10 Botanical Gifts To Give This Year
The gift giving season is here! If you’re stuck for ideas on what to give your botanical-loving friends and family members, we’ve got some ideas for you. We’re sharing ten botanical gifts that are perfect for holiday gift giving this year. 10 Botanical Gifts To Give In 2017 1. Herb Kits by Herbal Academy Our…
12 Herbal Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes For This Year’s Celebrations
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we’re all planning our big meals. If I asked you to name a few herbs or spices you might be using in your Thanksgiving recipes, sage and cinnamon would undoubtedly be at the top of the list. But there are many other herbs that can be used in…
The Herbal Academy Holiday Pop-Up Shop Is Open!
For the past several months, busy little elves have been hard at work here at the Herbal Academy! They’ve been planning, sourcing, designing, and packaging new items for our Holiday Pop Up Shop—just in time for Christmas deliveries. Now that the work has finished, we’d like to introduce you to the newest items in our…
How To Nip Holiday Stress In The Bud
The holiday season is a double-edged sword—festive and heartwarming on the one hand, a mad dash of colossal proportions on the other. We tell ourselves that all the work is worth the effort, but when we’re left exhausted and crabby, holiday spirit is about the furthest thing from our minds (and hearts). How do we…
Tips For Staying Healthy This Cold And Flu Season
As cold weather arrives, cold and flu virus infections begin to increase in number. Have you thought about what you will do to support your body during cold and flu season? Will you get a flu shot? Will you incorporate herbs into your daily health regimen? Cold and flu viruses are infections spread by…
How To Stock A Vegan Pantry
Just over a year ago, after watching a few documentaries, my partner approached me and suggested we embrace a plant-based lifestyle. The more we weighed the health benefits, ethical implications, and environmental impacts of choosing to eat only plants, the more we were convinced that a vegan diet was a sustainable option for us. The…
Two Personal Inhaler Essential Oil Blends To Help You Through Stressful Times
I think it’s safe to assume that everyone, at some point, feels the weight of stress in his or her life. Whether it’s kids, school, work, or some other demand, stress is an expected part of life. Stress is rarely something that can be avoided, and thankfully, it isn’t always a bad thing. Stress can…
3 Nervine Herbs to Help Soothe Stress
This article is excerpted from the Herbal Self-Care for Stress Management Course at the Herbal Academy. It is no secret that modern day life is rife with stress. While many of us have become experts at adapting to and performing under stressful conditions, the truth is that chronic stress takes its toll on all aspects…
Introducing Our Newest Short Course: Herbal Self-Care For Stress Management
Are you stressed? According to a 2014 study by the American Institute of Stress, 77% of Americans regularly experience physical symptoms of stress with 73% of those experiencing psychological symptoms as well (American Institute of Stress, n.d.). As you probably already know, everyday things like marriage, kids, work, finances, and sleep deprivation, when not properly…
Essential Oil Terms To Know: How To Use “Dilution,” “Dispersion,” and “Dose” Correctly
If you have read much about the use of essential oils or essential oil safety, you have undoubtedly encountered discussions regarding “diluting” essential oils for topical use by mixing a certain amount of essential oil in a carrier oil. This is only one of the important “d-“ words regarding essential oil usage and safety, the…
Maitake 101: A Valuable Mushroom (+ Maitake Barley Risotto Recipe!)
Early October in New England means many things: cool and sunny days, peak fall color, crisp apples, and icy cold cider come to mind, for starters. More obscure but no less exciting (for some of us)—it’s maitake time. Maitake what? Maitake mushrooms, also called hen-of-the-woods, or Grifola frondosa. If we’ve gotten enough precipitation in late…
Introducing the Herbal Starter Kit
Are you eager to get some hands-on experience with herbs but are not quite sure where to begin? Have you devoured all the herbal books within your reach and want to put that knowledge into practice? Are you ready to invest some hard-earned money but want to make sure you get the most useful staples…
7 Things You May Not Know About Passionflower
Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata L.) has a rich history of use here in the West. Not only has it been used by Native American tribes, early European settlers, and African American slaves, but its uses have varied over time, especially as the Eclectic physicians of the 19th and 20th centuries began to use it more and…
3 Tips For Foraging Goldenrod This Year
As we move into fall, the colors of the landscape begin to change from the brilliant reds, purples, lavenders, and pinks of summer to the deeper colors of autumn—yellows, golds, oranges, deep reds, and browns. As these seasonal changes in nature relate to our own rhythms, I was taught to eat and make herbal preparations…
Here’s How To Get Our Herbal Fermentation Short Course For Less Than $30
It’s that time of the year—time for the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle, and you won’t want to miss this year’s bundle because we’ve teamed up with our affiliate partners, the Ultimate Bundles team, by offering our herbal fermentation course, The Craft of Herbal Fermentation, at a huge discount! Why You Should Care About Fermentation Before…
