May 10, 2026

First, Happy Mother's Day! I hope you're spending it with someone(s) you love. I'll be sharing delicious food with my own mom later on. But let's talk herbs for a second!

Are you familiar with the linden tree? You may have it growing nearby, and it's a good one to get to know, if you do!

I remember the first time I stood under a mature flowering linden tree in Moscow, Idaho outside the Co-op....and I immediately felt calm and...just happy. That's when I decided I'd better find out more and experiment with linden.

I've dabbled in the past with linden medicine because it's just delicious, and we just studied it deeply in the Confident Herbalist Tribe (CHT) last week in the live portion of the plant masterclass for this month.

Last year we planted three lindens (Tilia cordata) trees on our property because I just knew then that I wanted this powerful (and so beautiful) medicine growing near me. As I reviewed the text and did some additional research into the essential oil for the plant chat, I was once again amazed and reminded how greatly God created plant medicine for us.

The linden textbook is huge, and contains some really wonderful remedy formulations--far too much for this email. But I'd love to hit the highlights for you and share a recent experience I had with linden.

You probably don't realize this (unless you own an online business), but AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing everything. And for a non-tech person like myself who doesn't even know "code," this is beyond frightening. ALL the platforms we use to run Healing Harvest Homestead and the School of Botanical Arts & Sciences are moving to AI models that we have no choice but to learn....or shut down the business. It's incredibly stressful.

For someone like me...these new changes are often HARD (impossible sometimes) to figure out or use. It makes me feel rather ashamed, as a matter of fact---like our business is technologically beyond me now.

You have to remember that as I graduated high school, basic calculators had only been out for about a year or so (and boy, were they expensive--too much for my family to afford), and obviously there were no computers at all. They've always frightened me.

It's a little crazy to think I have a business and a school that's mostly all online! God made Healing Harvest Homestead possible. That's all I can say. 🥰

Anyway, when I experience severe anxiety, my blood pressure spikes and spikes badly, like to within "stroke limits." (By the way, modern medicine didn't help this.)

So, I try to be very careful and stay closely in touch with my nervous system. I can write more about that if you'd like sometime. I have developed some very helpful tools.

In fact, you may enjoy this beautiful essential oil blend in the video (which I've shared below, so please forgive if you've seen it already):

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But there's always going to be stress in our lives, right?

After spending several hours I didn't have trying to fix a landing page on one of these new platform changes, I gave up. I was so upset because it affects, well, everything to do with the business!

My head felt like it was about to explode, and my heart felt fat in my chest. I was angry. I felt dizzy. It wasn't a great feeling, and I knew I had to do something fast.

Because I had my jar of linden herb handy due to our studies, and because my usual relaxation tea wasn't near me, I decided to make a strong infusion of linden tea, and also.....breathe deeply and say a prayer.

Wow.

That's all I can say.

Within about ten minutes, I could literally feel my nervous system calm. And not in a "chamomile" way, either. It's hard to describe. I'm now calling this the "Linden way."

I felt like I did after being given an emergency prescription medication many years ago to lower it super fast one time in a doctor's office....ONLY without the feelings of nausea, stomach upset, or feeling "groggy." I felt amazing! Even happy!

The experience, for me, was just incredible for lack of a better word!

Now, I had made a VERY strong cup with only linden flowers and leaves, and usually I use it combined with other herbs. But this experience made me realize just how useful this common tree that grows nearly everywhere is.

Linden makes one feel happy. It calms the nervous system, and that can help the cardiovascular system for many of us. It's as simple as that.

Here are some other things to know about linden: (Read more about Linden here, and enjoy a tea recipe)​

This note was getting REALLY long, so I linked over to my latest blog post on linden....and there's a great herbal tea recipe there, too!

IMPORTANT:

If you'd like to learn ALL the things about Linden (Tilia spp), then you can join us in the Confident Herbalist Tribe for just a $1 set up fee, and enjoy it for a couple of amazing weeks or as long as you like!

This next week our live event (chat) is the FIRST in our new Special Sessions Series on SLEEP inside the Tribe. We're beginning at the foundations...what happens in the brain and the work of the glymphatic system. This live chat Tuesday, then we'll have a regular Q&A chat the following week!

