The Essential Herbal Blog

the maple in the yard

2013-05-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Maple trees are common and we almost don't even notice them. In the early spring, sugar maples are tapped for their sweet sap, but otherwise their usefulness and beauty is pretty much taken for granted. Walking up the back steps after working in the yard today, I paused in the shade of the maple tree and thought back to other maples I've loved over the years.

Growing up, we lived in an old farm house with 2 giant maples in the front corners of the house and a third along the side. They stood guard over the house with their leaves swaying sweetly in the summer breezes. We didn't have air conditioning, but the deep shade offered by their dense growth made it bearable. The trunks of those trees were immense and their canopy met over the top of the 3 story house. In the side tree, my brothers built a tree house. It was higher than the second floor bedroom windows. Looking back, there was no adult supervision and the safety of this structure built by kids of around 12 was never checked out. Boards nailed to the trunk were the ladder. It was a little scary to be honest, but on the few occasions I found the nerve to climb those boards and rest in the middle of the tree were magical. The swaying branches with the leaves singing gently in the moving air mesmerized me and allowed my mind to wander unfettered. Those trees were as much a part of the house and our childhood as any wall, window, furnace or pipe.

Later, when my daughter was little, we lived in a house with a row of large maples between the yard and the road. Many hours were spent watching the trees dancing in the wind, and she named them all "Maple-y." We watched the moon sail between the upper branches, and thrilled in the spring to see them quickly go from bud to leaf. Eventually there was a rope swing hanging from the largest tree, and she loved to play among the exposed roots and trunks on hot days when the shade welcomed her.

As soon as this house was built, a maple tree went in. It now shades the kitchen and one side of the deck in the morning. The branches tickle us as we go up the steps. As each season passes, the tree trumpets its arrival, changing leaf color, dropping leaves, swelling buds, blooming, leafing out in the brightest of spring greens, and finally settling on a deep cool green before starting over again. Each of those colors and seasons changes the whole feel of the house. Spring green casts a cheery glow in the morning, and walking into the kitchen to make coffee just makes me happy - right off the bat, first thing in the morning. The clear, mellow yellow of autumn does the same thing, but brings a certain coolness with it.

The shade in the middle of summer is a blessing that cannot be matched. Even in the dead of winter, I can see where the buds will be swelling in a month or so, and am warmed at the thought. Ice sometimes clings to the branches in a stunning display. When a friend from the city visits, we find ourselves sitting beneath the branches in the grass, talking quietly. It is simply always beautiful.

So often with herbs, the question, "What is it used for?" comes up. Before writing this, it crossed my mind to put together some medicinal or culinary uses, or maybe a craft using the whirling seed pods, but that would be overkill. This tree is used for comfort, joy, beauty and as an anchor in time and space.
It doesn't really need to be more than that.

Violet Leaf Experiment #1

2013-04-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer - I am so far from a scientist that my high school science teacher probably rolls around uncomfortably in his grave every time I even use the *word* scientist. This is an interesting hobby, but no testing is done except with my senses.

A few days ago I decided that it would be interesting to try to distill violet leaf. To the best of my knowledge, true violet FLOWER essential oil is non-existent. You will possibly find people who sell it, but my guess is that they are either misinformed or dishonest. The LEAF oil is available and is obtained through solvent extraction. The leaf oil is soothing and relaxing, green and earthy at the same time. It is often used in skin care products. So even though I knew there would be no essential oil produced from a steam distillation, sometimes I get some pretty interesting hydrosols. That would be pretty cool in a lotion, if it works...
Originally my thought was to wait until fall when the leaves would be more substantial, but I just couldn't wait. Now it will be fun to do it again at that time and compare the results.
As it turns out, in the spring it is almost as time-consuming to pick a basketful of leaves as it is to pick a basket full of blossoms. The young leaves are still below the flowers, making the picking a little complicated. It took a few hours to do, but it was such a gorgeous day that the time flew. The best leaves were in the woods, along the path.

Getting set up, I packed the still with the leaves.

There is a full market basket of leaves crammed into that globe.

Usually it doesn't really get stuffed, but I wanted as much material in there as possible. It was so tightly packed that after the water below started to boil, I started to ponder what would happen if the steam was unable to penetrate the leaves and gave the boiling flask a wide berth until it was clear that it could.
The first few tablespoons of hydrosol to be produced had an almost melon-y scent. Very interesting and complex. However, over the course of the next 45 minutes, the green bean scent that is typical of leaves with little or no essential oil became more pronounced. Plantain, jewelweed, comfrey, chickweed - all produce a green bean type aroma. In many cases, the hydrosol still has the property we're looking for, especially jewelweed and comfrey.
So the basketful of leaves eventually steams down to about 3 cups worth of green goo. In less than an hour, the steam finds a direct channel through the goo and bubbles up through that one spot consistently. It occurs to me that the distillation is finished, because it is pretty much just steam anymore - not passing through the material, but making a straight shot through it instead.

If you look just below the clamp and compare it to the picture above, you'll see the mesh plug protruding downward.

The heat is turned off and we have a couple of cups of the clear hydrosol. The bean scent is prominent, but there is more... a very light floral, and something that makes me want to keep sniffing it from time to time. If the bean fades, it might turn out to be pretty nice (but not holding my breath).

It was late, so I left the still to cool and went to bed. This morning the goo had really settled in and was starting to ooze out of the bottom of the flask. There's a mesh plug that is not a tight fit - but it never got pushed out before. Fortunately the goo was pretty intertwined in the mesh... Not my favorite before-breakfast activity, but it all worked out.
I'm very curious to see what happens in a few months with leaves that are not so tender, and also to see if the background fragrance will develop.

Missing my little violet picker

2013-04-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

When my daughter was little, she was always my companion and helper during violet season. For a week or two each spring, on sunny afternoons we'd go down to the orchard with baskets and sit under the blossoming trees picking violets for drying, syrups and jelly. During those hours, she and I would discuss all the burning questions of the day. Why aren't there violets all year long? Why does the dog always chase the rabbits and groundhogs? Do bird mamas love their babies? And so the days would pass. Quickly. Ever so quickly.
Eventually Aunt Susie taught her to see 4-leaf clovers, and that took her focus for a little while, but she was still around, talking and singing and chewing on a piece of onion grass. We'd string rosebud necklaces as soon as that time came, and we'd walk along the creek and make discoveries as soon as it got warm (we usually waited until it was warm because bodies of water seem to have a magnetic pull on her - have water, will fall in). I can sometimes convince people to do some of those things with me, but she was always game for everything.

I used to tell her that she wasn't allowed to grow up and my mother would gasp and say, "Don't EVER say that!" Mom had 5 of us and perhaps missed my point, having been pretty happy to have us grow up and get on with our lives. It wasn't that she didn't adore the "little us's", it was just exhausting, I suppose.
I never knew that each stage of life - infancy, early childhood, kid-ness, young adulthood, and onward would all be like different people that I would come to miss. That little kid is now a young lady who is a joy to be around, but I miss all of the others as if they were separate individuals. Especially during violet season.
So now I sit in the yard and pick by myself. She's off earning a living. It doesn't make me sad so much as it gives me time to reflect on how perfect those days were and wonder if I appreciated them as fully as I should have. It truly is the everyday occurrences that we most treasure later on.

Mamas - stop a minute and take a mental picture of this day. Write it down, savor it and know that the day will come that you will miss the little person who is in the process of growing up. That's all.

The View from this Side of the Fence

2013-04-22T11:26:00.001-07:00

Because of what I do for a living, more than half of my close friends are business owners. Most likely they have no employees and pour their hearts and souls into their businesses. We call our various businesses our "babies," and are often raising our kids at the same time, again often without help.
So when a friend wrote to me the other day hurt and angry that she was being slandered on a large plant/herb forum by (oddly enough) a brand new woman in business, my heart really went out to her.
My friend is a wholesale supplier. She accepts orders and then produces to fill those orders.
When those orders are cancelled, she scrambles to find another way to sell the items.

