Herbs with Rosalee – Details, episodes & analysis

There are so many medicinal benefits of meadowsweet herb! Some people think of meadowsweet simply as a natural form of aspirin.  While it does shine at relieving pain (especially a particular type of pain!), meadowsweet’s gifts go far beyond this.

In this episode, I’ll be sharing my love of this beautiful member of the rose family, as well as one of my favorite ways to enjoy its pain-relieving benefits with my recipe for Meadowsweet Flower Pain Relief Tea.  You’ll find a link to your free, beautifully illustrated recipe card here: https://bit.ly/4gaHvnE

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

► How the herbal energetics of meadowsweet can help clue you in to its medicinal benefits

► Why using meadowsweet in its whole-herb form is safer than using aspirin

► The particular type of pain that meadowsweet excels at relieving

► Three different digestive issues that meadowsweet can help with

► and so much more….

If you’re interested in learning more about herbal energetics, you’ll love my free Herbal Energetics mini-course, which starts later this month.  This video training course will show you why herbal energetics is so important – especially when working with herbs for your health! 

I’ll also be sharing an important safety guide for herbs as well as my Herbal Energetics Flavor Wheel.

You can sign up on the waitlist here.

Access the transcript for this episode: https://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/meadowsweet-herb.html

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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

This is the first time I’ve sat down with Leslie, and I enjoyed listening to her winding story of learning about herbs through the decades!  I was equally amazed by the extensive information she shared about the medicinal benefits of magnolia.  She really opened my eyes to the gifts of this beautiful, ancient tree. 

Leslie shared several ways to work with magnolia, including her recipe for Magnolia Bark Oxymel (and you’ll hear how Leslie uses it both internally and externally). A beautifully illustrated recipe card for Leslie's oxymel can be found here: https://bit.ly/3yDvBCc

When might you turn to magnolia?  Here are just a few ways this stunning tree can be worked with to benefit your health:

► To help moderate diabetes

► As a pain-relieving tea or ointment

► To help quit smoking tobacco

And there are so many more benefits to this wonderful tree medicine!  Tune in for all the details.

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

► Which parts of the magnolia tree are used in medicine-making

► Three different digestive issues that can be helped by magnolia

► How magnolia can help you get a good night’s sleep

► The types of pain that can be relieved by magnolia

► Five different ways of working with magnolia for food and medicine, including a yummy pickle!

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Leslie Williams, RH (AHG), M.Ed. (UGA), is an experienced herbalist who finds wisdom in conversations with trees and rivers. She believes that herbalism is the best work in the world, full of both delights and heartaches. Growing up in the woods and swamps of north Florida, she spent her childhood plowing with a horse and wildcrafting meals. Leslie is trained in basic Five Element Theory and Ayurveda, as well as rural Southern herbalism, and has spent years reading worldwide clinical research. With 58 years of Zen meditation and many years in recovery, she brings a wealth of knowledge and personal experience to her practice.

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

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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

I am a huge fan of the work done through United Plant Savers (UPS) and so it was truly an honor to have Susan Leopold, the executive director of UPS, on the show! 

I had so much fun talking with Susan.  Of course she discussed the UPS’s efforts to catalog and protect at-risk native medicinal plants, but this conversation also went places I didn’t expect,  including some of the history of herbal medicine in the United States and a sneak peek at next year’s International Herb Symposium.

Susan also talked about some of the many free resources United Plant Savers has to offer, like their list of at-risk plants and herbs that you can use to substitute for these plants medicinally, which you can access here.  

And if you’re interested in helping UPS’s efforts in medicinal plant conservation, I highly recommend getting a membership!  I’ve been a member for so many years, and I think everybody who loves plants should be a member of United Plant Savers if at all possible.  You can find a link to become a member on the show notes page here.

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

► Who the Eclectics were and why they are so relevant to herbalism and plant conservation today

► How United Plant Savers compiles its lists of at-risk plants, and how you can use these lists to guide your use and purchase of medicinal herbs

► Why United Plant Savers encourages people to engage and interact with plants rather than taking a hands-off approach

► Why buying wild-harvested white sage is so problematic (and what you can do to help!)

► Why Susan considers Echinacea to be “the voice of the prairie”

► Four ways you can directly help with conservation of at-risk medicinal plants

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t already know her, Susan Leopold is an ethnobotanist and conservation ecologist known for her work in the fields of plant conservation, sustainable agriculture, and ethnobotany. She is the Executive Director of the United Plant Savers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting native medicinal plants and fungi and their habitat. Leopold is an advocate for ethical wildcrafting practices, community-based conservation initiatives, and the preservation of traditional plant knowledge.

