Women's Herbal Healthcare
Weeds at Our Feet: What Do They Mean?
Living in the Wise Woman Way In my heart, the practice of the Wise Woman Tradition is an ancestral health-affirming belief that passes down from generation to generation even in...
The Role of Invasive Herbal Preparations: Kudzu, Mimosa, Wild Rose...Plantain? Dandelion?
Within our materia medica of common 'weedy' beneficial plants native to the Appalachian mountains where we are based, you will also find a sprinkling of so-called invasive plants which are not native...
DIY Herbal Eyewashes and Herbs for Eye Health and Optimal Vision
How to Make an Herbal Eyewash I purchased this little vintage ceramic eyecup a few months ago for doing eyewashes and just recently got the chance to use it. I love...
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 Cough Syrup
Making pine needle cough 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
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
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
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
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
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 and Mastitis: Poke Root to the Rescue
Issues like mastitis 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.
Red Moon Rising
by Kate Reynolds Corinna Wood seems the quintessential earth mother. Tall and strong with a strawberry-blonde mane, her smile is warm, genuine. There is something luminous about her, a soft glow...
