Of all the adaptogenic herbs that have made their way from traditional medicine into modern practice, eleuthero has one of the most interesting backstories. It was not originally sought out for its virtues. It was found because another plant ran out.
When Panax ginseng became increasingly scarce due to overharvesting in the mid-20th century, Soviet…
Ashwagandha is one of the most studied adaptogenic herbs in the world, and one of the most frequently misunderstood when it comes to expectations. People try it for a few days, feel nothing obvious, and assume it is not working. Others notice something subtle in the first week and wonder if they are imagining it.…
There is a plant growing in courtyards across India that has been tended with reverence for more than three thousand years. Families place it near their doorways. Temples keep it in sacred pots. Grandmothers steep its leaves for feverish children and anxious minds alike. Its name in Sanskrit means "the incomparable one," and to the…
Infused olive oil sits at one of the most satisfying intersections in herbal practice: the place where culinary craft and plant medicine meet. It is simple enough to make in a home kitchen with no special equipment, versatile enough to use across everything from pasta to salad dressings to topical applications, and deeply rooted in…
Rhodiola rosea has survived in some of the harshest environments on Earth for millennia, clinging to rocky slopes and arctic cliffs from Siberia to Scandinavia. It is a plant shaped by extreme conditions, and according to centuries of traditional use and a growing body of modern research, it may help the people who use it…
Making your own herbal tinctures is one of the most practical and rewarding skills you can develop as an herbalist. Tinctures are concentrated liquid herbal extracts that capture a broad spectrum of an herb's active constituents in a stable, easy-to-dose, and long-lasting format. They are faster to make than many people expect, require minimal equipment,…
If you have ever stood in the herbal supplement aisle looking at sleep aids, you have almost certainly encountered valerian root. It appears in sleep teas, capsules, tinctures, and combination formulas with a consistency that reflects something important: this herb has been helping people sleep for a very long time, and it continues to be…
Few herbs in the world carry as much history, research, and popular attention as ashwagandha. Known botanically as Withania somnifera, this small woody shrub has been a cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine for more than 3,000 years. In Sanskrit, its name translates loosely as the smell of a horse, a reference both to its distinctive aroma…
If there is one flower that herbalists have turned to again and again across centuries and continents, it is calendula. With its warm golden petals and gently resinous scent, Calendula officinalis has earned a permanent place in herbal medicine kits, kitchen gardens, and apothecary shelves around the world. And for good reason.
People often ask…