Spring’s Bitter Tonic Tea with Dandelion Root, Motherwort, and Lemon
The holidays have passed and the new year is upon us. Many of us have given ourselves license over the winter festival season to indulge in drinks, rich foods, and way more sugar than makes sense for a person to have. And all of those people! Friends, family, coworkers, parties… it is easy to feel…
Vegan, Gluten Free, No Bake Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of pumpkin pie season for many folks. This vegan, gluten free, no bake pumpkin pie recipe is absolutely delicious, and a perfectly healthy addition to your holiday dessert table. It’s a cinch to throw together, and requires almost no settling time either. A yummy, easy, good-for-you pie? This one will be…
Vanilla Recipes: Three Ways To Bliss
Mmm…vanilla. Its sweet, perfumed aroma and flavor are known and loved around the world. The rich but subtle complexity of vanilla’s flavor is exotic and luxurious, yet at the same time comforting and gentle. No wonder it has been celebrated and used for hundreds of years, first cultivated by the Totonac Indians in eastern Mexico,…
The Small But Mighty Flaxseed (+ Flaxseed Smoothie Recipe!)
About 20 years ago I became very familiar with flax (Linum usitatissimum), both the seed and cold pressed oil. I had recently adopted the Yeast Connection Diet under the care of a doctor who used alternative practices in his approach to treating traditional ailments. In my case, recurring migraines were coming on all too often,…
Immune-Boosting Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Recipe
October is by far my favorite month of the year. This month is full of awesome things including cooler, boot-wearing weather, my birthday, pumpkin pie everything, and Halloween! This month is also the time of year that I really start to build my immune system to fight off all the colds and flu that everyone…
Valerian Mint Cordial: The Perfect Herbal Nightcap
No matter how hard I try to maintain a good sleep schedule, I often find myself lying awake, staring at the ceiling long after I should be asleep. My mind is either going over tomorrow’s plans, replaying today’s conversations over and over, or fixating on some other anxiety that I just can’t let go of….
Making Herbal Vinegars
Fall is a bountiful and busy time of year. Now that I have decanted my infused oils and most of my herbal tinctures, I take to the gardens to harvest herbs and plants that will be dried for use during the winter and spring. Making herbal vinegars from flowers and culinary herbs is also something I look…
Ten Homemade Herbal Teas for Cold and Flu Season
The changes in the leaves, drops in temperatures, and pumpkin pie-everything are signals to me that it’s time to prepare for cold and flu season. Some of my favorite natural home remedies that I like to keep on hand during the cold and flu season (like my Homemade Elderberry Syrup or Cool Vibes Vapor Rub…
3 Go-To Herbal Smoothies
Smoothies are all the rage, and for good reason — they’re easy and delicious! Made with fresh, high quality ingredients, they’re loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, qualifying them for food-as-medicine status. But beware: in the realm of smoothies, there are those that are just wolves in sheep’s clothing! Many smoothies are so loaded with…
Pear Crisp with Blackberry-Sage Sauce
It’s nearly fall here in New England and as the land starts to cool and settle after an active, busy summer, many of us are shifting ever so slightly away from light and airy summer foods like salads and raw veggies to warmer, cooked dishes like soups and fruit crisps. Every turn of the year brings opportunities to experiment with locally available…
Calendula Uses: Our 14 Favorite Recipes
There are many, many uses for calendula! Calendula is perhaps most commonly known as a first aid support for cuts and wounds. It’s also used internally as an antimicrobial to help the body resist pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Having anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, astringent, and vulnerary properties, calendula is also a good herb…
Elderberry Calendula Cold and Flu Elixir
Herbalists need to be good at multi-tasking and planning, like a juggler with three or four balls in the air. Late summer is a good example, when I am simultaneously picking the calendula flower heads daily and setting them to dry, planting another round of cilantro, wildcrafting the last of the mugwort before it goes…
Maca-Roons Recipe
Maca’s nutritional profile reveals it is rich in copper, vitamin C, and potassium as well as trace elements like iodine, iron, and zinc, fatty acids, and amino acids. Maca has a mild butterscotch flavor and can be added to smoothies, baked goods, yogurt, and other foods as a nutritional supplement. If you are looking at adding…
Zucchini Summer Squash Chocolate Chip Muffins
The winding down of summer correlates to one thing. No, not fall—yet. We’re talking about the overflow of fresh summer produce coming out of every local farm! Tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, onions, strawberries….you know it, and it’s probably in abundance right now at the nearest CSA or farmer’s market. Or maybe even your own garden….
