We are thrilled to be starting a new year and a new decade (for the magazine) with this gorgeous issue, filled with all kinds of love. Recipes, crafts, ideas, information and herbal lore are stuffing every page. You're going to love it!Field Notes from the Editor
Learning is a never-ending joy. We’ve been doing lots of it around here lately.
About the Cover
Artist Carolina Gonzalez contributed an original work depicting Flora, goddess of spring for this issue that focuses on love.
Therapeutic Baths, Tiffany M Psichopaidas
Blending herbs to fill your tub with tea is a delightful way to care for yourself in the winter and to chase away a chill. Instructions and recipes included.
Lousiana Lagniappe, Sally Lunn, Sarah Liberta
Mouth-watering recipe for this buttery bread, with several options to change it from savory to almost a desert.
Vanilla Sugar, Rita Richardson
What could be better than sugar infused with the flavor and fragrance of luscious vanilla? Make your own!
Valentine Specialties from the Herb Garden, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
Sweets for the sweet – but this isn’t chocolate. How about a massage oil or a special bath to spice things up?
Sunchokes/Jerusalem Artichokes, Jackie Johnson
Learn about this plentiful, easy-to-grow root vegetable and how to prepare, cook, and preserve it. So good for you!
SouthRidge Treasures, Warming Masala Chai, Mary Ellen Wilcox
Exotic Masala Chai demystified with some history and several delicious recipes. You’ll be trading this for cocoa (well, maybe not all the time…) once you’ve gotten to know the scents and flavors in this decadent yet healthful beverage.
Aphrodisiacs, Marita A Orr
Learn about what herbs will and won’t do in the love department. Long considered to be almost magical in their effects, there are specific actions of some herbs that actually do work as aphrodisiacs. Find out which ones.
Herbal Topiaries, Kathy Musser
Full instructions for making standard (little trees) and wreath-shaped topiaries as well as a listing of plants that work well for them, and how to care for them once you’ve got them started.
Refilling Your Own Cup, Catherine Love
After the holiday season, most of us are running on fumes. How do you refill that cup so that you have something left for yourself and your loved ones?
Winter Soups, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
There is nothing like a pot of savory soup waiting at the end of a long, cold day. They warm us up, nourish us, and taste delicious. The Mushroom Ginger Soup is a new favorite here!
The Herbal Adventures of the Twisted Sisters, Part 6, Ym-health & Maryanne Schwartz
Sharing your biggest mistakes publicly isn’t always the smartest move, but it’s always been our favorite method of teaching. We do it so you don’t have to! This is the final installment of the book.
The Soap Pot, Soaping with Stored Herbs, Alicia Grosso
Moving to a different climate can cause havoc in the garden. Luckily there were some herbs stashed away so that the creativity in the soap pot goes on.
Tea - Cold Weather Ally, Cindy Jones
Some great, quick ways to take a regular Camelia sinensis tea and make it herbal.
It’s All Good, Sandy Michelson
A favorite Gardeners Salve from rugged Montana!
Working Together, Ym-health
As small businesses, there are so many ways we can work together to make things simpler and easier to afford.
Herbs of the Zodiac: Pisces,
Susanna Reppert Brill/Bertha Reppert
Pisces finishes up this 2 year series from Susanna (with much help from her mother, Bertha), and brings a little more ginger to the winter as well as several other Piscean herbs.
