Growing an Edible Flower Garden
No garnish elevates a drink or dish quite like an edible flower. While I am sometimes able to find edible flowers among the fresh herbs in my local grocery store, nothing beats the quality and freshness of being able to pluck them fresh from my garden. Growing an edible flower garden is easily done in…
How To Make A Floral Vinegar Infusion + A Spring Salad Recipe
Spring blooms make their way from the once cold soil, emerging and bringing life back to our gardens. The vibrant flowers and leaves that were deep in sleep are now wide awake, swaying in the breeze, soaking up the warm sun, and ready to be used once more for homemade herbal creations. The particular recipe…
Chickweed Pesto: How to Make This Wild Greens Recipe
Chickweed (Stellaria spp., including Stellaria media) is one of the first herbs to appear each spring. If you’ve been cooped up inside all winter and you’re ready to hit the forests and meadows the minute the weather warms, then chickweed is a fantastic edible green to learn how to recognize and use in herbal recipes,…
Prepare Your Herb Garden With These 4 Spring Tasks
Spring is an exciting time in the herb garden! So many beloved herbs are perennials, and as they begin to sprout and grow after the long winter slumber, we may have visions of abundant harvests ahead. By preparing your herb garden for the season with these spring tasks you can make that vision a reality….
Herbal Academy Student Feature: Rachel Baker (@3_sources)
For this month’s Student Feature, we spoke with Herbal Academy graduate, Rachel Baker (@3_sources). Rachel has an online business, 3 Sources, to help others maintain optimal health using nutrition and lifestyle as medicine. She is currently enrolled in the Intermediate Herbal Course and Mastering Herbal Formulation Course, and has contributed to Herbal Academy’s blog with…
3 Best Botanical Illustration Books to Inspire Your Studies
Books have a way of inspiring us to better ourselves. Wouldn’t you agree? They often help us to expand our knowledge on a particular subject or show us how to develop a skill in some form of handicraft. They even provide decor to our homes, which often stimulates good conversation amongst visitors. Botanical illustration books…
Andean Plants and Their Herbal Uses
The Andes mountains are home to at least 20,000 endemic species of Andean plants (Myers et al., 2000 as cited by Cueva-Agila et al., 2019). In Ecuador, the Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests ecoregion boasts up to 8,000 different plant species (Richter et al., 2009). The southern part of the country, especially the Loja and…
7 Foods and Herbs to Add to Your Diet for Postpartum Nourishment + A Nourishing Stew Recipe
The first weeks after birth are a very special chapter like no other—this period can be one of the biggest physical, emotional, and spiritual transitions someone will go through in their lifetime. Postpartum is the time to recover, for both parent and child. The baby slowly gets used to the new world and an intimate…
A Spring Equinox Drawing Exercise with Botanical Illustrator Joséphine Klerks
As we’ve worked behind the scenes on our new drawing exercise mini course, Botanical Drawing for Herbalists, we’ve spent many hours oohing and awwing over the incredible artwork produced by talented botanical illustrators of our day. One artist who regularly catches our attention with Earth-centered illustrations that capture the spirits of medicinal plants is Joséphine…
A Day In the Life of a Botanical Illustrator With Madison Safer
Madison Safer is a freelance illustrator who beautifully interweaves her creative artwork with her herbal practice. You may have seen her work in Taproot magazine or on social media, where her cozy, nostalgic designs illustrate topics that are near and dear to naturalists and herbalists of all skill levels. We particularly love her Fire Cider…
How To Make A Kid’s Fairy Garden With Foraged Materials
Raise your hand if you want to live in a tiny mushroom house in a magical forest (ME)! Surrounded by regal trees, waking up to dewy moss, serenaded by nature’s creatures…ah, the stuff fairytales are made of. According to my five-year-old, building a fairy house brings fairies to your house. Naturally, with that profound logic,…
Agni: Understanding the Digestive Fire
Digestive fire or digestive strength is discussed with some frequency across different herbalism and wellness traditions. However, oftentimes we don’t take the time to really break down our understanding of what is meant by digestive fire. Ayurveda has a unique, well-articulated, and beautifully poetic model for understanding digestive wellness. In Ayurveda, one’s agni (digestive fire)…
How to Make Oak Gall and Coreopsis Botanical Paint with Rebecca Desnos
With the launch of our new Botanical Drawing for Herbalists Course, we’ve been extra inspired by projects that involve making ink and dyes from plants. For this project, we teamed up with plant dyer and author Rebecca Desnos to learn how to make botanical paint from oak galls and coreopsis flowers. You can start your…
Undercover Women: Historic Botanical Illustrators
In the modern age, the title of “artist” is an acceptable profession for both male and female persons, but it wasn’t always this way. Historically, the art world was a male-dominated one. This was most likely due to the fact that men were considered the “breadwinners” of the family while women tended to more domestic…
Planting the Rainbow: Incorporate Plants Into Your Garden Based On the Color of the Blooms
Gardening is a hobby that can fulfill both the utilitarian as well as the aesthetic sensibilities within the human soul, but you don’t always find both in the garden. I grew up with gardens that were either designed around production and output or designed for aesthetic purposes. However, you don’t have to choose. Planting the…
The Father of Medicine: Was Hippocrates an Herbalist?
