This botanical may be an invasive weed, but it is also known to help prevent and treat a number of health disorders.
More About:
Natural Remedies
Are you using counterfeit mushroom extracts? Here’s how to know the difference.
A discussion of mushroom extracts, ingredients, mycelium vs full fruiting bodies, and why the distinction matters in your supplements.
How to Naturally Manage Your Blood Sugar for Heart and Brain Health
Research has shown that there is a strong link between blood sugar and both brain and cardiovascular health.
My Seven Favorite Herbs for the Allergy Season (and Asthma Too!)
Here are seven herbal remedies that may calm allergies and help you to stop and smell everything this glorious spring season.
A Medicinal Backyard Kit for Starting a Small Backyard Pharmacy
Nicole’s Medicinal Seed Garden Kit includes all the seeds you need to start your very own plant and herb pharmacy.
Why I Never Leave Home Without My Herbal Travel Pack DIY Bonus – How to make an herbal tincture
Nicole’s Travel Pack is a potent herbal trinity made up of Usnea Lichen and Elderberry Tinctures, and All-Purpose (First Aid) Salve.
My Best-Loved Herbal Remedies for Topical Use
Nicole shares some of her favorite healing botanicals for topical use, their benefits, and usage information.
Why Healing a Leaky Gut Should be a Top Priority for Health;
Plus: 6 Herbs for Leaky Gut
Leaky Gut Syndrome is associated with increased intestinal permeability. Learn more about herbal and diet support for this condition.
Herbal Focus: Blue Elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea)
All about elderberry, why it’s one of the most imporant herbs you can use during the cold & flu season, and Nicole’s top 3 uses.
Help keep joints happy this winter with my top 4 herbal remedies and lifestyle tips
Increased arthritic pain during the cold winter months may be mitigated with these practical tips and a few of my favorite botanicals.
Struggling with Lyme disease? Wild Teasel may help
Approximately 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme Disease annually, Wild Teasel may help with prevention and to support treatment.
My Favorite Herbal Remedies for the Cold and Flu Season
These 6 herbs help maintain lung health, boost immunity, and reduce fevers – supporting overall well-being throughout the winter and beyond.
Suffering from autoimmunity? Avoid these popular herbs
If you suffer from an autoimmune disorder, it’s important to tread carefully when using herbs like echinacea, goldenseal, and astragalus.
Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum)
Reishi mushroom helps to strengthen the body against the negative effects of stress and encourages healthy immune function.
Wildfire and Smoke Season: Healing Herbs and Recipes for Lung Support
Dr. Nicole shares 7 protective and therapeutic herbs that ease anxiety, address respiratory complaints, and help repair lung damage.
The 10 Medicinal Plants You Want to Have in Your Backyard
Nicole’s Medicinal Seed Garden Kit will fit into your backyard with the most incredible, aromatic herbs you need for maximum health benefits.
Herbal Focus: Violets (Viola spp.)
Violets are a plant that most people can identify out in the wild, but many folks don’t know that these lovelies are both edible and medicinal.
Herbal Focus: Plantain (Plantago major and P. lanceolata )
It’s not a weed, it’s plantain, Nicole’s #1 go-to plant! Plantain is edible and its medicinal uses include help for stings, bites, rashes, and splinters.
Herbal Focus: Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
The entire dandelion plant, commonly regarded as a weed, is edible, nutritious, and can be used for myriad medicinal purposes.
Herbal Focus: Borage (Borago officinalis)
Borage is an edible and medicinal plant with blue flowers. It’s a great addition to your garden as it brings in pollinators and butterflies – bees love it!
Yerba Santa, My Top 3 Uses!
Yerba Santa is an herb used to dry up mucus fast. Keep it at the ready during cold season and allergy season for symptom relief.
10 Medicinal Mushrooms And Possible Health Benefits
Our Earth is a reservoir of abundant edible and medicinal mushrooms possessing many health benefits. Fungi boast enormous potential when it comes to maintaining your mental and physical well-being. Mushrooms have a high medicinal and nutritional value that aids in...
Aronia Berries, Ursolic Acid, and MS
Ursolic Acid is found in Aronia Berries, and new studies show it to be an exciting new area of Multiple Sclerosis research.
Combatting Hashimoto’s With Natural Medicine
(Guest Blog by Jennifer Bell) Hashimoto’s, a disease in which the immune system attacks the thyroid; resulting in hormone level issues, is a hard disease to deal with. If you or a loved one are dealing with Hashimoto’s, it’s likely that you’ve tried various treatments...
Ask Dr. Nicole: Are there any natural allergy remedies?
