Dear Diary…Welcome

The official launch of this blog has been a long time coming, as you might be able to tell by the date of the first blog post. In early 2020, I was SO close to getting a job that combined my passions for food and public health and then…the pandemic hit. The first few months were business as usual (but at home) but eventually, I went all in on doing culinary research, herbalism content, cooking content, etc. on social media. And no surprise….I burned myself OUT. I didn’t want to see the inside of a kitchen for almost 2 years. But I kept up with my plant studies. And experimenting with herbalism got me back to cooking again, which led to me wanting to combine the two more.  I started posting my daily herbal tea blends on IG and was surprised at how many people were interested. People would ask questions about herbs, how to make herbal preparations, ask for recipes, etc., and thus, this place was born. There are so many different ways to approach herbalism and if you’re not already practicing and deep in plant studies, it can seem overwhelming. I want this to be a place for trusted information about wellness and herbalism without fearmongering or complicated herbal protocols.

This is a space for me to reflect and share my perspective on herbalism. Here, you’ll see musings about my plant studies, evidence-based resources, plant and culinary history, and definitely a pic or two from a recent hike or last night’s dinner. As a holistic herbalist, I emphasize a food/lifestyle-first approach to wellness, and the importance of knowing what’s going on in your body to make informed choices for self-care and health practices. Herbs in food as medicine and living seasonally are two major pillars in my personal herbalism practice and you’ll see these themes a lot in my writing.

Here are some things you’ll see a lot of here:

• Haitian folk medicine and other Caribbean herbalism practices

• Black herbalism traditions from around the globe

• Kitchen herbalism

• Plant descriptions and experiments

• Culinary/herbalism history write ups

• Approachable ways to incorporate herbalism into daily life

• Low-cost, sustainable approaches to herbalism

• Seasonal living practices

• Ways to reduce food waste

• Wellness tips

• How to approach herbalism formulation

• Links to traditional and scientific evidence

and of course, lots of tasty recipes for you to try!

With Love,

Rebecca