spoon of ground ginger and ginger salve on a blue and wooden background

Ginger Pain Salve Recipe

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…

a jar of homemade ginger tincture surrounded by fresh ginger root pieces

How to Make a Ginger Tincture

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…

tin of pine needle salve on a snowy surface with pine needles

Pine Needle Chest Rub Salve Recipe

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,…

jar of honey and pine needle elixir natural remedy

Pine Needle, Honey & Brandy Elixir (cough & sore throat remedy)

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…

Fresh nettle leaves in a handmade vine basket and a jar of chopped stinging nettle leaves

Stinging Nettle Tincture + Uses

Here’s how to turn stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) leaves into a tincture that may be useful for allergies and inflammation. You can also tincture different parts of nettle, for different effect. For example, the root can be tinctured for prostate problems, while nettle seed tincture may be helpful for kidney problems. Today though, we’re focusing…

basket of violet leaves and lavender flowers, jar of lavender flower tincture

Lavender Tincture + Uses

Here’s how to make and use lavender tincture! You can use fresh or dried lavender flowers for this project. You’ll also need some 80 to 100 proof vodka, and a half pint or small jar with a lid. Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is a well-loved herb with anti-inflammatory and skin soothing properties. The flowers (and the…

a handful of dried violet leaves and a tin of green violet leaf salve

How to Make Violet Leaf Salve

Here’s a recipe for violet leaf salve, which is especially useful for eczema, dry skin, and swollen lymph nodes. While violet flowers are almost gone where I live, the leaves will still flourish in shady spots around my house for months to come. There are about 78 species of wild violets found in North America, plus…

lemon slices, raw honey, fresh lilacs, and a jar of lemon and lilac infused honey

Lilac & Lemon Infused Honey

This delicious infused honey was inspired by a favorite recipe, Ginger Lemon Honey Tonic, that I originally shared on this site several years ago. One beautiful spring day when my lilacs were in full bloom, I wondered… what would happen if I used lilac flowers instead of ginger in the recipe? What happened was the…

purple dead nettle, stinging nettle, and vitamin D capsules

Spring Allergy Tips & Remedies

Here are my best tips and natural remedies for dealing with spring allergies this year! As you might expect from someone who had the childhood nickname “Rudolph” (the Red Nosed Reindeer) and practically drank Benadryl as a beverage at mealtimes, I’ve experienced my fair share of dealing with allergies. Here’s what I’ve learned and utilized…

spilanthes flowers, herbal capsules, and goldenseal leaves

Natural Toothache Remedies

Have a toothache, but can’t be seen by your dentist right away? Try these natural toothache remedies while you wait! The best way to fix a sore tooth is to see your dentist and treat the underlying cause; however, there are sometimes long wait times for appointments, or other times that you just don’t have…

row of black walnut salves demonstrating color changes depending on oil type and freshness of hull

Black Walnut Salve Recipe

Black walnut salve is useful for things like athletes foot, fungal rashes, toenail infections, ringworm, psoriasis, and various skin woes. If you have a longstanding mystery rash on your arm or leg and no one is quite sure what it is – try some black walnut salve and you may find relief! To make this…