Benefits of Moringa: A Nutritional Powerhouse

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Famously called “the miracle tree” thanks to its exceptional nutritional content and therapeutic potential, moringa more than lives up to its name. Moringa offers numerous health benefits, including protecting against free radicals and promoting a strong immune system in all stages of life. Among other things, moringa supports the heart, brain, and liver, and can even give your sex drive a boost.

You might see it sold as a “superfood” in grocery and health food stores, but moringa is no passing fad. For centuries, people have consumed various parts of the moringa tree for health, energy, and other therapeutic qualities.

Moringa contains an abundance of vitamins and minerals, but, according to scientists, many of moringa’s benefits come from its phytochemicals, which include isothiocyanates, chlorogenic acid, and flavonoids like quercetin.

What Is Moringa?

Did you know that moringa is sometimes called the “tree of life”?

More than a dozen different moringa…

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WILDCRAFTING: GETTING TO THE ROOT OF OUR ETHOS

Good Witches Homestead

We use the terms “wildcrafted” and “wild-harvested” when describing products. Specifically, this term refers to the aromatics – the essential oil scent blends that transport you to another place, another time and bring the mountains into your home.

Wildcrafting is not some trendy thing. In fact, humans have been wildcrafting since we could walk. The term, however, is new to our industry and to the vocabulary of consumers. Let’s explore what wildcrafting means to us.

Wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting things in the wild for our use. Whether that comes in the form of decorative art (think bones, branches, grasses), wild foods (think mushrooms, berries, nuts), medicinal herbs, or aromatics, wildcrafting is done for pleasure, necessity and tradition by some peoples and to our great benefit.

In our case, we harvest aromatic ingredients to scent our bath, body and home products. Wildcrafting helps us absorb the beauty of nature…

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Spring Herb: Sweet Woodruff {Asperula odorata / Galium odoratum}

Good Witches Homestead

Also, Known As:

Master of the Woods
Sweet Woodruff
Waldmeister
Woodruff
Woodward

Sweet woodruff (botanical name Asperula odorata) is a perennially growing plant that spreads into clumps reaching a maximum height of 8 inches to 15 inches (20 cm to 38 cm). The flowers produced by sweet woodruff have a sweet hay aroma, which enhances as they dry out. Sweet woodruff is a much loved small plant that is found growing on its own in the forests and also on hedge banks in shaded areas. It is easy to recognize this plant by its little white flowers that bloom on soft stalks during the period between May and June. Sweet woodruff produces slender, vivid green leaves, which grow in whorls resembling stars in succession something similar to cleavers or goose-grass just beneath the flowers. Each whorl of sweet woodruff comprises approximately 8 leaves. However, dissimilar to goose-grass, the stems of…

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Aromatic Herb for March; Spring Herb: Cicely {Myrrhis odorata}

Good Witches Homestead

Also, Known As:

Anise Fern
British Myrrh
Cicely
Cow Chervil
Garden Myrrh
Shepherd’s Needle
Smooth Cicely
Sweet Bracken
Sweet Chervil
Sweet Cicely
Sweet Myrrh

The plant called the sweet cicely is a hardy and robust herb. The cicely is an aromatic perennial herb indigenous to the mountainous areas of Europe and Asian Russia – growing originally only in these regions. The cicely when fully mature can reach 0.6 to 0.9 m or 2 to 3 feet in height. Sweet cicely is one of the first herbs that come up when spring arrives; the sweet cicely is a pretty plant and makes a beautiful backdrop to a perennial border in mountainous regions where it grows.

In older times, people would usually grow this old cottage garden perennial at a site near the door to the kitchen. The site would be chosen so that the pretty divided fern-like leaves could be easily…

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A Natural Antibiotic: Thyme Oil for Wellness and Cleaning

Good Witches Homestead

Superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus {MRSA} are on the rise and, unfortunately, are becoming resistant to the drugs used to treat them. When faced with a microbial infection, using natural antibacterial agents may not only be more effective but also safe and risk-free.

