How to use Arnica

Earlier this year I had surgery. I was lucky to get a doctor that believes in supporting modern medicine with natural methods. She prescribed arnica and pineapple as ways to support my body as it was healing. I have used arnica for years, but had never thought to use it after a major medical event like this.

Mostly I use arnica for bruising. I have a cream made with arnica and I have some homeopathic tablets and I would use one or both to help myself heal from bruising or muscle strain. 

My stepdad had a really bad injury on his arm a few years ago and I decided to get him some arnica cream to help it clear up more quickly, so I looked online and I found that there is a whole line of arnica products and these are now sold in every major grocery store! 

I find that absolutely amazing because the last time I had to buy it, I had to go to a specialty herbal shop because I couldn't find it anywhere else.

How to make an Aromatherapy Bedroom Gnome with Lavender!

When my kids were little I had typical screwed up, parents sleep schedule. I was often trying to fall asleep when I had time to sleep and not necessarily when I was tired! Yeah, that! I got this cute little sleepy time teddy bear with a little lilac colored robe on and he was filled with lavender.

I would set it on my pillow next to my face and it would help me fall asleep.

The kids knew this and if they couldn't fall asleep they would ask me to bring them "smell my butt teddy". That was the teddy bears name because the lavender scent was strongest at his butt. lol Kids are funny. 

Well it's many years later and I still use a lavender spray or lavender eye pillow to help me fall asleep some nights.

So I started thinking that a lavender gnome would be super easy to make and really cute, plus ya know, gnomes are trendy right now! I've made a lot of gnomes as décor, so I decided to write out the way I do it and show you how I make this cute little gnome to help you fall asleep faster. 

Since gnomes are small, this is a perfect project to use up scraps of fabric and notions. 

Get Started Using Medicinal Teas

When you talk about medicinal teas or teas with natural health properties many people immediately think they need to grow, dry and blend their own teas. That couldn't be further from the truth! You can walk into any large grocery store and find at least a dozen different herbal teas available in tea bag form!

I'm not talking Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme and Trader Joes. Kroger has a great selection of herbal teas as does Walmart, Target, Meijer, Albertsons and most other large grocery stores. Admittedly the small stores might not carry many, but they should have a few. Those first 3 stores I mentioned will have a huge selection available!

Some of the most common herbal teas are peppermint, chamomile, ginger and hibiscus. You can usually find several blends also like detox, immunity and energy blend.

7 ways to use rosemary as medicine

I grow many different herbs and one I cannot be without is Rosemary (Salvia Rosmarinus or Rosmarinus officinalis). Rosemary is actually a member of the sage family and has needle like (almost pine looking) leaves on woody stems. Most people grow it as an annual since it's not cold hardy but it is actually a perennial. One of the most common kitchen herbs, it also has many medicinal uses.

Though rosemary is mostly known for its prominence in cooking, it has been in use otherwise as far back as 5000 BCE. It was grown in ancient Egypt for use in burial rituals and also used in Greece and Rome. In the 14th century, rosemary was used to make one of the first alcohol based perfumes in Europe.

Throughout history rosemary has symbolized remembrance, being using in many different cultures burial ceremonies. 

More currently, it holds a place in a often quoted line from the movie Practical Magic. "There are some things I know for certain: always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can.”

Rosemary is a natural anti-inflammatory, is antifungal, has antimicrobial properties and is high in anti-oxidants. It can be used to improve the mood, lessen anxiety, reduce fatigue, improve memory and stimulate hair growth. 

How to make Ginger infused honey

Recently I got the *virus that shall remain nameless* and less than a month later, I caught a common cold. I haven't been ill at all in over 2 years so I guess I was due. Some of my symptoms were barely there and others were horrible! 

During one of these illnesses, winter storm Izzy decided to dump like a foot of snow on us and I live on a farm so that compounded things!

Trekking over 2 acres back and forth from the house, feed storage and various barns and coops in a foot of snow (twice a day) while sick is not fun at all, plus it will make you super sore!

I'm a big believer in natural remedies and giving your body the support it needs to heal itself. I talked about this in 10 ways to shorten a cold naturally. 

After the cold/snow combination I needed some help recovering so I turned to some of my favorite home remedies.

I am not a doctor nor am I any other type of medical professional. This information is for entertainment and educational purposes only.

Beauty (and health) benefits of Hibiscus

It never ceases to amaze me how many foods and herbs have healing properties. Take the hibiscus flower for example. This beautiful, bright bloom is completely edible and for years it has been used for several different ailments...yet most people only know it as the flowering shrub.

My mother recently said to me "I need to get some Hibiscus tea, it's supposed to help with weight loss."

