A Return To Traditional Herbalism With Kate Tietje

Kate Tietje believes plants carry wisdom—and in this episode, she explains why herbal remedies have remained trusted tools for healing across generations. Kate is the founder of Earthley Wellness, a longtime herbalist, homeschool mother of six, and author of the book Natural Remedies for Kids.

In this conversation, Kate shares how her journey into herbalism began when conventional medicine failed to help her young daughter’s chronic health issues. What started as a personal search for answers eventually grew into one of the most trusted herbal wellness companies in the country.

Kate explains the philosophy behind herbalism, why whole plants work differently than pharmaceutical drugs, and how herbs can support the body rather than simply suppress symptoms. We also discuss medical freedom, concerns about toxic ingredients in modern food and personal care products, and why she believes families should have greater access to natural healing modalities.

Throughout the episode, Kate offers practical guidance for beginners—covering the best starter herbs to keep at home, how to safely forage and grow medicinal plants, and simple remedies anyone can make in their own kitchen. She also shares herbal suggestions for stress, sleep, digestion, postpartum recovery, immune support, and common childhood ailments.

If you’ve ever felt curious about herbal medicine but didn’t know where to begin, this episode is a warm and practical introduction to the wisdom of plants and the traditions that have supported human health for generations.

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Episode Transcript

Within the below transcript the bolded text is Kendall Nelson and the regular text is Kate Tietje.

Welcome to the show. What if the medicine cabinet of the future looked a lot more like the garden of the past? Our guests believe some of the most powerful remedies for modern health challenges may already exist in nature, in the roots, leaves, flowers, and plants that generations before us relied upon every day. This is episode 586. Our guest is Kate Tietje. Kate is the founder of Earthley Wellness, a rapidly growing company focused on herbal remedies, supplements, and natural skin care made without synthetic additives and chemicals commonly found in conventional products.

She is also the author of Natural Remedies for Kids and a long-time advocate for herbalism, homeschooling, ancestral health, and medical freedom. In this conversation, Kate explains what herbalism actually is and why plants work so differently from pharmaceutical drugs. She shares how a health issue with her infant daughter first led her down the path of natural remedies and eventually inspired the creation of a company with more than 160 employees.

We discuss the herbs every family should consider keeping at home. How to begin building a natural medicine cabinet. Kate also talks about growing and foraging herbs, raising six children on a homestead in Ohio, and the importance of passing herbal wisdom onto our future generations, as well as her concerns about toxic ingredients commonly found in food, skin care, and household products.

Toward the end of the episode, she offers simple starter remedies anyone can make at home, even if you are completely new to herbalism. Before we get into the conversation, I want to remind you to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. You can also download our Wise Traditions app on iOS or Android by searching the Wise Traditions podcast in your app store. That way, every episode arrives at you directly without the middleman. Now, let’s welcome Kate Tietje.

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Kate, welcome to the show.

Kendall, thanks for having me.

I’m so happy that you are here. I want to start by just jumping right in, and I want to ask you how you got into herbalism.

Getting Started In Herbalism

I got into it because I was really fascinated by herbs and natural remedies my whole life. I really started to explore it when my daughter was a baby. She had gut health issues and chronic diaper rash. It was actually a connection with some people in a Yahoo group, because it was that long ago, who knew all about Weston A. Price, who was saying, “This is what is really going on, and you should be exploring natural foods and some of these alternative methods.” That led me to the ancestral diet, but it also led me to, “I need a remedy for this diaper rash that she has.”

We got no help from mainstream doctors. They just wanted to throw prescriptions on it. Which did nothing for her, made her eczema worse, and did not touch the diaper rash. I was pregnant with my second at the time. I was taking some prenatal education classes with a local midwife who was also an herbalist, and I started asking her some questions, and then I ended up making up this cream. I put it on my daughter’s diaper rash and was not really expecting much, but it cleared up the rash. I said, “This definitely works better than anyone else out there. That just really started me on the path of every time somebody just feels well, or something is going on, what natural remedy could I use? What herbs could I try? It’s become all we use now as a family.

