I hope you were able to enjoy the holiday. It was definitely different for us this year. Very quiet. I am using these quiet times for the good. 

I recently posted that I was going off Facebook and Instagram. I actually never got into Social Media when it first started, but have spent the past 4 years using it for connection and building my business. In these times though, I feel that the invasion of privacy is more than I want to accept. 
My energy feel scrambled by it all, and as a healer, I feel I need to be in a healing flow if I am to help others. 

OTHER NEWS

I have been making herbal remedies for people for 9 years plus- actually it is more like 12 years in total. I started Sheep Hill Herbs 9 years ago, but I was making capsules, and tinctures 3 years before that. I always thought of labeling my herbals and I only just did it! 
Go to my ETSY store and see my herbal products. I am actually still updating it on a daily basis, and will be adding TEAS (Which I am really excited to add) and more ointments, and more tinctures. 

ETSY STORE ENTER HERE: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SheepHillHerbs


FOR THIS POST I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT GINGER 🍃🍃

Who doesn't know this herb? It is very common and even accepted by the medical profession as an "acceptable" herb for nausea. Ginger is so much more though. Zingiber officinalis aka "The Hot Root" 
and if you even ate a piece raw, you will find- it is hot!

When you drink ginger tea, and I mean real ginger tea, made from fresh roots, it warms your whole body (head to toe). In the warmer months, I love to add ginger to my food as a spice, but in the winter and cold months, I relish how drinks with ginger that renew my body and actually circulate my circulation. 

Ginger tea is a fine tea if you have chills, or are just chilly from a brisk walk outside. If you just can't seem to warm up your hands and feet, a hot cup may just be the trick. 🌿

Ginger is also a HEART loving herb. ❤🧡🧡
It stabilizes the blood, may help to balance cholesterol, and can strengthen the heart. THE KEY🔆 to any good herbal remedy is knowing how to take the herb. If you think you can sprinkle some dried ginger (bought from the grocery store) on your food, and have these effects and benefits, I am sorry to say- you will not. There may be a little good, but you won't have the WOW- amazing herbal experience that comes from fresh good quality herbs, or great quality dried herbs. 

Ginger can also be useful for unchecked weight problems. It stimulates saliva which then activates enzymes needed to break down proteins and fats. It also increases metabolic heat to burn calories. 

(Information found in the book 20,000 Secrets of Tea by Victoria Zak)

SO HOW TO ? ? How to make a great cup of tea.

Please go to my video on YouTube at the link just below here. The one that has the honey pot. I am posting it right here. You can watch How To. When you are on my channel I am going to ask you to Subscribe, and make a comment so I know you were there. Share your favorite way to enjoy Ginger.


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Study is wonderful. Reading and learning is great. I do it all the time. I ready daily and study what others have recorded. The best reading or best books are written by people who have had actual experience, and then attempt to write that experience down as clear as they can for others to benefit. 

I have studied and read about plants for 20 years. Reading about a plant, does so very little in the way of getting to really know the plant. Reading provides me information and knowledge, but there is so much more when you spend time in the growth cycle with the actual plant. I just think about all the millions of people who lived before the written word, or when those who could read and write were small in number. 

There is a wealth of information to be learned by observation and study in nature. A child will even be able to teach you from this kind of study. My son Caleb loves birds, and has spent hours looking for them, and listening to their voices. He can identify dozens of birds by their call, not to mention their sight. He also can identify by seeing their nests. I find this amazing.

Plants may seem like a mystery to those only use to purchasing from a store, or who only grow a very few in their garden. Plants are mysterious, but they are also very identifiable and you can get to know their properties and abilities after a full season of watching them bloom, grow, respond to the weather, flower and seed. Each year I make it my mission to learn more plants this way, and the ones I already know, I watch for their many characteristics. I truly get excited to see what each tree will do in the year. Will it blossom early? Will there be more fruit? Will it be strong? 

This brings me to Black Walnuts- because I have spent a lot of time with this tree, and its fruit. Oh what I would have done without this tree?! It has helped me so much with my skin, and healing long standing skin issues. It is truly a helper, a friend, and a beneficial part of creation that I am grateful for. 

In the video below I will talk a bit more about Black Walnut hulls- turned into medicine. I also have other videos on Black Walnut Hull Tinctures at my You Tube Channel, Sheep Hill Herbs (you can find them after you link over there). If you have had an amazing experience with Black Walnut (herb), leave a comment below. 

