic bag) over the cannabutter container and turn it over to pour the dark water out of the container. Finished product, frozen in a Ziploc bag for prolonged freshness.
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re you tired of using store bought, allopathic medicines to “cure” your cold or flu? They are full of side effects, chemicals, preservatives, and will do anything to your body but heal it. And when you go to the doctor with it, the most common thing he’ll tell you to do is bed rest and lots of fluids. But there’s got to be something else I can do!!
First of all, let‘s have a talk on how holistic healing works. You’ve got to understand the process of holistic healing in 1) Exposure 2) Infection order to fully benefit from it. In holistic or natural care, disease is a perfectly healthy part of health. It is almost necessary; it strengthens the immune system and builds upon it. The immune system is exposed daily to different germs, bacteria, and viruses. This is a healthy part of life, as we need to be exposed to those organisms in order for our bodies to 5) Healing 3) Inflammation build immunities to them.
The Cycle of Disease/Sickness
Ok, now that we know that disease is a perfectly healthy part of being a healthy human being, we can look at it in a different light, perhaps not trying to completely eliminate it, but to prevent it and/or shorten its duration without causing further side effects on other parts of our being. The key is to assist our bodies in fighting the infection, and not to try to suppress the symptoms, as those are important pointers, they are our body’s way of telling us what is wrong.
This is where natural medicines come into play. They do not contain preservatives, chemicals, additives, and most important of all; they work holistically, without negatively affecting any other parts of your body. There are many factors that may cause disease, the two main being exposure to infected organisms, and stress (when we are stressed we produce a hormone called cortisol, this hormone greatly weakens and decreases our immune system‘s ability to fight off disease).
By Lotus Blossom
Now to “cure” a cold or flu, would be almost impossible since both are caused by a virus, and we all know that viruses cannot be killed. When you notice winter coming around, a weather change, cold breeze, and if you are in a stressful situation or environment, you should immediately start to take some Echinacea and vitamin C supplements, at least 1000 mg a day. At your local natural food store, there should be a very convenient supplement that has both Echinacea and vitamin C. A supplement like this works wonders, and you should take it for approximately 2 weeks or for the duration of a cold. Including more zinc in your diet should work wonders as well. Goldenseal is also very useful for congestion.
Knowing how to prevent a cold can come in very handy, but including herbs, spices, and whole foods in your diet is crucial in maintaining good immune health. These are especially good for immune health (plus other benefits): •Oregano; a pungent spice that aids in immune system function. It is antibacterial, has potent antioxidant activity, and is very nutrient rich. •Turmeric; a spice proven to prevent things such as diabetes and cancer when included in daily diet. Has great antioxidant activity and promotes whole body health. •Ginger; fresh ginger works wonders, not to mention it is delicious! It is great for nausea, digestive health and immune health. Also reduces cholesterol, fever, and inflammation. Garlic; a completely natural antibiotic, works well externally as well as internally. Will greatly boost the immune system. Eucalyptus; a natural antiviral remedy. Great for the flu and cold.
Honey; especially Manuka honey, it’s expensive, but probably the most medicinal honey you can find, very antibacterial. Works wonders, it can be used externally on wounds and internally for things such as heartburn and digestive issues. •Green Tea; full of antioxidants, proven to prevent cancer, better organic •Acai; often called the tree of life, it offers protection against cancer, and many other ailments. Aids in cardiovascular health as well as amazing antioxidant power and phytonutrients. Also great for immune health. •Chamomile; has amazing antiseptic action, helping the body to get rid of infection. Reduces fevers and irritability. •Echinacea and Vitamin C; we talked about this one. Take it through your cold to aid your immune system in healing the body. •Onions; garlic-like characteristics as well as cleanses the blood.
The best treatment for a cold or flu really is bed rest, a calm environment, lots of fluids (soda does NOT count), whole foods, and an increase in zinc and vitamin C intake. If you are really congested, place a few drops of essential oil of cinnamon, eucalyptus, or peppermint in a steaming bowl of water. Place your head over the bowl with a towel acting as a tent for about 5-10 minutes. This will wonderfully ease your congestion. Another option is to sit in a warm bath with a few drops of tea tree oil or lavender oil in it. This will help to relax you as well as bring down a fever if you have one, it will also open up your airways. Drinking chamomile tea will help ease you to sleep. Drinking blackcurrant tea will help clear infection and catarrh. To ease a high fever due to infection and/or inflammation, barley water is a classic remedy. To soothe aching limbs, drink arnica tea or fenugreek tea with honey and lemon. You can also massage chamomile, tea tree, or geranium oil into your head and chest to lessen your symptoms. Another way to ease your lungs and help to fight the infection is to brew a handful of eucalyptus leaves into some tea, add honey, also add the juice freshly squeezed out of a lemon. This is a wonderful remedy, I used this when I was in the forest and caught bronchitis, and didn’t have any other medicine available. Also make sure to always (especially when you‘re sick) include the whole foods mentioned earlier in your everyday foods, especially garlic and onions as they will help to fight the infection when you have a cold or flu.
Never forget that we have a fully stocked pharmacy all around us everywhere on this beautiful earth that was left full of resources. Nature is our biggest and most effective and reliable pharmacy. Although we have been destroying rainforests all over the world and along with them many herbs and plants that could’ve been the cure to even cancer! But that’s a whole different argument I don’t even want to get started on….
•Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth’s surface. Now they cover only 6%. •Since the 1900’s, over 90 Brazilian indigenous tribes have been destroyed. All their knowledge of rainforest medicinal value went with them. When a medicine man passes away without passing on knowledge, it is like a library being destroyed. •In 40 years, it is expected that most rainforests will be gone. •More than 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon. No wonder it is called the “lungs of the world”. •One of the world’s most potent anticancer drugs, Vincristine, is extracted from Periwinkle, which is a rainforest plant. •70% of the 3000 active cancer fighting plants recognized by the U.S. National Cancer Institute are found in the rainforest. Be part of the solution not the cause.
By Lotus Blossom So the entire cannabis culture revolves around the saying “420”. But what does it actually mean? Many people use this saying on a daily basis and have no idea where it actually came from. There are many myths about where and how the term 420 came about; 420 is a police dispatch code, or a penal code number for the illegal use of marijuana. FALSE Nowhere is the number 420 a dispatch code or a penal code number for marijuana use. 420 is Hitler’s birthday. FALSE This is a true fact, 4/20 is Hitler’s birthday, but this is not why 420 is what it is. 420 is the number of chemicals in marijuana. FALSE There are actually 315 chemicals in marijuana. 420 is tea time in Amsterdam. FALSE Tea time in Amsterdam is actually 5:30. These are myths and actually very far from where the term 420 originated.
Art by Josie Dee In 1971, in San Rafael High School in California, there was a group of stoner teenagers that was composed of about twelve kids. They called themselves “The Waldos”. They would meet everyday at 4:20pm in front of the Louis Pasteur campus statue to get stoned. They started using the term 420 to describe everything related to pot as a code that the adults didn’t understand. So I bet you’re wondering, how did the term spread so far beyond San Rafael, California? Well, the Waldos frequently smoked pot with The Grateful Dead, so the band helped to spread that term beyond San Rafael. Steven Hager, the High Times magazine editor, reviewed all the evidence submitted by the Waldos (which they did after they noticed that the term spread and became popular everywhere). They showed him letters that were postmarked from the early 70s that show proof that they invented the term 420. So there ya have it! Now you know the meaning of 420! Nice to be an educated stoner, isn’t it?
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- Hippie Paul This month’s featured artist is Samuel Lee Polce. Please check out his website at www.samuelpolce.com “I want to find enjoyment in the journey rather than dwell simply on the destination.” “Surrealism and Psychedelia have helped me to recognize this world for more reasons than the material it is made of. I do not strive to have certain aesthetics. My intuition grants my work visual characteristics that the viewer then associates with me.”
Generosity 2008 Acrylic 5' x 6' “Filled to fullness in order to overflow” $20,000
E L I M S A H T I GREEN W - Hippie Paul It isn’t hard to find a dispensary nowadays ever since new legislatures have passed. Medical Marijuana is easily and readily available to any legal medical patient, but what if you’re looking for a little more than just a sac? Many patients find themselves met with a poor selection of medicine, illmannered staff and a dark, stuffy environment. With that being the case, I felt it was my duty as well as a privilege to be able to present patients with a more compassionate alternative to the norm. This month I am pleased to showcase a special little place, Colorado Care Facility. Often I find myself late on a Sunday night looking for an open dispensary, flipping through ad after ad looking at operating hours, only to find - closed at 3pm - or - closed at 5pm - and usually spend the rest of my night discouraged and without my heavy indica for sleep. This place is a special case, open seven days a week, 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. and is always well-stocked with an excellent variety of quality meds. CCF carries an average of fifteen or more strains all high quality at low prices, available for you to take a good look over with a back-lit magnifying glass or to get your nose full!
Just as important as the quality of product, to me, is the quality of service. You don’t go back to a restaurant if the waitress had an attitude so why should it be any different with your pharmacy? CCF has a very knowledgeable, and friendly staff. They greet even new patients with a warm smile and a cold drink. The waiting room is unexpectedly comfortable, furnished with leather couches and loveseats, and the walls hue a lifting Zen green that is like taking a breath of fresh air. Once past the double doors you are once again greeted with bright faces. The atmosphere of CCF is inviting, you can relax and watch TV, read some literature, and even play a rousing game of chess, who says stoners are dumb?
The menu is brightly displayed on a Plasma screen on the wall along with some totally unique works of art. Now I know that on average you would expect to pay more for quality service but with Colorado Care Facility that isn’t the game. Grams average at $16 and are never more than $20 even for the top shelf supply! I always leave a dispensary happy, but I never leave CCF without a smile (and that’s a huge difference!). This facility provides top notch service, A+ strains and selections, and convenient hours.
I would rate CCF a 5 out of 5, outstanding all the way around! Remember guys, you should always be responsible and respectful when obtaining your prescriptions. Please don’t unlawfully consume marijuana on or around the premises at which you obtain it, that’s like pissing where you sleep man, and we don’t want one person to screw it up for those of us who are honestly benefiting from the use of Medicinal Marijuana…
CCF is located at 5103 E. Colfax Ave. Denver, CO. (303) 953-8503 WALK-IN’s
WELCOME!!!
Please make sure to visit CCF’ CCF’s website @ www.COLORADOCAREFACILITY.com
Do you want to see your art featured on HempStar Magazine? Josie Dee did, along with many other artists she submitted her art to us! If you have any photography, illustrative art, poetry, essays, songs, anything that you would like to see featured on HempStar Magazine, please send it to lotusblossom@hempstar magazine.com. Make sure you submit all work by the deadline, which is the 13th of every month!
If your art is not featured right away, we will keep it on file for following issues. If it is chosen to be featured, you will find it in our art Section or throughout HempStar. You could even be chosen to be featured on our front cover! Make sure to include your name, name of the art piece or pieces, your website, and the city/state you live in.
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