As someone who has needed to navigate the world of challenging and limited diets, I often depend on bitters to encourage the healthy digestion my body so regularly denies me. When I "oops" on something that doesn’t settle well with my tummy, I reach for one of my favorite bitters. If there isn’t a bottle of Urban Moonshine’s Original formula around, I make my own!

We have two wonderful new products for all the new mamas out there from our friends at Wild Carrot Herbals in Eastern Oregon: a soothing Botanical Baby Powder and the inimitable Calendula Nipple Whip.

The Winter Solstice is just around the corner, and we are slowly adjusting to the mounting darkness. One of our favorite things to do this time of year is to pull up a comfy seat in front of the fire, brew a cup of our herbal tea, and curl up with a good book.

Fall is my favorite time of year. We find more time to spend with family and friends, indulge in lovingly-prepared meals that feature the abundance of the harvest, and light the first warm, cozy fires of the season. For me, the focus on the harvest extends beyond food and crops: we also gather community, stories of summer, projects, and hopes for the coming year.

We’ve got a fantastic addition to our collection of books that we’d like to share with you: the classic Making Plant Medicine.

Originally published over 15 years ago, Making Plant Medicine has become a preferred reference for learning to make herbal tinctures, teas, syrups, herbal oils, salves, and poultices.

The path of herbalism is in many ways a journey, endless and winding, each turn on the way a chance for discovery for even the most experienced traveler. For many of us, it feels not like a hobby or business so much as a calling, beckoned forward by a sense of purpose, by the possibilities of healing, by the entreaties of plants whose voices and abilities we could give a lifetime to understanding. 

We are excited to announce our next Free Herbalism Project event!

Join us for an amazing lineup of free plant talks as we welcome Vermont herbalist Guido Masé and ethnobotanist Susan Leopold, PhD of the United Plant Savers. Registration is now open for this community event featuring a full day of free herbal classes (details below), free tea, live music, a plant sale, food carts, and more. Help us support the United Plant Savers with your purchase of books, t-shirts, herbs, and other botanical goodies in our Free Herbalism Project shop during the event! Register now and follow us on Facebook for more news and updates. We look forward to gathering with you! 

In celebration of Herb Day, we've created this free herbal preparations e-book as our gift to you! Learn to craft tinctures, infused oils, herbal vinegars, salves, mushroom extracts, and more with this gorgeous guide. Soon you will be well-stocked with herbal goodness!

The old adage “what goes up must come down” was proven truer than ever when looking at the maca root market this year. We gave our blog readers this analysis in a previous blog post and thought it would be necessary to provide an update on maca, as well as a glimpse behind the scenes of international botanical markets.