The complaint was about the cost of shipping. She doesn't make a cent on it, and every year she agonizes over how to shave some of that cost off for the customer. I'm not talking about her spending 15 minutes looking at websites. She researches the various shipping companies, box measurements, the weight of boxes and every other minutiae one could possibly think of - while still ensuring that the product arrives in good shape. Other than that, shipping is completely out of her control.

I won't name her business (nor that of the newbie complainer - Karma will take care of that), but can tell you that the order was not charged for several months while it was in production. The shipping charge was clearly stated, yet ignored for all that time. When the order was cancelled, a small restocking charge was levied (also clearly stated), causing newbie complainer to howl like a banshee.

So the thing is, in all the years I've been in business (more than 20), there have been very few times when I've noticed people owning businesses who don't make huge sacrifices for their customers - even if the customer doesn't know it. Occasionally there are greedy business owners, but they go for a lot more than a few dollars in excess shipping.

Maybe she thought she could get my friend to pay her shipping, thinking she had her over a barrel. Maybe she ran out of funds, changed her mind, or found a local supplier. Either way, that wasn't the fault of the business she's complaining about any more than the cost of shipping is.

Get to know your suppliers. Ask other people for recommendations If you feel like they're taking you for a ride, find someone else. If you have a complaint, take it to them - not a public forum. And if it is something that they have no control over, get a grip.
Stepping off soapbox.

The Woodland Cure

2013-04-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Being inside today means being in some way connected to the news of the manhunt in Boston. Even several states away, it is surreal and it saturates everything with fear and the feeling that bad people are everywhere. Enough! Into the woods!
I happily snapped as I went along, but the pictures are in no particular order. They are all taken between my backyard and the far edge of the property. Come on. It'll make you feel better. It sure did help me!

A tiny barberry plant growing right next to a dead nettle.

Blackberry canes have arched across some parts of the path. They are very prickly.

Missed the blooms of the Bloodroot, but the seedpods are ripening.

In a few square inches, we have the leaves of Bloodroot, Jewelweed, and Trout Lily.

The creeksides are waking up and really getting gussied up.

Overnight (seriously!) the dandelions have burst into bloom.

Dutchman's Breeches. We introduced these, and love to watch them spread.

False Solomon's Seal are one of the most prevalent plants on the forest floor.

Standing in the forsythia by the pond turned the world bright yellow for a few minutes.

I've not identified the ferns in the woods, but this frilly little lovely caught my eye.

Garlic Mustard is already in bloom. If we could convince people to eat this as much as we eat lettuce, we'd never run out of it. Very invasive, it is very aggressively moving across the floor of the woods.

These actually have a sweet pink blush, but my camera isn't picking up some colors lately. I'll have to look these up. The Spring Beauties that carpet the other hillside across the creek have petals that are more oval shaped and separate.

Although this doesn't look impressive, it made me let out a little "whoop" when I saw it. Ramps are another introduced species here, and this singleton showed up nearly 10 feet from the nearest spreading clump. Awesome!

Mayapple preparing to unfold. The center bud will become a flower and the "shoulders" are 2 individual leaves.

This is the pathway between our homes - my sister and I. It is lined with fruit trees and bayberry bushes.

The lush, gorgeous, full spreading clumps of ramps.

Also introduced, the blood-red trillium has made herself at home and is spreading very slowly.

One of the 2 introduced wild gingers, this one shiny leaved, the other fuzzy leaves and stems. Both are doing well and stretching out, covering ground.

Introduced white trillium is even slower to reproduce than the reds. Still, it does seem to be forming clumps rather than single stems in close proximity like the others.

Spicebushes are everywhere throughout the woods and are in full bloom right now. They are what spring looks like in my mind's eye. That color, caught in the sunlight is the essence of spring.

Just in the past few years the trout lilies have found their way to the near side of the creek. This is a nice clump right off the main path. I appreciate their cooperation in helping me avoid falling in the water. Maybe they can have a word with the red Trillium, the Dutchman's Breeches, and all the Spring Beauties.

We have also introduced Solomon's Seal (although we've recently found huge plants near one of the bamboo patches). It started with one stem, and I counted 6 this morning. The uppermost of these plants is a false Solomon's Seal.

All along the path, violets carpet my footsteps.

A nice clump of white Trillium. It makes me so happy to see them getting comfortable here.

Yellow is a nearly impossible color to pick up for some reason. It washes out for me, but there are tons of bright yellow violets all along the woodland floor, along with various shades of blue and purple violets.

Greater Celandine is just starting to bloom, and I was thrilled to see that 2 out of 3 of the Pawpaws we planted last year were not eaten, and have leaves. Didn't see a single Jack in the Pulpit up yet, which seems odd, especially that they have been plentiful in years past.
I still think we need to put some VA bluebells in there, and we've got some native foxgloves ready to go in along the edges of the woods. I have no doubt that an herb festival or visit to a garden center will bring other natives into reach, and we'll add them. A third attempt at wintergreen is not excessive in my opinion, especially because we'd really like to have it handy.

There. Doesn't it feel like you can breathe a little more deeply now?

Spring is Bustin' Out

2013-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

All last week we were hustling around getting the writer/advertiser/wholesale copies of the magazine packed to ship, mini-magazines off to conferences and shops, An Elder Gathering picked up from the printer in time for the herb festival on Friday and Saturday that we were also busy packing for, and trying to straighten up the digs for a visit starting Sunday from a very sweet house-guest. It was a little bonkers around here, and the whole time there was that tick-tocking of the earth waking up. We passed drifts of dutchman's breeches on the way to the festival, and splashes of spring green on the tips of trees. Spring bulbs blazed from every front yard and baby farm animals pranced and kicked up their heels everywhere we went. I was dying to get outside so in spite of the light rain today, I had to at least check the yard. Everything has changed in a week and a half.

The field to the one side of the house has very few trees and the ground is scattered with jewels. Dead nettle, dandelions, speedwell, violets, shepherd's purse, and mustards are just some of the blooms adding to the colors on the ground.

The black raspberries that we transplanted a few weeks ago are sending out leaves.

Yellow mustard will soon turn vast swatches of fields a brilliant yellow. Often these patches are beside large patches of red dead nettle, turning the countryside into a patchwork quilt of beautiful colors.

All of the blueberry bushes are happy. Several of them are blooming while a few others won't bloom for a few more weeks. There is something so beautiful about these plants. They mesmerize me.

The currants are already in bloom too. The fruit trees (cherry, persimmon, elderberry) are still concentrating on leaves, but the bush berries are going like gangbusters.

These dandelion buds are amazing in that they are a bit bigger than a penny. Looking around, they are all like that! Must be something about the weather, or perhaps the difference between last spring and this one. Whatever, they're huge.

Gooseberries with leaves full of rainwater. They surprise me every year with the pure vibrancy they bring to the garden.

These simple unassuming maple flowers are such a bright spot in the yard! You can barely see a leaf preparing to unfurl. There is about a 2 week period each spring when the morning light is filtered through tender leaves that are such a perfect spring green. It makes the kitchen feel magical, as if the air itself were full of springtime. I love this tree.

One of the mustards. Black, perhaps? It is very sturdy and the leaves quite pungent in a salad.

Shepherd's purse has suddenly appeared everywhere. The path between my gardens and the fields are full of it. Lots of work to do, but in the meantime, this is beautiful too.

Pausing to look down over the back field, the white splashes are fruit trees lining the path down to the soap workshop. Seriously, if I ever complain about my life, smack me.

