Sky House Herbs

In this episode, share an update with our moving situation and offer some of the teaching experiences I have been up to.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/bOmGj0faT3I 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

I also explore four ancestral ways of knowing plants: trial and error, storytelling and traditional use, dreams, and animism. Together, these offer a rich picture of herbal knowledge shaped by observation, community experience, imagination, and relationship.

I reflect on how scientific inquiry and more intuitive ways of knowing can live alongside one another, making room for both what we can measure and what we experience through connection.

In this episode, I share:

• How plants' ancient evolutionary history invites us to reconsider their intelligence and adaptability.

• How generations of observation helped communities recognize herbal uses and energetic qualities such as hot, cold, damp, and dry.

• Why stories and songs help us remember plant knowledge, and why honoring the cultural lineages carrying those teachings matters.

• My own dream encounter with violet and reflections on dreaming as a space for exploring our relationships with plants.

• How an animistic worldview invites us to experience the world as alive, interconnected, and relational.

• A simple bedtime intention and journaling practice for welcoming and remembering plant dreams.

If you'd like to explore the dream practice, keep a journal and pen beside your bed. Before sleep, set a sincere intention to meet a plant in your dreams and ask to learn something. Upon waking, write down whatever you remember, even if it is only an image, feeling, or fragment.

This is an invitation to bring curiosity and attention to the living world around you, and to notice what unfolds when you begin showing up!

Mentioned in this episode:

Fantastic Fungi, featuring mycologist Paul Stamets - https://fantasticfungi.com/pages/the-film 

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom 

Do you run hot at night, feeling wired, overheated, and too tense to settle into sleep?

After my last episode, a viewer pointed out that I often discuss herbs for cold, dry, depleted conditions, with less attention to those who run hot. I'm grateful for the nudge! In this episode, I turn toward cooling herbs and the different patterns that can keep us awake.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/XCu5X6aM--M 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

I also share a little about my own recent broken sleep, from being sick and holding tension in my neck to lying awake with one thought I couldn't put down.

In this episode, I explore:

- Recognizing the hot sleeper: How heat, restlessness, and tension can shape our experience of bedtime.

- Hops: For the night when you feel wired and overheated.

- Skullcap: For the feeling of having too many plates in the air and being unable to unwind.

- Motherwort: Exploring the pattern of heat, agitation, and a racing heart.

- Wild lettuce: For the night when there's one thought you can't seem to release.

- Dosing and safety: How I approach each herb, why I suggest trying one at a time, and why wild lettuce deserves extra care.

If hormonal changes are part of your experience, you can also explore my episodes on menopause and perimenopause here:

Herbs and Perimenopause: https://youtu.be/N84r_ImhHvY?si=y302fHBk7FzTsE9v

Herbs for Menopause: https://youtu.be/zixKWxjW324?si=q4TAHxoxhDFrUJnR

|

What keeps you awake at night? I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments.

Herbal safety: This video is educational and is not individual medical advice. Herbs can interact with medications, including sedatives, and some are unsuitable during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Please check with your pharmacist or prescriber before adding an herb, especially if you take prescription medications or other sleep supports.

#SleepHerbs #CoolingHerbs #HerbalistLife

Additional Resources:

Learn more about these herbs in my Herb of the Month episodes:

Hops - https://youtu.be/u8TQmChL9XQ?si=CnmaACPjvYxDK7A- (Hops starts at 22:27)

Skullcap - https://youtu.be/JbJzYWnIGfc?si=p_k1-MWK7zEyX88u

Motherwort - https://youtu.be/iQDa7xBmLqE?si=w8J-cIcBBnmTtIEh

Wild Lettuce - Three Herbs for Managing Overwhelm and Anger https://youtu.be/Veni4JknQyM?si=SHOPgSdoMbGQyYAU  (Wild Lettuce at minute 26:42) 

Lemon Balm - https://youtu.be/Hnk9RBtpMig?si=CzKkh1oGJmDgAx7F

All tinctures can be purchased from Herbalists and Alchemists - I have no affiliation with this company I just like their tinctures and glycerites!

https://herbalist-alchemist.com/

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom 

Eight showings, no offers, and one interested person. I'm still waiting, and this week I'm feeling how deeply depleting that can be.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/H9SO4PznHko 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

In this third episode of How to Wait, I share an honest update on selling our home and how the uncertainty has been showing up in my body. After another autumn bout of bronchitis, I'm asking what it means to rebuild my reserves while life is still unresolved.

