Episode 133

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Published on:

29th Jun 2026

133. Liberty Tea and Simple Choices

Ghia—Patriots such as Penelope Barker committed to boycott British tea. Liberty Tea, as the local tea alternatives were called, included the wild-harvested wintergreen.

Transcript
Speaker:

Gia here.

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Welcome to the Creative Spiritual Journey

podcast, where Judy and I explore faith,

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nature, and the simple practices that

bring wonder and joy to everyday life.

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In my last podcast, I talked about

how seasonal celebrations create

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traditions that teach our spirits

and our communities what's important,

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sacred, and worth remembering.

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This year on my journey around the sun,

the importance and meaning of these yearly

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celebrations has really stood out to me.

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Of course, I have celebrated the

traditional holidays my whole life,

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but this notion that the holidays I

choose to celebrate teach my spirit

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what's important and sacred strikes me

as something I should put more thought

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into and not just take for granted.

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Which is why as we head into the Fourth

of July celebration, I was grateful for

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the opportunity to stop and think, "Yes,

the creation of the United States is

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truly something I want to celebrate."

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It isn't just a fun summer party,

and it isn't a pride thing.

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I'm not celebrating because

it's where I live or because

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I think America is the best.

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I'm celebrating because the United

States allows me freedom, choice, and

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opportunities that have been denied

to so many people throughout history.

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This is important, and I

would even say it's sacred and

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certainly worth remembering.

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And in order to truly remember, we need

to be reminded over and over, year after

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year, thus our seasonal celebrations.

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All this to say, this year I have

decided to add a new tradition

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to my 4th of July celebration.

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I'm going to add the herb wintergreen.

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Yep, wintergreen.

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I told my mother this, and she was aghast.

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She said something like, "No, green

doesn't go with red, white, and blue."

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I had to laugh as I realized

that I was raised more

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seasonally than I ever thought.

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Seasonal colors have always

been important to my mother.

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I recall her dismay when my dad

appeared wearing his orange wool

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tie during the height of summer.

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It was obvious to her that orange

wool should only be worn in the fall.

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But my dad, for all his brains, didn't

notice, and once he had the tie on,

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nothing could entice him to take it off.

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But I digress.

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Let me get back to the topic at hand.

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What is patriotic about wintergreen,

and why am I making it part of

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my Fourth of July celebration?

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Well, it turns out wintergreen is

a member of what I am calling an

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elite group of herbal teas that

historians call liberty teas.

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Did you know there was such a

designation as liberty teas?

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I love it.

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Let me explain.

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In 1773, angered by yet another

British tax, this one on tea, colonists

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donned blankets and face paint and

boarded ships in the Boston Harbor,

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where they dumped crate upon crate

of imported black tea into the ocean.

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This act of defiance helped

spark the American Revolution.

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But did you know there's

more to this story?

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Have you ever heard of

the Eddington Tea Party?

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Ten months after the Boston Tea

Party, at the behest of Penelope

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Barker, 51 women gathered for a tea

party in Eddington, North Carolina,

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and signed a public resolution

supporting the boycott of British tea.

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As part of the Daughters of Liberty

movement, women were already

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refusing British tea, encouraging

local substitutes, and using their

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purchasing power as a political tool.

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But the Eddington Tea Party was the

first recorded public women's political

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demonstration in colonial America,

and it's significant to note that this

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wasn't done in secret, under the cover

of night, or while wearing disguises.

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They openly and publicly

signed the resolution.

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Here's an approximation of what the

ladies signed: "We, the ladies of

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Eddington, do hereby solemnly engage

not to conform to that pernicious

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custom of drinking tea Until such time

that all acts which tend to enslave

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our native country shall be repealed."

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That's a mouthful, isn't it?

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And I even tried to simplify it a

bit . But they were very formal.

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In fact, the women of Eddington never

called their gathering a tea party.

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They saw it as something

much more serious.

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They saw it as a public political pledge.

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It was only later in British

newspapers that the event was mocked

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and labeled the Eddington Tea Party.

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The name stuck and has been

passed down through history.

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I'm sorry that the name wasn't what the

women wanted, but I personally love it,

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and I was disappointed to learn that

they didn't actually have a grand tea

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party where they served liberty tea.

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I just have to be happy knowing

that they drank it later,

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probably when they got home.

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But before I talk more about liberty

tea, let me tell you a little bit

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about the party's instigator, Penelope

Barker, because she's quite a character.

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The historian Richard Dillard wrote

that she was, quote, "One of those

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lofty, intrepid, high-born women

peculiarly fitted by nature to lead.

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Fear formed no part of her composition."

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End quote.

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That's quite a character

description, don't you think?

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And from what I read

about her life, it's true.

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At 21, she had two of her own children

and was caring for three of her sister's

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children when her first husband died.

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The court doubted she was old enough

to care for so many children and

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threatened to have them removed.