She had read that regular consumption of hibiscus tea can increase your body's metabolism, helping you to lose excess weight. It has so many more health properties too!

Related reading: How to get started with herbal teas.

What to do with chive blossoms

Edible flowers can add a splash of color and fun to lots of dishes and chive blossoms are one of the few that add flavor too! The chive flower is a small puff of pinkish or light purple florets on a tall, sturdy stalk that shoots straight up from a clump of chives and they're completely edible! They have a light oniony flavor and can be used dried or fresh.

All chives produce flowers, so if you're growing chives in your herb garden you will get chive blossoms. If you don't grow chives, look for them at farmers markets. They're a pretty popular item this time of year so many famers sell them. They only bloom once a year though, so make sure you look for them at the beginning of garden season.

Today I want to talk about the best ways to use chive blossoms!

Natural DIY gifts that will be ready for the holidays!

Updated for X-mas 2025! 

I absolutely did not plan on writing a new gift guide for this year, especially one with homemade gifts! Then I was asked by a family member if I knew of any good DIY natural gifts that weren't 'cheesy' that I could teach them to make.

Being short on money and not wanting to go to all the stores this year makes it hard to shop for Christmas gifts!

I thought about it and I know with this crazy year we've had, a lot of other people are in that situation too. So I decided to compile a list of my natural gift tutorials.

With the exception of the homemade vanilla extract these are all very affordable. As of right now, I have 15 of my own gifts you can make on this list, but I will add to it as I write more.

I'll also add the craft tutorials from my chicken keeping blog, but you can use any feathers for these.

How to use Lemon Balm (3 recipes!)

Lemon balm is one of the easiest herbs to grow in the garden, and that's a good thing because it is super useful! I have been using lemon balm as tea for many years now and just love the light lemony flavor. It's also used in many lip balm recipes because it is great for fighting cold sores. Today I want to talk about how to use the herb lemon balm.

I have been growing lemon balm for about 11 years now. I've had the same plant the whole time, although now it's more like 3 big plants and a dozen or so small ones!

Luckily I use lemon balm in both both foods and medicine, because I certainly have enough of it. I tried to get ahead of it this year by completely harvesting the 2 plants that planted themselves in spring, but it wasn't very effective.

I mean I certainly harvested and dried a lot of lemon balm! I used this method to dry it all in my truck, which is perfect if you're harvesting mass quantities...like 2, two foot high plants!

This plant grows fairly quickly though, especially as summer hits. Even though I cut them down to the ground, they were full size again in just a few months!

What is Lemon Balm?

Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis) is a herbaceous upright perennial that will grow for many years with very little care. It isn't picky about it's soil or watering conditions.

It also has a tendency to spread and take over the garden as I discussed in 9 Herbs that want to take over your garden. The main reason it's so good at taking over is the sheer volume of seeds each plant produces.

If you allow it to go to seed, it will spread. There's literally no way you will harvest all the seeds before some fall to the ground. I try to yank the tiny plants in spring, but they just keep sprouting! lol

What I should do is just plant my lemon balm in the woods instead of in my garden and just let it spread as much as it wants! I wonder if deer would eat lemon balm?

Lemon balm, basil and catnip are all from the family Lamiaceae (mint family). Members of the mint family and all are pretty well known for their medicinal qualities and this one is no exception.

Lemon Balm is a natural anti-inflammatory, has antiviral properties and is very high in antioxidants. It can be used to soothe the stomach, ease anxiety and stress, reduce the length and severity of a cold sore outbreak and even help with insomnia.

It's one of the ingredients in my Herbal Sleep Tea recipe.

2 ingredient natural bug bite remedy

Summer is here and with it comes a ton of bugs that love to bite us! Of course those bites itch and we want to stop that itch so we use a bug bite spray or ointment. Unfortunately most of them are loaded with a bunch of chemicals that we just don't need to be applying to our skin. Natural bug bite remedies are a better choice but many of them require a bunch of different ingredients that you may not have on hand. 

That is why I created a 2 ingredient bug bite salve using things you already have!

Because how are you going to buy a bunch of ingredients to try to save money, by making something homemade? The fact is though, that there are several herbs that can help take away the itch and sting of a bug bite. If you have them all, then go for it, but only one herb is really necessary! 

I actually grow several herbs that are great for this purpose and I'll link down below to some more complex recipes. Today though I wanted to go super simple with 2 ingredients you probably already have.

Foraging violets and brewing tea

I like to do a little foraging every year in early spring. I'm ready for my garden to start producing and it's entirely too early, but the warm weather has me itching for garden activities! So I do some foraging since many native plants are ready to be harvested before the garden even gets planted. Plantain is plentiful this time of year as are wild violets. 

