June 3, 2026

Last week on one of our live chats inside the School of Botanical Arts & Sciences, a student asked this question:

"How can you tell if an herb is working or not?"

This question is great because it gets right to the heart of learning how to think like a family or community herbalist.

Most of us come into herbalism with a "medically" conventional way of thinking about remedies. We've been trained to ask, "What do I take for this?" Then we take the prescribed or over-the-counter pill and expect to know pretty quickly whether or not it helped. (Then we often deal with unpleasant side effects or need to consider long-term use, which is never a great idea.)

Honestly, most acute issues people deal with are where you'll usually see some pretty immediate results (for example: seasonal allergies, menstrual cramping, sleep, cold/flu, pain and headache, upset stomach,etc.). And if we don't see fairly quick results, it's a sign to ask some good questions.

With acute needs like I mentioned above, we can ask different questions, like:

🌿 Did I choose the right herb(s) or essential oils?

🌿 Was the dosing enough?

🌿 Did I choose the right preparation method?

🌿 Perhaps there's a multi-layered approach that would be the best idea.

This kind of discernment is exactly what I'm sharing about in my new series of three videos with a bonus video in Sunday's note on becoming a family herbalist. I designed these video topics to help you ask the right questions (your family filter), determining your confidence map, and how to think like an herbalist.

Each video is fairly short, and for each one, I've provided you with a quick one or two page printable download you can take away to help you make decisions.

These videos are available for only a short time, and on Friday, I'll have a big surprise for you found only on the video page.

Today, I'm sharing the second video in the series! In this second video, you'll find out how to consider your family herbalist confidence map, and it also comes with a printable to help you know what your family needs.

I've received great feedback from the first video in the series so far, so if you haven't had a chance to watch it yet, it's still there for you to watch first.

Now, back to the answer to the question...How to know if an herb is working?

Medicinal herbs don't work like drugs...although they do have "drug-like" actions. This is important because not all herbs are meant to create a dramatic, "Wow! That worked!" moment.

Some of our most valuable herbal allies are slower builders. They're often used when we're supporting long-standing patterns, such as depleted energy, stress patterns, digestion that's been off for a bit of time, hormonal changes, or a need for nourishment after a difficult time.

Herbs like nettle, milky oats, hawthorn, ashwagandha, dandelion root, burdock, and other gentle movers may not feel exciting the first time you take them. You're not going to drink one cup of nettle tea and feel like a brand new human, for example.

BUT, with consistent use, these kinds of herbs can support the body in some pretty amazing ways over time. They can nourish, strengthen, tone, and help the body improve. The changes can be real, but sometimes they come gradually.

One of the simplest things you can do to know if an herb is working is to pay attention and notice what was true for your body/mind before you started using the herb.

Were you waking up tired every morning? Were your afternoon cravings bossing you around terribly? Was your digestion sluggish? Was your nervous system frayed by every. little. thing.? Were your hands and feet cold all the time?

Sometimes, if we're taking our herbs, we may be experiencing significant improvements over a longer period of time, but not realize it. Many of my students and clients have found that over time, they can amazingly remove more and more Big Pharma meds from their lives because things improve enough with consistent use of medicinal plants.

Real life healing can look as simple as realizing, "Hey! I just realized I haven't needed that afternoon nap this week." Or, "I handled that situation way better than I normally would." Perhaps, "I've taken a bowel movement every day this week!"

Many of our gentle medicinal herbs can be used in long term protocols for various needs. This calls for patience, not passivity.

For a long-term pattern, it's a good idea to give an herb, formula, or protocol a few weeks of steady and consistent use before deciding whether it's helping or not. Especially if the issue has been around for a long time, it may take a longer period of time for the herbs to do their wonderful thing.

But, if after some time, you just feel like things aren't shifting, then asking some more good questions is the thing to do. Perhaps the root cause wasn't identified exactly right. Questions may be:

🌿 Am I using the correct formulation for the real, root cause issue?

🌿 Have I been consistent with my use?

