Wintering projects: infusing oils, macrame plant hangers, landscape designing, baking sweet loaves of all kinds and moving through a stacked-high pile of eager reads. Pine is one of my favorite plants to forage for oils and soaps, and the house is smelling like a Christmas eve dream this season… Read More: Winter Skin Nourishment Read More: Guide to Herbal Preparations If you’ve been eager to start learning more about herbs or furthering your studies, The Herbal Academy is returning their holiday sale on herbal courses with up to 25% off site-wide on all of their herbal courses (December 2 ..read more

An end of spring ritual, harvesting whatever herbs are on hand for you this season and enjoying the floral flavors of a wild summers eve flower tea. I have chamomile and lavender growing in my garden, with yarrow and field mint speckled around the fields by my house. I love to harvest a few bits of each in the evenings and steep in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Calming chamomile and lavender are a sweet way to relax into the day, while strengthening yarrow replenishes my energetic reserves from the long days. A hint of mint opens my senses, and together it’s a beautiful seasonal combination gr ..read more

Herb collections are like personal potion shops, with hundreds and hundreds of possibilities for formulas and remedies. Slowly curating your own home apothecary should be a gradual process. This makes your herbal choices, supplies and needs very intentional. In my clinical dispensary, I had about seventy five herbs in stock throughout the seasons. In my home apothecary, however, I keep it to roughly ten. I personally prefer to stick to a small number of herbs that I know intimately and precisely for their generous number of uses, and mix and match as I need.  The herbs you rely on in your ..read more

Projects from the past three months: Built a hickory dining table, finally grounding this open kitchen & living space; Added more fire ciders and elderberry tinctures to my local farmers market; Woke up extra early to enjoy most of the chilly morning sunrises, watching every day change a little more into autumn; Reminisced on the first full year with my little orange cat; Dried my summer hydrangea blooms; Made big pots of tea everyday. The Grounding Magic of Tea Ritual October Corners Tea: I’ve been using up my stash of Mountain Rose loose herbs. By the end of the year I like to hav ..read more

Late summer iced tea to savor the end of of the season. This is a deeply nourishing and calming blend of nettle, linden, rosehips and hibiscus. Rich and lusciously red, sip this throughout the day or night and optionally add ice or honey. Nettle (Urtica dioica): Full of nutrients including potassium and magnesium, nettle carries an earthy + salty flavor that feels perfect for replenishing my body during long days outdoors under the sun. Linden (Tilia tomentosa): One of my favorite nervine herbs, linden has an affinity for calming the heart and soothing emotional turbulence. It’s gentle and sub ..read more

For your savory / sweet, nourishing and personalized part of your winter plate: spiced sweet potatoes. The December comfort that lasts all winter long and everyone loves because you can make every one a little different. Sweet potatoes are full of nutrients, great fiber, natural sweetness and feel so satiating. They’re one of my favorite things to batch cook on busier weeks, and serve for a crowd. Enjoy with your favorite toppings, and share readily. More warm cozy kitchen creations: Everything Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup (Slow Cooker) Happy December everyone. I hope you’re all having ..read more

Summer becomes full so fast. The garden now feels endlessly generous and more than I can receive on any day. Pesto is on everything this summer, and tomatoes…everywhere gorgeous pops of red. I’ve been keeping things intentionally very simple this season. Keeping my teas to two herbs or less. Keeping my daily schedule as light as possible. Keeping my recipes down to beans, veggies from the garden, greens and fruit cobblers. Keeping time down by the river as bookends to my day. I find that summer is a great time to unplug the internet when work is done and the weekends stretch out. Tending space ..read more

The midway point between spring and summer, this time of year in the blue ridge mountains is predictably blissful. The air is warm and cool as the storms roll through, and windows open all night is one of the precursors to the best dreams. The garden has more energy under that blanket of teaming compost than any of those seeds were expecting. The rain smells so good. The sun still rays until almost 8. And new aromatic herbs are popping up in their formerly claimed spots. I found field mint on May 1, just where it left itself last year, and what a pure and simple delight it was to find a Beltan ..read more

I finally took this Sunday to wake up early, 5:30am, walk down to the river just by my house and see the Virginia bluebells in the predawn hour. They’ve been blooming for the past week, and stop me in my tracks every day I walk near them. When I go for woodland walks in the spring, I’m reminded of how alive with magical energy I always felt when I was a child playing in the woods. Every part of the spring woods felt ethereal, and spending time in spaces like this fueled my imagination and creativity. I feel endlessly lucky to have been a woods kid. To not even have the option of screens growin ..read more

February can feel like quite the duo month. And lovely as that can be, it can be equally lovely to spend the last of the winter quiet alone, with just yourself. I create a February tea for one blend nearly every day this month, and enjoy it just for me, to sip on while I work, or enjoy in the peaceful evenings of quiet solitude. The practice of preparing tea blends for oneself is such a tender thing…to nurture to your own desires and tastes, or your own daily cravings and body requests. A simple act, but aren’t those the most personally impactful? Read More: The Grounding Magic of Tea Ritual I ..read more