2025 Herbal Gift Guide

I’m so excited to share some of our favorite things! These are all great gifts you can gift to your loved ones, or you can let your loved ones know exactly what you actually want!

Before we jump in, in case you might also like to make gifts – we’ve got that too! Check out the Herbal Activity Calendar for gift ideas & recipes you can make! There are ideas throughout the month of December, so scroll back in time if you missed any!

(There are also herbal strategies for dealing with holiday stress ❤️️)

Alright, let’s get gifty!!!

This year i tried to choose things that are practical AND delightful – and most importantly, stuff that you (or your gift receivers!) will use every single day. That’s what makes the ideal gift, right? Stuff that makes a real impact in someone’s life ❤️️

So let’s kick it off with my #1, everybody-needs-it, this-makes-drinking-tea-so-much-easier gift:

You need this strainer straw

Whether you’re giving tea to friends or looking for a treat for yourself, ​the JoGo strainer straw is my favorite thing all year​. They made it for coffee, but it’s soooo good for tea!

No more stuffing (and cleaning!) linen tea bags, no more wire mesh strainers that don’t actually strain it all, no more janky tea balls: just throw the herbs into a cup loose, then use this straining straw – done! And it’s super easy to clean too! Srsly, this is my favorite herb-related anything in a long time!

Really Good Teas

If you’re a fan of Black, Green, and White teas – that is, Camellia sinensis, then you will love ​Rakkasan Tea Company​. They’re way beyond ethically sourced: they are helping farmers in war zones and post-conflict regions to rebuild their lives. Plus, their tea is amazing! They do also carry some herbals, and they have some very fun black/green tea – herbal fusion blends too – check out the sampler packs!

---

​Flourish Herbals​ is run by Erica Kuhlmeier, a student in our Community Herbalist program and Herbal Business program veteran! The brick and mortar shop is in Garden City, Kansas, but you don’t have to road trip, Erica will send it directly to you! She’s got some really gorgeous herbal blends, and every single one is delicious! (Check out all the other stuff too, but srsly, the tea is amazing!)

---

​Bellebrook Botanicals​ is run by Monica Pastrana, Herbal Business Program veteran, and also makes some particularly lovely herbal teas. While you’re there, pick up an herbal infused honey to go with it!

---

---

Stuff for herbnerds

The #1 best gift for anyone who loves herbs is more education, obviously! You can gift any of our courses (or you can ask your loved ones to gift YOU any of our courses) – it’s easy! In the checkout process, just check the “this is a gift” box – you’ll see new fields pop up so you can enter the recipient’s email address, name, and a gift message. If they already have an account with us, it’ll be magically added to their account. If not, a new account will be created for them and they’ll get login details included in their gift message.

And you can absolutely positively send the link to the courses you want to the people who love you – just tell them to click the this is a gift box, and give them the email address that’s on your account! They get to give you a gift you really want, you get an excellent herbal education!

---

You know we love herbs, and you know we love science – if that’s you too, why not a science-herb-nerd gift?

Raven Hanna is a student in our Community Herbalist program, and makes ​jewelry with the molecular structure of herbal constituents​ – especially a lot of the molecules responsible for the medicinal actions of herbs!

You’ll find molecules for phytochemicals in Catnip (above), Garlic, Cayenne, Cacao, Camilla sinensis, and more! It’s such a fun way to show you love herbs AND science!

---

Want to turn your phone back into a tool (instead of a distraction!)? Want to make sure that when you have a few minutes, you’re staying on track with your herbal studies instead of oops, scrolling social media? We love our Brick – it’s a tool to block apps you want to spend less time on, and it’s much more effective than the in-phone timer tools because in order to override the apps you’ve blocked, you actually have to stand up and walk to wherever your brick is (ours is on the fridge) and “beep” your phone – inertia bets you’ll just stay put and study your herbs instead! (Obviously, you would list commonwealthherbs.com as always allowed, so that you can study anytime!)

---

Teapots & Mugs

​ForLife makes my favorite teapots​, hands down. They have excellent super fine strainers so your tea never has floaty bits, and they are SUPER CUTE OMG. They have curvy ones, stout ones, and glass ones, all in fun colors: we have one of each type and i love them so much!

You can also find the strainers individually on their website, as well as fancy mug-strainer sets.

​Mountain Rose Herbs has curated a really nice selection of cast iron teapots​ in various sizes – including “i want to drink a lot of tea”, not just the little ones!

---

Clinical Consultations

Yes! You can gift a Student Clinic session! Student Clinic sessions are 90 minutes long, and can be about anything! Whatever health issue you or a loved one needs support with! They’re run by our most advanced Clinical Mentorship students, and we review every case with them – so you’re getting their support and ours too!

Student Clinic sessions are $50, and they’re a great way to offer herbal support to your loved ones for issues that are not yet in your scope of practice (or just that you don’t want to work on because sometimes that’s just kind of awkward! that’s ok!!)

To gift a session, send us an email at info@commonwealthherbs.com and let us know who you are gifting a session to. Then give them this link so that they can book a session at their convenience:

Book a Student Clinic Session here!

After their session, we’ll send you an invoice directly – they won’t have to do a thing except pick a time that works for them and show up!

