Ryn Midura
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is one of the simplest herbs to work with, and one of the safest. It’s an excellent herb for beginners to…
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Oh, the dandelions! One of our earliest flowers and one of the last to hang on at the end of the season, dandelions (Taraxacum spp.)…
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The southern prickly ash (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) and the eastern prickly ash (Z. americanum) are relatives of the Sichuan hot pepper (Z. simulans, Z. bungeanum). This…
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Wood betony is our Herb of the Week this time, and for this one you’ll want to make sure you check the botanical name, because…
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If you watch a cat who’s eaten some catnip (Nepeta cataria), you’ll observe that there’s an initial rolling-rubbing-wriggling response, usually followed by a bout of…
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Lion-Hearted Mother Imagine a mother whose child is having a terrible anaphylactic allergy attack, and is being rushed to the hospital. The mother stays close…
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Want to make herbal pink lemonade? Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina / R. hirta) is the herb for you! Sour Is Sweet In Summer’s Heat Staghorn…
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Continuing with our seaweed explorations from last week, this time we turn to the red seaweeds. Introducing the Reds First, who are we talking about?…
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Not all herbs live on the land! This week we’re featuring kelp, bladderwrack, and all the brown seaweeds. Minerals in Kelp Seaweeds are superfoods, if…
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Pain in your toe? It could be gout. This relatively common issue presents as recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory joint pain. The big toe is…
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Fiona Apple says, i’ve got my feet on the ground and i don’t go to sleep to dream. But, sometimes, you do. The Uses of…
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Who’s Afraid of Phytochemistry? part 1 of ? Don’t let the diagrams scare you! Don’t let the long names drive you away. Phytochemistry can…
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A good herbal joint liniment can make the difference between a slow, drawn-out, and incomplete healing process and one that proceeds quickly to complete recovery.…
Read MoreWhen someone starts to talk about detoxification or cleansing, I often find myself st[r]uck with a question: “What do you mean when you use that…
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Even the most assiduous label-readers among us sometimes miss “barley malt” buried in an ingredients list, or trust the word of a well-meaning friend who’s…
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The most common way an herbalist can find herself in a court of law is by appearing, intentionally or unknowingly, to be practicing medicine without…
Read More[For the purposes of this discussion, let’s use fire cider to refer to the traditional herbal medicine preparation, “fire cider” to refer to the term,…
Read MoreOften, discussions of “women’s health” or “men’s health” are limited to the reproductive systems. When I teach about men’s reproductive health, I like to include…
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Eliminating food allergens from the diet can bring substantial relief from inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders such as IBS, Crohn’s disease, and celiac. These ill-tolerated foods –…
Read MoreIn short: first perceive, then reflect, then connect. In slightly-less-short: first, practice perceptive skills of intuition, interoception, and mindfulness; then, keep a record that accurately…
Read MoreHumans are very good at pattern recognition. We’re so good at it, in fact, that we “trick ourselves” into seeing familiar patterns in clouds or…
Read MoreReflection is a bending back. It requires some flexibility. Reflecting is intimately bound up with recording. If a recording does not reflect well its original,…
Read MoreWhen engaging in self-experimentation, there are certain skills that must be put into play in order to get useful results. First are the sensory skills…
Read MoreDiet and lifestyle changes are ideally made with the guidance of an experienced and trusted practitioner, but sometimes that’s impractical or impossible. Sometimes, you don’t…
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Katja’s recent article on the [mis]conception of “cure” in our culture reminded me of a related thought, one that comes to mind whenever I see…
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We all have stress. I have very few friends who aren’t working two jobs, or working while raising kids, or scraping by month to month,…
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Almost every herbalist I know has a “root beer” tea variation. Here’s mine (numbers are “parts”): 2 sarsaparilla 2 sassafras 2 ashwagandha 2 eleuthero 2…
Read MoreWe practice and teach Traditional Western Herbalism in the vitalist tradition. We believe that the strongest factor in healing is the body’s own spirit or…
Read MoreAn answer to the question: What is Traditional Western Herbalism? It is sometimes suggested, and often presumed, that the present practice of herbalism in the…
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