Growing up in a German household I was no stranger to kohlrabi. In most cases it was cooked with butter and as a kid I was not a huge fan (but to be fair I wasn’t a big fan of vegetables in general). As I started to grow my own food I fell in love with kohlrabi and now I grow it all the time. This year I grew two on my TowerGarden, half a dozen in my greenhouse (which I planted in April) and at least a handful in my outdoor vegetable garden. Thanks to staggered planting and my indoor hydroponic system, I will be enjoying kohlrabi for a long time. While I always thought you had to cook kohlrabi ..read more

Our house is far from perfect and while we do our best to make it work, sometimes you need a big project and overhaul to really help bring out the sparkle and shine. Some the challenges we have in our home of 1100 square feet is a serious lack of storage. Whoever designed the renovation that took place about 20 years ago obviously felt that no linen or utility closet of any kind was the way to go. Well for three humans who homeschool and have a business in this space, the lack of storage is no longer working! Over the winter holidays we decided to tackle the space by our front door. It origina ..read more

There is nothing like the abundance and dare I say, gluttony, of the holiday season to force you to bump up against your current beliefs systems.  Temptations abound and the stories that hold me back rear their ugly heads. One of the deepest challenges I have to navigate in this life has been my propensity towards perfectionism. I have been through may indurations of this story in my lifetime. In my youth it was achieving the highest grades and always striving towards being the best. This drive caused a lot of stress and illness in my life, as nothing was ever good enough. No matter the g ..read more

It can be an overwhelming and worrisome situation when your child is sick. It’s definitely not an easy job, especially when we are trying to manage fever. Many of us were raised with the belief that fever is something that should be suppressed and often reach for the over the counter fever reducing medications.  With these in short supply, this actually brings up a beautiful opportunity to ask ourselves some great questions. Should I be suppressing fever? What purpose does fever serve in the body   Please note – nothing shared with you today is meant to be interpreted as medical ad ..read more

If you are about to embark on a new healing journey, embracing the world of herbs and natural treatment modalities, I am so excited for you. I remember those first days and the eager anticipation of a different experience than I had previously. If you, like me at the time, are coming from the paradigm and viewpoint of a pharmacological model, you may find your new experience with natural modalities underwhelming. This is a common occurrence for many of my clients when they are not experiencing results fast enough. Words such as, “I was on herbs for two weeks and things aren’t better yet.” are ..read more

As I lay in bed last night and again this morning, an interesting notion swirled around my head. Interesting, but also worrisome if you start to examine the fibres of the tapestry this thought weaves. My ponderings can be summed up into one simple, but dare I say, vital question. Are we losing the ability to think critically?  In a world where we’re told that all the information we could ever want is at our fingertips, it is easy to become overwhelmed. If we had the ability to go back in time even just 200 years ago, we would see that our ancestors would have had very different worries th ..read more

I seriously may never can salsa again! For those who have been following me for a while, you know that fermentation is one of my favourite ways to preserve food.  As a clinical herbalist I can tell you that most humans suffer from compromised gut health and that it directly affects many of the symptoms and dis-ease states that many people are navigating. Supporting the digestion system is paramount on any healing your journey. I’m sure you want to know why… You know the saying “you are what you eat”?  Well I might get a bit more specific with this statement and say “you are what you ..read more

I absolutely love drinking vinegars! They are a fun and healthy way of exploring fruit and herbal combinations, while preserving some seasonal crops at the same time. We recently had a lovely trip to The Blueberry Place in Midland, Ontario. A certified organic blueberry farm, they are an amazing example of what you can accomplish when you are passionate about growing food without chemicals. What is a Shrub? Also known as a drinking vinegar, a shrub is an old time way of preserving fruit that does not involve canning. Essentially a concentrated syrup using fruit, sugar and vinegar, shrubs can ..read more

I know, the concept of a smokeless smoke cleanse seems rather counterintuitive, but hear me out. There are times, places, and spaces where lighting up your favourite herbs to do a smoke cleanse is not wanted or appropriate. What if you just had a particularly stressful meeting at work and you just want to clear the air energetically? Or if you have a loved one or partner that does not tolerate smoke well? While it might be tempting to chase your boss out of your office with a giant burning mugwort bundle, it might not be the best career move for you. As you can see, there are times when a liqu ..read more

Once again we have been blessed with a bumper crop of garlic scapes! Each year I explore new ways to utilize this bonus crop and today I am going to present you with two refrigerator pickled scape recipes that are sure to delight. Like fermenting, fridge pickles involve very little in the way of prep work, equipment or heating up your kitchen, which are big pluses. The downside is that they are not shelf stable and need to be stored in the fridge. However, water batch canning does change the texture of foods, so I feel like these fridge garlic scape pickles are the way to go because they will ..read more