Over the last weekend in January, I spent some quality time in mine, doing winter-garden things like clearing blackberries, mulching paths, trimming branches of my olive tree, marveling at the green that’s surviving the season and the new life starting to think about...
In late July 2020, a friend invited me to pick newly ripened elderberries in her Portland yard. She’s got two — just two! — of the shrubs growing, and she can’t keep up. Knowing how coveted they are as medicine, she didn’t want them going to waste. I eagerly...
Food is medicine. You’ve heard me say that a lot.This week I got a new book that takes the concept to the next level: Spice Apothecary by Bevin Clare.Bevin is an herbalist, herbal educator and president of the American Herbalists Guild. She’s deeply committed to...
My med-school bestie is starting her first(ish) garden this year. She’s mostly growing veggies in pots, mostly on the porch of her Seattle apartment. She’s found gardening to be a positive thing in her current pandemic reality, soothing and exciting and rewarding....
Yes, I love all the plants and their medicines. So it really is never fair for me to call one plant/medicine my “favorite.” Still, artichoke is one of my top-tier favorites. It started when I was a kid: My mother is always very proper, eating (and...
