Natural $$$

Sigh....
Just recently, we've been reading about the sell-out of the big natural and organic corporations to Monsanto and genetically modified crops.
I wish it were just a little bit more surprising. I wish that just once big money and truly natural and organic products could honestly swim in the same pool, but it doesn't seem likely. Oh, sure... there are wonderful companies where the people running them do well, but there is a division, and once we start talking "corporation" and "stock options" the numbers fall off quickly. In all seriousness, we should all know better by now.
We've watched this game for a good long while. Not as long as some, but the last 20 years have told a weary tale of hope and deceit. Hopeful, exuberant people learning to use plants for healthier lives, and deceitful business people seeing dollar signs in those glowing faces.
For me, it started in *I think* 1992, when my sister and I trekked to what I believe was the first Natural Products Expo East and found an entire wholesale show that catered to exactly what we were looking to add to our shops. We were beside ourselves with excitement! Row upon row of booths run by family businesses making and selling their wares, and we were able to talk to the people who blended the teas, made the tinctures, or wrote the book. We found incredible, innovative natural and organic products.
Imagine our surprise when the very next year the whole thing changed, and instead of long-haired hippies in jeans and tie-dye, we found chrome and glass, suits, and booth bunnies selling things like glandulars, body-building formulas, and weight-loss capsules. We were devastated. The big boys had followed the scent of money to be made.
I distinctly remember having a drawn-out argument with some "suit" who stopped us in the aisle offering an "herbal cure for herpes". Really. To begin with, you rarely find the people who actually make things standing in the middle of the aisles hawking and blocking the way - just sayin'... But we took a look at the ingredients and noticed there were no herbs in the list (nevermind the whole CURE thing). It contained vitamins and some amino acids. So we asked him to please point out which of the ingredients he considered to be herbal. He couldn't believe we were being so petty because, you know, what's the diff? You see, he assumed that as shop owners we would be just as interested in pulling the wool over someone's eyes to get their cash as he was. He really couldn't understand how he was insulting our whole industry, and besides, he was just hired for the show to work the booth. He didn't actually know about the product or care if it worked.
About that time, the pharmacist from a large drugstore came in to our shop and really gave us a ribbing for all the HILARIOUS products we carried. Can I tell you how highly amused we were to find that within another month or two, we found that they were carrying many of the same products? Or that from then on, we always saw his boss at the Expo? And of course the CVS that opened a block away from our main shop did the same thing.
And then we took a series of classes covering the various forms of alternative medicine. During one of the classes, we were told about a new chain of grocery stores, where you could walk in and buy anything, sure that it was healthy and natural. Every eye in the room got misty at the mere thought of such a foodie Nirvana. However we were told, they wouldn't be opening in our area because surveys showed we were "not a highly-educated area". Even at that moment, I knew it couldn't be about education. You can scarcely swing a cat without hitting an institution of higher learning around here. It was about money. I'm glad Whole Foods never came to our area because that has meant that we have honest, family-run establishments run by knowledgeable people who have managed to stay in business here! Whole Mart destroys small business the same way WalMart does, except they manage to cost a WHOLE lot more. We have CSA's, herb shops, herb farms, and our grocery stores carry local produce. We have an amazing array of farm markets. We were way better off without the expensive chain, and learned how to shop for ourselves.
In the meantime, I like to think that a lot of people have been learning what they need to know for themselves. Every day I get to converse with readers of The Essential Herbal who are in the process of learning to make their own herbal products - or purchase them from our advertisers who are not big money corporations. I'm proud of spending the last 10 years helping to share that information and getting people together to teach and learn.
That's where it's at, folks. It really is up to the individual.

a wandering mind

The other day my daughter called and told me that she needed to write a paper about something "either thrilling or traumatic from my childhood or adolescence." As her mother, my mind went tearing around to several ...um... interesting instances that would have fit. Hers went in a completely different direction, finally settling on a particularly horrific hair choice I made for her as a child that apparently has scarred her for life.
This conversation lit up certain parts of my brain, and it's been firing for days now, hitting on various *odd* things that have happened along the way.
One of those that keeps making me laugh to myself every so often is about 20 years old. It was from our days at the renaissance faire. One of the gypsies had a bed of nails and a pet rat. At some point he decided that it would be a good promotional idea to make a tiny bed of nails and train the rat to use it while he wandered the streets hawking his show. Not necessarily thrilling or traumatic - but clearly in the odd column. It reminds me of how much more time people had before the internet.
Another would have to be the day I realized that hot air balloons have some risks. Bob, my bil was the pilot, and he and I were sailing along when Maryanne radioed up that the ground winds were picking up. We saw a good landing field coming up fast, so Bob let the balloon sink into a tree that would slow us down enough to land there. This is not really unusual, but we hit too low in the very tall tree and instead of just slowing us down, the basket got caught and we found ourselves on our bellies hanging on for dear life to avoid being dumped out on our heads. It was one of those moments where the illusion between every day life and "Oh $*!%" clash, of which, looking back, there have been entirely too many. I'm fairly certain it was my last flight.
My daughter had a lot of interesting adventures growing up. Lots of thrills, and plenty of trauma, and much of both were my fault - especially when she was very small. I can't decide how to feel about her settling on a bad hair style as a worthy topic, but since one of my favorite college papers was an ode to a volunteer tomato plant and another a love letter to my 17 year old car, I suppose it's all in how we look at things. I can't wait to read what she writes!