🌿 Am I doing all the things needed to support my body with the change(s) I want to see?

That last question is very important.

Because, if someone is only sleeping five hours a night, living on coffee and stress, skipping meals, not getting any movement in, continually living in a state of overwhelm, no herb is going to magically create the deep energy and long-term wellness all by itself. And neither will a Big Pharma drug.

I'm just being honest and real.

Herbs are powerful, and they're practical. They're God's medicine given to us perfectly. But they're not magical potions. They work best when we use them in partnership with how our body was designed to function.

Becoming a functional family herbalist helps you begin asking better questions so all can have better health and more options when it comes to health care.

So, go watch Video 1 if you missed it, and definitely Video 2! Download the reflection sheets as guides in your family herbalist journey so you can ask better questions.

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How to Make a Homemade Safe, Effective Tick Repellent with Essential Oils

Well, the ticks are out and about here in N. Idaho. In the past week, we've pulled two off of one of our dogs. These were our typical dog or deer ticks, which are native to Idaho. We also have Rocky Mountain ticks at higher elevations here.

THEN, the other day...most grossly of all, I was sitting on the couch and felt something crawling on me.....

Yes, it was a tick. And strangely....it was a lone star tick, which is NOT native to N. Idaho. I've heard they're spreading (or being spread?).

It was also faster than a normal tick---well, the "normal" kind we get around here at any rate.

To be honest, it really freaked me out. This is the tick that can cause alpha-gal syndrome, causing a severe allergy to meat. Of course, there are several other diseases ticks can cause.

I've used geranium essential oil on skin (diluted) for many years, as well as lemongrass (also diluted) on clothing to repel ticks, wasps, and other insects, but I felt I needed to get some more information, so began the research path.

We need to be very careful with essential oils....and yet, we want them to be effective. There's being safe....and then there's being "safe enough." This is why knowledge is needed to be able to discern if a formula you find online is going to be both safe enough and also effective.

The thing to be aware of is there seems to be a rather wide array of "safe" information online, as well as obviously unsafe information.

When I was sleuthing around, I found a few VERY conservative formulations that I absolutely know won't work up here where we are, with the ticks we have. (I know this from experience.)

Why use something that likely isn't going to work well enough?

And, I also found a couple that were unsafe, especially for children. The conservative articles were written by reputable aromatherapy companies. The unsafe ones were written by bloggers with no experience at all.

Using DEET is not an option for us, at least not unless things become terribly bad.

So, I did my own extra research, and I came up with some interesting choices in essential oils. And, I created the formulation we'll be using on us and pets, perhaps with some adjustments as time goes on.

​I wrote an article about all of this, and if you read it, please pay close attention to the safety bits and adjustments for children.

If you can wear long sleeves and pants when you're outdoors, you have more liberal leeway with the essential oils, but you need to use caution if spraying on skin, especially sensitive skin. Knowledge is power.

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Quick News and Invites:

​1) Ask the Herbal Answer Lady will be this morning at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time and 1:00 Eastern time. You can find me live on YouTube answering questions if you can make it!

If you have a question, I'd love for you to hit "reply" to this email and ask me. I can't promise I'll be able to answer, but I will do my best.

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2) Have you watched our FREE Herbalism Training on Becoming a Family Herbalist and the Five Best Herbs to Start Your Home Apothecary?​

Be sure to save your seat! We're giving away a free guide to the herbs discussed, and yes, there will be a replay for those who are registered.

And this note has gotten REALLY long! So I'll sign off now, and I apologize for not writing the Encouragement and Inspiration section, but you'll see that in the next note.

Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi

P.S. Don't forget to watch the new #2 video drop on the free Becoming a Family Herbalist series. Enjoy!

And...be sure to save your seat for the free Herbal webinar training (Five Best Herbs for Your Apothecary) next week!

P.P.S. Do you have a friend who'd like to enjoy these notes, or might like to take advantage of the free videos and trainings this next week? Just forward this note along. Sharing is caring. 🥰