This salve recipe turns rosemary infused oil into a soothing rub for aching joints and arthritic hands. It’s so easy to make too! What you’ll need: This recipe makes a mild, single-herb salve. To increase the pain relieving power, you could add 18 to 27 drops essential oils (for about a 2 to 3% dilution…
Here’s how to make your own rosemary infused oil for warming and relieving sore muscles and aching joints. You can also incorporate it into soaps, salves, lotion bars, and more! Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus, synonym Rosmarinus officinalis) is a common kitchen herb that’s valued in traditional herbalism for its warming, circulation-boosting, and anti-inflammatory properties. This makes…
Pine resin salve is a simple but powerful remedy to keep stocked in your home apothecary. It can be used for general first aid purposes, such as scratches, scrapes and chapped skin, but is especially valued for its “drawing action” – resin’s ability to stimulate circulation and immune response at the skin’s surface, helping the…
This tutorial walks you through exactly how to infuse pine resin into oil, including resin-to-oil ratios, safety tips, and cleanup tricks. It’s a helpful read for anyone interested in natural skincare, herbal crafting, or foraged ingredients. When working with pine resin, one common mistake is trying to melt the resin all by itself, then attempting…
Pine resin is a natural ingredient that can be foraged for herbal first aid and home remedies almost any time of the year. (Though I have the best luck finding it after winter storms!) In this guide, you’ll learn how to identify, forage, and collect pine resin responsibly. I’ll also share links to my tutorials…
This summer, I’ve been testing out a yellow dock salve recipe for a foraged remedies book that I’ve been working on for about 3+ years now. (Hopefully next year, or the spring after, that book will finally be finished and ready to put out into the world!) The leaves from yellow dock (Rumex crispus), also…
Here’s a bright and colorful springtime jelly recipe, made with the edible flowers of the Eastern Redbud tree, Cercis canadensis. Step 1: Picking Flowers Pick fully-opened redbud flowers, making sure to collect fresh, brightly-colored flowers off the tree. Try not to use faded or wilted redbuds in your jelly. Destem the flowers with your fingers….
Learn how to make your own bars of solid dish soap! In this guide I’ll share a cold process dish soap recipe that you can personalize with various add-ins, plus tips on making and using homemade dish soap bars. Solid dish soap is a popular zero-waste solution for washing your dishes. It’s eco-friendly, since there’s…
Here’s a free printable to help you tell the differences between three commonly confused spring weeds: Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea), and Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum). The quick reference chart has a summary of key identifying features for each plant. For more in-depth info and closer-up identifying photos, plus some ways to…
Here’s how to make an effective, all-natural lip balm using beneficial weeds right from your backyard! You can mix or match any of the following plants to make this recipe: Oil Infusion You will need: How to make it: Spring Greens Lip Balm Recipe Use a kitchen scale to weigh out the ingredients for this…
Here’s how to make a warming ginger pain salve for achy joints, sore muscles, and arthritis. Ginger is one of my top favorite herbs! It’s easily available in local stores and when taken internally, it helps ease nausea, indigestion, inflammation, motion sickness, colds/flu, and more! Here we’re using it externally as a warming agent that…
This cedarwood melt and pour soap recipe has a warm woodsy scent and boasts a rope for easy hanging in the shower! French green clay adds a soft green color, but if you have dry skin, you may wish to use chlorella or spirulina powder instead. A soap stamp completes the look and makes this…
This tasty homemade ginger syrup is made with just two easy-to-find ingredients and is a snap to mix together! It’s excellent for: Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is anti-viral, antibacterial, and antifungal – so it’s also great for taking as a preemptive measure if you’ve been exposed to a stomach flu or other particularly nasty bugs. Making…
A ginger tincture is super easy to make and is useful for treating: Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is also antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory. The best part is that you can usually buy fresh or dried ginger right from your local grocery store – so it’s a readily available and accessible remedy for most of us! More…
These melt and pour shave soap pucks are infused with pine needles for their astringent toning properties, and comfrey for its power to heal tiny nicks and irritated skin. A blend of aloe vera gel and arrowroot gives the soap an extra-creamy lather. Use this soap with a shave brush for the best lathering experience….
Here’s how to grow your own asparagus plants from seed! These perennial plants will provide homegrown food from your garden for years to come! Surprisingly easy to start from seed, asparagus plants have a 3 to 4 year up-front time investment while they’re establishing themselves in your garden, but it’s well worth it. If you’re…
Here’s a homemade nettle shampoo bar recipe that also features horsetail and tallow! (Or an alternative vegan variation using shea butter and cocoa butter.) I created these shampoo bars specifically for my daughter. She has really long, thick hair and for years, I thought her hair type was unable to use shampoo bars. However, it…
Here’s how to identify pine trees, plus some uses for pine needles, including infused oil and salve, pine needle tea, and a sore throat elixir. Pines (Pinus spp.) are evergreen, resinous trees that are found pretty much everywhere; there are almost 50 species growing in North America alone! Native North Americans used decoctions from pine…
Pine is a traditional herbal known to be warming and helpful for respiratory congestion. Today, we’re going to turn your locally gathered pine needles into a chest rub salve using pine-infused oil and (optional) essential oils. Pine needle infused oil has traditionally been used to help with congestion, and when optionally combined with essential oils,…
Here’s how to make a pine needle, honey, and brandy elixir – a natural remedy for coughs and sore throats that combines the respiratory benefits of pine with the throat-soothing and antimicrobial properties of honey. Pine trees (Pinus spp.) have long been used in traditional medicine, especially for respiratory conditions and immune support. The needles…
