Results for Category: DIY
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 amu...
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 flowers and enjoy a bit of summertime in your self-care routine with a floral body polish. Filled with the goodness of flowers, a floral body polish offers sensuous fragrance and beauty while bringing the…
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 i...
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 a very simple yet lovely craft which can be whipped up in a snap as a last minute gift. Whether used to impart a fragrance to clothes or as a nighttime companion, lavender provides a gentle aroma…
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...
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 rosemary into your home and adorn your walls with this beautiful aromatic herb. A fresh rosemary wreath is easy to make and will add a special herbal flare to your holidays. Be sure to make extras to…
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, w...
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 violent physical change as they are transformed into smoke and ash. It’s also something that we can experience as we breathe in. The smoke has a taste and a texture, and it resonates…
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 simmer...
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 be a great support to the body through a variety of issues, but no matter how great an herb may be, if it’s lacking in taste, it can be difficult for people to…
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...
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...
How To Dry Fresh Herbs Using A Dehydrator
Summer is the season of abundance. The days are long, the plants are growing, flowers blooming, and the bees buzzing and dancing in the air. It can be easy to take this abundance for granted, but of course, the world turns, the seasons change, and once again winter will descend upon us. We are fortunate that…
How To Make Fresh Herbal Sun Tea
It’s an herbalist’s favorite time of year again. The earth has turned green and we have an abundance of plants all around us. What better way to become acquainted with your green allies than by sipping fresh herbal sun tea? Fresh plant teas produce a sparkling crisp drink that feels like sipping in the summer…
How To Make Calendula Salve
Calendula is a beautiful flower and is well known throughout the world as a powerfully supportive plant. It grows most climates an...
How To Make A DIY Mother’s Day Bouquet Using The Language of Flowers
Mother’s Day is approaching, and what mother wouldn’t be happy with a bouquet her children or other special person picked ...
How To Make An All-Purpose Herbal Cleaning Spray For Spring Cleaning
Once daylight savings hits, bulbs are poking up their leaves in the gardens, and the days warm up enough to open the windows and let the springtime breeze in. This is when I get the hankering to do spring cleaning in my home. Just as we cleanse the heaviness and stagnation from our bodies in…
How to Dye Easter Eggs Naturally
Dyeing eggs for Easter became infinitely more fun and satisfying for me once we ditched the chemical dyes in favor of natural dyes made from herbs, plants, and food. Choosing natural dyes over petroleum-based chemical dye kits might require a bit more planning, preparation, and patience, and natural dyes may be more variable, but the…
How To Create Simple Perfume Blends Using Aromatic Notes
Essential oils are produced for three primary purposes: flavorings, fragrances, and therapeutic applications. The vast majority of...
