Take A Peek Into Our New Botanical Skin Care Course!
We’ve been dropping hints like hotcakes for several weeks, and this morning, we are thrilled to start shouting from the rooftops that our Botanical Skin Care Course is now OPEN for registration! Oh heavens, you are in for a scrumptious treat with this course! For some of you, this course may even be life-changing. Our…
St. John’s Wort in Bloom: How To Identify And Forage St. John’s Wort
St. John’s wort, sometimes known as St. Joan’s wort, (Hypericum perforatum) is one sign that summer has indeed arrived. It typically blooms very near to the summer solstice, which is a useful identifier as to the best time to harvest the aerial parts with their sunny yellow flowers. The harvest season of St. John’s wort…
Easy DIY Bee Sting Poultice
Let’s face it: as beautiful and amazing as it is to be outdoors in nature with the birds and the bees—sometimes you get stung! Whether you are hard at work gardening, on a hike, or even just wandering around your city, bee stings can happen anywhere. Luckily for us, once you learn how to prepare…
How To Manage Burns Naturally From Start To Finish
Burns are a common type of ailment that many of us will experience at least once in our lifetime. While some burns require emergency medical assistance, such as severe burns which cover large portions of the skin, those that penetrate deep into the tissue, or burns that are the result of a chemical or electrical…
Edible Mushroom Benefits of Six Super Star Mushrooms
Perhaps you are a mushroom lover by nature and incorporating edible mushrooms into your diet comes naturally to you. On the other hand, you are not alone if you find mushrooms to be an acquired taste. Proper preparation techniques and well-balanced recipes certainly improve the appeal of edible mushrooms. However, if tantalizing recipes aren’t enough…
Herbal Support for Canine Rabies Vaccination
Of all the diseases transmitted from wild animals to dogs, rabies is the most deadly. Our canine friends are the main transmitter of the rabies virus to humans (World Health Organization, n.d.). A dog has to have active rabies in order to be contagious and pass the virus through their saliva in order to infect…
How To Approach Headaches Naturally
There’s nothing that can make me reach for an over-the-counter pain reliever faster than a splitting headache. Since I want to avoid unnecessary medications as much as possible (saving them for when I need them), I approach headaches naturally through dietary, herbal, and lifestyle methods before medications are required. Over the years, I have not…
8 Herbs That Calm The Anxious Mind
It may feel like today’s world is in a state of upheaval with social, political, and economic issues stirring up emotions inside of each of us. These emotions are often generically labeled as stress, and while that may be the case, acute stress has a tendency to become chronic stress if not properly addressed, and…
5 Multi-Use Herbs for your Herbal Toolkit
The study of herbalism can seem very overwhelming because there are so many herbs out there! For simplicity and practicality, it is helpful to become knowledgeable about some common herbs to have on hand that have multiple uses. In this post, we will focus on five soothing, multi-use herbs that can be supportive of multiple…
Urban Herbalism: Herbal Recipes For Life In An Urban Environment
Some of the most courageous herbalists are the ones who choose to live in cities and share their skills with the community-at-large. Urban herbalism is not always easy. The act of harvesting plants is less accessible and growing herbs is more challenging due to limited space. Not to mention, living in an urban environment presents…
Spiritual Heart Medicine: How To Use Herbs for Emotional Self-Care
Humans are emotional beings, though, in our modern society, we often place importance on the physical body. This focus can lead to ignoring the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, messages from our emotional body. While it may feel easier to put attention on the physical body, tending to emotional self-care is necessary for overall…
DIY Firming Wild Rose Undereye Cream
This recipe for undereye cream is from a book excerpt from The Backyard Herbal Apothecary by Devon Young. My slow evolution into “becoming an herbalist” started with a love of plants and a love of knowledge. My earliest memories are a library of pretty plants and heavenly aroma, diverse textures and pleasing flavors. To say…
What Dosha Pain Type Are You?
Ayurveda is the ancient healing tradition of India, and in the ayurvedic philosophy, all things in nature are comprised of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. These elements combine together in various ways to form the three doshas, known as vata, pitta, and kapha. Air and ether combine to make vata dosha….
A Delicious Tummy Tamer Glycerite for the Whole Family
Like me, you may periodically experience trouble with digestion after a big meal with symptoms including stomach cramps, gas, pain, bloating, and general unease. For many years, I searched unsuccessfully for a formula to ease my stomach and gastrointestinal issues. I found that over-the-counter formulas were too harsh and contained unwanted side effects. Unfortunately, some…
What Could Changes In FDA Dietary Supplement Regulations Mean For Herbalists?
