Results for Category: DIY

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...

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 brewing on the stove instantly brings warm memories to mind. There are many ways to enjoy cinnamon during the holidays and squash cinnamon dough is a surprisingly fun way to welcome this beloved…

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…

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...

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. Thankfully, having a supply of herbal ear drops on hand can help ease pain and support the body when fighting a possible infection. I should know, as I recently found…

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 do...

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, soothe the fires of inflammation, and ease tension. There are many different herbal recipes for bodies in pain that have been used for these purposes down the ages, and we’ve been exploring some of…

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...

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 benefits, but it can be used in a variety of herbal preparations. Today, I want to show you how to easily make and use ginger syrup in your daily life, but first,…

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. ...

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 out for her? Most all moms love pretty flowers! But this year, how about trying something a little different? Consider the nearly forgotten art of “The Language of Flowers” or floriography. Instead of buying a premade…

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...

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...

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 life bursts forth again in the spring. Taking good care to get healthy sleep is an important part of self-care. Use this herbal bath recipe which is filled with relaxing herbs to help provide gentle…

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 than a big mug of sweetly-spiced steamy goodness on a chilly day? Chai is full of healthful herbs that aid digestion, warm the body, and gently boost the immune system. This recipe…

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 ...

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...

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 summer bring fresh, cooling foods, while autumn and winter introduce heavy, nutrient-dense foods that warm and fill the body and spirit. Spring is often a time of rebirth, activity,…

How to Make and Use Rose Water
There are many well-known herbal flowers I’ve had the privilege of using over the years…lavender, chamomile, calendula…all very popular in any herbal arsenal. But one flower that I’ve often overlooked and kept in the “for decoration only” category, has recently caught my attention for its wonderful herbal properties. The beautiful, fragrant rose. For years I…

How to Craft the Perfect Herb Planter
Earth is home to an incredible array of natural herbs that have been integral to society for as far as we can see into the past. H...