Yesterday I made the decoction and infusion for the Winter Crud syrup that goes into my annual herbal care gift set that I make for each of my adult children’s households. The other items include a bottle of sting oil, …
Category: Herbs
Most of the time, these are medicinal plants, but they may not be Arkansas natives. Some are invasive, some just alien, and many are grown on purpose in gardens.
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Mindfulness | Hermit Diary
While the world was in Covid shutdowns, I’d begun making blog posts I called ‘Hermit Journals‘. While I’m glad we’re not still in lockdown, I miss making those entries. So I’m going to start them up again as …
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An Herbal Remedy for Winter Crud featuring Mullein, Beebalm, and Echinacea
Here’s my 2023 recipe for an herbal remedy I use every year to combat what we’ve come to call “Winter Crud”. We also take it at the first sign of anything that feels like trouble coming on.
This year’s formula …
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A Yellow Paint Experiment | Lake pigment from thyme
Back when I made my very first set of paints, I had a really nice yellow. I’d made several yellows from various plants and did lightfast tests on them. All failed except for the one, gorgeous yellow. Not only did …
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Plant Walk & Nature Journaling at Wild Ozark
There are other plant walks in Arkansas, but this one is probably a little different. The trails we’ll follow are deer trails and logging roads. The drive to get here is gorgeous. And the biodiversity here at Wild Ozark is …
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Wild Mountain Mint – Whiteleaf Mountain Mint
Wild mountain mint grows in abundance here at Wild Ozark. This particular variety is called White-leaf Mountain Mint. While this post was originally created in 2016, I still enjoying seeing and using these aromatic plants. My own use of them …
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Oh no! The Virginia Snakeroot babies are all gone!
I went out to check on the Virginia snakeroot nursery the other day and was mortified to find nothing. Not. One. Plant.
Virginia Snakeroot … What’s That?
Now, you might be wondering just what’s so important about a plant that …
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Lousewort, Bumblebee Food and Medicinal Herb
Lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis) is an interesting plant. It’s a medicinal herb said to be effective at muscular pain relief. The bumblebees love it!
Rosy colored variety of Pedicularis, with a bumble bee visiting. 
A pale yellow-colored lousewort. …
Some lousewort, showing -
Vernal Witch Hazel Flowers and Hazelnut too!
Today I went out to take cuttings from the Ozark Witch Hazel in the hopes of rooting them. I wasn’t looking for an American Hazelnut, but that’s what I found! I found the Witch Hazels, too. But I already knew …
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Build your Herbal Armory!
Useful plants grow all around us. It’s time to start building your herbal armory of plant allies now.
My book, 10 Common Plants worth Knowing in a Long-term Survival Situation, will introduce you to ten at a time. I’ll …
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Ginseng Jelly – A Delicious Wild Ozark Luxury Product
Oh, my … GINSENG JELLY!
I love medicinal herbs, especially those that grow right here at home, and most especially ginseng. This year’s ginseng jelly comes in two varieties:
- Ginseng Gold (4-oz, $25)
- Ginseng/Apple (8-oz, $25) Soft-set: thicker than syrup,
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Elderberry Flowers Oil Infusion
Elderberry flowers have a light, sweet fragrance and all manners of pollinators love them.
Which Elderberry Flowers?
The variety I’m using for this is Sambucus canadensis, which is the native elderberry in our area. Black elderberry (S. nigra) is …
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Wild Ozark’s Plant ID Challenge: May’s Mystery
This month’s Star Plant Guesser is Janet Webb, who correctly identified May’s Mystery plant as Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum).
Each month, around the middle of the month, I’ll post a plant ID challenge for readers to test their identification …
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PawPaw Seedling Hiding in the Hickories
There’s a hickory hiding in there with the pawpaw seedlings. PawPaw seedlings look a lot like hickory seedlings. In the photo you can see who’s who, but without the labels it’s easy to mistake one for the other. One way …
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Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes? Companion Look A-Likes
Black Cohosh or Doll’s Eyes?
Trying to differentiate between black cohosh and doll’s eyes before they come into bloom, has been frustrating. It’s very easy to tell once they begin the blooming process as the flower stems originate in different …
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Early Spring Plants of the Woodlands in Madison County Arkansas
I got a late start photographing the early spring plants this year (2017). They started without me and I’ve already missed some of them.
These are some of the plants unfurling and blooming on April 1 in the woodland habitats …
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Watching for Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch Hazel Flowers
Witch hazel flowers are an interesting sight to behold. The petals on the small flowers are thin and wild. The shrub blooms during the most unlikeliest time of the year.
It is one of my favorite plants …
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Join me at the 8th Annual Agroforestry Symposium in Columbia, MO
January 26, 2017
We’ll be there representing Wild Ozark and I’ll be participating in the discussion panel for medicinal plant growers and entrepreneurs. Come out and meet us, talk about ginseng and the new habitat garden, or just say hello.…
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Mailbox and Back in Under an Hour
Yesterday I brought my camera with me when I went to the mailbox. If I had walked, I know it would have taken more than an hour because I would have seen so many more opportunities to stop and take …
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Top Questions from Readers: Healing Herbs
Healing Herbs: the first of the Top Questions and Topics of Interest from Readers
Healing herbs and using the wild plants for medicine was one of the most often mentioned topics in the recent survey results.
In case you’re just …
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Photos of Plants – Medicinal & Useful plants down the Wild Ozark Driveway
I’m still mostly stuck in the house because of my knee (dislocated it a little over a week ago) but I took the four-wheeler and camera down the driveway to get a few photos of plants unfurling or coming into …
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Update from Wild Ozark
Lots of things going on – or rather, NOT going on lately.
If you’re a subscriber to my monthly newsletter, you’ve probably already seen the update that I won’t be doing the farmer’s market this year. I forgot to …
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Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) Unfurling
The blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) is awake early this spring. I found some the other day, in three different stages of unfurl.
The one completely unfurled is in a pot in the nursery area, the other two are in the …
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Exercising in Nature – or – Why it takes me an hour to walk to the mailbox and back
Exercising in nature is as easy as taking a walk to check the mail. It helps if you have a long driveway.
One of my resolutions for the new year and the rest of my life is to get into …
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Ginseng in November and a Witch Hazel, too
On a whim, I went out to see how the ginseng looked now. I knew it would be dead and wasn’t sure I’d find any. But the four-prong that grows in the nursery plot was still identifiable, at least.
You …
