I'm deeply enamored by the fall foliage, but even more so when I can make medicine with it. The Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) puts on such a show in the fall and, although the essential oils in the leaves are certainly more concentrated in the summer, the mucilage is still potent in the fall and lots of their aromatic and unique flavor is still present. I love gathering them now- when the trees are about to drop them anyway and they're in their full autumnal glory.- and make a potent and delicious herbal honey with them. You can even gather recently fallen leaves for medicine! 

Lion’s Mane Mushroom is a powerful nootropic, has a special talent for helping heal damaged nerves, supports mood and helps alleviate depression, and possesses the famous beta-glucan polysaccharides that make medicinal mushrooms such potent immunomodulators.

Our grief is a portal, an opening, a passageway into honoring that which we love. Anyone who’s ever been grief-stricken can tell you that grief is an expression of love - the two are inseparable. Grief itself isn’t something to be cured or healed, it’s something to be in relationship with. And, still, sometimes it’s too much. The weight of it can bear down and become immobilizing, expressed as a state of deep nervous system activation, exhaustion, and chronic stress.

In the herb world there's kind of an inside joke that's basically this- some people are "Blue Vervain" people, meaning they're pretty Type A, love lists and order and control (but often get stressed-out trying to control everything), tend towards holding stress in their bodies- particularly the neck and shoulders- and are often a "work hard, play hard" type. In the Ayurvedic framework these are folks with LOTS of Pitta.

Wild Sodas are a fun and easy way to make living, medicinal, naturally probiotic beverages that are made by wild fermentation- we don’t add any yeast- the wild yeast on the flowers and yeasts in the raw honey are what cause the fermentation! They can be made with 100% local ingredients, making them a wonderful example of “localvore medicine” that reflects the true terroir of the land and has a super small carbon footprint. I mostly make them in the warmer months, but they can be made year-round. 

I first became interested in diversifying my apothecary with vinegar and honey-based preparations when, after a certain point, it started to feel like I was just dumping vodka on everything! And the more I began working with bioregionally abundant herbs, the more I wanted to start exploring bioregionally abundant menstruums (herbal vocab word for whatever you’re extracting into).

Barberry (Berberis spp) is a medicine I truly feel all of us should know. This ubiquitous shrub is abundant, pervasive, and rich in a very special alkaloid extensively studied to have a whole host of antimicrobial properties, Berberine. This alkaloid gives Barberry its distinctive yellow roots and inner bark and is the same alkaloid that makes the famous Goldenseal so antimicrobial and gives it its golden-yellow color as well.

It's blueberry season and the Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) in the garden is just going off, along with sooooo many other herbs, so I whipped-up a Blueberry & Anise Hyssop oxymel with the seasons' bounty. This recipe is kitchen medicine at its finest.

Winter is a great time to work with and harvest conifer resin (also often referred to as pitch). It's much less sticky and viscous in the winter than other times, due to the cold temperatures, which makes it much easier to harvest! Locally, White Pine (Pinus strobus) is our most abundant conifer that produces resin and you can also find it in Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) and Spruce species (Picea spp), with Norway Spruce (Picea abies) being our most locally abundant Spruce.

When it comes to the bitter flavor Americans are WAY off their game compared to so many other parts of the world where bitter herbal liquors after meals are the norm. Other than our coffee, which is the main source of bitter in our diets and is actually a perfect example of too much of a good thing (read on to understand this more), our diets are more or less devoid of the bitter flavor.

It’s root season all! And in my humble opinion we need their grounding presence now more than ever. Prepping freshly harvested roots for processing, whether for medicine-making or drying, is time-consuming and hard work but totally worth it! As a teacher I’ve learned that knowing the best method for this can be a stumbling block for lots of beginner herbalists and can hold them back from harvesting so I wanted to share some of what I’ve learned over the years.

This is one of my all-time favorite Rose preparations that’s a go-to for me all summer to cool down that fiery Pitta/Fire energy or when I just want a delicious and refreshing beverage that also makes me feel amazing! Oxymels are herbal drinks or sipping vinegars that are made by extracting herbs and/or fruits into a combination of vinegar and honey.

I recently recorded a free Community Class on my Patreon Page, Herbal Support during the Covid-19 Pandemic, on my thoughts on easy and accessible herbal support you can be doing right now to protect yourself and strengthen your immunity.

It’s always a plus when your medicine tastes good- am I right!? Cordials enter into the food as medicine realm and can be a lovely way to take your herbs. I like to enjoy my cordials the European way- sipping in sweet little cordial cups after dinner or while socializing with friends.

I love working with the evergreens this time of year...they just seem to beckon. That sole greenery on the landscape is a potent reminder of the verdant abundance to come and also of the strong medicine these trees have to offer. I love that even in the depth of winter I can head outside with my harvesting basket and gather these healing herbs for medicine right outside my door.

The ground froze so early this year I didn’t get a chance to get my garlic in the ground! So, what to do with all that garlic? Make garlic honey of course! This is a super easy recipe and so useful to have around the house in the winter months. And it’s such a beautiful form of kitchen medicine, using just the familiar household ingredients of garlic and honey.

It’s spring and Violet season is upon us. There’s lots to say about the medicinal properties of this herb- it’s a cool and moistening nutritive tonic, especially rich in vitamin C and A, and is especially well-known for it’s ability to move lymph, especially in the breasts. I love making a Violet Oil every year for this purpose.

At this point most folks are familiar with this amazing beverage and for good reason! Golden Milk is a delicious, turmeric-based drink that’s a traditional home remedy in India, where it’s known as Haldi Ka Doodh, commonly drank for colds, flus, coughs, and congestion. It’s also often enjoyed simply as a nourishing and calming before-bed tea.

I love making tallow balm because it’s such potent kitchen medicine and the process of making it is quite nourishing unto itself. I always choose to render my suet into tallow on a day that’s I’m already bouncing around the kitchen engaged in other food as medicine projects. Read on to learn about the amazing medicine of tallow and how to make your own nutritious, non-toxic skin balm.

Wild Sodas are a fun and easy way to make living, medicinal, naturally probiotic beverages. They can be made with 100% local ingredients, making them a wonderful example of “localvore medicine” that reflects the true terroir of the land while having a super small carbon footprint. I mostly make them in the warmer months, but they can be made year-round.