The ultimate guide to drying and storing fresh garden herbs for year-round homegrown flavor
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There's nothing quite like wandering around your garden with scissors in hand, ready to cut fresh herbs to season your meals. The aromatic scents and flavors are unparalleled. However, as any gardener knows, the growing season is limited, and those lush Read More...
6 herbs with antiviral properties worth adding to your pantry
The pandemic has made everyone even more focused on safeguarding public health. While many cutting-edge medical advancements can help keep us safe, it’s also worth looking back on old-school methods of staying healthy, like integrating antiviral herbs into your diet and home remedies. Here’s Read More...
Six eco-friendly, edible ground cover alternatives to the grassy lawn
Given the environmentally intensive practices it takes to maintain, it’s high time the traditional lawn makes way for more sustainable alternatives, demands fewer resources, and can even make a great addition to your culinary ingredients. Replacing only part of your lawn with edible ground Read More...
Nature’s shopping list: a beginner’s guide to foraging
Two years ago, The Optimist Daily published a small piece on the advantages of foraging. This means walking past the grocery store to the park or a riparian area to search for, identify, and collect your own food resources. The practice has become more popular in recent years, especially during the Read More...
7 creative ways to use rosemary outside of cooking
The pleasant woody aroma of rosemary often brings thoughts of roast dinners to our minds, however, this Mediterranean herb also has many uses outside of cooking. Here are seven surprising ways to put your rosemary to use. DIY Rosemary essential oil Rosemary essential oil can be used to add Read More...
Three types of plants that will thrive in your kitchen
There’s nothing like a little indoor greenery to brighten up your home, especially if you live in an apartment where there’s no space for a garden. So why not consider expanding your plant collection to your kitchen? The kitchen, just like any other room in your home, has its own Read More...
12 Creative ways to reduce your food waste at home
Many people are embarking on more cooking adventures during the pandemic, but if you’re becoming a well-seasoned home chef, you might also notice your food waste is increasing. The production of wasted food alone is equivalent to 37 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions. Cutting Read More...
These 9 herbs and spices will help you fend off inflammation
While inflammation is an effective way for your body to fight infections, inflammation can get out of hand and lead to a myriad of problems. In fact, chronic inflammation has been linked to many diseases, including cancer and diabetes. The good news is that there are a variety of herbs and spices Read More...
These 9 herbs will help calm your stress this holiday season
T’is the season to be merry, but that’s easier said than done. In truth, the holiday season can be one of the most stressful times of the year, whether it’s because of family commitments, added financial stress, or something else. The problem with too much stress is that it causes our Read More...
Add these 3 herbs to your smoothies to nourish the nervous system
Inflammation is a protective response from your immune system to injury or damage from sustained stress. In this day and age, there are plenty of things that can cause sustained stress in your body, from environmental pollution to consistent emotional turbulence, something that many of us are Read More...