Herbs with Rosalee

Enrollment for my new online course, Herbal Heart Health, closes tonight!

In this course, my friend Rich Mandelbaum and I explore how herbs can support heart health, from high cholesterol and blood pressure to arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, and stroke recovery.

You’ll learn how to choose appropriate herbs for different people, understand lab work, and navigate herb-drug interactions with greater confidence, including questions about combining herbs with statins and blood thinners.

Rich brings years of hands-on clinical herbalism experience, and together, we’re giving these important topics the depth and attention they deserve.

We meet live on Wednesday evenings, with plenty of time for your questions. You’ll also receive lifetime access to all class recordings.

This first offering is available at beta tuition, the lowest price this course will ever be.

Enrollment closes tonight! If you’d like to deepen your knowledge of herbal heart care, I’d love to see you in class.

Enroll in the Herbal Heart Health course here!

What do you get when you combine a mysterious berry, a bottle with David Bowie on the label, and an herbalist determined to get everyone dancing?

In this episode, I sit down with my good friend Mel Kasting to discuss aralia berry (Aralia racemosa), an herb that I admittedly knew almost nothing about before our conversation! Mel fondly refers to aralia berry as “dance berry” because of its remarkable ability to help people feel more at home in their bodies and more connected to one another. She also talks about the many other gifts of aralia berry, including its ability to support people who feel depleted, disconnected, or weighed down by prolonged stress or grief.

Beyond aralia berry, Mel shares insights from her work as a clinical herbalist, including a powerful lesson she learned early in her practice about the importance of meeting people where they are. We also discuss the role mentorship can play in helping herbalists build confidence, deepen their understanding, and develop their clinical skills.

You can download the beautifully illustrated recipe card for Mel’s Life of the Party Elixir, a delightful mixture of aralia berry and other herbs, here. But be careful—it might just inspire you to get up and dance!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► Why Mel sees aralia berry as a plant of connection and restoration, rather than simply another stimulating herb

► What makes aralia berry different from other herbs commonly used as social lubricants

► Why Mel prefers working with aralia’s berries instead of its more well-known root

► How aralia differs from its cousin ginseng and other adaptogenic herbs

► Where to find aralia in the wild

► Tips for growing, wildcrafting, and ethically harvesting aralia berry

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Mel Kasting is a clinical herbalist, educator, and botanist with more than ten years of clinical experience. As Clinical Director and Free Clinic Manager at the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine, she oversees accessible community care and helps train emerging clinical herbalists. Her work integrates traditional Western herbalism, clinical nutrition, somatic practices, public health, and harm reduction.

Through Forest Edge Herbals, Mel offers consultations, mentorship, plant walks, and community education. In her clinical practice, she supports people navigating chronic illness, mental and nervous system health concerns, and mast cell and allergic conditions, including alpha-gal syndrome, with individualized, person-centered herbal support.

I’m so excited to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Mel at https://forestedgeherbals.com/.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

Is garlic overhyped for heart health? You’ve heard it can help balance cholesterol, but does it actually work? And how do you use it to get results?

In this video, I explore how garlic works, why preparation matters, and what research says about garlic’s effects on cholesterol and heart health.

► Learn how crushing, chopping, or mincing garlic helps form allicin, a compound behind many of garlic’s heart benefits.

► Discover why letting garlic rest for ten minutes before cooking can help preserve allicin formation.

► Explore how garlic varieties differ in their allicin content, including why elephant garlic is different from true garlic.

► Review research on garlic and cholesterol, including findings from clinical trials.

► Learn what research has found about aged garlic extract and coronary artery plaque.

Garlic is just one of the herbs we explore in depth in Herbal Heart Health, my brand new course co-taught with herbalist Rich Mandelbaum. Learn to assess energetic patterns, read bloodwork, navigate herb-drug interactions, and choose herbs that fit the person in front of you, working alongside doctors and medications, not around them.

Enrollment closes October 28. Join us in Herbal Heart Health through here!