“Where there is love for mankind, there is love for art of healing.” – Hippocrates Considered the father of medicine, Hippocrates was a renowned ancient Greek physician and teacher born on the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea. He lived during the Classical Period of ancient Greece, which was a time marked by a…
Herbal Academy Student Feature: Farai Harreld (@thehillbillyafrican)
We sat down with Herbal Academy graduate, Farai Harreld, to learn more about her herbal journey. Farai enjoys teaching folk herbal remedies on her Patreon channel called Folk Herbalism. She has completed Herbal Academy’s Botanical Skin Care, Foraging, and Mushroom courses. You can also find herbal inspiration on her Instagram account, @thehillbillyafrican. HA: Please tell…
Gardening By the Moon: How Lunar Planting Deepens Your Relationship With the World You Live In
When we hear a phrase like “gardening by the moon,” it can elicit mystical and magical thoughts. However, this is an ancient (rather than new age) method for managing agricultural work that continues to be a tool for farmers today. One of the most popular planting guides ever produced, The Old Farmers Almanac, uses lunar…
Tribute to Herbal Academy’s Founder and Director, Marlene Adelmann
To Our Herbal Academy Community: It is with very heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of our Founder and Director, Marlene Adelmann, at age 67. For the last year and a half, she bravely battled a rare form of cancer with a strength so characteristic of the woman she was. …
Reconnecting With Nature Through DIY Skin Care
Now that it’s the wintertime, I’ve had to up my DIY skin care routine due to increased dryness and irritation. At first, it seemed like a chore, but skin care has now become something I find very meditative and relaxing. Being able to source many of these ingredients directly from the earth has allowed me…
Your Guide to an Ayurvedic Spring Cleanse
Spring is often linked to a sense of renewal. As the daylight hours stretch out longer, temperatures become warmer, and blossoms emerge, you may find yourself with a desire to engage in a spring cleanse or another ritual of renewal. Ayurveda offers gentle and time-tested methods for cleansing and resetting. An ayurvedic spring cleanse can…
How to Make Botanical Vegan Pancakes Inspired by the Colors of Nature
Today I am sharing a recipe for botanical vegan pancakes made with rice milk, buckwheat flour, and egg substitute. I mixed the pancake batter with different powders to give a variety of colors to the pancakes. The powders I used are: Barley grass Aronia berry Maca Beetroot Rosehip Cacao For the dark green I used…
Herbal Aphrodisiac Candle: The Perfect DIY Project For a Romantic Evening
You know the saying “love is in the air,” and the feel of a palpable swirling energy, the kind that makes you feel exhilarated? February shines a spotlight on love and as the month bursts with store-bought flowers, chocolate, and heart-shaped trinkets, let it also be a time to reconnect. A reminder to yourself or…
Herbs for Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and the Aging Brain: What the Research Has to Say
Most of us will be touched by the heartbreak of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Whether a parent, life partner, friend, or oneself, we face the slow loss of loved ones and difficult decisions about care. Research on herbs for dementia offers a ray of hope in this dark landscape. Research has focused on plants with…
DIY Immune Stimulating Elderberry Gummies
It’s that time of year when winter has solidly set in and cold and flu season is at its peak. Since we spend more time inside this time of year, we tend to spread colds around more readily and may be feeling more susceptible to infection. And, with an ongoing worldwide viral illness, natural immune…
Herbal Academy Student Feature: Hannah Lasorsa (@hannah_aften)
For this month’s Student Feature interview, we spoke with Herbal Academy graduate, Hannah Lasorsa (@hannah_aften). Hannah owns a marketing studio called Herbal Content Cottage where she works with herbalism and gardening brands to help them create inspiring and educational content such as seasonal content, website copy, herbal lifestyle photography, and more. Hannah has completed the…
Raspberry Rose Shatavari Chocolate Delights
I have the absolute pleasure of sharing with you one of the recipes from my soon-to-be-released book: a book entirely dedicated to raw chocolate and cacao recipes. Today I am sharing a recipe for Raspberry Rose Shatavari Chocolate Delights. I have been working with cacao for many years, and this book has been a long…
Two Easy Chutney Recipes: Red and Green
Spices, pickles, chutneys, and condiments certainly make food more flavorful and fun. Homemade chutneys are a great way to provide a flavor accent to your everyday dishes. Also, there are a plethora of easy chutney recipes that utilize a host of beneficial herbs, veggies, fruits, and spices. Every time I make chutney I remember how…
Warming Herbal Foot Soak With Cinnamon and Magnesium
You’re going to want to step into this warm, grounding herbal foot soak with cinnamon and magnesium this winter. Long days of cold air can be taxing on the body and mind. During winter, a noticeable tenseness rolls through your limbs as you clutch your jacket tightly around your body. Even in climates without snow,…
DIY Nutrient-Dense Syrup as an Herbal Health Tonic
If I had to pick just one category of herbs to use for the rest of my life, I would without a doubt choose the nutritive herbs. Since good nutrition is the basis of health and wellbeing, this category of herbal allies is the one I use most frequently and liberally in my herbal repertoire….
