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Can You Really Smoke Chocolate … I mean Cacao?

Cacao can be used in an herbal bath, herbal smoking blend, tea and aromatherapy dry blend.

Who would have thought that every corner of a civilized modern metropolitan society, a Coffee Shop would exist offering Hot Chocolate .. that is because Cacao along with its cousin the Coffee bean, has been used by Meso-Americans for millenniums … before any Jesus Christ.

Before we can even truly discuss smoking Cacao, we must make clear the difference between Cacao and Cocoa.

Cacao, which is what we are talking about, is the purest form of chocolate you can consume, which means it is raw and much less processed than cocoa powder or chocolate bars.

Cacao is thought to be the highest source of antioxidants of all foods and the highest source of magnesium of all foods. It has been used throughout many cultures for years for health purposes and even used as a high trade commodity.

The smoking of Cacao is not new to modern commerce. It has been used as a cigarette addictive in the current tobacco industry.

Even though it is labeled as a “characterizing flavor” by the current tobacco industry, studies show that Cocoa plays a role in altering sensory perceptions. And the reason for this is the Anandamide, a endogenous cannabinoid whose Sanskrit inspired name means bliss or joy.

Yes, Cacao has CANNAbinoids … the same that CANNAbis has.

So back as to why smoke Cacao. Simliar to Cannabis, Cacao provides the same kind of cannabinoid of their own – anandamide – which binds to the same receptors as THC in the brain, and mimics the pleasant feelings that cannabinoids catalyze.

Endogenous cannabinoids, like anandamide, act as keys to a network of receptors within us and have the potential to unlock some impressive properties. They help our bodies regulate a number of functions ranging from appetite, sleep, mood regulation, neuro-protection, and immune function.

So just like tobacco has been snorted, aka Snuff / Rape, so is snorting cacao. Your nasal mucosa is very vascular and things are absorbed very readily through it.

Also explains the rise of Cacao ceremonies, especially by non-indigenous individuals.

Nevertheless, the Meso-Americans have been using Cacao bean and the Coffee bean along with Cannabis buds/leaves and tobacco leaves in many religious/spiritual ceremonies due to its potent spiritual and now medicinally proven properties.

So back to, can you smoke Chocolate? As long as its pure cacao.

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Plants for Dental Hygiene

Dental hygiene is more than just going to the Dentist

In this video, I speak about how dental hygiene keeps your head cavity free of bacteria and viruses. The openings in our heads, ear, eyes, nose and mouth is where bacteria and viruses enter. Other than cleaning your hands and avoid touching your face . there are also techniques like:

  • 👅 Tongue scraping
  • 🌿 DIY toothpaste and mouthwash with essential oils
  • 💨 Herbal Face Steams

The best antibacterial herbs to use are:

  • 🌿 eucalyptus 
  • 🌿 peppermint
  • 🌿 neem
  • 🌿 rosemary
  • 🌿 cloves (use sparingly, this one is 🌶)

All techniques and plants used by our indigenous ancestors in keeping a balance with the micro-organism kingdoms. 

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Plantain the Bug Bite Plant

Plantain can be used as an herbal smoking blend, for an herbal bath, tea and aromatherapy dry blend.

The best anti inflammatory & anti microbial “weeed” to soothe an itchy bug bite.

Plantain , no not Platano, is an herb (considered a weed) that is found all up/down the America’s … even Central Park. Recommend researching it to know how to identify it and choose the plant that is far from roads/parking lots.

In this video, I show how to use Plantain by simply chewing a piece of the leaf and applying the poultice to the bite to decrease the inflammation plus suck out any venom.

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Finding Medicine Everywhere

Different sizes of Spruces Image by Vivian Faith Prescott

The spruce tips of early spring

In this video, I speak about the spruce tips, bright green evergreen tips growing in the spring. Filled with very high levels of vitamin c, potassium and magnesium, you can simply eat it them or make a tea for coughs/respiratory issues. The spruce tree for the Hopi are medicine people that turned into trees, once again showing how beautiful the plants are here to take care of us.

