Rooted Things Apothecary

04/06/2026

One of the best experiences I had this trip was to be able to have a special dinner provided by a new friend Sakae-chan, thanks to my good friend Hiromi-chan. Sakae-chan is a Japanese herbalist who studies Japanese herbs and does pop up dinners with the herbs she forages. Not only was the dinner amazing, the presentation is also top notch. My friend Hiromi-chan is someone I know for many years and she is a hair stylist who specializes in natural beauty care using all herbs. I wish she had a salon in the us. She is truly amazing at what she does. We talked about life, and herbs and it was truly a special time.

04/06/2026

It has been at least a couple decades that I’ve been in Japan during Sakura season. I forgot how beautiful they were. We went to a castle for a light show in Fukui and my daughter was amazed at how many spirits there were there. I guess they were all there enjoying the Sakura tress and the light show.

03/29/2026

Today my daughter learned how powerful plants can be in real time. We were at a bakery sitting outside for breakfast. She came with two piping hot coffees for us when they spilled on her hands. A blister started forming right away and her hands were red red and shaking from pain. Thank goodness we were surrounded by mugwort. I grabbed a bunch and squished them to make it juicy and my daughter put them on her hands. Right away the redness and pain went away and the blister was no longer there within ten minutes.

03/28/2026

Best part of being in Japan is family, of course. 日本に来て1番嬉しいのはそれは家族に会えること。

03/28/2026

How do you stay in the tea Mecca of Japan and not learn as much as you can about Japanese tea? Answer is ypu don’t. My daughter and I have been doing an intensive tea class learning about all the different teas that’s produced here, how they are produced, how to brew each one, how to pair and cook with them as well as history and much more. We drink so much tea each time we come out of the class spinning and running to the bathroom.

03/25/2026

03/23/2026

Spring is in full force and species are all over the place. These and were like, you are not walking by me without noticing me!! No wonder the name, lol. Their heavenly aroma is definitely irresistible. If I could I would walk around town with them taped under my nose. They represent fresh beginnings and I really do feel refreshed especially because it was after my body alignment session.

03/21/2026

Butterbur sprouts (fukinotou ) and aralia sprouts (taranome). When I start to see these in the grocery store you know spring has arrived. That’s one thing I love and miss about Japanese grocery stores. It’s very seasonal and you don’t see the same thing all the time. These are both considered the king of spring bitters so I made a miso soup with them to celebrate the spring. Butterbur is being soaked in water because it is way too acrid if you don’t.

03/21/2026

Houttuynia cordata or dokudami in Japanese. One of my favorites for the respiratory, skin and circulation. As much as I feel a lot of gratitude being in a place where I had to learn herbalism from scratch, I miss my old friends. I am so jealous this grows everywhere here. I hear so many people complain about this plant where they grow abundantly because it does take over, but I cringe when I hear such things. So many of my old friends do not tolerate the heat where we are in the US.

03/19/2026

Finding tsukushi, or the strobilus of the horsetail brings me a special kind of happiness. I used to collect them for my mom to cook for me. The first time I did I could not believe how bitter they were. It’s one of my early childhood memories. Now that my mom cannot do much anymore it reminds me of good times with her and those memories have become all the more dear to me. Today I saw a group of dog moms guiding their dogs to a patch and they were happily eating them. It is the season for bitters and I guess that’s no different for dogs. After all we historically learned much from watching animals use plants.

03/19/2026

Right now where I am in Japan, tsubaki or camellia japonica is flowering everywhere. This plant has many traditional uses and one of its most famous uses that is still alive and well today in the culture is its oil made from the seeds. It is a powerhouse when it comes to protecting the hair and skin from dryness, anti-aging and preventing wrinkles. The flowers are edible and people sometimes make it into tempura but the tea has the ability to cut fat from foods and used for weight management. The beautiful flowers remind us this plant helps us in our all around beauty regimen. It’s no surprise the flower essence is used for confidence. There is a very similar plan called camellia sasanqua that is very hard to tell apart. They are in the same family and used the same way. But that tends to be a winter plant so sometimes you can tell by when the flowers are blooming.

03/18/2026

Some of my friends in Japan. 日本のお友達