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…
The Medicinal 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…
Autumn Wildharvesting Guide: Herbal Roots
Fall is the best time to harvest the roots, some berries, flowers, and cold weather herbs that we miss once the heat of summer comes in. This article will act as your fall wildharvesting guide, featuring herbal roots that are available during the season. Get the full Autumn Wildharvesting Guide, featuring fruits, berries, flowers, herbs, seeds, and…
Strengthening The Roots of Our Herbal Practice
We can work on many levels as herbalists, but at some point it becomes important to go deep down into the depths of our tradition and root ourselves firmly so that the personal practice of herbalism in our lives can flourish and blossom. The rich ground of historical herbalism and the new frontier of modern…
Herbalicious Homemade Granola
Crafting a big batch of homemade granola is such a treat. Pans thinly layered with the goodness of rolled oats and nuts slowly roasting in the oven is wonderful and homey. This not-to-sweet recipe uses only dried fruits along any goodies that you choose to include for sweetness. It is rich in fiber, whole grains,…
Connecting With The Season of Roots
The herbs in our gardens and the wild places around us live a year that is marked by the ritual of necessity. Each season has unique blessings and challenges for our plant allies, and learning these rhythms gives us a deeper insight into the natural world and our own health. Spring is marked with new…
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 lusterless locks. The winter winds and ice leave your hair crispy and exhausted. The humid days bring frizz and fuss to anyone who dares step outside. Whenever I notice…
Save Money by Buying in Bulk
We have already discussed the possibility of purchasing fresh produce in bulk while it is in season. Aside from produce though, many other items can be purchased in bulk to ultimately save money. Buying In Bulk Food Dried goods such as beans and grains are a common example of this. If you include beans and…
The Most Magical Spring Harvest
Over the month of September, we challenged our readers, students, and herbal community to connect with the WILD side of herbalism –sharing pictures about foraging and using wild herbs! We enjoyed seeing so many wonderful, inspiring pictures. We enjoyed previewing your apothecary, foraging adventures, medicine making experiences, and new wild discoveries. So many beautiful entries, but there can only be one winner……
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 that are so flavorful it is almost painful to eat more than a few. For years I have grappled with finding a way to harness and enjoy the benefits of grapes from our…
10 Helpful Tips for Wildcrafting Herbs
Wildcrafting is the practice of foraging for useful plants from their natural, wild habitat for edible or herbal purposes. Wildcrafting for your own herbs is one of the most rewarding things that you can do. Not only is it nice to know where your herbal remedies come from, but it’s fun to learn to identify…
Finding the Roots of Our Herbal Traditions
Fall is all about root medicine. As our plants ready themselves for winter, many of them draw their energy down into the roots to wait out a season of cold and rest. Burdock, dandelion, butterfly weed, angelica, and licorice are just a few of the herbs we cherish for their medicine underground. With roots at…
DIY Harvest Time Apple Recipes
Each autumn I look forward to crisp days filled with riotously colored leaves and the richness of harvest time, especially the coming of apple season. Apples have always been a favorite fruit in our house. And as a family, we love to get cooking in the kitchen and enjoy the bounty of the season with…
Plantain, A Story
We have plantain growing all over our yard. I’m a new, not yet budding herbalist, and I have yet to use it. I have been lying in wait for someone in my household to get a bug bite so that I could try crunching up a leaf and making a spit poultice. I have been…
4 Methods of Seasonal Food Preservation
Eating foods that are produced locally is a wonderful way to eat well without spending a lot. Eating locally often means eating seasonally as well, and prices are often lower for fruits and vegetables that are in season. If you are open to exploring methods of seasonal food preservation, you have the option to buy more food…
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,…
An Introduction Into Canine Herbalism
If you have dogs, you probably cannot count the times you’ve seen them run to a patch of something green and begin to consume it ravenously. You might wonder when, and more importantly, where the consumed forage will represent itself again, which always seems to be in the middle of your dinner party on your…
