We are being blessed with a GORGEOUS fall. I guess we deserve it, after such a wet/hot/miserable spring and summer.

The harvest is in full swing here. The still is running every day, weather permitting. I've distilled the season's tender herbs - lemon verbena, eucalyptus, lemongrass - the more tropical herbs that grow here as annuals. Now I'll concentrate on the hardier herbs - peppermint, comfrey, mountain mint, etc. We had a crop failure of several herbs - lemon balm and chocolate mint. Which is bizarre, as normally they grow REALLY well here. go figure.

I'm also drying herbs, and making smudge sticks. The picture above shows sweetgrass, mountain mint, and white sage, just cut. I bundle some of each together and tie it with a rubber band, as shown below:


These are hung in our drying shed, until they're dry, but not TOO crispy/crunchy.
Then we remove the rubber band, tie the smudge together with natural-fiber (cotton or hemp) string, and they are done!

Here's another online tutorial about making smudge.

My friend Tina has a REALLY great post about making your own elderberry tincture. If any of you have ripe elderberries, now is the time to make this wonderful and delicious herbal medicine. If it's not elderberry season where you live, I suggest reading this post anyway, because it is a really excellent tutoral for making your own herbal tintures. I know it seems like a very mystical thing, but making your own herbal medicines simply could NOT be easier. Truly, the ease and simplicity is one of my favorite parts of learning about herbal medicine. No special equpment is needed - it's very hands-on, forgiving, and down to earth.

For any of you interested in learning more about making your own herbal medicine, I highly recommend these books:

ANYTHING written by Rosemary Gladstar
Healing Wise by Susun Weed
The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook: A home manual, by James Green

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the great books out there - these are simply some tried-and-true ones to get your started on your journey of making your own salves, tinctures, teas, decoctions, compresses and more.