How to Make a Flower Press

A wooden flower press is simple to make and is a helpful tool for preserving botanical samples from the wild or from your own backyard. These presses have historically been used for preserving herbarium specimens, where the dried plants can be studied along with the samples’ species name, field observations, and collection date. You can use your plant specimens in this manner; ...

Hannah Kincaid and Jake LaSorsa

Homemade Witch Hazel Toner

Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is one of my favorite local shrubs. I can’t decide whether I like it most for its unique leaves or its spectacular flowers. The yellow flowers bloom from September through November, most startlingly after the leaves have dropped in fall. Yellow explosions of floral fireworks set off against the bare, dark gray of the smooth bark. In North ...

Dawn Combs and DIY Natural

Homemade Comfrey Plantain Salve

Joanna Ridenour

Summer Herbs

Sherry Smith

Hollyhock Soother for Skin and Hair

Dawn Combs

Skin-Soothing Calendula Salve

Gina Debacker

The Colors of Autumn

September 1 marks the first day of meteorological autumn. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains that meteorological seasons are based on changes in temperature and are therefore more accurate predictors of weather changes than the solstice and equinox dates of the astronomical calendar. The air is indeed a bit cooler here in the upper Mid-Atlantic. The ...

Elizabeth Janoski

Avocado and Rose Face Oil

Rebecca Sullivan Nassima Rothacker

52 Homestead Skills Series

Create a Magenta Floral Arrangement for Autumn

20 Crops That Keep and How to Store Them

Barbara Pleasant