Violets are one of my favorite flowers to forage and use for teas and syrups because not only do violets taste good and have some amazing healing properties, but they turn everything a beautiful purple color!

While these pretty little flowers are one of the first blooms of spring, they don't last long so pick them while you can. In fact, harvest as much violet as you need for the year because they won't be back till next year! (ethically foraging them of course) Violet has been used for centuries for it's many healing properties.

Both the flower and the leaves of the wild violet are edible but the stems are not. The flowers and leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Violet leaves contain fiber, vitamins A & C and have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They are used to encourage healing and soothe the digestive, respiratory and urinary tracts. 

I think the easiest way to take violet is by making violet tea or tincture. 

Medicinal uses for mint

My herb garden has a tendency to take over the rest of my garden! I blame myself of course. It seems like I plant a lot of herbs that sort of run wild and spread, especially the catnip, lemon balm and Valerian!

The one herb that I managed to plant correctly though is mint. That's actually a rather unfortunate situation though because while my mint has remained perfectly contained in it's planter, I would actually love for it to spread a bit!

I have been growing mint for about 8 years now. I've had the same plant the whole time. It's been so long that I can't actually remember what variety of mint I planted, but it does work very well in both foods and medicine. 

Mint is a perennial and will last for many years with very little care. It also has a tendency to spread and take over the garden as I discussed in 9 Herbs that want to take over your garden.

Though mint is mostly known for its use in candy and dental care products, it's oldest reference has to do with it being used like currency because of it's high value. In ancient Athens mint was used to perfume the arms.

Mentha (also known as mint, from Greek míntha, is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae (mint family). It is estimated that 13 to 18 species exist, and the exact distinction between species is still unclear.

Basil, catnip and lemon balm are also members of the mint family and all are pretty well known for their medicinal qualities. 

Mint is a natural anti-inflammatory, has antimicrobial properties and is very high in antioxidants.

It can be used to soothe the stomach, ease the pain of a headache, reduce oil production on skin or take the pinch out of a bug bite. 

11 Herbs That Help With Digestion

Having problems with digestion can really make you uncomfortable! Nobody likes to deal with heartburn, excess burping or flatulence. People have been dealing with digestion issues since time began though which is actually a good thing! There are a lot of tried and true natural remedies to help you out when things aren't moving along like they should!

When you have difficulty digesting food, a multitude of problems can occur. A pain in the stomach or intestines is the least dangerous part of digestion issues, but it could be a signal from your body that something is going wrong.

However, there are a number of ways to improve digestion, and help you to feel better quickly. Many of these herbs are readily available.

As times change I often find that I can buy an herb at Walmart or the grocery store that I needed a specialty store for 10 years back! Thankfully brands like Traditional Medicinals bring dozens of herb teas to all but the smallest grocery stores. 

Of course, I always prefer the grow your own method. Even though many of these herbs can be grown indoors, it's not always possible...and teas make it easy to stock up for when digestive problems hit!

MYO herbal bath blends

Well, Valentine's day is coming. It's really not a big thing for me to show someone I love them on that specific day, but you know what is? Showing love to myself! Taking care of myself by taking some time to relax and pamper myself. So this year instead of spending the big day at a restaurant, I'm going to be spending time in my bathtub! There is nothing more relaxing than a nice hot, herbal bath with a good book and a candle flickering nearby. 

I have several different types of herbal baths I like to mix up. Some of these recipes are really simple and other require quite a few ingredients. 

If you don't have exactly what I use, in many cases other herbs or salts can be substituted. Don't worry though...I'm going to give you a whole list of bath additions and benefits of each to save and/or print out! The beauty of the herbal bath is that you can often make it work with what you have on hand.

How to clean a mortar and pestle

Last night I realized that my mortar and pestle needed cleaned. It looks a bit sticky inside the bowl of the mortar. You see, I like my green tea pretty finely ground up. I received a big bag of large cut green tea last year and have been grinding it up daily using my mortar and pestle.

Unfortunately there were tiny pieces of dried fruit in with the tea and even though I tried to pick them out, a few pieces were ground up from time to time.

This left a sticky residue that attracted tea dust with every use. Obviously I need to clean it. Luckily it is a marble set so it was super easy to clean up, but not all mortar and pestle sets are made of the same material!

Instructions for cleaning your set are different depending on what material it's made of.

Knowing what type of material your set is made of before cleaning it is important. Wood, lava rock, granite and marble are the most common materials used in a mortar and pestle set.

Marble and granite get confused the most, but I'll explain how to tell them apart and how to clean them. 

