Herbs
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Mimosa is such a beautiful tree. I remember one in my grandmother’s yard in southern Oklahoma, and an amazing grove of them in southcentral Kansas. It is also called silk tree, sensitive plant, or the happiness plant. When you touch the undersides of the leaves, they will actually fold up and together away from your Read more
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Aloes seem to like my house. They reproduce like … well, not rabbits, but a lot! Aloe is an amazing plant to use topically for any type of burns. In herbal vocabulary, it is a vulnerary – a plant that promotes tissue healing and soothes irritated tissue. The gel inside aloe leaves is amazing for Read more
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My goodness! Look at those spikes! Stinging nettle is a plant that is unforgettable, especially if you meet it while skinny dipping. I haven’t, but… it would leave an impression, I’m sure! I actually have tried several times to grow it without success. This is more what it looks like when you see it growing. Read more
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Spring is finally starting to spring here. We’ve gotten a little bit of rain, and things are greening up. The rancher (husband) is complaining about all the wild mustard that is the first to show up, as well as thistles that are beginning to slip out of the ground. Traditionally, people took a ‘spring tonic’ Read more
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Beautiful, isn’t it? What do you think? Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)? Carrot (Daucus carota)? Nope! This is poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). I have been watching a wonderful herbalist on FaceBook that ends her reels with “Happy snacking! Don’t die!” Great advice. When starting to wildcraft or harvest herbs from your local area, BE VERY SURE YOU Read more
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It’s spring! And here, that means wind (OK, well, we have wind all the time, but in the spring it seems to pick up some). Our cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is starting to bud out and the wind does take down a few branches here and there. A short walk will give me quite a few Read more
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Do any of you feel like you’ve been stuck in a dehydrator for about the last week? Or month? Our weather has been…. interesting this winter. Here in NE Colorado, it has been very dry and unusually warm. I doubt I will get any apples, as we haven’t had enough chill time for them, and Read more
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It has been my experience that generally people that come to been seen by an herbalist fall into categories: Those that have tried every doctor and every therapy without resolution to their primary issue, and those that will not see an allopathic practitioner at all. Of course, not everyone falls into these, but most do. Read more
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I really struggled with insomnia until I realized a lot of it was anchored in pain. Not enough to make me really uncomfortable, but enough to make me restless – where I would wake up and glance at the clock a dozen times a night. Some of the following herbs are not specifically sedatives but Read more
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How was your sleep this week? I hope the suggestions from Part 1 were helpful. This week, let’s go over some herbs. Not every herb is helpful for everyone – just like medications don’t work the same for everyone. Some of the most common don’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work Read more