Hey friends, Rosalee here! I wanted to make sure you knew that I’m co-hosting a free webinar with my friend and fellow herbalist Rich Mandelbaum. We’ve teamed up to talk about 3 Advanced Ways Herbalists Work with the Heart.

Sign up for the free webinar here: https://freeherbwebinar.com/

Heart health is one of the most common reasons people turn to herbalists, and chances are someone you love is thinking about their blood pressure, their cholesterol, or the medications they’re taking. There’s so much herbs and simple daily practices can offer the heart, and Rich and I are excited to share some of the ways we approach heart health that go well beyond the basics.

Whether you’re a practitioner, a student, or someone who wants to care for your own heart or your family’s, I think you’ll walk away with new ways of seeing heart health and plenty of practical ideas.

It’s free, it’s live, and there will be time for your questions. I’d love to see you there!

Webinar details

• Topic: 3 Advanced Ways Herbalists Work with the Heart
• When: Thursday, October 22, at 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern

Sign up for the free webinar here: https://freeherbwebinar.com/

And if you can’t make it live, register anyway and we’ll do our best to get the recording out to you.

Hawthorn is one of my favorite herbs, and I get a lot of questions about it! In this video, I answer three of the most common ones.

Should you use the berries or the flowers and leaves? Can you safely harvest hawthorn from trees in your neighborhood? And what should you know about using hawthorn alongside heart medications?

We’ll explore different ways to prepare hawthorn, practical tips for responsible wild harvesting, and research on hawthorn extract used alongside conventional heart failure medications. I’ll also share why understanding the whole person is such an important part of the herbalist’s approach to heart health.

Want to learn more about herbal approaches to heart health?

Join my friend and fellow herbalist Rich Mandelbaum and me for our free webinar, 3 Advanced Ways Herbalists Work with the Heart, on Thursday, October 22, 4 PM Pacific / 7 PM Eastern.

Sign up here. If you can’t attend live, register anyway so you can receive the replay if it becomes available.

Many gardeners are familiar with borage: those gorgeous, starry blue flowers that bees absolutely adore. But what if there’s more to borage than just a pretty face?

In this episode, I sit down with Bridget Giuffrida to discuss the many virtues of borage (Borago officinalis). During our conversation, Bridget shares how she loves to work with borage as a cooling, soothing ally for the skin, emotional overwhelm, and the changes that come with perimenopause.

We also talk about the simple pleasure of spending time with borage in the garden—and what we might discover when we slow down enough to really pay attention to a plant.

Bridget also shares her recipe for Borage Blossom Honey, a simple and delicious way to work with this lovely flower. Download your beautifully illustrated recipe card here!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How borage can offer gentle support when life feels like it’s running at full throttle

► What makes borage such a wonderful herbal ally for the skin

► How this plant became associated with courage—and why that reputation has endured for centuries

► Over a dozen ways to bring borage into your kitchen and apothecary (from the prettiest of ice cubes, to tinctures, liniments, and more!)

► What to consider before using borage internally

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Bridget Giuffrida is a community herbalist, educator, herbal formulator, and founder of Sweet Herb Medicinals, a handcrafted herbal apothecary in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. Her relationship with plants began in the foothills of Northern California’s Sierra Nevada, and for 30 years she has studied, grown, gathered, and worked with herbs.

For 20 years, Sweet Herb Medicinals has been a place for herbal education, handcrafted preparations, botanical skincare, and hands-on learning for adults and youth. She is also co-founder of Bella Flora Expeditions, combining her love of plants, travel, food, culture, and landscape to create immersive botanical journeys around the world.

There’s something lovely about a plant that brings so much life to a garden while inviting us to find a little more steadiness in our own. May borage bring you a fresh appreciation for the everyday wonders growing all around you.

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Bridget at http://www.sweetherbmedicinals.com.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) is one of those plants that can be easy to overlook. It’s gentle, pleasant, and uncomplicated—but that simplicity is exactly what makes it so useful.