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The historical record does not offer

details about what happened, but Penelope

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must have stood her ground because in

the end, she kept all of the children.

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Tradition also recounts the story

of Penelope being informed by a

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servant that British soldiers were

taking horses from her stables.

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It's reported that she snatched a

sword from the wall, went outside,

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and with a single blow, severed the

reins from the officer's hands and

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drove her horses back into the stables.

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The British officer declared that for

such an exhibition of bravery, she

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would be allowed to keep her horses.

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The story may have been embellished with

retelling, but it demonstrates some of

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Penelope's character and reputation.

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So at this tea party, the women declared

that they would do everything in

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their power to support the patriotic

cause and reject British imports.

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Tea was no longer just a beverage.

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It had become a symbol of British control.

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So what then did they drink?

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Well, they did the obvious thing

and turned to American-grown

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herbal alternatives.

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In 1974, the Virginia Gazette offered a

passionate argument encouraging Americans

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to replace imported tea with plants

grown in their own gardens and fields,

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and listed 17 herbal alternatives.

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Tea historian Bruce Richardson notes

that Americans turned their tea tables

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into stages for political protest.

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According to Richardson, patriotic herbal

beverages became known as liberty tea,

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and some households even served them from

special teapots reserved for the purpose.

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Some of these teapots were emblazoned

with the words, "No Stamp Act"

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and "America, Liberty Restored."

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I find it fascinating that tea, a

household product, became the center

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of such a heated political debate.

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But once tea became a symbol of

British control, the struggle

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naturally moved into the home.

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And because women largely oversaw the

household and its purchases, They found

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themselves holding a surprising amount

of political power, and they used it,

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So much so that Samuel Adams is reported

to have declared, "With ladies on our

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side, we can make the Tories tremble."

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Now, let's dive into these liberty

teas and wintergreen specifically.

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As I said, during the Revolutionary

era, Americans began looking to local

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plants as alternatives to imported

tea, rediscovering the value of what

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was already growing around them.

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Most of the herbs known as liberty

teas were cultivated in household

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gardens, including rosemary, sage,

lemon balm, and mint, to name a few.

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These were familiar kitchen and

medicinal herbs that had traveled

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the world with European settlers

and were brought from many regions.

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Wintergreen, on the other hand, stands

out from these herbs for one main reason.

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It was gathered from the wild,

Which makes wintergreen or Gaitheria

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procumbens uniquely North American in

a way that other liberty herbs weren't.

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I love that wintergreen makes me feel

rooted to the land, And this is why I

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wanted to focus on wintergreen, even

when other liberty herbs are more common.

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Indigenous people and colonialists

alike brewed wintergreen

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long before the revolution.

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this popularity as a local tea

substitute helped earn its place

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among the patriotic liberty teas.

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Wintergreen was known by many names in

colonial America, including teaberry,

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checkerberry, boxberry, and mountain tea.

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The name wintergreen actually won

out because of how the plant stays

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green all winter, a distinctive trait

that makes it easy to recognize.

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Wintergreen grows widely in

Eastern North America and is

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abundant and easy to gather.

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it's not as popular a flavor as peppermint

or spearmint, but I think most people

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are familiar with it as it's often

used in mints, gums, and toothpaste.

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Wintergreen has a cool, sweet,

minty flavor with subtle notes

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of evergreen and root beer.

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Despite the flavor, wintergreen

is unrelated to mint.

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It actually belongs to the heath

family and is related more closely

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to blueberries and cranberries.

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Unfortunately, these days, if you go

to the grocery store, you're not likely

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to find wintergreen in the tea section.

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Most herbalists recommend using

wintergreen topically instead of as a tea.

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That's because wintergreen leaves

contain a compound called methyl

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salicylate, which is related to aspirin.

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This makes wintergreen best used as an

essential oil in liniments or salves,

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Which can be used for muscle and

joint discomfort, minor pain relief,

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and general tension and soreness.

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But the good news is that unless you

have an allergy to aspirin or take blood

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thinners, having a seasonal drink of

wintergreen is perfectly acceptable.

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And because it's summer and very hot

where I live, I have been drinking my

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wintergreen tea as an iced beverage.

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I think it tastes great by itself.

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But when I looked around online, it

seemed like most people were blending

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it with other herbs, so I started

mixing my wintergreen with hibiscus.

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This is something my mother would

fully approve of because hibiscus

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makes a beautiful red tea, very

appropriate for the Fourth of July.

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So I don't have any big plans

for the holiday this year,

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But I do intend to watch the

fireworks with a refreshing

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glass of iced wintergreen tea.

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And as I do, I will be thinking

about women like Penelope Barker,

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who stood up for what they believed

and left behind an example of courage

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that still speaks to us today.

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A reminder that even simple

choices, such as what we drink,

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can have a lasting impact.

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With that, I'm wishing you a warm

and sparkling Fourth of July.

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And until next week, namaste.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

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