Herby Treats

​Anja at Fat of the Land Apothecary​ makes really fancy stuff and every solstice, we like to get a bottle of her mushroom-infused maple syrup, which she makes entirely herself: from sap collection to mushroom collection to finished delicious syrup! You’ll find other lovely treats there too, but the mushroom maple syrup is our favorite!

---

​Taza Chocolate​ is one of our very favorite chocolate companies, made right here in Boston!

If you are looking for authentic drinking chocolate, they’ve got it, plus a lot of other great stuff. My favorite is the Toffee, Almond, Sea Salt bar, and ryn’s is the Vanilla disc together with the Wicked Dark (95% cacao!!).

---

It’s not exactly an herb, but we’re always talking about broth – because it really is so good for you. The problem is, usually when you need it (because you’re feeling cruddy), you have neither the time nor the energy to make it.

We like to keep some ​Brodo broth​ on hand for those times – it’s the only prepared broth i’ve had that is so good that it does gel up in the fridge! I like the Roasted Garlic & Chili best, ryn likes the Ginger Turmeric.

Gardening Stuff

Most of the seed companies that i like best also offer gift certificates, so you can help someone start their garden off right – or of course, you can ask for gift certificates for your own garden too! Here are my three favorite seed supply shops, with direct links to their gift certificate options:
​Fedco Seeds Gift Certificate​
​High Mowing Seeds Gift Certificate​ ​
Seed Savers Gift Certificate​

You really only need three garden hand tools – at least, that’s what i think! Here are my three indispensibles:

​A small trowel – i have the Heavy Duty Digging Trowel from Fedco​. We live in a region that is made of rocks, and i haven’t managed to bend this thing yet – they really mean it when they say it’s bend-proof!

---

---

The other tool i can’t live without is a sickle – i have the ​Gardener’s Sickle from Scythe Supply​ and y’all, i love it. Also, i have abused the heck out of it and it’s still going. (it’s a little way down the page)

---

---

---

And last, a garden knife, or a hori hori, will do basically all the rest! Fedco Seeds (above) has a good one in their tools section, but ​i usually just use my Fireknife​ (which is conveniently bright orange so i can’t lose it in the dirt. also, it can start fires – hori horis can’t do that!).

---

Books!

It’s true: 82% of the herbal books on the market currently are “AI” slop. That’s not awesome! But there are some really good books out there!

In general i don’t recommend a huge herbal library until you have some solid education, because books don’t give you a complete system for understanding herbalism – they’re better as supplements after you have some context and confidence. But there are some very handy books on specific topics, and there are also some books that i think are essential reading for folks who want to be herbalists working with other people:

​The Botanical Safety Handbook​ – it’s spendy but if you’re going to work with people, it’s smart. Ask someone to gift it to you!

---

​Herbal Constituents​ by Lisa Ganora – if you enjoy phytochemistry, this is a very good book. It’s not intimidating! You can definitely read this!

---

---

​Botany in a Day​ by Tom Elpel – if you are looking for a way to get better at plant identification, this is the best book for it. It’s broken down into plant families, which is brilliant, because that way you’re looking for the broad indicators first, and narrowing down from there. That makes the whole process easier.

---

---

​Following the Botanical Harvest​ by Ann Armbrecht – learn more about where herbs come from and the industry around getting herbs to you. This book is really helpful for understanding the broader impact of our herbal actions!

---

---

​Diary of a Midwife: the Martha Ballard Story​ by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich – don’t practice herbalism without this book. It’s not about formulas or even explicitly herbal medicine – it’s about the ancestral work of the care of others, in all its beauty and in all its challenge.

---

---

​The Spell of the Sensuous​ by David Abram – another book about practicing the care of others, but from a very different perspective. there is undeniably a bit of magic in what we do, or ritual, or ceremony – even if it’s a consultation over Zoom. the magic is in the way we motivate, the way we collaborate…

Don’t forget about writing your own book! We did a whole series about that in November, breaking the process out step by step. This isn’t about writing a book that you’re going to publish to sell, it’s about writing the perfect herb book FOR YOU, so that you have everything you need in a portable format that doesn’t require internet access or electricity. You can find the entire exercise in the ​Herbal Activity Calendar across the month of November​, and i’m also adding the whole process to our ​Herbal Study Tips free course​!

There are so many amazing journals to use for this project, but two that we love are:

• the Leuctturm weather-proof journal
• and lovely linen journals from Hemlock & Oak

Charitable Gifts

If you’re giving gifts but can’t think of something that your loved one really needs, why not charitable gifts? You can make a donation in their name! You could come up with your own personal 2025 Holiday Tea Blend, and gift a small bag to everyone along with the information about the charitable donation that you made on their behalf. Here are some great options:

Feeding America – Food is such an important part of health and care – so it’s natural for herbalists to want to make sure that everyone is getting enough to eat! ​

World Central Kitchen is another way to do that, specifically related to disaster response.

Alliance for Period Supplies – Many herbalists specialize in women’s health, and if that’s you, then the alliance for period supplies might be a great organization for you to support!

If your area of interest is in families with children, Donors Choose might be up your alley! most teachers pay for school supplies, including food for children who don’t have enough to eat, out of their own pocket – this is a way to support specific classrooms & teachers with exactly what they need!

Want more options? Try this action suggester to find places to donate, volunteer, and more.

We’re wishing you a lovely December and herby holidays!
love and chamomile,
katja & ryn