Deep Breath Osha and Echinacea Syrup Recipe
A go-to urban herbalism recipe is the Deep Breath Osha and Echinacea Syrup Recipe below. This formula can be used for acute lung support or as a daily preventative and immune-booster. Although cities are full of exciting opportunities, culture, and entertainment, their industrial nature creates a polluted environment with compromised air quality. While the exact…
Flower Essence Formula for Healthy Boundaries
Since boundaries are often perceived and felt energetically and emotionally within a person, flower essences are a handy herbal tool to support healthy boundaries from the inside out. Below is a recipe for cultivating healthy boundaries. This blend works over a period of time and offers acute boundary protection when needed. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is…
Homemade Bug Bite Salve for Itchy Spots
The summertime invites us outdoors to bask in the warmth of the sun and enjoy more physical activity. All of this time outdoors leaves us sunkissed, grounded, and also, in many cases, bug-bitten. Like all the best things in life, there’s always a little bitter with the sweet. A homemade bug bite salve is the…
Stay Cool With A Mint Spritz: A Stovetop Hydrosol Recipe
The sun rises with such force in the summer, sometimes giving off sweltering heat—the kind where beads of sweat drip down your neck, making you uncomfortable and hot. During such hot summer days, the shade is your ally. Much like the trees and their leaves that drape over you help block the sun, herbs are…
Green Tea Herbal Soap Recipe
The following green tea soap excerpt is used with permission and taken from Easy Soapmaking by Kelly Cable. A beautiful, bright scented herbal bar. This recipe is easy to make using a green tea bag to add the anti-inflammatory properties of green tea and gentle exfoliation to your soap. 10% Superfat, 2 pounds or eight…
DIY Spring Herb Salve With Lavender, Calendula, and Rose
Fresh slow-infused calendula drips through a strainer sending drops of gold liquid splashing to the bottom of the glass. Next to it a jar filled with sweet lavender oil fills the room with a soothing aroma. A glittering of copper paints the wall as the sun hits the lid to my rose-infused oil. This right…
Herbal Soap Recipe for Eczema
If you’re living with eczema, bathing may cause more pain than pleasure. However, there is hope! Switching from commercial soaps to an herb-infused soap recipe for eczema may be all you need to start to feel some relief. A few months back we walked through how to create herbal oils that could be used in…
A Floral Craft Project to Celebrate Herbalist Day
Herbalist Day is right around the corner (April 17!), and it’s the perfect opportunity to thank the herbalists in your life for the positive impact they’ve made on you. Whether they crafted a nourishing recipe just for you, shared their herbal know-how, helped you find greater wellness, inspired you to connect with the plants around…
DIY Herbal Wax Sachets for the Home and Gifting
We, herbalists, are always looking for practical ways to capture the beauty, splendor, and awakening we experience when barefoot and intertwined with our herb gardens. The rub of a single mint leaf or the brush of a hand against rosemary or lavender growing in the garden fills our senses with delightful aroma instantly. Our encounters…
How to Make and Use the Legendary Four Thieves Vinegar Blend
Have you heard of the Four Thieves Vinegar? If not, come learn about the folklore surrounding this timeless preparation, how the ingredients in it can be used to support wellness during the fall and winter, and how to make it using an easy recipe that is versatile in its actions and uses. History and Folklore…
Video: DIY Cough-Ease Cough Drops for Dry, Scratchy Throats
During the cooler months of the year, herbs have plenty of opportunity to shine and be of benefit to us, particularly during cold and flu season. Not only can we utilize herbs during this season to help keep our immune system strong—hopefully, preventing us from catching a virus in the first place, but we can…
The Best Places to Purchase Herbs and Supplies World-Wide
Are you new to herbalism and wondering where to find the herbs you need to get going on your craft? Or perhaps you are looking for a new, wonderful place to buy your next batch of botanicals. Regardless of where you are on your herbal path, purchasing herbs and supplies for making botanical creations can…
Video: Rose Helichrysum Skin Serum
Herbal serums are versatile skin care preparations that can be crafted for a variety of skin types and imbalances. They’re also really quick and easy to make! Below, we’re sharing how to make a favorite everyday skin serum that works to tone, moisturize, and calm sensitive skin. This tutorial video and printable recipe is from…
How To Find The Best Holistic Skin Care Routine For You
Beauty is certainly more than skin deep. However, the health and beauty of your skin should not be overlooked or dismissed as a matter of mere aesthetics. Your skin serves as far more than a lovely facade. Skin tissue is not only vital for physical protection; it is also a clear reflection of the body’s…
A DIY Floral Delight Soap Recipe You’ll Love!
