Happy Hollows Homestead

03/04/2026

Cette semaine, j’infuse des huiles avec des plantes cicatrisantes pour la peau 🌿🩷🍃🩵🌱💚
cueillies et séchées avec amour l’été dernier ☺️

Infusing oils this week with skin healing plants 🌿🩷🍃🩵🌱💚 lovingly dried this past summer ☺️

02/26/2026

02/07/2026

A really nice valentines gift idea for your sweetheart ? A farm to face facial at the Hudson Apothecary on Main in Hudson. 🩷😀🩷

This facial came from a beautiful collaboration between Happy Hollows and Ann Michele, a naturopath and Ayurvedic facialist with the most intuitive, soulful touch.

Together we blended modern botanical science with ancient wisdom to create something that truly nourishes the skin — and the whole person.

Check it out at hudsonapothecary.ca

Hudson Apothecary Wellness Centre

02/05/2026

Simple plants. Traditional methods. Deep nourishment. 💚

Today I’m blending fresh nettle and setting it into alcohol to make a beautiful deep-green extract 🌿

Nettle is an incredibly nourishing, rebuilding herb — rich in minerals and traditionally used to help strengthen the body, restore vitality, and deeply support overall wellness.

Nettle is also well known for seasonal allergy support, as it may help calm histamine and inflammatory responses — a nourishing plant with practical benefits during pollen season. 🌿

02/01/2026

Lion’s Mane tincture is one of the herbal extracts I love to make. It’s a fun one to make because it’s a dual extract , meaning that we are extracting alcohol soluble compounds as well as its water soluble compounds. Research shows this mushroom contains compounds that support nerve growth factors involved in brain cell health, and small human studies suggest potential benefits for memory, focus, and mood.

The research is still growing, but Lion’s Mane is one of many scientifically interesting mushrooms , in particular when it comes to cognitive and nervous system support.

01/30/2026

I’m using comfrey leaves that I dried this past fall—and today they’re going into one of my favourite remedies: a therapy-in-a-tub herbal bath for a tired body. Woohoo! 🥰

Let’s make a herbal bath the way herbalists do it: strong infusion first, then soak.

A herbal bath is wonderfully therapeutic. When you immerse in warm water, the skin opens up and becomes more receptive, the body softens, and you can more effectively take in the healing qualities of the plants. Herbalists will tell you this is one of the best ways to deliver herbs to the body—and I completely agree. It’s simple, but it’s incredibly effective.

This blend is inspired by Rosemary Gladstar (one of my favourite herbalists 🥰). It’s calming, soft, and grounding.

Chill-out Bath Blend

• 2 parts lavender
• 2 parts rose petals
• 1 part comfrey leaf ( yup that’s what I was picking and drying in the image 📸 )
• 1 part chamomile
• 1 part linden

You can make adjustments based on what your body needs.

How to make it (so it actually works)
1. Add the herbs to a muslin bag (a clean cotton sock works too!) and tie it off well.
2. Place the bag in the tub and run hot tap water directly over it.
3. Let it infuse for about 10 minutes to make a strong herbal bath.
4. Then add more water to bring the bath to a comfortable temperature.
5. Climb in, breathe, and soak.

Exceptionally relaxing—body and mind. If you try one, tell me how you feel after! 🛁🌿

How about lavender and rose for the kids! ☺️☺️

01/23/2026

If stress goes straight to your stomach, fennel is one of those little things that can make a big difference.

I often tell people: fennel is a classic digestive remedy for a reason. It’s traditionally used to help with bloating, gas, belching, that “grippy” crampy feeling, and even a nervous, unsettled stomach. It’s gentle, but it works.

What I also love is that fennel tea is recognized in European herbal regulation as a traditional herbal medicinal product for:
• mild spasmodic digestive discomfort (bloating/flatulence)
• minor menstrual spasm
• and as a traditional expectorant for coughs associated with colds

When we say “fennel seed,” we’re technically talking about the dried fruit — and most often, we use it as a tea/infusion.

In herbal terms, fennel is:
• a carminative (it helps disperse gas and ease bloating)
• an antispasmodic (it relaxes that gripping tension in the digestive tract)
• an aromatic digestive (it supports digestion when things feel tight or off)
• and traditionally an expectorant when you’re dealing with a cold

And if you’re curious about the “why,” fennel’s soothing effect is strongly tied to its aromatic oils — you’ll often see anethole and fenchone named in herbal references.

A great tea to start with would include equal parts of fennel seed + cumin seed + coriander seed. Crushing the seeds beforehand will help release the goodies ☺️

01/22/2026

Blending turmeric with black pepper for capsules🙏🧡

01/20/2026

Studying plants is one of the joys of my life 😌💝💝💝

01/18/2026

A simple do-it-yourself rosemary infusion to reach for at the very first sign of a cold.

Rosemary Cold-Start Tea 🌿

• 2 Tbsp dried rosemary + 2 cups water
• Lightly crush the rosemary (mortar & pestle or just crunch it in your hands)
• Bring to a boil, then turn off heat, cover, and steep
• 10–15 min for a quick cup
• 1–4 hrs for a stronger infusion

How to use it? Sip at the very first sign of a cold (even in the night if a cough starts). For kids or anyone sensitive to bitterness, start with ½ tea + ½ water

Rosemary is always a wonderful plant to have dried in your kitchen . This is one of the great ways it can be used to keep colds at bay . 🌿😀🌿🌿. Don’t forget that freshness of the plants is key! Make sure you source it well 🥰🥰

01/15/2026

Sage, one of my favorites! And not only for cooking! A simple herb, wonderfully effective when it’s used in the right way.🌱🍃

Here are two easy ways you can use it as a traditional home remedy.🏠

First, sage is what we call a nervine. It supports and settles the nervous system. When it’s taken as a cool or room-temperature tea, it becomes cooling to the body. It then becomes helpful for hot flashes, night sweats, flushing, and that overheated, keyed-up feeling — whether it is due to menopause or just life.

And this part matters: you don’t drink sage hot for this purpose. Hot sage can actually make you sweat more. When you drink it cool, it calms everything down and helps reduce excessive sweating. It’s especially helpful if you feel constantly overheated, flushed, or easily irritated.

Sage is strong and it is bitter. You will not crave it every day — and that’s a good thing. It is a short-term herb. I usually suggest a cup a day for about a week or two, then you’ll naturally want to take a break. The body says, “That’s enough.” Bitter, strong herbs are good at giving clear feedback.

Making it is simple. For 4C of water, you use four tbsp of dried sage. Pour boiling water over it and let it sit overnight. The long soak gives you this deep green-gold infusion — that’s your sage tea.🍵

It’s also very useful if you’re trying to reduce breast milk during weaning — a cup or two a day for about a week can help with that.

The second way I use this same tea is for oral health. Sage is astringent, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and healing to tissue. That makes it an excellent gargle or gum rinse.

If you have a sore throat, inflamed gums, mouth ulcers, or any kind of irritation in the mouth or throat, this tea works very well. Warm it up and add salt — about a quarter tsp per cup — and gargle. The warmth and salt help draw things out.

So really, this is simply a tea — but how you use it depends on when, how, and what your body needs. Sage is practical and effective just what i like! It’s not flashy, but traditionally has a few great uses to know about!

01/14/2026

Back in stock 😀