Real Herbal Healthcare
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
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 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.
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.
Why We Wildcraft
Here at Red Moon, we have strived for over 20 years to carry on a rich tradition of locally wildcrafting much of the plant material that goes into our tinctures,...
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...
A New Year of Nourishment: Nutritious Nourishment vs. Dirty Detox
January 1st marks Detox D-Day for many who practice the heroic or the scientific traditions of herbalism. We all know what this looks like: a holiday season full of fatty...
Can Plants Predict the Future?
When my herb teacher, a fourth generation herbalist, was still a young child in the foothills of the Alabama Appalachians, she learned to use plants to predict the patterns of...