In this episode, Amy Boldt and I explore what makes marshmallow such a versatile plant ally, along with some of the ways she has come to work with it over the years, from cold infusions to adding the powdered root to food, and even old-fashioned marshmallow candy!

We discuss marshmallow’s moistening, demulcent qualities, and why it has such a strong affinity for soothing hot, irritated tissues throughout the body.

Amy also shares her recipe for Marshmallow Root Electuary Balls, a staple in her apothecary perfect for soothing a dry, irritated throat. Download your beautifully illustrated recipe card here!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How marshmallow’s gifts can benefit your GI tract from top to bottom

► Why many herbalists prefer working with marshmallow as a cold infusion rather than a hot tea

► What the taste and consistency of your marshmallow infusion might tell you about the quality and freshness of the root

► Why marshmallow’s moistening qualities make it less appropriate for certain kinds of coughs

► How growing some of your own herbs can help you to become a better herbalist

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Amy started her journey on the path to herbalism having been inspired by self-sufficiency. Her interest in medicinal plants and foraging led her to the Maryland University of Integrative Health (now Notre Dame of MD University) where she earned a Masters of Science in Therapeutic Herbalism. Since graduating from MUIH Amy has become a Registered Herbalist with the AHG and is one of Margi Flint’s Legacy Teachers.

Amy also has a private practice as a clinical herbalist specializing in sleep, anxiety, and digestive-related issues, and grows many of the herbs she uses on her herb farm in Westminster, MD. When not seeing clients, she can be found teaching classes in local community spaces, as well as at a number of herb schools and community colleges.

I’m delighted to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Amy at https://www.thewildwomanmedicine.com/.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

Have you ever tried an herb that everyone swears by, and it did nothing for you—or even made things worse? Good news: it all comes down to energetics, and once you learn to see people and plants through this lens, you’ll be able to choose the right herbs with confidence.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve asked you to send in your questions about herbal energetics—and send them in you did!

In this episode, I’m answering some of the questions I heard most often:

• Why would an herb work for one person, but not for someone else?
• What if your signs are mixed and you don’t fit into neat categories of hot or cold, dry or damp?
• What to do when your body changes over time?
• Can you keep working with the herbs you love, even if they’re not a great energetic match?

Along the way, I'll give you a few simple questions you can ask yourself tonight about your constitution and energetics, so you can begin to apply these principles to your own herbal practice.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► What to do when choosing herbs for a person who runs hot—but whose symptoms are cold

► Why your energetics can shift dramatically during different seasons of life

► How preparation can change the energetic experience of an herb

► How combining herbs can help you work around qualities that are too warming, cooling, drying, or moistening

►Why the way an herb is grown can matter—and how to use your tastebuds to determine whether it will work for you

►and so much more…

If this episode has you wanting to go deeper, my Herbal Energetics Course is a great place to learn more. In the course, we’ll move beyond the basic framework and into hands-on practice with taste, temperature, moisture, herbal actions—and yes, lots of plants! Enrollment closes this Saturday, October 3rd, so don’t delay! Learn more and sign up here.

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

How do we actually know what’s in our herbs?

Herbs rarely come with nutritional labels, and how a plant is grown, harvested, and stored can dramatically change what ultimately ends up in your cup.

There are two ways we can learn more about what our herbs contain. We can turn to tested data, including resources like Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical Database, but we also have another incredibly useful tool available to us wherever we go: our own senses.

In this episode, I’m using oatstraw as an example to explore organoleptics, the practice of learning about plants through taste, smell, sight, and feel.

► What organoleptics means and why it’s such a useful skill for herbalists

► How tested data and our sensory experiences can work together to help us understand a plant

► What oatstraw’s soft sweetness can tell us about its nourishing qualities

► How its silky, slightly slippery texture reveals its moistening and demulcent qualities

► What oatstraw’s subtle mineral-rich salty flavor can tell us about the plant

► Why you don’t need special equipment or a magical ability to start developing your organoleptic skills

With nothing more than taste and texture, I can already recognize oatstraw as nourishing and moistening. Those qualities fit beautifully with how herbalists work with oatstraw as a soothing plant, especially for the nervous system and for people who feel burnt up and fried out.

