This April, we celebrated our state’s first Native Plant Appreciation Month, which got us thinking about the incredible botanicals in our ecosystem. We often get the question, “What’s your favorite plant?” While it’s hard to narrow down our lists, one particular herbal ally has resounding popularity amongst our staff: Oregon grape. This year, as Oregon grape kept showing up at the top of our favorites list, obviously wanting to be the spotlight of a story, we decided Native Plant Appreciation Month was a good time to oblige.

We love lemon essential oil for its wellness benefits, its bright and sugary citrus aroma, and its uplifting and energizing constituents. It’s a wonderful oil in skin and hair care formulas and for diffusing in homes and offices. We also love that this cost-effective oil makes an excellent cleaning agent and leaves our homes smelling deliciously like freshly cut lemons. It’s the 76% (=)-Lionene in lemon oil that makes it so good at polishing furniture and cutting grease and sticky residues. We’re revisiting five of our favorite lemon oil-based cleaning recipes that are easy to make, safe to use, and leave our homes smelling citrus good.

Right around Spring Equinox, I start to take inventory of what is in my apothecary, what needs to be used in the next few months, and what needs to be replaced now. This timing is serendipitous because as winter comes to a close and summer’s nutritious fresh berries are still months away, I start to crave the bright flavor and nutritious zing of freshly made superfood jelly. Hence, the end of March is my annual dried berries jelly-making time. This year, I was excited to find that my dried hawthorn berries and bilberries are on the 2024 refill list. These two superfood berries, particularly in combination, are perfect for early spring jelly-making and result in one of my all-time favorite jellies. One batch carries my family happily into summer.

Nestled deep within the heart of the mighty Appalachia lies a mystical plant known by locals as "sang," carrying within its essence both age-old wisdom and an irresistible allure as ancient as the very mountains that cradle it. Its roots, twisted and gnarled, hold a value that transcends mere currency in these rugged hills, and its elusive nature and revered properties have woven it into the fabric of Appalachian folklore. As a child, captivated by the tales spun by my Uncle Tom, I yearned to uncover the secrets of this mountain herb.

We live in a time when being a foodie is a celebration. As the more middle-class cousins to gourmets and gastronomes, we foodies have the same discriminating palates and passion for flavor, experimentation, and a mix of food cultures to help us build our skills and develop our cooking hobbies. We’re also very good at cooking on a budget. In the world of mixologists—a particular breed of foodie—making gin is the perfect representation of this. It’s crazy-easy, doesn’t take long, and you end up with excellent alcohol without breaking the bank.

I love a good Irish coffee. The conundrum, however, is that I generally limit my daily caffeine consumption to a morning espresso and I don’t want whiskey for breakfast, so it’s hard to figure out when to have said Irish coffee. St. Patricks Day is almost here and I'll be getting together in the afternoon with my coffee-loving friends and family, which will include traditional, festive Irish coffee. Happily, my talented mixologist of a husband recently got inspired by a tin of Mountain Rose Herbs herbal coffee. I wasn’t sure what he was up to tinkering away in the kitchen, and then he came out with this creamy glass of pure ambrosia. Although I am not generally an all-caps kind of woman, this herbal Irish coffee recipe is, OMG SO GOOD. Bonus: I can drink a glass in the evening and still get a good night’s sleep.

It’s the time of year when I’m working my way through the last of our stored root vegetables and winter squash looking for ways to extend their lifespan and nutrition. With this in mind, I spent an afternoon last weekend hasselbacking. In its simplest form, hasselbacking is a special cutting method for raw vegetables (also some fruits and even bread) before roasting. The most common version is Hasselback potatoes: the Potato à la Hasselbacken or, in Swedish, hasselbackspotatis. The glory of this cutting/cooking method is that it allows you to get flavorful fats and your favorite herbs and spices down inside the food so all that deliciousness gets roasted in. Plus, hasselbacking makes your food so pretty!

The Caribbean islands, scattered between North and South America, are a hotspot of weather, plant biodiversity, and culture. Islands range from tropical rainforests to chilly mountain peaks, some densely saturated with remote mogotes: isolated, steep-sided mounds on otherwise flat plains. The high humidity and rainfall contribute to a lush flora and fauna. There are over 11,000 discovered plant species, 189 amphibian species, and 564 bird species. The Caribbean’s herbal traditions are rooted in this abundance of biodiversity.

As herbalists, many of us create infusions (teas) with health and wellness in mind, choosing herbs based on what constituents they can provide us. As tea enthusiasts, we also care about the tea-drinking experience and the synergistic way that the flavors and aromas of different herbs can join together when put in hot water. It is this synergy that comes into play with tasting notes. Tasting notes are the descriptive language that connoisseurs use to help us understand the nuances at play in each cup: a set of terms to describe visual cues, aromas, taste, sensations, and more. I can’t tell you why ‘tangy, lively, and refreshing’ are the flavor notes in my everyday go-to drink-it-all-day herbal tea, but knowing those terms helps steer me toward other herbs and spices that work well together when making my own herbal tea blends.

I am a firm believer in broths for their gut-supporting, extremely tasty, and nourishing qualities. You can pack so much nutrition in each little sip. Adding a myriad of herbs to our broth base is the perfect vehicle for incorporating wellness into our modern lives.

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When your moontime calls, listen to your body. She’s calling for nourishment and rest. Calling you back to yourself and your wise woman within. Back to the cycle of the moon within you—your womb, your hormonal cycle, your psyche. Give yourself permission to find a little quiet time to yourself. Soak in some extra self-care. Sip herbal infusions.