How to Make Bone Broth
Post by Ellen Demotses, aromatherapist, TCM and Western herbalist. She is a member of the American Botanical Council and the American Herbalists Guild and is developing a natural skincare line. Everything that’s old is new, and everything that’s new is old. – Stephanie Mills Bone broth is everywhere. Recipes, articles and “brothals” have emerged across…
5 Herbs that Attract Beneficial Insects to the Garden
If you’ve been interested in organic gardening but are wondering what to do about pests, consider planting herbs! Many herbs encourage biodiversity and attract the beneficial insects that keep pest populations down. Herbs reduce pests by encouraging biodiversity In nature, herbs perform a wide range of functions. They provide nectar for pollinators, repel pests with…
Spring’s Bitter Tonic Tea with Dandelion Root, Motherwort, and Lemon
The holidays have passed and the new year is upon us. Many of us have given ourselves license over the winter festival season to indulge in drinks, rich foods, and way more sugar than makes sense for a person to have. And all of those people! Friends, family, coworkers, parties… it is easy to feel…
How To Grow Pea Shoots Indoors: Fresh Greens Year-Round
With the garden tucked in for the winter and the farmer’s markets closing up shop until spring, we’re back to listless strolls through the produce aisles of the local grocery store, seeing the stacks of vegetables but just not feeling them. They are beautiful, yes, and abundant — we are grateful for that. Some of…
Detoxifying Face Mask: Ring in the New Year with a Fresh Face!
The new year is upon us and it has me looking at all of the ways I need to detox in my life. After a holiday season of sugary treats and candy, my face is telling me that it needs to detox from all of the holiday cheer I forced upon it. What better than…
Best of 2014
Ready or not! Another year comes to an end and we’re thrown into 2015… We reflect on this past year – the new additions to our team, the launch of the Online Introductory Herbal Course, the summer website redesign, the release of The Herbarium membership site, and the handful of workshops we hosted here in Bedford,…
Wintertime Herbal Infused Whipped Body Butter Recipe
‘Tis the season for cold and dry winter weather, which also is synonymous, in our world, with dry cracked hands and feet. My husband has worked for a prominent coffee company for as long as we have been married, and every winter his hands take a huge beating because of all of the numerous hand-washings…
Find It and Grind It: The Power of Common Kitchen Spices
‘Tis the season for heavier eating in New England. Roasts, root veggies, soups, and stews take center stage in keeping us warm for the cold months ahead. But it’s during the holiday months in particular our natural instinct to “pack it on” can go array and leave us feeling bloated, constipated, and foggy in head….
5 Natural Ways to Relieve Stress During the Holiday Season
Thanksgiving is over, and we are now officially in the middle of the holiday season. With the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, work, family, and keeping the whole family healthy through the cold and flu season, stress can really take a toll on our bodies. Without proper relief, stress can build up until it…
The Wild Wisdom of Weeds Review + Giveaway
One of the reasons folks are drawn down the path of herbalism is the powerfully moving experience of reconnecting with wild plants. Humans have co-evolved with plants for millennia and we clearly could not survive without them. But our need for plants goes well beyond oxygen, breakfast, lunch, and dinner — our relationship with plants…
Vegan, Gluten Free, No Bake Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of pumpkin pie season for many folks. This vegan, gluten free, no bake pumpkin pie recipe is absolutely delicious, and a perfectly healthy addition to your holiday dessert table. It’s a cinch to throw together, and requires almost no settling time either. A yummy, easy, good-for-you pie? This one will be…
Indulge Your Sweet Tooth With Real Peppermint Hot Cacao
When the temperature drops and the scarves, hats, and gloves come out of storage, hot cacao is a staple beverage in my home. I don’t like to do just plain chocolate, though – I have a flair for changing things up by making something tasty that is also super healthy (I like to make tasty…
Bee Warm: Wintering Honey Bees
This time of year, I get a lot of questions about wintering honey bees. Most people are under the misconception that bees hibernate, which is simply not true. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are eusocial insects. Eusocial insects share three characteristics: A. Cooperative care of their young B. Overlapping generations C. Reproductive division of labor For…
Breathe Easier With a Decongesting Herbal Steam
When I get a cold, my least favorite thing is not being able to breathe well. I even get dreams when I am congested that I am drowning, it bothers me that much. I will do just about anything to breathe better again! Before I began learning about herbalism, I used to turn to more…
A Child’s Winter Herb Garden
One of the things we all miss most once the snows fall in our home town is the bounty of the herb garden. The herbs grow sort of grow thither and yon at our place and the children are very used to munching mint and having sword fights with lavender whenever they please. Well, this…
3 Must-Try Vanilla Recipes
Mmm…vanilla. Its sweet, perfumed aroma and flavor are known and loved around the world. The rich but subtle complexity of vanilla’s flavor is exotic and luxurious, yet at the same time comforting and gentle. No wonder it has been celebrated and used for hundreds of years, first cultivated by the Totonac Indians in eastern Mexico,…
Green Travel Tips for Happy Vacationing
For me, travel can be a double-edged sword—relaxing and blissful yet stressful and anxiety-inducing. With that in mind, I used a recent vacation as an experiment in being green and staying sane while traveling. Planning ahead may sound obvious, but simple things are often overlooked in the face of excitement and spontaneity. Feeling unprepared can…
Boost Your Pet’s Life With Turmeric: Natural Wellness Awaits!