Herbal preparations, which are regulated as dietary supplements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are popular consumer products for those interested in a holistic approach to wellness. Herbalists, who may use herbs and natural ingredients to make their own holistic preparations for clients and herbal products businesses, must keep informed about FDA dietary…
Seaweed 101: What You Need To Know And Why You Should Add It Into Your Materia Medica
Although seaweeds are not technically considered “herbs,” these aqueous plants have recently begun to receive attention in the eyes of herbalists for their high nutritive value, wellness-promoting qualities, and distinctly tasty nature. Although a variety of seaweeds have been consumed across the world for thousands of years, only recently have they begun to be referred…
How To Use Low-Dose Botanicals Like Lobelia Safely
Plants are complex, and they have profound effects on the human body. Paracelsus said, “What is there that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing is without poison. Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison” (Grandjean, 2016). For the herbalist, knowing how to use low-dose botanicals without causing harm…
Herbal Travel Essentials For The Adventurous Traveler
World travel can be an expansive and exciting experience. Visiting far off places carries the potential to open up your heart, mind, and point of view. Yet, far-flung travels are indeed better enjoyed by the healthy and robust. Being sick at home isn’t much fun; being sick in a foreign land is even worse. Fortunately,…
Enter To Win Enrollment To The Craft Of Herbal Fermentation Short Course
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, spring has finally arrived and summer is just around the corner! As the plants bloom and grow throughout these seasons, we are constantly looking for ways to use the abundance nature provides through plants. One of our favorite ways to do this is by using herbs in fermented drinks. Fermented…
5 Herbs To Support A Body in Pain
Pain is a common symptom of many acute and chronic conditions—one that often leaves us searching for natural solutions to our problems. Thankfully, herbs can assist us during these times, and with the right mindset, herbs can be an effective piece to the pain puzzle. Herbalist Maria Noël Groves has written a new book, Grow…
How To Honor Your Herbal Teachers With Your Stories
We couldn’t have herbalism without each other. Through relationship, we learn the art of herbalism—humans sharing with one another, plants teaching us directly, and even animals showing us the way as we observe and learn. This tradition has likely nourished and supported us for as long as humans and plants have coexisted. No matter where…
Is a Hobbyist Herbalist the Right Path for You?
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about the various kinds of herbalists one can become—explaining what they are, things each type of herbalist may do, links to helpful resources and inspiration, and what type of Herbal Academy courses can help each type of herbalist on their journey. Today, we’re talking about the Hobbyist…
10 Amazing Mushrooms For Wellness (+ Free Mushroom Chart Download)
I live in the mountains of East Tennessee, deep in the southern half of the Appalachian mountain range. My home is surrounded by trees, ferns, and mushrooms, and no matter the season, I feel the pull to venture outdoors into the peaceful forest that waits to be explored. Here, a vast world of woodland plants…
Is Becoming A Clinical Herbalist In Your Future?
In our Herbalist Profile Series, we’ve been giving you glimpses into the various types of herbalists we find in the world today. There are dozens and dozens of ways you can use your herbal education for personal enrichment or professional pursuit! So far in our series, we’ve talked about the profiles of a Family Herbalist…
Herbal Dreamtime: 6 Herbs To Enliven Your Dreamspace
Dreams are often synonymous with magic, personal achievement, and mystery. Although dreams are commonly disregarded, our dreams (both while awake and asleep) can serve as strong symbols and reference points for our personal journeys. For those of you who might have difficulty dreaming or remembering your dreams, there are a number of tools and herbs…
Can You Make A Career Out Of Herbalism?
In our last post, we talked about what a Family Herbalist is and what that could look like in one’s life as an introduction to our Herbalist Profile Series. A Family Herbalist will often stick close to home, applying their herbal knowledge and resourcefulness to good use in order to support their family’s overall wellness….
How To Use Rose for Grief Support
I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. –Wendell Berry I’ve been thinking a lot about the briar lately—or more specifically, the rose. I see a need for the actions…
How To Care For Your Family Naturally As A Family Herbalist
Herbalism comes in many shapes and sizes—there is certainly no one-size-fits-all for how you can practice and explore this lifestyle. There are many ways one can practice as an herbalist—one very popular way is being a Family Herbalist! A Family Herbalist is one who prefers to stay a little closer to home when putting their…
Tips To Finding Balance In Each Stage of Life
According to Ayurveda, each stage of human life is linked to one of the three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha (Lad, 2009). In addition, the rhythm of our lives is characterized by cycles such as sleep cycles, the turning of the seasons, and the daily transition from night to day. Each of these cycles plays…
The Beginner’s Guide to Making Money as an Herbal Writer
If you enjoy writing, and you’re looking for creative ways to make money from your herbal know-how, then submitting articles to magazines and reputable online platforms may be a great option for you. For seven years, I worked as the health editor for a well-known sustainable lifestyle magazine. I received dozens of pitches per week…
