The New England Herbary

As October's first frosts arrive, the garden is ready to rest. In this episode, Brenda shares the old way of putting the garden to bed: not stripping it bare, but tucking it in. Drawing on wisdom from her friend and longtime gardening teacher Bettylou Sandy, she walks through what to cut back, what to leave standing for the birds and native bees, and how a blanket of fallen leaves feeds the soil all winter. She shares how to plant garlic at the New Moon in Libra, and introduces witch hazel, New England's native tree that blooms just as everything else lets go. Whether your garden is acres, a raised bed, or a few pots on the deck, this is a gentle, practical guide to fall cleanup and seasonal living.

In this episode:

• Why "mimic nature" is the heart of fall cleanup, and how three feet of leaves becomes an inch and a half of soil
• What to cut back and what to leave standing: annuals, perennials, seed heads, and woody herbs
• Putting a small garden to bed: pots, raised beds on legs, and bringing tender plants indoors
• A hard-won lesson from an aphid outbreak: why to keep new nursery plants apart before they join the others
• How to plant garlic in the ground, a raised bed, or a deep pot, and keep the squirrels out
• Witch hazel's story, from Indigenous medicine and dowsing rods to Connecticut's famous bottle, plus a simple homemade witch hazel wash

Herbs featured: Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and garlic. Note of care: A homemade witch hazel wash is for external use only. Refrigerate it and use it within about a week, or mix it 50-50 with 80-proof vodka to keep it on the shelf. Patch-test on sensitive skin.

From the Herbary Archive: Episodes #10 and #11, Fall Garden Clean Up and Winter Gardening with Bettylou Sandy (first released under the show's original name, Living and Lovin' Herbs).

Episode 10 Fall Garden Clean Up and Winter Gardening With Bettylou Sandy Part 1

https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/16258019

Episode 11 Fall Garden Cleanup and Winter Gardening With Bettylou Sandy Part 2

https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/16440317

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dried Witch Hazel Bark

https://amzn.to/4yI6ZBU

2. HARDNECK Garlic Bulb for Planting

https://amzn.to/473P0K5

3. 2 QT Stainless Steel Sauce Pan with Lid - for making cosmetics

https://amzn.to/4AULIXd

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Autumn equinox 2026 arrives September 22 at 8:05 PM Eastern — the exact moment light and dark stand in balance before the Harvest Moon rises full on September 26. This week's episode is a Mabon meditation on the second harvest, the threshold between light and dark, and hawthorn — the old hedgerow guardian of doorways — plus a folk-method walkthrough for a simple hawthorn haw cordial to carry you into the dark half of the year.

In this episode:

— The exact astronomy of the 2026 autumn equinox and why "equal night" isn't quite exact

— Mabon's roots in Welsh myth, the English harvest home, and the wider world's autumn thanksgivings

— Why the second harvest asks something different of us than the first

— Hawthorn: the folklore of a threshold tree, and its old reputation as a heart plant

— A folk-method hawthorn haw cordial, start to finish

— A simple Mabon ritual for the equinox evening and the rising Harvest Moon

Find this week's companion reflection in the newsletter and the full seasonal walk on YouTube — both linked below. And if this episode gave you something worth keeping, pass it along to a fellow gardener who might need this week's pause too.

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dried Organic Hawthorn Berries

https://amzn.to/4hH8avb

2. Hawthorn Berry Tincture

https://amzn.to/4rt1cNK

3. Organic Hawthorn Berry Powder

https://amzn.to/4ydGfsO

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Learn how to make elderberry syrup at home with this simple, traditional folk-method recipe — plus what makes elderberry one of autumn's most trusted allies for cold and flu season.

This week, we're deep into putting-by season — the quiet, practical work of turning a harvest into medicine that lasts through winter. I walk through the full elderberry syrup process step by step (no fancy equipment, no precise measurements, just the old way of doing it), along with the plant's constituents, energetics, and history — including its old European folklore as a guarded, protective tree, and its lesser-known American cousin growing right here in New England hedgerows.

