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Continue reading →: Completing Our Usnea Tincture: The Magic of a Double Extraction (Part 2)Eight weeks ago, we shared the first step of making our Usnea tincture, placing the freshly gathered lichen into 80-proof and 100-proof vodka to begin its slow, quiet steep. Over the last two months, that alcohol has been doing the important work of pulling out the plant’s deep, protective properties.…
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Continue reading →: The Many Gifts of Elder: Making Small-Batch Elderflower CordialOne of the things we value most here at Grow, Gather, Heal is finding plants that offer us medicine and nourishment in more ways than one. That is exactly why we love the elder shrub so deeply. It is a plant that gives generously twice a year—first with its frothy, fragrant blossoms…
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Continue reading →: Making the Most of an Abundant Lemon Balm Harvest: Gentle Summer Sun TeaIt is bright, sunny, and pushing 92 degrees out there today. It is the kind of high-summer afternoon where the garden is practically humming with growth, and the heat makes you want to just slow down and find a shady spot to rest. If you grow lemon balm (Melissa officinalis),…
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Continue reading →: Springtime Garden ExpansionIt has been a busy spring and early summer here, and our garden has grown in such a big way this season. After sharing about our first wood chip delivery, we ended up receiving three ChipDrop deliveries in total, and now we are finally down to the last half of the final…
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Continue reading →: Growing, Harvesting, and Making Peony JellyEvery spring, our peonies remind us why old-fashioned flowers still deserve a place in the garden. Their huge, fragrant blooms are one of the highlights of the season, and here on our homestead we look forward to them every single year. We grow both pink and white peonies, and while they…
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Continue reading →: Making Usnea Tincture & Infused Oil!A huge thank you goes out to a couple of amazing friends from our Grow, Gather, Heal Facebook page! We have been completely unable to locate any Usnea around our property here in Maryland, and they were incredibly kind enough to send us a package of dried Usnea to use. I am…
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Continue reading →: Homestead Update: The Great Indoor Jungle (Seed Starting & Repotting!)It’s that time of year again here in Maryland! If Rebecca had her way, our seed trays would be filled with soil by January 1st, but I always make her wait until mid-February so we don’t end up with massive, leggy plants before the last frost. We officially started our…
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Continue reading →: Homestead Update: Pruning the Orchard, Sandbox Propagation, and a Battery-Powered Game ChangerHere in Maryland, the late-winter weather loves to play games with us. This past weekend, we finally got a break from the snow and freezing temperatures, and the thermometer teased us with a glorious 60-degree day. If you have homesteading in your blood, you know exactly what that means: it’s…
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Continue reading →: Grow, Gather, Heal: The Herbal Wisdom of Bee BalmHappy Sunday, friends! As Rebecca and I sit sipping coffee and looking out at the thawing gardens this morning, I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the newest book in our series is officially available today: Grow, Gather, Heal: The Herbal Wisdom of Bee Balm! We have spent months deep-diving into…
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Continue reading →: Homemade Kombucha SCOBY Fruit LeatherI’ve been riding the kombucha train for almost a year now. One thing you know, if you make your own kombucha, is that you end up with lots of extra SCOBY. While SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) is actually NOT the name of the rubbery pancake-like disc that…
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