Catnip: Beneficial Herb for Humans and Cats + DIY Cat Toy Ideas
Nepeta cataria, commonly called catnip, is an ancient member of the mint family. It has been used in western folk practices for millennia, and is loved for its gentle, calming properties. Herbalists and parents often brew this child-friendly herb into a soothing tisane, but it can also be taken internally as a tincture. For topical use, catnip can be infused in oils, or used as an essential oil or hydrosol to bring an herbaceous, relaxing scent to body care products. Perhaps, however, catnip is best known as the herb most loved by our feline friends.
Native California Herbs & 5 Elements, with Athene Eisenhardt | Tea Talks with Jiling
Dr. Athene Eisenhardt, Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist, found her path in life by way of the plant world. Working professionally as a field botanist for Yosemite National Park led her to begin wildcrafting and using native California plants as medicine, and to study the Taoist 5 elements in nature. She maintains a private practice in Oakland, California, offering 5 Element Acupuncture and Integrative Herbalism. Athene is also on the Herbology faculty at the Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, CA.
Athene and Jiling discuss:
The Five Elements of East Asian medicine
How the five flavors relate to the Five Elements
Examples of native California plant and Five Elements’ interrelationships
How climate informs plant intelligence
Ethical harvesting of native plants
Some of Athene’s favorite plant meditations!
Oregano & St. John’s Wort Plant Walk | Featuring Shana Lipner Grover
This podcast episode is a combination of two plant profiles from a pre-recorded garden plant walk with clinical herbalist, field botanist, and nutrition educator, Shana Lipner Grover. Shana introduces us to two common and abundant garden plants: oregano and St. John’s wort. Shana teaches us how we can make functional medicine from the culinary and medicinal herbs that grow so easily outside our front (or back) doors.
Plant Stories | Featuring Alex Queathem Payne
Herbalist and educator Alex Queathem Payne joins us for an in-person interview after she toured the Mountain Rose Herbs facilities this past spring. Thomas and Alex discuss her naturalist upbringing, the ‘green’ lineage in her family, and her educational path, including her studies at the Columbines School of Botanical Studies. Alex tells us about her childhood connection with mint and her adulthood connection with skullcap. Learn some of the virtues of skullcap and how Alex loves to connect with this special plant and others.
Where Are They Now: 2022 Grants4Plants Recipients
In 2018, we launched Grants4Plants, a grant program that supports those that are improving the accessibility of herbalism and herbal education, protecting native and medicinal plants, ensuring the future of organic agriculture, and much more.
Each year, we receive hundreds of applications for inspiring projects across the country and are faced with the difficult task of narrowing them down to four of the best. Our favorite part of Grants4Plants is when we get to review the updated videos from the winners to see how winning the grant has improved their work and helped communities across the country. We hope you enjoy watching these inspiring videos.
Interviews on Herbal Radio with Thomas Dick | Featuring 7Song
We had the pleasure of interviewing our good friend and esteemed herbalist, 7Song. This conversation was recorded in the Winter of 2022. Learn about 7Song’s upbringing, his path and approach to herbalism, as well as his general advice to up and coming herbalists including practicing in a clinic. Humorous and entertaining, we hope you enjoy this meandering and wonderful conversation.
7Song is an herbal practitioner and Director of Holistic Medicine at the Ithaca Free Clinic and Founder, Director, and main instructor at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine. 7Song has been studying plants, people, and herbal medicine for over 30 years and currently teaches at schools and conferences throughout the United States. His focus includes herbal practice, free clinic work, first aid, wildcrafting, and botany. He also spends a lot of time taking photographs of things that run, crawl, fly, or photosynthesize.
Intro to Chinese Medicine, with Toby Daly | Tea Talks with Jiling
Toby began studying East Asian medicine in 1997 with Sunim Doam, a Korean monk trained in the Saam tradition. In 2016, he completed a PhD in Classical Chinese Medicine under the guidance of 88th generation Daoist priest Jeffrey Yuen. Toby just published his first book this April, “An Introduction to Chinese Medicine: A Patient’s Guide to Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Nutrition, & More”. It offers a concise overview of the landscape and therapeutic potential of traditional East Asian medicine.
Jiling and Toby discuss Chinese herbal medicine, nourishing life (yang sheng 養生) East Asian medicine seasonal considerations for diet and exercise, yin-yang, and more!
Visit Toby Daly at FlourishMedicine.com and ChineseNutritionApp.com
Mountain Rose Herbs is Celebrating a Leadership Transition
As many of you know, longtime owner, Shawn Donnille, returned to an active role as CEO of Mountain Rose Herbs at the beginning of 2020, just as the first Covid-19 cases were reaching Oregon. Like so many companies, we were deeply impacted by the realities of trying to do business during this time. Now, after navigating Mountain Rose through a radical restructuring, Shawn is able at last to step back and pass the day-to-day operations to two trusted, longstanding employees. We want to express our gratitude to him for being the driving force that pulled us through such trying times, and we want to let you know about the exciting leadership changes we’re making.
Culinary Herbs: The Benefits and Uses of Oregano
Some of our favorite healthful herbs are also our favorite culinary herbs. We recently spoke with our friend Shana Lipner Grover from Sage Country Herbs about one such aromatic: oregano. This beloved, age-old culinary herb does more than make our food taste wonderful—it has long been used to stimulate digestion and ease digestive discomfort. And if that’s not enough, oregano is also known for its support of the immune and respiratory systems.
You can make oregano into tea, infuse it in alcohol for tinctures or oil for salves, use it in foot soaks, and incorporate it into a steam that supports the lungs and sinuses when you need some relief. And best of all, almost everyone has a bottle of oregano already in the kitchen spice cupboard! Listen in with Shana to learn more about this special herbal ally.
Herbal Action Project, with Jesús Garcia | Tea Talks with Jiling
Jesús Garcia is a Mexican Shaman and Herbalist teaching the traditions of lineage work through botanica practices of curanderia and community spiritual herbalism. Jesús is an early childcare educator focusing on nature school fundamentals through holistic enrichment garden programs and is the founder of the Herbal Action Project, a nature play-school and community garden sanctuary.
Jiling and Jesús discuss herbal traditions, family root work, children’s botanical practices, and nourishing community connections.
