HSA Webinar: Molé, Pan and Chapulin–Oaxacan Style

by Jen Munson, HSA Education Chair

Face it, 2020, for the most part, has been a bust! The pandemic has cancelled events, reduced travel, and all but eliminated herbal adventures. As we dream of a future where we can begin to move about the globe more easily and safely, now is the perfect time to research new destinations. map Interestingly, just south of the US border in Mexico there is a unique community that is home to sixteen distinct indigenous peoples living in a mild climate, enjoying unique botanic diversity.

Oaxaca, Mexico, is a community known for its culture, crafts, textiles, ceramics, cuisine, and complex use of plants. While Mexico is known for its Day of the Dead celebrations, Oaxaca offers the most spiritual and unique Dia de los Muertos Celebration celebrations of them all. The Day of the Dead festival (or Dia de los Muertos) is celebrated from October 31st thru November 2nd. During this…

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Herbal Hacks, Part 1: Food and Drink

The Herb Society of America Blog

We asked and you delivered! Over the summer we asked folks to share how they used herbs to make their lives easier or more fun. We received many great responses, and want to thank everyone who contributed a little snippet of herbal how-to. We received so many responses, in fact, that we’ve decided to offer them in installments, categorized by topic for easy reference. Please enjoy this week’s selection – herbs in food and drink.

Violet banner_Creative Commons via Pxfuel

I love to use fresh herbs as drink garnishes and in ice cubes. Edible flowers and leaves enhance my beverages, from my morning smoothie to my afternoon glass of wine! – Janice Cox

Dried blue cornflower petals sprinkled over salads – or as a garnish on other foods – for a beautiful blue punch of color! Flowers are harvested each year from my garden at the end of a hot day, dried on white cotton…

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Natural Perfumery Course

Good Witches Homestead

Blending your own botanical perfume is a delightful, time-tested way to infuse both your home and your body with the plants you connect with most. A true breath of fresh air, the Natural Perfumery Course will empower you to form a new type of relationship with plants—a relationship that lets the plants speak for themselves with woodsy whispers, herbaceous harmonies, and smoky secrets. As the conductor of this olfactory orchestra, you will blend, infuse, tinker, and spritz your way to custom scent combinations for you, your herbal product line, and everyone on your gift list.

The Natural Perfumery Course includes all the information you need to start blending your own botanical perfumes at home today, including over 20 recipes, a special collection of perfumery plant monographs, simple rituals for incorporating them into your lifestyle, expert guidance, and beautifully illustrated downloads for safety, sustainability, techniques, and more.

Choose to enroll in…

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Getting Results with Herbs, a free training with Rosalee de la Forêt

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

We are thrilled to share with you that Learning Herbs will open their registration this morning for Taste of Herbs with herbalist and best-selling author Rosalee de la Forêt who has created a transformative online training.

Rosalee writes and teaches with such substance, and depth, but also makes it very easy and practical for people to understand. In Rosalee’s ‘Taste of Herbs’, she has a way of showing people how to understand and apply the energetics of herbs to every day herbalism and it is quite brilliant.

Click here to register!

Source: Getting Results with Herbs, a free training with Rosalee de la Forêt

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Fresh Flower Crowns and Flower Garlands: Step by Step How-To Guide

The Druid's Garden

A woman hikes up to a sacred spring that she visits at least once a season. From her small bag, she pulls out a beautiful crown of flowers that she had lovingly crafted before leaving home. Placing the crown upon her head, she dances and sings around the spring, drinking deeply and celebrating life on this early fall. As a sign of respect and offering, she hangs the flower garland near the spring and carries her sacred water back down the mountain.

