Though it is still mostly cold and dark here in the Willamette Valley, we often close our eyes at this time of year and dream of our bountiful summer gardens. And our dreams got much bigger this year, as we have added several new varieties of seeds.

It has been a cold winter here in the Willamette Valley, and one of our favorite rituals during these dark days is a candlelit, rejuvenating bath. Our friends at Wild Carrot Herbals have been making these scented botanical bath salts, and we are grateful that their handiwork is helping to soothe our weary bodies!

Our New Year’s resolution is always to offer more certified organic botanicals for our customers! We are pleased to proclaim that our Coriander Seed Essential Oil is now certified organic.

Steam distilled by skilled artisans, our certified organic coriander seed essential oil has a sweet, spicy, woodsy aroma with a slightly fruity top note. Generally used as a middle note in aromatherapy blends, this oil combines well with some of our favorite essential oils, including organic cinnamon, organic ginger, organic neroli, and organic Australian sandalwood. The unique aroma of this oil is fun to play with while blending. It can support citrus notes, enhance spicy blends, and add an interesting earthy tone to other oils.

We are pleased to announce that, just in time for the new year, our Angelica Root Powder is now certified organic.

This amazing plant is traditionally cultivated in Europe. We are ever mindful of our carbon footprint here at Mountain Rose Herbs, and when the opportunity arose to source this herb from a certified organic farm in southern Oregon, we jumped at the opportunity.

We’re having a wonderful time experimenting with our new certified organic Lemon Thyme in our holiday recipes!

This deliciously aromatic herb is a member of the mint family. Lemon thyme resembles and grows just like English thyme, but its fresh citrus flavor quickly reminds you that you are in unchartered culinary territory!

Just in time for the holidays, we have two chic new cast iron teapot sets!

We are excited of offer our new Certified Organic Massage Oils exclusive to Mountain Rose Herbs. These unique blends are lovingly crafted in our body care kitchen from the finest organic ingredients. Our carrier oil bases are solar-infused with organic botanicals for two weeks and hand-blended with organic essential oils. Each oil comes packaged in a 4 oz. plastic amber bottle with a convenient flip cap.

We are happy to add Solomon’s Seal Root Powder to our roster of herbs and spices.

Respectfully wild-harvested on the East Coast, Solomon’s Seal is a useful astringent, demulcent, and tonic herb. It is generally made into a decoction, but Solomon’s Seal Root Powder makes an excellent poultice. Historically, indigenous cultures of North America consumed the starchy rhizomes of Solomon’s Seal as a potato-like food to make breads and soups. The young shoots are also edible, raw or boiled for an asparagus-like treat. The plant gets its name from a scar that develops on the rhizome in the Autumn, resembling the ancient seal of King Solomon.

Autumn has returned to the Willamette Valley, and this is a great time of year to get organized and prepared before the cold winds of winter start blowing in. Here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we have simplified the offerings of our container case sizes for all bottles, jars, tins, and spice containers.

We’ve got a lovely new addition to our line of certified organic, steam-distilled hydrosols that we’d like to share with you, our St. John’s Wort hydrosol.

This wonderful St. John’s Wort hydrosol is a subtle beauty to add to your collection. It has a dry herbaceous aroma with flat floral tones. Overall the scent is soft and will not overpower recipes when used as an ingredient.

This is an important time of year for celebrations. Samhain is almost upon us, marking the halfway point between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Many are stocking up on organic sweets to pass out to the little ones. And here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we’ve been celebrating Fair Trade Month. This annual tradition focuses on raising awareness and building support for fair trade in the United States.