Also in this episode: a look at tomorrow's rare astrological lineup — Venus moving into Scorpio for an extended stay, and the year's only New Moon in Virgo — and what both mean for anyone looking to start something new this season. Plus a few notes from my recent weekend at the Misty Meadows Women's Herbal Conference in Thetford, Vermont, and an update from the land as I work on a rainwater tower project here at The New England Herbary.

In this episode:

• How to make a traditional elderberry syrup, folk-method style
• Why elderberry works for cold and flu season — constituents, energetics, and a note on safety
• The folklore of the European elder tree, and the American elderberry growing wild in New England
• Venus enters Scorpio + the New Moon in Virgo: what tomorrow's sky means for new beginnings
• Notes from the Misty Meadows Women's Herbal Conference

As always, I'm not a physician, and nothing here replaces care from your own healthcare provider — especially if you're on immune-modulating medication or managing an autoimmune condition.

https://mailchi.mp/b6b478eb1572/0m18jv0xwu

Photos from the conference — including the full moon campfire circle — are up on the website with this week's post. You can also catch the full newsletter and this week's YouTube companion piece for more on this season's putting-by work.

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. European Dried Elderberries

https://amzn.to/4AjU7TQ

2. Stainless Steel Chinois Strainer with Stand and Wooden Pestle Set

https://amzn.to/4A99Fty

3. 16 oz Wide Mouth Glass Mason Jars with Lids, 6 Pack for Canning

https://amzn.to/46c8uMb

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker,

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Sturgeon Moon eclipse ritual: a full moon in Virgo, a partial lunar eclipse, and the old grain-harvest folklore that echoes it. This week we hold the second doorway of eclipse season with gratitude, not urgency.

"The sky doesn't belong to any one tradition. It just gets read, faithfully, by whoever's standing underneath it."

The moon has been swelling since the new dark of the total solar eclipse — and on August 28th, it arrives full, under the shadow of a partial lunar eclipse in Virgo. We trace the Sturgeon Moon back to its true source with the Algonquin peoples of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain region, then cross the ocean to the old European Grain Moon and Barley Moon, threading straight back to Episode 52, "John Barleycorn & the First Loaf: The Story of Lughnasadh" (go give that one a listen if you missed it). Along the way: what this eclipse pairing is really asking of us, why Virgo's discernment matters this week, and a full walkthrough of this week's ritual — charging a batch of dried herbs beneath the moon.

If this episode gives you something to sit with, pass it along to a fellow gardener or herb enthusiast who'd love a slow evening under a full moon as much as you do. You'll find this week's reflection prompt waiting in the newsletter.

🌾 This week's reflection: What abundance in your life deserves to be named and thanked this full moon?

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Organic Meadowsweet Herb

https://amzn.to/4guvPgz

2. Lavender Journal: Notebook, by Brenda J. Sullivan

https://amzn.to/4cIl09E

3. Moons Water Bottle, 8.5oz Glass Charging Jar with Wood Lid, Moon Energy Storage Container for Spiritual Hydration, Intention Setting, Crystal Cleansing & Meditation(Vivid)

https://amzn.to/4qGAkcO

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Virgo season has arrived, and it's time for the craft of putting by. This episode covers calendula's uses in tea, skincare, and a step-by-step calendula-infused almond oil recipe for your fall and winter apothecary.

As the sun crosses from Leo into Virgo, the wheel turns from gathering toward keeping. We explore the old mythology behind Virgo — the maiden with the sheaf, her roots in the stories of Demeter and Persephone, and why she and Scorpio are so often called the zodiac's most misunderstood signs — alongside this week's moon phase and what it asks of us as the season shifts.

