Cooking with Herbs and Essential Oils: Cooking with herbs and essential oils can bring your cooking to a whole new level. Herbs can do more than just give you a flavor boost they can be used as powerful tools for prevention and healing when it comes to establishing and maintaining good health.  Many of the […]

Life Cycle Ginseng is a long-lived perennial that grows in USDA zones 3 to 8. Plant Description Ginseng is a member of the Araliaceae family and grows in the deciduous forests in the mountains of the eastern United States and Canada. In the United States its range extends from northern Vermont to Georgia and as […]

Cleavers (galium aparine).  The name (Galium) is derived from gala which is Greek for ‘milk’ (cleavers was used to curdle milk for cheese) and the species name ‘aparine‘ comes from the Greek word apara meaning ‘to seize’.   Also known as Bedstraw because it was used to stuff mattresses. Cleavers is a persistent, sticky plant that […]

Speed date with nettles; you will either love them or hate them but the more you know, the more you will fall for this one! As an herb: Nettles is an excellent diuretic helping to flush the kidneys. Being hemostatic and astringent, it helps to tighten and tone tissues and stop bleeding. Nettles is an […]

I’ve had an unusual amount of headaches lately. Instead of reaching each time for a couple of ibuprofen, which can cause ulcers and increase bleeding in the stomach if taken on a regular basis, I’ve been looking into some natural remedies for headache relief. Aromatherapy for Headaches Peppermint oil: Rubbing a few drops of peppermint oil on your temples has […]

Cold/flu season is upon us and having your sore throat lozenges ready is a great idea.  At The Mother Earth News Fair in Topeka last month, I had the pleasure of sharing practical “hands-on” throat lozenge making with a number of participants.  Join in making your own herbal throat pastilles/lozenges, which are tasty, simple to […]

Make Homemade Cleaners with Essential Oils From tea tree and lavender to lemon and peppermint, essential oils have been praised for their ability to clean and protect surfaces.Essential Oils for a Clean and Healthy Home (F+W Media, 2015) by Kasey Schwartz, teaches readers how to use the all-natural oils around their homes, from cleaning kitchen appliances to […]

Whipped Belly Butter  Here’s what you’ll need: • 6 ounces cocoa butter • 3 ounces calendula-infused jojoba oil • 1 1/2 ounces unrefined hemp • 14 ounces shea butter • 0.3 ounce equal parts: German chamomile, carrot seed, frankincense (optional) and helichrysum (optional) 1. Weigh out all of your ingredients (volume doesn’t provide the same). […]

Guide to Making Essential Oils This guide to making essential oils shares how plants create the oils humans want to harvest. When people visit an herb garden, they touch and sniff the plants. It’s almost an involuntary reaction. People associate herbs—and spices, too—with fragrance, and the roots of this association go deep. Even the earliest […]

One of the most effective ways to use medicinal herbs is in the form of a tincture.   Echinacea is an antiviral effective at fighting colds and flu, and promoting healing of infections. Take this tincture when fighting an infection or traveling, or apply it topically to minor inflammations such as hangnails and bug bites. […]