Infused Oils

Marriage of two plants gathered to infuse in extra virgin olive oil, which extracts the medicine of the plants and transforms from olive oil to a herbal oil, and yes it's still oily. The one, sticky with resin … calendula … smiling brightly at the sun and happy to bask in its fullness + the...

Fire Cider

Eighteen days ago, I thought to mix up some fire cider inspired by the profusion of parsley growing in our garden.  I buried the jars in the garden, swaddled in old clothes, inspired by the magic this method worked on the garlic ginger syrup.  I just dug it out to enjoy during the equinox yesterday...

Garlic Ginger Cough Syrup

When I came across a recipe for garlic and ginger syrup in one of the lessons that are part of a herbalism correspondence course I'm enrolled in with Rosemary Gladstar, I couldn't wait to try it. Liquid garlic and ginger! My taste buds activated right away imagining the flavor, and then the best part:: Rosemary...

Gourmet Herbed Salts

Salt. It has been around for a long, long time, with evidence of its use dating back as far as 6500 B.C. The British evaporated salt by boiling seawater from salt spri­ngs in small clay pots over open fires during the Iron Age. Salt was used as money by the many ancient cultures, including the...

Golden Milk Cake

We love golden milk, with fresh turmeric and ginger grown locally by Paradox Farms and a few cardamom pods simmered slowly in milk.  But frankly, in the muggy heat of summer the thought of a warm beverage makes me shudder.  Recently, I came across a recipe for turmeric cake in The Washington Post, and it...

Summer Peach Preserves

“Peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall, if I can’t have the girl I love I won’t have none at all . . . ” Anyone else love Shadygrove? It’s certainly summer here in these shady groves of the Blue Ridges, and the scent of fresh, ripe peaches wafts through our kitchen, mingling with...

Cilantro: Coriander by Another Name

Cilantro is in full bloom, a dazzling sight artfully arranged by hundreds of miniscule flowers dancing together.   It’s creating fruits now, which are known as coriander seed and used in almost all the sub-continental  dishes I grew up eating:  daal, curries, biryani, fish, kababs, none of them are without either powdered coriander seeds, crushed coriander...

Hand Sanitizer

In March, I began making hand sanitizer for my husband to carry with him to work.  Initially I started out with rubbing alcohol, glycerin, witch hazel, and essential oils, but we found this combination very drying to the skin, so I made a few changes. The CDC recommends minimums of 60% ethanol or 70% isopropyl...

Bare Necessities: Tincturing

It's the heat of what's been a scorching day, the kind where one steps outside and within a few steps sweat begins to bead up around the hairline and next thing you know it's in your eyebrows, and you're glad to be wearing a skirt to wipe your face with. I'm headed to a slope...

Roots Reishi & Rose Syrup

Reishi has been dancing up and down the Eastern Hemlocks, adorning their bark, in these sylvan woods all spring right into summer. A dryad called me out one day, she knew they'd matured, and led me through the wilds. A triad of trees here with nymphs hiding in the trunk, a mossy bridge over bubbling...