Results for Category: DIY
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 in need of some sort of soothing, healing, moisturization all year long. I used to spend money on fancy lip balms and butters at the store until I realized how wonderfully…
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 ...
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 decorations as well as a lovely gift to share with others. Gathered in bowls around the home, hung in windows to catch the warmth of the sun, or displayed on a tree, this old fashioned favorite…
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 rosema...
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, we can use simple herbal support, such as an immune-stimulating elderberry syrup, to support our bodies as they resist viral pathogens like the common cold and flu virus. First of all, no one has time…
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 vio...
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 simmering herbal syrup. Perhaps one of the most delicious ways to take herbs, herbal syrups are wonderful to have on hand during the colder months of the year. Enjoy learning the…
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 ...
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 infusions and decoctions. Today I am going to share how to make an herbal decoction and which herbs are used for this type of herbal preparation. Infusions are used with…
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 i...
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 and readily reseeds itself to come back year after year, and it’s a plant that I believe most herbalists would recommend growing yourself. I was so pleased when I moved into my new house…
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 l...
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 essential oils are actually produced for the first two, flavorings and fragrances, and have been used for these purposes for quite a long time. Today I want to show you how you can take essential oils and blend…
Bedtime Herbal Bath Recipe with Linden, Catnip, Lavender, and More
In the very depths of winter, the world becomes sleepy. This cold, dark season is a time for introspection and resting before the ...
A Recipe For Family-Friendly Herbal Chai
Making and drinking herbal chai together is a wonderful way to enjoy herbs with the whole family. After all what could be better t...
Herbal Vinegar Hair Rinses
Every season provides a new way to strain and damage your hair. The sand and salt water of the ocean in summer can leave you with lusterless locks. The winter winds and ice leave your hair crispy and exhausted. The humid days bring frizz and fuss to anyone who dares step outside. Whenever I notice…
Benefits Of Grapes In A Tasty Herbal Syrup
Early fall means that my lovely, vivacious grapevine is heavy with clusters of dark purple abundance. These are the kind of grapes that are so flavorful it is almost painful to eat more than a few. For years I have grappled with finding a way to harness and enjoy the benefits of grapes from our…
7 DIY Herbal Skin Care Recipes for Fall & Winter
As seasons change, so does the way we care for and nourish ourselves, as well as what we put in and on our bodies. Spring and summ...
