Rose Hips – Herb of the Month

By Maryann Readal

If you grow roses, plan now for rose hips. Simply leave the spent flowers on your rose bushes after their last bloom of the season. Do NOT cut them off. Allow the fruits of the rose, which are the rose “hips,” to ripen on the bush. The hips will turn red or orange depending on the rose variety. When the sides of the hips are soft to the touch, they are ready to harvest. Waiting to harvest until after the first light frost increases the flavor of the hips.

Now, you may be wondering why you should allow your roses to form hips. Here are some good reasons:

Ounce for ounce, rose hips contain eight times more vitamin C than oranges, according to the US Department of Agriculture Food Data Central.
They are also rich in vitamins A, B, E, and K, as well as other nutrients.

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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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An Ode to Autumn — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Autumn is the season when the world mellows out and takes stock on what has already been achieved. Change occurs, but at a reassuringly slow drift rather than a hurried panic. Planet Earth takes on a warm glow as the sun shrinks back into the soil. Golden moments with friends, family and self shape the […]
An Ode to Autumn — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Free Webinar: Plants, People & Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany – American Botanical Council — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

We are happy to announce the first in a new series of Ethnobotany Webinars from the American Botanical Council and the Sustainable Herbs Program. Leading ethnobotanists Michael J. Balick and Paul Alan Cox will be discussing their new book Plants, People & Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany, revised from the first edition published in 1996. Balick […]
Free Webinar: Plants, People & Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany – American Botanical Council — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

A Weed Lover’s Manifesto

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Andrea Jackson

I love weeds. There, I said it. Don’t worry, I do pull them (there’s a reason why they’re called weeds, after all), but I am much more likely to make a tincture or a salve or something good (yes, good) to eat than to discard them completely.

After all, weeds were really the first herbs. Emerson said “weeds are but an unloved flower.” They have also been called a plant out of place. Consider a field of commercial dandelions with a single forlorn rose bush growing in the middle. Now which one is the weed?

Plantago_major_SZ356869_Freshwater_MCotterill_IWNHAS Weeds tell wonderful stories, and as we learn them, they take us on a journey to discover where they came from and how they came to be who they are today.

For example, there’s the common broadleaf plantain (Plantago major). Broadleaf plantain is everywhere, which is a good thing for…

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American Botanical Council and Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs Warns Consumers about High Toxicity of Oleander

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Herbal science group emphasizes that consumers should NOT attempt to produce oleander-based home-remedies or self-medicate with the dangerous poisonous plant.

AUSTIN, Texas (August 18, 2020) — The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) today warned the public about the substantial toxicity associated with all parts of the oleander (Nerium oleander) plant. ABC warns consumers not to ingest any parts of the plant, or capsules, tablets, teas, or extract preparations made from leaves or other parts of the oleander plant because it contains chemicals that can cause serious effects to the human heart, including death.

The ABC warning came as a result of recent media reports that President Trump may be considering asking (or may have asked) the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve the drug product called oleandrin as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Oleandrin, as a purified pharmaceutical investigative drug product, has been researched for its potential…

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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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Free Online Event Plant Medicine for Modern Epidemics Summit August 24-28, 2020

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Never has it been more important and urgent to regenerate your body and build robust immunity than now, in the midst of our global health crisis.

Acquiring the right knowledge about plant allies, and how to source and prepare them, can be life-changing for you and your family.

Some of the plants and fungi of our immediate natural environment offer remarkable healing power. Plants contain a myriad of compounds that can nourish, balance, and support immune function, thereby increasing your body’s built-in resistance to disease.

Join Plant Medicine for Modern Epidemics Summit, where you’ll discover how plants can purify, protect, and support us — as they sharpen our minds, extend our lives, and deepen our connection with this blessed planet.

Free Online Event
Plant Medicine for Modern Epidemics Summit
August 24-28, 2020

The summit includes presentations by more than two dozen leading natural medicine experts, health practitioners, and inspiring…

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Makrut Lime – Herb of the Month

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Maryann Readal

thai lime fruit The Herb Society of America’s Herb of the Month for August is the makrut lime, Citrus hystrix, a member of the Rutaceae family. This lime is also known as kaffir lime or Thai lime, and also wild lime. You may have spotted it in a produce market or Asian supermarket and wondered what makes it different from an ordinary lime. It certainly looks different, in that it has a gnarly, bumpy skin. The very aromatic leaves are different, too, because they look as though they are two leaves attached to each other. The juice is sour and bitter, and so is not usually used in cooking because it can overwhelm other flavors.

This lime has been widely grown in Asia for so long that it has become naturalized in many countries. Therefore, no one is certain of its origin. It is a staple ingredient in Thai…

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Spicebush to the Rescue

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Kaila Blevins

Author Volunteer Trip While on a volunteer trip in Orlando, Florida, I was desperate for bug spray. In the middle of December, the mosquitoes nibbled on any exposed skin they could find, leaving me and the rest of the unprepared Maryland native participants with patches of red swollen bumps on our ankles and arms. Our guides, a retired couple who volunteers with the state parks, became our heroes on the second day of the trip. During our lunch break, the husband saunters over to us, carrying a branch from a nearby shrub and states, “This is spicebush. Crush its leaves and rub it onto your arms. Keeps the bugs away and helps the itch.” Immediately, we passed the branch around, ripped the leaves off the branch, crumpled them, and rubbed the lemon-peppery scented oil onto our skin.