This little tulip is very special. Molly brought me a box of bulbs back from her trip to Amsterdam to participate in the Model United Nations with several of her schoolmates. It's been 4 years, and this is the first bloom. Her achievement in being on that team made me so proud, and the tulips will always glow and remind me each spring.

Violets have been steadily marching across the yard, and I've been happily allowing it. There is very little grass in our yard.

When the violet flowers are finished, I intend to distill the leaves and see what we get. We all know that violet FLOWER essential oil is found only in amulets worn by unicorns during the full moon, but violet LEAF essential oil is beautiful and I suspect that the hydrosol would be great for aging skin. We'll see. It seems like it would be best when the plant is finished concentrating on blooms to harvest leaves for this purpose.

There were many, many other lovely things that caught my eye. Even the buzzards playing in the updrafts looks joyful!
Tomorrow it should be dry enough to go into the woods and see what is happening there, and soon we'll take a trip to Shenk's Ferry to visit the unbelievable drifts of spring wildflowers.

The Essential Herbal May/June '13 Issue

2013-04-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

The May/June issue of The Essential Herbal Magazine went into the mail last week, and should be hitting subscriber mailboxes shortly. On the 20th, our ezine subscribers will receive a link to this issue too. If you're not getting this magazine and you're interested in herbs, you just might be missing out on exactly what you've been looking for! Over the last 12 years, our grassroots effort has consistently provided information in a down to earth way that our readers tell us they love. In fact, most of our content comes from our readers! Only $24 for 6 issues a year, either print or on-line.

Here's what we have for you in the new issue!

Field Notes, Tina Sams, editor
Exciting news going on here in the office!

Planting a Healing Garden, Marcia Lautanen Raleigh
A healing garden plan using 12 herbs

Herbal Preparation Primer, Tina Sams
Quick overview on how to make the most often discussed herbal preparations.

Making Your Own Garden Journal, Marnie Plunkett
Marnie wanted the perfect journal, so she made it herself!

Ethical Wildcrafting, Stephany Hoffelt
The details of wildcrafting that leaves no damage.

Favorite Herbal Remedies, Part 1, Compilation
We were going to do a book, but you get the recipes we gathered here in article form instead

The Noble Mullein, Sandy Michelsen
Ear oil, and lots of storage, harvesting, and uses of this wondrous weed.

Project: Community Medicine Garden, Suzan T Scholl
Gather your neighbors and begin this great project that could eventually include plants for all sorts of purposes, including food. Start with Medicine.

How to Gather Wild Herbs with Intention, Heddy Johannesen
Being very present and in the moment while gathering wild plants

Baked Oatmeal, Tina Sams
A very popular breakfast food in our area, easy to make, delicious, and very nourishing.

Monarda - It's About Time! Jackie Johnson
The "Notable Native" for 2013 is Monarda, and Jackie shares some great knowledge.

Ode to Calendula & Castile Soap, Marci Tsohonis
Great information on all aspects of calendula, and then as if that weren't enough, Marci walks us through castile soap using calendula.

Provence in the Pacific Northwest, Jacquie Beveridge
The Pacific Northwest is giving Provence a run for their money, with hills covered with lavender.

Potager-Your Go-to Garden, Rita Richardson
Start a Potager, and always be ready to prepare a delicious soup (or potager).

Plant-based Medicine, Joe Smulevitz
We often talk about how many medicines are derived from herbs, and Joe talks about a great many of them.

Sweet Summer Herbs, Catherine Love
Herbs grow when many other things won't if the weather is uncooperative. They are such beautiful, delicious, delightful plants!

Wild Greens, Where to Start, Tina Sams
You want to eat the weeds, but the recipes out there are almost too complex. Start simple with some of these ideas, and gradually become familiar with them.

my edible yard

2013-04-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

It has been about 7 years since I started on this, running concurrently with the project in the woods introducing natives. It began as a whim, to try to have some kind of fruit available from spring thru fall, and bring in other edibles that could live with the always present edible weeds. Just for fun and free food.
The house is on about perhaps a half acre, nestled into the one side of the tree farm. Down at my sister's a few hundred yards away, there are apples, peaches, grapes, and Bing cherries planted along with some hazelnuts. Black walnuts are prevalent in the woods. Let me show you how things are looking so far. In addition to the plants shown, we have a corner full of sunchokes, more hazelnut trees, horseradish, and a nice new clump of nettles. There's a big mulberry on the other side of the field, and mints everywhere.

A few weeks ago we pulled these black raspberries out from the side of the house and transplanted them along the garden where we grow the holy basil and some vegetables each year. We'll see what happens there.


On the right is a vitex, and on the left behind the yucca (delicious edible blossoms) are two of the three elders.

New this year, a black currant. It seems to be taking well. Probably fruit next year.

The blueberry patch is finally growing well inside its own little fence. The rabbits and groundhogs kept nibbling off the branches each spring, so now they have great root systems. They went in the first year and this will be the first year with a decent sized crop. I hope.

We had to move the fig tree because it was too close to the house and getting too big. The trunk is now 4" in diameter. The sun was too bright when I took these pictures, but you can barely make out the leaf tip poking out.

Sour cherry tree. Last year a last minute cold snap destroyed any hope of cherries, I tell myself the birds would have gotten them anyhow. That makes me feel a little better.

In a circle out back and also along the one side of the house, the wild orange daylilies have been transplanted because we love to eat the buds as a vegetable. Never seem to have enough, even though my sister has an entire hillside.

On the extreme left, you can see branches from the elderberry bushes, and straight ahead is the sour cherry tree. The blueberry patch is off to the left between them - just to give you an idea of how it is laid out on that side of the yard.

On the other side of the fence, there is a purple gooseberry bush. There's another variety that is only a fraction of that size a little further up, but it isn't visible.

Outside the fence behind the blueberries, a red currant is pretty happy. There's a serviceberry tree out there too, hiding behind the currant. We already get a few serviceberries, even at that size.


Two of 3 Nanking bush cherries that went in a month or so ago. They'll form a hedge straight out from the basement door.

As you may have noticed, there's lots of weeding to be done. Our weather just turned a few days ago, so we'll get to that as soon as the PA Herb Festival is over and we get all the magazines out to everyone who has them coming. It's been a very busy spring, so maybe I should be thankful that the weather gave me a little more time to work inside without feeling guilty.

In between all the fruit plants, there are medicinal and culinary herbs that are also beginning to wake up. The rosemary is heading into a fourth year and I noticed a few fennel volunteers. The lavenders are starting to show signs of life, and the chives should be blooming in the next couple of weeks along with the valerian. Out front, I'm watching the bleeding hearts emerge.

And next week, it will be time for another walk in the woods to see what wonders await there. The pawpaws we put in down there last fall (knowing we probably won't live to see fruit) look like they made it, and I'm looking forward to seeing leaves on them.

Skunk Spray? Here You Go.

2013-03-30T17:43:00.002-07:00

It's hard to believe, but when I started thinking about telling this story, it suddenly hit me that it's almost 20 years old. It seems like only a couple of years ago, but then I remember that good old Tiny has been gone for 5 or 6 years now.

The story starts with a 3 year old Molly hiding behind a chair crying inconsolably. When I could finally calm her down enough to tell me what was wrong, she told me that Daddy had been telling her for a while that if she was a good girl she could have a puppy. Since she'd been trying to be a good girl and there wasn't a puppy, it had to mean she was a bad girl.

So that very late September afternoon Daddy was sent out with orders not to come home without a puppy. That's how Tiny came to be a part of our family. She was supposed to be a medium sized dog, but turned out to be mostly German Shepherd. She was a terrific dog with a huge heart, and protected Molly fiercely on more than one occasion, for which we were thankful.