If you’d like to hear more from Susan, which I highly recommend, then head to the show notes where you can get easy links for her website and social media channels. You can also find the transcript for this episode in the show notes and you can access your list of at-risk plants and herbs that you can use to substitute for these plants medicinally at: https://bit.ly/3R6uK2z.

I’m thrilled to share our conversation with you today.

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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....

I was literally jumping up and down for joy when Abby shared that she was choosing bee balm (Monarda didyma) for this episode because this is such a fun plant. More than that, though, bee balm is powerfully medicinal, can be used for seasoning food (more on this later), and it’s great for pollinators.

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

► Multiple ways to work with bee balm medicinally (it’s great for colds and flu, among other things!)

► What bee balm teaches us about balancing community with personal space

► Tips for growing bee balm yourself

► Why it’s important to incorporate community into the practice of herbalism

You’ll also receive instant FREE access to a recipe card for Abby’s Wild Oregano (Bee Balm) Salt. Not only is this recipe easy to make and medicinal, it’s also delicious! Abby shares that she uses it to season anything where you’d want oregano and salt: eggs, popcorn, and mushrooms are just a few ideas to get you started.

CAUTION: Bee balm is an emmenagogue and should not be taken during pregnancy.

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation: 

“Bee balm always grows in community. When I see it in the wild, I never see it growing alone.”

Botanist, Herbalist, and Professional Forager, Abby Artemisia, was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she spent her free time climbing trees and creek wandering. This is where her love of nature began. Her love of plants had a diverse foundation from apprenticeships on organic farms on the west coast and in the Midwest, to a bachelor’s degree in Botany from Miami University and an apprenticeship in herbalism with Herbalist, Leslita Williams, along with owning and operating her own tea business.

After visiting Pisgah National Forest, she fell in love with the biodiversity of the southeast. Abby then founded the WANDER School, the Wild Artemisia Nature Discovery, Empowerment, and Reconnection School. Through the school, Abby offers the Wildcrafted Herb School Program, customizable workshops, and botanical property surveys. The WANDER School became a nonprofit in 2020 to provide botanical education, herbs, and herbal medicine to underserved communities, and practice Acknowledgement and Reciprocity for Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Abby is also the author of the Herbal Handbook for Homesteaders and The Wild Foraged Life Cookbook, along with the host of the podcast Wander, Forage, & Wildcraft.

Abby is currently working on Botany Breakdown: A Virtual Course for Botanists & Foragers to create the confidence to safely harvest the wild food and herbs that grow around us every day.

I love that Abby shared information, not only from her personal experiences, but also from traditional acknowledged sources. I’m so happy to share our conversation with you today!

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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...

The comfrey plant has soooo many benefits, but it’s also one of the most controversial herbs out there. In this episode, I’m sharing safety tips for working with both comfrey root and comfrey leaf. Plus, I’ll be showing you exactly how to make a deeply healing comfrey plant poultice.

Worked with correctly, comfrey is a powerful healing ally. But work with it incorrectly and you could end up doing more harm than good… thus, the controversy over comfrey safety.

After listening to this episode, you’ll know:

► Important safety considerations for working with comfrey

► When comfrey is NOT the right herb to apply to an infected wound

► How to have a fresh comfrey leaf poultice on hand even in winter

This is one episode you don’t want to miss!

Show snippet: 

“When used safely, comfrey is hands down the most healing plant for wounds, injuries, burns, and even musculoskeletal pain.” (Timestamp: 21:06)

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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 Herbalist 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. 

The medicinal flowers and leaves of hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) offer so many gifts, especially for nourishing our hearts. In this episode, I share the benefits of hawthorn flowers and leaves, along with a few cautions to know about. I also share a proven way to make hawthorn tea so you can enjoy the best health benefits. 

After listening, you’ll know:

► Why hawthorn is such a powerful herb to support heart health

► Who should NOT work with hawthorn

► The most effective way to brew potent tea with hawthorn leaves and flowers

Show snippet: 

“While we can classify hawthorn with a handful of medicinal herbal actions, such as astringent, antispasmodic, cardiotonic, diuretic, hypotensive, but… a better understanding is simply that hawthorn nourishes and protects the heart.” (Timestamp: 03:28)

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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 Herbalist 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. 

The elder shrub is two medicines in one! The health benefits of elderberry and elderflower are distinct from one another. Learn how you can get the best health benefits of elderberry and elderflower and receive easy-to-make recipes for elderflower tea, elderberry syrup, and elderberry tea.