In this episode, I explore:

● When waiting wears us down: Getting sick, needing prednisone and antibiotics, and the vulnerability of being an herbalist who also needs care.

● Recognizing depletion: What I noticed when I looked at my tongue and why it prompted me to slow down and replenish.

● Four tonic herbs: American ginseng, eleuthero, Panax ginseng, and rhodiola, and how I think about their different energetics.

● Everyday herbal support: Lemon balm in the morning, peppermint in the afternoon, chamomile at night, and the supports I'm using for sleep and neck tension.

● Messages from the flowers: Drawing the Flower and Aster cards from the Flower Speaks deck and reflecting on creative downtime and the difficult choices waiting asks of us.

If you're in a season of waiting too, how is it showing up in your body? What's helping you feel nourished and supported? I'd love to hear in the comments.

This episode follows Dividing What's Left and The Wild Is Watching in the How to Wait series.

Herbal safety: This video is educational and is not individual medical advice. Herbs can interact with medications, and some are unsuitable during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Please check with your pharmacist or qualified healthcare professional before adding herbs, especially if you take prescription medications.

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom 

What if waiting could teach us how to watch?

In this second episode of How to Wait, I'm sitting with the Page of Cups from the Herbal Tarot, the plant damiana, and the wildness of a place I'm still waiting to call home. With one foot in my old life and one reaching toward the new, I'm exploring what it means to let the land shape me before I arrive with plans of my own.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/LwqJbjA4Yg8 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

The word wait comes through Anglo-French and Old North French waitier, meaning "to watch." Its early meanings included keeping watch and lying in wait; the familiar sense of remaining patiently in expectation developed later. That connection offers a beautiful invitation for this season: to pay attention to what is already here while something new takes shape.

Through stories from Minnesota nature writer Sigurd F. Olson, reflections on the Page of Cups, and a mother moose's fierce protection of her calf, I explore:

● How plants, animals, and daily encounters give a place its character

● What happens when we allow ourselves to be changed by our surroundings

● Wildness as devotion, protection, and care

● Keeping a waiting journal to notice the small changes we might otherwise miss

Working with damiana (Turnera diffusa)

Damiana leaf is traditionally prepared as a tea and is also available as a tincture. Its traditional uses include support for anxiety and sexual vitality, though human research remains limited. For this week's practice, you might prepare a tea according to your supplier's directions, sit beside a window or outdoors, and notice the aroma, your bodily sensations, and the life moving around you. Let the cup accompany a few quiet minutes of watching.

Damiana safety: Avoid during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Damiana may lower blood sugar, based on animal research, so consult your healthcare professional before use if you have diabetes, experience low blood sugar, or take glucose-lowering medication. Follow product directions and check with your pharmacist about medication interactions. This information is educational and does not replace individualized care.

What are you noticing in your own season of waiting? I'd love to hear in the comments!

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom 

What do we do with the part of ourselves that is ready to begin when life is asking us to wait?

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/ZqDkWzkcygo 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

In this first episode of How to Wait, a new series following Savoring the End, I share what it feels like to live between two places: preparing to leave the garden I've tended for six years while waiting to meet the land that will become our new home.

With the Knight of Wands from the Spirit of the Herbs herbal tarot as my companion, I explore my own impulse to charge ahead, make plans, and start building. Meanwhile, dividing my garden plants offers a quieter practice: choosing what comes with me, what stays behind, and where to direct my energy while the next chapter takes shape.

In this episode, I explore:

• The Knight of Wands and the tension between enthusiasm and restraint

• Dividing black cohosh, iris, and lady's mantle as a practice of choosing what to carry forward

• Monkshood's symbolism and the respect that great force asks of us

• My decision to spend a full year observing the new land before building a garden

• How waiting can become a meaningful form of preparation

Where in your life are you ready to charge ahead before the path is clear? What might it look like to hold that energy with a little more patience and care?

