I guess this belongs here..I'm not sure....

[pamsback]

Hmmm
where can i get a  chunk of sandstone. i suppose i could work one down fairly easy.     
I am guessing sandstone would have to be rather thick cause as you grind you would also wear down the stone.  But it would be a perfect surface for grinding the herbs. 

There is sandstone all over the place over by Fall River lake but it really ain't what you want unless you want your herbs full of sand when you get done! You want granite or some other really hard rock. Limestone might work.


You're right about stuff gettin broke with plowin etc. Jarhead.

[jarhead]

All the grinding stones and bowls I have ever found, including a kazillion broken ones, have been made from sand stone. Granted I'd imagine you would be eating quite a bit of sand along with your ground maize but that's probably why almost all (old)Natives they have studied had teeth worn down to nubs. I see bowls and such at tourist traps that are made from lava rock but most are fakes. About all stone walls in these parts are sand stone so go snatch you a flat one Steve,and after a year or two of grinding I bet it looks like a bowl.Alot of grinding stones and bowls have "cupped ' indentations on the back-side and are called nutter stone so when you smashed a walnut that puppy would kinda stay in the same place instead of flying everywhere. Other books say the nutter stone was used to put differant colored paints in---then others say they were used to put the end of a stick in when you made fire with a a bow. My guess is it was used for all the above, and probably more things than that.
Pam, I know there are some real pretty pink flints but the" experts" tell me that most pink flints got their color from being heat treated--and yes, they heat treated alot of flint before knapping it. The Flint Hills have 4 differant kinds of flint and one example is Florence flint. It is whiteish/ grey but after heat treated a pretty pink. That same Florence flint in Oklahoma is known as Kay county chert. I have a handful of points I found ,as a pup, between Bee Branch and Damascus, Arkansas but I've been told that Arkansas made the flood plain of all moving water, state owned and against the law to hunt artifacts on state land.

[pamsback]

I have found some different colors of flint since I've been down here....I've got one big chunk I found that is the prettiest color of blue I've seen. I had never seen truly BLUE flint before. I've got blue and pink both. I collect rocks that catch my eye be it because of color or weird shapes whatever. I've got one I found in Buffalo creek that has what looks just like a KEYHOLE in it, the ball of mud rock I was talkin about, various crystals, obsidion I found up by Webb City, one that looks just like a horn of plenty with little baby rocks attached to the inside that I found down by Powell, mica, even got a chunk of marble I found,some that are shaped like bowls that I use for candle holders.......people give me crap about my rocks but I LIKE rocks lol

I know most of the old ones are sandstone but I didn't figure Steve wanted grit in his herbs!

[Varmit]

I know most of the old ones are sandstone but I didn't figure Steve wanted grit in his herbs!

You know, I found the best way to chop herb is to use a food processor, man, not a bowl.  Thats where the herb goes after you chop it man.   

[srkruzich]

I know most of the old ones are sandstone but I didn't figure Steve wanted grit in his herbs!

You know, I found the best way to chop herb is to use a food processor, man, not a bowl.  Thats where the herb goes after you chop it man.   

I suppose it depends on what you want to use the herb for  

[pamsback]

I know most of the old ones are sandstone but I didn't figure Steve wanted grit in his herbs!

You know, I found the best way to chop herb is to use a food processor, man, not a bowl.  Thats where the herb goes after you chop it man.  

I suppose it depends on what you want to use the herb for  

well....medicinal purposes of course....

[srkruzich]

I know most of the old ones are sandstone but I didn't figure Steve wanted grit in his herbs!

You know, I found the best way to chop herb is to use a food processor, man, not a bowl.  Thats where the herb goes after you chop it man.   

Some herbs if you use a blender the heat from the blender blades chopping it up will destroy the properties in the herb.  One such herb called stevia, if you chop it with a fast blade and not use a mortar and pestal will cause the herb to heat up and release the bitter oils in it making stevia useless as a sweetener.   There are two ways to use this herb, one is to place fresh or dried leaves into water and let the water absorb the sweetening properties, the other is to grind into a powder.  Both solutions you do not want to heat the herb in any way. 

Now why would i want to grind up a herb like stevia into a powder, since it would make a drink awful to have powder?  You can take the powder and suspend in alchohol and make a tincture.  This tincture is much like vanilla extract.   Then you can take the solution and strain the powder out of it after about a month and use drops in your tea or coffee or baking products, and NOT get the bitterness that you would get from heating it. 

[jarhead]

Steve, Have you ever drank catnip tea ? As a pup it was our main medicine for a common cold. Today if I have the creepy crud I still swear by it. Catnip is a distant cousin of marijuana and I've read if you smoke it you might get a tiny buzz. Bet my Mamma didn't know she was fixing us kids a "drug tea".

[srkruzich]

Steve, Have you ever drank catnip tea ? As a pup it was our main medicine for a common cold. Today if I have the creepy crud I still swear by it. Catnip is a distant cousin of marijuana and I've read if you smoke it you might get a tiny buzz. Bet my Mamma didn't know she was fixing us kids a "drug tea".

Never drank it. I don't see why we couldn't.  I do use several herbs.  I have in the past used mari for pain but not by smoking.  I made tincture out of it.  I also have to say it works a hell of a lot better than codeine which is a addictive narcotic where the marijuana isn't.   
It also is a wonderful herb to promote sleep in tincture form if your going through insomnia. 

[Wilma]

Why would you want to go to all the trouble of preparing stevia as a sweetener when there is sugar? and all those other artificial sweeteners?  Or is there some other benefit from it?

The best cure for the common cold is a raw onion sandwich with plenty of butter and I mean plenty.  Works everytime for me and protects the rest of the family, too.