Tag: herbs
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Herbal Smoking Blends for People Quitting Tobacco
I’ve never been a cigarette smoker—and truthfully, I can’t tolerate the smell—but I’ve worked with enough people over the years to understand how powerful nicotine addiction can be. My only personal experience with smoke came from intentionally burning dried mullein leaf to test its traditional use as a lung-clearing herb (spoiler alert: it works). Beyond…
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Favorite Herb This Week: Ginger
Ginger is the herb I’d like to highlight this week, as I have started working with it more frequently since growing my own last season. Zingiber officinale is the official Latin name, and the plant is native to somewhere in Southeast Asia. You CAN, however, grow it here in Connecticut if you play your cards…
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Fighting Cancer Naturally
As far as I can tell, I don’t have any more cancer. Yet. I felt a lump on my neck a few months ago and decided to have it checked out at the doctor. They ended up doing an ultrasound of my thyroid gland, which led to a biopsy, which eventually led to a very…
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Herbal Smoke and Smudging
Cleansing your body and your space with herbal smoke has been practiced by many cultures all over the globe for centuries. There is quite a lot of controversy over the word “Smudging,” as it originates from the Native Indian tribes of the Southwestern United States, where white sage (salvia apiana) grows wild. I personally use…
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Maintaining a Healthy Urinary Tract
This is one of the articles I wrote during my Herbalist Certification course. It’s chock full of good information about urinary tract health, so if you have bladder issues, pay attention! References are cited at the bottom of the page. Just like the book with the title referring to the opposite end of the digestive…
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Cleavers is Galium, but not all Galium is Cleavers
That title statement may not mean much to you unless you’re into herbs or foraging, but Cleavers are a common herbal remedy in much of North America and the UK. For the past two years, I have been operating under the exciting assumption that cleavers had graced me with their presence in my back yard…
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Food IS Medicine!
Before herbs, before drugs/pharmaceutical medicine, before therapy, what is there in this world that you put into your body EVERY SINGLE DAY to run you, heal you, activate you, motivate you, energize you, or even just to survive on? FOOD. It is really difficult to get this message through to people for some reason. I…
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Incense Crafting: Messy Experimentation
Hopefully you’ve figured out by now that I’m into incense… it’s a pretty big deal for me. I’m not an aromatherapist; I just know how certain scents can make me feel and I want to share that joy with the world around me. I used to buy stick incense at head shops, and burn them…
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How to Eat When You’re Poor
I’ve been poor for a long time. We’re doing fairly well for ourselves right now, despite having a mountain of debt, but about seven years ago I literally had about $200 in savings and a car and some personal belongings. After my first season on the farm where I interned, I couldn’t find a better…
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Favorite Herb This Week: Black Birch!
Black Birch (betula lenta) is definitely one of my Top Ten favorite herbs of all time. And luckily for me, it’s ALL OVER the place here in Northeastern Connecticut! Black birch and it’s brother, White birch (also known as the Paper Birch) can pretty much be used interchangeably medicinally speaking, so I have been trying…