podcast

A listener asked us what would be our five favorite tinctures to have on hand, so this week we’re each going to share with you a list of herbs we just can’t live without! We talk a bit about each one’s virtues and the way we ourselves work with these herbs. Katja’s list: ghost pipe,…

Katja’s daughter Amber is off to summer camp this week, so she shares with you the list of things they packed into Amber’s herbal first aid kit. If you have kids headed off to camp – or are going to one yourself – you’ll want to listen in! Ryn muses on the capacity for receiving…

This week we share some practical first aid herbalism for burns and sprains. Whether you’re hiking far out in the woods or simply have an accident at home, these tips will help you take care of yourself effectively & naturally with herbs. A few resources for you: Dressing A Burn – this is the video…

Katja & Ryn discuss how these “exotic spices” came to be ubiquitous among Americans, and how we can learn from the history of plant trade, cultivation – including some bitter history and present affairs of colonization and slavery. We try to recognize and explore the chain of relationships between the farmers and ourselves, and give…

Ryn leads off this week with a discussion of herbal affinities – the ways in which herbs may be centered in their effects on a particular organ or type of tissue in the body – and how these can help you make good herbal choices or make more effective formulas. Katja shares some thoughts about…

This week Katja had a bit of back pain, and has some thoughts to share with you about how this can happen an what to do about it. From mindset management to gentle movements for the release of tension and improving alignment, of course with the support of herbs, here are a few quick tips…

Katja this week reflects on a bit of wisdom surrounding downtime, and on the ways in which stress management can sometimes be the most difficult of our fundamental pillars of health, or the one that gets sacrificed first. Ryn shares his love of jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum), a particularly excellent adaptogen for the dry and tense…

Katja shares a hard-fought lesson: that health is not equivalent to merit, and that as herbalists it’s important for us to stay away from idea that there is A Right Way and We Know It. Instead our role should be to offer a wide variety of tools to try that can help build greater resilience,…

Since it’s Herbstalk’s 2018 Herb of the Year, Katja wants to finally give Tulsi its due with a quick monograph for you today! As promised last time, Ryn shares an exercise in herbal formulation: attempting to re-create the actions and qualities of an herb you don’t have, by mixing together several other herbs. We each…

After seeing Rising Appalachia the other night, Katja wanted to sing! She sang so much she gave herself a sore throat. So today she’ll tell you all about her favorite herbs for soothing sore throats! Ryn breaks down a couple of “classic cancer cure-all” formulae you may have heard of: Hoxsey and Essiac. He talks…

Katja shares her thoughts on herbal supports for those who are coping with eating disorders. Herbs can help reduce anxiety, center us in the body, stimulate appetite, and make it easier to manage cravings. Ryn gives you some guidelines for building a warming, relaxing herbal muscle rub. This will help speed recovery after an intense…

Ryn describes a method you can use to expand your understanding of energetics by comparing ailment profiles and the herbs recommended for them in our book. If you love lists, this is for you! Katja shares her best strategies for getting through a day when you wake up feeling zonked – from uncoffee to yerba mate formulation…