After listening, you’ll know:

► When to call on elderflower and/or elderberry, depending on your particular situation

► How to brew a potent elderflower tea

► How to make your own elderberry syrup (and save lots of money at the same time!)

With cold and flu season right around the corner (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere), this is a great time to revisit all the wonderful gifts of the elder shrub!

Show snippet: 

“Elderberries modulate inflammation and can be a great addition to your diet as food as medicine. They are also often used as medicine, especially as a preventive remedy at the onset of a cold or flu.” (Timestamp: 09:01)

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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 Herbalist 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. 

My guest today, Sajah Popham, has so much wisdom to share about the benefits of wild lettuce for pain relief!

Wild lettuce is one of those herbs that is both underrated and overrated. There’s a lot to understand to be able to work effectively with herbs for pain relief and wild lettuce is no exception.

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

► What kind of pain wild lettuce is particularly well-suited to help relieve

► What strength and dosage of wild lettuce is generally needed for pain relief

► Two different methods you can explore for creating a potent wild lettuce extract (or homemade tincture)

You’ll also receive instant FREE access to a recipe card for Wild Lettuce Tincture.

Here is one of my favorite takeaways from our conversation: 

“I like wild lettuce for pain…specifically for musculoskeletal pain in the form of tension, constriction, spasm, and as an acute for trauma or…injury.”

If you’re not already familiar with him, Sajah Popham is the author of Evolutionary Herbalism and the founder of Natura Sophia Spagyrics and the School of Evolutionary Herbalism, where he trains herbalists in a holistic system of plant medicine that encompasses clinical Western herbalism, medical astrology, Ayurveda, and spagyric alchemy.

Sajah’s focus is the development of a comprehensive approach to herbalism that balances the science and spirituality of people and plants. He believes in healing the whole person with the whole plant, that our body, psychology and soul can be healed with the chemical, energetic, and spiritual properties of plants.

I’m so happy to share Sajah’s wisdom with you today!

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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 Herbalist 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. 

In this episode, KP Khalsa will be sharing herbal home remedies for migraines. 

If you or someone you know suffers from migraine headaches, you know exactly how miserable and life-disrupting they are…and what a difference it would make to find a permanent solution to the upheaval they create.

KP shares a comprehensive approach to the treatment of migraines. This includes herbs to abort or suppress migraines so that you can be free of the pain they cause while you address and heal underlying factors.

You’ll also receive instant FREE access to KP’s handout, Herbal Treatment of Migraine.

If you don’t already know him, Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, A.D., D.N.-C., R.H., is an herbalist, nutritionist, yoga teacher and educator who has been making holistic health approaches palatable to the modern mind for over 50 years. He was the first person to be professionally certified in both herbalism and Ayurveda in the U.S. He is president emeritus of the American Herbalists Guild, and director emeritus of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association. You can find more from KP at InternationalIntegrative.com.

Listen in for:

► Common contributing causes of migraine – and the strategy needed to balance them

► The herbs KP commonly recommends for aborting or suppressing migraines and for addressing common root causes – along with dosage information

► What to expect on a healing journey from migraines

Show Snippet: 

“It's cognitive dissonance that people are willing to think of herbalism as being powerful and dangerous, and yet mild and ineffective, and both of those are true at some level, but we're trying to figure out and educate people about what the benefits are of herbal medicine at what level.”

KP is my personal mentor and really is a teacher’s teacher and I’m so honored and delighted to share our conversation with you today!

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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 Herbalist Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a...

There must be a thousand health benefits of the yarrow plant (Achillea millefolium)! This herb continually surprises me with all that it can do! In this episode, I’m excited to share lots about yarrow including favorite present day uses, current medical research, and even traditional historical uses.

I’m also sharing a recipe for yarrow tea with you. People have been relying on yarrow tea for colds and flu for hundreds of years. That’s because it works so well! It’s effective for relieving general discomfort, but gentle enough for most people and even children. 

It’s best to have safe and effective remedies ready before you actually need them, so this recipe for yarrow tea is a great one to have on hand even if it’s not currently cold and flu season where you live.

After listening to this episode, you’ll know:

► Why yarrow’s paradoxical energetics make it supportive for so many different conditions

► The basics of how to work with yarrow for a variety of common health concerns

► How to check that the yarrow you’re harvesting has strong medicinal qualities

Show snippet: 

“Yarrow heals wounds, harmonizes the blood, rejuvenates the skin, relieves cold and flu symptoms, promotes digestion, and has shown to benefit people with cancer and multiple sclerosis…seriously, what can’t this plant do!”

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

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

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started 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 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 Herbalist 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.