How to Create a Nourishing Milk Bath for Self Care
Water is an essential element for our physical well being and can be an incredible tool for practicing self care. Of course, you maybe thinking of a steamy natural hot spring or ocean waves lapping on the shore. While each are incredibly relaxing, they are not widely available for most of us in our everyday…
Adding Yarrow To Your Materia Medica
Yarrow grows freely in my gardens and I encourage it to do so, as much for its beauty as its beneficial uses. While the blooms have just gone by in my garden, the harvest is drying on the herb rack and macerating into a potent tincture in the herb cupboard. And while yarrow has long…
Herbal Q&A: 6 Herbal Academy Team Members Share Their Herbal Advice
Have you ever wanted to sit down with a group of herbalists and pick their brains? No matter where you are in your herbal journey, getting perspective and insight from other herbalists can be invaluable as you navigate on your herbal journey. Recently, several of our Herbal Academy team members sat down for an herbal…
6 DIY Recipes For Gentle Herbal Support for New Moms
The transition into motherhood is a profound time in a woman’s life. Whether she is welcoming her first baby or her fourth, every mom deserves the best care and love! Gentle herbal support for new moms can be found in herbal allies that include a wide array of botanicals. Chock full of vitamins and minerals,…
11 Herbs of King Arthur’s England
In southwest England, in Somerset, sits the town of Glastonbury, a quaint historical town that has been inhabited since 7th millennium BCE (Glastonbury, n.d.). This area has always felt magical to many people as it’s thought by some to be the location of the magical island of Avalon from the famous King Arthur tale that…
4 Questions To Ask Before Going To Herbal School
It’s back to school season, and not just for the kids and college students—for everyone who wants to study the art and science of herbalism at the Herbal Academy, too! But how do you know if our herbal school is right for you? Today, I’m sharing 4 questions you should ask yourself before going to…
It’s Back To School Time Here At The Herbal Academy & We’re Having A Sale On All Our Courses!
The smell of new notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, and clean slates fill the air this time of year. The back-to-school season is about a fresh start whether you are just beginning school or have long since graduated. Although our courses are available all year round, here at the Herbal Academy, we are pleased to join…
34 Ways To Use Roses
Summer heat means decadently fragrant roses are in riotous bloom! What could be more lovely than the full blossom of a rose? However, roses are more than just beautiful—would you believe that roses hold many beneficial herbal properties? There is plenty to love about this plant, and below we will discover many ways to use…
10 Summer Herbs to Forage This Year
The “Dog Days” of summer are upon us in the South. The dogs and cats are lazy, the snakes are more prone to bite, the gnats, flies, and mosquitoes are more bothersome than normal, and the poison ivy is thriving. Thankfully, it isn’t all bad. These slow, hot days bring more time for family gatherings,…
Book Review: Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen
Our food preferences and beliefs and our relationship with the foods we choose to eat are as personal as they are diverse. They form the backbone of the cultural traditions that root and shape us as well as the modern fads that propel us to experiment with new food trends. In traditional holistic healing traditions,…
Keep The Bugs Away With These 6 Natural Pest Repellent Plants
Summer is a great time of year because you can be outside doing lots of fun activities you can’t enjoy when it’s cold out such as swimming, barbecuing, or playing games outside in your backyard with your friends. Something that often keeps people from enjoying their time outside are bugs, and they can make you…
20 Inspiring Ways To Use Marshmallow Root
Did you know that marshmallows, those sweet, fluffy treats that are popular for roasting at bonfires, were originally made from the root of a beautiful plant? Marshmallow is a charming perennial that boasts pale pink-white petals. All parts of the marshmallow plant can be consumed, but the most commonly used portion is the root. The…
3 Cooling Herbal Teas For Summer
The long, lazy days of summer can be an idyllic respite from the hustle and bustle and routine of the rest of the year—in some ways summer just feels easier. Schedules relax a bit and many of us make more time for play and relaxation. The long hours of daylight invite earlier mornings or late…
Behind The Scenes: Take A Tour of The Herbal Academy’s Newest Feature… The Herbal Bookshelf!
We’d like to introduce the newest feature of the Herbal Academy website – The Herbal Bookshelf! If you’ve been following along with our blog, you may have noticed our regular posts of some of our favorite books by category or the extensive list: 101 Herbal Books To Build Your Herbal Library. After compiling a handful…
Who Else Wants To Learn About Spanish Moss?
For starters, Spanish moss is neither Spanish in origin, nor is it moss! Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is actually an epiphyte, an “air plant” that grows hanging from tree branches, gathering its nutrients and water from the air. Although it’s native to Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, it has become naturalized in…
