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Fire Cider is a blend made with raw apple cider vinegar, horseradish, garlic, onions, ginger, hot peppers and raw honey. The name Fire Cider comes from Rosemary Gladstar, who started making and sharing her adaptation of this tonic back in the 1970's. Rosemary has written a number of books that include her Fire Cider recipe. She has been sharing this recipe and the name Fire Cider with people for over 30 years, so it came as a great shock when the herbal community recently learned of a company in Massachusetts having trademarked the name Fire Cider. 

Here in Maine, St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) grows in abundance along the coast, islands, fields and blueberry barrens. While living on an island a few miles off the coast in my early 20's, a friend showed me a brilliant way to identify this wonderful medicine. He picked a leaf off a plant that was growing in the back yard and held it up to the sun and had me look at it and I loved what I saw. The leaf was full of tiny see through holes that looked like perforations in the leaf, providing me with an "ah-ha" moment of where the name Hypericum perforatum came from.

Here in Maine, as with many places that experience the four seasons, we welcome the coming of spring with open arms. The return of spring, also means the return of the plants, trees, migrating animals and the wild edibles and medicinals.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is one of these wild edible/medicinals that I eagerly welcome back. The entire plant is both edible and medicinal and I use the flower, leaves and roots to make tea, tinctures, oils, vinegars, wine, beer and I also cook with them.