Book Review: Body Into Balance
Herbalism has much to offer to help us maintain vibrant minds and healthy bodies. When utilized in a holistic approach in conjunction with healthy patterns of nourishment, sleep, exercise, and other self-care methods, herbs are a powerful tool for supporting wellness. In her new book, Body Into Balance: An Herbal Guide to Holistic Self Care, herbalist…
How To Make A Kid-Friendly Mother’s Day DIY Herbal Hand Cream
With Mother’s day right around the corner, many children are busy crafting lovely gifts for the most treasured of people, their mommy. Children love to make gifts for sharing, and moms adore each precious gesture from their little ones. This year help the children in your life make mom’s day extra special with a batch…
Sour Flavors: How Taste Can Rinse Out Winter
Today the equinox came, sandwiched between two watery eclipses spanning Pisces and Aries, bracing us inside this liminal space, a transition to spring and return of growing, a day awash in both strong bright light and cold brisk winds. Watching through the windows at breakfast, standing in the greenhouse sprinkling soft rains on my flats…
7 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Clinical Herbal Practice
Perhaps you have studied herbalism for a few years and find that you are drawn to clinical herbalism – the side of herbalism that focuses on working one on one with clients. Perhaps you know that you want to work as a clinical herbalist, but you may be wondering what it would take to start…
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…
Feast on Spring Nettle! Wild Greens with Beans Soup Recipe
Spring is that wonderful time of year when we emerge from our winter hibernation into a fresh, green world. And, as we being to explore the newly grown and fresh plants, there are many that we can harvest and eat. These plants have a delicious flavor and many nutritional benefits to enjoy. One popular green…
How To Use Bitter Herbs With Children
Have you ever tried using bitter herbs with children? I have, and my first attempt didn’t go over so well. Two years into herb school, I offered a freshly-pressed tincture of hops to my then 11-year-old son who was restless and anxious in the evenings. At the time it made sense to me—something cooling and…
How to Begin your Herbalist Training
You want to become an herbalist, but you’re not sure where to begin. That’s natural, because although an herbalist is someone who works with and studies herbs, the details of how and where an herbalist acquires their herbalist training depends on the interests and talents of the individual. Most often, the job people have in…
How To Use Schisandra For The Liver
One of my favorite herbs is Schisandra chinensis (Wu Wei Zi). I don’t think there is anything that schisandra can’t do, and there is no other herb like it. The Chinese name means five taste fruit (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty). Having all these tastes in one herb provide a variety of actions making it a superior…
Asparagus Tart with Pear Cream Ricotta and Balsamic Date Glaze
What is one sure sign that spring is here? The abundance of asparagus in grocery stores and markets! This beautiful veggie is symbolic of a seasonal shift in cooking. Whether it’s simply roasted with garlic and herbs, peeled into ribbons for salads, or gracing a gorgeous tart, asparagus is in full bloom this time of…
Who Can Be A Clinical Herbalist?
Professional herbalists who work with clients may choose among many different titles to describe their job. Some prefer simple “herbalist” while others prefer “herbal educator,” and herbalists who work in a more formal setting among chiropractors or in a Naturopath’s office may opt for “clinical herbalist.” Perhaps you are looking for a career change that…
Celebrate Herbalist Day by Honoring Your Teachers – FREE card downloads!
Herbalists are known for generously sharing knowledge about herbalism with those around them, helping to empower others to tend to their own wellness. From the seemingly small actions of showing someone how to brew a cup of tea or make a comforting herbal bath to more formal instruction of students in a classroom or writing…
Aromatic Spring Cleaning With Essential Oils (+ 6 Recipes!)