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Manzanilla 🌼 Am Emotional Processor

Hand holding chamomile organic herbal smokable herb

Chamomile (manzanilla) is here to help us process emotions so we can navigate life safely.

There are currently so many reason to have our emotions tied in knots. And emotions are processed by our stomach. So in this video, I speak about how babies to adults, chamomile has helped during times of great transitioning.

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Skullcap 🌿 The stop-stressing plant

Hand holding skullcap organic herbal smokable herb

2020 is forever the year everything changes and the hardest part is we don’t know what’s gonna happen next.

If you’re like me, you might be overthinking all the possibilities and this can cause serious burnout in our bodies.

In this video, I speak about Skullcap, a plants that helps decrease the physical repercussions of stressing out. We need daily mental resets to be able navigate these dense & transitional times and the plants are here to take care of us.

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Queen Ann’s Lace 🌿 Nature’s Contraceptive

Queen Anns Lace Wild Carrot Seed Natural Birth Control Contraceptive

With the overload of pharmaceutical products, it’s nice to learn about natural contraceptives like Queen Ann’s Lace aka Wild Carrot Seed

In this video, I speak about a great herbalist Robin Rose Bennet, who did a study that shows the effectiveness of Daucus carota, Wild Carrot Seed, a natural contraceptive that has been used for more than 2000 years.. The results were 9 out of the 160 women became pregnant.

For me personally, I see it helps keep the wall of the uterus slippery so an egg can not implant itself. This method of birth control has been the most effective for me but nevertheless I do recommend doing your own studies and highly listening to your own body.

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Cannabis is Legal in NY… Now What?

Is Cannabis Weed Marijuana legal in NY Brooklyn Queens Bronx?

New York becomes the 15th state to legalize Cannabis with the NEW Cannabis Legalization Bill – the 2021 MRTA

Across the country, individuals who are Black are nearly four times more likely than individuals who are White to be arrested for marijuana possession, “despite data showing equal use among races”. Growing up in NYC, there is no doubt Cannabis prohibition has resulted in disproportionate criminalization of POC people. Finally, the department of health for NY published an impact report that further elaborates the impact Cannabis has had on race.

In a recent zoom conference by Cornell University and the NY Department of Agricultural, they tried to breakdown the upcoming rules/laws regarding Hemp and now Cannabis. Feel free to watch the videos for yourself in the here, but to save you time, here are the top three things I took away were:

  • They (the government) is still trying to figure out how to control Mother Nature. THC is a compound found in variations in the Cannabis plant. Delta 9 is the compound that is currently being regulated to say if a plant is illegal or not. But now, they recently “discovered” 30+ more THC compounds that will regulated the legality
  • NYC District Attorney offices will stop prosecuting low level offenses and automatically expunged  “some” charges but you still have to pay any of the guilty fines. Find more info here.
  • The newly and still being created OCM (Office of Cannabis Managment) needs its own sitcom on Comedy Central, not kidding.

The ink is yet to be dry on “rules” that are yet to be written. As of 2Q21 in NY You Can:

  • Smoke, Vape, Eat Cannabis if you are over 21
  • Legally smoke in places that tobacco smoke is allowed, for example side walks, streets, roofs, parked cars
  • Carry up to 3 oz. of flower

But you Can Not:

  • Smoke and Drive
  • Smoke in Public Housing areas
  • Grow the Cannabis plant until 18 months after recreational adult use is in place at dispensaries

How about Medical MJ?

The good news is you can now receive a Medical MJ card for anxiety and insomnia and the even better news is that flower will be available by the summer.

How about Businesses?

For business in NY you can not Sell or Buy Hemp or Cannabis unless you have any of at the following licenses that will be in effect in 2023:

  • Processor
  • Manufacturer
  • Retail

By 2022, this will directly affect retail stores from boutiques to gas stations as well as current Hemp growers and Hemp product makers. Nevertheless, The Office of Cannabis management, who say they have a commitment to social justice, are promising:

  • 50% of licenses to Women and POC businesses
  • Taxes collected from the sale of Cannabis to be redirected toward schools, drug treatment initiatives, and community organizations in areas adversely affected by drug enforcement.

