It’s that time of the year when I take to my crafting studio and come up with my annual lip balm creation. This time around, I pulled some inspiration from our new seasonal release tea, Mint Patty, and decided to craft a “Mint Chocolate Chip” blend for gift-giving. After all, I have never once gone wrong when combining chocolate and mint!

Some of my fondest memories are centered around shared meals. My fiancé and I host dinners at our home quite frequently, and we find that it’s the little extra efforts we put in that make people feel special and pampered during their visits. One fun thing I started to include on the table are colorful finishing salts. I love to bring the powers and vibrancy of herbs to the dinner table. Not only do finishing salts add fun flavors, but they are also a good conversation piece. Their uncommon beauty piques curiosity and allows me to share my love of herbs when my guests ask, “What’s in the shakers?”

As fallen leaves speckle the ground and the air turns crisper by the day, many of us are reaching for our fuzziest pair of socks, steaming hot beverages, and lighting our favorite candles to savor the essence of the cozy fall season. During this chilly time of year when most of my time is spent indoors, I often wish I could be enveloped by the scent of a misty morning walk through the forest; without needing to bundle up in ten separate layers to stay warm. Luckily, one of my favorite pastimes during the holiday season is making DIY crafts for my loved ones, so capturing the inviting aroma of the forest by dusting off my candle-making supplies was a no-brainer. Introducing—acorn spice candles!

Each holiday season, I create new recipes to give as homemade gifts. My goal is to come up with crafts that are scalable, promote self-care and wellness, and are unique and useful. This year, I decided to create a bath bomb set themed after two of my favorite forces in the sky; the moon and sun. These recipes call upon the calming and reflective aspects of the moon and the uplifting and energy-giving qualities of the sun. Both recipes are created with skin-loving herbs and essential oils to help one settle into a restful slumber or bring more life and energy to the body.  

Each year, when I make my holiday gift list, I aim to meet a set of criteria. Offerings that are thoughtful, personal, and useful are amongst the most important to me. I have generally found that homemade gifts are more appreciated than things I can find in mass quantities at any big box store. Small-batch DIY gifts also allow customization, making them personalized for your beloved recipient. It can also help to keep waste out of landfills.

The holidays have fallen upon us, and what better way to celebrate the season than by gifting the home herbalist in your life with a thoughtful present that inspires their passion for plants? Whether your loved ones are just embarking on their herbal journey or are a seasoned herbalists in their craft, we've put together a holiday gift guide that will offer useful, thoughtful, and sustainable gifts for all types of herbal enthusiasts. From evocative essential oils kits for the aroma-aficionado, Ayurvedic skin care for the enlightened, or gourmet spice blends for the herbal chef, this guide highlights a plethora of unique herb-inspired gift ideas. From the Mountain Rose Herbs family to yours, we wish you a wonderful, joyful, and festive holiday season with the ones you love most.

We have all at one time or another, had the feeling of being stuck in our heads and emotions. This kind of stagnation is a human experience that often results from a trauma; past, present, or anticipated. During the holiday season, this can manifest more easily, so having some herbal allies “on call” can empower us with supportive tools for these times of need.

As it grows, a sustainability-minded company strives to become ever more transparent in its actions and accepts accountability for its impact on the environment. The most diligent company will implement a team of individuals from within to analyze these systems, identify potential deficits, and look for ways to mitigate them. Here, at Mountain Rose Herbs, our Green Team does just that.

The connection between the moon's phases and the menstrual cycle is rooted in various cultures across history. This connection is grounded in the observation of natural rhythms and cycles, which were often personified and mythologized to explain and connect human experience with the divine and natural world. The word menstruation derives from the Latin and Greek word for moon, mene.

For many years, we have celebrated Buy Nothing Day. Founded in Canada in 1992, the Buy Nothing Movement arose in protest of mass consumerism and the throw-away culture that accompanies it. The movement has grown and evolved over the past decades to include more than 65 nations. The biggest shopping day of the year—the day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday—has become the movement’s international day of protest: Buy Nothing Day. Here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we applaud this effort and wholly support Buy Nothing Day! Overconsumption eats up natural resources and puts our planet in peril. As the Owner and President of Mountain Rose Herbs, I encourage you NOT to shop with us on Friday, November 29, 2024. The fact that we, as a society, have created a national holiday of shopping suggests that our priorities need realignment. Buy Nothing Day is our act of pushback.

Compound butter is believed to be of French origin, though there is no doubt in my mind that herbs have been incorporated into butter and fats long before they were first attributed to fine French cuisine. While butter gets a bad rap for its high fat content, fat is essential for our bodies and like all things in life, it’s about moderation! With compound butter, not only are you adding herbs and spices for flavor, but you are also incorporating the beneficial constituents of those plants into your culinary preparations. Am I insinuating that this is a health-food recipe?Not at all. But I do believe that a balanced diet that includes herbs and spices at every turn is important.