not as quiet as it sounds

I keep chastising myself, feeling like nothing is getting accomplished around here.
January is a weird month. The days are so short, and as the sun goes down my internal clock is set to wind down with it. This year brought a cold, frosted winter, and it finds me indoors much more than usual, but a quick look back reminds me that this month has been just as full of things to do as any other... it's just that I'm not quite as willing as April or May will find me.
There's the year end paperwork, and then a couple of birthdays. Molly was home until mid-month, and managed to squeeze in a nasty little intestinal virus. That was fun. We've even had a couple of days where we took off and just didn't work at all. But we did lots of work too.
At the moment, we're finishing up the Mar/Apr issue of The Essential Herbal, and it will probably go to the printer in the morning. The early spring issue always surprises me because of the volume and number of great articles that come in. Here I am slogging along, but thankfully others are not. In fact, although we haven't done it for almost 2 years, we felt that we needed to add pages to this issue, and it's still packed with page margins as small as we can safely make them. Every time we send out a new issue, it is exciting to think about readers receiving them, but this time... well, I can't wait!We've also been busy with Maryanne's soap biz. In fact, we finally broke out the oil melter (from soapequipment.com) that's been stored in my basement for 3 years. We are VERY slow to change the way we do things. We got the whole set-up, but are implementing the parts one at a time. For a long time, the cutter made enough difference in the process that we were able to keep up, but it became clear that it was time to start using the melter. Weighing up solid oils in the winter (especially after they've been in "cold storage") is really difficult. We used to be able to pre-weigh them in warmer weather, but no more. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut of thinking small, and need to be forced to step up. This soap making equipment allows us to do it in our own way, and each step seriously changes our lives for the better.
As with any big change in a routine, there are small bugs to work out, so we've been doing that. We think we've got it now :-).
It's become boring for me to take and post pictures of COLD, so it's seemed quiet around here - but I guess it isn't after all.

Under the Snow

We haven't had much snow this year. That's good and bad. Good, because the roads are clear and travel is easy. Bad, because the perennials don't have the insulation to protect them from the cold. Even so, I saw a few frosted violets the other day in a sheltered area that never gets a snow build-up. This is how it looked out the back door just a few days ago....It has been cold though. We lost three guinea hens in the past few days. Not really sure what happened to them. Two cuddled up against the wall of the barn and expired together (odd that they didn't seek shelter and died at the same time...), the third seems to have just disappeared - which probably means it is down in the woods.
More snow is in the forecast, so I took a moment to go outside and see what was going on in the garden. It's interesting to see what happens out there.
Today the snow has melted back from some of the plants.
The horehound is very busy growing. Not as vigorous as it would be in the summer, it still continues to grow, unperturbed by the lack of sun and warmth. That is one stubborn little plant!
The rosemary is still kicking. It remains to be seen whether it will make it through the winter. There are three of them out there, and usually at least one survives. It all depends on which way the wind blows, the amount of snow, and how cold it gets for how long.
Sage leaves are also continuing to grow through the winter. We think these plants are dormant, but as it turns out they are not completely asleep.
The chickweed has made a nice carpet close to the ground under the conifers. There is always plenty of that around here as it seems to really love the climate under the boughs.
It felt good to go out and poke around in the ground. We've been staying pretty busy with indoor pursuits in the past few weeks, and are just about to dive into the next issue of The Essential Herbal (Mar/Apr '11). With more white stuff on the way in the next few days, it was now or never. I think I'm starting to wake up from my mini-hibernation.

herb bowls, another try

I've been wanting to give the herb bowl project another try. White sage has been in the back of my mind for various reasons, only one of which is the resinous quality in the leaves. It grew beautifully in the garden this year. The scent is glorious and grounding, and depending on the purpose of the bowls, might be just about perfect. The original plan was to use simply sage, water, and tragacanth.
Today I decided to add a little peace to the bowls by using some lavender distillate I made that's been hiding in the fridge for a while. That took the place of the water.
A rough recipe (at that point) was about 2/3 cup powdered white sage, 1/4 tsp tragacanth, and 1/4 cup lavender distillate.
The clay didn't want to hold together well at all. It clumped okay, but wouldn't hold a shape.Fine. Maybe a rounded Tbsp of yellow sandalwood to make it more uniform, and another slosh of the distillate. Still not quite there, I added an additional 1/4 tsp of tragacanth. I was avoiding the extra tragacanth, because it absorbs so much liquid that in the end result there are more cracks from the shrinkage. This is still half of the amount I used with the first attempt at herb bowls a couple of months ago.
It still didn't get exactly to the consistency I wanted, and wasn't roll-able. These are the end result. The tiny bowl has a stick through it so that a ribbon handle can be added later.
I'm going to keep at it. Eventually there will be a magazine article here when I've got it perfected, but in the meantime this the play.