Family wears crowns I made at the bridal shower

I find it interesting that the ancient art of flower crowns garland making is almost non-existent today, at least here within the US. This tradition has so much potential. The only people who I’ve seen make these delightful crowns are children, who haven’t yet lost their magic or wonder about the world. And yet, garlands and flower crowns, are…

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Drought workings: A Druid’s Perspective on Drought and Dry Weather

The Druid's Garden

2020 is certainly a year to remember for many of us in the human realm. Here in Western Pennsylvania and up along many parts of New England, we’ve had an additional serious problem affecting the natural world—an extreme drought. This summer, the jet stream is way off of its normal course and so most of the major storms that would typically hit us have been forced south of us, creating the “moderate” drought that we are now in and causing uncharacteristically dry conditions. know there are other serious droughts around the world, such as the three-year drought currently happening in Germany. Climate change is making these kinds of weather events all the more common and teaching us powerful lessons along the way. In today’s post, I’ll share some drought lessons, drought land healing, and ways of working and honoring water.

Honoring Water and the Scarcity of Water

Altar for water…

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HSA Webinar: A Recipe for Success

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Bevin Cohen

I’ve long been amazed by the generous bounty offered to us by Mother Nature. Even as a young boy picking wintergreen berries in the woods, I just couldn’t believe that these tasty treats were available for me to enjoy, in quantities greater than I could ever consume, and the only cost was an afternoon in the shady forest, harvesting the luscious fruits as I listened to the melodious whistling of the birds and the occasional scurried sounds of a startled chipmunk or squirrel.

As an adult, my appreciation for Nature’s endless gifts has only deepened, and I find myself preaching her message of abundance to anyone willing to listen. Through my work as an author, herbalist, and educator, I’ve been placed in a unique position to share my knowledge, experiences, and passion with audiences the world over, and the core of my message has always remained the…

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Nose-Twisting Nasturtiums

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Susan Belsinger

Plant Profile
Family: Tropaeolaceae
Scientific name: Tropaeolum majus
Common names: nasturtium, Indian cress, trophy cress, trophywort
Native Habitat: Peru, parts of South America
Plant Type: Annual
Growth Habit: Dwarf bushy cultivars grow from 8 to 18 inches in height, while the climbers can easily reach 6 to 10 feet, or more.
Hardiness: Hardy in frost-free locations
Light: Best in full sun; can tolerate a few hours of shade, which produces more leaves with fewer flowers
Water: Moist but not wet; will tolerate some drought
Soil: Friable and porous garden loam, well-drained soil; does well in containers
Propagation

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Lift Your Personal Power, Health, and Success with Herbs of the Sun | Guest Contributor

Good Witches Homestead

Herbs of the Sun: angelica, ash, bay, calendula, chamomile, celandine, eyebright, frankincense, juniper, mistletoe, rosemary, saffron, safflower, Saint-John’swort, sunflower, tormentilla, walnuts

THEIR PROPERTIES:

Colors: gold, orange
Energies: self-confidence, success, vitality, courage, authority, dignity, fame, self-knowledge
Number: 1
Metal: gold
Stones/materials: diamond, citrine, yellow jasper, topaz
Deities: Ra, Apollo, Helios, Lugh, Isis, Diana, Brigit

In Astrology, the Sun and Moon are called “Planets” for ease of interpretation, but they are obviously not Planets in the scientific sense. In medicinal terms, the Sun could be considered the great restorative. Even as the returning Sun allows plant life to flourish on the Earth, the herbs attributed to the Sun act to restore health and vitality. They stimulate and balance the human health system that suffers from either excess or deficiency.

Many of the plants attributed to the Sun may be considered Solar simply on the…

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A Day In the Garden – Urban Moonshine

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

GO INTO THE GARDEN EVERY DAY, NO MATTER WHAT.

That’s the promise I made at the start of the season. It will be a daily ritual, a practice to keep me in tune with the growth and health of the garden, and a sure way not to miss a bit of garden gossip. Like a bustling city full of honking horns, buses whizzing by, and street conversations half-heard, there is endless activity to observe. Cucumber beetles rapidly working to destroy the cucumber crop. Birds ravishing the cherry tree singing loudly to their friends to join in on the feast. Earthworms patiently turning the soil underfoot. Never a dull moment, but you need to go to the garden every day to keep up.

That has been my biggest lesson gardening this year. If you’re not there to enjoy the first ripe strawberries, the squirrels will be happy to take on that…

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