In this video you’ll see me make a drinking vinegar, commonly known as a “shrub” or technically an acetracta (vinegar extraction.) These are tasty ways to get the medicinal benefits of herbs in a palatable package.
Celilo Health Category Archive: garden medicine
the forgotten garden flavor
How often do you think of lavender as a flavor? It’s been largely forgotten, but it offers important healing benefits for gut and mental health.
rites of spring: rose petal honey
It’s full-bloom time here in the City of Roses. Which means I’m munching on flowers. Did you know that rose petals are edible? Some taste better than others, and all are somewhat astringent. But the best ones carry both the rose fragrance and flavor. (Try them! Just...
the happy medicine of spring violets
Every year there’s one particular plant that grabs my attention and won’t let go. I’ll start seeing it everywhere. And I get excited in that way you do when you have a new friend — even if it’s an old friend. So far this year violets are my jam. There have been at...
herbal steams for respiratory health
If you’ve watched my herbal origin story video, you know that thyme is one of my secret weapons for colds and flus — any kind of stuck or infected issue in the upper or lower respiratory tract. Steaming with thyme is one of my go-tos in the clinic, and one of the key...
herb and garden book roundup
At the end of a talk I gave the other day about gardening with medicinal plants, a lovely woman came up to me afterward to ask about books. If I could only have one herb book after the apocalypse/revolution/peak oil, etc., she asked, which book would it be? Book geek...
Thyme for flavor and health
New Year’s day was as one of those perfect Pacific Northwest winter days — 45 degrees, misty and soft. The kind of day that smells and feels like earth. My garden is pretty much hibernating. A long spell of deep cold knocked back the last of my greens. There’s a...
top 10 garden medicines
A spring planting guide while you’re planning what to plant Gardeners have a big advantage during deep darkness of a northwest winter: We get to pore over garden books and catalogs that offer shards of sunlight and whiffs of spring. Dreaming about striped tomatoes,...
six great reasons to start gardening
My favorite seed catalog came in today’s mail. What's new for 2010: organic Floriani red flint corn, green meat radish, Bolivian rainbow pepper, purple pac choy, ruby streaks mustard. This is why I started gardening – I was awed by the incredible diversity of life I...