Yay - Back to Business as Usual!

My sister and I were talking on the way to the hardware store to pick up some shelving today, about how we are seeing people lamenting the end of the holidays on the various social networking sites. It almost makes me feel guilty. Not quite, but almost. We've been there. In times past, I've worked the shift work, the holidays, and the 13 twelves followed by a single day off for months on end. It's not that I don't appreciate how precious those days off can be. It's just that these days I love my work more. Jerusalem artichoke seedheads still on the stalk.

We are with family every day, so holidays are no different for us in that department. We did take a few days off during the last week or so, but not completely, and not necessarily by choice. There have been 4 days without mail service in the last 9, so that kind of made it necessary.

Over the holidays, we eat too much (although *I* was pretty good this year...), watch too much blather on tv, and just generally feel somewhat restrained waiting for the year to end and get the heck over with already. The kids (hah - 19 and 24) are getting restless, and that's never a good omen because they usually come up with things for *us* to do. Vitex berries that the birds are saving for a colder day.

The bottom line is that we love what we do. We wake up every morning chomping at the bit to see what work awaits, what orders need to be prepared, what might be showing outside, and what new project we can get into. So while it seems that everyone else is dragging their feet wishing that this week would never end, it can't be over soon enough for us.
We thank our lucky stars almost daily that we have chiseled out this life for ourselves. It's really hard to call it work.

1-1-11

The numbering of our days is usually just an interesting factoid to me.
The first day of this millennium struck me, but I was so much younger then...
Today I woke up thinking that this was truly a fresh new slate. All ones - what could be clearer? Being a writer, there's nothing like page one in the next magazine or book staring at me to remind me of all the possibilities and opportunities that are waiting to unwind. Sometimes, those possibilities and opportunities are golden. Sometimes they are dark journeys, and we have no choice but to step in and begin. Sometimes we don't realize we could choose another path until it is too late. Life is funny that way.
2010 was a most unusual year, and I'm sure someday I will see the humor of it. So often as the weeks ticked by, I found myself murmuring, "it was the best of times... it was the worst of times..." from:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

There were amazing, wonderful things that fell into my lap with no effort on my part, and there were devastating losses that came out of nowhere and caught me in a riptide that slammed me repeatedly against rocky shores.
From 2010, I learned that the illusion we carry about having control over our lives is but a shimmery veil that is blown aside by the slightest breeze. Thanks 2010, I needed that. I guess...
So happily, I step out of that year, close the door, and walk into this brand new 1-1-11, the FIRST day of the rest of my life. I no longer kid myself about having control over anything except my reactions. That isn't cynicism. It's freedom.
We sat last night and brainstormed about new things to try this year, new ways to do things, and dared ourselves to take some risks. No resolutions - just newness, believing in what we've built so far, and helping to make those things grow.
I am excited to get this ball rolling!

You mean *those* dandelions?

I was a lucky kid. We grew up surrounded by woods and fields and streams. We knew lots of the plants that grew around us by name, and they were part of our play, but not used in the home as food or medicine. My grandmother was from the days of horse and buggy, and she wasn't looking back. She embraced modernity with open arms and wanted nothing to do with the past. Every time she opened the chest freezer to withdraw some cherished out of season fruit or vegetable in one of those little waxed cartons (before they came in plastic bags), the look of supreme pleasure that spread over her face made it clear that she was never going to be making sassafras tea, dandelion greens or ANY foraged plant based foods or medicine in her house.

There was the disconnect. It happened right there. We knew the plants, but their place has been usurped by a love for modern convenience.Echinacea

As the years passed, we rediscovered a love for gardening, but in doing so, we looked for the new hybrids, the double flowers, and the colors that didn't exist before.
Then we developed an interest in herbs.
We started reading all the books we could get our hands on. My sister and I would each read a different book, swap, and then discuss. Over the winter, we studied field guides and memorized pictures of our long lost friends.

Early on, we started reading about herbs like dandelion, sheep sorrel, chickweed, and burdock. Burdock
Surely they couldn't mean the ones growing outside here! We were so removed from what we felt, that we would order these herbs from suppliers to work with. Catnip, rosehips, and chamomile came in bags. Things like shepherds purse and cleavers and elderberry were ordered. Why? Because we just couldn't believe that the ones growing in the yard could possibly the magical, mystical items we were reading about.Yarrow

And then one day we reconnected. At an IHA conference in the early 90's, I saw a Wild Foods Field Guide and Cookbook by Billy Joe Tatum at the bookstore. For three days, I looked through that book before finally deciding to purchase it (I'm tight with a buck - lol). Inside, I found recipes for all kinds of weeds - the same ones that grew outside everywhere.Stinging Nettles

That started my everlasting (and somewhat annoying to companions) search for various wild herbs whenever I am outside. If we stop at a gas station in another state, I am standing on the edge of the parking lot looking down at the weeds growing by the culvert. If we stay at a hotel somewhere, I need to wander along the edge of the cultivated lawn and look into the wild places. If I am driving somewhere, I am looking at the sides of the road as much as possible, and prefer the passenger side because it is safer for everyone.

