How to Make a Wild Herbal Succus: Cleavers

How to Make a Wild Herbal Succus: Cleavers

A succus is essentially a fancy word for a beneficial, concentrated herbal juice, typically preserved with some kind of alcohol. I’m going to make a cleavers succus for acute gentle lymph support, especially when this is so needed during recuperation from a bout with a bug or a time when the body is under prolonged stress. 
Pine Needle Respiratory Ease Syrup

Pine Needle Respiratory Ease Syrup

Making pine needle respiratory syrup is super easy and essentially no more work than making a very strong pine tea and then 'holding' it with good quality, preferably raw, local honey. Pine is an expectorant for thinning and moving mucous in the lungs. It's warming, somewhat drying, and has a sweet and sour flavor blend that can only be described as piney.

Forsythia Flower Syrup

Forsythia Flower Syrup

Chinese health care traditionally uses the steamed and de-seeded fruit of the forsythia bush or 'golden bell' for clearing heat and expelling wind. It has an affinity for the heart, lung, and galbladder meridians. Make a honey based syrup from its spring flowers to keep in your kitchen or bathroom cabinet for wellness all year long.
Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 4: Nursing and Lactation

Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 4: Nursing and Lactation

I can't imagine going through this nursing journey without the help of botanicals. Let's delve into the areas of lactation where herbs can offer their benefits the most: increasing and decreasing milk supply and in specific breastfeeding complications. Since tiny amounts of some herbs taken internally can wind up in your milk supply, it’s critical to be aware of what you’re ingesting and in what form and what amount, whether it’s chamomile or catnip. 
Herbs for Toddlers and Young Children

Herbs for Toddlers and Young Children

If bouts of bugs are the great teacher, they certainly don’t spare the littles. But as parents, we have such a diverse arsenal of herbal preparations available to us that using them one way that we can best show our babes to appreciate the natural world. Let's walk through some basic information about efficiently and practically incorporating herbs into our everyday routines with our kids, using herbs for immune system regulation, digestive health, the nervous system, and skin health. 
Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 3: Labor and Birth

Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 3: Labor and Birth

While there are a few things they can’t do, there are many more situations during labor and birth during which herbs can play a major role in supporting a healthy mama and healthy baby. Here, I'll share with you a few of my favorite herbs to have on hand to support a smooth labor and delivery, whether medicated or not, at home or in a hospital.
Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 2: Improving Well-Being

Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 2: Improving Well-Being

If you’re like me, you rely on herbs and nutrition in regular, non-gestating life to not only keep you well but to improve your immune response when you do come down with an illness. But during pregnancy, the world is turned topsy-turvy. It’s hard to know what herbs and other natural solutions are good to continue using during pregnancy. Let's explore pregnancy herbs which affect the immune system, nervous system, uterus, and digestive system. 
Clogged Milk Ducts Breast Tenderness Herbal Poke Root Oil to the Rescue

Clogged Milk Ducts and Breast Health: Poke Root to the Rescue

Issues like tenderness or discomfort in the breasts and clogged or plugged milk ducts can pop up when least expected - and least wanted - especially during times of stress and depressed immunity. Poke root oil or poke root salve is a wonderful herbal preparation for nursing mamas who are looking for a traditional strategy that really kicks it up a notch.
Dippy Dandy Dandelion Dip Recipe

Dippy Dandy Dandelion Dip Recipe

Dandelion is no doubt one of the most giving and present plants, for any part of her is harvestable at virtually any time of the year that the plant graces you...
Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 1: Nourishment

Herbs for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth Part 1: Nourishment

Real, whole food, whole herb nourishment during pregnancy is not hard to come by once you familiarize yourself with herbs like nettle and oatstraw herbal infusions, which represent some of the highest sources on earth of trace minerals and nutrients and are even pumped with protein. The benefits of herbal vinegars include their ability to balance out the pH of the body, their helpfulness with digestive difficulties, and their friendliness to the health of the gut. 
Sustenance vs. Supplements: To Eat Real Food or Pop Pills

Sustenance vs. Supplements: To Eat Real Food or Pop Pills

When bracing myself for a stroll down the aisle of any vitamin shop or supplement center, I am always reminded of the wacky and amazing gum from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate...
February 14, 2016 — Heather Wood Buzzard
Four Wise Women Who Are Changing the World of Herbalism

Four Wise Women Who Are Changing the World of Herbalism

We’d like to highlight four of the wisest women we know and share how they are doing their part to spread plant love and optimum nourishment of the body and...