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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 it 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.

Keeping your hands and cuticles well hydrated is the key to keeping them looking great! If your cuticles are not well moisturized, they're more prone to splitting or breaking, leaving your finger beds vulnerable to infection and injury. Maintaining well hydrated cuticles is what keeps them strong and manageable. 

Food preservation has been around for thousands of years. From drying acorns for extended storage to turning grapes into wine, the act of preservation has allowed people around the globe to enjoy various foods and botanicals well past their harvest season. As a chef and homesteader, I often find myself having way more fresh ingredients than I can use before they turn. This is where food preservation comes into play! I do my best to appropriately utilize as much as I can so that my family may enjoy the spring, summer, and autumn harvest well into the cold winters of Maine. Extra cabbage gets salt and turns to sauerkraut, excess peaches get pureed and dehydrated into fruit leather, and the list goes on. Over the years, I have become particularly fond of vinegar and its acidic properties to capture the essence, flavor, and minerals naturally found in fruits and herbs. 

If you are looking for a way to color your with absolutely no synthetic chemicals while simultaneously nourishing it, then organic henna hair color is for you! No other hair color on the market naturally adds radiant color, seals in oil, and protects your hair's cuticle—all while providing long-lasting shine.

Over the last decade, my kitchen has hosted a wide variety of cultures and home fermentation projects. Pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, milk-and-water kefir, and fermented garlic paste have all lived (and thrived!) atop my counters. However, only one culture has found a permanent residence: kombucha. If you aren’t familiar with kombucha, it is a fermented tea beverage that has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Kombucha can now be easily found at nearly every co-op or grocery store, but if you drink as much as I do, store-bought bottles can get pricey fast. Fortunately, it’s easy, inexpensive, and fun to make at home! Plus, you can flavor your kombucha and adjust its acidity or sourness to your liking.  

Natural wax candles are delightful accessories and tools for creating radiant spaces, especially as fall and winter bring chilly darkness to our days. These warm, flickering lights add natural ambiance and a calm, cozy feeling to any room. And while they serve a lovely mood-setting purpose in their own right, they can also be used to heat essential oils in a diffuser to fill a room with your favorite grounding fragrance, creating the perfect space for relaxing self care rituals.

Each October, I get to set up the Mountain Rose Herbs booth at the wonderful Mount Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Festival here in Eugene, Oregon. I absolutely love this event! It typically brings out 3,000 mycophiles eager to learn about wild mushrooms and peruse the many species on display. Aiming to be festive with fungus, I’ll usually brew up a large batch of reishi chai. Chai is one of my all-time favorite teas, and adding reishi mushroom slices (Ganoderma lucidum) gives it the added perk of supporting immune health*.

My recent discovery of kokum butter set me ablaze in the kitchen! Happily experimenting with various ways to use it, I’ve concluded that it is perfect for dry skin.

If you’ve never used kokum butter, it’s similar in firmness to cocoa butter, but a little flakier. Many consider it a good substitute for cocoa butter because of its uniform triglyceride composition. It can be used to thicken many homemade cosmetics including body butters, creams, lotions, and lip balms.