Then we turn to calendula, still blooming bright even as summer leans toward autumn, and hold her three ways: as a gentle tea, in bath and body preparations including a simple facial toner, and — this week's featured craft — steeped slowly into sweet almond oil for a golden, all-purpose infusion you'll use for months to come. The full recipe, with measurements, is available as a free downloadable PDF in the show notes below.

We also talk about starting small this season — no bushel baskets required — whether that's firecider, herbs drying from a few pots on the deck, or a fruit shrub made one piece at a time, inspired in part by herbalist Judith Berger's writing in Herbal Rituals on the industrious rhythm of an herbalist's August.

If this episode speaks to you, you'll find the companion piece on YouTube and this week's reflection in the newsletter — and if a fellow gardener comes to mind, we'd love for you to share it with them.

Download Recipe Here!

https://mailchi.mp/8c627338634c/calendula-oil-infusion-recipe-podcast-54

Book Attribution

This episode draws inspiration from Judith Berger's Herbal Rituals: A Guide to Living Seasonally (specifically her reflections on August, decanting spring infusions, and the cyclical rhythm of an herbalist's year). We highly recommend her book for anyone looking to deepen their own seasonal practice.

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dried Calendula Flowers

https://amzn.to/4cxGwOk

2. Calendula Flower Seeds (My favorite seeds to grow flowers!!)

https://amzn.to/3UfQLAz

3. Lavender Journal: Notebook - by Brenda J. Sullivan

https://amzn.to/4wEoW2j

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): the herbalist's wound-herb, a plant of protection and boundaries, its folklore, medicine, and plant spirit — an eclipse-season episode. A grounded look at yarrow's uses for wounds and women's health, its old names and divination lore, and the psychic protection tradition that made it a plant of sacred edges.

There is a corner of my Vermont land I did not want you to see — a flooded acre where the black ash are dying and the emerald ash borer has come at last. But standing in that broken ground, calm and unbowed, was yarrow: the herb that has staunched the wounds of soldiers and mothers for a thousand years.

This week the sun goes dark and the moon runs into shadow. Eclipse season opens its doorway. And so we sit with the plant that has always known how to stand in a threshold — the wound-herb and the boundary-keeper.

Together we'll meet yarrow as she truly is: how to know her ferny, silver-green foliage in a summer meadow; why the old names — nosebleed, woundwort, soldier's woundwort, carpenter's weed — all remember her as the warrior's healer; her long companionship with women through every season of life; and her quieter reputation as a plant of psychic protection, sacred boundaries, and "boundaries in a bottle." We'll draw on National Geographic's herbal, Maude Grieve's A Modern Herbal, and Judith Berger's Herbal Rituals, and lean on the plant-spirit teachings of Vermont herbalist Pam Montgomery, who reads yarrow as the fierce protector learning, at last, to soften and to receive.

If this episode speaks to you, share it with a fellow gardener — and find the companion newsletter and the illustrated story on YouTube, where this week's work makes its three homes.

Reflection: If this eclipse is a doorway, what are you being invited to walk through — or to leave behind?

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dried Yarrow Flowers

https://amzn.to/4wyLhhW

2. Yarrow Tincture

https://amzn.to/4g2bO25

3. Yarrow Flower Essence

https://amzn.to/4wtUw2J

4. Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness - by Pam Montgomery

https://amzn.to/4wCZZEl

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Lughnasadh, the first harvest of the Celtic Wheel of the Year, has come — the season of the first grain, the first loaf, and the old harvest gratitude. In this episode, we follow the story of John Barleycorn, the centuries-old ballad of the grain that is cut down, buried, and rises again as the bread on our table and the ale in our cup — and we meet meadowsweet, the Queen of the Meadow, the fragrant herb that once crowned the harvest drink and still steadies us through the cold-and-flu season. Come stand with me at the edge of a Vermont field where the light has begun to lean toward autumn, and let this oldest of harvest stories carry you into the turning of the year.

