Steeping in the Present Moment

Magic can happen in the everyday rituals we create with plants, and this episode invites you into the gentle rhythms of a daily herbal practice. As summer fades and children return to school, there's a bittersweet transition happening - one that calls us to savor those final golden days while preparing for the changes ahead.

From foraging elderberries to harvesting garden herbs, this time of year offers abundant opportunities to connect with plant allies. I share my personal methods for drying herbs, preserving seasonal fruits, and creating medicinal preparations that sustain body and spirit throughout the year. You'll hear about transforming backyard apples into spiced butter, freezing hand-picked peaches for winter cobblers, and creating personalized tea blends that address specific health needs.

The heart of this episode explores how working with plants creates natural moments of mindfulness. My daily herbal rituals provide touch points of presence throughout busy days. I reveal the herbs that help with everything from migraines to anxiety, sleep troubles to hormone balance, and share why developing a relationship with a specific plant ally (mine being mugwort this year) can be profoundly transformative.

Whether you're an experienced herbalist or simply plant-curious, this conversation offers gentle inspiration for incorporating more green wisdom into your life. What plant has been calling to you this season? Perhaps it's already chosen you as its ally. Connect with me and share your own herbal journeys - I'd love to hear which plants have woven themselves into your practice.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Seasonal Reflections
• 3:17 Foraging and Herbal Harvesting
• 7:12 Preserving and Using Garden Harvests
• 11:49 Daily Herbal Practice Routine
• 14:56 Finding Your Plant Ally

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Hey, witches, welcome to another Cozy Coven chat. I'm your host, jenny C Bell, and this week we're going to chat a little bit about journaling, of course, but also I wanted to talk to you about my herbal practice, something I didn't really talk about last episode. I talked a little bit about my herbal garden, but I just want to talk about my plant practice with you and you know it's a daily practice for me, and I just want to talk about my plant practice with you and you know it's a daily practice for me and I just want to share a little bit about how you can kind of get to know herbs and plants, um, in your day to day. And then, if time, I might also talk about candles and my candle practice. But we're looking at the week of August 25th and this is the week my kids go back to school personally, um, there isn't like a new moon or a full moon, no major, you know, witchy Sabbath or holiday, um, and so I still am kind of like in the energy with the new moon. Um, you know, we're in kind of a waxing stage, so energy's building.

Speaker 1: 1:13

I'm really kind of reflecting on summer like, because when my kids go back to school it feels like, you know, summer's kind of done. It stays pretty warm here for like a while, pretty much until October, and so for me it's like, okay, how can I wring out the last drops of summer? A lot of times in the past, when they go to school, I get really busy, busy like creating things, and I'm inside and then winter or fall comes and I'm like, oh my gosh, like where's the sun? So my intention is to get outside every day and get some sun and some vitamin d, take walks, go to the park, even just sit outside and read, water the garden, like I really want to bring the last droplets of sunlight out. So if you live somewhere kind of similar, you know, with the four seasons, I suggest that's kind of a good energy right, we want to really enjoy it. I know a lot of us want to decorate for Halloween early and totally, but still remember the season that you're actually in and the temperature in and get out and enjoy it before it's gone. You know like, yeah, I'm looking at all my sweaters. I want to wear them Really I do, but I know that I'll be wearing them for so long that I'll feel sad by February and be like I don't want to wear these anymore, like looking longingly at my shorts. So you know, let's try to be in the moment. That's what this podcast is about my experience of really working on being in the present moment. So, instead of looking longingly at my summer sweaters and being like why isn't it cold yet, I'm going to keep enjoying the summer sun, even though my kids are back at school. I guess there was always a part of me too that felt like a little guilty, like they have to be in school, like I should be working. You know what I mean. But no, I need to fill my cup too. So I'm better for them and better for myself and better for everybody. And so, yes, I will be outside.

Speaker 1: 3:09

I definitely plan on foraging elderberries at some point soon. I keep a foraging journal, so we're going to talk about plants anyway. So if you're into foraging or interested in foraging, I suggest taking a class where you live. So I we first moved here I took two foraging classes at my through my local parks, and that was really helpful, because it's like I want someone to walk me to the plant and be like this one. You can eat, like I needed that, and then, if, if you can. There's lots of people on TikTok and Instagram um, that forage, but they don't always live near you. So, you know, try to find there's. They're all over there on YouTube and stuff. Try to find foragers that are in the same area as you if you can. And there's lots of books on foraging and you want to try to find again one that's local. So things we personally forage for around this time is really just elderberries.

Speaker 1: 4:14

Blackberries are probably ripe still, but not really. I had to get my tea, don't mind me. Since we're talking about herbs, I was like I need my tea, um, so yeah, so we definitely want to. I don't know, get, get really really see, especially with mushrooms, like please do not go forage mushrooms unless you're like a hundred percent, and there's always like you want to have three forms of proof. So you want to like know three different ways that you can know that this is a good mushroom. But anyway, so I'll be foraging, I will be collecting and harvesting herbs, like not rosemary, because even in the snow my rosemary is fine. You know it's an evergreen but I will be really harvesting. I'm like low on catmint, but I digress.

