Latest Blog Posts

herbal preparations

Herbalism and the Law: The Practice of Medicine in Massachusetts

By Ryn Midura

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 a license; the evidence against the herbalist in cases of this nature tends to hinge on the use of certain restricted terms. (Roger Wicke has written an extensive and expertly-argued…

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Phoenix Cookies

By Katja Swift

Tonight, we’re teaching our Food Allergies for the Holidays class – we teach it every year, but every year the recipe list gets longer as we come up with more and more delicious holiday treats!

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Tapeworm? No problem!

By Katja Swift

Our dog… You know, some people love fine wines. Some people appreciate fancy truffle oil. Our dog, she loves goose poop. I don’t know what it is, but she seems to think it is the tastiest of all delicacies. Yuck. And of course, here in Boston, there’s no shortage of goose poop. Which makes Elsie…

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Tea of the Month: April

By Katja Swift

You can tell a lot about a person from what’s in their teacup. Here’s a peek into ours!

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Muffin Madness!

By Katja Swift

Love muffins? Tired of eggs and bacon for breakfast? Committed to sticking to your paleo* diet? Then you, my friend, have come to the right place.

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Trademarking Tradition: the Fire Cider® Controversy

By Ryn Midura

[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, and Fire Cider® to refer to the company who have trademarked the term.] Fire cider is a traditional preparation of various spicy and pungent herbs macerated in vinegar and honey.photo…

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Paleo Pumpkin Muffins!

By Katja Swift

It’s almost Thanksgiving and that means, among other things, PUMPKIN! Pie isn’t the only thing you can do with pumpkin – in fact, I like pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins much better. If you do too, here’s a great recipe – it can be bread or muffins depending on which baking implement you use! Start…

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Men’s Cycles and Self-Reliance

By Ryn Midura

Often, 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 an overview of common problems for men, because sexual function is dependent on the vitality of the rest of the body. But even before I get to that, I start…

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The Beauty of Imperfection and a Tea for Gracelessness

By Katja Swift

I teach, a lot. Life as a teacher essentially means being on stage, most of the time. My students and my clients have images of me in their minds, and I’m quite certain that those images are better than what I really am, or that they are taking their image of my Best Self and…

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Chamomile by Simon Blackley

Gut-Heal Tea

By Ryn Midura

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 – the gluten in wheat and other grains, the casein and lactose in dairy, and others – can initiate destructive processes that irritate the stomach lining, compromise the intestinal wall, and…

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