Tiny was also very clear about the boundaries of our property, and ran loose without our worrying. I'm not sure if she was still under a year old or if it was the following year, but one night she wound up on the back porch whimpering and scratching at the door. We could smell her before we heard her.

Fortunately, my sister had been through the same thing before and gave us this simple recipe:

1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide

it usually comes in pint bottles - so 2 of them
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tsp liquid soap

it seems that scent HAS to be oil based by the way it sticks

so we have always used Dawn for that reason

Keep these ingredients on hand at all times because it needs to be mixed at the time of use to work.

It works on contact. We took Tiny outside under the back porch light and scrubbed her down, very carefully around her face (where she took the brunt of it) and then hosed her off good. Poor thing.

Now you'd think that would have taught her to stay away from skunks, but that was not to be. Over the next 3 weeks she did it twice more.

After that she perfected her technique of sneaking up on them and was never sprayed again.
This time of year, if you have a dog that runs loose at all, you need to keep this recipe VERY handy.

Handcrafted Recipe #6 - Whipped Body Frosting

2013-03-28T10:46:00.001-07:00

This is the final recipe to be shared from the purloined batch :-) It's been a lot of fun to post them, so we'll continue to come up with others, as well as some from back issues of the magazine. We're always experimenting with something around here, so keep an eye on us!

Twisted Sisters' Body Frosting
Tina Sams & Maryanne Schwartz

Melt oils gently over low heat. Remove from heat and add cornstarch.
Place in mixing bowl and begin blending. Slowly at first.
When mixture is no longer transparent, place in refrigerator for about 5 minutes.
Add any fragrance – preferably essentials because of the emu – at this time (we used spearmint).
Return to mixer, increasing speed.
Continue cooling and beating until butter begins to hold its shape.
When it looks like frosting in a jar but is still pourable, place into jars.

1 T. Vegetable Oil *
2 T. Coconut Oil, Fractionated
0.3 oz. Beeswax Beads
0.3 oz. Lanolin, Anhydrous
20 drops Lavender EO 5 drops Tea Tree EO
6.5 oz. Mango Butter
1 oz. Emu Oil
6.5 oz. Shea Butter
1 tsp. Cornstarch
2 oz. Passion Fruit Oil
2 ml fragrance of your choice

Changes:

First, I would explain this a bit more thoroughly. Second, I notice that Lavender and Tea Tree eo's are listed as ingredients and at the bottom of the list fragrance is listed again. In the instructions, we mention using spearmint (which we do, and it is great), but we do often mix lavender and tea tree in our products. Don't know what happened there...

I have no idea why there is an asterisk beside vegetable oil - except that there was probably a list of suggested oils with the original recipe we sent OR we gave the ingredients and percentages of the blend we use here consistently. It could be any oil - olive, apricot kernal, avocado, nut oils, there are lots of choices, including infused oils. The Passion Fruit Oil is actually in that same classification, as it is a base oil rather than an essential oil. That can also be subbed out with a more easily obtainable liquid oil.
Here's how I'd do it now...

butters and wax:
0.3 oz. Beeswax Beads
6.5 oz. Mango Butter
6.5 oz. Shea Butter

liquid or soft oil:
1 T. Vegetable Oil *
2 T. Coconut Oil, Fractionated
1 oz. Emu Oil
2 oz. Passion Fruit Oil

additives:
0.3 oz anhydrous lanolin
1 t cornstarch
30 drops essential oil

so to further simplify this -

        13 oz (by weight) of butters
       4 1/2 oz (volume) of liquid oils
       .3 oz (weight) beeswax
       30 drops scent (essential or fragrance)
       1 t cornstarch
whew - much better!

~You can use any blend of butters and any blend of liquid oils, but keep them to these total quantities. Cocoa butter is harder than the others, so you could probably skip beeswax altogether if that is the butter you choose.
~We almost never use lanolin. Skipping it in this recipe will not affect the finished product.
~The purpose of the cornstarch is to decrease the greasy feel of the finished product, and it does.
~If you choose to use Emu oil, stick with essential oil rather than synthetic fragrance because the Emu is thought to penetrate skin more easily/deeply and take along other oils. It is often used in healing balms because of that trait.
~Heating the solids and then adding the liquids helps to lower the temperature of the mixture more quickly. We always do that with salves, any kind of balm, and all of our soaps.

to make it:

Melt butters and wax gently over low heat. Start with the beeswax and an equal amount of butter, and when that is melted, gradually add the rest of the butters
Remove from heat and add liquid oils (except fragrance) and cornstarch.
Place in mixing bowl and begin blending. Slowly at first.
When mixture is no longer transparent, place in refrigerator for about 5 minutes.
Add any fragrance at this time.
Return to mixer, increasing speed.
Continue cooling and beating until whipped body frosting begins to hold its shape.
When it looks like frosting but is still pourable, place into jars.

Handcrafted Recipe #5 - Shower Scrubby Bag

2013-03-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Bathing Pool by Hubert Robert - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Next in the line-up of recipes we're sharing:

Shower Scrubby Bag

From The Essential Herbal Magazine

Fill a 3 x 4" muslin bag with about 1/3 Cup of one or more herbs from this list:

Peppermint for a refreshing wake-up

Chamomile for an apple-scented soothe

Calendula for healing

Lavender for scent and soothing

Patchouli for a 60's scent!

Rose petals for scent and romance..

Adding some Irish moss will cause the baggy, when wet, to become soft and gelatinous, and give it a

soothing feel.

Wipe it all over your skin while you shower. It will soothe and scent your skin.

To use as Bath Herbs: Use the scrubby above as a "tea bag" and brew up a heavenly scented "tea" to add to your bath, or simply hang the bag over the water spout, allowing the water to flow through the herbs as the tub fills.

For the most part, I wouldn't change a thing.

The part about hanging the bag over the spout while the tub fills is an oft repeated instruction, but to be honest it sounds great but doesn't work very well. My favorite way to prepare tub tea is to fill a large pitcher (and in the bathroom, rigid plastic is the way to go) with very hot water and allow the tea to steep. That is then added to the tub of water.

Otherwise, I might add some milk powder or oatmeal, or any variety of herbs that might be called for depending on what my skin is doing. Sunburn, I might add aloe slices. Unknown eruptions might call for echinacea. Fighting a cold or sinus issues could benefit from some deeply aromatic herbs like eucalyptus, thyme, and lavender. This type of crafting is very versatile. Having some muslin bags on hand is great, or some thin washclothes whose corners can be tied up around the herb bundle.

Handcrafted Recipe #4 - Melt & Pour Remedy Soap

2013-03-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty happy to be sharing this recipe because even though we make a stupendous cold-processed soap that includes these botanicals, the day may come when those who do NOT have a warehouse full of soap at their disposal need this right now - today. Watching a rash spread while waiting for a package to arrive is no fun. We made this for a few years in the 90's before perfecting our use of these herbs in cold-process soap. Since this recipe/instruction was purloined ("To steal, often in a violation of trust.") and published elsewhere, that gives me the perfect opportunity to give it to you here and even tell you a little story about this stuff.

Jewelweed prior to blooming.

JEWELWEED and PLANTAIN SOAP
From The Essential Herbal Magazine
Jewelweed and Plantain are wonderful to use in the summer for rashes and insect bites. Making these
into a melt and pour soap preserves them so that they are always at the ready.
Gather and puree on cup of a combination of the two plants. Half and half is a good proportion of them. Use all aerial part of the plants.
Melt four cups of glycerin soap base. Add the pureed herbs.
You might also add 20 drops each of lavender and tea tree oils.
Stir gently until the soap begins to set.
Break out this soap at the first sign of poison ivy or oak, nettle stings, or insect bites.

