Herbtastic

Herbtastic Learning and sharing all about plants and herbs. Herbalism and Foraging workshops.

Last year we had fun making natural marshmallows. And it is time again to have a marshmallow class. If you are intereste...
01/09/2026

Last year we had fun making natural marshmallows. And it is time again to have a marshmallow class.
If you are interested then check under events. I have evening class coming up on Monday and then a class for kids on January 19th.
You will learn how to make natural marshmallows using different plants for flavors and colors.
You will take home your own marshmallows and recipes to make more.
Be ready to have several marshmallows to taste too.

This Super Flu is getting strong. Its time to work on immunity boosting even more. My 3 most famous things we use for ou...
01/08/2026

This Super Flu is getting strong. Its time to work on immunity boosting even more.

My 3 most famous things we use for our immunity boosting:
🌱Elderberry syrup of course. That is being used a lot these days
🌱Fire cider
🌱High vitamin C herbal tea

And some simmer pots to release the volatile oils, airing rooms, and vitamin D.

What are you reaching for now to protect yourself from this super flu?

Pine needles can be used in food too. One of the ways to do it is to infuse them in sugar. It will be sweet with a fragr...
01/05/2026

Pine needles can be used in food too. One of the ways to do it is to infuse them in sugar. It will be sweet with a fragrance of pine but some bittery tones in taste too. That can be added to coffee or scatered on cookies. But I used it in my new marshmallow recipe.

To make pine needle infused sugar:
Use equal parts of chopped pine needles and sugar.
Put them in coffee grinder or blender.
Blend them. And spread on parchment paper to dry for a day.
Next day blend it again.
Store in a glass jar.

By the way these marshmallows will be great in hot chocolate to give that woodsy taste. The recipe will be included in my marshmallow recipe book that I will have in my marshmallow workshops.

Marshmallow Making class

Winter Learn to Make Classes for kids - Marshmallow

Pine sap contains wonderful antimicrobial properties. It serves as an antimicrobial band aid on the tree. That is how a ...
01/04/2026

Pine sap contains wonderful antimicrobial properties. It serves as an antimicrobial band aid on the tree. That is how a tree protects itself.
We can use it for the same purpose just remember not to take all of it from the tree. It needs it too.

My favorite thing to make from sap is pine sap salve that I use as pine chest rub for the cough time. Pine sap is very fragrant and that shows the powerful volatile oils it has. By breathing in we get the antimicrobial properties of volatile oils on the infected tissue. Plus pine has also great expectorant properties that are absorbed through skin.

Have you tried pine needle honey?Honey is perfect for extracting vitamin c. And it is easy to make. Harvest fresh fine n...
01/03/2026

Have you tried pine needle honey?
Honey is perfect for extracting vitamin c. And it is easy to make.
Harvest fresh fine needles. Cut them in smaller pieces and put in a jar. Cover them with honey so there is about 1 inch of honey over the needles. Put the lid on and tighten it. Try every day to turn the jar so honey runs through the needles. Keep it in jar to infuse for 2 weeks. After two weeks strain. You have pine needle infused honey ready to use.
Take it spoonful every day for immunity purposes or if there are cold symptoms then up to 4 times a day. It will be very helpful for sore throat and cough. And it is delicious.

01/01/2026

Thank you everyone for joining our workshops, classes, and walks. Here are some of little snipets but there are so many great times we have had. I hope to see you in the next year. Many great workshops AND foraging walks are coming up soon.

Happy New Year everyone!

Another easy way to use pine needles is in pine needle tea. It is very simple but powerful. If you want to make this tea...
12/30/2025

Another easy way to use pine needles is in pine needle tea. It is very simple but powerful. If you want to make this tea right you need to decoct it, meaning simmer it.
This tea will be very beneficial for respiratory health and immunity boosting. Pines are full of vitamin C and phenolic compounds. They all work for our defenses in our body. And again just breathing the steam from pine tea while drinking it you will get antimicrobial properties into your sinuses.
Why not to make some tea and take a deep breath while drinking it?

MY TIP: Add some cinnamon when you make the pine needle tea. It tastes better.

By the way I have Herbal Tea for Winter Wellness coming up in January. I will show how to make high vitamin C tea where pine needles will be part of it. And that will be just one kind of tea that you will get to learn to make and taste.

Evergreens have a lot of volatile oils that make them great antibacterial plants. And it is also a nice plant for respir...
12/30/2025

Evergreens have a lot of volatile oils that make them great antibacterial plants. And it is also a nice plant for respiratory health.
The simplest way to get these properties working is through steams. By breathing in evergreen steam we get its antimicrobial properties exactly on the respiratory tissues. And you do not need to be sick to do it. It is just so helpful to keep those steams in the house to clean the air and give more moisture to our dry air in this time of year.
The simplest way to do it is by making simmering pot. Add the needles and cover them with some water and simmer. The steam will fill the house. (Make sure that there is always water and the pot doesn't start to burn).

A SMALL TIP: Do you have a small crockpot? Take it to your bedroom and fill your crockpot with needles and water (I just pour hot contents from my simmering pot into crockpot to have the process work faster) and turn crockpot on without lid. Let the needles simmer and fill the air.

🌲Evergreens🌲While winter is the time we think about them the most they may be harvested all year round. Not all evergree...
12/29/2025

🌲Evergreens🌲

While winter is the time we think about them the most they may be harvested all year round. Not all evergreen is edible and especially decorative ones are toxic. The most popular as edible in this area is white pine but so are also spruce and fir. Make sure you know the right evergreen before you harvest it.
Why are evergreens so good? Well first of all the needles contain a lot of vitamin C. It is more than in oranges! The older the needles the higher vitamin C amount it has.
Their resinous and pungent qualities make it stimulating expectorant and diophoretic that is so helpuf for colds and flu time.
Pine is also great antimicrobial.
And it is considered nutrient dense food.

These are great qualities this tree is giving us. While it is safe to consume, there are some cautions. Pregnant and nursing women should avoid it. Also those who have pine allergies should avoid it. Make your own research if you are not sure if that would be ok for you.

Next five days I will share the ways you can use evergreens. Do not forget to come back and see those.

This day turned into wild soda making day. This is the first time I have made so many wild sodas in the winter. I made p...
12/26/2025

This day turned into wild soda making day.
This is the first time I have made so many wild sodas in the winter. I made pine needle one couple of days ago and it is fermenting so well. Today I used some more cranberries in a big batch of cranberry and orange soda and also smaller with pine needles and rosehips. Those pine needles and rosehips look so beautiful together and I foraged them myself so it is also very low cost.

We will have some delicious sodas ready next week. I can not wait.

Merry Christmas everyone! We celebrated yesterday as it is in Latvian tradition and today we are celebrating with my Ame...
12/25/2025

Merry Christmas everyone!

We celebrated yesterday as it is in Latvian tradition and today we are celebrating with my American family.
I hope this day is filled with peace and love for you all.

I am sharing my gingerbread cookies that are traditional Latvian gingerbreads. They are different. Filled with Christmas spices like cloves, nutmeg, cardomom, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, and black pepper. Yes, black pepper. We call them actually peppercookies. Those are all those spices that warm up in cold winter days and makes GI work better. So why not.

Do you have any favorite Christmas cookie you would love to share?

Look at this beautiful wild yeast that is made by juniper berries. It will make a great starter yeast for some fermented...
12/24/2025

Look at this beautiful wild yeast that is made by juniper berries. It will make a great starter yeast for some fermented products like wild sodas. Sometimes it is harder to start ginger bug in winter then why not to use what is available in that time of the year?

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