I woke early this morning to harvest nettle root from my small but healthy patch of nettles (Urtica dioica)

The peak time to harvest roots is early spring while the vitality still resides in the root pushing upwards for new growth, or autumn while the vital energies are drawing...

Castor oil is derived from the Castor bean (Ricinus communis) and has a long medicinal history dating back to ancient Egypt.  The plant was mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medicinal treatise,  and evidence of the plant was found...

Hello! 

It feels like it’s been far too long since I last sent a newsletter out to you dear community! That’s because spring for me begins in February, and that means lots of time harvesting outside every spare moment I have, with little spare time on the computer.  The...

Decades ago, renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar gave the name Fire Cider to a spicy, delicious respiratory tonic made from simple kitchen ingredients.

The basic ingredients include pungent herbs such as onions and garlic, steeped in apple cider vinegar which has its own...

The first herb that captured my imagination and my taste buds was Elder (Sambucus nigra). I was twelve years old, and it was the first summer at my grandparents new home in rural Ontario.  My grandfather called me to the backyard to meet him near the lake bayou.  There, growing...

With so many cases of Hand, Foot & Mouth (HFMD) Disease causing a stir in my home community I’m compelled to write about this common infection – namely to let folks know that it is not as dreadful as it’s name.

First, this illness is not related to...

Wise sages throughout history have been known to say nature provides humans with all the medicine we may need for every illness. While it may be so that we haven’t yet decoded all of Nature’s elixirs – or perhaps we’ve collectively lost much of this wisdom through our...

Make Your Own Medicine

Making your own herbal medicines is easy, relatively inexpensive, and requires minimal equipment.

The key ingredient in both recipes below is Elderberry.

Elderberries are known for their remarkable antiviral activity. During H1N1 2009 they were studied and found...

I’ve never considered myself skilled at making face creams until I experimented with eliminating shea butter and cocoa butter from my recipe– two staple ingredients listed in every face cream recipe I’ve ever come across. It took me a while to realize the reason my...

It may seem that your favourite kombucha and fancy sauerkraut are new health food trends, but cultured foods have been around as long as people have.  Naturally fermented foods were borne out of necessity: to preserve food in the absence of refrigeration.  Fermented foods, also called...

I’ve just returned home after spending nearly 2 months in California. Oh how I love that state! The people, the mountains, the sunshine, and of course the bright and bountiful flowers found everywhere.

There are many things...