September 9, 2026

Happy Wednesday's Herbal Note!

Today, I am at the dentist having more painful work done. Two weeks ago, I had four root canals and slicing away of gum tissue. Today it's the removal of an implant gone bad, dealing with bone loss in my jaw, and removal of an impacted wisdom tooth. And there's more coming.....

All this is due to having some crooked teeth and an implant I never should have gotten, as well as a LOT of enamel loss which has affected my bite and eating. Interestingly, I have no cavities!

To be frank, I'm scared. I have only relied upon my herbs for over a decade and nearly a half, now. I don't like (and therefore don't use) any OTC or Rx pharmaceuticals, and most of them do terrible things to my body, so that's why I love my herbal and aromatic medicine so much. Well, it's one of many reasons, actually.

I dealt with the pain from the first set of procedures naturally with my herbal tinctures, so I pray I can get through today's stuff the same way.

In fact, I had to buy some willow bark tincture and a pain relief herbal blend, each of them just one little ounce, from the Moscow Co-op on the way home from the dentist a couple weeks ago because I had forgotten to bring mine along!

EGADS!

The two together were over $50!!!!

Now, let's put this into perspective, here....

At home, I have JUGS of willow bark tincture and all kinds of herbs to formulate into various pain relieving blends. It made me sick to have to pay money for these tinctures from the Co-op, but I needed them to make it home on the 3.5 hour drive.

The cost of one ounce of my homemade willow bark tincture to make is roughly .64 cents!!! Yes, literally pennies.

And my pain relieving formulas would be similar, give or take depending on the herbs for the specific type of pain (which are different). At the Co-op....I paid around $20 for one ounce of willow bark tincture and another $20 for the blend and then a tiny bottle of clove oil, and there was tax.

And let's think about yucky over-the-counter pain relievers....I have no idea what these cost these days because I don't use them at all.... but I bet they're in the range of at least $10 or $15 or so, depending on how much you're getting of course.

The profit margin on your homemade herbal tinctures and remedies is HUGE. Those who sell their products are making a LOT of money.

Those who make their own products for their family and community are SAVING a ton of money.

Mr. V. figured out the math on all this, and he told me that at the store prices, my half-gallon jar of willow bark tincture would be worth over (drumroll please.....) $1,000!!!!!!!

Which honestly blows my mind.

Besides the obvious benefit of being health prepared (unless you forget your tinctures like I did), you have so much more choice in your health than being chained to Big Pharma for every little thing.

I'm opening up the next student cohort of our family herbalism apothecary and certification programs soon! Stay tuned!

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As you know, the Healing Harvest Homestead website has a LOT of articles--like hundreds of them. I try to update these and share the updates with you on an ongoing basis.

But yesterday, I wrote a brand new article on prostate health. So this one is geared for men, but if you are a woman and have sons, a husband, father, or grandfather, it's a great read!

​Prostate Health, Herbs, and Prevention of BPH (Enlarged Prostate)​

Also, new on YouTube....Another live chat! It's had over 1,000 views so far, which surprises me because I haven't been active there for awhile. I'm trying. After all this dental stuff is handled, I'll be back in action. In the meantime, there are also hundreds of videos over there, too!

​Here's a link to the live video from yesterday, and please do subscribe and get notifications! I've got a few more "Ask the Herbal Answer Lady" sessions scheduled coming up! Here are some of the things we talked about with our wonderful YouTube community on this recent live chat:

• Tulsi
• Sage versus Sagebrush
• Using dried St. John's wort
• Tinctures with bubbles and the constituent, inulin and how great it is for our body
• Yarrow for teens
• Tincturing red clover....and things to know about it
• Lovage
• How herbalism saves you a TON of money with a cost breakdown (SUPER valuable to understand)

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Two Amazing Summits Not to Miss!

They both start next week, and they both have amazing line-ups of speakers! And...the topics and theme of the summits are different, so the speakers are all different too (except for me--I'm speaking for both of them).

I encourage you to sign up for both of these. They're FREE.

