By Susan Hunt-Bradford, Publisher

I know spring and summer are popular times for farmers markets; however, my favorite time of year to visit a market is September and October. Most are open until the end of October. Maybe it’s because fall is my favorite season or it’s cooler out, but whatever it is, fall farmers markets … [click headline to read more]

Welcome September, and welcome readers back to print!

I’m so excited that The Healthy Planet Magazine is once again a print publication. We’ll also stay online, but I know many people look forward to picking up the monthly edition at your favorite location. We’ve all been working hard trying to get everything written and published.

When I … [click headline to read more]

As August winds down, I can be found recycling old papers from our office in Webster Groves and getting ready to shut down the office completely in September. This is all part of my retirement from publishing that has covered almost 45 years between the Webster-Kirkwood Times and The Healthy Planet magazine. In between there … [click headline to read more]

By Amy Williams, Licensed Massage Therapist at Vitality Unlimited Spa

Aromatherapy, a gift from the ancient Mediterranean world, is both a science and an art. Using extracted oils from the natural world, aromatherapy offers healing properties that seek to harmonize the psychological, the physical and the spiritual well-being.Gentle yet powerful, aromatherapy can help your body heal from common maladies and boost … [click headline to read more]

By Dr. Amy Davis, MD

I am commonly asked from my patients, “Can I get all the nutrients I need from food?”

In an ideal world, eating organic, whole, fresh food, would provide all the nutrients our bodies require to function optimally. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we still fall short. Some of the reasons for the … [click headline to read more]

By Jan Herzog

Yoga breathing is also called pranayama in yoga lingo. I have been dealing with frozen shoulder- adhesive capsulitis. Even though I have a mild case and I can still use my arm it is “stuck” in certain movements.

I have been working with a really good physical therapist and also some awesome massage therapists. … [click headline to read more]

By Kate Lamprich

HEALING the BODYOur magical human bodies are capable of healing themselves; but the lives that we live get stuck. Our experiences, traumas, illness, disease, thoughts, and more get stuck in our physical, mental/emotional, and energetic bodies inhibiting the natural healing functions.

As a practitioner, it is my job to provide a safe and comfortable … [click headline to read more]

By Ann Lapides

A charming shade perennial, Twinkle Toes Lungwort, Pulmonaria, will make you want to frolic with joy with its periwinkle-blue spring flowers and unique foliage. Starting in mid-spring dainty blue flowers cover a low mound of fascinating speckled foliage. After the flowers fade, you can enjoy its dark green leaves that are delightfully sprinkled … [click headline to read more]

By Simon Yu MD

If you have a preexisting condition like obesity, diabetes or hypertension, you are more susceptible to severe Covid, Post-Covid Syndrome, or post-vaccination related complications. There is no dispute about working to reduce the danger of preexisting conditions: better control for diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

How about pre-preexisting conditions? Do you have any that might … [click headline to read more]

By Linda Wiggen Kraft, Healthy Planet Green & Growing Editor

If you’ve heard of Slow Food and other “slow” experiences like Slow Art, you know the concept. Experience life in a calm, thoughtful and delightful way that opens up your senses to fully experience what is going on around and within you. All too often when … [click headline to read more]

It’s always hard to let go of the fun days of summer. But then thoughts turn to what waits for us on the other side. Fall’s harvests, colored leaves, golden sunsets, and warm sweaters. Fall invites us to slow down, get cozy, and take a deep breath of crisp air. Each season has its novelties … [click headline to read more]

By Dr. Gail Cloud, D.C.

What a year it is! In times like these, it is so easy for us to take ourselves too seriously and take things personally. Most of us are more sensitive to others and their moods than we give ourselves credit for. We pick up on the tone of words, the body … [click headline to read more]

By Deb Powell

Being organized is easier than you think! Yes, it takes effort, but it’s worth it.

Welcome to our new monthly column. It’s here to encourage, inspire, and guide you to get your life running smoothly. As a natural and professional organizer, my passion is helping others get their lives in order. You will learn… [click headline to read more]

By Jean Ponzi

Golden Yellow
Lavish Greens
Birdie warbles, twitters, trills
Breeze lilt, rattle and whoosh
Solar canopy
Cumulus piles

… [click headline to read more]

By Sarah Wilson, MA
Our Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds clock over 50 wing beats a second. And that’s their casual “running errands” speed. Courtship can crank things up to around 200.

How is that possible?

First, they have to take in a lot of oxygen. They do that by breathing 4 times a second and having a heart that pounds … [click headline to read more]

By Tom Braford

An existential threat is usually defined as one that causes an enduring and significant loss of long term human potential. Therefore, if mitigating those threats effectively prevents that loss or causes an enduring gain of long term human potential, does that create an existential opportunity?

We think that building communities by the Dunbar numbers qualifies … [click headline to read more]

By Dan Zarlenga, Missouri Department of Conservation

Photo Caption: A beautiful freshwater jellyfish deploys its venomous tentacles.

