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…