In Conclusion

The conclusion is that there still is no conclusion. The rules are still being written, changing and reinterperted … more to come. But the following video sums up my emotions:

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Rose of Jericho, the Resurrection plant

New Moon Manifestation Intention Ritual with Rose of Jeriicho

Plant magic + New Moon = Powerful Intentions

Every month you have a chance to work with New Moon energy, a perfect time to use ALL your tools to set intentions. A plant I love to use in my new moon rituals is Rose of Jericho, it literally “resurrects” when u give it water. Energetically perfect for setting seeds of intention, additionally you can use candles and crystals to amplify your intention. A great book to read to understand how to “work with magic” is Psychomagic by Alejandro Jodorowsky 🧠 It shows how we truly create our own reality and with help from all the elements around us, celestial to earthly, we can really shift our mindset in manifesting what we want.

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Oregano 🌿 Keeps the Boogie Monsters Away

Herbal Medicinal Tea Oregano for Runny Nose

With its anti-bacterial, anti-viral & anti-inflammatory benefits, Oregano can be used for more than just pizza.

This herb grew abundantly in my parents backyard . And it’s been helping me & my family blast thru soar throats, stuffy nose & straight up anxiety. As an all day tea and even in my epson salt filled bath, this herb is warming up my core as well as allowing the boogies to melt away. Remember to get extra rest and hydration, especially during solar flare ups & eclipse seasons.

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Yerba Buena & How Plants Speak to Us🍃

Hand holding spearmint organic herbal smokable herb

Que viva la Yerba Buena. A plant that has been used by many Central, South and Caribbean grandmothers.

Not only is it amazing expectorant, it is also a great digestive- no wonder it was called “The Good Herb”.

During this global pandemic, the research I did directed me to use Spearmint, on a daily. Only to find her in my parents backyard growing wild, confirming my intuition to use her. It is said by abuelas that plants will show up/follow us when we need them. Grateful for plant intelligence. 

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Cleansing your Home with Herbs 🌿

Saging medicinal smokes to cleanse airborne diseasex

If your feeling cabin fever ❄️ cleansing (aka smudging/saging) your home with herbs is a great way to clean and clear the air.

Clinical studies have already proven plants like:
🌿 Sage
🌿 Palo Santo
🌿 Cedar
🌿 Pine
Disinfect 94% of airborne bacteria. And in a time that we are all home due to the weather and COVID, its good to refresh the air.

In this video, I share my home herbal cleansing techniques, taught to me by elders, abuellas and many moon sisters. It’s a great time to align cleansing your home with the new moon in Aquarius since it is also the New Chinese Lunar Year of the Ox.

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Listen to the Signs, 2021 Spring Update

Hand holding oregano over a triangle wood bowl

If there is one thing 2020 has taught me, is to listen to the signs.

2021 still feels like 2020 has not ended. In surfing all the changes, the recent PACT act that just passed in Congress will directly affect our product offering. Postal services have agreed to stop shipping any vape or tobacco products. Even though all our products are multi use and we don’t sell any products with Tobacco,  we will stop offering the following products:

HERBAL PREROLLS

30ML ELIXIRS

Smoking with Intention

Our intention has always been to bring plants to people. In this journey, we can not deny that plants have been used by our ancestors in a multitude of ways from tea, to baths to smoke and most recently, thanks to technology, vaporized. 

But when plants get packaged into any of the above techniques of teabags, vape liquids, prerolls, the consumer is disconnected from the plant. 

I personally did not want to offer a Preroll product because it meant the herbal blend would only be used to smoke and miss out on using the blend as a tea, bath or even vape. I also did and don’t want to be a “cigarette company.”

Now, all the messages are clear and pointing at only offering our Loose Leaf Blends since all postal services will cease to deliver tobacco or vaping products.

