There are over 12,000 species of seaweed drifting in synchrony with our ocean currents, but one type of these uniquely diverse sea botanicals has taken wellness communities by storm in recent years. Recipes and advertisements highlighting the nutritional benefits of “sea moss gel” have been buzzing around just about every corner of the wellness world, and for good reason! I first encountered sea moss on a Pinterest blog detailing a vegan “bone broth” recipe, which instantly hooked my attention. As a vegan with over a decade of my life spent experimenting with plant-based foods, replicating a vegan version of such an animal-oriented fare was not something I had considered to be a possibility before. This recipe sparked my interest in uncovering the endless array of creative uses and nutritional benefits the ocean provides for us in the form of aquatic grassy tangles: seaweed!

As the new year approaches, many of us attend holiday parties, visit friends and family members, and reflect on the past year. This season is notoriously known for celebrating with lots of drinks, most of which contain alcohol. Fortunately, if you find yourself wanting to enjoy tasty beverages but avoid the dreaded hangover, you can still experience the holiday magic with herbal mocktails!

Compound butter is believed to be of French origin, though there is no doubt in my mind that herbs have been incorporated into butter and fats long before they were first attributed to fine French cuisine. While butter gets a bad rap for its high fat content, fat is essential for our bodies and like all things in life, it’s about moderation! With compound butter, not only are you adding herbs and spices for flavor, but you are also incorporating the beneficial constituents of those plants into your culinary preparations. Am I insinuating that this is a health-food recipe?Not at all. But I do believe that a balanced diet that includes herbs and spices at every turn is important.

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Each year, when I make my holiday gift list, I aim to meet a set of criteria. Offerings that are thoughtful, personal, and useful are amongst the most important to me. I have generally found that homemade gifts are more appreciated than things I can find in mass quantities at any big box store. Small-batch DIY gifts also allow customization, making them personalized for your beloved recipient. It can also help to keep waste out of landfills.

There is always happy anticipation around Mountain Rose Herbs when we get the opportunity to bring in a new herbal ally. And when that botanical is grown by one of our passionate, conscientious farm partners right here in Oregon, our excitement is tinged with some home-state pride. So, we are pleased to announce that we are now carrying organic bee balm (Monarda fistulosa) grown at Oregon’s own Oshala Farm!

If you’ve been perusing the Mountain Rose Herbs blog for awhile, you’ll know that you can expect a new lip balm recipe from me this time of year. It’s my annual tradition as we approach the holidays to create a fun new lip balm recipe to add to my DIY gift list, and I of course share it with my Mountain Rose Herbs “fam.” It’s one of my favorite traditions and my friends and family are always excited to see what blend I come up with to celebrate the year. This holiday season, my household is all about hot cocoa, so I was inspired to craft a hot chocolate recipe with “marshmallows.”

The winter holidays are such a feast for the senses: not just our tastebuds, but also our eyes, ears, and olfactory system. This time of year, our public spaces are full of bright lights, festive music, and perfumed everything. Unfortunately, those expensive store-bought candles, diffuser oils, and room sprays are often made with synthetic ingredients that aren’t a healthy choice, no matter how much they promise to imbue us with the spirit of evergreen forests, candy canes, and homemade pumpkin pie. Diffusing natural essential oils—at home, at work, or in your car—is a wonderful alternative to scent your space with seasonal aromas. We love these three time-tested, holiday-inspired, DIY essential oil blends!

Ready for a superfood twist on traditional spiced drinks this winter? Try a cup of mulled acai berry tea! Cinnamon, citrus, allspice, ginger, clove, and anise: Can you almost feel the warmth of these herbs and spices? They heat us from within throughout the season of cold and dark. Spiced wine is a family favorite at our winter celebrations, and mulled cider is another seasonal treat.

What do dandelion, burdock, chicory, and garlic have in common? They all contain inulin. Inulin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide made up of chains of fructose molecules that are not digested in the small intestine and belong to a class of dietary fibers known as fructans.

We all love a temperate and cozy home, but turning the heater on or lighting up the wood stove can be drying to our skin. Enter lotion bars! These delightful little skin-supporters add moisture and act as an emollient to protect the skin from the seasonal drying that happens this time of year.

Pinwheel cookies (also called spiral cookies) have been a holiday tradition for decades. Often made with vanilla and chocolate or red and green food color, they show up on cookie plates throughout the season. I like traditions like this… and I also like to see how far I can push those traditional recipes to accommodate more flavors and spices.

This classic “icebox” cookie recipe (modern world translation: refrigerator cookie) is essentially the same one my great grandmother—and thousands of other people—used to make in the 1930s and it’s remained a standard ever since. It’s a dough you can easily change into a variety of different cookies with small additions like spices, nuts, dried fruit, crushed candies, etc. And it’s also an accommodating dough for rolling and cutting. These two qualities make it an ideal choice for delicious pinwheel cookies infused with herbal powders!