Herbs with Rosalee

Part of the joy of working with herbs is knowing how to best work with herbal medicinals. There are advantages to making your own herbal preparations, but there are a lot of beginner mistakes to avoid when making herbal medicinals at home.

In this episode, I am joined by my friend and fellow herbalist, Emily Han, to share the pros and cons of herbal teas vs. herbal tinctures.

We’ll also share how you can get clear, step-by-step recipes for both a tea and a tincture made with stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) so that you can make the best herbal medicinals at home!

Show Snippet: “Home medicine makers often make tinctures too weak. For example, they don’t use enough plant material or don’t finely chop the plants so the ratio of plants to alcohol is very high. We see a lot of pretty photos on social media that in reality, are very weak and poor herbal medicines.” (Podcast Timestamp: 11:03)

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

Cleavers (Galium aparine) is fun to play with, fun as a bracelet, fun to stick on somebody's back…yet it has gentle, but powerful medicinal gifts, as well. Listen in as I explore the many benefits of cleavers with Angela Rahim. You’ll also receive Angela’s kid-friendly recipe for a cleavers omelette.

Angela Rahim is an herbalist, permaculturist and the author of the children's herbal adventure series called Sam: The Junior Herbalist. She's the mother of seven and resides in Ohio.

Listen in for:

► Making it fun for children to work with herbs

► Soothing irritated skin with cleavers

► Getting to know easily overlooked herbs

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“When I go to visit my family in Baltimore and I walk around the neighborhoods, I see chicory, I see cleavers, I see chickweed, I see plantain. And I'm like, ‘So many people walk past these plants on a daily basis and they really don't know what gems they have.’”

It was a joy to connect with Angela and I’m delighted to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

Listen in to the holistic healing journey of my soul sister, Cathy Skipper, and the part yerba mansa played after she received a diagnosis of cervical cancer just one day after moving to a new continent. You’ll also receive access to Cathy’s guided audio journey, a downloadable meditation you experience, accompanied by yerba mansa.

Cathy Skipper is an herbalist, aromatherapist, teacher and wounded healer. After living and working in the herbal world in France for 25 years, she came to live in Taos, New Mexico in 2015 where she lives and works with her husband, holistic psychiatrist Dr. Florian Birkmayer. Together, they run a private practice that combines aromas and Jungian analysis. They also have a school called AromaGnosis where they use a powerful combination of aromas, Jungian psychology and personal journeying to help students deepen their relationship with themselves and learn to navigate and understand the power of the unconscious realms.

Listen in for:

► How Cathy was led to yerba mansa (Timestamp: 13:11)

► Why it’s important to incorporate all aspects of the self when you’re healing (Timestamp: 18:02)

► An important consideration for essential oils (Timestamp: 29:56)

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“By really spending all this time in nature and connecting to the plants… what they taught me was that I needed to know my own signature, not just to understand the plants and their signature and what they know, but I needed to know who I was and my sense of belonging. [Plants] have been my best teachers about what I needed to do to heal myself.” (Timestamp: 35:05)

I loved spending time with Cathy and I’m excited to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

Ginger has so many gifts! Ginger is an herb that has a strong presence in my life, one I work with often. Listen in as I explore the many benefits of ginger with clinical herbalist and nutritionist, Camille Freeman. You’ll also receive Camille’s recipe for Warming Autumn Tea, a fresh ginger tea with cinnamon that is perfect for cold and flu season, whether you enjoy it at the first sign of a tickle in your throat or as an accompaniment to a good book on one of those cozy winter days.

Camille has been in practice since 2003 with a focus on fertility and menstrual health. She mentors other highly-trained herbalists who need help with complicated cases and/or with building and growing their practices. Camille is also a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Herbal Medicine at the Maryland University of Integrative Health, where she teaches physiology and pathophysiology online. She holds a doctoral degree in clinical nutrition from MUIH, as well as masters' degrees in physiology/biophysics from Georgetown and herbal medicine from MUIH.

Listen in for:

► Why ginger is one of Camille’s five desert island herbs (Timestamp: 07:30)

► How to work with ginger for menstrual cramps (Timestamp: 11:27)

► How simple, easy things can make a big difference (Timestamp: 32:37)

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“One of the things that I've noticed with my clients is that, especially during COVID times, there's an awful lot of sitting going on... And I found that there's pelvic stagnation that can go along with that and I really love ginger in that context. I feel like it has a specific affinity for the hips and the pelvic area.” (Timestamp: 08:39)

It was a delight to speak with Camille and I’m excited to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

Thyme is a potent antibacterial and antiviral herb, one of my favorites for respiratory congestion, and I am so excited to bring you this conversation about thyme with Maia Toll. You’ll also receive Maia’s recipe for thyme za’atar, which is a delicious way to enjoy thyme with eggs, bread, fish, pasta, veggies, salads… almost anything, really.

Maia is the author of the best selling and award-winning Wild Wisdom Series including The Illustrated Herbiary, The Illustrated Bestiary, The Illustrated Crystallary and The Wild Wisdom Companion. The seed for this series was planted when Maia apprenticed with a traditional healer in Ireland where she spent extensive time studying the growing cycles of plants, the alchemy of medicine making, and the psycho-spiritual aspects of healing. Maia’s books build on this foundation, eloquently translating patterns and metaphors from the natural world to help modern seekers understand and grow within their own lives. She also owns an herb shop called Herbiary, with locations in Asheville, Philadelphia, and online.

