I have just started reading a book by the (as I am finding out, amazing) Stephen Harrod Buhner called Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. . Who’d put the words ‘healing’ and ‘beer’ together? Not me, certainly, until just a few months ago. The beer I grew up with, as I am learning, is *so* far removed from beer as it was just a few centuries ago. . Then it was made at home, mostly by women. . Then it was the drink of both kings and paupers. . Then it was made from local grains. . Then, very often, the leftovers were used to make bread (you can see mine here in the background). . Then, herbs were expertly added, knowledge of just what healing they could bring bound up in the blood and bones of the communities who made it. . And now? Would anyone in the mainstream even imagine that this used to be the norm? . I can feel another mission coming on!