Our ancestors didn’t have commercial drugstores. They had the forest, fields, and a deep understanding of natural plant medicine.

Fast forward from that, from when your daughter was having these problems, and you needed to solve them, to you starting this giant company, this Earthley Wellness that’s done so well, and believe you have 160 plus employees, and you sell herbal remedies, supplements, and skincare products. Can you tell me just a little bit about building that and what the impetus was for that?

After I started to really dig into remedies for my family, I was like, “Other people do not know about this stuff, and they need to know. I know that more people would want to know.” I started a blog, Modern Alternative Mama, in 2009. That was doing pretty well, but then we got to a point in about 2015 to 2016 where a lot of people were saying to us, “I love this information. I love what you’re sharing, but I’m not a DIY person. I do not have time for this stuff. Can I just buy it from you?” I really love playing with herbs. I really love making remedies for other people.

I said yes, and that was what really led me to start Earthley. The first product that we had was our elderberry syrup kits, which we launched in August of 2016. At that point, we were like I do not know what to expect like maybe we will sell 10. I do not know if we figured if we could sell at least 50 in the next week, we could get the bulk pricing and the herbs to make it work. We ended up selling like 400 of them, and we said, “This is clearly a need here for this. We need to go down this path.”

After that, we had like a magnesium lotion, and we had a teething product that’s now called teeth tamer that I had been making for my babies, my family, and my local community for a few years. We launched those, and after that, it was just anytime that we had a need or a local community had a need, we would create something for them. If it worked well, we would launch that too. We have a whole bunch of products because if we wanted them, we made them.

What makes Earthley Wellness special? Is there something about your products that’s better than others?

We had a theory when we got started that we could do it and stay completely clean even as we scaled. Lots of people make stuff for themselves that uses ingredients that you can find around your house. You look at stuff that’s made commercially, and it’s got natural flavors and potassium sorbate and all of these additives that are supposed to make it shelf stable or taste better or whatever.

I thought, “We do not really need that kind of stuff. We should not need that stuff in order to create products that are safe and healthy for people.” I wanted things that were beneficial to my health all the way around, not things that I was compromising on. We have proven it. We have scaled, and we have the recipes the same as they were when we got started, even though we’re making tens of thousands of units of some of these things now. That is definitely unique in the market.

Let’s back up just a little bit. Can you define what herbalism is for us?

Herbalism is the study of medicinal plants. Looking at the benefits of those plants and using them to support human health.

Tell me more. I want to know a lot of things, like why is herbalism so special, and what is it about it that makes it so powerful?

The Power Of Herbalism

One of my favorite things about plants is that they are not just one constituent. You look at a mainstream drug, and it’s like we have an active ingredient and then they add a bunch of flavors, stabilizers, whatever, but it’s that one active ingredient that is supposed to work, however the drug is supposed to work. That causes a lot of side effects because it pushes the body in one direction or the other. Plants do not do that. Plants have a lot of different constituents in them, and those constituents buffer and balance each other, so they can have different effects.

They can have opposing effects depending on what your body actually needs. That makes them often safer. They can have so many different uses. It is not like you take one drug and it’s good for this one thing. Whereas a plant can do a lot of different things. Ginger’s one of my favorite herbs, and you can use it for a sore throat, an upset stomach, or pain, or a lot of different things. People use it for motion sickness, and I just love that you can have simple plants that have so many uses.

What would be a list of some herbs that everybody should have in their household? What would your top five be?

This is always the hardest question because I love so many of them. Ginger and calendula are always the top two on my list because ginger has so many uses, and calendula, you can use it internally to support gut health, but you can also use it topically. If we get little hangnails that are inflamed or eye issues, like, “My eye is a little red today.” Calendula tea is great for that. Those are the top two.

