November 12, 2022 by maggielane

My Favorite Books on Herbal Medicine

I spent a fun morning talking about herbs with some local moms today. 🌿

Below you can find my favorite herb books with the reasons why I like the them. Maybe you’ll find something to add to your bookshelf. (Note: Links are affiliate links.)

(Books are not listed in any particular order.)

Basic Book Resources:

1. Nutritional Herbology by Mark Pedersen, https://amzn.to/3EnyQfV

Has nutritional profiles for each herb.

2. Prescription for Herbal Healing, by Phyllis Balch, https://amzn.to/3g1gBVf

Complete. Very good at listing possible cautions and contraindications.

3. Northeast Medicinal Plants, https://amzn.to/3TCcPiO

Very good on listing plants that grow in this area, as well and when and how to ID, harvest, and the remedies best suited for each plant.

4. Botany in a Day, https://amzn.to/3hFKc6X

Best book for learning plant ID and plant families.

5. Homegrown Herbs, by Hartung, https://amzn.to/3TAMD8a

Best book for growing and using medicinal herbs yourself. Excellent charts for growing and harvesting.

6. The Herbal Apothecary, https://amzn.to/3E3SFbV

This is excellent at giving you the personality of each herb and helping you get to know the plants.

7. Wild Remedies by Rosalee de la Floret, https://amzn.to/3TxQFyh

Good for wildcrafting basics.

8. Alchemy of Herbs, https://amzn.to/3UxMN1z

Anything by Rosalee is well done. I find the herb profiles on her website useful and have found some of her podcasts to be interesting.

9. Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs,https://amzn.to/3UBgfni

Very basic. Good for beginners who don’t know where to start. Has some good basic recipes.

10. The Herbal Kitchen, https://amzn.to/3WYgOJp

Good for using herbs medicinally in your kitchen as food. Also good basics for making infused oils.

11. The Healing Garden, https://amzn.to/3E3jxZw

This book is newer to me. It includes some herbs that my other books do not have listed that I wanted to study. I haven’t delved too deeply into it but it is a lovely book.

Technical Resources:

These are more technical and get into the more medical side is using herbs.

1. Practical Herbalism by Fritchey, https://amzn.to/3Adn46l

2. Modern Herbal Dispensatory by Easley, https://amzn.to/3WVAmhv

3. Materia Medica of Western Herbs by Carole Fisher, https://amzn.to/3g5eZtt

Other Resources:

1. The Big Book of Homemade Products by Jan Berry, https://amzn.to/3hAxPJu

This is her newer book. I had the older one with me. It is excellent as are herb books on soapmaking.

2. Fermented Vegetables by Shockey, https://amzn.to/3G8fzl3

Anything by the Shockeys is good. I also have their books on Vinegars and Firey Ferments.

Botany Basics:

Exploring Creation with Botany by Apologia, https://amzn.to/3Gc9UdK

Good intro to basic Botany.

Elementary Botany Class:

https://rememberingmaggielane.com/school-house/the-teachers-desk/botany-class-videos/

This is a link to my online Botany class which includes learning to ID plants by plant family.

Last but not least, write your own book…

Keep your own notes on each herb and ailment you study by creating your own book. I use an old address book that has alphabetical sections. I write the name of the herb or ailment alphabetically and make notes of what I learn about it.

August 9, 2022 by maggielane

Garden Tool Organization and Seed Saving Tips

Check out friend Michele’s tips for organizing your garden tools and saving seeds. You can follow her on FB and IG, or on her blog at Chocolate Box Cottage.

August 5, 2022 by maggielane

Free Traditional Skills Summit!

Many of you know that I’m a big fan of Carolyn Thomas and her Homemaking masterclasses over at Homesteading Family. I love her classes on breadmaking, fermenting, herbal medicine, homemade dairy, and I’ve just recently gotten into her canning class. Well, she is participating in a collaboration that I thought you might be interested in.

The School of Traditional Skills brings together experts in homemaking, homesteading, gardening, and real food topics. September 12-15 you have the chance to attend an amazing and FREE Summit featuring the following speakers:

Joel Salatin on Reclaiming Pasture

Justin Rhodes on Raising Pastured Chickens

Melissa K Norris on Garden Season Extension

Paul Gautschi on his Back to Eden Garden method

Carolyn Thomas on Pressure Canning (Yay!!!)

Sally Fallon on Traditional Bone Broths (Who doesn’t have Nourishing Traditions on their shelf yet?)

Lisa Bass on Vegetable Fermentation

Anne of All Trades on Milk Goats

Brandon Sheard on Traditional Salt Curing of Pork

Brian Lowell on Raised Bed Gardens

Maureen Diaz on Sour Dough Bread (I love my sourdough you know!)

Harvey Ussery on Homestead Egg Laying Chickens

If any of these topics peaks your interest check it out! Live sessions will be available for replay so you won’t have to worry about missing out on your favorite topic.

