in other words
march21
2019
17
Celebrating Life: Getting to Know Essential Oils
By Korina Buehrer
HOWDY! Let me introduce myself. My name
is Korina Buehrer and I fancy many titles; Birth Doula,
board member of a nonprofit called Mama Baby Haiti,
mama of four boys, wife to my high school sweetheart,
sister to five siblings, daughter to Yahweh, world trav-
eler, homeschooler, animal lover, and healer.
Lets’s zoom in on the last title, healer. Healer
by definition is, “someone that alleviates a person’s dis-
tress or anguish.” It never gets old helping people dig
deep to make well thought out choices, to be empow-
ered. I use three very powerful tools to empower oth-
ers: essential oils, nutrition, and mindset.
My passion for essential oils began seven years
ago, and continues to grow. Serving as a birth doula
since 2006, and doing humanitarian work over the last
10 years, has changed my life. Hearing babies cry for
the first time and helping women transform into moth-
ers drops me to my knees speechless... literally, I get
to witness miracles for a living. Working with Mama
Baby Haiti, a 100% Haitian-staff run nonprofit birth
center based in Cap Haitian that offers free prenatal,
birth, and postpartum care to any women who walks
through the doors, I have held the hands of women giv-
ing birth, breaking the language barrier by touch and
encouragement.
In this first column I want to act as matchmaker
and introduce you to my friends, essential oils. They
are incredible and never cease to amaze.
The use of essential oils goes back to some
very humble beginnings, yet have passed the test of
time, having been used medicinally since the begin-
ning of recorded history:
• The Egyptians were the first people to discover aro-
matherapy, and use aromatic herbs for religion, cos-
metics, as well as medicinal purposes.
• At the same time the Egyptians were developing their
knowledge on plant based medicine the Chinese made
use of herbs and aromatic plants. They were an integral
part of the Indian Ayurvedic medicinal system.
• The life changing benefits discovered by the Egyp-
tians were adopted and put into practice by the ancient
Greeks. The most well-known physician of that time -
Hippocrates (c.460 - 377 BC) was also a firm believer
of treating the patient holistically and included aroma-
therapy massage as a treatment.
• Good things can’t be kept secret for long. The wisdom
of the Greeks made its way to the Romans. Romans
were strong believers in hygiene to promote health and
also placed great stock in aromatherapy and the power
of fragrances.
• Frankincense and Myrrh essential oils were a gift
of the Magi.
• After the fall of the Roman Empire and the subse-
quent Dark Ages we saw the emergence of the Arabian
empire which was in the position to draw not only from
Greek and Roman teachings, but also those of China
and India. The Persian physician Avicenna (980 - 1037
AD) is being credited with perfecting the distillation
process of essential oils.
• The term aromatherapy as we know it today was first
coined in 1937 by the French chemist and perfumer
Rene Maurice Gattefosse. He was not a believer of the
natural health movement but was interested in the prop-
erties that essential oils exhibited. In 1910 he burned
his hand badly in his laboratory and being the first
available compound handy, treated his badly burned
hand with pure undiluted lavender oil, which not only
immediately eased the pain, but helped heal the hand
without any sign of infection or scar. He also found that
minute amounts of essential oils are absorbed by the
body and interact with the body chemistry.
• During the Second World War, as a result of Gatte-
fosse’s experiments, Dr. Jean Valet used essential oils
to treat injured soldiers with great success.
• Since the late 1970s and early 80s the use of essen-
tial oils and aromatherapy has become a major part of
alternative and holistic health systems, and has a huge
following across the world.
Now that you’ve been introduced I hope you
might be interested in learning more about essential
oils and the many ways they can benefit you, your fam-
ily, and your health.
Next month: A Date With Essential Oils
Korina Buehrer is a Birth Doula and a Wellness Edu-
cator. She teaches in-home, or online essential well-
ness classes. Feel free to reach out at celebratinglife.
me@gmail.com for more information.
President Signs Bill to Protect Lands and Rivers in Oregon
Oregon Wildlands Act
provides protections for
southern Oregon
President Donald Trump has
signed into law the John D. Dingell, Jr.
Conservation, Management and Recre-
ation Act, a public lands package that
includes the Oregon Wildlands Act (S.
1548) and the Frank and Jeanne Moore
Wild Steelhead Special Management
Area Designation Act (S. 513/H.R. 1308).
The legislation adds a total of
more than 1.3 million acres of public
land to the National Wilderness Preser-
vation System, and 621 miles of rivers
to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers
System, and reauthorizes the Land and
Water Conservation Fund. It also in-
cludes dozens of other bipartisan pub-
lic lands measures that would conserve
some of our nation’s wildest lands and
rivers. The Natural Resources Manage-
ment Act passed the U.S. Senate on Feb-
ruary 12, 2019, and the U.S. House of
Representatives on February 26, 2019.
