Both my husband and I love to cook, and we delight in sharing our gastronomic adventures with those we love. However, I’ve always hated using plastic wrap each time we take one of our culinary creations out the door. So I set out to find a plastic wrap alternative. When I mentioned it to a like-minded friend, she suggested I get a set of silicone stretch lids. It seemed like a great idea, but I struggled to get them on my favorite handmade bowls. Then I found beeswax wraps.

Having grown up in a culturally diverse area of the country, I was incredibly lucky to be exposed to many different beliefs, forms of art, and my favorite cultural expression—food! I spent many of my formative years with friends whose family origins spanned the globe. One of my closest friends during these years was Middle Eastern, and having spent so much time and so many meals with his family, I developed a real taste for their cuisine. Lucky for me, they enjoyed my help preparing meals and even made me an honorary Armenian for my ability to roll “choreg” with the best of them. I learned many of the traditional spice blends that were used, but when I was first introduced to za’atar, I immediately fell in love, and it remains my favorite seasonings to this day.

When choosing a tea, the endless variety can be a little daunting. Formosa oolong? Green sencha? Perhaps genmaicha? How about pu’erh, or Darjeeling? What gives each of these teas its unique flavor? Many people don’t realize that these varieties' wide range of distinctive styles and tastes all begin with the same humble leaf: Camellia sinensis.

Since 2013, Mountain Rose Herbs has hosted the Free Herbalism Project, a free biennial, community event located in our hometown of Eugene, OR. Each event, we host two experts in the field of herbalism, and these inspiring instructors go in-depth on any number of botanically inspired topics. Past presenters have included Rosemary Gladstar, Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, Guido Masé, jim mcdonald, and many more!

Herbal sprinkles are a quick and easy DIY project that will help you fit more healthful herbs into your meals. Instead of having your spices tucked away in the cabinet, keep a few versatile blends on your table, and you’ll find that eating herbs at every meal is easy—when they are right in front of you, you can’t help but use them! Pretty soon, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without such a pleasing array of spices at your fingertips to liven up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

We all know that many conventional cleaning products contain harsh chemicals that can be harmful to both our bodies and the planet (not to mention the budget-busting expense and all the waste produced by those empty plastic bottles and extra packaging!). We’ve been creating our own cleaning formulas for years, and we love how easy and inexpensive they are to whip up. 

Althaea officinalis, or marshmallow, is one of my favorite herbs. I love to grow this ancient botanical in my garden because it’s a stunning plant with a fantastic history. People have long viewed marshmallow as a food as well as a gentle remedy, because it is both pleasantly edible and a demulcent. When it’s growing in your garden, you can cook the young stalks and leaves just like any other pot herb or green; they’re wonderful in a salad, you can boil them or fry them, and they disappear into smoothies!

Our farm liaisons travel to the Southwest US to visit the family that's been channeling the region's heat into their top-quality organic chili powders for nearly a century!

Climate change may well be the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from extractive industry, agriculture, and modern lifestyles have resulted in today's increased ocean temperatures and acidification, dramatic weather patterns, droughts, fires, floods, and climate refugees seeking relief from the impacts of these disasters.

For as long as I can remember, I have had an affinity for anything relating to aromatherapy, be it the lovely scent of a new lotion, the pleasant fragrance warmly wafting from a candle, or the memories evoked by a classic perfume. As a child, I would spend hours carefully selecting flowers and herbs from the garden that, when combined, would produce “the best” aroma I could imagine in the moment.

Working with essential oils can be exciting, inspiring, and confusing all at the same time. There's a good bit of non-intuitive math involved. We purchase in ounces or milliliters, but then often measure and blend in parts, teaspoons, or drops. Such discrepancies can quickly become VERY confusing, not to mention stressful—essential oils are precious and potent, after all, so correct measurements are important to achieving safe, consistent results.