Photo by Jim Rathert, Missouri Department of Conservation

According to ancient Greek mythology, there once existed a female creature known as the Medusa. It’s said she possessed the ability to instantly turn those who gazed upon her to stone, and that… [click headline to read more]

By Sophie Watterson and Jim Karpowicz

Communities across Missouri are impacted by air pollution: whether poor air quality is driving up asthma rates or the odors from a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) are driving down property values. We know the importance of clean air, and yet we have shockingly little information about what we’re breathing. […]

By Emily Andrews, Executive Director, USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter

This past summer has been a doozy when it comes to extreme weather and climate emergencies, hasn’t it? Locally and globally we have seen record breaking heatwaves; drought, drought and more drought; and epic rainfalls followed by even more epic flooding. If you had a dry basement in … [click headline to read more]

Ingredients

Serves 8 people

1lb/450 g Russet potatoes2 cups olive oil2 onions, chopped2 large eggsSalt and pepper Spring of fresh parsley

Other ingredients can be added, such as ham, bacon, cheese, mushrooms,

Steps:

Peel potatoes, cut into small cubes, then put on a clean dish towel to dry them.Heat on low the olive oil in a large, heavy bottom or nonstick … [click headline to read more]

Amee Colvin: ‘I can’t sit around and do nothing”

Amee Colvin is the type of person you want on your friend’s list or work team. She is outgoing, kind and considerate, intelligent and funny. Amee is the director of mission and outreach at Green Trails United Methodist Church in Chesterfield. She also teaches part-time in the … [click headline to read more]

Designed for children, preteens, and teenagers into adulthood, St Louisan Kim ‘Schwarz’ Duerr self-published an affirmation book that grows with maturity.

With a bit of humor, “Basset-Beagle named Bagle” begins as a brightly illustrated picture book filled with basic fundamentals for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). Also included is a ‘quick-list’ of affirmations to start your day and … [click headline to read more]

Fred Dickerson is a very ambitious go-getter who has had a lot of success in his career but continues to help people in various ways. He’s talented and is admired but also stays down to earth.

SHB. What is your occupation?

FD: Full-time digital content creator. I specialize in creating short-form content for social media. I do … [click headline to read more]

Harley F. Linn: The CPA with the soul of an artist

I want to thank our publisher, Sue Bradford, for allowing me to be a part of her amazing new journey. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

In this issue of Donna’s Delights and Insights, I feature CPA and multifaceted businessman Harley Linn. Harley recently … [click headline to read more]

By Michelle “Mike” Ochonicky, Healthy Planet Arts Editor

Photo Caption: Maos Organ by Barbara Chase-Riboud, at the Pulitzer

September begins with Circus Harmony flying high on September 3 with a free noon performance at St. Louis Public Library Main Branch (downtown). www.circusharmony.org.

But that’s just the start…

As a result of two years’ planning, teaching and collaboration with local … [click headline to read more]

By Jasmin Acosta

At times as a child we grow up feeling unloved, have trouble expressing love, and feeling love for ourselves due to traumatic experiences. Where this carries on over into our adulthood and this affects our self esteem, confidence, and ability to love.

Traumatic events strip away the ability for us to have love for … [click headline to read more]

Sarah Wilson, MA

Imagine being on the 71st floor the North Tower of the World Trade Center the morning  of 9/11/2001.

Imagine feeling an impact, then hearing the sounds of a building struggling not to come  apart.

Now, imagine you are blind.

That was what Omar Rivera faced. Blind, but with a partner: Salty, his five-year-old,  yellow Labrador guide … [click headline to read more]

By Teresa Garden, DVM

Pawspice care, hospice care for pets, is a relatively new concept in veterinary medicine. Dr. Alice Villalobos, a well-known and respected veterinary oncologist, practices medicine with an emphasis on compassionate care for terminally ill pets. Dr. Villalobos coined the phrase and integrates the philosophy of pawspice care on a daily basis in … [click headline to read more]

Our dog Storm is a healthy, vibrant dog with a ton of energy and personality. He’s a Pit-Bull Bull Mastiff mix that became part of our family in spring of 2021 when covid-19 had just become the new normal.

We chose to adopt a Pit-Bull specifically because we felt that they are often unfairly labeled and … [click headline to read more]

By Jane Roberts

I can honestly say that fall is my favorite season of the year. I love everything about it. I love the cooler weather that requires me to pull on a sweater or sweatshirt. The sounds of a crackling fire as we roast marshmallows over it. Crunching leaves under my feet as I hike … [click headline to read more]

By Clint Green

In my orbitI absorb it.

Like Spartan’s spearpiercing through negative thoughtsno longer caughtI persevere.

Confidence, Compassion, GratitudeCravings on the frontlineAn insatiable appetiteMy mind’s grand design.

If any doubtshould overshadow my cloutlet it be knownthat positivity

Will always win out.