Immune Boosting Chai Recipe
Masala chai (Masala means “a mixture of spices,” and chai means “tea”) is an Indian beverage combing spice-infused black tea with milk and sweetener. In the deep dark winter months, I crave a good chai recipe for its warming, soothing soulfulness that melts me from the inside out. On a cold weekend day that is deliciously free of plans,…
The Greenhouse Is Always Greener
A visit to Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouse at Wellesley College. The sensation of sun rays shines onto the skin. The red-orange glow behind the eyelids pulses. The smell of sea spray mists the nose and the faint crash of waves is an ethereal lullaby. Oh, wait, hold that thought! It’s still winter, and unless the bank account…
6 Myths About Raw Vegetables
For starters, we need to categorically differentiate between a raw food diet and eating foods raw from time to time. If you search online, there is a lot of literature on how a raw food diet is bad for your health in the long run owing to numerous factors, none of which are completely untrue….
Do You Know the Power of Mustard Seeds?
Have you ever heard the word “mustard” and thought about something other than a yellow condiment used during summer barbeques? If you’re like most people Stateside, probably not. Our primary association with mustard is that it’s an alternative (or a companion) to ketchup. But did you know that mustard seeds can be of tremendous value—and…
Medicinal Plant Use in World War II
I appreciate the opportunity to write as a guest blogger, and in particular, I am glad to share some of my most current research. Right now, I am hard at work on a book on plant uses during World War II—everything from victory gardens and rationed food to medicines, fibers, timber, airplanes, camouflage, and agriculture….
What Is Clove? A Very Stimulating Herb…
We all know clove is a staple of wintertime recipes, including desserts like ginger snaps and pumpkin pie. Clove is also used as a warming herbal carminative and as a topical anodyne (painkiller) in many healing traditions including Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and western herbalism. Native to Indonesia, cloves are the unopened flower buds of…
8 Supportive Herbs for Colds and Flu
Colds and flu are at its peak right now and it hits hard and fast. While prevention is the best defense, what do we do when symptoms hit? Some of us prepare for the cold and flu season in the fall by starting our fire cider and tinctures to stay healthy and support wellness at…
How To Make a Homemade Salve
In the Online Intermediate Herbal Course, we study plant energetics and their actions. Many of us in the herbal community share a passion for seeking out natural homemade remedies. We are not only studying plant’s actions individually but also how to create vehicles for these herbs to work together with the body. These vehicles have…
Hearty Lentil and Quinoa Stew
What better way to stay warm (and healthy) this new year than with a yummy, comforting bowl of vegan soup? This protein packed stew is perfect for chilly nights and easy to throw together. If your resolution for 2014 is to eat better and get in shape, then healthy, nutrient-packed soups are the way to…
Three Reasons to Eat Ginger During Wintertime
What is it that pops into our minds when we associate ginger with the wintertime? Perhaps baking gingerbread people and gingerbread houses with gumdrop trim. But these uses barely scratch the surface of ginger’s value during the coldest time of year. As an herb, ginger’s tongue-tingling zest can help us stay warm and healthy throughout…
Healthy Muffin Recipe With Bran And Buckwheat
Spicy, hearty muffins baking in the oven on a cold New England morning will warm your heart and your kitchen. In recent years, many of us have moved away from baking or even from eating baked goods. We know that we don’t need the sugar, fat, flour or extra calories. This is an enlightenment of…
10 Posts To Review 2013
Happy New Year! Before looking forward to 2014’s opportunities, we wanted to take a step back to reflect on this last year through the posts we’ve featured on our website. Please enjoy some of our favorite and most popular articles featured over the last 12 months.
Meditation And The 2013 Winter Solstice
This article is written by Lena Yakubowski, yoga teacher and communications assistant at the Herbal Academy of New England. This time of year is busy for many of us. The stores are busting at the seams as people try to get their items needed for holiday cheer, and the roads seem more congested than ever….