Plantain with a seed stalk waving in the air. I like to gather before it sends up stalks.

REVISIONS:

The recipe stands, but I would like to add some information.

When it comes to harvesting jewelweed, it's possible that we do it a little differently than some. As children, we were taught to split the juicy stems and gently rub the inside of the stem on whatever rash or sting required it. As the season progresses and the jewelweed prepares to flower that stem hardens and at that point leaves and flowers are crushed for the same purpose, but there is none of that juiciness. Because of that, we harvest a lot of the early plants and process it to use in our soaps all year long. For a home crafter using Melt and Pour soap base, I would recommend making a 4 to 6 bar batch (the above recipe) in the beginning of summer. That should be plenty.
Some herbalists prefer the leaves and flowers gathered in August or September, so that is an option too.

A SHORT AND SOMEWHAT HUMOROUS ANECDOTE
Over a decade ago, I went on a misguided adventure that landed me briefly on a 250 acre organic farm. One of the brightest spots in the melange of memories would have to be one of the field hands Sig and his girlfriend Jessica.
He was a fascinating guy. Sometime before arriving on the farm he'd decided that he wanted to learn to surf. To him, that meant heading to Hawaii and living on the beaches for a year. He was so much fun and each school day, he's drive the tractor out the long driveway and gather up Molly from the bus. Together they'd sing at the top of their lungs, hoop and holler, or just pretend she was standing at the bow of the Titanic instead of a tractor.
One day Jessica had a day off work and decided to come over and work out in the field with Sig. Far from a bathroom, she wound up making use of the wide hedgerow beside the field. She did not know what poison ivy looked like.
A weekend passed, and Sig arrives on the farm obviously in pain when walking... I'm sure with a wee bit of imagination you can figure out what happened there. The hot weather, sweating, and having to walk and walk and walk while planting seed made the day look like an impossibility to him.
I took one look at the poor boy and rushed down to the creek, where the jewelweed was thick and lush. After cutting some thick stems I returned to the house gathering plantain along the way.

Into the blender went all of the rinsed plant matter, and I blended until there were a couple cups of emerald green mush. I made the recipe above within about 15 minutes using one cup of the jewelweed/plantain and put the other cup of mush in the freezer (along with the soap, to set it up quickly). Sig was sent to the shower as soon as the soap was ready, and felt a lot of immediate relief, but he still suffered. He then worked most of the day.
Before he left, I gave him a couple of bar of the soap AND the frozen mush. He shared them both with Jessica. By the next day (having used both extensively) the once weeping, oozing rash was dry and starting to scab over. Jewelweed and plantain made his agony last one day rather than a week.

OPTIONS
Calamine lotion can be added directly to the soap.
We once followed a recipe that recommended adding slippery elm powder and balsam of Peru. Mixing those two together, I realized that they were the main ingredients in an amazing salve called Dr. Burnett's Butt Balm that a formulating pharmacy made up via prescription when my daughter had a stubborn diaper rash years ago.

That's the cool thing about melt and pour soap bases. Some people create pure works of art with it, but to us it is an amazing, nearly immediate remedy carrier. Once you start playing around, packing it full of skin-loving herbs, it's hard to stop.

You may want to check birdworms.com and lancastersoaps.blogspot.com for another recipe or 10.

Handcrafted Recipe #3 - Incense Cones

2013-03-15T17:18:00.001-07:00

The following recipe appears (unauthorized) in an e-book. The recipe is at least 8 years old, and needs some polishing. We'll do that after the original:

FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH INCENSE CONES
From The Essential Herbal Magazine

1 part powdered frankincense
1 part powdered myrrh
4 parts powdered sandalwood (or pine)
1 part powdered orrisroot
1 part salt petre
1 part gum tragacanth OR gum arabic powder

Using 1 teaspoon as "a part" works well, and will yield about 3 dozen cones.
Mix the salt petre with a few tablespoons of warm water and mix well. Blend all of the other ingredients and add the water/saltpetre mixture. Mix well.
Continue adding plain water until a firm, pliable dough is formed. If it becomes too wet it will still be alright, but take longer to dry.
Take very small bits (1/4 tsp) of the dough and form into cones. Place on waxed paper and allow to dry for several days.
Turn daily. When completely dry, light with a match and burn in a fireproof dish or incense burner.

UPDATE:
I think some things got mixed up in the copy and paste to the ebook. It's been so long, I can't be sure, but...
#1 - I never use more than 1/10th of the total blend (by weight) in salt petre. Above it is about 1/8th. Too much salt petre results in a cone that burns too fast. It is also very heavy compared to the other ingredients so when a recipe might be used by someone without a good scale, it's best to err on the side of caution.
#2 - The tragacanth is blended with a small amount of water (1/4 tsp to 1/4 cup) to form a glue and the salt petre can be added as well as long as all of the mixture is added to the dry ingredients. In other words, use less water than you will need and then add plain water to get the texture right to work with. By blending these two ingredients with water, their even distribution is more likely.

REVISED RECIPE:

2 parts powdered frankincense
2 parts powdered myrrh
5 parts powdered sandalwood (or pine)
1 part powdered orrisroot
1 part salt petre
1 part gum tragacanth OR 2 parts gum arabic powder

Mix gum tragacanth and salt petre with 10 parts water (or any liquid you'd like to use). Kneed into the dry ingredients, adding plain water by the "part" until the mixture is dough-like.
Make small cones by rolling the dough between your fingers, and place on waxed paper (or another non-porous surface) for several days, turning occasionally. May be burned when completely dried.

And it just so happens that we do carry all of these ingredients on our website.

Gnomes? Oh Yeah, I've Got 'Em

2013-03-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Each year when the butter-yellow crocuses bloom out front, the vision sets into motion a chain of thoughts. It takes place in about 3 seconds altogether, and leaves me smiling and shaking my head.

It starts with the warm thoughts of love when I see the flowers and think of my mom planting them with my sister. And then I glance at the gnome. I'm really not a garden gnome "type" but if gnomes played basketball, we'd have a team in the gardens. My mom had a year while that was her thing; painting greenware gnomes. Whether I like it or not, 8 years later I still can't bring myself to take them out of the gardens here. They might move to a new garden or make room for a new planting, but they remain. They are such a funny reminder of one of her quirks.
Back when we were all little and there was no money, she learned to make do. Lots of people do that, but it was a fairly dire situation and making do meant developing a kind of tunnel vision that let her only see what was okay while ignoring everything else until we could get to that. It meant that she almost always settled for less than she wanted or needed.
Later, when things got easier, this manifested in a way that we children didn't understand until she was gone. We just teased her about it without understanding.
One year tiny televisions hit the market. She wanted one. It's hard to explain these things to people who grew up with Igadgets, but these little tvs were a huge deal. The smaller the better, and they ranged from about 5 x 8 to the size of a business card. You couldn't actually see anything on them, and they worked with mirrors, but they were hot at the time. So began Mom's quest to get the perfect mini-tv. Or as we liked to call it, the year of, "Mom! What are you doing with all these little televisions?" Years of settling meant that she would see one almost like what she wanted, and buy it. Then she'd see another that was closer to what she wanted, and buy it. Ad nauseum. The thought of returning any of them never dawned on her.
About the time the telephone monopoly broke up, telephone design became a big thing. Up until then, the telephone company typically provided customers with telephones for a very minimal monthly fee and people pretty much contented themselves with being able to choose between a few colors in one or two styles (Princess phone, anyone?). Well. This was another year-long fixation for Mom. It got to the point that we'd go home to visit and Mom would say, "Couldn't you use another phone at your house?"
Her final extravaganza, and one we had a lot of tender laughs over after she died, were the wrap-around black sunglasses one acquires after cataract surgery. I swear, the woman bought them by the gross. A pair will still pop up from time to time, and at a recent eye appointment when my pupils were dilated, I took a pair along and drove my sister (who took me) crazy by keeping them on in the grocery store afterwards. We both bear a strong resemblance to Mom.
So this is why I keep the gnome colony around. They are such a humorous reminder of her and who she was. She took our ribbing well for a long time, but towards the end took it as criticism. I'll bet she'd never have thought the gnomes would still be around. Now if I could just get a tiny pair of black wraparounds and a teeny tiny television and phone - it would be perfect.

handcrafted recipes - #2 Whipped Body Butter

2013-03-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

Years ago when this recipe was created, shea butter was pretty new on the market and there weren't a lot of options. It was that or cocoa butter, and the two of them are vastly different in hardness. Shea butter has an unfortunate characteristic to the home crafter in that it becomes grainy with the changes of temperature in creating this product and just in everyday life. I tend to avoid it now because that aspect defeats the purpose in my opinion.
Here is how we made whipped body butter 10 years ago.

