Hunkering Down For Winter: Teas and Broths

There is a comforting, grounding post on The Herbwife's Kitchen's blog about herbal teas and broths for winter. Her pink ginger tea looks like the perfect elixir for just about anything.

My new favorite tea is Rebecca's (of Mind's Eye Farm) Mother-To-Be's Tonic Tea. Chock full of vitamins and minerals - it is by far the best of the pregnancy teas out there. And I have tried a bunch. Leora gave me this as a gift and it immediately became a part of my morning and afternoon routines.

Corey even liked it. I told him it would make him grow boobs (snicker). He's left it well alone since then . . .

Recipe: Simple Calendula Salve

I learned about this salve during my visit to Innisfree in June - for their herb workshop. It is my first herbal creation (outside of brewing tea) and has encouraged me to feel confident enough to make many more in the future. Calendula is especially soothing for my skin. And, I added chamomile essential oil - another skin calmer. You can create salves with all sorts of herbs - comfrey, lavender . . .

Expanding, itchy belly? Dry skin? Bug bites, rashes, skin irritations? Bring. It. On.

Pluck calendula flowers and put them in olive oil - in a jar with some cheesecloth over the top. Set in the sun for about two weeks. You will end up with this beautiful honey colored oil.

Strain the oil into a pot. Preferably something non-reactive. Compost your flowers.

Then, add a cube of beeswax to the oil. Heat slowly on medium-low. Until the beeswax has melted.

Pour the mixture back into your jar. Add essential oils, if you like. And that is it. It will harden into a salve within a few hours.

Gosh, I feel like I'm forgetting something. But, it really is *that* simple. Really!

Wise Women and Their Herbs

My soulful friend and little Earth momma, Anita, was and is a tremendous influence on my love of the outdoors and the garden, especially, herbs. She always had pots of something interesting growing - and I have a very clear memory of her always getting right down into the plants - smelling them, feeling them - simply and completely experiencing them.

Anita was the same way when we would go for hikes - noticing the subtle, awe-inspiring things that I blithely marched past. I was fresh from my move from Manhattan to the end of Long Island and Anita, an environmental educator at work and at play, brought me closer to the ground, closer to the Earth.

She first introduced me to The Herb Quarterly - by far, my favorite read these days. And she used to tell me about this herbal woman's retreat that was held at the New Hampshire camp where Anita had taught ropes courses. I have tracked it down, years later. It is The New England Women's Herbal Conference. Set for this August.

My-oh-my, is this something I want to be a part of . . . workshops with Wise Women on the following - "Creating a Medicinal Herb Garden," "Functional Fragrances - Therapeutic Applications of Plant Perfumes," "Plant Spirit Healing", and "Plants of Wonder - A Wild Weed Walk." Anita, I know you are busy up in East Hampton with twin boys and what-not, but . . . wanna go?!

I see that the matriarch of herbal ways will be there - Rosemary Gladstar (she is leading the Wild Weed Walk!). I was reading one of her books this past weekend and made an iron-supplement herb syrup - with dandelion root, raspberry leaves, nettle . . . SUCH a rewarding project. Has me thinking about a bigger herb garden - learning more, drying more . . . wishing I could secure an apprenticeship with one of these wonderful women. Someday, someday.

For now, I'll just daydream about getting home, curling up with my copy of Rosemary's Herbal Healing for Women - among my pineapple sage, lavenders, mints and rosemary. Maybe make another concoction or two. And quietly thank Anita for all she did to expand my mind and my world . . .

Handmade Herb Beads + Vintage Touches = BlackStar Jewelry

Jewelry-maker and herbalist, BlackStar Jewelry, combines her talents to create these super cool earrings. Made with herb beads and vintage bead caps!

The Rosemary and Jack of Hearts Earrings (left) have rosemary beads that, as BlackStar explains, can be infused with either a drop of rosemary essential oil or a scent of your choice.

The Rose is a Rose Earrings (right) are so delicate. With rose herb beads and vintage filigree bead caps. Almost Victorian . . . these too can be infused with more rose oil or your favorite essential oil.

Visit her Etsy shop.

As much as I love a little bit of dirt under my fingernails, I am a girls girl - so I also love something pretty dangling from my ears. For those of you who wish your herb garden could reside next to you at your desk job, in your car, while running errands - these earrings should suit you perfectly.

Hip Herbal Product Watch: Soothing Herbals

Soothing Herbals
Organic Skin Care and Cosmetics
Goshen, VA
http://www.soothingherbals.com/

I was lucky enough to find herbalist Chin Velasquez's Soothing Herbals booth at our local farmer's market back in 2001. I bought her Floral Facial Scrub, devoured it that summer and have coveted her products ever since.

Chin grows most of her organic herbs out in Goshen and her products are created from her own handcrafted original recipes. Lucky us - they are scrumptious. Think lavendar, calendula, comfrey, shea butter, sweet almond oil and various essential oils. And all without parabens.

She also offers how-to workshops and I was fortunate enough to catch one this past December in Staunton, VA. Make the time for one if you can - the overall experience left me floating and I went home with an herbal eye pillow, an essential oil spritzer, vanilla hand cream and elderberry cough syrup (an item that actually led me to secretly wish for a cough this past winter . . . ).

My Favorites:

Calendula and Chamomile Face Cream - My fickle Irish skins drinks every last drop of this in and I've been splotch-free all winter.

Floral Facial Scrub - Ingredients include French White Clay Powder, so it can double as a mask.

Lavendar Lip Balm - Great all year-round. And the lavendar provides a little aromatherapy boost in the middle of the day.

My Wish List:

Shea Cocoa Body Butter

Lavendar Bath Salts

Soothing Herbals also offers teas, gift baskets and baby products. You can order her products on-line or visit her during the summer at farmer's markets in Staunton and Lexington. Details are on the Soothing Herbals website listed above.

Hip Herbal Product Watch: Earth Mother Herbal

In high school - in the 1980s , I would obsess over this old book in the library called Down to Earth Beauty. During an Aussie Scrunch Spray/Noxema-filled time, the idea of making rose water or a simple oatmeal scrub drew me in and I would pour over the details of each concoction. The exotic ingredients seemed so difficult to find and my mom, understandably, didn't want me in the kitchen making goo with her good pots. I ended up just memorizing the recipes and thought *sigh* "Some day . . . ".

So, it didn't surprise me, after reading Earth Mother Herbal - Remedies, Recipes, Lotions and Potions from Mother Nature's Healing Plants that I wanted to book a flight to Oregon and spend a weekend with the earth momma herself, Shatoiya de la Tour. This beautiful book makes herbs - and the things you can create with them - very accessible and very memorable. Each herb section has details on facts and folklore, growing, harvesting, uses, accompanied by interesting stories and then . . . recipes!

We're talking tinctures, tonics, infusions! Maybe, just maybe, Shatoiya would let me into her kitchen to look over her shoulder and peek into her magical world - teaching me the secrets and the skills I craved 20 years ago.

But her book and nurturing spirit that comes through in her writing, makes it easy to make a go of it on your own and it is now a staple on my bookshelf. From skin care and bath time recommendations to teas such as Spicy! Immunity Chai to healing salves. And, my husband is a huge fan of Bubba's Taters with Eggs and Rosemary. It's great getting back to the earth and back to what has worked for ages. Good winter reading . . .