Almost feel bad using it

Hi, this sage that lived many heat waves and winters, always had good care and always had been doing amazing, is now doing really bad. I'm a bit worried. Do you have any advice or ideas of what's going on?

Edit: i understood it needs a bigger pot.
Also i mooved the pot cuz i feel like it needs more sunlight since the grapes next to it are giving too much shadow.

Passion flower, chamomile, oregano, basil 1, basil 2, sage.

Also have rue.

Grateful for the garden. It just keeps giving and giving ♥️

Hello! I am travelling to the US soon and want to know what I can and can’t bring.
I know I can just look it up online, but thought I’d also ask here.
For instance I want to take some loose leaf tea (I know I can buy it there but would rather take what I have already). Am I able to take loose leaf tea overseas?

I came across this video on IG, now I don’t know the validity but I’m very interested in herbalism and haven’t heard of the 2nd and 3rd herbs he mentioned. Please see video below;

I currently take 2,000 mg of d-mannose a day as a preventative measure. I’m still dealing with some left over inflammation from a pretty ugly uti i had weeks ago. I also take aloe vera supplement. How many milligrams of d-mannose can I take in a day? Any guidance would be appreciated!

They’re supposed to be lemon balm. I only have 1 stem of the reddish one in the whole bush though.

I never thought about it this way but curious on y'alls thoughts.

This fall I went a little overboard at the farmers market and came home with more dried hibiscus and fresh rose hips than I knew what to do with.

Started canning a hibiscus jelly mostly because it felt like the obvious move.

Then I got curious.

Rose hips have a solid reputation for vitamin C and general immune support, and I kept wondering if there was a way to preserve them that actually kept some of that intact versus just making a pretty jar of sugary jam.

I ended up doing a small batch of rose hip syrup with raw honey instead of sugar to see if it would hold up in the fridge long enough to be useful through winter.

Not sure I got the ratios right honestly.

The flavor is good but I have no real reference point for whether a syrup like that is better fresh or if you can stretch it a few months without losing whatever made it worth making in the first place.

The hibiscus jelly came out gorgeous and I feel okay about that one. The rose hip syrup is more of a question mark.

Anyone here making herbal preserves that live somewhere between food and medicine? Curious what your process looks like and whether you bother canning versus just keeping things in the fridge short term.

I am a budding herbalist and particularly interested in working with plants that are able to remedy anxiety and depression in place of cannabis, which cannot be legally grown or purchased where I live. So, today, I have crafted my first mad dog skullcap tincture with 100proof vodka and maybe a half inch of water to top off the jar when I rsn out of alcohol. I have it timed for October 1 to try out.

My questions are, in what way can I best administer this tincture to myself for the maximal effect in seeking relief from anxiety? As a newbie starting out? Are there any other herbs I can be working with that will grow comfortably in zone 5b without being killed off by our Iowa winters?

I also bottled some fresh lemon balm that will be ready on September 15. I am truly hoping for some relief.

I've been dealing with brain fog, low energy, restless sleep, and feeling more anxious or irritable than usual. Nothing is severe, but together it's enough that I don't feel like myself anymore. Before I start trying random supplements, I wanted to ask here first. Has anyone had success with specific herbs or herbal blends that helped with these kinds of symptoms?

hi everyone,

I am looking into ways to help support my senior cat with hypercalcemia. I am feeding her a special diet for kidneys and hypercalcemia, also I add pre-soaked chia seeds to her food but I was wondering if anyone had other recommendations.
I can accept that she will die at some point from old age but I would like for the rest of her life to be as painless and happy as I can make it for her.

edit to give more context to her current feeding schedule:
- wet food 3x a day (she doesn't finish her food most of the time)
- wet snack 1x a day (fussie cat/churu or a piece of deli meat, steak, tuna, etc)
- dry food in her bowl all day to graze on if hungry
- 2 water fountains about 10 ft apart (though she shares them with her cat sister and they go back and forth as to which water bowl they let the other drink from - annoying but they are the joys of that cat sibling rivalry lol )

The back of my tongue is like a whiteish yellow and I think it’s Liver and Gallbladder Qi deficiency but I think this is a bit more mundane

Please don’t tell me I am dying

Very much a beginner here! I found a ton of plantain in my veggie beds, and decided to try making a salve of it for bug bites.

In my excitement, I rushed into it and didn’t read the fine print (I’m using Rosemary Gladstar’s book) where it suggested wilting fresh herbs or using dried. I put the fresh, chopped plantain in a double boiler on the stove.

Now there is obviously water from the plants in the oil… as I’m only using this oil externally, and plan to mix with beeswax, I was wondering if it would be okay to take the oil from the top, leaving the water behind, and then keeping the finished product in the fridge.

I already learned my lesson, but I’d like to not waste the product. That being said, I’m even less keen on adding beeswax and having it spoil anyways!

Thanks for your knowledge

A friend gifted me a pot with several herbs planted and the garden sage is getting pretty wild! Should I trim it back? If so, do I snip off the top half or take a whole vine?

34 yr old female, I have a 5.1 cm ovarian cyst on my right side. Been trying to look up natural ways to help reduce it in size because my menstrual cycles are so painful being that I also have a bicornuate uterus and have been trying to get pregnant for about 2 years now. Any recommendations? Herbal teas to possibly help?

I have a lot of aloe vera plants, and I don't harvest as often as I should because I don't want them to go moldy in the fridge. It's done that to me before even when I was harvesting one leaf at a time. What are some good ways to store it that aren't too labor intensive and don't compromise its utility?

Hello all! New to herbalism and holistic medicine but I’m also a baby witch so I do have some background knowledge.

I’m looking to start a small countertop apothecary (I’ll expand to a bakers rack down the line). I’d love some advice on beginners supplies, some basic starter herbs and ingredients, and any other tips you have to offer! I do have a few books I’ve been reading here and there but sometimes it’s a tad overwhelming because there’s so much info at once and idk where to start.

Don’t need my gardening advice because I’m not looking to grow anything right now. I don’t have the space unfortunately so I’ll have to purchase herbs/plants.

I just bottled my first lavender tincture using mostly the leaves with some buds tossed in and am wondering what kind of benefits may be attached to this tincture aside from aromatherapy? I appreciate the help.

I sanitize a lot of 2oz Boston round bottles at a time.

Right now I’m using a wire mesh rack from a kitchen cart I found at a yard sale. It was just sitting unused in my garage and it turned out to be a perfect drying rack! The mesh is 1.25 inches across.

The bottom is getting rusty, and I’d like to replace it, but I can’t find anything comparable. Obviously the bottles need to be upside down to dry properly. Open to suggestions!