Spring. New. Revival. Resurrection. Growth. Birth. We associate such words and concepts with the vernal season as we emerge from winter. We also often think of another word, which may not make us smile like the previous words do: spring cleaning. One better way to spring clean is spring cleaning with essential oils. What if…
3 Ways to Use Cleavers for Spring Cleansing
Herbal greens like plantain and chickweed that begin to emerge as soon as the snows melt are fairly well known, but there is another spring weed that is good to know when you feel the need for a gentle spring tonic. A native of Europe that has spread to many parts of North America, cleavers,…
A Family Herb: Stinging Nettle Leaf Uses
The first plants to rise up in the spring, gracing the world with green, often include the very herbs we can most successfully use to be healthy and strong. It’s seasonal herbalism at its best with healthful weedy plants such as dandelions, violets, and chickweed expressing their vitality by simply growing all on their own…
Gift Of The Earth: A Spring Poem
As I sit, fingers lingering on the keys of my keyboard, I gaze outside. This is where the poetry grows, my fingers simply telling the beauty that nature so sweetly provides. The trees burst into the ready as they crown themselves in tethered colors of white, yellow, then green. Our rooster shouts. His juvenile crow…
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 Use Dandelion Greens for A Healthy Liver
After the snows begin to melt, one of the first signs of spring many of us notice is sunny, yellow dandelion flowers dotting lawns and gardens. Dandelions are enjoying a modest return to popularity after many years of being maligned as nothing more than a troublesome weed, and there are many good reasons for this! Besides…
Giveaway: Healing Herbs for Beginners
Many herbalists are familiar with The Essential Herbal magazine by our good friend Tina Sams; maybe you picked up a copy or two yourself or read through the online PDF versions available in The Herbarium. Good news for EH magazine lovers, because Tina has now published her very own book, Healing Herbs – a beginner’s guide…
How To Boost Your Health With Matcha Tea
We’re all aware of the benefits of green tea (Camellia sinensis). Research of green tea continues in the areas of cardiovascular health, diabetes, brain, bone and dental health, weight loss, digestion, headaches, and as an energy drink (Blumenthal, 2003). Matcha is green tea processed in a way that allows the consumer to ingest the leaves,…
How To Make Easter Crafts for Kids With Herbs: Planting A Living Easter Basket Tutorial
Springtime is here filling the air with the fresh scents of new life and sunshiny days! And with Easter just around the corner, there is no better time than now to enjoy some bonding craft-time with the children in our lives. If you are looking for a break from the ordinary Easter crafts for kids,…
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…
A Family Herb: Dandelion
Hillsides and fields awash with vibrant greens and yellow blooms beckon us outside to enjoy warming springtime weather. It’s here, right under our feet, that we may find one of the most treasured plants in the world of herbalism. Well-known by children and often the bane of gardeners, the humble dandelion (Taraxcum officinale) is a…
10 Ways To Inspire Herbal Curiosity In Children
Spending time with children in the natural world is enjoyable and enlightening. Children notice far more than we do because they are newer to all of creation and much more curious. But, as adults, where does curiosity go? We adults tend to exchange our curiosity for a more pragmatic acceptance of the way things are….
Purslane: A Nutritional Herb
By Nina Katz – Herbalist Purslane is a land-based vegetable that is extremely high in nutrients and makes a great addition to many food recipes. Today I want to briefly speak to you about the nutrients purslane can offer you when eaten as a food as well as share some great recipes from fellow wild-food…
4 Ways To Fertilize Your Garden With Herbs
We use herbs for nutrition and health but don’t often consider that these same benefits can also extend to our gardens. Fertilizing with many of the herbs you already grow is a simple way to give the garden a boost and reduce the expense of purchased fertilizer. Many of the herbs that are already growing…
How To Learn Herbalism Directly From Plants
By Sage L. Maurer The plant spirits are waiting to speak with those of us who are open to listening. They echo through our minds and hearts, touching our bodies with their healing hands, and guide us into the medicine we are most needing. We can ask the plants for wisdom and guidance, and we…
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…
Book Review: The Beginners’ Book of Essential Oils
We were given a copy of The Beginners’ Book of Essential Oils to review. The book is written by one of our own Academy graduates, Christine Dalziel of Joybilee Farms. Christine has taken a very complex subject and made it very digestible. Essential oils are a wonderful tool for health and wellbeing. Christine shares with her readers how to…
11 Essential Oils For Dry Skin (Plus A No-Crack Lotion Recipe)
There is nothing better for wintertime dry skin than a nourishing body butter, made with the finest quality, unrefined butters and oils. Add a dash of herbal wisdom, such as using Calendula-infused extra virgin olive oil in the blend, and you immediately increase the butter’s power to soothe and heal. But what if the aroma…
