Dried Feverfew (flowers and leaves) Dried Golden Chamomile (flowers) Badly dried Golden Chamomile (flowers)
Category Archives: herbs
Garbled
Amie and the comfrey Today Amie helped me harvest the comfrey and feverfew. She helped me string up those big, fat comfrey leaves. “It’s like stringing fish!” she said. I asked her where she got that idea? She couldn’t remember, but she was right. She loved the smell of the feverfew flowers – they look and …
Inventory of Herbs in the Garden
I made a page inventorizing the herbal medicines in my apothecary, and I thought I should  also have a page with all the herbs growing in the garden and being grown from seed. Ordered alphabetically according to their Latin name, annuals indicated: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) (above) Chinese Aconite (Aconitum carmichaeli) SEEDLINGS Marsh Mallow (Althaea officinalis) SEEDLINGS Golden …
Exploring Pain: Amie’s Variation of the Wildcraft Board Game
Last week I splurged on Wildcraft, a cooperative board game for kids (and adults) developed by HerbMentor, one of my favorite places for herbal instruction. The idea of the game is to make it up the mountain to the huckleberry patch, gather huckleberries, and make it back down again to grandma’s house before nightfall. And not …
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Medicine Making in Transition
While participating in the Training for Transition I came to a profound realization. One of the most powerful exercises in Transition is the positive visioning. People sit in two circles, one inside the other, facing each other so everyone is paired up. The people on the outside are the elders of the future, who have …
First Plantings of Spring and More Gardening News
Our insane wood pile after tree removal I received a large box in the mail on Friday, the kind of box that could only house… plants! Fedco. Of course they had to arrive on the busiest weekend since last Summer. Of course I wasn’t ready… So after our Earth Day Celebration I stuck almost all …
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Golden Oatstraw
Infusing Oatstraw I made my first oatstraw infusion, a quart of it, with 1 oz. of dried herb. It’s very mild, sweet and fresh, just lovely after steeping a good 14 hours. Not grassy at all. I added some raw honey to it and have been sipping it all day long. Oatstraw is one of those toners, …
The First Robins
The plan for today was to plant out the first lettuces into the hotbox, but it is snowing! But! The first Robins have arrived. I wonder if they’ll take up residence in our carport again. In honor of the first Robins and the first full day of Spring, and in the spirit of healing and …
What’s Growing in the Basement?
In order of sowing: scallions chives mizuna Evenstar collards rouge d’hiver lettuce Olympia spinach Bloomsdale spinach Mache Champion collards Claytonia Space spinach Red marble onion Bright lights chard Ventura celery Safir celery Redventure celery Dianante celeriac Wintebor kale Russian kale Brussels sprouts Waltham broccoli Krausa parsley rube red New England Aster Giant Winter spinach Cornflower …
A Ginger Day: Candied Ginger
It’s snowing again, a driving powdery snow that has already accumulated to 2-3 inches. Inside the fire roars, Shubert delights, as does the smell of ginger. I was surprised by how cheap this fresh ginger root was ($1.99 a pound), but then when I started peeling and cutting it, it all made sense. Â This ginger …