Maple syrup season is one of my favorite times of year. Honoring the maple trees, collecting the sap in buckets, seeing the magic drip from the trees, and feeling the return of early spring. Sap begins running just after the …
Beverages
Sacred Tree Profile: Birch’s Medicine, Magic, Mythology, and Meaning
When I was growing up in the Allegheny Mountains of Western PA, and I was still a very small child, my father and I would seek out the sweet birch saplings. A good sapling was tall and lithe but bent …
Urban Food Profile: Cornelian Cherry Harvest and Recipe for Soda Syrup, Jam, Pickles, and More
I really enjoy foraging for foods in urban environments, you just never know what you are going to find. In the spring, keep a good eye out for various kinds of flowering trees in an urban or suburban setting–any tree …
Sacred Tree Profile: Sassafras’ Medicine, Magic, Mythology and Meaning
The fall months are coming and the leaves here are just beginning to turn. Apples are starting to ripen, nuts are starting to fall. And with a quiet walk through the fall woods, you might be lucky enough to see …
The Wisdom of the Elder: Recipes for Infused Elderflower Honey, Elderflower Cordial, and Elder-Lemon Tea
Elderflowers (flowers from the Sambucus nigra plant) are in bloom right around the Summer Solstice (at least where I live), and this is a perfect time to create delightful healing recipes. One of these recipes uses raw honey (from my hives, …
Dandelion Wine Part III: New Recipes and Insights
I’ve posted on Dandelion wine before on this blog, and I wanted to follow up on my previous posts on dandelion wine – making the wine and racking/bottling. I’ve also written more generally about the dandelion as a beneficial plant–so …
Ode to the Dandelion
I remember a sunny day not too long ago in early May when I was visiting my parents in western Pennsylvania. Everywhere we drove, dandelions were growing, their beautiful, bright yellow heads serenading the sun. After one of the coldest …
Making Dandelion Wine Part II: Racking and Bottling
A delightful nine or so months ago, I posted about attempts at the first batch of dandelion wine. In today’s post, I’ll talk about what has happened since that first post and the process that we went through to finish …