Summer Corn Salad Recipe
Driving on a familiar road, I saw the long-awaited “Corn for Sale” sign propped up against the side of a tree. It took me no time at all to change the direction I was going and make a quick pit stop at the farm. You see, every spring I start pining for the first load…
Sweeten Your Breakfast With Dandelion Flower Syrup
Everywhere that I turn, dandelions are popping up out of the ground. Many find them a nuisance, thinking they are just weeds, but dandelions are a wonderfully nutritious herb! Rich in vitamins and minerals, dandelions are known for not just for their medicinal properties, but also their delicious taste in salads, cookies, and syrups. You…
How to Make a Happy Uterus with Lady’s Mantle Tea
Lady’s mantle cups her hands to hold the morning dew. Despite her inconspicuous flowers, gardeners adore her for the dew drops, formed by a process called guttation (Roshchina, 1993), that glisten on the tips of each of her scalloped leaves and captivate even the most casual observer who strolls by. The herbalists adore her for…
Stinging Nettle Recipes for Spring Eating
After a long, cold winter, most of us warmly welcome the arrival of milder weather and the return of the green. As the world seems to wake up, we also wake and stretch our limbs. Emerging from a season of storage and hibernation, our winter inactivity and heavy comfort food indulgences may become more apparent….
Bitter Integrations! Part 2: Making Bitters
In my previous article, Bitter Integrations! we saw how humans adapted to some bitter plants to not only attain precious plant vitamins and minerals, but also improve our digestion and lower organ performance of processing, elimination, and detoxification. Part 2 will discuss making bitters, the health benefits of bitters, and specifically how bitter herbs assist…
Benefits of Fennel: Relief for You-Know-What
It happens to all of us. That moment, usually not long after eating, when we realize that we have gas. Whether during a business lunch, a mid-afternoon meeting, or even—gasp—toward the end of a promising first date, having flatulence never fails to be embarrassing. At least, it’s embarrassing whenever we’re enjoying the politeness of good…
Valentine’s Day Treats & Words To Love By
Baby it’s cold outside, but it’s warming up in the kitchen. We’ve wrangled up our favorite posts to get you inspired to celebrate love, from romantic desserts for two to flowery Valentine’s Day treats to share with friends! Something homemade can go a long way. Instead of waiting for a table, in a busy restaurant, where…
Vintage Valentine DIY And Morning Latte
A snow day is a wonderful opportunity to relax and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Delight in a morning latte while creating something handmade, like vintage valentine cards for your loved ones, as the snow whirls just outside your window. Vintage Valentine Cards Snow days are also a great time to tap into your creativity….
Valentine’s Day Hot Chocolate
Holidays often include brewing something festive in the kitchen. February 14th, Valentine’s Day, celebrates lovers and all things love, including aphrodisiacs. Whether in boxes or candied roses, it all starts with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. Our delicious Valentine’s Day Hot Chocolate can help spice things up!
Healthy Chocolate Pudding for Valentine’s Day
When was the last time you heard “decadent, chocolate, and healthy” all in the same sentence? Well, here we go—this vegan, healthy chocolate pudding is delicious without any dairy, flour, sugar, cornstarch, or cooking!
Immune Boosting Chai Recipe
Masala chai (Masala means “a mixture of spices,” and chai means “tea”) is an Indian beverage combing spice-infused black tea with milk and sweetener. In the deep dark winter months, I crave a good chai recipe for its warming, soothing soulfulness that melts me from the inside out. On a cold weekend day that is deliciously free of plans,…
Three Reasons to Eat Ginger During Wintertime
What is it that pops into our minds when we associate ginger with the wintertime? Perhaps baking gingerbread people and gingerbread houses with gumdrop trim. But these uses barely scratch the surface of ginger’s value during the coldest time of year. As an herb, ginger’s tongue-tingling zest can help us stay warm and healthy throughout…
Oats: Herbs We Love For Summer
Oats (Avena sativa) and their versatile components have been used for everything from stuffing mattresses, poultices, facial scrubs, cereal, teas, and baths. This small wonder, native to Northern Europe, packs a powerful nutritional punch with its protein, B-vitamins, calcium, and other minerals.
Rose: Herbs We Love For Summer
Rose. The Queen of Flowers has origins in the Middle East, and has been cultivated and cherished the world over since antiquity. The oldest known rose bush is believed to be at least 1000 years old, growing on the walls of the Cathedral of Hildesheim, in Germany. Subject of many a sonnet and poem, lauded…
Chamomile: Herbs We Love For Summer
German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is a delicate, apple-scented member of the Asteraceae or daisy family, and makes one of the most popular teas in the world. A cooling and calming herb, chamomile is beloved by herbalist and lay person alike! Chamomile is an antispasmodic, relaxing the smooth muscles throughout the body including the digestive track. When…
Hibiscus: Herbs We Love For Summer
Hibiscus, also known as Jamaica flower, is one of our very favorite herbs for summer because, like spearmint, its flavor is easily infused into cold water—heating up a tea pot is unnecessary! Hibiscus is a showy member of the Malvaceae (mallow) family native to subtropics and tropics around the world and appears in a variety…
