Candlelight is good anytime, but during the winter holidays, it’s part of human traditions that date back thousands of years. This year, as the cost of everything, including candles, has skyrocketed, it makes more sense than ever to make our own. I’ve made candles for fun over the years, including holiday candles, but I’m definitely not a candle-making artisan. Fortunately, we don’t have to be experts to produce simple, lovely poured candles. Making our own gives us the freedom to customize the scent with pure essential oils. Candle making is also a wonderful activity with kids, so the winter school holidays are a great time to pull out the wicks, wax, and your favorite upcycled jars. Developing some old-fashioned skills like this one means inflation doesn’t have to put a damper on what you love most this time of year: traditions and family.

Burnout. Most of us at one time or another have felt fatigue, jumpiness, irritability, lack of concentration, hopelessness, occasional digestive and bowel disruptions, difficulty sleeping, headaches, and muscle soreness to name a few. It feels like we are always working to keep it at bay. Adopting nourishing nervines and adaptogens into our lives can be immensely helpful to support and balance our nervous systems.* And when I say adopt the herb, I really mean embrace them and they will embrace you back! They work best when used daily over time. If your life includes a lot of stress and/or discomfort, these herbs can help you increase your capacity and resiliency. I’ll share the ones I use most in my work as a community herbalist.

Festive holiday gatherings can be tricky when you have family members and friends with dietary restrictions. In my circle of favorite people, one person is a vegetarian and is also lactose intolerant, several of us don’t eat gluten, another person is allergic to almonds and hazelnuts, a couple people are trying to lose weight, and another is in serious training for a national martial arts championship and is on a weight gain and muscle building plan. It’s hard to come up with foods that please us all! We’ve found that an appetizers and cocktails/mocktails party is sometimes the way to go! It’s easier to create small bites that people can choose from rather than a single sit-down meal that requires different options for everyone. Great appetizers are where these remarkably healthy and delicious seed crackers come in. They check everyone’s boxes and also make a fantastic vehicle for a healthful, festive herbal dip that you can customize to your palate.

In the United States, ‘cordial' and ‘liqueur’ are two words for the same thing; they are sweetened distilled spirits. Although many people know them as cocktail ingredients, cordials can also be potent digestifs. This digestive-aid version of cordials is generally more bitter and less sweet than its cocktail-focused brethren and is loaded with herbs, spices, and other natural flavorings that support the digestive tract. A cordial-digestif can be as simple and delicious as a 3-seed herbal cordial for digestion, or you can make them more complex with layers of herbal flavors and aromas to delight the nose and the palate. Either way, they are ridiculously easy to make. This festive midwinter version with its blend of aromatics and bitters is the perfect finish to a holiday meal, when you have a moment to sit down and enjoy the company of your favorite people.

Recently, I was barred from calling my grandbaby any endearment that includes the word “baby.”  Apparently, we are in “big kid” territory now. The term “big kid” doesn’t really lend itself to sweet endearments, but that aside, the no-longer-baby has had one consistent love since the moment those little hands and big brain were coordinated enough to squish clay—this kid loves playdough. However, Nana (me) is not fond of the typical store-bought versions, which can include chemical preservatives, binders, lubricants, surfactants, hardeners, anti-fungal additives, and artificial fragrances and colors. My favorite little dough-lover spends hours each week rolling, shaping, stamping, and building. I don’t want her hands in chemicals, preservatives, and additives day in and day out. In her world, a day without playdough is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, which means I had to figure out how to make an excellent, naturally colored playdough that is easy to whip up when the need arises. 

Getting started in herbalism can feel like embarking on a great adventure! The journey is full of excitement, discovery, and learning, but may also include a little overwhelm and uncertainty. If you are new to herbalism, you’ve likely wondered how to begin and what herbs and supplies are best to keep on hand. At the Herbal Academy, we find great joy in guiding budding herbalists and have some tips on this topic. 

I grew up with the understanding that “Life” is Ceremony. Copalli—the Nahuatl word for Copal—is a resin extracted from the Copal tree or Protium Copal (Burseraceae.) This material has been used in Indigenous practices for thousands of years. Today, the use of aromatic resin varies from ceremonially burned incense to other uses.

Herbalism is a health practice that can be traced around the globe for millennia. For most of our existence as a species, humans have lived closely with nature relying on the Earth for shelter, food, and medicine. While time-tested methods for making and consuming herbal preparations have carried through the ages, some herbal preparations have evolved to fit the needs of the modern population—like the ease of taking capsules. However, one ancient preparation involving the soaking of herbs in wine or cider has managed to stand the test of time, although it is perhaps a little under the radar.

As we prepare to have guests over through the holiday months, it’s important that our friends and family feel comfortable when nature calls. After all, the key to life is not letting anyone know that you, in fact, have bowel movements. All kidding aside, it’s a sensitive subject for many, so giving your guest options that don’t involve heavy synthetic fragrances or noisy and environmentally harmful aerosol cans is both considerate and helpful.

In our continuing study of phytochemistry, let’s advance further with Polysaccharides. Studies show the many benefits of polysaccharides. They are immune modulating which means they help the immune system to regulate itself, whether stimulating or suppressing its actions. Polysaccharides stimulate the parasympathetic action to produce mucous, our body’s natural demulcent, to soothe dry, irritated tissues and assist in elimination. Contained in the primary cell walls of plants, polysaccharides act as a prebiotic, as most fiber does, to support beneficial bacteria and decrease non-beneficial bacteria. Serving as a soluble fiber, polysaccharides slow the release of glucose into the bloodstream as they enter the gut and bind bile acids. Bile acids then leave the body through the digestive system. Polysaccharides also prevent the absorption of cholesterol from food in the gastrointestinal tract and relieve constipation. 

We are “microcosms of the macrocosm” according to Ayurvedic philosophy—an eloquent way of describing our interconnectedness with the natural world. While technology and other changes in our society have created a separation between us and nature’s rhythms, the body’s incredible intelligence easily “remembers” its synchronicity with the macrocosm when we give it a chance. One way of creating this opportunity is by honoring the changes of the season, which Ayurveda describes as a moment in time when the system (micro- and macrocosm) is more vulnerable to illness because of the shifts in dominant energies and elements. Most of us naturally do this in some form or another—changing our wardrobe, adjusting to a new schedule for work or school, etc.—but we can take our seasonal self-care one step further by giving our digestive system some space and ease with a seasonal reset.