Gift-giving can be difficult, especially during the holidays. Finding the right gift at the right price is hard enough, but then layer on crowded parking lots, long shopping lines, and inclement weather, and you have yourself a recipe for holiday stress! We just don’t need that added pressure in our already hectic lives.

With this in mind, I curated a simple list of budget-friendly gift ideas that you can have delivered right to your doorstep. You’ll find the perfect gifts for the health enthusiast, foodie, tea lover, or fragrance connoisseur in your life. (Or for yourself; you also deserve it!)

I love rosehips. I love the way they look on rose shrubs and how they remain bright points of color as the gray of winter approaches. I love how they feed wildlife when it’s cold. I love the nutritional and healthful gifts they offer. And I particularly love how those tart little hips are perfect for jellies, jams, and syrups. I don’t always have time in the fall to harvest and clean fresh hips, so I am always grateful for dried rosehips when winter finally arrives and I can slow down and do some cold weather nesting. Now I have the time to pull luscious dried rosehips from my apothecary closet to make rosehip jelly for my family. However, said family firmly believes that rosehip jelly season also means cookie season, because homemade jellies and jams are the best for thumbprint and/or frosted sugar cookies.

Although goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) was used by First Nations peoples for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived in the Americas, the first written source regarding goldenseal appears in an 1801 series of essays by botanist and physician Benjamin Smith Barton titled Towards a Materia Medica in the United States. Early colonists found a well-established trade network already in place for medicinal herbs, including goldenseal. Indigenous people used it as a dye and also for a variety of health issues, including as a bitter to support digestion, as a skin and eye wash, and as a dental rinse. By the 1830s, goldenseal was also a favorite of practitioners of Eclectic medicine, and demand was increasing exponentially. That demand has never let up and today goldenseal is considered to be one of the most at-risk herbs on United Plant Savers' At-Risk Medicinal Plants List. There is, however, a potentially bright future for goldenseal thanks to innovations in cultivation.

This is the time of year when we start thinking about how to best support our bodies as our diets shift to heartier winter eating and those inevitable holiday meals that are just around the corner. Digestive function is a key factor in our overall health and wellness, and can be thrown off by a number of things that are part and parcel of this time of year: not just hearty cold weather meals, but also changes in our routine, less sun and exercise, the stressors (both positive and negative) of family gatherings, holiday travel, etc. This seasonal dietary and energy flux impacts our bodies in a wide variety of ways, and can particularly play havoc on our digestive system. Fortunately, when we pay attention to our own unique rhythm, we can get ahead of these factors and be prepared when our normal balance is off-kilter. There are three herbal actions that are particularly helpful: bitters, aromatics, and demulcents.

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.

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.

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.