Benefits of Organic Blue Tea – Butterfly Pea or Asian Pigeonwing

Good Witches Homestead

Native to South-East Asia and India is the butterfly blue pea, a beautiful cerulean floral creation, which has been an important ingredient of traditional medicine in this part of the world since the era of ancient civilizations. For a flower, to have endured through several centuries is indeed credible and what is more noteworthy is the fact that its importance remains undiminished and unaffected by the passage of time. There could only one explanation for this continued sustenance – the natural presence of curative and therapeutic attributes that easily transit into lukewarm water like its color and can be consumed as such.

Amongst the several exotic beverages that are prepared with the butterfly blue pea flowers, one of the simplest as also the most appealing is organic blue tea. In the phrase ‘organic blue tea’, while the word ‘blue’ owes its presence to the color that is typical of the…

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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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Native foods including rare strains of corn, beans and squash making a comeback

Druidry for the 21st Century: Plant-Based Spiritual Supplies and Global Demand

The Druid's Garden

Can you even imagine druidry without plants or trees? Plants and trees are some of our strongest allies for the work that we do, and are often connected to almost everything that we do spiritually. Plant spirits are teachers, guides, and allies. From before we had recorded history in any culture, the plant spirits were there, growing with us, guiding us, healing us, and supporting us on our journey. Today’s modern druid practice continues that tradition: we burn plants for smoke cleansing, clearing, and helping to energize spaces. We use trees as part of divination and sacred rites. We use plants as healers, for magical healing and physical healing, and to connect with on deep levels. Plants have long been friends of humans–and have long walked beside us, hand in hand, as we do our sacred work. And today, we’ll explore ways we can offer that same kind of honor…

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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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Spring Cleaning! The Magical Besom — Gather Victoria

Happy Spring Equinox! Blue skies and blossoms, what a day to welcome the official coming of spring! I was up bright and early today with a mission. To craft one of the most hallowed objects of spring cleaning – the Besom. I’ve been so busy with my cookbook and creating rewards for Patrons, my home…

via Spring Cleaning! The Magical Besom — Gather Victoria

Medicinal and Culinary Uses for the Shy Violet

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

While violets’ delicate blossoms are a treat only for the observant, the plant has enjoyed a long history of medicinal and culinary use.

Leigh Hunt, an English Romantic essayist, and poet is the first known author of the phrase “shrinking violet.” In 1820, he published a passage describing a bit of woodland in The Indicator, a poetry magazine: “There was the buttercup, struggling from a white to a dirty yellow; and a faint-colored poppy; and here and there by the thorny underwood a shrinking violet.”

Hunt was almost certainly referring to the native English, or sweet, violet (Viola odorata). This shy plant can often go unremarked underfoot, and it carries its small, slightly recurved flowers level with or just below its leaves. The phrase “shrinking violet” took a few decades to catch on — but when it did, it spread rapidly, much as its parent plant does…

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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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The Druid’s Garden: Principles of Sacred Gardening

The Druid's Garden

Part of my own Druid's Garden! Part of my own Druid’s Garden!

One of the greatest blessings of gardening and growing things is the deep energetic connections that you can develop with plants. When I grow a pepper in my garden, I have developed a relationship with that plant from the time I planted the seed in February, where I tend it and keep it sheltered from the winter weather, to the planting and mulching of that small pepper in late May. This relationship continues as I nurture it into maturity throughout the summer, where flowers and the actual peppers start to emerge. I monitor that pepper plant for insects and disease and do what I can to ensure its success. Finally, I watch the peppers grow large and fat in the heat of the summer. At that point, I have an eight-month relationship with that pepper plant. When I eat the pepper in late August, I know…

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