Results for Category: Botanical

Starting a Keyhole Garden
Gardening is a passion that has resurfaced with a vengeance in recent years. Whether it’s to save money on veggies and fruits, or a purposeful garden to avoid GMOs, getting dirt under your fingernails in the garden is catching on. With so many newcomers to the gardening game, it’s no surprise that there are many…

How To Start An Indoor Herb Garden
Have you ever wondered about the bounty that nature gives us each and every year? If you’re here, I’m betting you have...

5 Simple Ways to Conserve Water for Your Garden
Much of the country, including the Southwest and northern Texas, are currently experiencing significant drought. This is not only ...

The Shakers and our First Herbades
Who Were the Shakers? The Shakers were a religious sect of “believers” who established agriculturally-based and independently functioning communities in America ever since their arrival in 1774. Twenty-four villages in all were established by the end of the 19th century. Currently, two villages remain which are considered “active.” Many of the villages have become museums…

The Nature of Herbalism
In today’s world of processed food and manufactured drugs, a growing number of idealistic individuals have eschewed the mass-produced mainstream options to embrace the benefits of the natural, organic, and traditional. In particular, more and more people are recognizing that herbal remedies, compared to many conventional medicines, are often safer, easier to use, and simply…

How to Harden Seedlings and Protect Your Garden
Gardening is a popular past-time, and many people invest a large amount of money every year in plants and seedlings, only to be re...

Oats Benefits: Getting To Know Avena Sativa
Such a beautiful name, Avena sativa, known by most as the common oat. It’s interesting how knowledge of a plant can become lost ...

Harvesting and Cooking Nettles (Plus, Nettle and White Bean Recipe!)
Spring nettles are at their best right now in New England – new, spring-green, and tender – so last weekend I was delighted to discover a large patch simply brimming with the prickly goodness of nettles. Harvesting, preparing, and cooking nettles doesn’t have to be hard. Along with health benefits of nettle in herbal tea, these…

5 Herbs That Grow In Shade
With the coming of summer, you’re all ready to take in the majesty of the large, sweeping landscape that is your forty-acre property. You can picture the vast plots of land you will use to grow your garden of sun-loving herbs like basil, sage, lavender and—wait a minute. Actually, this may not be your scenario…

The Virtues of Violets – Health Benefits of Violets
A few weeks ago, I looked around our 5 acres to see what may be sprouting after a long, cold winter. Soon I saw that my first lit...