Herbal Tuesdays- Week 1

I've decided to start writing more about my personal herb week on Tuesdays in honor of my apprenticeship!! (It will be a simple and completely random bullet list.)

My hope is by posting weekly I will update here more often as I often cycle out of touch with my blog and I really want to post more consistently!

So, I'm really enjoying my apprenticeship thus far! It's been really awesome and I am learning a lot. I am feeling much more connection with my surroundings as well. Looking forward to whats to come!

Things I've learned & done herbal related this past week;


-There are many, MANY umbel shaped white flowers.

-Lemon balm continues to be my favorite plant in my personal garden for the second year in a row. We have a huge stand of it in the herb garden and I've been harvesting and drying it daily and trying to find as many ways as I can to use it! Thus far I've made tea, lemon balm pasta with a cheese sauce, vinegar, pesto, lemon balm berry pie, elixir & honey! Plus there is more to make. My next post will be a roundup of lemon balm recipes I've collected!

-Rose honey is addictive. So is handmade cocoa/rose lip balm!

-Plants I discovered in my yard this week; rosa rugosa, valerian (lots!), evening primrose, wild indigo, mugwort, a hidden red raspberry leaf patch, cinquefoil, goutweed and wood betony.

-Plants I harvested and processed this week. Rose, oregano, lemon balm, sage, thyme & lady's mantle.

- I long for more gardens and specifically a women's health and wellness themed garden, a garden for nervines and also an immunity and children's section. But I am just not there yet. Doing a little at a time though. I'm so glad I have the space here!!

-I started an herb blog for kids. Well really for MY kids but I thought it would be fun to share. They are really into "helping" so we might as well make it into a learning experience just for them & maybe share ideas, right? I am just starting it really, so stay tuned!

-Planted some more seeds. Yes, even though it is late June. Crazymaking I tell ya! ;)

- I'm wishing for a greenhouse this fall. Hoping to pull that together money and time permitting.

-Registering for Botany 1 this fall.

-Made a list of herbal & food galactagogues.

-Harvested and in the midst drying a small batch of red clover.

-Studied marshmallow, elder, elecampane, meadowsweet & vitex.

-Tried my first herbal Ghee! MMMM!! (Putting on the must make list!)

-Made a supply list. Need to buy a stash of alcohol, bulk honey, containers, etc. as I have used up every last drop of menstruum's in the house this past weeked! Of course there's much, MUCH more potions and goody making to be had this summer! I also need a couple of random things like another blender, large glass jars and a new cutting board. A sun hat and a harvesting basket for treks through meadows & woods is also on the list among other random items!

-Made a reading list of herb related books I want to read for the duration of my apprenticeship.