Comfrey has an old country name that gives away exactly what it does - Knitbone. It's a plant that goes to the site of a break and starts mending it from the inside out. In this episode, that's the doorway we will step through. What does it mean to be the one in a community who knits, and how can we bring all parts of a community together to create real healing, not the kind that's imposed from outside, but the kind that's called up from within the break itself?

Comfrey offers us the wisdom of strength built through weave rather than rigidity, autonomy held together with interdependence, and relationship with the parts of ourselves that we may have deemed "enemy." In this episode, we sit with an old myth, one that mirrors this same work of mending a broken world with many different, imperfect parts rather than any single fix. From there, we'll turn to the body itself, walking through what comfrey actually offers as an herbal ally, along with an honest look at what the research shows about its gifts and its real, precise limits. And we'll close, as always, with some questions to carry into your own journal.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

In this episode we're talking about Peppermint (Mentha piperita), an herb that has been growing alongside rivers and roadsides and in the gardens of healers for thousands of years. She is at once warming and cooling, stimulating and settling, ancient and utterly familiar. She is the taste of a childhood summer and a sophisticated medicinal ally. Like the best rivers, she meets you exactly where you are.

She doesn't ask whether you're ready to be soothed, she just runs cool and clear and does her work. In this episode we'll open with a poem about the kind of homecoming only water and simplicity can offer, explore the psychospiritual gifts of this remarkable plant, visit her origin story in Greek mythology, and talk about what she actually does in the body — because this humble, abundant, everywhere herb is doing far more than freshening your breath. Come sit by the river, and mint, with me for a while.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

There is a plant that grows at the water's edge — pale-flowered, quiet, unassuming — that has been tending to human bodies and human hearts for thousands of years. She chooses the margins, the soft ground, the places where land meets water and the world slows down. Her name, Althaea officinalis, comes from the Greek word althainein — to heal. And she has been doing exactly that since ancient Egypt pressed her roots into honey as one of the first medicinal preparations we have documented and ancient Greeks planted her above their beloved dead as an act of continuing love.

This episode is an invitation to learn from her as a teacher of a different way of moving through the world. Marshmallow root is a plant of softness, moisture, rootedness, and devotion. She coats what is raw, feeds what is depleted, and shows up quietly at the hardest thresholds. In a culture that often mistakes hardness for strength, she offers a different proposition entirely: that softness is medicine and tending is love.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

Botanical & Historical

Constituent Science & Clinical Research

Prebiotic & Gut Research

Mythology & Cultural History

Energetics & Traditional Use

This episode is an invitation to be peeled. We begin with a poem about shedding the false skins we wear for the world — the polished, acceptable versions of ourselves — and descending into the dark long enough to let only what is true remain. From there we turn to the plant that knows this process better than almost any other: the onion. Humble, pungent, layered, and ancient, the onion has lived in human hands and human healing traditions for five thousand years.

We also explore the onion as an herbal ally, diving into the traditional and contemporary understanding of what this extraordinary plant supports in the body — from the lungs and the immune system to the heart and the gut. We talk about quercetin, mast cells, histamine, and why you should never throw away your red onion skins. Journal questions are offered at the end to help you take the episode inward.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

Herbal History & Traditional Use

Quercetin & Mast Cell Stabilization

Quercetin & Cardiovascular Support

Onion as Prebiotic & Gut Support

Rumi & the Persian Sufi Poetic Tradition

In this episode, we enter the wide open heat of the Sonoran Desert with one of its most ancient and sovereign presences: Creosote Bush, Larrea tridentata — known in the desert borderlands as La Gobernadora, the Governess. She is the most common shrub across three North American deserts, the most drought-tolerant plant on the continent, and by some estimates, one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. And yet most people drive past her without a second glance. This episode is an invitation to stop the car and meet her.

Together, we explore Creosote as a teacher of guardianship, resilience, and faithful presence — a plant who governs not through dominance, but through an unwavering commitment to life in desolate places. We sit with the Tohono O'odham creation story in which she is the first plant to rise from the newly made earth, and we honor the living Indigenous peoples whose deep relationship with this land and this plant long precedes our own. From the psycho-spiritual to the deeply practical, we move through Creosote's remarkable gifts to the body — her antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory support, her affinity for the respiratory system, and her role as an indispensable desert first-aid ally. Journal questions, preparation methods, and an honest conversation about safety and contraindications are woven throughout. 🌿

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

We’ll explore nettle’s prickly wisdom around boundaries and containment, drawing from Celtic sovereignty myth and the powerful image of the guarded well. What does it mean to approach life — and ourselves — with clarity instead of hesitation? How do we protect what is still becoming? From poetic reflection to practical ways of working with nettle as infusion, food, and seasonal ally, this episode invites you to rise slowly, nourish deeply, and cultivate a sustainable aliveness as we move into spring. 🌿

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

TW: I briefly mention violence and death in the myth section of the episode.

