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Bone Broth Gravy

Bone broth is a staple in our home, and I'm always looking for new ways to incorporate it into my family's diet and get my clients excited about it! Hence the origination of this recipe. This stuff is nourishing, versatile, and makes everything taste better. And an added bonus is that this recipe is also gluten and dairy-free!

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Jade Alicandro Jade Alicandro

Pickled Evening Primrose Roots

If you have a garden in New England, you probably have Evening Primrose (Oneothera biennsis) volunteering itself as a weed! Since this plant loves recently disturbed soils, gardens are one of their primary habitats, although Evening Primrose is a plant I would say I "cultivate" only in the very loosest sense of the word!

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Jade Alicandro Jade Alicandro

Fall Kimchi

Fall is for kimchi-making in my house. The late summer/early fall abundance of vegetables available this time of year provides the perfect diversity to make an amazing fall ferment! A nice big batch made now will last well into winter, so it's also a way to extend the window of eating local.

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Late Summer Dandelion Greens

The Dandelion Greens are back! Late Summer and Fall are kind of like a "second spring" here in the northeast.....and often all the wonderful plants that thrive in the spring make a comeback in the fall!

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Elderberry Cordial

Late summer is elderberry season here in the northeast. This time of year herbalists and wild food enthusiasts alike take to the wet meadows and marshes where this wonderful shrub can most commonly be found.

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A Simple & Delicious Nettle Soup

Lately it's been all Nettles all the time....Nettles in my breakfast, Nettles in my lunch, Nettles for dinner!...I've been making a take on the classic Irish Nettles Soup (recipe below!), which has quickly become become a favorite springtime dish in our home, and it's kid-approved!

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Garlic Mustard Pesto

This is one of our first wild edibles to emerge in the spring and I just love it. These spicy and somewhat bitter greens (they get more bitter as they get older) are great raw in a wild salad or make a delicious pesto when blended with olive oil and sea salt- recipe below!

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Maple Sap Medicine

As we head into maple syrup season, I just can’t resist giving a shout-out to my beloved maple sap! Read on to learn more about this beloved spring tonic…

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Bone Broth, demystified

Let's face it- Bone Broth is officially "in"! I honestly couldn't be happier that such a healthful and healing panacea is moving from the world of holistic and folk medicine into the mainstream, getting the attention it deserves.

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Jade Alicandro Jade Alicandro

Easy D.I.Y. Salt & Sugar Body Scrubs

Looking to get crafty this holiday season? Making your own salt or sugar body scrubs is so easy and will be a guaranteed hit. Or choose to just pamper yourself. Or both.

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Jade Alicandro Jade Alicandro

Yellow Dock Iron Tonic Syrup

Fall is here and it's time to dig your roots! One of my favorite roots to work with this time of year is Yellow Dock (Rumex spp). We have two very common species of Dock here in New England, Rumex crispus and Rumex obtusifolius.

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Nourishing Your Earth Element

Many of us think about the wheel of the year in 4 parts- the 4 seasons. But in Chinese 5-Element Theory there are 5 seasons, each corresponding to a specific element.

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Summer 2015

It's been a beautiful, busy summer- too busy to blog much in-fact! Its been full of travel, harvesting & medicine-making, time with my daughters and family, swim-dates, and teaching.

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Wild Rose Medicine

It's that special time of year again when the Valley is awash with the scent of Wild Rose (Rosa Multiflora). Have you been lucky enough to catch it wafting on the wind like thick perfume?

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Violet Oil

Violet Oil is one of the first herbal infused oils I ever made...my first apprenticeship was with Tonya Lemos at Blazing Star Herb School dove deep into this herb.

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Mushroom Medicine: Chaga

Medicinal mushrooms are so abundant here in the Northeast, and Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is definitely one of my favorites. Last weekend we were out on an early spring walk and I was so thrilled to find Chaga so close to home!

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Food As Medicine: Milk Thistle Gomasio

Gomasio is a traditional condiment traditional in Japanese cuisine. Its rich base of roasted sesame seeds and seaweed provides a perfect canvas for blending other delicious and medicinal seeds that cross easily over into the "food as medicine " realm.

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Spring Dreaming

This is the time of year here in New England when we all longingly look out our windows yearning for spring! To me it's all so visceral and wrapped-up in the senses- the smell of mud and the earth waking-up, the colors (forsythia! daffodils! lilacs! red maple buds!), the feel of my feet squishing into a thawing earth, the sharp tastes of the earliest spring chives and garlic leaves.

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