HerbsAllAround

12/28/2025

12/09/2025

I am a bit behind on discussing herb questions, making rhings due to helping my dear Raymond recover from his broken ankle, but he is getting much better and we are getting caught up with all the things this week!

11/19/2025

This is what the herbal bits in my mixed decoction (from the recent live video this morning) look like after about ten minutes of gentle simmer in the covered pot.
We mixed elecampane and ginger roots, Siberian elm bark, dried Clementine orange with peel, habañero oepper, , mullein, anise hyssopand nettle leaf, calendula, evening primrose and anise hyssop flowers.

The resulting strained out tea has a mild taste with faint but lingering picante and warming sensation in the face,throat and chest.

I would like to emphasize, that the more subtle but continuing sense of soothing, strengthening and ease lower in the chest, comes from taking the time to simmer and soften this combination of herbs and herbal parts.

Of course if you just make tea the quicker way (pouring hot water over herbs in a teapot) you will have a lovely and helpful tea. But you will get more healing constituents if you do it "the long way"🌼

11/13/2025

Greetings herb friends!
We have had some orders from our website.. but never got any notification about them! We just double checked orders yesterday!

We apologize for any delay in delivering your teas. Things are going in the post today and we now have a good backup system in place for being notified promptly of orders. I like to have a making and delivering time of 3 days at most. Raymond and I are so grateful for your interest in our products and services.

The sketch is of a mom showing a young daughter how to hold a paddle for canoeing or kayaking.

10/16/2025

Medicine n plants field journal, toadflax more or less done. Plant sample, information pages, drawing that shows as many parts and stages of life as possible

10/09/2025

I haven't posted here in awhile, so sorry! To get back to sharing about herbal medicine, here are a few things that have been going on today in the shop-home

I will post about things in the photo captions

08/11/2025

The tea came out very nicely I rhink. The person with the stuffy achey sneezles is giving it a good review so far It is mildly sweet and tart, with a hint of mint. It has a lovely calming effect on middle of chest and stomach too.

For sipping it is nice any time. For medicine be more scheduled: a half cup warm or cool every 3 to 4 hours, probably for the next few days at least. Our patient may alternate tea and soup for balance and variety.

I have some herb mix drying to have on hand. And I will collect more tomorrow. Just learn a few herbs and foods, add a little learning every season. The plants are the teacher!

07/19/2025

herbal creations..
it's so wonderful that herbs allow you to really personalize a recipe:
I have an herb-friend who has been recovering from liver, gall bladder and pancreatic disease for many years, gradually investigating so many levels of digestive, emotional and spiritual health. I thought to make her a tea blend, but had a sense of her constitution, emotional state and this darned humid hot Summer season. A classic component of many digestive teas might be marshmallow root. But even this gentle herb seemed too heavy somehow, for this person at this time. So I added a bit of corn silk and chickweed instead.

More information with the photos

07/11/2025

I have been wondering for a long time, about the dynamics of growing and using herbs and foods for most of our medicines. Many of the herbs we American herbal product makers use are supplied in bulk amounts by growers in other countries. No doubt if you are such an herb-crafter, you have noted a gradual decrease in availability and increase in price over the years.

Chamomile from Bulgaria, Mullein flower from Greece and Albania. Blue lotus root from Thailand. Triphala and Brahmi from India. So much of our herbal medicines come from other growers in other countries with labor costs much cheaper than what American workers and growers would accept or afford to tolerate.

Habitat loss due to development for construction or mega-farming or cattle grazing. Climate changes making former growing places inhospitable for certain plants. Increased fuel costs of overseas shipping. And now tariffs on many imported goods. And it is difficult in other countries to make a living wage growing medicine plants, just as it is difficult here.

I don't feel inclined to be an "herbal isolationist" though. For one, I don't think the fear and protectionist response is realistic anyway. The blue lotus that you try to grow in an artificially produced environment in say, Louisiana, will probably be expensive to grow and process, and not likely to have the same medicinal or psychoactive effects as its subtropical sister. So I think we herbalists could think more about how to support our growers of things that are uniquely suited to different environments in many countries, and also look at the herbal medicine plants that could be grown and processed on the US continent, that could continue to support small, Indigenous, regional and local medicines and economies.

We talk more about sustainable food supplies and nutritional resources. How about we look at sustainable medicine?

https://www.supplysidesj.com/supplement-regulations/tariffs-on-imported-herbs-threaten-us-wellness-industry-consumer-access?utm_source=ahpa&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ahpa_update

https://www.supplysidesj.com/supplement-regulations/tariffs-on-imported-herbs-threaten-us-wellness-industry-consumer-access?utm_source=ahpa&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ahpa_update

07/07/2025

We had adventures with plants this weekend and this morning! I have been collecting mullein flowers. In just one morning, with one plant, I have had plenty of opportunity to ponder all the things about its medicine, our climate, international wconomic relations and respect for Nature's power and beauty. So.. more about all that later!

07/03/2025

July happenings:

Herb and Craft Table in the shop home yard is July 18 Friday noon til 5. - we will have homemade Root Beer Syrup!
Drop by and chat about any herb and health questions you have

W**d Walk at the Galesville gardens July 27 Sunday - noon til 4 About foraging .. but then what?We will gather and learn was to process and preserve your herbs for your home kitchen medicine cabinet
W21046 Deer Run Lane, Galesville WI
Cost $10 -$20
You will have your foraged plants, and recipes to take home. Sips and snacks will be provided