I'd love to hear your reflections in the comments.

Monkshood (aconite) is highly toxic and is discussed in this episode only as a symbol, not as an herbal remedy.

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom  

————

Resources:

Savoring the End Series - Watch Here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQYhK0h_mY0o&si=xu_qdrX1C_kcVCYe 

The Herbal Tarot Deck by Michael Tierra and Candis Cantin: https://amzn.to/4yb3cfq 

The Journey Home by Radhanath Swami: https://amzn.to/47IkUfc 

Everything is Waiting for Us by David Whyte

After the final episode of Savoring the End, many of you reached out to ask more about our move: how it came about, where we're going, and what I've been processing along the way. This epilogue is my chance to share that fuller story.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/oL7-4p2TWFE 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

I talk about my long-held longing for quiet, how the wild landscapes of Southern Italy helped me recognize what I was seeking, and the pond that made meeting our new home feel deeply personal.

In this episode, I explore:

- Wanting privacy while continuing to teach, host, and share plant medicine.

- The privilege of being able to make this choice, and my hesitation about sharing it.

- Becoming a steward of the pond, wetlands, and life already present.

- Letting go of my plan to build a garden right away and giving the land a full year of attention first.

- Making room for creativity, family, and a slower relationship with home.

For someone whose instinct is to jump in and build, choosing to wait is a meaningful shift. 

I'm ending this series with a question I'm learning to live into myself: What would it look like to give something in your own life a full year of attention before you act on it?

2027 The Oracle Within Retreat - https://nightlightastrology.com/oracle-within-retreat/ 

Sky House Herb School - https://www.skyhouseherbs.com/ 

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom 

Valerian, Valeriana officinalis is one of our most well known herbal allies for sleep and nervous system support, but it does not affect everyone in the same way.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/UJPnJWZUt3U 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

In this Herb of the Month episode, I share the story of how my brother and I both took valerian and had two very different experiences. Our responses illustrate an important truth in herbal medicine: a plant that feels deeply calming for one person may feel stimulating or unsettling for another.

We will explore:

• How to identify and grow valerian, Valeriana officinalis

• The traditional use of the root for sleep, anxiety, tension, and nervous digestion

• Valerian's fascinating connection to dreams, folklore, and the otherworld

• Why valerian relaxes humans but excites many cats

• The difference between fresh and dried valerian root

• Why some people experience a paradoxical stimulating response

• Preparation methods, safety considerations, and possible interactions

Valerian is a powerful reminder that herbal medicine is personal. Learning about an herb's actions is important, but paying attention to how your own body responds is just as essential.

This video is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice.

Watch my other Herb of the Month Videos here on my playlist! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtGmbdK5tigdQ6AtMVIyHsQ7fytqaR25Q&si=sxTSKPx2ZJ-OQVRB 

#Valerian #HerbOfTheMonth #HerbalMedicine #MedicinalHerbs #SleepHerbs #NervousSystemSupport #SkyHouseHerbs

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom

What does it mean to savor an ending?

In this final episode of the series, I reflect on change, transition, and the tender work of letting go. As my family and I prepare to move into a new home, I share some of the emotions that arise when one chapter closes and another begins.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/frtSymG4Q5Q 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

Together, we explore the burden of fullness and consider how releasing what no longer serves us can create space for new growth. I offer several questions for self inquiry:

● What are you ready to release?

● What are you being asked to witness?

● What lessons and practices do you want to carry forward?

As we welcome the Equinox, we pause to honor the balance of light and darkness and the wisdom found in every season of transition. Endings can be difficult, but they can also be beautiful invitations to trust, reflect, and begin again.

Thank you for being part of this journey and for sharing this space with me. I would love to hear what you are releasing and what you hope to carry into the season ahead.

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom  

──────

Join my Year Two Herbal Apprenticeship - https://www.skyhouseherbs.com/second-year 

Book - "Prayers for the Wild Heart" Compiled by Gail Faith Edwards - https://blessedmaineherbs.com/collections/literature/products/prayers-for-the-wild-heart-tribe

Music licensed through Soundstripe.