There are five main flavors in herbal medicine, and each taste offers us a doorway into how an herb works. Learning to recognize those patterns can completely change the way you experience the plants around you.

And the wonderful thing is that organoleptics is a skill you can learn. You build it one plant at a time by slowing down and paying attention to what’s actually in your cup.

That’s exactly what I teach inside my Herbal Energetics Course.

Enrollment opens only once a year, and this year it closes October 3rd.

Join the Herbal Energetics Course here.

Your tongue can tell you more about an herb than you might think.

In this episode, I explore one of the most useful skills in herbalism: learning to listen to the language of taste. The five flavors—bitter, sweet, pungent, salty, and sour—each have so much information to offer about a plant’s qualities and actions in your body, giving you a practical way to understand herbs (instead of trying to memorize endless lists of which herbs are “good for” which conditions).

I’ll guide you through these five flavors as we take a walk through my garden, highlighting each of the flavors with a different herb. For each of these herbs, you’ll learn how it tastes (though of course, the best way to learn this is to taste it yourself!), what that taste is telling you about the qualities of the plant, and some ways you can use those qualities to guide how you work with the plant.

Plus, I’ll introduce you to the Flavor Wheel, a simple tool I created to help you match the taste of an herb with its energetics and actions. You can get your own copy of the Flavor Wheel when you sign up for my free mini Herbal Energetics Course, which is happening right now and for a short time only! Sign up here.

Here's some of what you'll hear:

► Do you tend to feel hot, tense, and wound up by the end of the day? You'll hear why a bitter herb can be such a good match.

► Do you notice dryness in your throat, skin, or digestion? You'll learn how a sweet, slippery plant softens dry tissues throughout your body.

► Are you feeling frazzled, overworked, and spread too thin? You'll find out which pungent, aromatic herb can bring steadiness and clear focus.

► Have you ever wondered how an herb can be salty when it tastes nothing like table salt? You'll get the answer and why it matters.

► Curious why one bright, sour plant has such a long relationship with the heart? You'll hear how it supports both the physical and emotional heart.

The more you taste your herbs, the more you realize that plants are constantly giving us clues—you just have to learn their language. And that’s what I love about this approach: it gives us a way to slow down, pay attention, and let the plant tell us something about itself.

If you’re ready to learn more, come join me in my free mini Herbal Energetics Course! I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

I once heard from a woman who had been studying herbs for two years and had gathered an entire cabinet full of them. But when her mom caught a cold, she stood in her kitchen with the kettle on and couldn’t bring herself to make her a cup of tea.

She was afraid she might get it wrong.

If you’ve ever felt that way, I want you to know that your caution isn’t a problem. In fact, I think it’s the exact instinct a good herbalist is built on.

In this episode, I’m sharing a simple way to approach herbal safety so that fear doesn’t have to keep you from actually working with the plants you’ve been learning about.

► Why being cautious about herbs doesn’t mean you’re behind or aren’t ready

► Why many familiar herbs, including ginger, peppermint, rosemary, and turmeric, may already be part of your everyday life

► When an herb, medication, pregnancy, health condition, or individual circumstance means it’s time to slow down and look more closely

► How to recognize when you can move forward, when you should proceed with caution, and when it’s best to step back and seek other help

► The simple green, yellow, and red “stoplight” framework I created to make herbal safety easier to understand and remember

After more than twenty years of teaching about herbs, one thing I’ve learned is that complicated information becomes much more useful when you can turn it into a framework that sticks.

That’s why I created this herbal safety stoplight. 🟢🟡🔴

Once you have a reliable way to assess the herb and the person in front of you, you don’t have to let fear make every decision. You can approach herbs with both care and growing confidence.

I teach this framework inside my free Mini Herbal Energetics course, where you’ll also receive a printable herbal safety guide you can keep and return to whenever you need it.

Join the free Mini Herbal Energetics course here.