The craft of soapmaking is regaining popularity as people become more interested in learning more about traditional skills and homekeeping. While some people approach soapmaking as an artistic outlet, others make soap and shampoo bars in an effort to control the safety of the ingredients in the products they use in their homes, and some…
Video: Mediterranean Garden Lotion Bars
Like body butters, lotion bars are incredibly quick and easy to make. Not only that, but they are easy to apply to any area of the body by simply smoothing the bar over the skin and allowing your body heat to melt them into the skin. Lotion bars also do not contain any water-based ingredients,…
Adaptogen Bliss Balls Recipe & Video
Adaptogens are a category of tonic herbs that are often used to keep the general terrain of the body healthy and functioning properly. While there are many types of tonic herbs, adaptogens are often classed as endocrine system tonics, though they can have an effect on other body systems as well. While we’re not going…
9 Herbal DIYs for the Holidays
The holidays are a time to gather, join in community, and be with those we care about the most. We come together around the table to share in festive feasts and stories of the past year and plan for the coming year. We celebrate and show our appreciation for our loved ones, often through the…
How To Make & Use Homemade Magnesium Oil To Benefit Your Health
Do you experience insomnia, constipation, leg cramps, or general stress and anxiety more than you’d like? If so, magnesium may be of some assistance to you. Magnesium is an essential nutrient, but in this high-stress, fast-paced world we all seem to be lacking sufficient amounts of it. Did you know that other than getting magnesium…
How to Create a Simmering Herbal Potpourri
Does your home ever get that stale feeling? Does it smell like a cast iron skillet or a dusty antique store? Let’s be honest — odors happen! If the weather isn’t ideal for opening the windows, then you may be looking for some help to freshen the air in your home! So, where do most…
How to Make A Homemade Flower Essence
I never understood the potency of flower essences until I made one myself — carefully picking each beautiful, delicate flower from the plant, intentionally setting it in spring water, and placing the bowl under the sun in the center of my garden. It was a magical meditation as the golden rays of the sun penetrated…
3 Steps for an Herbal-Infused Pedicure for Beautiful Nails and Soft Feet
Do you live in a warm climate and sport sandals daily or tread often in bare feet? Regardless of the climate you live in or the frequency with which you walk barefoot, your feet can easily become tired and worn. Don’t neglect the bottom of your soles, heels, or nails! Each can truly benefit from…
How To Make Framed Botanicals to Decorate Your Home
Framed botanicals in your home can conjure up memories of summer’s floral bounty, even in the depths of winter. Try framing a collection of wellness supporting herbs to serve as a decorative herbarium or frame culinary herbs to hang in the kitchen or give as a gift to a food-loving friend. Framed botanicals can also serve…
How To Make DIY Herbal Culinary Salts
So many recipes instruct you to “add salt and pepper to taste” or “finish with a sprinkle of sea salt.” But what if we could add herbs with every finishing touch? And what if this practice made the flavor of our dishes all the more complex and delightful? Herbal culinary salts are incredibly easy to…
How To Build A Nutritive Tea
While many of us search the supplement aisles to round out our nutritional needs, we often forget about the many herbs out there that are not only rich in vitamins and minerals but also aid in our absorption of certain nutrients. Now I’m not telling you to throw all your supplements in the trash! However,…
DIY Herbal Hair Serum For Silky Soft Hair
There is nothing quite so luxurious as running your hands through silky soft hair. Although you might think you can only achieve this by visiting the salon, you can actually make it happen in your very own home! Making your own herbal-based hair serum is easy, fun, and effective—not to mention free from all of…
5 Ways to Clean with Lemons
I crave the feelings of satisfaction and coziness that comes after giving my home a thorough cleaning. When the carpets look lush, the floors are shiny, and everything’s in its place, I feel peaceful and calm! And the best part? When I’ve cleaned my home the green way, with safe, natural cleaners, those feelings of…
26 Handmade Valentine’s Day Ideas: Gifts, Recipes, and DIYs to Show Your Love
Valentine’s Day and flowers go together with delightful ease! This combination is no surprise—flowers and other plants have long been embraced for their beauty and symbolism in romantic relationships. At this time of year, many of us look to spread a little love to those around us, and we might even desire to give ourselves…
7 Ways To Use Tulsi Everyday
There is a reason why “holy basil” is another common name for tulsi (Ocimum sanctum). Hindu culture even considers tulsi to be “The Queen of the Herbs” and a manifestation of the goddess Lakshmi in plant form (Krishna & Amirthalingam, 2014). But why exactly is tulsi considered to be so sacred? With an abundance of…
Video: How To Make An Herbal Honey
An herbal honey is one of the tastiest herbal preparations one can make. They require little time to create, and they can be used in many different ways. Plus, they’re full of healthy benefits! An herbal honey can be made using fresh or dried herbs, but keep in mind that if you use fresh herbs,…
