Learn how to harvest and use Usnea, a gray-green forest lichen with medicinal benefits! Also includes recipes for usnea tincture, infused oil, salve, and wound powder. Usnea (Usnea spp), is also called beard lichen, lungs of the forest, or old man’s beard. It’s considered a cooling, drying herb and is valued for its powerful action…
Learn how to identify and harvest reishi mushrooms, plus how to dry and use for tea and tincture. Reishi’s distinctive look makes them friendly for the beginner mushroom hunter! There are multiple species of reishi worldwide – all are thought to have some forms of medicinal properties and none have poisonous lookalikes. Here at our…
This spicy pain salve recipe features pain-blocking cayenne, warming ginger, plus herbs to help your aches and pains. Spicy Salve is pretty much the most popular and oft-reached-for salve in our house. We especially love using it on sore muscles and back aches, leg aches from working at a computer for too long, or any…
Learn how to identify and forage for jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), then how to use it to make a soothing poison ivy salve, and a jewelweed itch remedy with apple cider vinegar. Jewelweed’s always a fun plant to go hunting for! Loved by children for the explosion of seeds that burst forth at the gentlest contact…
Learn how to forage for Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris), plus how to use it, including tincture, tea, and salve recipes! Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris), also called “heal all”, is a common weed found growing on lawns, field edges, and creek banks all throughout North America and other parts of the world. Besides being a great…
Learn how to grow, harvest, and dry bee balm (wild bergamot), plus 8 creative ways to use it, including recipes for bee balm salve, tea, infused honey, and more! Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa, M. spp.) also called wild bergamot, is an excellent plant to put in a pollinator garden! Beloved by bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds,…
Use some foraged early spring greens to make a lovely little lip balm! Violet leaves, purple deadnettle, and chickweed combine with sweet almond, tamanu, and castor oil to create a soothing balm for chapped lips. Infused Oil First, you’ll want to make an infused oil to use in the lip balm. You will need: 1…
Rosewater’s an easy enough project if you have a bunch of roses to spare and just a little patience. And since the method to make it’s the same for any number of fragrant plants, why not indulge in a little experimentation? Rosewater Rosewater (or the closest one can get without having specialized equipment) is pretty…
Hear me, ye who be blighted by the heavy gloom of winter’s passing; there be four things you must find to lift your curse most foul- Just kidding. No curses being cleaned here, just faces. You will need: Violets Thyme A few sprigs of sage Forsythia flowers (if you don’t have access to forsythia, dandelion…
This yarrow salve was designed for calloused and dry feet, but it works just as well for hands, too! I created it after reading a folklore book one day, which had a tidbit saying that yarrow (Achillea millefolium) has ties to Achilles’ spear, and promptly ran with the idea. In traditional herbalism, yarrow is used…