Yarrow is an indispensable herb that you’ll always find growing in my herb garden. Its versatility is formidable, making it an excellent tool in your herbal medicine kit. If you asked an herbalist what single plant they would bring with them to a deserted island, their answer will most likely be “Yarrow!”
Posts filed under Herbal Medicine
Herbs for Your Garden: Calendula
Calendula is grown as a self-seeding annual in USDA grow zones two through eight. In areas with warm winters (above 25⁰F), it blooms year-round. Calendula thrives in full sun with well-drained soil. I recommend sowing Calendula seed directly into the garden early to mid-spring. It’s ideal to plant the seeds as soon as the soil is workable since germination benefits from cool weather, but don’t stress too much about timing. I’ve had success planting seeds year-round. Calendula is a self-seeding annual, which means seeds dropped by the plants in the fall will lay dormant on the ground all winter and then sprout the next spring. However, it’s not an aggressively spreading plant, so don’t worry about it taking over your garden.
Leaps of Faith, Spring 2022, Winewood Organics
This column is a look at a brave soul who took a leap of faith to open his own businesses. What follows is a personal profile of Eric Parkhurst who is following his dreams and thriving despite the odds—and Covid.
The New Context of Essential Oils
Take a moment to imagine a beautiful rose garden. Notice your surroundings. Feel the sun warming the surface of your skin, as a gentle breeze dances by. Listen to the sounds of nature around you. The leaves on the trees sway in the breeze. Birds off in the distance. A sense of stillness within the activity of nature.
Creating Tea Rituals to Nurture the Divine Feminine
Have you ever had a day where nothing was really going as planned? Or one you knew was going to be busy and full of stressors? We’ve probably all had a day where we felt ill, and energetically on empty with no desire to power through. Did you make yourself a nice cup of tea and instead of drinking it from a travel mug on the go, you sat and enjoyed your tea for a few moments? Did it make you feel better and more equipped to deal with the moment? My best guess is yes! If so, then you’ve experienced firsthand the ability a simple cup of tea has to transport, nourish, and fortify. You indulged in a simple time-tested act of healing and self-care. An activity that could easily be ritualized. Using tea to commune with the sacred has a long history starting in ancient China. It’s the intention that makes it a ritual.
Tea Time With Peggy-- Tea--More than a drink!
Spring and summer happen to be my two favorite seasons. I enjoy spending time playing in the dirt. My herb and flower gardens are my happy places and I have been known to spend hours out in my garden rearranging plants to a better location and even mowing the lawn. Unfortunately, too much time in the sun results in a nice sunburn. I know of nothing more miserable in the summer than being burnt to a crisp. While sipping a nice, iced glass of sun tea doesn’t help you cool down the sting, the wet tea bags will.
Plant Medicine and Magic
When people ask what drew me to herbalism, there are two stories that I tell. One is of my time working in the Mojave desert, where my boss—a botanist by training—would point out various native plants and tell me snippets of how the indigenous people of the area used them for food or medicine (he always spoke of this in the past tense). For him, it was an interesting tidbit of information, but I thought, “couldn’t we still?” This story is true, but the deeper truth goes back many years, to my childhood.
Essential Oils: More Than Just Pretty Aromas
Sure, essential oils can leave your home smelling of fresh cut lavender or the bright citrusy scent of lemons, but they are so much more than a pretty aroma. Did you know they could be used to support healthy emotions, keep you alert, focused, calm, and relaxed? All this is made possible in the limbic system, which is our emotional brain. Our limbic system supports five major functions: emotions, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and sense of smell. As you inhale essential oils, the tiny molecules enter the nasal cavity and pass by the olfactory bulb. Your olfactory bulb is a part of your limbic system and therefore your response to an aroma is going to be emotional before it can be rational. This all happens in three seconds!
Healing with Nutrition — Real Food is Real Medicine
By Darren Schmidt
For many years now, reports have shown that the American medical system could be doing more harm than good . . .