Speaker 1: 4:55

I have a small apothecary. It's like a little um, I originally had it as like a little curios thing where it's just like a square with lots of little cubbies and it looks like it used to be for mail or for something like that. But it's not. It was like new when I bought it. It's like rustic farmhouse or whatever, and I have turned that into a tiny apothecary. And last year, by like the end of winter, beginning of spring, I still had every herb except for lemon balm. That was the only one I ran out of and I didn't have to buy from somewhere else, and those are just the ones I could grow. So I can't grow everything, obviously, like I drink hibiscus every day, I can't, I don't grow that. Um, but yeah, so that was really exciting. And so my plan is to continue to harvest herbs um share with friends. I did last year for my son's, like Christmas gifts, and I gave away to other friends. I made like an immunity, that's what I called it, and it had, like you know, lemon balm and elderberries and a bunch of stuff just like for immune boosting and put the recipe in our coven. But yeah, just really, this is my time to harvest herbs.

Speaker 1: 6:07

So if you grow herbs, you know there's lots of different ways you can dry them. I like to just wash them and like put them on a towel and then, once they're like dry to touch, they're no longer wet. I bundle them and like put them on a towel and then, once they're like dry to touch you're no longer wet I bundle them and hang them upside down. I have like a little hoop that I hang them on and just let them air dry. You can also dry them in the oven. I just feel like that takes away from the flavor, because you can never get my oven low enough and they're not as green that way. So I personally just think air drying is fine.

Speaker 1: 6:39

And other things you can do is you know, make ice cubes with the fresh herbs. So you have like grown a ton of basil. You know, wash and chop up your basil and put a little water into the ice cube tray and throw the basil in there and they're perfect for like soups and stews and stuff like that. So that's my kind of herbal focus for this time frame and I'm going to go through like how I plan my garden and my yard in every year as we go through the podcast. So right now is about collecting and harvesting what can be harvested. So if you're doing, if you're along with me and you're a gardenerer, green witch or a kitchen witch and herb witch, then this is the time to do that, and this is also the time when friends get really generous because they're sick of eating zucchini. So you know, there's like people are like I'm done, uh, so maybe you start getting more things like that as well.

Speaker 1: 7:33

We have an apple tree. It's not quite a crab apple tree, but they're not good on their own and I usually make apple butter, but they're. I've been checking them. They're still not ready, but yeah, it's a good time. If you've never picked your own fruit somewhere, look around. That's something we do every year too.

Speaker 1: 7:51

When we lived in Southern California, we went to Oak Glen, which is like this really cute um place with lots of apple orchards, best mile high apple pie we've ever had. There's like a little downtown. It's a great experience. We went there every year, even before we had our daughter, and it was just so fun to like go pick apples and then get the apple pie. And there's something so simple, right, going back to simple presence, like being with the apple tree, knowing where, seeing where it came from like knowing meeting the farmers, like you know, like not just getting it at the grocery store, something so cool about picking fruit and so we moved here.

Speaker 1: 8:33

We were able to find a place sugar Sugar Palm Acres is what it's called. They do peaches and cherries every year and we pick like this year we got so many peaches and we always get flowers. We got like beautiful zinnias, and so I have two freezer bags full of sliced and ready to go peaches. So if you freeze fruit, just quick tip, like that, like stone fruit you put, I always put a cookie sheet with parchment paper down and I slice the fruit how I want it frozen and I lay it flat on the cookie sheet not, you know, none of them touching and I put it in the freezer. Once they're frozen they can be moved to a container or bag, and so I do that. I also made peach butter, but we have like these beautiful frozen peaches for cobbler and pie.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Pretty soon it'll be time to get my apples and make a good apple butter, which my preference is just cutting the fruit, either the peaches or the apples, adding a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, a dash of molasses and putting them in my crock pot on low, oh, and then like a teaspoon of cinnamon and letting them cook at least four or five hours before I even like decide to taste them. Then from there adjusting water, sugar, those kinds of things, and then using an immersion blender and then letting them cook until they're like thick and ready to be a butter. So that's, you know, kind of a fall thing that I'm excited for and that hasn't yet happened. We're getting there. I'm looking at the apples every day, encouraging them. We're getting there. I'm looking at the apples every day, encouraging them. I named her Granny Sniff because my daughter liked my Little Pony and she thought that Applejack's grandma was named Granny Sniff, not Granny Smith, and I just couldn't correct her because it was really cute. So Granny Sniff is making quite a few apples.

Speaker 1: 10:16

But my daily herbal practice looks like this I don't drink coffee, and I'm not judging anybody that does. I'm actually excited for you. My body just says nope to coffee. So I start my day with Earl Grey and I make my own blend of Earl Grey and that recipe comes from Herbs with Rosalie, which is a beautiful herbal podcast, but she has lots of recipes, so check out her Earl Grey recipe. And then I make in the morning. I have a French press and into the French press I put different herbs that I just feel called to. So I have my apothecary full of little jars and I take a deep breath and I just like, what do I want today? You know, if I have like a migraine coming on, then white willow bark is going into this, right. I do hibiscus every day because I have high blood pressure, but it's, you know, it's different things.