Whipped Body Butter - From The Essential Herbal Magazine
1 cup unrefined Shea Butter
1/8 cup Apricot Kernel oil
1/8 cup jojoba oil
20 drops essential oil (rose geranium is great)
Soften the butter in the microwave for 15 seconds. Using a mixer, begin whipping, while slowly adding the liquid oils. Add any fragrance while whipping.

If you've ever made whipped body butter, you'll know that the "using a mixer, begin whipping..." part there is actually pretty humorous. A stand mixer is just about a necessity for this recipe and it may take upwards of 15 minutes or more before the liquid oils and the butter blend perfectly to a whipped confection.
I would also add that the butter is heated only to soften. If it is liquefied, the whipping will take forever.

How my thoughts on this recipe have changed...

There are a lot of new butters on the market. Some of them include Aloe, Avocado, Coffee Bean, Hemp, Mango, Pistachio, and Almond. One of my favorites is mango butter because it is much creamier and isn't prone to that grainy feeling. Because it isn't quite as hard as shea butter, the liquid oils could be decreased by a tablespoon or so.
I haven't tried this yet, but I would like to use cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is very hard at room temperature, so that means the liquid oils would be increased - perhaps by as much as 100%, so that the combined liquid oils would total 1/2 cup. The cocoa butter would also need to be liquified, blended with the liquid oils, and allowed to cool thoroughly before whipping.

Although this is a very time consuming and somewhat messy project, it is well worth it. A nice whipped butter is sheer luxury.

Don't forget to visit Birdworms.com and lancastersoaps.blogspot.com
for more updated recipes!

handcrafted recipes - first in a series

2013-03-13T15:50:00.001-07:00

How to begin... It is convoluted and tedious to explain, except to say that a good number of my recipes (as well as those of my sister and our friend Becky) have been used without permission and are now being sold as a big part of an e-book. They are many years old, and some desperately need an overhaul as time changes our knowledge. We weren't given the option of tinkering with them, so we might be doing that now.
There are lots of things that could be done about it, but we've decided that the best thing to do is to put our recipes up on our blogs to share them with you freely. I will post links to the blogs of the others at the bottom of all of the posts in this series.
If you're looking for a lot of great handcrafted spa, bath, body, and medicinal recipes and instructions, I can guarantee you that our two volume compilation from the first five years, "By the Hearth" and "Under the Sun" will give you far, far more properly credited and truly original creations than you'll ever need.
And now, today's recipe from The Essential Herbal Magazine:

Oats ‘N Honey Facial Scrub

This is a very simple recipe and you can use some or all of the ingredients given.
Oatmeal is a must, but the rest is up to the individual. Into the food processor , throw the following dried ingredients – by the handful (I would change that now to "by the Tablespoon"):
Oatmeal
Lavender
Yarrow
Nettle
Irish moss
Rose petals
Elderflower
Soap powder (handmade cold process, of course…)
Almonds

Process until all the ingredients are a coarse mealy texture.
Package in jars and label.

To use, moisten about a teaspoon of the mix in the palm of your hand with an equal amount of honey.
Using the fingers, vigorously scrub the skin. This is a great mix for teens with oily skin. Make it a little more effective by blending several drops of lavender and tea tree essential oils into the process.

NOTE: Years later now, I would add that for mature skin the addition of yogurt (or powdered milks or yogurt) and some rose hydrosol to make the paste, and suggest a milder scrubbing. I would also swap out some of the herbs for calendula and chamomile.

Stay tuned. We'll be here all week!
Becky's Blog - Birdworms

TEH Wants to Travel this Year!

2013-03-03T15:48:00.001-08:00

We would love to get around to all the herb conferences, soap gatherings, herb study groups and wherever herbies and soapers get together to share their knowledge and skills.
Of course that's not going to happen. The two of us here are pretty busy just getting the The Essential Herbal Magazine out and into the hands of subscribers.
Instead, we've put together a special Mini-mag filled with 11 full articles, and info on how to subscribe, contribute, or advertise in the real thing. The smaller sample means that we can more easily afford to ship them out to share. For years we've sent full sized magazines when possible, and shipping is a killer - not to mention lugging around those heavy boxes. Event coordinators don't need to be lugging them either.

Small, but filled with valuable information that will be kept and reviewed over and over.

So if you'd like to invite us to your group, contact me at Tina@essentialherbal.com. Tell me about your group/gathering/conference and hopefully we'll be able to send some mini-mags in our stead and manage to travel all around the US this summer. So far we've sent out 1000 and still have 7500 to go. Drop us a line!

Reader's Choice Award Finalist - About.com

2013-02-27T09:20:00.002-08:00

As most of you know, The Essential Herbal Magazine is a print magazine (one of the few remaining on the subject of herbs) that is mailed out every other month to our subscribers (only $24/year). Foreign subscribers and those who prefer it can purchase the magazine in pdf form for the same price. You can download and read a free issue here: FREE DOWNLOAD

We've been chosen as one of the finalists in the About.com Reader's Choice Award for best Herbal Magazine, and it would be great to win. If you love The Essential Herbal - please cast a vote for us - or if you have another favorite, give them a nod.

Click Here To Vote

You may vote daily until March 17th and I'm placing the link on the top right of the blog so it's easy to find. Thanks in advance!

Groundhogs Lie

2013-02-24T09:49:00.001-08:00

Strangely enough, right around when the groundhog predicted the end of winter, along came winter. As is seeming to be becoming the norm, November and December were mild, with February giving us the only real burst of winter we've gotten here. Still, I expected to wake up to spring the day after Groundhog Day. Just a little bit.
When I was a child, I believed it with all my heart. For the first few years after being aware enough to know about the groundhog, it was my belief that somehow man had screwed up the works. Somehow no matter how many times the groundhog said spring was here, I never doubted him. No... somebody messed it up. Back then, we wouldn't see bare ground or grass for months on end. Seasons didn't merely drift by, they arrived with a firm and determined progression and stuck around until the next season just as firmly eased them along. This is not the raving of some addled old codger (although whether or not that is an apt description is up for debate); it really was that way. I still look outside immediately on Groundhog Day, hoping for an overcast sky so that he won't see his shadow. Part of me still believes.
Now it's beginning to look like we might need to add a fifth season. The plants haven't caught up with this shift yet, so they have a practice run and start greening up very early. In fact this year that was happening before this February blast, so maybe it should be super pre-spring, pre-spring, and real spring. The tricky part for the plants is coordinating the weather with their blooming and fruit-setting. They had a very difficult time last year. The cherries here on the farm hope to do better this year.
Today I woke to sunshine and blue skies in the bedroom windows. It's been weeks since it seemed like a good time to wander around outside, so I did a wee bit of looking around out there while the coffee brewed.
Things are starting to happen out there! They may have to start over, but for now, they're starting to get geared up. All of the fruit trees have swelling buds on their branches. The conifers have been busy releasing their cones to the winds, preparing to start up pollen production. There's a lot going on as they stir in their sleep.