Apart from using spices like garlic, I recommend you try essential oils derived from herbs like thyme oil. Not only do they have antibacterial properties, but they also provide a number of health benefits. Before I go into thyme oil’s antimicrobial functions, let me share some information on the essential oil.

What Is Thyme Oil?

Oil of thyme is derived from thyme, also known as Thymus vulgaris. The perennial herb, a member of the mint family, is used in aromatherapy, cooking, potpourri, mouthwashes, and elixirs, as well as added to ointments. Thyme also has a number of medicinal properties, which is due to the herb’s essential…

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Spring Detox for Your Home!

Good Witches Homestead

Spring is the time of year that we start eating lighter and detoxing. It’s time for spring cleaning of body, mind, and home! While there is a lot of focus on what we eat, often not enough attention is paid to how we clean our homes… Making sure that all of your household cleaning products are naturally-derived is extremely important – especially if you have children. The products we use every day may give off toxins that we then breathe in or absorb through our skin. They may also pollute the air in our environment. Studies have shown that environmental toxicity is a contributor to many conditions such as autoimmune disease, heart disease and even cancer(1). The chemicals found in many common household cleaners are carcinogens which mean that they can cause cancer. Bleach and ammonia are highly toxic and, when mixed together, they are a lethal combination(2). Other chemicals…

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Free Herbalism Project

Good Witches Homestead

We’re just a couple months away from the next Free Herbalism Project: an afternoon of botanically inspired lectures from expert herbalists, live music, and plenty of free organic herbal tea! This spring, we’re proud to invite Maria Noël Groves and KP Khalsa to the stage.

Thanks to popular demand, we’ll be having two plant walks. Space will be limited, so arrive early! Explore Sunday’s schedule to see our entire list of FREE herbal activities.

Maria Noël Groves, RH (AHG), registered clinical herbalist, runs Wintergreen Botanicals Herbal Clinic and Education Center, nestled in the pine forests of New Hampshire. She has been working with herbs for more than 20 years, is certified by Michael Moore’s Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, completed studies at Sage Mountain, Heartsong Farm, and Lichenwood Herbals, and is a registered professional herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild.

Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, A.D., D.N.-C., R.H., is an herbalist, nutritionist, yoga…

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The Plant Medicine Summit March 18-22, 2019

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Free Online Event
The Plant Medicine Summit
March 18-22, 2019

In our fast-paced culture, we’re becoming increasingly disconnected from nature.

And in doing so, we’re losing touch with our symbiotic relationship with the plant kingdom… a vast life-giving resource for healing our bodies, balancing our emotions, and awakening our consciousness.

Our environment is suffering too. As a result of our failure to recognize our biological and spiritual connection with the natural world, destructive agricultural practices, and climate change are destroying the Earth’s ecosystems.

However, as you’ll discover during the eye-opening sessions in The Plant Medicine Summit, by honoring plants as our sacred evolutionary allies, we have great potential to heal not only ourselves but our beautiful planet as well.

Esteemed speakers joining for this life-changing, 5-day event include our host, David Crow, plus, Mark Blumenthal, K.P. Khalsa, Lupo Passero, Pam Fischer, Sara Crow, Nicholas Schnell, and many others.

Here’s just a small…

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Foraging & Cooking with Ornamental Purple Plum Blossom: Spring Floral Confections — Gather Victoria

For me, the heady sweet almond-like fragrance of the Ornamental Purple Plum is the very essence of spring. Standing beneath their sensual pink and rose flower-laden branches on a sun-warmed afternoon is an absolutely swoon-worthy experience. Sadly underutilized as a culinary ingredient, plum blossom has a unique scent and flavour which infuses beautifully in cream,…

via Foraging & Cooking with Ornamental Purple Plum Blossom: Spring Floral Confections — Gather Victoria