Together, we explore Dandelion as a teacher of resilience, discernment, and nourishment. We talk about bitterness as a language the body understands, the plant’s long relationship with digestive and liver pathways, and the subtle ways Dandelion supports movement—both in the soil and within us. This episode also invites you into practical, everyday relationship with the plant: working with root, leaf, and flower, tending a home apothecary, and noticing where well-worn love already exists in your life.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Sign up for my email newsletter – Botanical Bulletin.

It’s the heart of winter here in the northern hemisphere. The holiday decorations are being taken down, the celebrations have passed, and yet the days are still long and shadowed. Even as the sunlight slowly begins to return, it can feel distant—something we long for more than something we can fully feel. This is the season that teaches us contrast: how darkness sharpens our awareness of light, how quiet invites reflection, and how life on this planet moves in cycles of retreat and return.

In this month's episode of Remedy & Rhyme, we’re spending time with Calendula—a humble sun-keeper of the plant world. Across cultures, there are figures who don’t defeat the dark but walk within it carrying light: Persephone, Brigid, Hecate, Amaterasu. They remind us that illumination isn’t always blazing or obvious. Sometimes it’s stored, tended, protected. Calendula belongs to that lineage, offering warmth, resilience, and gentle support through the long night. Together, we’ll explore this golden flower as both a physical ally and a spiritual guide, and what it means to tend our inner hearth when the world feels cold.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

Bee Balm is fiery, fragrant, and wildly alive! It is one of those plants that feels like it’s mid-dance the moment you meet it. With blossoms that unfurl like tiny galaxies or bursts of flame, Monarda carries the unmistakable energy of movement and transformation. In this episode of Remedy & Rhyme, we explore Bee Balm’s personality, its psycho-spiritual gifts, and the way its spiral-like structure invites us into our own expansion.

We’ll also explore Bee Balm’s more body-centered offerings—its warming aromatics, its comforting presence for the breath, and its long-standing use by Indigenous peoples across these lands. From teas and steams to simple daily rituals, Bee Balm shows us how to embrace the multifaceted aspects of our being. Join me as we sit with this exuberant plant, listen for what she stirs in our bodies and hearts, and connect her spiraling shape with the ways we navigate our own cycles of expression, release, and renewal.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Follow me on Instagram at @joyfulroots or sign up for my email Botanical Bulletin.

In this episode, we’ll explore Rue (Ruta graveolens) and what it means to see clearly in an age clouded by noise — where media, politics, and consumerism all compete for our attention, and clarity becomes a form of rebellion. Rue reminds us that to see clearly is also to live truthfully, even when that truth makes us a heretic in the eyes of others. Together, we’ll explore Rue’s mythic threads, her modern uses, and her call to reclaim our own holy land — the sacred ground of body, mind, and heart that belongs only to us.

Your support is a gift that keeps this podcast running! If you’d like to support the ongoing creation of this podcast and get access to exclusive content like articles, herbal recipes, plant monographs, and behind-the-scenes musings, join the community over on Patreon: 🌱 www.patreon.com/joyfulroots

You can also support the podcast by trying my favorite matcha: Posana Matcha. 🌿 Certified Organic 🌿 Third-party tested for heavy metals 🌿 Single origin from Shizuoka, Japan 🌿 Smooth, pure, and powerful—perfect for daily rituals.

I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: [email protected]. For more information and a list of plants, click here.

🌀 Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a medical doctor or licensed health professional, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. The information provided has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with a qualified healthcare provider about any potential herb-drug interactions or health concerns. If you experience an allergic reaction to any herb, discontinue use and consult a professional. You are the steward of your own body—listen with curiosity, and honor your intuition.

💚 Let’s connect! Follow me on Instagram at @joyfulroots or sign up for my email Botanical Bulletin.

The Herbarium at the Herbal Academy – Plant Monograph Archives: https://theherbalacademy.com/blog/tag/monograph/ Herbal Academy+1

Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism – Herbs A to Z course overview: https://www.matthewwoodinstituteofherbalism.com/course/herbs-a-to-z-materia-medica Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism+1

Ruta graveolens (Common Rue) plant profile, NC State: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ruta-graveolens/ Plant Toolbox

Ruta graveolens review / scholarly article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7340976/ pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Purpose of Rue: Unveiling the Mysteries of this Ancient Herb

Herb Rue: A Thorough Guide to Uses and Benefits