Stand beneath a blooming linden tree, and chances are you will slowly become aware of an almost unbelievable event taking place. The tree will be so alive with the hum and buzz of happy honeybees so absorbed in their harvest, they may very well bounce right off of you! An 80-year-old tree near my home presents a nearly surreal experience under her widespread, blooming boughs.

Reusable tea infusers help to reduce the need for single use tea bags, and they are also quite versatile. There are many options to choose from, so how do you know which tool is right for you? The answer will depend on your preferences and project, so the key is to understand the strengths of each type of tea infuser.

Whether you’re hiking, camping, backpacking, or floating the river, you’ve got to fuel up while you play, but how can you do it in a sustainable way? While there are tons of dehydrated “backpacking food” options on the market today, their single-use packaging can add up to a pile of unrecyclable waste. Perhaps you never meant to leave a wrapper behind, but I can assure you, it’s bound to happen! That means your trash trail will either need to be packed out by someone else, or worse (and more likely), left to pose a choking hazard to wildlife. Luckily, there are many ways that you can immerse yourself in nature without waste—they just require a bit of planning!

Facial toners have come a long way since the 1990s, when the most common commercial varieties (often marketed to teenagers) used high concentrations of alcohol to help remove oil from the skin. Purported to reduce acne, they were purposely drying and too astringent for most skin types. Today’s facial toners with natural ingredients, on the other hand, provide benefits that can help to maintain the normal pH and hydration of our skin, both of which are essential to maintaining the moisture and elasticity that gives our complexions a smooth, healthy appearance. 

Here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we understand that the modern commercialization of Mother’s Day sometimes makes it easy to forget that this holiday is rooted in age-old celebrations from around the world. One of the most ancient “mother holidays” was a festival held by the Greeks in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. At dawn, people made offerings of cakes, drinks, and flowers in her honor. Other celebrations, like the sixteenth century “Mothering Sunday,” evolved over the centuries to become a day in which grown children visited home and little ones picked flowers for their mothers. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

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. 

Books are wonderful resources to begin exploring herbalism and can also enrich an already healthy practice or study regimen. As you might guess, here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we have some favorite titles. Not only do these top herbalism books provide many insightful and educated viewpoints, but they also offer recipes, stories, and massive compilations of the many ways to use healthful plants. While many books will share some similar themes, each author brings their own unique viewpoints and experiences to enlighten and inspire. Personally, I can never have enough reference books around!

I love the scents of the holiday season. Nothing compares to the fresh, crisp scent of peppermint, or the warm, inviting, and spicy scents of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—nothing, that is, except the sweet scent of oranges mingling with spices and chocolate. That distinctive fragrance always evokes childhood memories of my mom and me handcrafting those lovely orange pomander ornaments, made by sticking cloves directly into an unpeeled orange in creative designs. It’s a beloved holiday tradition that I have carried over to my own family!

Ever since I joined the Mountain Rose Herbs team, I’ve been dabbling in making my own body care products (and loving it!). DIY goodies are easier to make than you might think, and they’re completely customizable to your unique needs and aroma preferences. With the abundance of beautiful and healthful botanicals available in my workplace, it didn’t take long for little jars of homemade body butter to start appearing on my desk, office shelves, and nearby countertops. I find body butter to be a wonderful everyday moisturizer for my (often dry) Mediterranean skin.

When the evenings grow chilly and all your friends seem to have the sniffles, a warming mustard bath is just the herbal experience you need! It might seem strange to replace bubble bath mix with mustard seed powder, but mustard bath salts have been used since ancient times to stimulate skin circulation and rejuvenate tired muscles. I also find them very relaxing and helpful during those “under-the-weather” days. With a wonderful, invigorating aroma, this recipe includes many time-tested bathing favorites, like Epsom salt, sea salt, baking soda, and essential oils.

The folks here at Mountain Rose Herbs love to make our own natural body care products. These fun DIY self care projects allow us to ensure that we are using only the highest quality organic and natural ingredients to create safe and beautiful goodies for friends and family, proving that the journey to well-being can be both natural and stylish. There are lots of simple ways to jump into DIY makeup, but we're especially fond of one cosmetic category that's easy to make and apply: natural blushes.