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I love Black Walnut tincture, made from Green Hulls. It is truly the best way to enjoy this plant and herb. Every fall I can't wait to pick the green hulls and make A LOT of tincture for the year. It is one plant and remedy I always wildcraft and make from scratch. I just have not found the dried version of black walnut hull powder to be as effective. 

I have depended on Black walnut to heal my skin of some pretty persistent eczema, which is really a concoction of bacteria, and fungal issues combined on the skin. Nothing has worked so effectively for me as this wonderful plant. 

We have also been saved or our teeth have been saved by swishing the tincture at least 2 times a day. I have seen teeth enamel repair and harden from repeated, consistent care. (DIET IS ALSO IMPORTANT). We eat a Paleo diet. Grains, especially processed can really leach minerals from the body because of acidity. Properly processed grains, the ancient way as not acidic. I personally do not have enough time to process my grains the old fashioned way. We do have some brown rice, and buckwheat once a week or so. Wheat and Gluten- no. Just found my family healthier without it. 

I have multiple videos on Black walnut, especially how to make your own tincture. I also have a few other blog posts here on this site. For now, I wanted to share my most recent video on this wonderful herb. I can't wait to see the blooming trees next year. They line our property and street. They are the sign of summer and give me a feeling of well-being with their big green hulls. 

My own tincture can be found at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SheepHillHerbs
Thanks!💚

This morning, I was greeted by 2 little blue flowers on my rosemary bush. I was so surprised. I mean, I know that plants have flowers, and that they bloom, but I have never ever had a rosemary that bloomed. In fact my rosemary's have often died before their time. 

I think I was determined this year to have success with my rosemary. I love this amazingly beautiful, and fragrant plant. In the past, I have planted it right in my garden, and when the deep cold of winter sets in, it just is too much for this warm weather loving plant. My sister lived in Texas (I am in PA), and her rosemary bush was gigantic, like an actual bush. 

What I have learned is to put my rosemary in pots, and move the pots in and out of the house. I move it in for the winter, usually starting in November, and take it out maybe late March. The problem is, or was, or has been that I never seemed to have one live through the winter, until March and go back outside. Last year was the first year where this very plant, pictured below lived through the winter, went outside and is not happy inside, blooming. 

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I actually use to say that I didn't have a green thumb. The truth is, I most definitely do. It was a matter of learning some skills, techniques and a whole lot of observation. That mixed with a mindset of not being afraid to fail. I think I use to be so afraid to "kill a plant." I have killed many plants. I would bargain to surmise that this may be a common thought for people who are not really developed in their plant skills. It truly does not feel great to kill a plant. 

I remember one time in college- I had a plant in my small dorm room. I can't believe I did this, but I had NO idea what I was doing with plants at that time. I had hot water in my dorm room and because the bathroom was down the hall, with sinks, and I did not want to go down there. I thought I would just water my plant with this hot water. Needless to say the plant died rather quickly (within a day or so), and I felt horrible. Thinking back on it actually, I may have been able to save it if I knew what I know now. 

There is a lot of risk taking in working with plants. I think when you approach them with hesitancy, and fear- they sense that. Now, I get in there and dig around the dirt, move, cut, trim, transplant and the plants keep on thriving. I never ever water my plants with hot water though! I do however use my herbal tea, after its cooled down and is no longer of interest to me. When I say cooled, like room temperature. I figure the plant will be enriched by the minerals in the tea. 

​As I was writing, I brought 2 rosemary pots in this November. The one was looking rather shabby, as it had gone a stretch without water. It is coming around though. The other looked very healthy when I brought it in and it is the plant that now has little blue blooms. 

I love what I learned about Rosemary in of course 'Rosemary Gladstar's' book Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide. 

"Rosmarinus means "dew of the sea. In reference to the plant's natural habitat on the warm, sunny hillsides bordering the sea." (Medicinal Herbs p. 84)

Rosemary has a great recipe for ensuring that your plants survive indoor settings. I followed her instructions and I have to say, she was exactly correct!
"It loves fertile soil and the full sunlight, though it will tolerate some shade. Water thoroughly, and don't let the soil dry out completely between waterings, but don't over water either. To have a really happy rosemary plant, mist the leaves weekly with a diluted seaweed spray." 
-Rosemary Gladstar (Medicinal Herbs p. 84)

I have done exactly that. I have given my plant full sun- or the best sunny window in my house. I have been watering it a lot. Every 2 to 3 days. I am sure what problem I ran into before was that I let the soil become way too dry in-between watering. I have not been misting with seaweed spray, but I have been misting the leaves when I water. I can tell it has made a difference. 

I am posting my own video on this lovely plant below. Go check it out on YouTube. My channel is Sheep Hill Herbs. 

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