There's an opportunity to purchase an upgrade VIP pass for a very reasonable cost if you do it before the summits begin...that would be until this weekend sometime I believe. Then you would have access to ALL the talks as long as you want and also several hundred dollars in free offerings from various speakers.

It's totally worth it.

I love summits. If I had a bigger team, I'd love to do one someday. But until that time comes, I love to participate when I can.....

Here they are:

​1) The Resilient Living Summit​

My friends Amber Bradshaw (who is one of our herbal content writers for the Confident Herbalist Tribe and an amazing off-grid homesteader) and Laurie Neverman of the super popular website, Commonsense Home have put this one together.

Here are some of the speakers:

• Laurie and Amber both on various topics
• Lisa Bedford of Survival Mom
• Ray Tyler on growing produce easily
• Derek and Jenna Dooley--how to handle life after a medical crisis
• Merissa Alink of Little House Living---a frugal living expert
• Cliff of the Urban Prepper talking about layered systems for family preparedness
• Jim Cobb talking about Practical Everyday Carry
• Millie Copper on Fitness
• Zac Bauer of the popular YouTube channel An American Homestead
• My friend, Tracy McGee talking about baby steps to self-sufficiency
• Stacy Lyn Harris who has written some A-mazing cookbooks on wild game and more, including homeschooling
• Sharon Peterson on canning at home
• My peer and friend from The Christian Herbal Magazine, Suzanne Tabert
• My good old friend, Scott Terry about how to build your community
• Another great old friend, Chris Dalziel on Retraining our Minds (one of my favorite topics)
• And MANY others.....

Honestly, I'm really looking forward to this one!

​Register here, and ENJOY!​

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​2) The Little Farm Summit​

My friend, Audrey from Audrey's Little Farm is hosting this one, and it's ALSO GREAT. I'm looking forward to it just as much!

Audrey's summit is focused around ways to live better right where you are.

From growing your own food to cooking from scratch...creating a healthier home to living more simply...you'll learn ways to better take care of yourself and your family.

Here's some of the upcoming action for her summit:

• Audrey, herself, of course
• Making big changes with real food from Ann Bennett
• Growing herbs in small spaces with Bevin Cohen
• Josh Gardens on growing more food in less space
• Creating the Garden of Your Dreams with Tara Flores
• Practical gardening and water-wiseness with Michael Overstreet
• Growing fruit trees in containers (LOVE this) with Dianna Grabowski
• Heather Levin on raising chickens
• Sean Pessarra on the importance of healthy soil for bigger harvests
• Jill Ragan of Whispering Willow Farm on sourdough (which she makes a LOT of money from selling)
• My GREAT friend, Shelby DeVore on food preservation and choosing which method is best
• Another friend, Angi Schneider on pressure canning safely
• Becky Dial on freeze drying foods
• And MORE.....
• Plus a final day of interaction with Audrey and a community celebration

​Register for your seat here.​

You can see how different they both summits are from each other, with a few overlaps. But whichever one(s) you choose, you're going to get some great information from REAL live experts---not AI.

And that's golden. 🌅

Pick one or both, sit back, and enjoy the talks!

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Encouragement and Inspiration

Salt is interesting.

It's seasoning and delicious. It's good for us, and we need it. It preserves food, and it brings goodness to things that need it.

But too much?

Gag. And too much (or the wrong kind) is terrible for us.

Salt disappears into water when you stir it....yet it's still there, and can be tasted.

We are to be the salt of the earth for others. That means we are to welcome others and encourage them to know God's truth....but not to beat them over the head or make them feel less than.

We need to be just the right amount of seasoning....

I'm reading the book of Matthew again, and I just love this verse. And it's really what my Substack I call KYLLA (Keep Your Lamp Lit...Always) is all about. I would love for you to subscribe if you would like to upgrade your thought life so you can live better in tough times.

I'm flexing my life coaching muscles over there, and just sharing for free right now while I find my footing. This is where my E&I (Encouragement and Inspiraton) are living now too....

​Join us!​

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is not longer good for anything, excep to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." ---Matthew 5:13

Let's keep our saltiness salty and our lamps shining bright!

Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi

P.S. Please forward this note along to a friend or two and ask them to subscribe if they're interested in herbalism!