Lavender has a wonderful, relaxing scent. Among its many applications, herbalists use it to treat skin conditions like acne and eczema. Peppermint has a soothing and calming effect on irritated skin. Since it contains menthol, peppermint oil increases the blood flow to the skin. This results in a soothing and cooling effect. This is […]
You Don’t Need a Dehydrator: 5 Fruits You Can Dry in the Oven
If you plan to dehydrate a lot of fruit, then it makes sense to buy a dehydrator. But if you only dehydrate occasionally, then you can use your oven! Anjali of theKitchn shares links to 5 different fruits and veggies you can dehydrate in your oven. Very helpful article! Click on the You Don’t Need a […]
Botany and Wildcrafting Course (Sale)
The Herbal Academy has done it again! If you haven’t heard, they just released their Botany & Wildcrafting Course with an amazing pre-registration sale ($50 off)! The class is going to cover the art of wildcrafting and the science of plant identification so that by the end of the course, you will be able […]
How to Make Your Own Fire Starters
This is a great tutorial for homemade fire starters from Jillee at One Good Things. You can use them to start fires in backyard fire pits, camping fires, bonfires, or any other outdoor fire. There’s no need to use commercial accelerants of any sort. The recipe is easy, and you probably have all of the ingredients […]
Joe’s Homemade Peony Jelly – Unique!
I have to admit that I had never heard of peony jelly, so I had to feature this article. It may be a bit late as peonies bloom in early spring. So you may have to file this recipe away for next year. However, we did have a slow-starting spring in the Midwest. So some […]
Peter Rabbit’s DIY Bedtime Chamomile Bath Powders
Chamomile promotes skin healing and soothes rashes including eczema. It’s also an anti-inflammatory and can be used to treat minor burns. Chamomile also has a very calming and relaxing effect. This is a simple bath powder that uses chamomile and two other ingredients. JES explains how to make the bath powder and then use it […]
Frugal & Natural Pest Control: Fruit Flies & Ants Be Gone!
Unfortunately, it’s really easy to bring fruit flies home with the fruit you buy at the grocery store or farmers market. You can also bring them in from the garden. Overly ripe fruit is one of a fruit fly’s favorite meals, and they never eat alone. They bring all of their fruit fly buddies with […]
Why Cold Expression is Used for Citrus Essential Oils
Did you know that citrus essential oils are extracted differently than other essential oils? Erin of Mountain Rose Herbs explains how citrus essential oils are cold expressed. Erin describes the process and has some great insights about using citrus essential oils. She also includes several citrus cleaning recipes. Mountain Rose Herbs is one of my […]
11 Ways that Drinking Coffee Can Improve Your Health
It turns out that drinking coffee, especially black coffee, can be beneficial to your health. Black coffee is low in calories and fat. (Of course, when you start adding sugar and cream, then the fat and calorie content increases.) However you drink it, coffee is loaded with healthy compounds that have some pretty amazing health […]
Herbal Comfort for Aches and Pains
This is an excellent post by Agatha of the Herbal Academy of New England. She first discusses issues surrounding the use of over the counter NSAIDS and aspirin for pain relief. Then she discusses several herbs that are used for short periods of time for specific pain. The herbs have been used for menstrual pain, rheumatic problems, earaches, headaches, and […]
DIY Peppermint Shower Soothers To Fight Against Colds and Flu
What a great idea! Anya created these “shower soothers” which are small cakes of baking soda, essential oils and other ingredients. What you do is turn on the shower to the temperature you’d like. You place a shower soother on the floor of the shower, out of the direct spray. The steam from the shower […]
Homemade Ginger Lime Thyme Cough Syrup Recipe
This is a great recipe for a homemade cough syrup that uses simple, natural ingredients. Here are just a few reasons why these ingredients work so well in a cough syrup. Thyme contains flavenoids that relax the tracheal muscles. They also reduce inflammation. Ginger also reduces inflammation and may help to relieve bronchial inflammation. It […]