Blueberries are taking off now that they're fenced in. Lots of weeds though!

Slim pickens for the birds over in the echinacea patch.

The beautiful Concolor fir on the corner of the yard will soon burst with new tangerine and piney scented growth.

Brave elderberry pushing tiny leaves. Might have to start over, though. Let's not have a replay of that bad harvest from last year! That was pretty devastating.

There is so much work to do here. I mustn't waste a single beautiful day.

Rosemary is covered with flower buds. She seems to do fine flowering in cold weather though.

The Witch Hazel that was hounded mercilessly by both rabbits and groundhogs finally got a foothold when I protected her with flexible spouting one year. Now you wouldn't know her first three winters were spent being nibbled to the ground. She's nearly 5' tall.

This is going to be a big problem. These black raspberries have been dug and transplanted a couple of times now, but they really, really just want to hug the side of the house and grow up through the slats of the front porch. They have wicked thorns though, so they may not stay there.

Just looking at the things that need to be started on the first warm day - digging up the vigorous sumac and mulberry volunteers, clearing the blueberry patch, figuring out what to do about the wild raspberries and on and on - makes me feel like we've only got a few more weeks to go. Even the groundhog needs to get with the program.

March/April '13 issue, The Essential Herbal Magazine

2013-02-14T19:27:00.001-08:00

It's always exciting to announce a new issue and share the table of contents, but especially as we pass the darkest days of winter and start heading into spring. Winter is fine mind you, but as plant-lovers, we are all about longer days, sunlight, and warming earth.
It is a great pleasure to post this issue. Kristine's beautiful cover is the very essence of what we're waiting for. The lush colors and plants surrounding her daughter evoke the spring so clearly that I can almost smell that first bare-foot day that has the edge of a chill to it.

The articles are a wonderful variety, with a good dose of both herbal history and growing information. Lots of information and recipes - it's another keeper!

They're starting to arrive in subscribers' homes now, and we always make sure to have plenty printed so that you can subscribe at any time and receive this issue until it's time for the next one!
To subscribe, visit www.essentialherbal.com - easy as pie.

FIELD NOTES
Itching to use some fresh herbs? So are we!

ABOUT THE COVER, Kristine Brown
Kristine, who writes and illustrates her own beginner's herbal magazine, Herbalrootszine.com, graciously agreed to do a spring cover for us. She explains her inspiration.

AROMATHERAPY - IMPROVING YOUR HEALTH WHILE CLEANING YOUR HOME,
Crystal Baldwin
4 great recipes to get you started on a more healthy and natural home cleaning habit.

A LITTLE HERBAL HISTORY, Stephany Hoffelt
Think you know all about Queen of Hungary Water and Four Thieves' Vinegar? You might just be surprised.

CILANTRO OR IS IT CORIANDER?, Kathy Rohrbach
What is it, how do you grow it, and what about harvesting and storing? Find out here, and then make up some salsa using her simple recipe!

PATIO GARDENING IDEAS, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
Need some whimsical new ideas for small space gardening? You'll love the ideas and photos Marcy shares in this article.

MEDIEVAL MARTHA - IT'S A GOOD THING, Jackie Johnson
Just how does one keep a castle tidy? Prepare feasts? Care for the sick? Beautify one's visage? Not exactly the good old days by any means, but surprising how much will sound familiar, herbally speaking.

"ROSE QUARTZ" HOT PROCESS SOAP, Marci Tsohonis
Marci made this stunningly beautiful soap, and upon seeing it I asked for an article. She started at the very beginning of the process and takes us all the way through.

SEEDS OF SPRING, Heddy Johannesen
Get those seeds going so you'll be ready as soon as your final frost date passes.

HERBS OR SPICES, Sandy Michelsen
Nuggets of information on the lore and use of various herbs and spices. Do you know what was hung on the door at night during the Middle Ages to repel evil spirits? You will.

SPRINGTIME ON A PLATE, Rita Richardson
Delectable herbed chicken dish that includes everything for a meal, all together.

SURVIVAL HERBS, Suzan T Scholl
We never know when a natural disaster might send us scrambling for herbs to use medicinally in first aid. Suzan discusses what we might want to have on hand to stay as healthy and de-stressed as possible.

From the Vault: STARTING AN HERB GARDEN, Jim Long
It can be daunting to start big with herbs. Much better to start with something that we can easily manage and go from there. Perfect solution? A half-barrel (or something similar) is just right.

TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE, Delores Harris
Is beekeeping for you? Delores honestly shares what she's learned, both good and bad.

SouthRidge Treasures: LADY'S MANTLE, Mary Ellen Wilcox
Besides looking beautiful (especially after a rain), what the deal with Lady's Mantle?

IMMUNE BOOSTER TEA, Katie - Allure d'la Fleur
Early spring still holds the threat of colds and flu. Here's a terrific tea recipe to get you through.

MARKETING YOUR HERBAL WARES, Susanna Reppert Brill
40 plus years of Reppert marketing wisdom tells Susanna that the times, they are a-changing and she's up to the challenge.

HONEY RECIPES & TIPS, PA Beekeepers Association
A couple recipes and tips for use and storage.

HERBAL SALT SCRUB, Cindy Jones, Ph.D
You could spend a fortune on a jar of herbal salt scrub OR you could whip it up at home for a fraction of the cost (and a lot fewer additives). Hmmm... tough choice!

Spring in a Cup

2013-01-28T16:50:00.001-08:00

I've talked about how in my very early days of learning to work with herbs, I started a gallon jar containing pinches and handfuls of all the herb tea-worthy plants and flowers that I'd gathered and dried over a spring, summer, and fall. It was included as an article in The Essential Herbal Magazine during the first year. After adding just a few ingredients that didn't come from my yard, or woods, or the gardens of friends, the following winter was spent enjoying cups that never tasted the same way twice.
It was a wonderful lesson in blending because not one cup was not enjoyable.
I highly recommend it to new herbies. It will boost your confidence and teach you more than you'd imagine. Researching all the additions, tasting them, recognizing their flavors or even sometimes their effects; all these things are learned in this pleasant exercise.

This technique is not for any specific medicinal value (obviously) but it can feel very symbolic drinking a cup while remembering finding a certain ingredient while hiking with a good friend, that perfectly sunny spring day when the violets were everywhere, or the beebalm bursting with blossoms under the hot summer sun.
But I never had a specific list or pictures before. These ingredients are kept in separate containers (because nowadays they are used for lots of different things) until used in a blend.

Today I set out to create a special tea for a project. The day was one of those where a bit of snow is on the ground with a wintry misty mix attempting to fight through the dense fog that rests between the rises of the earth. Gloomy.
This calls for Spring flowers, fruits, mint and more. I will list the ingredients as I went along, and am proud to say that only a few were not hand-gathered and/or dried here in my kitchen and yard.

I started with the flowers. This winter day definitely needed blossoms. They included:
Whole violets, rose petals, lavender, elderblossom, chamomile, calendula petals, bee balm blossoms, and centauria petals. Pretty and fragrant.
Next came the dried berries and fruits. Home-dried blueberries (chopped), raspberries, pineapple bits, orange peel, and let's add minced ginger to this category.
To round it out, a couple handfuls of spearmint, a handful of lemon verbena, some holy basil, and a tiny amount of stevia. Two crushed geranium leaves for fragrance and it was time to try a cup.


Nothing wrong with a pale cup, but in this case it needed more zing.

Hmmm.... needs a little body. This is where the items that arrive here in bags come into the mix. A small amount of vanilla bean, cardamom seed, and cinnamon bark round it out perfectly.