Yes, there are replays! And as a member, you have access to ALL past, present, and future--besides all the course content, the village, and more.

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Berry Good Heart Balls

Here's a wonderful and easy recipe to enjoy from the Linden Book and masterclass! It's delicious! And these would be great for Mother's Day or any occasion....or just as a daily tonic treat!

Ingredients:

2 ounces hawthorn berry powder

1 ounce blueberry (or elderberry or bilberry or raspberry) powder

1 ounce linden flower powder

1 ounce cinnamon powder

1/2 ounce ginger powder

1/8 ounce cardamom powder

4 ounces unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted or not

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts of your choice

Cacao powder as needed to thicken the paste

1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups nut butter of choice (I like raw almond butter or tahini)---You may need to add a bit more to the recipe to roll the balls

1 to 1 1/2 cup raw honey

Directions:

You can buy your herbs cut and sifted and then powder them up; or you can buy them powdered. You'll be able to find these at some good health stores or co-ops, or buy online from Starwest Botanicals, Mountain Rose Herbs, Frontier Co-op, or others.

Mix the nut butter with the honey.

Add the powdered herbs to the honey and butter mixture.

Stir in the coconut and chopped nuts.

If the mixture is still too thin to form into balls, then add some other kind of powder (or more herb powder) like cacao powder to thicken it to a moldable, paste-like consistency.

Roll into balls that are roughly 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons.

Enjoy!

TIPS:

This recipe is for a large batch. you can cut the ingredients in half to make less, if you like. It's also very flexible! Play around with it to make it your own.

You can freeze the balls on a cookie sheet first, then store them in a container in the freezer. Remove as many as you want to use within a few days. They'll keep in the freezer up to about six months.

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I Have Gotten SO Many Questions.....

After discussing ticks last week, and after my little horse's incident, which we treated with herbs and essential oils...I've had many write in to ask about animals.

Using herbs and essential oils to support pet and livestock health is absolutely possible. I created a great mini-course a few years ago, and Joe told me to share it with you on a sale.

You can get my Animal Herbalism course (normally $77) on sale for just $17 for a short time. It includes text and video and several formulations to get you started. You'll become knowledgeable about safety with animals, including cats and birds.

Here's the link:

​Animal Herbalism Course​

Please use the coupon code: LOVEANIMALS at checkout to get it for just $17!

If you know for sure you'd like this course and want to go straight to the checkout page with the code already applied, just click HERE.

Enjoy! And Happy Mother's Day!

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Ask the Herbal Answer Lady

Well, my ATHAL (Ask the Herbal Answer Lady) experiment has been so fun! I'm scheduled for a few more weeks, and attendance is increasing! If it continues to go up, I'll continue to do these free live chats for my YouTube community!

If you'd like to join in, I'm going live again this Wednesday, May 13th at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time; 11:00 a.m. Mountain; noon Central; and 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

​I'd LOVE to see you there! ​

Bring your questions, or if you like, reply to this email and share what you'd like to know. It's my goal to get an herbalist into every extended family as quickly as possible....because more and more I'm sensing things are about to shift in a big way. Let's be prepared, ready, and empowered in our health choices!

If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, and click the notifications, you'll get a reminder! Or just show up at 10:00, and introduce yourself in the chat! It's a fun time!

​Ask the Herbal Answer Lady​

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This note has gotten longer than I thought it would be, so I'll sign off now. I know I didn't share anything aromatic or write my usual Encouragement and Inspiration section, so I'll be sure to do that on Wednesday, plus more valuable herbal information.

I'm hoping to get the garden mostly planted by then, and maybe I'll get that Video Tour of the homestead and medicinal areas finished by then too. Just writing that is adding a big layer of accountability.....

Thank you SO very much for being part of this newsletter community. I just love you, and I hope your Sunday is blessed and beautiful.

Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi

P.S. If you have a friend (or several) who would enjoy my notes and perhaps like to come to our live chat on Wednesday on Youtube, please do forward this note to them!

P.P.S. OH! I forgot to mention! Did you get my FREE Guide to Essential Oils that Repel Bugs? (Ticks are included). You can get that here.