Resilient Roots

Spring plant medicine:

Collards and asparagus: important spring plants that provide nutrients for liver detox, help us move through the sludge of winter into spring. Don't waste collard stems! Chop up and sauté.

Wildflowers and Daisy dog

Blue cohosh, Actaea pachypoda (dolls eyes, not to be confused with black cohosh), Goldenseal emerging

If you've been to one of my classes, you've probably heard me reference Aviva Romm. I love her books! If you're struggling with hormone issues they're a great place to start.

Newsletter!

Resilient Roots Report - Winter edition And some exciting upcoming events!

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an evergreen shrub native to North Africa, Middle East, India. On the BUF, we grow starts in our greenhouse, transplant in May, and harvest the roots before a freeze. The ground or finely chopped roots can be taken as a powder, tea or tincture. Ashwagandha is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine to address stress, anxiety, and poor sleep. We recently harvested the last of our 2025 crop, and have a small amount of roots (see picture) left. If you know how to process and use these roots, we will give them to you. If you would be interested in growing some next year, we can grow a few starts for you.

Mullein harvest today!

I am tincturing the leaves and roots separately and I'm most excited about the ROOTS and their potential to support the SPINE. The only upside to my chronic back pain is the ability to test out the effectiveness of various remedies!

I love listening to jim macdonald talk about mullein root for back pain - there's a great Learning Herbs article about it.

Doctrine of signatures - the root is spine-ish with the rootlets givin off nerve vibes....

Another thing mullein root works for is urinary inflammation. And Ms. Poppy, with her chronic UTIs, just took a piece of root out of the basket and started eating it!

Last pic is the bright green leaf tincture.

PS: holy hell the hairs on the leaf are NO JOKE! It's been a few years since I last harvested and I forgot. My arms are super itchy!

Workshop reminder! 10AM-noon this Saturday.

The topic is herbal support for perimenopause...the workshop will include info, herbal formulas, and medicine making with vitex/chasteberry tincture.

Happening on my farm and in the garden in Berea, KY.

Register here: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/GVPRK0Q2A7NPY/checkout/X63L7VD7TJLMOIPJ5UJ6EKJR

THIS SUNDAY! We have a great lineup for you - everything from deep dives on digestive health and hormones to basket and incense making, plant walks, plant-themed crafts, movement, and medicine making.
Hope to see you!

Special thanks to and for sponsoring!!

Hey y'all, check out my latest newsletter linked below for the scoop on upcoming herbal workshops you won't want to miss!

September Resilient Roots Report - Fall workshops and gatherings! The Goldenrod Gathering is Sunday September 28th!

the butterflies and pollinators give me so much joy. I am so glad I gave more planting space to flowers. Bad for business but great for these beautiful beings that need all the help they can get!

Some of my fav plants for pollinators:

Hops: always find interesting caterpillars on here.

Mexican sunflower: butterflies LOVE it. I recommend planting multiple plants together, it attracts more butterflies that way. Easy to start from seed.

Compass plant: honey bees and native bees are all over it all the time, in addition to the butterflies. A great native for areas where you need to fill some space! Very easy to start from seed or transplant.

Milkweeds: finally seeing some monarchs!

Bring the kids and let's make some tea on Thursday Berea Kids Eat!

Check out our programming this week!

Meal Service Tuesday & Friday with the Berea College Forestry Outreach CenterBerea College Forestry Outreach Center and a Mango Lassi Program on Friday.

Marshall Pediatric Therapy on Wednesday along with a snack!

Back to School Herbal Teas with Resilient Roots on Thursday from 10-11 AM at Glades Garden 530 Glades Road!

Purple medicine!
1. Blue vervain at perfect stage for harvest. I have a hard time cutting it because it's so pretty, but I'm out of this extremely helpful medicine for calming nervous systems and cooling type A personalities, so into tincture it goes!
2. Aronia berries, the most antioxidants of any berry, as indicated by their deep purple hue
3. Vitex, the star of my July garden. Not a native but the bees love it! We will harvest the berries at my perimenopause workshop in October