Beyond that, mullein would be a top pick for me because it’s great for respiratory support. I do use elderberries a lot in the fall and winter months. That’s great for respiratory needs. Number five. See, it’s hard because I have so many favorites. Garlic is a great one too to have on hand because it is good for gut health and immune support, keeping, if you’re not feeling well, things like that.

Tell me, what if a person wants to grow their own herbs, or I have even read about you talking about foraging for wild plants? Can you talk a little bit about that and give some advice?

With foraging, you want to make sure that, first of all, you’re in an area where you’re allowed to take the plants. They’re on public land. You need to be careful. Are you allowed to harvest from there or not? If it’s your own land, that’s great. If you have permission to be on somebody else’s land, that’s fantastic. You do not want to forage too close to a roadway because there can be contamination from exhaust from the cars. Make sure you’re back away in a forest or a field or something. Know the plants.

Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting because there are some plants that look similar. One that trips a lot of people up is poke root versus elderberry. A lot of people think that the poke berries are elderberries, and they’re not. You do not want to eat those, especially not a lot of them. Please make sure you know for sure what plant you have. Know, is it an endangered plant or is it one that’s just really widespread? If you want some dandelions, take as many as you want. That stuff’s going to grow everywhere. You are good. There are some, like goldenseal roots, that are endangered. If you do run across that, you want to be cautious in harvesting only what you absolutely need.

What about growing your own garden and having your own herb garden? Is that something that’s useful?

Absolutely. The easiest things to grow are mints, but you do want to put them in a pot because they will be absolutely everywhere. A lot of things are in the mint family. Yes, people know spearmint and peppermint, sure, but there’s lemon balm and catnip, and even lavender is in the mint family. They’re very easy to grow. You almost cannot kill them. It’s a great thing to start. Those are some of my favorite herbs, too. Other things are good to grow. I have elderberry bushes. They like wet feet.

If you have areas of your land that tend to be low-lying and stay wet, that’s a great place to put some elderberries where maybe other stuff does not really want to grow. Calendula is fun because you just get to watch the sunny flowers grow throughout the season. You can harvest them here and there. Those are some of the ones that I’ve grown and that I think are easy for beginners to do.

It sounds like you’re growing your own plants. Can you paint a picture of where you live and what your life is like?

I live on about seven acres in Ohio, and it’s like this big hilly area. We’ve got a garden that’s up on top of the hill, and we grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupes, and a lot of different annual crops. We also have a raspberry patch, and we have apple, peach, and pear trees that are all over the yard. We have a lot of chickens. We’re up to close to 200 chickens at this point. Turkeys, geese, ducks, they’re still babies, they’re still inside, but we have a lot of different little animals. A lot of our time at home is spent just managing the land and the animals.

Who is we? Do you have children?

I do. I have six kids ranging from 8 years old to 18 years old. My daughter, whom I mentioned, is grown now, which is crazy to me that she’s a young adult now. My daughter’s my only girl. The boys are everybody else. They spend a lot of time homeschooling, and part of that is like working on the homestead and helping with the garden, building things, all that kind of stuff.

The reason I asked about your children is that I know you wrote a book, Natural Remedies for Kids. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Addressing Kids’ Health Naturally

I’m just going to show it just for fun. That is the original version from 2014. I actually was approached by a publisher who was looking for that topic initially, and then it sold copies, and then they did not want to keep it. I said, “Can I buy the rights back from you, and can I self-publish an updated version?” I have learned a lot of courses in the last ten years. This is the guide that I wish I had when I got started.

It’s broken down by symptoms, so you do not have to figure out a diagnosis or like what your kid has. You just say does my kid have sniffles? Does my kid have an upset stomach, or does my kid have a headache? Whatever is going on, and then it walks you through what does this mean? Is it maybe a symptom of something more serious, or is it something that you do not have to worry about? If it is something simple, like what do you do about it at home, like really simple remedies that you can use. There are also recipes in there for stuff that you can make.