Just as herbs can positively affect humans, the same is true for animals. It is thought by some that humans may have first learned to use certain herbs by watching the actions of animals. As humans seek to live more natural and self-sufficient lives, many of us also seek to use natural care for our…
The Small But Mighty Flaxseed (+ Flaxseed Smoothie Recipe!)
About 20 years ago I became very familiar with flax (Linum usitatissimum), both the seed and cold pressed oil. I had recently adopted the Yeast Connection Diet under the care of a doctor who used alternative practices in his approach to treating traditional ailments. In my case, recurring migraines were coming on all too often,…
Making Sage Honey
Sage. One of my favorite culinary herbs and one of the herbs people have easy access to no matter where they are. Salvia officinalis – even the Latin name gives us an idea of the respect this Mediterranean beauty has earned. Salvia in Latin derives from the word salvere which means, “to save.” Historically, it…
Violet Leaf Soap Recipe
While violet flowers are only around for a short time in the spring, the leaves often persist well into autumn, depending on where you live. Oil infusions of these leaves are wonderful for toning and moisturizing the skin (Cech, 2000) and can be incorporated into a gentle, soothing soap, perfect for those with sensitive skin….
Your Jack-O-Lantern Holds the Key to Greater Health!
Now that we’re into October, many of us are making the necessary trip to a farmer’s market to make that sizable and oh-so-orange purchase: a pumpkin. Soon, we will be carving out a face on that bad boy and placing it in the window as a festive way to greet trick-or-treaters on the 31st. But…
Warming Ginger Cayenne Salve For Natural Pain Relief
I have been going through surgeries on my spine since my first one, at 8 years old. It all started with scoliosis, and from there things got worse. It seemed that with every surgery, new symptoms and pain were added. Over the last 20 years I have had 7 surgeries on my spine, causing paralysis…
DIY Lavender Bath Salts
Is there a person on the planet who does not wish for a long bath at the end of a stressful day or week? Unfortunately, not much of us have enough time to do it on a regular basis. But when we do, we want to make this experience even more blissful by means of nice music,…
Planting Fruit Trees in the Fall
In some areas of the country, fall is the best season for planting fruit trees. While it seems like planting fruit trees would be a complicated endeavor, using this simple planting process will set you up for success.
Mountain Wellness: Yarrow and Arnica Uses
Those of us on the path of studying herbalism will attest that learning about the edible and wellness properties of plants has shifted our view of the natural world around us. Where once we may have identified nature by ecosystem — yard, forest, field, swamp, lake, mountain, desert — we now see the trees, plants,…
7 Tips from Nature for Keeping Healthy this Fall
Ayurveda: the science of life. Not everyone is familiar with the term, but that doesn’t discredit the physical and mental benefits that can accompany Ayurvedic practices. Ayurveda is an ancient holistic science — dating back at least 5,000 years — that focuses on finding harmony with one’s environment. It’s not hard to find the goodness…
Immune-Boosting Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Recipe
October is by far my favorite month of the year. This month is full of awesome things including cooler, boot-wearing weather, my birthday, pumpkin pie everything, and Halloween! This month is also the time of year that I really start to build my immune system to fight off all the colds and flu that everyone…
Valerian Mint Cordial: The Perfect Herbal Nightcap
No matter how hard I try to maintain a good sleep schedule, I often find myself lying awake, staring at the ceiling long after I should be asleep. My mind is either going over tomorrow’s plans, replaying today’s conversations over and over, or fixating on some other anxiety that I just can’t let go of….
The Beauty of Herbs
The plants we gather from field and forest contain hundreds if not thousands of nutrients and active constituents packed into dark roots, red and yellow petals, silvery leaves, shining seeds, luscious fruits. From walking a garden path lined with fragrant thyme, discovering yarrow on a mountain hike just when we need it, to infusing oil…