The first year, I looked for chamomile, and found it everywhere.Chamomile

The next year it was elderberry.
In recent years, it has been blue vervain and linden. It is always something. I learn to see them by their color and shape, by realizing what plants they grow near or whether they like wet areas, or disturbed places, or shady, bright, hilly... Soon, if you look long enough you know where they are without actually seeing them. Step a little closer, and yup - there they are.

But the most important thing was learning that YES, it is THAT dandelion. It is THAT catnip, or elderberry or sheep sorrel. It is THAT red clover.Elderberries

At the time, we opened a shop and needed lots more of many of these herbs than we could ever forage or wild-craft ourselves. We tried gathering our own catnip one year, but we needed 10 or more pounds for the year and despite massive efforts only managed to collect a bit over a pound before taking over large portions of the workshop to bunches of drying plant material.

Now, without a shop it is very easy to gather what is needed for most things. Very few of the herbs that I use are not from this property - either wild or cultivated. I will never know all the plants that grow around me, but I do know that they are all important, and will keep learning them - one or two per year.Rosehips

Not everyone has the luxury of living where there are wild things outside the door, but I've also found chickweed and lambsquarters in a rooftop garden in Manhattan. Here at The Essential Herbal, we believe that if you're interested in herbs, it's a good idea to recognize that the dandelion you see is the very same one you'd use. It's great to get to know them!

Starting out with herbs

This topic has come up in private conversations in the last week or two, so it must be something people are thinking about.
The topic of herbs is huge. It is intimidating to those who haven't put their tootsies in the water yet.Everywhere you look, people are talking about obscure, sometimes rare herbs, and as is suggested by the experts, they are using the Latin botanical names. There are very good reasons for that, but if you are hoping to just learn about the things that will keep your own family comfortable and healthy, it seems like too much to bite off.
The truth is that most of us will use a small personal arsenal of herbs. Although I grow and/or gather 30 or 40 different herbs during the year, there are only 3 or 4 that have a place on my kitchen counter. Elderberry and holy basil are always there, although we don't take anything on a daily basis. Right now, goldenrod, ephedra, and nettles are there too, because my kid is struggling with some allergies, but normally they are back in the cupboard. Chamomile is one of our staples too. We always have ginger around, especially in the winter because it warms everything and seems to increase the actions of the teas we drink.
But I'm getting off course here....
Considering how few herbs are truly necessary for the average person to really get to know (learning 10 well is very significant), the best thing to do is to learn one or two very well in a given season (or even year). I've written about this before, and I remember listening to Gail Edwards give a talk many years ago about finding an herbal ally and spending at least a year with it.
For winter, elderberry and holy basil are my go-to herbs. Both are anti-viral, and holy basil has many other attributes, like helping the body handle stress. Stress leads to illness, so handling it is a good way to avoid illness.Let's say you wanted to become familiar with these two herbs. First read about them. Take notes and find out all the positive things they can do, and also if there are any contraindications. Next, obtain some of the herb. Make them into tinctures, syrups, jelly, and herbal lozenges. I keep several "batches" of elderberries frozen and ready for pie in the freezer. Blend them into an herbal tea. Use them, and record how they work for you. Really get to know them and get comfortable with them.
Before you know it, you will have knowledge. You'll have some herbs that you can rely on, and you'll know how to use them. You'll have learned to put together soothing teas, a nice healing salve, and a tincture or two. By learning about herbs one at a time, there is nothing to fear and everything to gain.
The Essential Herbal Magazine's goal has always been to demystify herbs and make them accessible to everyone. It's a great place to start!

Here comes our first snow.

I can feel it arriving.
On the pavement, a few errant leaves clatter.
The wind is whipping through the trees that sigh and wave. The house is creaking to the rhythm of the gusts outside. The storm is on the way and snowflakes will begin to fall soon.
I know in another month or two, I'll be singing a different tune, but right now this storm is welcome to me. There are people who need to travel and need to get back and forth to work, and this is not the case for them. For me, it is welcome.
The holiday passed yesterday, and we are cozy and warm with everything we could possibly want or need.
We'll relax, read, write, watch a movie or two with cocoa, hot tea, and lots of sturdy stews and soups. Now THIS is what winter is about! Bring it on.

What a difference a month makes...