My co-author on that one was Dr. Bob Zajac, and he is a medical freedom-minded pediatrician and a father of eight. He added all kinds of notes and thoughts. If you’re somebody who’s new to this and you’re saying, “I do not know if this is something I can handle at home or something that maybe needs to be seen,” he adds his thoughts on all those things, and then we have lots and lots of natural remedies. Great resource for lots of families.

If someone is a beginner, where would you suggest they start? This sounds slightly overwhelming to try to figure out all of the herbs and all of the remedies and that stuff. Where should they start?

I would start with the very basic things, like sniffles. Everybody’s going to experience sniffles at some point. What can you use for that? A lot of people will lean on elderberry, like you get elderberry tincture or elderberry syrup, or mullein can be included in some formulations, or you can make tea out of that, or just ginger tea. If you do nothing but give elderberry syrup and make some ginger tea, that’ll take care of a lot of stuff.

Can you explain how there are different preparations for these herbal remedies? I believe there are teas and salves and tinctures, but I don’t really know. You have to tell me what kind of products you are making, or where people should look. Should they be able to use a salve or should they be drinking tea? What should they be doing?

It depends on what the need is, of course. If you have a sore throat, tea is a great option because it’s going to soothe that sore throat. I do love tinctures, which is where we take herbs and we steep them in either alcohol or vegetable glycerin, and it makes a very concentrated shelf-stable remedy. That is a great option for beginners because it can be anywhere you need it to be. I have them in my purse, I have them in my medicine cabinets, I have them all over my house.

I can just take a dropper whenever I need it. That’s one of my favorite options for beginners. Salves, you mentioned that. Those are great topical remedies. We steep the herbs in oil, and then we add some beeswax to it to make a solid. If you have cut scrapes, itchy skin, things like that, that is a great option to put on there to just soothe whatever’s going on.

I heard you mention medical freedom. I know you’re a bit of an activist in this department. Tell me about your opinions on big pharma, big food, and even big government. What can you tell me?

Medical Freedom And Activism

I have been a medical freedom activist since my daughter was a baby. I actually worked as a therapist for some special needs families before my kids were born. They told me their stories. They told me about vaccine injuries, and they told me about recovering their children. That spurred me to research vaccines before my kids were born. I did not vaccinate any of my kids. I do not regret that. My daughter, now at eighteen, is saying that she’s starting to think about dating, growing up, and having her own family.

She says that stuff like that, like not vaccinating and home birth and stuff, is non-negotiable for her. She would not even be in a relationship with somebody who did not believe in medical freedom. Big pharma is hurting people. They care about profit more than anything else. They make these drugs that fundamentally cannot address what’s really going on. It’s that simple. If a condition, then just give them this remedy, but it does not provide the full picture of what is actually happening inside the body.

They spend more on lobbying than they do on research and development, which should tell everybody everything they need to know about their priorities. I fought at the state level to maintain all of the exemptions. We have all three in Ohio, although we should not need exemptions in order to make our own medical decisions. Medical freedom is incredibly important, and it’s something that even Earhtley as a company stands for.

We want everybody to have access to all modalities equally. Our work as a company is not going to be done until people look at allopathy and go like, “If I have a broken bone or if I’m about to die in five minutes, I’m going to go seek out allopathic care because they’re great at trauma.” If they have other issues, other needs, they know that they have equal access to chiropractic and herbalism and naturopathy and all of these other modalities, which is currently not the case.

How does using herbs differ from taking a pharmaceutical product? How do they work? I imagine that they support the body rather than suppressing symptoms and these sorts of things. Tell me more.

Herbs Versus Pharmaceuticals

You’re right. Herbs do work. In a supportive fashion. They look at what is going on and how we help the body return to a state of what’s normal. Meadowsweet is one of my favorite examples of that because it contains natural salicylates, which are what aspirin is basically. Aspirin, if you take too much of it, can cause bleeding, stomach bleeding, and ulcers. Meadowsweet, despite having the salicylates in it, does not do that because it has a lot of other buffers and balancers in it, and it’s actually been used historically to calm upset stomachs in children.