🎶 Listen to my version of this old ballad dating back to the 1500s, Sir John Barleycorn - A Harvest Carol

"Sir John Barleycorn — A Harvest Carol." Original lyrics, adaptation, and recording © 2026 Brenda J. Sullivan / Thompson Street Farm LLC. Adapted from the traditional ballad "John Barleycorn" (public domain). All rights reserved. No copies may be made or shared without the express written permission of the copyright holder (and that's ME 😎).

Sir John Barleycorn - A Harvest Carol Version 1

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Sir-John-Barleycorn-—-A-Harvest-Carol-Created-by-B.-Sullivan.mp3

Sir John Barleycorn - A Harvest Carol Version 2

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Sir-John-Barleycorn-Harvest-Ballad-v2-Brenda-Sullivan-copyright-2026.mp3

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

If you'd like to know me a little more personally, a letter arrives from the garden each Friday — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year, and personal videos from the Herbary I'm building by hand.

You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And each month, subscribers receive the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Meadowsweet Dried Herb

https://amzn.to/4g4NefO

2. Meadowsweet Tincture

https://amzn.to/4xyPd3a

3. Lavender Journal: Notebook - written by Brenda J. Sullivan

https://amzn.to/4q3Q218

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker,

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Come and sit a while. I've just returned from eight days in Vermont and this week we meet motherwort — Leonurus cardiaca, the lion's heart — the fierce, unbeautiful, wholly self-possessed old plant that grows at the edges of fields and slips any garden that tries to hold her. She is the herb the old ones reached for when a heart was racing at three in the morning, and she steadies it without ever stealing your wits.

We'll sit with what she does in the body, hear how the seventeenth-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper set her beneath the sign of Leo the lion, and look up together at the Full Moon of July 29, 2026 — a Leo-and-Aquarius moon that may have our hearts running full and high. And because motherwort is bitter as anything, I'll tell you how I gentle her into a cup you'll actually want to hold. No homework. Just the kettle on, the garden gate open, and a plant with a great deal to teach us about being both the fierce one and the tender one at once.

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

Each Friday, a letter arrives from the garden — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, and the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year. You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And every month, subscribers get the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dried Motherwort Herb

https://amzn.to/4wtue1A

2. Motherwort Tincture

https://amzn.to/4bNjEdh

3. Dried Lemon Balm Herb

https://amzn.to/4yH0q2S

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker,

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

Some of us inherited the apron and the herb bundle. Some of us inherited three thousand miles and a grandmother who was at war with the dandelion.

This week, in the deep hearth of Cancer season, we sit with the long thread — the women whose hands came before ours, and the strange and sideways ways the green world gets handed down.

I'll tell you about my grandmother, who fled a northern Michigan farm and never looked back, who tended two rose bushes and a few tomatoes in a patch of ground the size of a doorway as though they were the only things that mattered — and who once made my grandfather pull the Ford LTD over on a hot summer afternoon so she could give a landscaper a piece of her mind about the dandelions in a lawn.

She saw the devil in that plant. I see an old friend.

And I'll tell you about Evelyn, who was not my blood but who was, in every way that mattered, the woman who handed me the green world. She had twelve acres in New Hampshire, decades of White Mountain trails in her legs, and she could name every plant along a dirt road — common name and Latin both — and tell you which were medicine and which were simply worth stopping for.

Between the two of them, I got my whole inheritance.

We'll wander through the herbs that lived beside our grandmothers' hearths whether they called them medicine or not — mint and parsley, sage and thyme and rosemary, and the wild ones at the edge of the tended world: yarrow, plantain, chamomile, and the most generous weed there is.

Because here is what I've come to believe: your grandmother did not have to believe in herbalism for the knowing to pass through her. It came down in the soup pot. It came down in here, drink this, you'll feel better. And if you've ever felt you missed the handing-down — that you came to all of this alone, with no one to teach you — I want you to hear this one from someone who came to it late, and sideways, and found the thread waiting anyway.

