Spring is here with all its revelry and beauty, but sadly so are the ticks! I’ve already had students and clients reaching out with tick bites and sightings and I wanted to share my tick bite protocol with you all. You can watch the class I taught on this for Herbstalk’s virtual event last summer at the link below.

Earlier this week marked the passing of the holiday of Imbolc/Imbolg/Candelmas, a time when we celebrate the mid-point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, meaning we’re officially half-way to spring! While it will still be a while before the Daffodils and Snow Drops start blooming for us up here in the northeast, the slow returning of the light is palpable.

When it comes to the bitter flavor Americans are WAY off their game compared to so many other parts of the world where bitter herbal liquors after meals are the norm. Other than our coffee, which is the main source of bitter in our diets and is actually a perfect example of too much of a good thing (read on to understand this more), our diets are more or less devoid of the bitter flavor.

It’s root season all! And in my humble opinion we need their grounding presence now more than ever. Prepping freshly harvested roots for processing, whether for medicine-making or drying, is time-consuming and hard work but totally worth it! As a teacher I’ve learned that knowing the best method for this can be a stumbling block for lots of beginner herbalists and can hold them back from harvesting so I wanted to share some of what I’ve learned over the years.

Here in the northeast we have lots of Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma tsugae) and even though it’s abundant I feel it’s still important to harvest it properly if you’re going to be doing so! Whenever possible please please please harvest once the mushroom has matured and released its spores so it can proliferate and spread!

This is one of my all-time favorite Rose preparations that’s a go-to for me all summer to cool down that fiery Pitta/Fire energy or when I just want a delicious and refreshing beverage that also makes me feel amazing! Oxymels are herbal drinks or sipping vinegars that are made by extracting herbs and/or fruits into a combination of vinegar and honey.

Spring is all about wild foods and greens. Many folks forage for wonderful and abundant wild foods such as Nettles, Garlic Mustard, and Dandelion, however one often over-looked wild food I’d like to highlight is Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica syn Fallopia japonica syn Polygonum cuspidatum- so many names!).

This soup just might be my new favorite way to have Nettles! It’s so nourishing and soothing and incredibly easy to make! Stracciatella is a soup traditional to the Lazio region of central Italy and is essentially a version of egg drop soup, making it a perfect recipe for the spring when my chickens start laying again in earnest and the Nettles come back.

I recently recorded a free Community Class on my Patreon Page, Herbal Support during the Covid-19 Pandemic, on my thoughts on easy and accessible herbal support you can be doing right now to protect yourself and strengthen your immunity.

It’s always a plus when your medicine tastes good- am I right!? Cordials enter into the food as medicine realm and can be a lovely way to take your herbs. I like to enjoy my cordials the European way- sipping in sweet little cordial cups after dinner or while socializing with friends.

I love working with the evergreens this time of year...they just seem to beckon. That sole greenery on the landscape is a potent reminder of the verdant abundance to come and also of the strong medicine these trees have to offer. I love that even in the depth of winter I can head outside with my harvesting basket and gather these healing herbs for medicine right outside my door.

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.

This past week my family and I got away for one last beach get-away to Maine. I love the languid and liminal days of late summer on the coast when the Rose Hips start to ripen and the ocean-side Goldenrod is in bloom- it’s my favorite time to visit.

Building the home apothecary with your own hand-harvested and dried herbs is one of the most satisfying parts of home herbalism. Watching your shelves gradually fill with mason jars filled with the year’s herbal bounty provides a deep sense of satisfaction, especially as the wheel of the year starts to turn towards late summer, and then inevitably fall and winter again.

It’s spring and Violet season is upon us. There’s lots to say about the medicinal properties of this herb- it’s a cool and moistening nutritive tonic, especially rich in vitamin C and A, and is especially well-known for it’s ability to move lymph, especially in the breasts. I love making a Violet Oil every year for this purpose.

When spring finally comes here in the northeast it can sometimes feel like a race against time. After waiting months for the return of the green, the plants seemingly pop-up all at once, with wonderful exuberance, and at a pace that few of us can keep up with. Harvesting spring greens- if you let it- could easily be a full-time job!

At this point most folks are familiar with this amazing beverage and for good reason! Golden Milk is a delicious, turmeric-based drink that’s a traditional home remedy in India, where it’s known as Haldi Ka Doodh, commonly drank for colds, flus, coughs, and congestion. It’s also often enjoyed simply as a nourishing and calming before-bed tea.

Ghee comes to us by way of Indian cooking and Ayurvedic medicine where it has been revered as a medicinal food for millennia. It’s a total staple in our home and one my all-time favorite concentrated sources of good quality fats. I’ve really been loving it so much lately and decided it was time to write a post about it and spread the ghee love!

Winter is a time for nourishment and replenishment and the holidays, fun though the revelry can be, can also sometimes leave us feeling tired and depleted during a season when rest should be paramount. Enter adaptogens!

I love making tallow balm because it’s such potent kitchen medicine and the process of making it is quite nourishing unto itself. I always choose to render my suet into tallow on a day that’s I’m already bouncing around the kitchen engaged in other food as medicine projects. Read on to learn about the amazing medicine of tallow and how to make your own nutritious, non-toxic skin balm.