A month ago, we were filled with anticipation, getting the little seasonal-only shop ready for the tree hunters. By the Hearth had just been released a week or so earlier, and we were flying! We were swamped with wholesale soap orders, and coming up with new products for the websites daily.
On the 10th, the Jan/Feb issue of The Essential Herbal went into the mail. I don't remember too much since then. It's been a blur.
Today I sent out the last orders that were obvious gifts, and from now on they won't have the same amount of pressure attached in terms of delivery time.
Today 4 wholesale soap orders went out, and the 2 that are sitting in the shop waiting for pick-up are not time sensitive. The soap shelves are moderately well stocked - although we're not really sure how we managed that.
The tree farm is done for the year.
As thrilled as we were going into the rush of the season, that's precisely how thrilled we are to be finished with it and returning to normal. I am not missing the symbolism of how this happily coincides with the full solstice lunar eclipse... of the return to light, and the seeds that have been planted during the darkness. Nor am I ignoring the idea of the current retrograde phase of Mercury that slows things like communication down. I welcome that with open arms. The timing couldn't be better.
I know I've written about the subject of self-employment before, but there is no season quite as telling as this one for small retail business owners. It is pure craziness.
Taking a few hours off to celebrate my sister's birthday last week meant working until past 11 that night to get orders packed. Every morning before my eyes opened, my mind was turning to what requirements lay before me that day, and how to accomplish them in the most efficient way. The smallest glitch or unexpected issue (whether good or bad) could throw the whole day into chaos, because it was just that busy. I don't mind admitting to an element of fear each time I checked emails, wondering what sort of orders would await, and whether they'd be able to fit with today's run, or if they'd have to wait until tomorrow. That little spark of fear... that's when we start looking forward to the end.
I can set the alarm and go watch the moon turn red in the middle of the night tonight without worrying about oversleeping tomorrow.
When I wake tomorrow, there will be the bliss of knowing that only the typical activities of living will fill the day. There are only a few things that need to be done before the weekend brings Christmas Day, and I will be able to do them with full enjoyment, not having to squeeze them in or begrudge the time spent.
So in review, the past month was wonderful, crazy, busy, and fun. I expect the next month to be full of its own kind of wonderfulness. Thanks everyone!

well this looks oddly familiar...

Check this out: http://mrsgreenhands.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html
Look familiar?
It sure does to ME!
my post on making and using herb vinegars
my post on lavender wands
my post on distilling lavender
my post on elderberry tincture

Hmmph!
No links, no credit.. just stolen information posted as her own. And lavender was spelled wrong in the titles.
Yes, I wrote to her a week ago and got no response.
Yes, I reported it to Google and Blogger - so far, no response.

Yes, I am highly peeved.

Just to be clear, I love it when people share the information posted on this blog, but as with all things posted or published anywhere, it is copyrighted as soon as the "publish" button is hit. A link to the original post is an absolute requirement.

Repeat after me: No.

In the past week or two, I've spoken to several friends who are just completely overwhelmed by this season. Of course it isn't entirely about the holidays, but the season brings about a culmination of anxiety and stress.
We all do it. We agree to things that we know are going to be difficult to accomplish. Lots of those things can't be avoided. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we lose the ability to differentiate between the "musts" and the "maybes". We can't see the forest for the trees, and sometimes even stop looking.
When I was a child, most families had one parent who worked, and one parent who took care of the home and the children. It was not that way at our house, but most of my friends had that typical situation. When the holiday season rolled around, the mothers spent a lot of time on decorating the home, shopping, baking, and creating the whole fantasy. On a weekend soon after Thanksgiving, the father would get out the lights and the ladder and deck the house with lights before returning to the football fest indoors.
As times changed, we have not allowed ourselves the flexibility to recognize those changes. We still expect the same amount of preparation and magic even though the time to make it happen has vanished, leaving us feeling inadequate and lacking.
I'm not suggesting that we should give up the things we enjoy, but I am thinking that we need to give some serious thought to what we do because it is fun, and what we do because of some external and/or imagined pressure.
Here, we've run the gamut from the Total Christmas Experience to pushing the whole season back a month because we couldn't manage it. Neither of those really work for us. The first makes us grouchy and stressed, the other feels sad and empty. Somewhere in the middle is the perfect blend.

I've found that what we "need" to feel happy and festive is:
*One day spent shopping at quaint shops for quirky little gifts with the kid.
*One mad dash around with my sister.
*One batch of cookies baked with the kid.
*A tree.

Everything else is extraneous. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, that's also fine. The best part is that by paring down the list of "musts", we find more time for extras without feeling like we're doing it because we have to. Then the extras really are fun!

I'm wishing you all a season filled with genuine fun, joy, peace and love.
And the ability to say no.

The Essential Herbal - Jan/Feb 2011

We start off in this, our 10th year, with an issue full of warmth and herbal wisdom. Lots of everything you've come to expect from The Essential Herbal Magazine - herbal information, recipes, crafts, lore, and humor.
Our goal has always been to empower people to use the herbs that grow around them in ways that they've never tried before. As we sent this issue out, it was with the knowledge that we continue to achieve this goal with every issue. So stay warm, and try some of the great things that have been shared within the pages. If you aren't a subscriber, get on board HERE. You won't be sorry.

