How to make herbal sleep tea

Ever have one of those nights that you can't sleep, so you lay awake looking at the clock and playing the 'how many hours of sleep will I get if I fall asleep right now' game? I have that problem from time to time and years ago I turned to herbal teas to help me sleep. There are a few teas that I really like and have used for years before I started growing my own herbs. 

Growing my own herbs was a total game changer! Herbs from my own garden were fresher, cheaper and I had more of a variety to choose from. I grow about 30 herbs each year and probably a dozen or so have made it into my sleep blends from time to time. 

Though I do like to change it up a little, I usually come back to the same blend. In honor of January being National Hot Tea month...I'll let you in on my secret!

Most people have heard of chamomile and know it's used for its sleep inducing properties. One of the first herbal teas I made was a chamomile tea. For this tea I am going to use chamomile but I'm adding a few others herbs too. This is the recipe:

How to find out your hardiness zone and last frost date

It's time to start garden planning. I really love this part of the growing process! I get to thumb through seed catalogs and discover different varieties of my old favorite herbs and vegetables. I can spend hours planning out my garden deciding what goes where and how much I want to plant. Depending on my hardiness zone and last frost date of course!

Because of the zone I live in though, there's always something I want that I can't have. This year it's a soap nut tree. *sigh* I really want that tree. Unfortunately it would die over the first winter which is something I know because I checked my USDA hardiness zone. 

When planning your garden two of the first questions you need to answer are:
What is my hardiness zone?
When is my last predicted frost date?

The answers to these questions will help determine what you can plant, and when you can start planting. Luckily the are really easy to find out. I'll show you how.

Must know Winter tips for dogs

Most of us know to dress warmly, wear gloves and take other precautions when it's cold and snowing out. We especially know to make sure our kids are dressed correctly for cold weather. It's just second nature to not want to be uncomfortable so we take measures to prevent against it as much as we can. 

Most people don't think about their dog in the same way though. 

Many pet owners believe that because their dog has a fur coat that they can tolerate the cold better then we can. That's not always the case. Truth is, they're just as used to a nice warm house as we are...and the cold weather can be just as much of a shock to them as it is to us.

If the weather's too cold for you, it's probably too cold for them too. The colder it gets the less time they should be outside. People tend to think that animals can handle winter weather because of their fur. This only works if they were acclimated slowly like an outdoors only dog (who should still have adequate shelter from the elements) 

With inside dogs their fur does not grow in thicker over winter and they really don't have that much protection from the cold, especially short haired breeds. 

Luckily there are a few simple things you can do to make winter a little easier on them.

•  Trim the fur on the sides of your dogs paws and between the toes to minimize ice and snow accumulation.

•  Your dog’s fur insulates him against the temperatures. Groom your dog regularly during winter to keep his coat in top shape. A well groomed coat can help a dog to hold onto his body heat better.

• Be careful with space heaters and fireplaces. When cold, dogs will seek out heat sources and may sleep too close to them. You wouldn't want your pooch to get burned.  

8 wild herbs I forage for (and you can too!)

One of the things I did a lot of this past year is foraging. Some call this wildcrafting. It's simply looking for and harvesting wild growing food or medicinal plants. Foraging sounds difficult but it's really easy and these 8 wild herbs I foraged for are really easy to identify if you know what  you're looking for. 

To start foraging, I took a lot of foraging walks. I live far out in the country and take walks down these lovely country roads and wooded trails several times a week. 

I found some wonderful things like a field full of Milkweed, and one certain path that has tons of Red Clover growing. There's a huge patch of Jewelweed around the corner and up the road and Yarrow grows at the end of my driveway. 

On these walks I carried little mesh pouches to collect things in. I was very careful to not take too much. I collected in small batches and dehydrated everything immediately. Thankfully as the summer went on, these plants kept growing and growing so there was always more the next time I went back. 

In all I collected 8 different herbs to use for medicines and other products like salves. Here are the 8 herbs I collected...