Note: This post contains affiliate links from School of Traditional Skills, Homesteading Family, and Amazon.

October 5, 2020 by maggielane

Herb Harvest 2020

I’ve always enjoyed picking herbs from my garden. But I typically just pick what I need for mmmmm for culinary use. I’ve been harvesting more herbs this to dry and save for medicinal and beauty uses this year.

Scroll on to see what’s been in my herb basket this year.

Sage, Calendula, and one big Mullein leaf.

I lay my rose petals between two paper towels to air dry.

Pretty little Calendula flowers. I air dry these the same way I do the rose petals.

October 2, 2020 by maggielane

Summer Bouquets 2020

I’ve always had a hard time cutting flowers from my garden. I just never seem to want to ruin their beauty by taking them from their natural state.

I’ve been experimenting this year though, and I’ve found which flowers last well as a cut flower and which ones don’t. Some, like Zinnias even put on more blooms when you cut them.

Here’s a summary of my summer bouquets.

Echinacea, Salmon Zinnia, Polar Bear Zinnia, Coreopsis Cherry Blast

Echinacea Hot Coral, Zinnia Polar Bear, Salmon Zinnia, Coreopsis Zagreb

Echinacea Baja Burgundy, Coreopsis Zagreb, Coreopsis Cherry Blast, Salvia

Long-Lasting Cut Flowers: Zinnia, Coreopsis, Salvia, Cosmos. Hydrangeas can be long lasting as well if you wait to cut them when they are beginning to feel papery on the stem.

Flowers that Fade Quickly: Echinacea, Black-Eyed Susan.

September 25, 2020 by maggielane

Save those SEEDS!

Do you have organic produce coming in? Fall is upon us. Don’t forget to save seeds from some of your produce for use next year. Squash, and tomatoes are great to save seeds from, and it’s pretty easy.

Here’s how….

Saving Seeds:

Scrape those seeds off the cutting board as you chop those tomatoes. They all tend to squirt out anyway. Be sure to slice different varieties separately from each other, so as not to mix seeds.

Scrape them all into a bowl and cover with a little bit of water.

Let them soak overnight to help loosen some of the gel around them.

Then rinse well with water straining them through a sieve.

Spread out on the back of a paper plate labeled with the name of the plant. Set it in a warm place to dry.

Once dry, store in a labeled (name and year), paper envelope for the next growing season.

Squash is a great plant for saving seeds too. Use the same steps outlined above.

Happy gardening! May your harvest be bountiful! ❤️

November 12, 2019 by maggielane

My Fall Harvest – Seeds!

Most people see fall as a time to rake the leaves and put the garden to bed. But, I’ve come to enjoy fall as one of the most exciting times in the garden. It’s when you’ll find me snipping dead flower heads off and sorting seeds. I save them for the following year if I need to fill in plants, or enjoy giving them away to friends. Don’t overlook this harvest. Just think of the yield you could have in the year ahead from one tomato seed. The multiplication values are amazing when you stop to consider the number of seeds can be produced my one simple seed in one growing season. Save your seeds and share them with friends!

Rose Campion seeds

These little brown paper envelopes are great for seed sorting and sharing.

The flower heads on Rose Campion produces a prolific amount of seeds.

Rose Campion flower head.

Crush between your finger and the seeds just pour out.

See the white little cone shaped things? Those are the seeds.

Echinacea hides her seeds among all these prickles.

You’re looking to save the white, not the black spiny parts.

Lavender

Crush the lavender flowers and the seeds just fall out.

October 15, 2019 by maggielane

Dehydrating Tomatoes

I decided to take the advice of my friend Carolyn Thomas at Homesteading Family and dehydrate some of my end of the season tomatoes. It was fun and easy.

We’re still getting the last of the ripe tomatoes off our cherry tomato plants. Since this is about the only vegetable that I seem to be able to grow prolifically, sometimes we don’t eat them up fast enough. Enter my dehydrator.

I simply sliced them in half, and seasoned them with a bit of salt, pepper, granulated garlic, oregano, and savory. You could use any seasonings you like.

Lay them out on the dehydrator tray and dehydrate at a temp below 150 degrees until they are crisp.

If you have a few that are past the point of saving, then squirt out the seeds into a bowl, cover with water for a day or two to loosen all the gel, and then lay out on a paper plate to dry for the next year’s growing season.

October 12, 2019 by maggielane

Fall Flowers – 2019

A gallery of my fall blooms from this year.

A volunteer chrysanthemum by my mailbox. Isn’t it beautiful?

Sedum Autumn Joy

Purple Dome Aster

Chrysanthemum Daisy Rose – a very reliable bloomer.

Aster Bluebird

Aster Purple Dome again.

Red Impatiens in the pot, Coreopsis Moonbeam, Coreposis Zagreb, and Purple Dome Aster all still blooming away.

Another volunteer chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum Daisy Rose again.

Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit sending up some late fall blooms.

Chrysanthemum Whippoorwill

Chrysanthemum Grandchild

Daisy Rose in all her brilliance.