Put the kettle on. Come sit.

A gentle wondering to carry with you this week: Who handed you the green world? Was it a grandmother by blood, or one by grace — or did it come to you sideways, through absence, through refusal, through one plant somebody couldn't stand? Even one name is enough.

The quieter, more personal writing lives in the Friday letter.

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

Each Friday, a letter arrives from the garden — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, and the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year. You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And every month, subscribers get the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dandelion Leaves

https://amzn.to/4vRxWSa

2. Rosemary leaves

https://amzn.to/4fbp9U3

3. Peppermint Leaves

https://amzn.to/4aPp1bw

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker,

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/

There is a drawer in every house that remembers. Open it, and something rises to meet you — soap and sunlight and something older than both. This week, in the heart of Cancer season, we visit the lavender, standing at her fragrant peak in the July garden. We follow her long thread through history: the Roman baths, the washerwomen who were themselves called "lavenders," the London street sellers crying their bundles up to the windows, and the linen drawers of our grandmothers. Along the way, a heatwave drives your host from a camper to a screened tent to a quiet room in a small Vermont library — and teaches, all over again, that home was never the walls. Home is the tending. As the Strawberry Moon wanes toward the New Moon in Cancer, we close with the gentlest of practices: one drawer, emptied and blessed and laid with lavender, so that some cold January morning, July will rise up to meet you.

Pour a cup of something cool, find a bit of shade, and come sit a while. The gate is open.

✍️ Join my Newsletter!

Each Friday, a letter arrives from the garden — seasonal stories, herbal wisdom, and the quiet rhythms of the Celtic year. You'll be the first to hear about new offerings, upcoming classes, and hands-on workshops. And every month, subscribers get the topic and the link for our free Zoom circle, where we gather to learn and linger together.

It's a slow, unhurried corner of the internet. Come as you are.

https://thenewenglandherbary.com/join/

🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

(affiliate links — thank you for supporting this work)

Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dried Lavender Buds

https://amzn.to/4f0z92q

2. Live Herb - Lavender (6 Per Pack)

https://amzn.to/4eOJRc0

3. Lavender Journal Notebook by Brenda J. Sullivan

https://amzn.to/4eVLiWf

My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker

https://amzn.to/4r4LYNH

Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

https://amzn.to/4qWQr4L

Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

https://amzn.to/4pNflmq

📚Bookstore - Brenda J. Sullivan Books

https://www.brendajsullivanbooks.com/

🌱 My Garden Journal – A How-To Garden Book for Kids

Because every gardener starts with a single seed — and a little curiosity.

My Garden Journal is part how-to guide, part creative keepsake, designed to help children (and their grown-ups) learn the basics of growing food and flowers while documenting their journey.

Inside you'll find:

• Simple planting guidance
• Space for drawings, photos, and notes
• Imaginative themed gardens (Harry Potter Herb Garden, Young Chef's Garden, Monarch Butterfly Garden)

Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

✨ You'll be amazed at how much you — and your garden — grow when you take time to journal the journey.

🌿 Work With Me

🌙 Herbal Consultations (Now Open)

Root your wellness in the wisdom of the plants — and the stars.

My one-on-one consultations offer gentle, grounded guidance rooted in traditional herbalism, vitalist principles, and (if you wish) astrology. Each session begins with listening.

👉 Learn more here: https://mailchi.mp/351efb18cd6b/one-on-one-consultations-landing-page

☕ Buy Me a Cup of Tea

If this story brought you comfort, you can support the channel here: https://buymeacoffee.com/thompsonstg

🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story. I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

🔗 https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

🌿 Stay Connected

Website: https://thenewenglandherbary.com/

Youtube:

https://youtube.com/@thenewenglandherbary?si=f7_MB0XEz0vn0Xr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewenglandherbary/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578148227744

The New England Herbary is a project of Thompson Street Farm LLC. https://thompsonstreetfarm.com/