Witch Hazel (Hammamelis virginiana) is a gorgeous, native, midstory tree that lights up the fall forest with its bright yellow, spindly flowers which often persist on the trees well after the leaves have fallen. These unique flowers emit the faintest lemony-citrus scent and if you catch their bloom just right, their smell permeates the fall forest with their bright perfume.

Witch Hazel is officially listed in the US Pharmacopeia- the compendium of medicines considered "official" by the FDA- and is widely available at drug stores everywhere.  It’s classified as an astringent and approved for "relief of minor skin irritations due to: insect bites, minor cuts, minor scrapes.” This is of course a vestige of a time when plants dominated the Pharmacopeia and I love that this plant is still so present in modern day healthcare. We can make our own folk preparation by using diluted tinctures, decoctions and double extracts.

Read on to learn more about this wonderful medicinal!

Peach is a supremely cooling remedy in the Rose Family, perfect for the summer. We most often work with the bark, flowers and leaves in herbalism, although the fruit is of course medicinal too. But for this monograph we’ll be focusing on the plant parts used to make medicinal preparations.

Read on to learn about Peach beyond just its culinary uses and get to know the medicine of this wonderful plant!

Barberry (Berberis spp) is a medicine I truly feel all of us should know. This ubiquitous shrub is abundant, pervasive, and rich in a very special alkaloid extensively studied to have a whole host of antimicrobial properties, Berberine. This alkaloid gives Barberry its distinctive yellow roots and inner bark and is the same alkaloid that makes the famous Goldenseal so antimicrobial and gives it its golden-yellow color as well.

I wanted to share with you all about a bioregionally abundant plant that’s often misunderstood, Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). You’ll see it flowering right now throughout the northeast, midwest, and pacific northwest, especially in wet medaows, roadsides, lakesides, estuaries and marshes.

The ground froze so early this year I didn’t get a chance to get my garlic in the ground! So, what to do with all that garlic? Make garlic honey of course! This is a super easy recipe and so useful to have around the house in the winter months. And it’s such a beautiful form of kitchen medicine, using just the familiar household ingredients of garlic and honey.

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?

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!