The volunteer chrysanthemum all opened up and exploding with blooms.

August 31, 2018 by maggielane

My Garden – Late Summer 2019

Some of my best blooms this summer! Hope to do even better next year. I’ve already got my next years garden planned out and order with plants arriving for fall planting.

May 19, 2018 by maggielane

My Garden – Late May 2018

Here’s what has popped up in the last couple of weeks and what I’ve planted in the last few days. We’ve had a rainy week, so I took advantage of it to plant my annuals and the last of my perennials for the year.

For annuals this year, I chose mixed green begonias, lavender vinca, white alyssum, and mixed impatiens.

In the perennial category, I added a few chrysanthemums, gaillardia, daylilies, ajuga, more lamium, and my new recent favorite, several varieties of agastache.

New to bloom since I posted last are perennial geranium, iris, more azaleas, honeysuckle (which I forgot to take a picture of), and the peony is so close to blooming.

So, let’s get on with the pictures.

Red azalea – such a bright, beautiful color in the front flower bed. (Also pictured, tulip foliage, iris and chrysathemum daisy rose.)

Shocking Pink Azalea – my favorite azalea color I think.

Purple azalea. My grandmother grew azaleas this color in her front yard.

Light pink azalea.

A new baby azalea to match the large shocking pink on the other side of the flower bed.

Flower box outside our front window. Pink begonias and white alyssum.

Pink begonias, white alyssum, lavender vinca on the bottom.

Annual lavender vinca.

Our pansies and orange impatiens grown from seed. They were hard to start so I’m pretty proud that they grew.

Bushel basket filled with a white begonia, white alyssum, and three mini chyrsanthemums from Trader Joe’s, one which we overwintered.

Red geraniums and white alyssum.

Begonias green basil, and purple basil in the large pot. Two lavender vincas in the little one.

Annuals – red begonias, white alyssum. Perennial – aster coming up in the center of the pot. I transplanted the aster out of the flower bed last fall.

Red pot includes annual begonia and white alyssum. Perennials pictured from behind the red pot moving clockwise are iris, Echinacea Tomato Soup, Agastache Summer Glow, salvia, fading muscari, lamb’s ears, Daylily Holiday Song, Chrysanthemum Daisy Red. In the center of the bed are Coreopsis Moonbeam, Chrysanthemum Mickey, Agastache Rosie Posie.

Annuals – begonias and white alyssum.

Pictured clockwise from the mailbox are iris, red azalea, Echinacea Pow-wow, lantana, fading muscari, lamb’s ears, wooly yarrow, Sedum Pachyclados, white alyssum, lavender vinca, lavender, rudibeckia, Agastache Champange. In the pot are begonias and white alyssum. In the center of the bed are red perennial salvia, begonias, chrysanthemum daisy pink, and annual lavender vinca.

Iris.

Perennial geranium.

The peony is so close to bloom.

Clockwise from top: Echinacea Mama Mia, Agastache Rosie Posie, Liatris, Gaillidaria Arizona Sun, Chrysanthemum Daisy Red. Pictured on the left side are the edges of the peony leaves.

The big clump is Black-Eyed Susan, peas and tomatoes along the side, and minature roses in the front.

Begonias, lavender vinca, white alyssum, and on the far right a sprig of transplanted Chrysanthemum Rose Grenadine.

Excuse the mess, we’re preparing to build a sandbox for the kids. Along the edges I’ve planted Ajuga Burgundy Glow and Ajuga Bronze Beauty as a ground cover to fill in the dirt under this shade tree.

Clockwise from top left: Pulmonaria Dark Vader, Astible Plumila, Tricyrtis Tojen, Ajuga Burgundy Glow (bottom right), Impatiens, and Fern (center of bed). Two other ferns and cyclamen are planted in this bed too but haven’t woken up yet.

From right to left: Daffodil foliage, Helleborous Pink Frost, Lamium White Nancy and Hostas across the front mixed with annual Impatiens. Far right is Lamium Orchid Frost. In the back are Spanish Bluebells and Bleeding Heart.

Hosta, Lamium and Impatiens.

Clockwise from bottom left: Phlox Amazing Grace, Rose Quietness, Cosmos and Carnation seedlings, Sweet William Cherry Jolt, Yellow Sedum, Lavender Vinca. Center: Sedum Firecracker, Sedum Autumn Joy.

Annual basket I received as a gift full of petunias and verbena.

Purple pansies.

Our pansy and orange impatiens seedlings with our little spring bird decoration and a sweet little girl for cuteness.

May 15, 2018 by maggielane

My Garden – Early May 2018

Our new House has a few flower beds, so I’ve spent the last couple of years reading, experimenting, and learning about gardening. I hope to compose a few upcoming blog posts highlighting some of the things I’ve learned, mistakes I’ve made, what’s worked and what hasn’t, etc. But until then here’s some pictures of what’s growing in my garden (zone 6b) so far for Spring 2018.