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…
How To Have A Sensational Experience With Oatstraw
by Rebecca Swartwood Salty, sweet, milky, feminine, watery, strengthening, silky, easy… These were my initial impressions after drinking my first cup of oatstraw infusion. It was soothingly thick, almost chewable in my mouth, coating throat and stomach with its healing liquid. As I sat with the tea, I felt strengthened deep into my core, the…
4 Reasons Thyme Is An Herb For Winter Health
There are many herbal allies that you may enjoy working with during the long, cold winter months. Elderberry and elecampane are a couple that come to mind, or perhaps astragalus or angelica are a better fit for you. However, it might surprise you that an herb tucked away into your kitchen cabinet, thyme, is the…
3 Raspberry Leaf Benefits For Women
When thinking of raspberry, visions of tart, delicious little berries come to mind, yet the familiar raspberry offers us much more than a wholesome snack. When we look beyond the tasty fruits of this hardy plant, we find that the raspberry leaf benefits for women are numerous, including being used as a helpful ally during…
5 Things To Consider Before Starting Your Herbal Business
Starting your herbal business might seem easy enough at first – after all, you could even grow many of your own ingredients or start out small as a hobby business. However, making and selling herbal products comes with legal and regulatory requirements that might surprise you. There are many important considerations for keeping your labeling…
Heart Happy Herbs for Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is upon us and love is in the air! This holiday is a great reminder to enjoy special relationships with loved ones as well as to spend some time caring for what is perhaps the most precious relationship of all—the one with yourself. We have gathered together a lovely assortment of recipes and…
Speaking the Herbalist’s Language
There are a number of words that can give beginning herbal enthusiasts or students a reason to stop and scratch their heads. Even if you might know what a word like “decoction” or “ayurveda” means, you might not be sure of the pronunciation. Learning the herbalist’s language is no simple task! And with herbalism borrowing…
Back to Basics 15 Day Challenge and Bundle
How are those goals coming along this New Year? If you are looking for an extra push of motivation or simply don’t know what you want your goals to be or how to achieve them, we welcome you to join some of our Academy team members in the 15 Day Challenge hosted by our friends at…
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…
History and Uses of Common Ivy
Helix hedera, or common ivy, is a familiar garden and houseplant to many people. Sometimes, ivy is used as a greenery decoration during the holidays, and an old Christmas carol “The Holly and The Ivy,” even bears the plant in its title. Using ivy in holiday decorations, though, is a custom that goes back all…
3 Delightful Herbal Holiday Cookie Recipes
Remember the simple joys of life and gather in the kitchen this holiday season to whip up a batch or two of cookies! A homemade holiday cookie is much beloved treat. Personally, I find it hard to say which I like better—baking favorite holiday cookies or eating them with friends and family! These delicious herbal…
How To Make Fragrant Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments: A Child’s Holiday Craft
At our house, you will often find us gathered around the table during the holiday season enjoying craft time together. We love crafting with herbs! And I find that working with botanicals in this way really helps children get acquainted with herbs and often helps form a lasting relationship. These cinnamon applesauce ornaments are an…
Learn About the Mistletoe
Mistletoe, Viscum Album The familiar, white-berried token of the winter holiday season, mistletoe, is a parasitic plant that grows on the branches of several species of trees. Mistletoe burrows roots into the inner wood of trees and feeds from their sap, and a heavy infestation with mistletoe can kill branches of the host plant or even…
Homemade Pumpkin Playdough With Sweet Spices
A big warm batch of freshly homemade spiced pumpkin playdough is perfect for playtime on an autumn day. The warmth of the playdough combined with sweet spices like cinnamon and cardamom creates a lovely aromatic experience. Plus this recipe offers color from herbs and spices, no food coloring here! Be sure to provide cinnamon sticks,…
Opportunities for the Herbal Entrepreneur
Herbalism is a unique niche for the aspiring entrepreneur. Herbalist entrepreneurs can create their dream job by turning a passion for herbalism into a living. We’ve done it here at the Academy! Creating a line of herbal extracts, body care products or tea blends, growing or wildcrafting herbs to sell, or creating monthly herbal CSA…