Plantain was the first herb I ever learned, almost twenty years ago, and it still amazes me. It grows in sidewalk cracks, driveways, trails, and other disturbed places, which makes it incredibly easy to overlook.

But once you understand plantain through the lens of herbal energetics, this humble plant starts to look very different.

In this episode, I’m busting three common myths about plantain and showing you how its cooling and moistening qualities connect its many uses.

► Why calling plantain “just a weed” misses the incredible herbal ally that may be growing right at your feet

► What research into plantain extract and oral mucositis can teach us about this often-overlooked plant

► Why plantain is useful for so much more than bug bites, and how its cooling, moistening energetics help explain its affinity for hot, irritated tissues

► How the same qualities herbalists appreciate for bites, burns, and irritated skin can also be useful inside the body

► Why herbalists reach for plantain tea for everything from an irritated digestive tract to hot, dry, lingering coughs

Here’s what I love about plantain: these uses don’t have to be a random list you memorize. Cooling and moistening is the thread that connects them.

That’s what herbal energetics gives you. Instead of memorizing a hundred herbs for a hundred different conditions, you begin to understand how a plant actually works and recognize when its qualities might be a good match.

This is exactly what I teach in my Herbal Energetics Course, and I’d love to give you a sneak peek.

I’ve created a free Plantain Monograph that goes deeper into its energetics, research, preparations, and safety. It’s one of more than 60 herbal monographs included in the course.

When you get your free Plantain Monograph, I’ll also let you know when enrollment for my Herbal Energetics Course opens.

Get your free Plantain Monograph here.

Rosemary is probably best known as a culinary herb, but there’s so much more to this familiar plant. Once you understand its warming, stimulating energetics, many of rosemary’s seemingly unrelated uses start to make sense.

In this short episode, I’m sharing three surprising ways to work with rosemary as medicine and showing you how herbal energetics can help you understand why a plant works the way it does.

► How rosemary’s warming and stimulating qualities can support circulation and help cold hands feel warmer

► Why rosemary is known for its impressive antioxidant qualities, and how research has explored its ability to reduce potentially harmful compounds formed when cooking meat at high temperatures

► Rosemary’s long association with remembrance and what modern research says about its effects on memory and cognitive function

► How rosemary’s aromatic qualities connect its traditional uses with what we now know about its chemistry

► Why understanding an herb’s energetics can help you see the connections between seemingly different uses instead of memorizing endless lists

That’s what I love about herbal energetics. When you understand that rosemary is warming, stimulating, and gently moving, its uses for cold hands, sluggish digestion, and a foggy mind no longer feel disconnected. You begin to see the pattern of the plant.

This is exactly what I teach in my Herbal Energetics Course, and I’d love to give you a sneak peek.

I’ve created a free Rosemary Monograph that goes deeper into rosemary’s energetics, research, preparations, dosage, and safety. It’s one of more than 60 herbal monographs included in the course.

When you get your free Rosemary Monograph, I’ll also let you know when enrollment for my Herbal Energetics Course opens.

Get your free Rosemary Monograph here.

Pokeweed is poisonous—but that’s not the whole story. What if knowing how to work with this potent plant could turn fear into respect, and even put a delicious wild green on your dinner table?

As many of us learned growing up, poke (Phytolacca americana) is a plant that deserves a healthy amount of caution. It is poisonous, after all! But AC and Isaac Hill have spent years learning how to work with poke as food, medicine, and more, and they joined me in this episode to dispel some of the fear surrounding this generous and abundant plant.

During our conversation, AC and Isaac explore the many faces of poke: a powerful lymphatic herb, an expectorant and immune stimulant, a traditional wild food, a striking dye plant, and a plant with a fascinating history of magical use. And perhaps most importantly, they share the practical knowledge that makes all the difference in preparing and working with pokeweed safely.