Wise Traditions - Kendall Nelson | Kate Tietje | Herbalism — Herbalism: Herbs do work in a supportive fashion. They look at what is going on and how we help the body return to a state of what’s normal.

It’s a lot safer than what the pharmaceutical companies have to offer. It’s balancing. Raspberry leaf is another great example where some women are told to take raspberry leaf when they’re pregnant to help tone the smooth muscles of the uterus and prepare for childbirth. Some people have misunderstood and said, “It can only be used in the final trimester because that’s going to cause contractions.”

Pharmaceutical drugs isolate single chemicals and push the body in one direction. Plants offer balanced chemistry that supports your body.

That is not really what’s happening. It’s just toning the muscles so that they can work more effectively when it needs to do so. It’s not causing it to do something that it’s not supposed to do. I have used it all throughout pregnancy to keep smooth muscles toned. It can also help with morning sickness in women in the first trimester. Lots of different uses, much safer working with the body to support what’s going on, rather than fighting against the body.

Is herbalism similar to homeopathy in the sense that we’re always trying to fight legislation that’s trying to take away homeopathy? I’m wondering if you come up with any of those or come against any of those same sorts of issues with regulations.

Herbalism largely exists in a gray area right now, where there’s no recognized credential for herbalists in any way to practice. People do, of course, but there’s no license that you can receive to practice. Some states do license homeopaths and naturopaths and other things, but they do not license herbalists. Existing in a gray area like that, there’s not as much to fight against right now, but we have seen compounding pharmacies face issues where they said, “Now you cannot use this herb or that herb because we’ve decided that this one is dangerous.” There have been some restrictions there. The stuff with homeopathy I find very interesting because they like to say it’s just magic water, and if that were true, why do they need to regulate it? Why do they need to fight that? That’s really silly.

I also have a question about the safety of herbs. You know how safe they are, and how do you know whether you’re taking too much or too little? How would you figure out how to just do this in the right way?

I would recommend first starting with herbs that are considered to be very safe, like ginger is considered to be very safe, nettles, raspberry leaf, and elderberry. For the vast majority of people, these are very safe. People literally eat elderberry jam and elderberry pie. You’re not going to overdose on taking elderberry syrup. There is no category in poison control for herbal overdoses. They do not have a code for that because it just does not really happen. That does not mean every herb is safe for every person or every situation.

There are certainly situations where you could overdo some herbs and maybe not feel very well for a while. Poke root is one of those. If you used a lot of that internally, it’s emetic. Your stomach’s not going to be very happy with you. I do not recommend starting with that for beginners because you want to be a little bit cautious. Still, it’s not going to cause long-term damage. It’s just, you’re not going to enjoy the next day or so.

With the herbs, if you research like how many people have been harmed by herbs versus how many people have been harmed by pharmaceuticals, what they’re going to tell you is that the vast majority of the time that somebody has been harmed by an herb is because they’re allergic to it, which you can be allergic to just about anything, or because it’s contaminated with pharmaceuticals. You’re not finding people who do not have an allergic reaction, who are not dealing with a contaminated plant, who are not having all of these health issues derived from herbs.

Do you have to consider the dosage when you’re giving herbs to your children? Is it different than what you would give to an adult?

You do want to start with milder herbs, and you do want to start smaller. We usually recommend that babies and younger children start with a few drops of tincture. We like to use the minimum amount that is going to be effective for that child and then see where it is from there. If you try two drops and you wait 30 minutes, and we still need something, you can try a couple more drops, and that’s okay, but we definitely start small because they’re younger, and we have to be more cautious.

I read on your website, too, that you had twenty things to ditch in your home that were toxic. I do not expect you to give me all twenty, but can you give me a few of those things that we should be thinking about? It’s not just what we’re taking in, it’s also what we’re surrounded by. It seems like something that you’re passionate about as well.