Listen in for:

► How thyme saved Maia’s mom from having to cancel her travel plans (Timestamp 12:19)

► Tips for working with thyme (Timestamps 16:35 and 23:00)

► The benefits of embracing a cyclical timeline (Timestamp 31:49)

► Maia’s advice for finding the middle ground as an herbalist (Timestamp 35:29)

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“I was a clinical herbalist for over a decade, and the more you are working in something, the deeper your knowledge goes... Thyme is kind of the regular friend and anytime anything comes up, that's what I reach for.” (Timestamp: 11:39)

I loved spending time with Maia and I’m delighted to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

If you were to walk away knowing only one thing about Calendula’s many herbal gifts, it would be that there are countless benefits of calendula flowers for the skin! It heals wounds, relieves inflammation, increases beneficial immune responses, is mildly antimicrobial, and even protects the skin from radiation damage. In this video I’m sharing in-depth information about calendula and showing you how to make calendula oil.

Show Snippet: “Calendula improves elasticity and skin hydration. I recommend frequently using calendula creams on your skin to keep it healthy, soft, and pliable.” (Timestamp: 3:44)

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

I am so excited to bring you this conversation about rosemary, the queen of antioxidants, with brilliant herbalist and teacher, Christophe Bernard. In this episode, Christophe is sharing a wonderful way that you can enjoy the wonderful, aromatic taste of rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) with roasted or barbecued food, while at the same time, helping to buffer the oxidative stress which results when we eat that yummy, browned food.

If you’re not already familiar with Christophe, he lives in southern France (Provence) where he spends his time picking, growing and recommending herbs as a health practitioner. He has written three books and teaches at one of the oldest herbal schools in France. He also offers a set of online classes on how to make and use herbal preparations. His blog AltheaProvence has become a reference for plant lovers around the French-speaking world.

You’ll come away charmed by the story of Christophe’s journey to herbalism, his enthusiasm, and his willingness to keep learning. You'll also discover the many gifts of rosemary and receive Christophe’s recipe for Rosemary Deglazing and BBQ Spray, along with several tips and variations for making it.

Listen in for:

► How embracing humility and imperfection and remaining open to new information can produce big results (Timestamps 08:44 and 35:26)

► Tips for working with rosemary, including tasty flavor combinations for a tea that’s brimming with protective antioxidants (Timestamp 20:29)

► A classic beginner’s mistake that you can avoid (Timestamp 39:05)

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“To me, rosemary represents resistance and resilience, survival. When you see it growing in this little crack of a rock, I mean, there's no soil, there's nothing, and it's not raining during the summer here. And yet that rosemary is growing and it's aromatic. What it gives back is just so strong and amazing and I really studied that plant because it seemed to be doing a lot of things as an anti-inflammatory.” (Timestamp: 14:35)

It was such a pleasure to spend time with Christophe and I’m delighted to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

The cooling energy of chickweed (Stellaria media) can help to bring relief from hot flashes and other “hot” conditions, such as some infections. Ubiquitous, mineral-rich, and deeply nourishing, chickweed cools and moistens, moving heat and stagnation gently, yet powerfully.

Join me as I discuss chickweed’s many gifts with Kat Maier RH, (AHG). The founder and director of Sacred Plant Traditions, Kat has trained many clinical herbalists who have gone on to to begin other schools, apothecaries or open practices. Her training as a Physician’s Assistant allows her to weave the language of biomedicine into her practice of traditional energetic herbalism. You’ll also receive Kat’s recipe for Meno-ease, an herbal tincture which she describes as one of her most reliable remedies to help with cooling temps from hot flashes.

Listen in for:

► How chickweed works on boundaries to help heal conditions such as cysts or fibroids

► How patterns of nature inform the practice of herbalism

► Kat’s easy-to-follow words of advice for people just beginning to work with herbal medicine

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“When you learn the energetics, you can work with plants in so many different levels… I really love just taking one plant and really seeing how far we can explore with it.” (Timestamp: 43:54)

It was a huge pleasure to spend time with Kat and I’m excited to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here. 

New England Aster (Symphyotrichum Novae-angliae) has so many gifts to offer!

As a trophorestorative herb, we can work with it to strengthen lung health. In concert with other herbs, it can also help to soothe seasonal allergies. Our hearts sing to behold the brilliant splashes of purple and fuchsia with which New England Aster paints the autumn landscape, flowers that also provide a late-season food source to pollinators.

Join me as I discuss New England Aster with artist, permaculture designer, herbalist, and druid, Dana O’Driscoll. You’ll also receive Dana’s recipe for New England Aster Glycerite.

Listen in for:

► Why embodied experience trumps book-learning as we get to know herbs

► The importance of observation and developing reciprocal relationships with plants

► How herbs teach us to think of medicine and healing in a broader sense

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

“The plants work on every level of us… They work on our physical bodies, they work on our hearts, our emotions, they work on our minds, they work on our spirits, they work on our connections with the world and with others. And as soon as we recognize that that is all plant medicine, every part of it, then I feel like we can really start to understand these plants.” (Timestamp: 29:48)

It was such a delight to spend time with Dana and I’m excited to share our conversation with you!

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Get full show notes including a transcript of this episode at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.