Curious about bringing poke into your own kitchen? Be sure to download the beautifully illustrated recipe card for AC and Isaac’s Poke Salad here.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How poke differs from other lymphatic herbs like cleavers and chickweed

► Which part of the poke plant to harvest for food (and the physical clues that tell you when it’s ready)

► Tips for growing, harvesting, and extending the season for poke

► The simple method that AC and Isaac use to turn this poisonous plant into a delicious spring green

► How Isaac views the botany and actions of poke through an astrological lens

► A clever way to make your tinctures more potent (for many plants, not just poke!)

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know them, AC & Isaac Hill are the hosts of the Plant Cunning Podcast, where they have interviewed some of the most influential herbalists, permaculturists, astrologers and spiritual practitioners in the world.

AC is a community herbalist, product maker, and co-director of the Actaea Institute for Herbal Medicine and Aromatherapy. Isaac is a permaculture gardener, astrologer, and author of The Zodiac Garden Guide. They are married and live on a small herb farm in Central NY.

I’m excited to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find AC and Isaac on Instagram.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

Butterfly pea is beautiful enough to steal the show—but what if its real magic has nothing to do with its color?

In this episode, I’m joined by Clarenda Stanley (aka Farmer Cee), who completely changed the way I think about butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea).

I’ll admit that before this conversation, I mostly thought of butterfly pea as the plant that turns your tea an incredible cobalt blue. But Cee makes a compelling case for looking beyond the color. She shares why she loves butterfly pea for mood support, nourishment, and as a surprisingly versatile ally during the transitions of perimenopause and menopause. We also talk about its role as a nitrogen-fixing plant, its beautiful relationship with bees, and so many delicious ways to enjoy those vibrant flowers.

During our conversation, Cee also takes us inside Green Heffa Farms and her philosophy of boutique farming, where quality, sustainability, and the well-being of the farmer come first. Along the way, she offers a fresh perspective on what it means to be an herbalist—and to build a life that sustains rather than drains.

Cee shares her recipe for Herbal Cool Aid, a refreshing, vibrant blend of butterfly pea flower along with other cooling herbs. You can download your beautifully illustrated recipe card here.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► Three reasons butterfly pea can be so helpful during perimenopause

► How to include butterfly pea in your diet—from teas to syrups to the most gorgeous ice cubes, and more!

► What makes butterfly pea such a wonderful plant for the garden

► Why Clarenda believes that herbal remedies should be beautiful and delicious (not just functional!)

► Tips for running a thriving herbal business

► And so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Clarenda “Farmer Cee” Stanley is the founder and CEO of Green Heffa Farms, a regenerative farm and natural wellness brand based in Liberty, North Carolina. Since launching the company in 2018, Farmer Cee has become a nationally recognized voice at the intersection of regenerative agriculture, climate resilience, and values-driven entrepreneurship. Green Heffa Farms is one of few farms in the United States to earn Certified B Corporation status, with several products also carrying Soil & Climate Health verification.

Farmer Cee is also an award-winning fundraising and marketing executive. She has earned degrees in Marketing and Education, is a graduate of NC State Extension’s Farm School, serves on the Southern SARE Advisory Council, and is the author of the book Black Girl’s Guide to Building a Boutique Farm, which blends practical strategy with cultural insight for the next generation of farm entrepreneurs.

I’m so grateful Cee shared her passion, wisdom, and very honest perspective with us. And I’m glad to say that for me, butterfly pea has officially graduated from “pretty blue tea” to a plant I want to get to know much better!

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Clarenda at https://www.greenheffafarms.com/.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

There’s something almost impossible to ignore about bee balm (Monarda spp.). Its flowers burst open like fireworks, its aroma is unmistakably spicy, and when you taste it, you can feel its warmth almost immediately. But this is where bee balm gets especially interesting: despite its intense hotness, it can be an excellent herb for actually dispersing heat.

In this episode, Ashley Elenbaas and I explore this beautiful contradiction and the many ways it shows up in bee balm’s medicine. We talk about why she keeps dried bee balm right alongside her cooking spices, how a late-night burn led her to reach for this plant, and why she considers small, regular amounts of bee balm to be a great way to support a nervous system that’s prone to overwhelm.