Speaker 1: 11:05

Stinging nettle almost every day because it balances hormones and I am in my forties so I do need that, and just different. You know herbs that sound good and then I put hot water in it and I put the French press lid on it, but I don't press it. It and I let it sit at least four hours. That's considered an elixir. And then I press it and I drink it every afternoon and it's like the most hydrating thing. It's so good. I look forward to it.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Um, at first I was like this is not. I don't like the nettle, it tastes like horse's smell to me. But I ended up. If I put mint in it, it's really good. So every morning I start with Earl Grey. Every day I have that elixir in the afternoon. It tastes like horse's smell to me, but I ended up. If I put mint in it it's really good. So every morning I start with Earl Grey. Every day I have that elixir in the afternoon and then at night I have these little teapots that I like to thrift and collect, that have the mesh in them so you can do loose leaf.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Every night I do valerian root and I don't grow. I've tried but I haven't got it to grow. So I put valerian root and some lavender buds that I did grow, and then usually mint that I've also grown and lemon balm which lemon balm is an antiviral, helps you focus. It's like an ADHD miracle or beloved, um, and then at least those four and then sometimes catnip for anxiety, depending on how amped up everybody's feeling. I make this for everybody in the house or anybody that wants it. A lot of peppermint if we've had like a bigger dinner to help everybody digest. Sometimes white willow bark if I'm achy or whatever by the end of the day and I let that steep for a good half an hour and that's like my nighttime tea I really for those of you that struggle with sleep valerian root and lavender, and then you definitely need to add like a mint or something in there. Such a nice combo for sleep. Um, catnip is a good one to help you sleep. It's a gentle anti-anxiety.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Chamomile is really great, but I happen to be pretty like my body doesn't love it, like if you're allergic to like if you have certain allergies. I think it's like to ragweed or something, but chamomile makes my throat feel scratchy, like if I have it in a tea and the tea is like a tea bag and it's, you know, been processed and small, but if it's fresh out of my garden, my body says no to that. If you want to have lucid dreams, you want to remember your dreams. Mugwort she's such a beauty, I can talk about her forever. And also blue lotus flower. That one's harder to find, but I grow mugwort in my yard, so mugwort really good one for lucid dreaming. Always remember my dreams. What if I put mugwort in there? I don't give that one to my kids, though, because it's not like a sort of very mild psychoactive. Hence the dreaming.

Speaker 1: 13:46

Um, and yeah, actually, um, where I was going to talk more about this in spring, but I think it's really fun on a plant journey to pick an herbal ally every year that you just like usually they pick you, but that you connect with, like you either grow or you go visit where it grows, you learn about it, you sketch it, you know, you just like really focus on that plant. And my plant has been mugwort and I just feel like best we're best friends, like bonded with her. I use put her in jars for decoration, like it was such a pretty color, the silvery color, um, because it's like an Artemis moon kind of vibe to mugwort, and you know I put her bouquets of her around, I dry and I use her in incense, I drink her tea, I planted her, I, I talked to her, like I've really connected with mugwort this year. I don't know who's going to call to me next year, but mugwort has been my plant this year. Nettle was my plant the year before, um, and she's, she's great, but you know she really does sting, which I liked too.

Speaker 1: 15:01

But yeah, yeah, I think having a plant like you might already if I started talking about this, you may have already been like oh, I really love how I feel when I take this plant or drink this in a tea, or really like how aloe looks, and I've been wanting to grow it and learn about it. It's, you know, it's calling to you and so having this plant ally that you focus on is oh sorry, that's my phone that you focus on is a really life-changing experience for me. Like it slows you down because plants grow and you have to be patient. You know it's like cuddle my mugwort down Not yet, but I will soon and then she'll come back in the spring, but all of winter I don't see her. Like all I have is her dried flowers and her. You know her dried leaves, but she's gone and she's dormant and then she comes back. It's like it really teaches you about the cycles working with a plant like that and it really connects you with nature, connects you with the spirit of the plant. It becomes an ally, a friend, a guide.

Speaker 1: 15:57

I would go as far as saying so yeah, maybe you start thinking about that, maybe now that fall's here, because you want to, if you want to I mean if you plant a garden or you want to forage maybe you want to start thinking about who's the plant that you really worked with, not even knowing that you picked this plant this year. She picked you and if you, if you know, let me know. I'm curious, curious what plants other people have like considered their herbal allies for the year. Um, even unknowingly so. It's just a little one today about working with plants and how I actually work with my own plants in the day today. And stopping and having all that tea is very mindful. Right, I don't use tea bags, nothing wrong with that but you know, making my own tea blends every day and the whole act of that is a mindful, meditative act which I really love and makes me feel more alive and it makes me feel more connected to Mother Earth and to the plants themselves. So thank you so much for listening.