Identifying Toxic Household Products

My number one thing in that area is always fragrance. It does nothing for us. There is no benefit to having artificial fragrances in our home. There are lots of ways that we can make our home smell nice with simmer pots on the stove, opening the windows in this beautiful weather that we’re now having, or essential oils. We do not need artificial fragrances. They’re endocrine disruptors. Get rid of all scented products in your home.

If you want to protect your home environment, get rid of artificial fragrances. They don’t help your health and act as hormone disruptors.

Plastics, if you can minimize any form of plastic, especially if it’s touching things that you’re going to eat or it’s touching your skin. Dishes for kids are commonly plastic. I ended up getting these stainless steel divided plates for my kids. They call them prison plates, and I’m like, they’re fine, though they’re safe, do not worry about it. That would be a big one. I know there are a lot more things, but quite honestly, I’ve been on this journey for so long now that I forget what those things were at this point.

How about your personal care products? Because you sell skin care, tell me a little bit about that.

There are a lot of concerning ingredients in personal care products. We see sodium lauryl sulfate, and that’s an endocrine disruptor. We see the fragrance, of course, there. Parabens, phthalates, all that stuff is toxic. These things are pervasive in the environment now, and they did not properly study them before they made them just in literally everything. They’re again endocrine disruptors.

They’re going to cause issues. Look for personal care products that have recognizable ingredients like olive oil, mango butter, or shea butter, or real soap, just soap that’s made with oils and lye, and that’s the only ingredient. In case anybody’s concerned, because I know that lye is definitely caustic if you use it by itself, when you mix it with the oils, it is fully reacted. There is absolutely no lye left in that product. A chemical reaction has occurred. That’s why it’s safe to use in soap. Your alternative is detergent, and that can be very harsh to the skin. Definitely prefer natural soap.

If you were to just paint a picture of what plants are like. What is the wisdom that’s within plants?

I was actually talking about this with somebody the other day. Motherwort is one that I grow, and when it starts out, the leaves are very soft and small, and they’re wide, like they’re wide and there’s like little lobes to them. I’m like, it looks like a child’s hand. It’s gentle, and it’s soft. It grows these tall stalks, and the leaves get thicker and darker, and they get sharper pointed. The sticks also have thorns, like sharp parts on them.

It’s almost like the life cycle of the human. We start out so soft and trusting, and then it grows this big like spikes and barbs, and you’ve been through stuff, and so we’re like, “This is rough.” That plant is actually great for mothers to help them calm down and work through some of those tough emotions that they might be feeling. We can see some mirrors in nature when we look at things like that.

How did you learn all of this? What if somebody else wants to get into learning about herbs? Are there particular courses or books, or how did you do it?

I did it just by researching. I had a lot of different books. I read Rosemary Gladstar, I read Susun Weed, and Matthew Wood. I know there was more Kiva Rose. There are a lot of different herbalists out there. I read books like Susun Weed’s Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year. I remember reading when I was pregnant with one of my babies. Any time that I had a need, I’m like, “I’m feeling this way,” or “I have this,” or “I have that,” or “I was just curious.”

I’m like, “I heard of this plant. I do not know much about it.” If you actually search for plant names with the word monograph, you can pull up really detailed information about what that herb is and what it does in its history and any science that’s behind it. I would read those from a number of different sources. Richard Whelan is a medical herbalist from New Zealand, and he has a lot of great monographs. I would study all of those.

Every time I had a question, I would just look for a resource and try to find it. I know that there are courses out there, but I have not taken them, so there’s not one that I can personally recommend. I know that for a lot of people, that’s the option they would prefer because they’re like, “I do not even know what I do not know, I need somebody to help me.” Great books and great online resources as well.

How do we preserve this herbal wisdom for future generations?

