Lemon grass is probably one of the easiest, cheapest herbs you can grow.
via Add Lemongrass to Your Garden Plans — The Herb Society of America Blog
Category: Herbs
Let’s Create Some Herbal Remedies – When Cold and Flu Season Arrives.
These two recipes are prepared as teas but are not taken in your tea cup – they help with the discomfort of flu season in other ways.
Winter Inhalation
This traditional herbal steam helps open your sinuses, discourages bacterial and viral growth, and reduces pain and inflammation. Remember to stay a comfortable distance from the steaming pot to avoid burning your face.
8 – 12 teaspoons fresh or 4 teaspoons dried eucalyptus leaf {Eucalyptus globulus}
2 – 3 tablespoons fresh or 1 tablespoon dried peppermint leaf
2 – 3 tablespoons fresh or 1 tablespoon dried thyme herb
3 cups purified water
Essential oils of the herbs above {optional}
Place the eucalyptus, peppermint, thyme, and water in a saucepan and stir to thoroughly combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and uncover. Drape a large towel…
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BUILD YOUR OWN ALTAR Using These CEREMONIAL HERBS
Day of the Dead: Ritual and Ceremony
Little is firmly known about the particulars of today’s holiday since the limited sources available are either folkloric literature like the Celtic sagas or Roman authors who would have likely “trashed” the traditions of a culture with which they were often in conflict.
Although, you can kind of imagine what really went on back then. Different cultures around the world gathered in a ceremony to honor their ancestors on and around November 1st. This sacred day was often known as a cosmic aperture, where the veils get thin, and the souls from “the other side” can contact us with more ease. There’s plenty of written experiences where people have encounters with spirits or ancestral anecdotes from all over the world regarding the ceremonial processing of these mystical energies. Samhain, for example, is very well known as its a three day ancient Celtic pagan festival…
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BE A HERBALIST THIS FALL
Autumn is the time to ground down and return to our inward selves. After the ethereal light and abundant days of summer, we start to prepare for the darker days ahead. It’s the best time of year to set intentions, get quiet, create and manifest dreams, and to re-commit to healthy habits–the simple things that add up to a healthier state of being.
Wherever you are in the world and whether you experience a dark winter or not, honoring the seasons within the body is one of the most fundamental practices within herbalism.
1. INVITE WARMING, GROUNDING AND NOURISHING RITUALS BACK INTO YOUR LIFE
From a holistic, traditional standpoint, each season is characteristic to an element or quality within nature, and we should guide our lifestyle choices to support the season. For example, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this season marks the beginning of the Yin (cool, watery, deep) part of…
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A Druid’s Guide to Herbalism, Part II: Preserving and Preparing Sacred Plant Medicine
The moonlight shines through the window in my kitchen as I carefully use a mortar and pestle to grind dried herbs for making tea. Candlelight softly illuminates the space, and I have my recipe book with me, ensuring that I record everything that I’m doing for future use. Magic is in the air; working in a sacred space at a sacred time on the Fall Equinox ensures that these medicines will be potent, effective, and magical. On the counter, I’ve already finished my fresh New England Aster flower tincture; this keeps my lungs in good health and helps me manage my chronic asthma without pharmaceuticals. A pot of olive oil is infusing with herbs is on the stove; I am getting ready to add beeswax and pour it off into small jars. This healing salve will be for friends and family as Yule gifts. The kitchen is bursting with good…
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A Druid’s Guide to Herbalism, Part I:Harvesting by the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and Sacred Intent
Field of Goldenrod in Fall
A field of goldenrod, nettle, and aster greet me on this warm post- Fall Equinox day. As the moon comes up with a sliver in the afternoon sky, I joyfully take my basket and harvest knife into the field for my fall plant preparations. The breeze has change on the air–winter is coming soon, and the sacred medicines I prepare will bring my family nourishment and strength for the coming dark half of the year. As we are well into the harvest season at this lovely Fall Equinox, I thought I’d take the time to talk about harvesting and preparation by the sun and moon and honoring the harvest. Next week, I’ll talk about the most basic plant preparations and we’ll end this series with talking about energetic preparations through the creation of flower and leaf essences. That is, we’ll talk about the medicine of…
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The Fifth Season: Herbs for Wildfire Season
Guest student post by third year Cecemanna student Beth Sachnoff.
Here in California a fifth season has emerged. As we move from the warm months of summer into the dry winds of autumn we enter what has been the peak time for California wildfires. In this era marked by extreme drought, years of fire suppression and climate change, fires have raged up and down California and the Pacific Northwest. This year alone, 1,258,880 acres have burned in California[1].
Driving up north to the mountains last month I was met with gray skies and smoky hazy air. The land is on fire. There was a heaviness in my heart and a deep sense of grief for the lives, homes and livelihoods lost. Back home in the Bay Area the air hung heavy with pollution carried from fires miles and miles away. Schools were instructed to keep children in-doors, and air…
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Food as Medicine: Cherry (Prunus avium and P. cerasus, Rosaceae)
Take advantage of the fleeting cherry season to explore the fruit’s sweet side, sour side, and beneficial side. Due to their anti-inflammatory properties, cherry fruit and cherry bark have been used to treat and support a wide variety of chronic inflammatory conditions. In addition, the fruit’s rich phenolic compound content has been studied for their potential benefits for sleep disorders, exercise recovery, and cognitive function.
Known for both their ornamental beauty and sweet and tart fruits, cherry (Prunus spp.) trees are among the 3,400 species that belong to the economically important rose (Rosaceae) family. This botanical family also includes other fruit-bearing trees such as apples (Malus spp.) and pears (Pyrus spp.), as well as herbaceous perennials like strawberries (Fragaria spp.) and brambles like blackberries (Rubus spp.) and raspberries (Rubus spp.).1
Cherry fruits are produced by various trees…
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HERBS of NEPTUNE
Breeding Cannabis Chemovars for Patients Requiring Distinct Chemical Profiles for Optimum Efficacy
Proper exposition requires definition, certainly the case in the longstanding debate over cannabis (Cannabis sativa, Cannabaceae) speciation. Authors briefly introduce the ongoing dispute between followers of Fuchs (1542 CE) and Linnaeus (1753) and those of Lamarck (1783) and Schultes (1974). Lamarck described the putative “C. indica” and has been followed by proposed “compromise” naming like “C. afghanica,’ “C. ruderalis,” etc. If one holds that a species includes all plants capable of reproduction with each other, there is no debate. Cannabis is quite variable in height, branch density, leaf width, seed size, organoleptic and chemical traits, but all cannabis plants can interbreed. Nonetheless, “Sativa” and “Indica,” especially, have entered the popular lexicon, used even in medical cannabis dispensaries to denote the reputed differences in effect. A plethora of “strain” names – more properly varieties or cultivars, despite the illegality of the plant in…
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Paths I Walk 
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