Table of Contents, Jan/Feb 2011
Field Notes from the Editor, TEH news
Winter Herbs, Oils, & First Aid, Mary Graber
Total Tonic Formula and Essential Oil blends along with herbal remedies for winter
Winter Soups & Stews, Susan Evans
Stay warm from the inside out with these luscious recipes
Heaven "Scent" Sachets, Diane Runge.
Learn how to make sachets with home-grown or purchased ingredients
The Historic Herbal, Fragrant Washing Soaps, Kathleen Setzer
Castile soap and herbs together in historic greatness
SouthRidge Treasures, For Your Valentine - a Tussie Mussie, Mary Ellen Wilcox
Tell your sweetie how you feel without saying a word
Top 10 Herbal Resolutions, Cory Trusty
Humorous and thought provoking
Food by the Fireplace, Melissa Sidelinger
Yummy, healthy snack mix
Unusual Salted Potpourris, Marcy Lautenan-Raleigh
An interesting old-fashioned way to make potpourri, with recipes
February is Chocolate Month, Jackie Johnson
...and it's good for you!
Curry Up!!! Rita Richardson
Did you think curry was a single blend made by a big spice company? Think again.
Louisianna Lagniappe, Yummy Yam Spice Muffins, Sarah Liberta
Another great use for sweet potatoes
The 1st Trimester: Preparing, Betsy May
Some ideas and recipes for the discomforts of early pregnancy
Winter Soothing Herbal Breads, Marcy Lautenan-Raleigh
Add some herbs to those breads and spice things up
Gardeners Herbal Hand Soap, Marci Tsohonis
A wonderful bar to make now for the excesses of Spring to come
The Soap Pot, How to Swirl, Alicia Grosso
Now that we've learned the basics, Alicia talks about swirls
Sugar Hearts, Cindy Jones
A little sweet for the sweet
The Winter Garden, Maryanne Schwartz
Some color in the winter landscape
Herbs of the Zodiac: Aquarius, Susanna Reppert Brill/Bertha Reppert
Aquarian herbs topped with Sesame Seed Brittle
Herb of the Year - Horseradish, Tina Sams
An interview with a 4th generation "horseradish man", information on the health benefits of this amazing root, and some interesting uses for horseradish
Why I Love Horseradish, Carey Jung
A memoir with recipes!
Warm Fuzzy Feeling, Jennifer Lane
Staying cozy and healthy in winter

The Classic Crash and Burn

This year, I think the timing is the best yet!
It's something that just isn't worth fighting anymore. It always comes eventually. So many of my friends are self-employed entrepreneurs that I see it all around me, and at this time of year it can hit everyone, regardless of their circumstances.
We work and work, creating endlessly auto-revising lists in our heads. As things get more urgent, diet, exercise, and fresh air fly out the window, sleep is sacrificed, and we are in contact with more people.
I've actually experienced this in an almost instant way on some occasions. A few years ago I was caring for a desperately ill relative, and it was very stressful. I started to feel "off", but it showed up as a restless crankiness. After a few days, it was determined the patient needed hospitalization. Getting into the car, my stomach cramped. By the time we got to the hospital parking lot, I was full-out sick, quickly reaching the feverish weepy phase. In other words, as soon as the pressure was released, my body allowed itself to give in.
That happened on a smaller scale today, since I've learned to listen more closely (and have the luxury of being able to stop).
We've been at a dead run for several months, publishing 2 books since July, along with the bi-monthly release of The Essential Herbal Magazine, and the near tripling of the my sister's wholesale soap company. Then the tree farm opened, along with the little shop. The next issue of the magazine went into the mail yesterday, and my lower back started to act up (Ding!). This morning I felt grumpy. I went down to the shop, but couldn't quite get the smile thing going.
By 2 o'clock I was back home and barely managed to get my shoes off before crashing for about 3 hours. It will probably be a very early night tonight, and a hefty dose of elderberry is in the cards for me too.
Good timing, though. There's still lots of time to enjoy the next couple of weeks, and for once the crash and burn won't happen on the eve or day of a major holiday, and it only took me half a century to figure it out.

a gathering of gift posts

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I gathered some of my holiday gift crafting posts from holidays past and put them together in one convenient place.

last minute herbal gifts
gifts for the soul
bath salts and memory boxes
home made vanilla extract
deviled nuts, holiday tea and almond bark deluxe
simmering potpourri
spritzes and powders
chai and sugarplums
tea blends and gel air fresheners
sachets and eye pillows
incense papers
herb kit and a lip balm
pomanders, potpourris, and spicy ornaments
hot stuff
massage oil
sweet things
tub teas
spice necklace
gifts for animals and pets