Ashley also shares her recipe for Bee Balm Honey, a super simple (and delicious!) way to bring bee balm’s spiciness into your own kitchen. Download your beautifully illustrated recipe card here!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► The clues to bee balm’s medicine that are hidden in its dragon-shaped flowers

► Why bee balm is particularly suited for situations where you need to release excess heat (whether that means fevers, burns, tension, or even those “big feelings” that can build up!)

► What “diffusive” means in herbal energetics—and what makes bee balm an amazing herb for understanding it

► Six herbal preparations for working with bee balm, from tea to culinary use and more!

► How Ashley works with bee balm as an aromatic ally for sleep

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Ashley Elenbaas, M.Sc., RH (AHG), is a clinical herbalist, educator, and founder of Sky House Herb School. With over 20 years of experience teaching herbal medicine, yoga, and the healing arts, she weaves together traditional Western herbalism, plant energetics, nature-based spirituality, and community care. Ashley is passionate about helping people deepen their relationship with medicinal plants while cultivating thoughtful, heart centered practice. She teaches online and in person, hosts the Sky House Herbs YouTube channel, and lives in Minnesota with her family.

Some plants ask us to slow down and listen. Bee balm practically grabs us by the shoulders and says, “Pay attention!” I hope this conversation inspires you to spend some time with this fiery, exuberant plant and discover its many gifts for yourself.

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Ashley at https://www.skyhouseherbs.com/.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

Hibiscus is tart, cooling, beautiful—and so much more than just a refreshing summer drink.

Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) may be best known as the star ingredient in the tart, ruby-red beverage called jamaica or sorrel, but there is so much more to this beautiful plant! In this episode, Rebecca Fils-Aimé takes us beyond the familiar drink to explore hibiscus as food, medicine, and cultural tradition. Drawing on her Haitian heritage as well as her own herbal studies, Rebecca shares why she loves hibiscus for its cooling, soothing, mucilaginous qualities, how she works with it for cardiovascular and respiratory support, and so many ways to work with the flowers (well, the calyxes to be exact!) and leaves in both the kitchen and the apothecary.

Rebecca also shares her recipe for Sorrel Cough Syrup, a simple combination of hibiscus and warming Caribbean spices designed to soothe that irritating, dry cough. (Or if you don’t have a cough, just add it to sparkling water for a tasty, refreshing treat!) You can download your beautifully illustrated copy here.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► Why hibiscus is particularly beneficial for dry, irritated respiratory tissues

► Several ways to weave hibiscus into your diet—both sweet and savory!

► What makes hibiscus so supportive for the heart and cardiovascular system

► How this gorgeous flower became such an integral part of Caribbean culture

► Surprising ways to include hibiscus in your beauty routine

► …and so many more ways to work with hibiscus beyond just a pretty pink drink!

For those of you who don’t know her, Rebecca Fils-Aimè is a community herbalist, public health practitioner, and health and wellness coach whose practice lies at the intersection of food, kitchen remedies for health, and Black culinary herbalism history. Through her herbalism practice and research, she shares traditions from Black and Indigenous Caribbean people to highlight their contributions to herbalism and food history. Her practice is also guided by the seasons, her Haitian culture, and her Southeastern upbringing. She has a passion for educating communities about herbs as preventative medicine, herbs as self-care, and herbs in food as an accessible way to engage in herbalism.

Hibiscus is one of those plants that reminds us that food and medicine don’t have to be separate. Sometimes the most nourishing herbal allies are the ones we already know and love—and sometimes, they’re hiding in a tall glass of ruby-red refreshment, so perfect on a hot summer day.

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Rebecca at http://www.theherbaldiaries.com/.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

Some herbal blends become such a regular part of my life that I honestly don’t know what I’d do without them. Take Heart Tea is one of those blends.

Here, I share a beautiful tea that nourishes both the heart and the nervous system, especially during rough or stressful times.