Everything Happens for a Reason

We hope you can understand our stand on plant medicine as well as our decision to stop offering tobacco or vape products. The recent PACT act only reinforces to us, and hopefully to you, that the aim of DroppingSeeds is to create a relationship between your vibration and the plant. 

And no matter how you choose to create that vibration, be it SIP, SOAK, VAPE, or SMOKE, that our blends can serve you on your journey during such transitional times in human kinds history.

As An Alternative …

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2021 Update

Love spray paint art

The only thing constant in life is change and 2020 is a perfect example. 

Believe it or not we are days away from entering the 2nd month of 2021 even though it feels like 2020 never ended. 

The amount of challenges 2020 bought to everyone has been unimaginable. From pandemic to political unrest, life has completely changed and DroppingSeeds was not immune to all the change. 

Downsize, Optimize and Streamline

If there was anything I learned from Sept 11 in 2001 and the Great Recession in 2008 is to “pack light.” The challenges back then barely compare to today but when the sh!t hits the fan, you need to prioritize what’s important. 

We are still years away from fully seeing the ripple effect the global COVID lockdown will have on humanity. But immediately we saw all supply chains either sloooow down or completely break (toilet paper anyone). For us, that meant a shortage of packaging material like tins, preroll tubes and herbs. 

Never mind the constant state of fear and panic (that we all are still in), 2020 made us all stay inside. We miss all the markets and events that allowed us to connect to our customers. We also miss all the boutiques and bars carrying our products that are trying there best to stay open and navigate social distancing. 

In packing light, we decided to stop offering the 28G Herbal Tins and put a pause on elixirs and prerolls. We are only offering our most loved 10G Herbal Tins along with tea balls, rolling papers, rolling box and muslin bag accessories. 

Please Please Mr Postman. Why’s it takin’ such a long time?

Another victim of 2020 is the postal service… globally. Not only did these lockdowns create an explosion to online shopping (e-commerce grew in 3 months what it was projected to grow in 10 years). But also the postal service, being one of the most important essential jobs to keep the economy going, were not ready or equipped to deal with the COVID outbreaks in there workforce. All in all this compounded an already taxed global situation. 

Diamonds Nothing is forever

After 12 years of being “crazy in love” and co-creating two beautiful children and numerous successful projects including DroppingSeeds, we decided to start a new & different chapter. 

SirRoan has moved on to building and running We Are Earth (WAE), a multi faceted operation featuring high yield vertical farms in collaboration with GROWBOX™. We both continue to co-parent our growing children while entering our second year in homeschooling them. And DroppingSeeds became a one womxn show who’s herbal operation is currently in transition to the Hudson Valley. 

Surfing the Chaos

2001, 2008 and 2020 has literally felt like a sunami came and destroyed everything I knew at the time. But similar to being in the ocean, when a wave crashes on you, if you resist, the wave will drag you down. If you surrender, you float to the top and if your lucky, you bodysurf to the shore. 

After the sunami receded for me in 2001 and 2008, there were many treasures that it left behind. In 2001 I launched my graphic design business and in 2008 I travel the world. Am very much looking forward to the treasures 2020 will leave behind. 

So Whats Next?

We will continue a focus on producing the 10G Herbal Blends for online and wholesale. Once we fully transition the Herbal Studio operation to the Hudson Valley, we will re-focus on the Herbal Preroll and Herbal Elixirs. We will try our best to keep ahead of the delays in packaging material/herbs as well as the delays in postal services.

Stay safe & stay in love, as well as patient.  2021 and the years to come will be “messy” globally. And rather than focusing on the “collapse”, let’s start focusing on the rebuilding. Much much More to come 🙌🏾

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Do Herbs Cause a False Positive in Urine Drug Test?

Herbal Smoking Blend

The standard Urine Drug Test is looking for chemical compounds that do not exist in organic herbal blends.

What compounds do Urine Drug Test look for?