Traditions are us

It's funny how traditions sneak up on you. The holiday season is one in which we are usually more clear about them, but as it turns out, for me it was the most surprising.
It's always been sort of a family joke. When we were young, Mom struggled mightily to raise us. Some years there was Christmas, and some years it was a non-event. Childhood memories are a mixture of fun and horror, with Mom trying too hard with too little, and nothing ever being quite the way it looked on the glittery cards that would arrive. Kids don't need perfect, it seems. They just need love. One Christmas it snowed heavily. We lived about 1/2 mile from our grandparents, and Mom decided we would hike up the hill with the toboggan to spend the night there. So we set out, in the pitch dark night, freezing cold, in deep snow. When we got there, the only gift she had for her father was a bottle of blackberry brandy and *I* wanted to be the one who carried it inside. Naturally my little hands were numb, and naturally they let go of the bottle at exactly the time that we reached a place where the walk had been shoveled. I think my mom cried. Nobody yelled at me, but I sure was mad at myself. I think there was a half-hearted attempt of gathering up the blackberry snow until talk of glass shards came up. Merry Christmas, everybody!
For most of my adult life, my sister and her husband have had a Christmas tree farm. Kind of ironic when you think about it. Every year Maryanne and I have set up a little shop. Except for the first few years, it has been full of herbs and soaps. There is a picture somewhere of me in the shop, just weeks before my January baby was born. It has always been a part of Molly's life.
Shortly after she was born, we opened our first shop, and had brick and mortar shops until she was 8 or 9.
When you have an herb shop (or magazine, soap company, etc.) and a Christmas tree farm in the family, people assume that your house must be the most wonderfully decorated home in the world over the holidays... that it smells of mulled cider and snickerdoodles, and that you probably throw a little party where people dress in cocktail dresses and natty blazers. They tell us that all the time. You don't. If you're lucky, you can carve out a day or two to frantically try to throw something festive together, but the vast majority of your energy is already on display for the shops. You think to yourself, "See this bow on my head? That's it!"
Over the years, it has become less and less important to me that decorations come out, and last year they were all buried under my brother's belongings, anyhow. This year they'll come out again. Why?
Because this season was a big surprise to me, and it warmed my heart in a way I can hardly express. Molly is about an hour away in college, and was home for Thanksgiving. She worked a few days at a department store, but was itching to work at the tree farm.
I couldn't really understand why she was being so adamant about it. She wanted to work outside in the cold, while she could just stay warm and have nice, set hours at the mall store where they'd play holiday music and hang giant balls from the ceiling.
Finally, it struck me. This IS our tradition, and she wanted to take a more active part in it. For her entire life, this is what we've done, and now that she's grown she wants to be in the middle of it, pulling along with us.
When she gets home next week, I think we'll drag her into the shop and have her with us womenfolk - answering the phone and wrapping soap. Then we'll decorate our tree. But not the pink tinsel one... I don't think I can stand that again.

Herbal Holiday Gift Series 2010 - a few ideas

I've been pretty busy at the tree farm and shop this season, so this series isn't going as smoothly as it has in past years. Be sure to check at the bottom of this post for some links to friends' blogs with more ideas! Here are a few fun crafts to try :-).
Frankincense and myrrh are a traditional gift of the season. When we first opened shop at the rennaisance fair, we tested lots of products, and these resins were at the top of the list. We purchased "simmers" and tried them out. A teaspoon or less of frankincense was in a heat sealed teabag, to be added to a potpourri simmer pot. Do not use these in anything you'll be cooking in - but the small electric or candle warmed containers are great. Both frankincense and myrrh (or any fragrant resin - copal, pinon, dragon's blood, etc.) can be used without a teabag, and just simmered alone or as a combination. This is a good way to use them for the fragrance without the smoke caused by burning them on charcoal that can be such a deterrent in the closed up house of winter. A small vial of each of these resins makes a sweet gift. Add some gold ribbon to complete gifts of the Magi theme.
This season we've been having a hard time keeping up with demand for lavender sachets, so it would seem that they would be a welcome gift. We package a 1/2 cup of lavender buds into muslin bags that we decorate with permanent ink. You can also make your own bags from appropriately patterned fabrics if you like. The sachets can be used in the clothes dryer to freshen linens, placed in drawers, or because we leave the strings on the bags, they can be hung in the closet to keep clothes smelling clean and fresh while discouraging moths. My nephew got a kick out of seeing the same thing at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago, thinking that once again, the mainstream has finally caught up with his mom and aunt who have been making these for decades :-). Yes, it's true. It takes us decades to seem normal to our kids. Sigh....
I've written about bathing herbs before, but people are using these items more and more. 20 years ago we needed to explain them extensively for every customer, and now they fly off the shelves as fast as we can make them. We use giant heat sealed bags for ours, but you can also put them in a jar and include a muslin bag, a pot-sized tea ball, or they can be tied into the round coffee filters with a pretty ribbon for a more Victorian presentation.
I like to use herbs that were grown in the garden over the summer for personal gifts. Blends almost always include some rose petals and lavender, and from there the choices are endless. Calendula, comfrey, chamomile, sage, St John's wort, mints, tarragon, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lime basil.... these are just off the top of my head, picturing the garden this year. To these you can choose to add other things - like oatmeal, sea salts, or powdered milk. You may also choose to add a few drops of essential oil. Sometimes the blends turn out to be so beautiful that it seems a shame to hide them in a pre-made bag.
If you live in an area where bayberries grow, try dipping some bayberry candles with the kids. When I was in elementary school, one of my teachers heated beeswax in #10 cans inside a pan of water. Since bayberry wax is so hard and brittle, you'd need to mix it with another wax for strength (and because it takes a ton of bayberries to make enough). Beeswax is a nice, natural choice. Wicking can be purchased at craft stores. If you've never made hand-dipped candles, you're in for a treat. Cool slightly between each dip, and the wax builds up to form a rustic, beautiful candle. Note: candle making is an art in which wick size, melting points, and various other attributes come into play, but for a craft that will inspire your kids, this is a good one. Here is a link for more information on dipping candles.