Code: BATMTR66BH8NEYJ6, USJ5FQSBPNHXZCXT, V8TPNCXHTEMUCVWI, MT3KJIU4VST1BYUA

In this episode of Savoring the End, I reflect on the changing winds of early autumn and the feeling that something in the air is asking us some big questions about our next steps.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/ZyIXMLz7yWU 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

Drawing inspiration from the film Chocolat, I explore the wind as both a force that calls us forward and one that exposes what is tender. Sometimes the wind tells us it is time to leave. At other times, it asks us to stay, protect what we love, and become more deeply rooted in our values.

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom  

──────

Together, we'll explore:

● Wind as a source of change, vulnerability, and seasonal illness

● Wisdom from Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and Italian folk traditions

● The relationship between cold air, the neck, and our immune defenses

● Astragalus and Reishi for long-term seasonal support

● Echinacea and Red Root at the first signs of illness

● Nervines for wind-related anxiety, restlessness, and disrupted sleep

● How to discern whether we are being called to move or invited to hold our ground

This episode guides us toward deeper questions: What do I value enough to protect? Where am I being asked to take a clearer position? What needs sheltering and what is ready to be carried somewhere new?

I'll also share more about open enrollment for the Year Two Herbal Apprenticeship and invite you to our Fall Equinox Gathering with Adam and me in Minneapolis on September 19.

Resources:

Watch: Herb of the Month: Astragalus - https://youtu.be/2Ny7BsrOxsc?si=i1je2HMo68OqDxTV 

Herb of the Month: Tulsi - https://youtu.be/48cwQ5P6iq8?si=E4_6rBQrk4aS0af5 

Herb of the Month: Echinacea - https://youtu.be/ocLzjJXRgsg?si=t65xwPkdvsuNr2Z_ 

Herb of the Month: Chamomile - https://youtu.be/fHKpuIx7ApM?si=Lwj35OUWQ-dqttso 

Music Attribution:

Music licensed through Soundstripe.

Code: HE0TI35GJCPPSBLW, FCZKSWMTU03V855N, 9UOYSW224T4MMZ0F, FHPJX1MLRLI4EZZ8, AWCCEU5BFPBYS7ZI, CM2WBPGFPZ9A42PS

There is a strange pause in the garden right now. Summer isn't quite over, but autumn hasn't fully arrived. Some plants are still blooming brightly, while others have already gone to seed.

🤝 Share this Video: https://youtu.be/miISIwjRO2Y 

🌿 Subscribe for herbal tips and wellness insights: https://skyh.to/SUB 

In this episode of Savoring the End, I explore the doldrums, an old sailing term for the place where the winds go still and a ship has nowhere to go but wait.

Together we'll explore:

• The garden's transition from late summer into autumn

• Why periods of stillness can feel so disorienting

• Sunflowers, goldenrod, jewelweed, echinacea, and the first changing maples

• The difference between being stuck and simply being still

• What it means to recognize something as complete rather than trying to squeeze more from it

• How waiting itself can become a practice

The wind will pick back up. You don't have to make it happen. Sometimes our work is simply to stay in the boat.

I will also share some personal stories of the moment and show you what a sunflower head looks like once it has given everything it can.

Year Two Herbal Integration and Practicum - https://www.skyhouseherbs.com/second-year 

Book - "Blue Iris: A Collection of Poems and Essays" by Mary Oliver - https://amzn.to/4ydDQOb 

HERBAL COURSES

🌱 HERBAL FOUNDATIONS APPRENTICESHIP

A 12‑month online journey designed to help you weave herbal medicine into the fabric of daily life. This is the place we begin, learning to make our own remedies, meeting the plants in our backyards and kitchens, and connecting deeply with the rhythms of nature. It is a foundation built not just of facts, but of relationship and trust in the green world.

👉 Become a herbalist → https://skyh.to/roots  

🌿 SECOND YEAR: HERBAL INTEGRATION & PRACTICE

For those who have laid the first stones and are ready to walk further into the woods. This second year focuses on the art of advanced formulation, clinical skills, and discovering your unique seat of service as a community herbalist. Here, we refine our listening and deepen our apothecary practice, moving from student to practitioner.

👉 Second Year Details →  https://skyh.to/bloom