I'm always on the lookout for random containers. You just never know...
The tea darkened with further steeping. It tastes delicious.

Sometimes it can require many tastes along the way before a cup tastes just right, so it is very important to keep a notepad nearby to record as you go. I was very tempted to add a little green or black tea, but refrained to keep it as much as my own ingredients as possible. And I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Don't be afraid to blend up some herb teas. Just keep the quantity small, taste test as you go, and have fun. Two ingredients or twenty, it can be lots of fun.

Loose Incense

2013-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I've played around with the resins, woods, and herbs to come up with new blends to burn. The weather has been extremely cold , yet over the last couple of days I've been running in and out the patio door, lighting the incense charcoal to test how such-and-such smells when burning, or how a blend of herbs meld together when smouldering. This morning I was outside doing some last minute sniffing before even making coffee! At the end of the post, I'll tell you why (besides just enjoying standing on a windy deck in not enough clothes while sniffing cinnamon burning. Mmmmm...)

A month or so ago, my friend Jackie Johnson invited me to contribute to The Wisconson Herbalist (links to issues are at the extreme top of the page), a quarterly, free on-line magazine that she edits. I chose to write about loose incense, something I've not addressed for publication for many years. Getting my hands sticky with resins once again, it wasn't much of a jump for me to start dreaming up blends, even after the article had been sent and published.
There is something so pleasing to the senses about the color, shape, weight, scent, translucence, and slight tackiness of the various resins. Irresistible lemony, smooth yellow orbs of copal look like they should be edible - and if they were, they should taste delicious. Same with frankincense - but neither of them would be. Shards of dragon's blood, still soft globs of pinon, rough and wildly varied in hue is the myrrh, and the powdery pale tan benzoin are all so unique and beautiful.
Although herbalists often make salves with the pitch from various conifers while it is runny and sticky, I much prefer it in a more solid state in order that it can be blended into incenses. Last year I made a discovery that, although it requires patience, allows me to use all the small bits of pitch on the trees around me - even if it is gathered in a semi-liquid state. It seems that if gathered and placed in the deep freeze for a year, it will remain as hard little pebbles. Freeze-dried, I suppose.
YAY! Local conifer saps are my favorites!
So it should come as no surprise that the best of the blends from the last month or so have made their way onto the website. They are:

LUNA- sweet yellow sandalwood and rose geranium balanced with benzoin, brightened with lemon verbena and cardamom.
SUN GOD - a burst of summer from frankincense, cinnamon, orange, lavender, dragon's blood, sandalwood, etc.
COME SEE ME - there's a story to this one. Many years ago we were invited to a hand-fasting and decided to make an oil for the couple. Looking through Scott Cunningham's book on incenses and brews, we found "Come See Me Oil" made simply with lots of patchouli oil and a bit of cinnamon in a carrier. It was a hit, and we later made a similar soap that we carried (along with the oil) at our renaissance festival shop. Now it is an incense, but with the addition of myrrh, rose petals, and violet flowers. It holds up well in incense too.
WIDE OPEN SPACES - clean and clearing, this blend is of white sage, lavender, and copal. Perfect for clearing a mind filled with too many details.
They are available and ready to go right now! Click HERE where you'll also find charcoal and burners.

why I like resolutions

2013-01-07T07:16:00.001-08:00

Lots of people don't like making resolutions. To them, it seems silly to choose one day to make changes. I feel differently about it. To pick one day means I have plenty of time to really ruminate on the intention, prepare in whatever way is necessary, and sort of re-set my mind.
This year there were several. Two of them went hand in hand.
One was to get back to the eating habits that were started last year and stuck for 6 months. The goal is to keep them longer, hopefully forever.
Another was to spend less time on the computer, less time on social media, and the time that is spent on the computer will be working or writing.
They are working very well together! Eating healthier foods mean that there is a bit more prep time - so automatically there is less time for sitting and scrolling. In turn, there is more energy. Good deal all around.
Here are a few of the things I've been up to just this past few days...
The eating plan involves no wheat (and limited grains), no high-fructose corn syrup and very little sugar, no processed foods - so while last year I had some breakfast cereal occasionally, that's off the table this year. I found a blend of amaranth, quinoa, and wild MN rice to which I've added pumpkin seeds, broken pecans, cranberries, and thinly sliced fermented lemons. This does NOT feel like a sacrifice!

Cleaning out the fridge to make room for all the good fresh foods, resulted in finding not one, but 2 jars with kombucha scobies, so I'm attempting to revive them. 3 days in it isn't looking promising, but at least I'll know. Making a new one from a purchased jar of the beverage is a simple procedure, and the space in the fridge is freed up.

Yesterday afternoon I went on a search for turkey tail mushrooms. The offer of a swap for some chaga got me moving, and it was a good excuse to go tromping around in the woods. It felt wonderful. As an aside, apparently the deer in our woods have a special place to use as their bathroom. A space about the size of my living room and dining room was just covered with deer poop, and it was about the only place I saw it. It was really surprising - and the first time I've ever smelled deer poop in the woods,
Anyway, I got home with a large nearly-full market basket of many different colors of beautiful mushrooms.

After weighing out the agreed upon amount and setting them aside, I got to work cleaning them. It was a little tedious, but interesting in that the mushrooms grow around stems and sticks that climb through them. The layers need to be separated so that any debris can be cleared. When they were all cleaned, they were snipped into thin strips and then went into a warm (set as low as possible - 120 f here) oven for a few hours to dry up the dampness. The processed mushrooms wound up being slightly less than a quart.
Turkey tail mushrooms are used in some Asian countries for many cancers and studies have found it to be a wonderful anti-viral, great for immunity, and a valuable medicinal mushroom in many ways. Here is a good link that talks about some of the research.

A great day walking in the woods, away from the computer, and then getting to work with the gathered mushrooms - it doesn't get much better than that. Towards nightfall, a very strong tea of the mushrooms was the reward. Thinking that it needs a little zip, though. Maybe a bit of elderberry and some ginger!
So that's part of why I like resolutions. Change is fun.

Such Sweet Notes (feedback)

2013-01-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

This was the week that we sent renewal notices for The Essential Herbal. It's not a particularly pleasant job for me... "hey, um... you want to keep going? or what?" Sort of like hoping that your partner would want to do it all over again. So it's always a big relief when most subscribers renew - and even better when they include notes. Here are a few that I'd like to share...

 *Your magazine keeps getting better every issue!
Tina and Maryanne, thank you for all that you do. (Emily TX)

*Enjoy your magazine. Very informative. (Elaine AL)

 *The only magazine I will keep this year. You gals rock!  (Irene OR)

*thanks for the renewal reminder!  I'd hate to miss an issue.  Love 
the magazine.  (Katherine NY)

*Still enjoying every issue.  This time of the year, it is so nice to 
sit with a cup of tea and your magazine--aaahh!  Thank you for all of your hard 
work so folks like me can enjoy the results:-)  (Susan LA)

It makes my day when someone takes a moment in that impersonal space of a website order to drop us a line.

Sample Issue - FREE - Jan/Feb '12

2013-01-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

As our gift for the new year, we've put up last year's Jan/Feb issue as a pdf that you may download to read. You are also welcome to share this link where ever you think herbies would be interested! It is: http://www.essentialherbal.com/documents/jan-feb-2012.pdf
We think this is the easiest way to let folks know exactly what we do here - by giving them a full sampling.

We've sent out The Essential Herbal's latest, Jan/Feb '13 issue, and have moved onto the Mar/Apr '13 issue, which will go to print by the end of the month.
Take a moment to download and enjoy this full version sample from last year. If you love it so much that you just must subscribe, you can do that quickly and easily by on our website, HERE