► Why tulsi is the backbone of this blend and how I think about its ability to bring both clarity and steadiness

► How hawthorn leaf and flower support not only the physical heart, but the emotional heart too

► Why I reach for linden when stress shows up as tightness, restlessness, or shallow breathing

► How lemon verbena and cornflower bring flavor, beauty, and their own supportive qualities to the blend

I’ll also share how I prepare Take Heart Tea so you can easily make it part of your own daily herbal practice.

This isn’t a tea meant to fix anything. It’s about support, helping the body and the heart find a little more balance and ease.

Get the Take Heart Tea recipe here.

What if a plant we spend so much time pulling off our trees and walls is actually a forgotten medicinal ally?

Common ivy (Hedera helix) has a complicated reputation. It’s abundant, beautiful, and deeply woven into the European landscape, yet many people think of it as an invasive to eradicate rather than something to learn from. In this episode, herbalist Luke Ó hErodáin reveals the forgotten medicinal traditions surrounding common ivy and why he believes this plant deserves a second look. He shares how ivy became one of his most trusted lung herbs, the traditional preparations that caught his attention, and the fascinating history behind its use in European medicine.

Luke also shares the story behind the research project that has become one of his major passions: uncovering and translating the work of the French eclectic herbalists. These forgotten practitioners were exploring whole-plant medicine, sophisticated preparations, and local substitutes for exotic herbs at a time when the medical world was rapidly changing. Their work raises some fascinating questions about what we’ve lost—and what we might rediscover by looking backward.

Ready to explore ivy beyond the garden wall? Luke has shared not one, but four recipes for working with this remarkable plant! You can download your beautifully illustrated recipe card here.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► What makes ivy such a powerful herbal ally for people with deep congestion in the lungs

► How Luke works with ivy for burns, scars, cellulite, and other skin concerns

► Important cautions to consider before using ivy internally

► Surprising ways French herbalists used phytochemistry to inform their herbal practice in the early 1900’s

► How the rise of modern industrial medicine changed the herbalism landscape practically overnight

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know him, Luke Ó hErodáin (Luke Heron), Dip Herb Med, is a medical herbalist based in Ireland and operating his clinic in Cork. He is the current lead of the Herbal Alliance and is actively engaging with professional herbalists in the UK and Ireland to navigate through this digital age through the Herbal Alliance.

Before becoming a herbalist, Luke spent a decade in the media and technology industry working in film production, digital marketing and tech deployment, a background that informs his critical perspective on AI and digital ethics. He is an independent researcher focusing on the French Eclectic Doctors, led by Dr. Henri Leclerc (who likely coined the term ‘phytotherapy’) and is actively preserving and translating their works. Luke is a foraging instructor dedicated to bridging traditional local and indigenous Irish plant wisdom with modern insights.

I hope this conversation leaves you looking a little differently at the plants you pass every day—and perhaps a little more curious about the herbal wisdom hiding in old books, forgotten traditions, and even the plants we’ve learned to overlook.

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Get full show notes, transcript, and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

Would you prefer watching this episode? If so, click here for the video.

You can find Luke at https://www.celticfoxherbal.com/.

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

Working successfully with herbs requires three essential skills. Get introduced to them by taking my free herbal jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at http://herbswithrosalee.com/.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

When wildfire smoke fills the air, supporting the lungs is only part of the picture.

Here, I share the three-part strategy I use when formulating an herbal tea for smoky days.

► Support the lungs. Learn why I turn to plantain, a soothing demulcent herb, to help calm irritated respiratory tissues and why recent clinical research supports its traditional use.

► Support the heart. Wildfire smoke has been linked to increased risks of cardiovascular problems through inflammation and oxidative stress. I explain why herbs like hawthorn and linden are part of my approach.

► Support the nervous system. The smoke isn't the only challenge. The worry and fear that accompany wildfire season deserve care too, which is why calming herbs are an important part of the blend.

I also share the herbal tea I formulated with hawthorn, hibiscus, plantain, linden, and holy basil to support all three systems together. You can get the recipe here.

Important note: No herbal tea is protective against hazardous air quality. During severe smoke events, reducing your exposure and using clean indoor air remain the most effective ways to protect your health.