Many clinical, employment, educational, and legal settings require urine, saliva or hair test. These test are looking for 8 to 15 chemical compounds which are:

  • Amphetamines (meth, speed, crank, ecstasy)
  • Cocaine (coke, crack)
  • Opiates (heroin, opium, codeine, morphine)
  • Phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust)
  • Barbiturates (phenobarbital, butalbital, secobarbital, downers)
  • Benzodiazepines (tranquilizers like Valium, Librium, Xanax)
  • Methaqualone (Quaaludes)
  • Methadone (often used to treat heroin addiction)
  • Propoxyphene (Darvon compounds)
  • Hallucinogens (LSD, mushrooms, mescaline, peyote)
  • Inhalants (paint, glue, hairspray)
  • Anabolic steroids (synthesized, muscle-building hormones)
  • Hydrocodone (prescription medication known as Lortab, Vicodin, Oxycodone)
  • MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy)
  • THC (found in Cannabis as well as in Synthetic Cannabis).

Why do Herbal Blends not show up on a Drug Test?

Simply put, the standard urine, saliva or hair drug test is not LOOKING for the compounds in herbal blends that are:

  • Organically Grown with no pesticides
  • Have no additional pharmaceutically made chemicals added in blending process.

Much research has gone to the Cannabis plant to understand why and how it effects human. From flavonoids to terpenes, everyone has become a Cannabis chemist. The truth is ALL plants have compounds that assist us in shifting our mind state. And all these compounds have not been deemed illegal by any governments. They have not been put on the list of trackable compounds for a urine drug test.

Use Mugwort as an example of a plant with terpenes that clinically show to shift our mind state. Its most active compounds are one of the most highly researched terpenes in the Cannabis industry:

Alpha +Betta-Pinene
CamphorEucaluptolCampheneBeta MyrceneLimoneneTerpineol

The terpenes found in Mugwort are not illegal substances. Any regulation on Mugwort would be impossible to enforce since she grows wild everywhere. Many of theses compounds already exist in many consumable foods. And the plant itself Mugwort, is not on any governments illegal substance list.

How to choose an Herbal Blend to insure a Negative Urine Drug Test?

1st thing to look for is that the Herbal Blend states it is using NO chemicals from the list above. From the growing process to the blending process, keeping the integrity of the plant as pure as possible will insure a negative drug test. If you strive for your food to be GMO free. Wouldn’t you want your herbs to be GMO too?

2nd do not confuse Herbal Blend laced with Synthetic Cannabinoid chemicals with an Herbal Blends created by herbalist. Synthetic Cannabinoids are chemical compounds that mimic the effects of THC. They were developed by pharmaceuticals as therapeutic agents for the treatment of pain. The Synthetic Cannabinoids are psychoactive chemicals sprayed on herbal mixtures. These mixtures are labeled as “fake weed”, “legal high” or “synthetic marijuana.” Keep in mind, a synthetically made science lab product will most likely show up on a drug test.

Does CBD or Hemp show Up on a Urine Drug Test?

Standard drug test are only looking for the compound THC. Newer Urine Drug Test are looking for ALL Cannabinoids. That includes CBD, CBA and CBG. There is no way of knowing if the test is for THC or all Cannabinoid compounds unless you are told in advance.

The Cannabis is considered “Legal Hemp” when less then 0.3% THC is found in the plants lab results. The plant is considered “Illegal Marijuana” if it has more than 0.3% of the THC compound. There is currently no regulation on CBD percentages along with hundreds of other cannabinoid compounds that the Hemp plant has. If the urnine drug test is for any Cannabinoids, consuming the Hemp plant will result in detecteable amounts in your drug test. If the test is only for THC, the cutoff for THC in the United States is 50 ng/mL. We can not predict how much consumption you would need to partake to remain below the 50 ng/mL THC testing threshold. We do know Cannabinoids stay in your system for 3–4 days with occasional usage and 7-15 days with chronic usage.

How about False Positives on Urine Drug Test from Herbs?

Yes false positives can happen. Specifically with Cannabinoid testing if you ingest too much Hemp Milk or Hemp seeds. Additionally with Opiate testing if you eat too much Poppy Seed bagels. Nope not kidding, even eating too much yeast can have you fail a breathalyzer test for alcohol.

Smokable Herbs

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