Tina Sams

After years of working with herbs with my sister (Maryanne Schwartz) as the Twisted Sisters at the local renaissance festival as well as a regular shop, I started The Essential Herbal magazine in 2001 with the premier issue coming out in January of 2002. We became a PDF zine with the Jul/Aug '20 issue, which was hurried along a little with the arrival of the pandemic.

I live on 15 acres with all kinds of small ecosystems, such as a woods, pond/boggy area, stream, fields, and everything in between. 90% of the herbs used at EH grow here. In the last decade, many natives have been reintroduced into the woods and wetland area, while around the house a riot of color explodes each year, and the wild plant foods are encouraged and eaten. The line between weed and cultivated herb is very fine around here.

Somewhere around 2004, a glass distiller arrived, and it has been a great teaching tool, traveling halfway across the US to show exactly how essential oils are made. Now (2018) stills are much more common, so it's good to stay home and make hydrosols when the mood strikes. We do eco-dying and are working with embedding botanicals in resins, always learning something new to do with herbs.

The magazine comes out every other month, so I write for that, and the blog that started in 2005 is still going strong. Essential Herbal can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. Give us a follow!