The Oregon Wildlands Act por-
tion of the legislation designates the ap-
proximately 30,000-acre Devil’s Stair-
case Wilderness in the Oregon Coast
Range, northeast of Reedsport. It also
safeguards 311 miles of rivers, includ-
ing nearly 256 miles as Wild and Scenic
Rivers, like the Molalla and Elk Rivers
and tributaries to the lower Rogue River.
The bill also permanently withdraws
portions of the salmon-rich Chetco
River, the drinking water source for the
City of Brookings, from mining claims.
“The Oregon Wildlands Act
is a huge win for southern Oregon and
the Rogue River!” said Pete Wallstrom,
owner of Momentum River Expeditions.
“The Rogue is one of the central engines
of the growing tourism and recreation
economy in Southern Oregon. Common
sense and well thought out protections
like these are important for our environ-
ment and for creating healthy and sustain-
able rural economies. Thanks to everyone
involved including senators Wyden and
Merkley and Representative DeFazio!”
The signing of this bill into law
is the culmination of years of effort to
protect some of Oregon’s most unique
lands and rivers treasured by Orego-
nians as sources of clean drinking wa-
ter, for their economic benefits derived
from outdoor recreation, and for their
wilderness character that provides a
unique backcountry experience. There
is broad public support from Oregonians
across the state, including hunters and
anglers, business owners, veterans, com-
munity leaders, and conservationists.
“Without protected watersheds
and clean water, neither the wild land-
scapes nor our craft brewing industry
could thrive,” said Ross Putnam, Co-
Founder and General Manager, Base
Camp Brewing. “We are lucky to have
Oregon leaders that appreciate the value
of outdoor recreation and craft beer to
the state economy.”
“Approval of the Oregon Wild-
lands Act after so many years of fed-
eral inaction is a landmark bipartisan
achievement,” added John Atkins, presi-
dent of the Molalla River Alliance.
The Frank and Jeanne Moore
Wild Steelhead Special Management
Area Act permanently safeguards an
area in the North Umpqua basin that
contains some of the best wild steelhead
spawning areas in the Pacific Northwest
and honor Frank Moore, a World War II
veteran, and his wife of over 70 years,
who are both legendary stewards of the
North Umpqua.
“I’m very proud to have mine
and my wife’s name associated with
this bill. It’s important that we priori-
tize our land management policy to put
the resources and our wild salmon and
steelhead first. That’s the least we can do
to ensure these treasured lands and fish
will be around for future generations,”
said Frank Moore, the namesake of the
legislation.
Loggerbots’ First Competition continued from page 11
during the Sandstorm portion of the
competition, and tied for the 2 nd most
points scored on day one using the vid-
eo camera to drive the robot.
On the second day the Logger-
bots lost their two matches and failed to
advance in the competition.
Costley said this is the first year
the Loggerbots have been able to keep
their fully functioning robot from the
previous year while they built their new
robot for this year’s challenge. “Usu-
ally we have to take apart last year’s
robot and reuse electronic components.
This year we got all new electronics
with the help of OMIC, so we were able
to use last year’s robot to practice driv-
ing, which really helped in our prepara-
tions.”
Costley says the team, with
12 members, is a little larger this year,
due to the student participants recruit-
ing more members themselves. He
said consistent participation has also
increased. Sean Coffey and Zack
Larke are senior captains of the team.
Other important members have been
senior Grace Costley, junior Levi Bur-
ton, sophomores Larissa Vandehey and
Nick Costley, and the team has even
included two 8 th graders – Tyler Riddell
and Vance Landry.
Costley says one of the good
things about having a fairly small group
of students participating in the program,
is the team members get a lot of hands-
on experience doing a variety of tasks.
“They have to be able to do everything.”
The Loggerbots will have one
more competition in Lake Oswego on
March 28-30 where they can earn more
points and try to advance to the Region-
al competition.
Passage of these bills will be a
boon to local economies. Visitors from
across the country and around the globe
come to explore and enjoy Western Or-
egon’s outstanding fishing, rafting, hik-
ing, and other outdoor recreation op-
portunities. The Outdoor Industry As-
sociation recently found that outdoor
recreation in Oregon generates $16.4
billion in consumer spending, 172,000
jobs, $5.1 billion in wages and salaries,
and $749 million in state and local tax
revenue.
Dan Courtney, Chairman of the
Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe
of Indians, said: “The Cow Creek Band
of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians applauds
the passage of the Frank and Jeanne
Moore Wild Steelhead Special Manage-
ment Area. Our tribe wants nothing more
than a healthy Oregon, with clean rivers
and a rich biodiversity of our native fish
populations. This special designation
will help achieve that. We thank Sena-
tors Wyden, Merkley and Representa-
tives DeFazio and Walden for all of their
efforts here. We also thank Frank and
Jeanne Moore for a lifetime of work to
bettering our state and southern Oregon.”
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