Hi Nicole, it’s allergy season and I am more miserable and uncomfortable than I’ve been in a long time. It seems to get a little worse each year. Any suggestions when it comes to natural allergy remedies?
Natural Remedies for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Guest Post by Dr. Brent Wells, D.C. Rheumatoid Arthritis (also known as RA) begins when your immune system attacks and lines the thin layer of tissue that is located near your joints. Usually, joints are affected the worst, but in some cases, it can also spread...
Alleviating Knee Osteoarthritis Effectively With Simple Exercises
Alleviating Knee Osteoarthritis 10% of males over 60 years of age and 13% of women in the same age range have symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Thankfully, there are multiple natural remedies that can help to alleviate the pain associated...
Keeping Kids Healthy During Back-to-School Season
Back-to-school season is a mixed blessing – we’ve had all summer to enjoy more time outdoors with a less scheduled, less hectic, more free-range lifestyle that the extended break from school affords, but now it’s time to put a little more structure in place and for...
Now on Amazon: A Reference Guide to Surviving Nature by Nicole Apelian
A Reference Guide to Surviving Nature I love being outdoors – solo, with my children, with friends and family – every chance I get, I’m hiking, camping, or just sitting somewhere in nature, enjoying what’s around me. Over the years as I’ve worked with more and more...
Favorite Things: Foraging Field Reference Bandana
When the Wazoo Survival Gear crew asked me to help them create this foraging field reference bandana along with Mark Merriwether Vorderbruggen I was thrilled. Foraging is something I teach a few times every year because it is such an important part of being prepared...
Medicine Making: Herbal Remedies, Healing Salves | Classes with Nicole Apelian
Upcoming dates for this class have not been scheduled yet. If you have a group of at least 10 people who would like to take the class, I will happily come to you or we can schedule the class at my country property in Raymond, Washington. Please sign up for my...
Ask Dr. Nicole: Are there natural remedies for migraine headaches?
Hi Nicole, my mother has been dealing with migraine headaches her whole life. I've started telling her about you and your apothecary items on your website. We looked for something that might be good for easing migraines but didn't see anything specific. Do you have...
Ask Dr. Nicole: How often should I take Elderberry?
Hi Nicole! I have been wanting to get Elderberry for my kids for a while now. We take Vitamin C daily but a lot of health groups I'm in recommend taking Elderberry every day. I saw you have it in your apothecary and I'd prefer to buy from you than some big company. My...
Ask Dr. Nicole: What are the best herbal remedies for anxiety?
Hi Dr. Nicole, I've been following you on Alone on The History Channel as well as reading your blog and Facebook page. I am in awe of your knowledge of and personal experiences with what works for natural healing and wellness. I was wondering if you have any...
Ask Dr. Nicole: Is there an herbal remedy for kidney stones?
Hi Dr. Nicole, my CT scan shows that I have kidney stones yet they aren't active or moving so I started taking Chanca Piedra Veggie Caps to maybe help break those up and stop forming them altogether, but I'd like to get more of your tinctures to address this. Which...
Ask Dr. Nicole: Whats the difference between the Anti-Fungal Salve and First Aid Salve?
Hi Nicole! First, I just wanted to let you know, I purchased a few of your salves and had the pleasure to use the First Aid Salve on a cut on my foot. It's a great product that helped at the time of the cut and then seemed to really aid in the healing. So, thank you...
Ask Dr. Nicole: Natural wellness recommendations for keeping healthy kids healthy?
Hello Dr. Nicole! I would like to know what your recommendations are for keeping healthy kids healthy? I have an 11-year-old son who plays outside regularly and gets plenty of fresh air and exercise. He's active, and healthy overall. He doesn't eat very much...
Ask Dr. Nicole: What are the best herbal remedies for chest congestion?
Dr. Nicole, I knew I should have ordered from your apothecary back in November, but I've been procrastinating, and now I'm sick with chest congestion. I had three "standard" doctor's visits last week and I'm going to blame that on catching a bug since I hardly ever...
My Favorite Natural Herbal Remedies and Their Uses
My love of and passion for natural herbal remedies and healing has extended beyond simply being in nature to making healing salves and herbal infusions. Since 2012 I've been working to perfect my natural recipes and I love sharing them with others through my...
Cottonwood Bud Oil – How to Make an Easy Cold-Infused Herbal Oil
It’s Early February and the sun is shining here in Portland, Oregon. Spring is springing, and the swollen cottonwood buds are starting to drip with their sticky orange resin. It is time! Time for what, you ask? It is time to harvest cottonwood tree buds (Populus...