cover image Dare to Be a Green Witch: The Grounded Goodwife’s Guide to Wellness & Holistic Healing

Dare to Be a Green Witch: The Grounded Goodwife’s Guide to Wellness & Holistic Healing

Ehris Urban and Velya Jancz-Urban. Llewellyn, $19.99 ISBN 978-0-73876-545-7

In this handy guide, the mother-daughter duo of Urban and Jancz-Urban (How to Survive a Brazilian Betrayal) share tips, tricks, and recipes for holistic living. The core message is one of following holistic medicine and being aware of the products and ingredients one puts on or in one’s body. The authors provide information on fermenting, homemade tonics, and recipes using ingredients such as bone broth and whey. A section focused on natural body care, meanwhile, features recipes for skin and hair care products, including facial masks and perfumes. The authors strike a nice balance between instruction and background information to help readers understand why each recipe is included and its intended effects (such as hawthorn tonic, for example, to help maintain healthy blood pressure and heart rhythm and to help “heartache, grief, or anxiety”). Readers, however, should be prepared for dismissive attitudes toward certain aspects of modern science—notably vaccines—which may be a deal-breaker for some. But for those simply interested in green living, the recipes are worth the price of admission. (July)