Celebrate Calendula Flowers

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Calendula flowers have a sunny disposition in the garden. Use its golden petals in the kitchen and be sure to keep it well-stocked in the medicine cabinet for an array of medicinal uses, including soothing ointments and astringent tinctures.

Since antiquity, calendula flowers, or pot marigold, have been used in infusions for many maladies.

Since antiquity, calendula (also known as pot marigold) flowers have been used in infusions for many maladies. The Egyptians used the petals to heal wounds. In the Middle Ages, calendula was used for indigestion and healing bruises and burns. In World War I, the herb was used on the injured to prevent inflammation and infection. According to Annie Burnham Carter, author of In An Herb Garden (1947), “In England during that war, Miss Gertrude Jekyll gave a field on her estate for the exclusive cultivation of pot marigolds . . . the flowers which bloomed there…

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Edible Flower Biscuits

Wood Sorrel Mini-Cream Tarts: Wild Food Treats — Gather Victoria

Here’s another recipe from “Gather Cookbook” for Gather Patrons! I’m releasing a few of last year’s recipes to the Gather website – so the rest of you can see what you’re missing! First up was a Chunky Rose Petal Pesto (recipe here) and now these creamy & tangy yogurt mini-tarts. Made by processing wood sorrel leaves…

via Wood Sorrel Mini-Cream Tarts: Wild Food Treats — Gather Victoria

Tuscan Garden Kale Soup

Drying Herbs for Infused Oils

What’s Not To Love About These Wild Plants?

Greetings!

Before I share a brand new video with you, I wanted to let you know that I’ll be leading several mushroom programs at the Great Lakes Forager’s Gathering in southern Michigan from June 20th to June 23rd… and I’d love to see you there!

The Great Lakes Forager’s Gathering is the largest annual gathering of wild food enthusiasts in the Great Lakes region and features a variety of classes covering foraging, cooking with wild foods, and other traditional skills. The lineup of instructors this year is quite impressive, featuring such notable teachers as Samuel Thayer and Jim McDonald.

You can learn more about the event by clicking here.

And now on to this week’s brand new video!

With only a few days left in the month of May, things are starting to appear more summery than spring-like. The warm temperatures, humid air, abundant sunshine, and green canopies remind us that, as lovely as it can be, spring can only do so much for us before its reins are handed over to the next season.

To celebrate the final weeks of spring, I decided to explore the woods in search of interesting plants and wildflowers that thrive during the transitional time between the two seasons. On a recent walk through a beautiful wooded area, I encountered two plants that were truly worthy of documentation.

If you’re interested in seeing the two wild plants that are too easy to love, check out the new video!

Thanks for reading and watching… and as always, thank you for your support!

-Adam Haritan

Creative Ways to Use Dandelions – Organic Gardening – MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Good Witches Homestead

Dandelions grow just about everywhere in the world, dotting lawns and defiantly sprouting through sidewalk cracks. Though dandelions are incredibly common, they’re also powerful herbal medicine and tasty edibles at the same time.

Medicinally, whole dandelion plants are often made into a dandelion tincture, which has traditionally been used for skin and urinary tract problems. Herbalists use the blossoms as a treatment for sore muscles, in the form of a dandelion salve or dandelion infused oil.

Beyond herbal medicine, dandelions are just plain tasty. Dandelion roots can be cooked like carrots or roasted and brewed into dandelion root coffee. The greens are eaten fresh in salads or cooked with a bit of oil or salt. Dandelion blossoms can be made into simple dandelion fritters without much effort too.

A simple hard candy flavored with dandelion blossoms, this dandelion candy will put a…

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Recipe: Dandelion & Burdock Cordial

Children’s Garden opens at Kew Gardens helping kids to learn about what plants need to grow

Let Us Stroll the Primrose Path of Dalliance

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Kathleen M Hale, Western Reserve Herb Society

20190505_163700 The botanical family name of the common or English primrose, Primula, comes from the diminutive of the Latin word for “first.” And the common name “primrose,” derived from prima rosa (“first rose”), is also a reference to the primrose being one of the first flowers of spring. This is not the evening primrose (Oenethera), or any of the other, more ornate, forms of Primula. This is the quintessentially English cottage garden flower.

Of course, it is then described as “vulgaris.” Sounds harsh. But this is not a matter of judgment of the primrose’s character. It’s just that, where the primrose is happy, it is very happy. It grows and spreads in abundance in cool, moist places.

This does not describe the micro-climate in most of our homes when primroses beckon so invitingly from the grocery store aisles shortly after the winter holiday…

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