For some other ideas, visit these links...
From The Rosemary House
From The Backyard Porch
From Aquarian Bath
From Sage Script

Herbal Holiday Gift Series 2010 - Kids.

Kids are tough when it comes to herbal gifts, but not impossible.
Without a doubt, I was lucky to have a kid who loved everything I did or made for her.
At 10, she wanted her own teapot. At the time, animal prints were all the rage, so I found a 2 cup teapot in a leopard print and gave her some packets of herbs that she could blend into her own teas.
When she was younger, she loved any kind of bath additive, with scented bath salts being at the top of the list. She also loved a massage after her bath, so I blended relaxing essential oils into apricot and jojoba oil and we'd use that afterward, sending her into dreamland. To make the bath salts, I would take the larges crystals out of a large bag that we had for the shop and save them. To a quart of salt crystals, add 1 tsp glycerin, 30 drops of essential oil (I always chose relaxing oils!), and a few drops of food coloring, mixing well. The massage oil was made simply by mixing 10 drops of lavender eo per ounce of oil. Almost any liquid vegetable oil can be used for this.
One year I taught her and a few of her friends to make lip balms and sparkly glycerine soaps (followed by a slumber party, which was undoubtedly the most difficult part for me).
For young boys or girls, field guides are almost always welcome. For some kids, the field guide might be about rocks, or butterflies, birds, or trees. Any kind of nature guide is a good thing.
Kits for making things are fun for kids too - but they don't have to be pre-made.
A few dried gourds with some permanent markers can be a rattle making kit.
Some olive oil, beeswax, a smidge or two of pink mica, and a few lip balm tubes or pots with instructions make a lip gloss kit. Our Balms & Salves How-to and Recipes book would be a great addition.
At the Dollar Tree, I saw that they had hemp twine the other day. Combined with an assortment of beads and some clasps from the craft store, a jewelry making kit could be made up pretty inexpensively.
Finding and printing out knot-making instructions from the internet into a booklet form, and adding some rope would work to teach someone how to tie knots. I know my brothers would have liked that when they were young.
Journals or art supplies are welcome gifts, depending on the child. One of my daughter's favorite gifts was the day my sister allowed her to go through her fabric collection and take quite a few odds and ends to play with.
Sure enough, as she got older her dad made sure she got lots of electronic gadgets, and that was a good thing too. She still loves to learn to do the things I love to do. At nearly 20, a cookbook that includes the foods she loves best from home, her very own sewing kit, or even a collection of "how to keep a home, by Mom" in a booklet would be great.

Cindy Jones at SageScript.com has some crafty ideas that she shares on her blog here

Herbal Holiday Gift Series 2010 - air-drying clay

A brick or two of air-drying clay is a great item to get the noggin working on ideas. It comes in white or terra cotta, and you can always work micas or pigments into the clay if you want another color or finish and it is easily found in arts and crafts shops or on-line.I like the terra cotta a lot, and there's no need for a kiln or any baking at all - making it a perfect medium with which to get the kids involved.
It can be rolled out to a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness, and cut into simple strips 1", with one end made into an arrow shape, and the names of herbs cut into them to make garden markers.
The clay can be formed into small offering bowls.
I made this wall plaque by fixing a wire loop firmly in the back of the piece while the clay was damp, and then after forming the face (a little angrier than intended, lol...), creating a head dress from dried seedheads, grasses, and flowers. Spices, roots, and herbs could be incorporated, and the gathering of decorative herbs and grasses could be a fun outing with the kids, getting them to look closely at what late autumn still has to offer.
Another idea would be to press cinnamon sticks, star anise, allspice, cloves, etc., into a pleasing pattern on a square or circle of the clay, making certain to make a flat top surface. Be sure to start with a shape that is deep enough to hold the spices and be able to have a flat top, to form a coaster for hot mugs, that will release scent when the heat warms them up.
Since this clay can be painted or decorated in many ways, it could also be used to make pendants. There are TONS of crafts that could be made for gifts. It takes about 24 hours to permanently harden, so you can play for weeks with this one - even waiting until almost the last second!