Chive blossom vinegar

Chives are one of the first herbs to pop through the ground each spring, so it just makes sense that they would be in my first recipe of the year. When the other herbs are just starting to leaf out, chives are already blooming and the lovely purple chive blossoms are delicious!

I use chive blossoms in a lot of different recipes. They just add such a nice color and flavor to everything they touch! I make chive blossom butter, I use chive blossoms in salads or as a plate garnish, and I also make chive blossom vinegar. Flavored vinegars are easy to make and the pretty pink color of the chive blossoms makes for a lovely colored vinegar.

Flavored vinegars are super easy to make, and once you know how you can come up with lots of different flavor combinations! All you really need to do to make an herb infused vinegar, is pick your herbs and choose a vinegar then put them together and let them marinate a while. 

Ok, well...maybe there's a little more to it than that! (but not much!)

Natural pain relievers: using common herbs and spices

Unfortunately living on a farm in the woods can be quite painful! There's a lot of manual labor and I often end up with aches and pains, especially when I have to chop wood or shovel snow in the winter. Ugh!

Luckily I have a bunch of herbal remedies to turn to help alleviate pain. 

However, there does come a time...often in the dead of winter...when I run out of last summer's dried medicinal herbs from the garden.

At that point I often turn to the herbs and spices in my kitchen cabinet instead of OTC or prescription remedies for natural pain relief. 

I also use these 11 herbs to help with digestion since many of the herbs can be grown indoors in winter. I know I'm not the only one who prefers to use natural remedies!

A large number of pain sufferers are turning to a more natural approach by using the methods of the past to treat the ailments of the present...and some of these herbs have been used for centuries!

Many common spices like cloves or ginger have been used for years to alleviate pain. Others like capsaicin are available widely in drug store pain relievers right now! 

Here's the list of 7 common herbs and spices that I use for pain relief that should all be available in your grocery store (if you don't already have them in your spice rack!)

How to use Red Clover herb

Red clover is one of my favorite herbs to use. Red clover (Trifolium pratense) is often thought to be a weed since it has the tendency to show up in unkempt areas like roadsides and empty lots. Since it tends to grow wild, it's easy for me to find on my foraging walks. It is a perennial plant and is a member of the legume family. It's often used as a cover crop or grazing crop and helps to improve the soil.
Truth is, red clover has a ton of wonderful health uses! 

Red clover is high in many vitamins and minerals and it has a long history of uses in herbal healthcare. Also, the flowers are edible and make a lovely garnish for desserts.

Red clover is one of the first herbs I tried when I started using herbs back in the early 90s. I had read in a little booklet called Historical Uses of Herbs that it was good for strengthening the ovaries and for stress. I had both of these problems so I started drinking red clover tea daily and the problems sorted themselves out in about a month.

After that I was hooked! I read everything that little booklet said and tried every herb I thought I needed. Over the years I've used many herbs but my love affair with red clover has never waned.

How to grow and use Toothache plant

As you know, I like to grow different plants in my garden every year and one of this years varieties is Spilanthes Toothache plant (Acmella oleracea or Spilanthes acmella ) This plant has earned its name from the mouth numbing sensation caused by chewing on the plants flowers. It can literally stop a toothache.

The toothache plant is native to South America and is part of the Asteraceae family...commonly referred to as the aster family. Toothache plant is also referred to as buzz buttons and electric daisy. It is said to attract fireflies, though I haven't seen evidence of this.

I'm also not sitting out with it all night, so who knows! 

Toothache plant is a tender perennial that only gets to be about a foot tall, but sprawls about twice that in length. The leaves can be eaten in small amounts in salads and they lose their strong taste once cooked. The petal-less flowers are the interesting part though.

13 Reasons parsley is the healthiest food in your kitchen

There are only a few herbs that make it into my herb garden every year. Parsley is one of them. As far as cooking goes, I probably use just as much parsley as basil which is really saying a lot...cause I have a serious love affair going on with basil! Parsley though, that's one of the best herbs health wise. It has so many amazing health benefits and all you have to do is eat it! 

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is an easy to grow biennial plant. That means that it grows for 2 years. The first year parsley starts from seed. It dies back a bit but lasts through the winter then starts growing again in spring. In the second year it flowers and the flower stems can reach almost 4 feet tall! 

In the fall of its second year, it goes to seed. It dies off after going to seed. While you can eat parsley from the plant for both years of its life, it generally tastes much better the first year.

Parsley is a spice cupboard staple but can also be found fresh in almost any grocery store produce section. Many stores sell small parsley plants which is great if you're going to be using a lot of it!