14 Last Minute DIY Christmas Gifts
Whether you fell behind on your Christmas shopping or are looking for an extra little something to gift to a friend or family member, here is a beautiful list of last minute DIY Christmas gifts that we are sure you’ll enjoy. From the herbalist to the bird lover to the foodie, there is something for…
Herbal Gift Box
This article is written by Lena Yakubowski, yoga teacher and communications assistant at the Herbal Academy of New England. Photos by Lena. The holidays are creeping up on us, and I know I’m not the only one feeling a financial pinch. It is a year that I’ve decided to tackle making all of my gifts…
Turmeric Health Benefits: The Golden Goddess
Most of us know turmeric (Curcuma longa) as the vibrant orange powder located in the spice section between thyme and vanilla beans. And many of us use turmeric root powder in our cooking, particularly if we have an affinity for preparing Indian-inspired dishes. Similar to the root-like component of its cousin ginger, turmeric has been a…
Favorite Homemade Body Butter
Wintertime necessitates the use of double-duty moisturizers that protect us from both the cold wind outside and the heated, super-dry air inside—something more emollient and longer-lasting than what we might use in the summer months. Body butters to the rescue! Butters provide heavier moisturizing for dry winter conditions, are protective of the skin, and are…
Cinnamon for Health: More than Just a Holiday Spice
As a spice, cinnamon plays such a popular role in our breakfast cereals, holiday desserts like pumpkin pie, hot apple cider, and other staples of our cuisine that we tend to forget that it has medicinal properties as well. And while it might not surprise us to learn of its value as an herb, how…
Jazzy Vegetarian Classics Cookbook Review
I have heard many refer to vegans as being alien-like, as if their choices are out of this world. However, it seems like our culture is beginning to finally slow down and notice the damage done in a fast paced lifestyle of convenience over consciousness. We have lost our way and have become disconnected from…
How to Create a Reflection Garden in 4 Steps
With the coming of winter, many of us start to miss time in our gardens. And why shouldn’t we? Our garden is a special, dedicated place. We go to great effort to cultivate the land so that plants of our choosing can have a home. We till the soil, fertilize it, and make sure that…
5 Steps to Increase Activity with Sun Meditation
Soon, daylight savings time will be ending for most of the country. This little tweaking of our schedules began in the 20th century when various countries around the world wanted to create more daylight in the evenings for increased recreational and commercial activity after work. By turning our clocks back as we are about to…
Your Solution to the Winter Blues
With the coming of winter, many things will change. The days will be shorter, and the weather will be colder. But perhaps most significantly, the coming months can lead to much darker feelings. This is to be expected, as whether or not we’re one of the approximately 20% of Americans who suffer from some form…
Sweet Potato Kale Sauté
In the first half of our vegan cooking series, we discussed different ways to eat kale, how to cook vegan fare on a budget and which meals have large amounts of protein. This yummy Sweet Potato Kale Sauté incorporates all of those aspects! It takes hardly any time to prepare, costs about $1 per serving…
Holistic Business Owner Shares Her Experience Taking HANE’s Online Herbal Programs
We have had the pleasure of getting to know some our students both personally and academically through online forums, emails and testimonials. Laura West, the owner of Divine Lotus Healing in Boston and a student in our online programs, is just one of many members we have come to know through our community. Laura recently finished the Introductory Herbal Course…
3 Easy Steps to Fix a Bad Day
All of us have bad days. Whether we’ve been overwhelmed at work, had a frustrating conversation with our significant other, had to deal with a problem at our child’s school, or some other source of stress, each of us has gotten to the point where all we want to do is veg out in front…
Stop and Smell the Cultivars
These days, it is very easy to get overwhelmed by all of the stimuli around us. We might have a particularly stressful day at work, be dealing with a health issue in our family, or even just get overwhelmed by a dozen honking horns on the way home from picking our kids up from school….
Five Kitchen Herbs for Cold Season
Tucked away in our kitchen pantries and cupboards, in our windowsills and gardens, are familiar and friendly herbal mainstays that are as healing as they are flavorful. Like all herbs, culinary herbs also contain minerals, vitamins, and active constituents, and when used properly and in appropriate amounts, can offer potent and comforting options for common…
3 Easy Ways To Dry Herbs
As summer winds down, things change. The children go back to school, the days are getting shorter, and gardening season is drawing to a close. Given this, you may be wondering what to do with the herbal bounty still growing in your garden. Must you make pesto with all of your basil? Must you take…
3 Herbs For Anxiety
Anxiety can be a problem for many of us. Sometimes, we feel anxious and stressed after a particularly busy day of deadlines, errands, and fires needing to be put out. Others of us may have more long-term, chronic struggles with anxiety. Feeling unsettled in this way can not only be taxing on our mood but…
5 Tips for Getting a Start on Next Year’s Garden
With the coming of fall, it can be daunting to be faced with six months of very little gardening to do. Or, perhaps you decided halfway through the summer that you’d like to take up gardening but felt you missed an opportunity to grow anything this year. But just because we’re about to enter a…
