Results for Category: DIY
4 Herbal Recipes For Everyday Skin Care
With farm season and warm weather coming our way and the brisk cold winter air at our backs, stocking the bathroom cabinets with concoctions from the kitchen is one way to be proactive about caring for your exposed outer layer. Skin care is not only a method of self-care and body-love, it also offers preventative […]
How To Roast Herbs For An Herbal Coffee Substitute
If you’re anything like the majority of people in the U.S., you drink coffee on a regular basis—maybe even every day. This isn...
A DIY Herbal Grief Tea For Loss
I can honestly say that I have never experienced raw, breath-taking, life-halting grief as some people have. Yes, I’ve lost frie...
How To Grind Herbs In A Coffee Grinder
As a beginner to herbalism, you will most likely start by learning about common herbs, making basic herbal preparations, and learning how herbs can be used to support or bring balance to the body. However, as you continue on in your herbal journey, you will come across pieces of information that will change how you […]
How To Use Essential Oils For Hair Care
As you walk down the drugstore aisle, you can be overwhelmed with the number and variety of hair care products. Their costs range from very inexpensive to an amount that would rival the gross national product of some countries. However, if you look closely, you will notice that the ingredients contain some startling similarities. Water […]
Nettle Beer: A Delicious, Healthy Herbal Ferment
Registration is open for our new Short Course—The Craft of Herbal Fermentation. Today we want to give you a little sneak peek in...
How To Make Herbal Homemade Wine and Mead
With the explosion of the DIY movement in recent years, more people seem to be returning to old-school food and drink traditions, ...
Rose Petal and Rhodiola Valentine’s Day Herbal Lollipops
Although sugar shouldn’t be a regular feature in a healthy diet, homemade candy making can be a delightful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day without the artificial sweeteners and dyes found in typical store-bought candy. Roses, hawthorn, and Rhodiola are the herbs that take center stage for these special Valentine’s Day herbal lollipops, and they bring […]
Love Potions, Charms, and Such (+3 Recipes!)
Back in the days when I co-owned an herb shop at a Renaissance faire, a great many of our sales would be used as components of amulets, talismans, potions, charms, and spells. More often than not, they were used to draw love to the one purchasing the herbs. The only other purpose that even came […]
How To Make Essential Oil Solid Perfume to Warm Your Winter Romance
Winter, in many places in the world, means shorter days, longer nights, and cooler temperatures. We tend to stay indoors more and ...
5 DIY Floral Body Polish Recipes
“The earth laughs in flowers” Ralph Waldo Emerson Flowers are delightful, bringing joy to a weary soul. Savor the beauty of fl...
How To Make and Use Rose Infused Honey
Tranquility, love, and contentment are some of the emotions triggered when inhaling the beautiful aroma of the humble rose. For thousands of years, roses have been powerful symbols associated with love and beauty. Not only are roses an elegant way to say “I love you,” but they offer extraordinary health benefits, both for our bodies […]
Homemade Marshmallow Root Lip Balm
Whether it’s the parching of the hot summer sun or the blustering cold wind of our Michigan winters, my lips always seem to be in need of some sort of soothing, healing, moisturization all year long. I used to spend money on fancy lip balms and butters at the store until I realized how wonderfully […]
18 Herbal Teas To Help You Stay Healthy This Winter
Keeping our bodies healthy and strong during winter can be a challenge! Thankfully, there many wonderful herbs that we can use to ...
Lavender Sachets and Dream Pillows
A delightful, calming herb, lavender is a great addition to any home during the holidays. Lavender sachets and dream pillows are ...
How To Make Homemade Fire Cider (With Video!)
While some think of this time of year as the holiday season, I tend to think of it as the season to make homemade fire cider! Fire cider is a traditional immune support with deep roots in folk medicine (but most popularly championed by herbalist Rosemary Gladstar). At its most basic, it’s a zesty infused […]
Clove Pomanders: An Old Fashioned Holiday Favorite
Clove pomanders are a seasonal delight! Made with numerous little cloves, pomanders are a wonderfully fragrant addition to holiday decorations as well as a lovely gift to share with others. Gathered in bowls around the home, hung in windows to catch the warmth of the sun, or displayed on a tree, this old fashioned favorite […]
Homemade Squash Cinnamon Dough for Holiday Decorations and Ornaments
What spice reminds us more of the holidays than cinnamon? The smell of cinnamon cookies baking or perhaps a few cinnamon sticks br...
How To Make Your Own Fresh Rosemary Wreath
With its fragrant aroma reminiscent of fresh pine, rosemary is a wonderful herb to enjoy during the winter holidays. Bring rosema...
6 Natural Beauty Herbal Gifts For The Soul
This article is reprinted with permission from the Nov/Dec ’03 issue of The Essential Herbal magazine. Herbal Gifts That Are Good For The Heart Every year around this time, we find ourselves searching for that special homemade herbal gift to give our friends and relatives. I’ve been told by all who receive my gifts that […]
How To Make Immune Stimulating Elderberry Syrup
Holy shi…………itake! We are being invaded by cold and flu viruses! But, that doesn’t mean that we are helpless. Instead, we can use simple herbal support, such as an immune-stimulating elderberry syrup, to support our bodies as they resist viral pathogens like the common cold and flu virus. First of all, no one has time […]
How to Make Herbal Ear Drops
Earaches never seem to happen at a convenient time. They often sneak up on you in the middle of the night causing pain and misery....
How To Craft Your Own Herbal Smoking Blends
There’s something fascinating about the alchemy of herbs and smoke. Part of it is visual. We can see the plants undergoing a vio...
14 DIY Herbal Fall Gift Basket Ideas For Friends and Family
Fall is a time of shifting light, color, and energy. The plants are releasing their seeds and directing their energy inward and downward as they prepare for the cold winter months. Our energy is shifting as well, and this is a good season for slowing down and enjoying creative work. Using herbs, we can focus […]
How to Make an Herbal Syrup
The cold days of autumn and winter bring to mind cozy socks, warm cups of tea, good books, and for many herbalists, pots of simmering herbal syrup. Perhaps one of the most delicious ways to take herbs, herbal syrups are wonderful to have on hand during the colder months of the year. Enjoy learning the […]
3 Balancing Herbal Recipes for Bodies in Pain
Herbs are a time-honored way to comfort and balance bodies challenged by pain. They offer ways to nurture the nervous system, soot...
4 Tasty Avena Sativa Recipes To Try At Home
Avena sativa, otherwise known as oatstraw or milky oats, is one of those lesser known, yet powerfully potent herbs. This herb can ...
How To Make A Mushroom Double-Extraction Tincture
Although the art and science of making plant preparations can seem to grow ever more complicated the longer an herbalist maintains a practice, the accessibility of making full-spectrum plant extracts frequently remains within the grasp of do-it-yourself home preparation makers. Today I’m going to share with you how to make a mushroom double-extraction tincture. This […]
How to Make an Herbal Decoction
That simple, tasty cup of tea is only one way of extracting the many virtues of herbs into water. Other ways include the making of infusions and decoctions. Today I am going to share how to make an herbal decoction and which herbs are used for this type of herbal preparation. Infusions are used with […]
How To Make and Use Ginger Syrup
Ginger is a great herbal ally that should be a part of every home herbalist’s apothecary. Not only does it have many health bene...
