The Herb Life
Everything from our everyday herbs to garden and everything in between.
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How Is The Secret Language of Herbs by Alice Peck
I started to get big into gardening in the last few years, ever since we moved to a house with a big backyard with plenty of room for my green thumb needs. I’m still trying to perfect this, we’ve lost some plants along the way. One book that has been a huge resource for me is The Secret Language of Herbs by Alice Peck. The Secret Language of Herbs Book This little herbal book covers 55 herbs broken down into four chapters. Healing & Hope, Love & Joy, Protection & Guidance, and Ritual & Promise. There’s a little bit of history, folklore, magic, spiritual meaning, and your personality traits based…
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Nettle – One Amazing and Versatile Herb
Nettle (Urtica dioica) is one versatile herb with Many Medicinal Properties Nettle or Urtica dioica is a versatile herb noted best for its ability to help relieve allergy symptoms. Urtica – “to burn.” Dioica translates roughly to “of two houses,” meaning that this magnificent plant can produce both male and female flowers. Its use has been traced back thousands of years, and in that time, Nettle has spread far and wide, reach to Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America. In North America – or at least in my yard Nettle spreads far and fast. I never once intentionally planted Nettle in my gardens, but it has shown up in…
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Nettle – A Nourishing Plant and Its Therapeutic Possibilities
This is the last part of our series on Nettle. If you’re interested, here you can find part 1 and part 2. Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) Active Constituents Like any plant or herb, many chemical compounds make up the Nettle plant and contribute to its therapeutic properties or modality uses. Unfortunately, not all chemical components have been studied, so there is still much more to learn regarding plants and plant medicine. Nettle is a great source of iron, calcium, magnesium, and protein (Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide, n.d.). In addition, uric acid is secreted from Nettle and helps with rheumatism and gout. Other constituents are formic acid, acetylcholine, choline,…
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Nettle – Identification, Growing, Harvesting & Parts Used
This is the second blog post in our herbal knowledge series on Nettle. If you want to learn about Nettle’s history, folklore, mysticism, and magic head over to read about it here. Want to learn about its therapeutic actions you can find that here. How to Identify Nettle Nettle (Urtica dioica) is a plant that can go fairly unnoticed, especially in the younger plants, that is, until you happen to brush up against it, and then you will understand why its other common name of stinging Nettle. At first, when this happens, many get this plant confused with poison ivy, even though the two are very different looking from each…
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Nettle – It’s History, Folklore, Mysticism, and Magic
This is just part one in our herbal knowledge series on Nettle to read part two and head over to these blog posts: Nettle – Identification, Growing, Harvesting and What Parts to Use Nettle – A Nourishing Plant and Its Therapeutic Possibilities How I Came Across Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica Nettle (Urtica dioica) is another plant that I recently have gotten to know better somewhat by accident. I had nettle unbeknownst to me growing in one of my gardens and I kept pulling it out because with a lack of knowledge I just assumed it was a nuance weed. Well, one day I pulled some out without gloves and got…
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What is White Drupelet Syndrome
Are You Finding White Spots on Your Raspberries? It’s still a pretty hot end of summer here in the Midwest, and our raspberries are still producing quite a bit. Depending on where your raspberry bushes live in your outdoor space, you may be noticing some of the fruit with white spots. No need to worry! The raspberries are still edible and still taste delicious, yum-yum. White Drupelet Syndrome But what is the cause of these white areas on the fruit? Well, it is essentially the color being bleached out due to the hot sun. The technical term is sunscald or is also referred to as White Drupelet Syndrome or Disorder.…
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Water Element Herbs
Water – a symbol of purification, cleansing, washing away the old to make way for the new. Water can also be used to collect negative energy.
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Calendula Plant Benefits and Folklore
Calendula, easy to grow & provides many medicinal benefits, from treating cuts and rashes to being a potent anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial.
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Top Reasons Why Rosemary Should Be In Your Garden
This herb is all around a wonderful addition to any garden. Here are my top reasons why Rosemary should be a staple in your garden too!
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Farmhouse Teas: Part 2, Loose Leaf Tea
Birthday Cake Loose Leaf Herbal Tea: Who does not love some birthday cake?!? The name of this tea alone was the main driver in wanting to try this tea. Very colorful with rich, red/brown, and striking, contrasting purple hues. This tea is a flavorful herbal tea, so no caffeine, and I can see when the concept of it tasting like cake is coming from. It is not like sipping liquid cake with frosting but more of an interpreted taste of this sweet treat. The rooibos in the blend is made with a hint of vanilla, but I didn’t taste too much of it, and that’s fine by me since vanilla…