Preserving Herbal Wisdom For Future Generations

We have to teach our kids. We have to learn ourselves as best we can, and then we have to teach our children. It’s not going to happen easily or automatically, but it’s something that I’ve strived to teach my kids. They know what herbs to reach for if they’ve got something going on. They’re like, “I’ve got a headache, I’m going to grab the turmeric.” My finger’s sore, I’m going to grab the calendula. They have learned those things because we’ve always done it.

Seek out people who know. Every time you have a need, find out what you can do for that need. It will build up over time. You will walk into it saying I’m going to use natural remedies. You’re not feeling well, and you’re like, “I’m stressed. I do not know. Cannot figure it out.” It starts that way. Try to figure it out. Try something. If it does not work, you can always fall back on old favorites. Keep trying. Eventually, you will find the things that work for you and then share them with your kids.

I know you’ve given us a lot of different remedies for various ailments. What if I were to give you a little bit of a list? If I just said stress and anxiety, what’s your favorite remedy?

For stress and anxiety, magnesium is actually going to be where I start first because it’s so supportive to the body. It can help you feel calmer. It can help you get a good night’s sleep. Sometimes that stress and anxiety are because you’re not sleeping, and you really need just a chance to rest and calm down. Lavender is very common as an herbal solution for stress and anxiety. A lot of people really love the scent of that, and even just breathing it in can help to induce some calm.

What about sleep?

Sleep. I’m going with magnesium there, too, but I might also go to catnip. Catnip is a really good one for calming and sleeping. We have it growing all over our yard right now. It’s in the mint family, so it’s kind of everywhere, but it’s safe for kids, and it has the opposite effect on humans than it does on cats. Catnip is great.

For immune support, what would you suggest?

For everyday immune support, astragalus root is one of my favorites. You can put it in tinctures, you can put it in soups, or put it in tea. I do not know that most people enjoy the flavor of astragalus by itself, but it is really great if you make some bone broth and you throw some astragalus root in there.

What about digestion?

I love digestive bitters, so I’ll use things like orange peel, dandelion root, anything that has a bitter flavor is a great option to support digestion.

How about postpartum recovery?

I still love raspberry leaf, but I like to pair it with alfalfa because it’s rich in natural vitamin K, so it can balance the bleeding afterwards and help to rebuild the blood for women after they go through that. Raspberry leaf and alfalfa.

What about some sort of skin irritation? What would you use for that?

Calendula is definitely my favorite for anything topical.

Let’s see, what have I not asked you that you would really like to tell me about herbs in general?

I know we’ve talked about safety a good bit, but I want to add a little bit to that because people have taken it like yes, we have to be cautious with herbs. As they dig into it, they’re like, “Herbs are so powerful.”

Kate, I want to ask you about safety. What can you tell me about safety and herbs?

When they start thinking about herbs, and they start researching herbs, they start to realize how powerful they can actually be. When they see that, they assume that that means that we need to be extremely cautious with them. They’re like, “We cannot take too much. This one is not good for this person or this situation.” They take it extremely seriously. We do not want to not research those things or not take caution. We do want to know those things.

We want to know what is ideal in different situations, and maybe this one’s not the best here, or this one’s a better fit. Start with the smallest doses, things like that. When it comes down to it, the absolute risk of an herb versus the absolute risk of a pharmaceutical drug, the herb is so much safer. We have to live in this dichotomy of herbs being powerful, and we do need to be aware of some safety considerations.

If it comes down to like I see moms going, there’s so much to consider that I’m like, “I’m afraid/ I’m going to hurt my kid with this herb. I do not even want to try this. I’m just going to go for Tylenol.” Please do not let yourself get to that place because the absolute safety of any herb you’re considering using for your baby is so much better than Tylenol or whatever mainstream remedy that you’re reaching for.

What if somebody wanted to work with an herbalist? How would they go about finding such a person?

There is an organization called the American Herbalists Guild. I’m not a member of it, but a lot of master herbalists are. You can look at their website and help find an herbalist there that you can work with. You may be able to join some local natural mom groups and ask if there’s anybody in your area that you can work with. Some herbalists do telehealth visits. It’s a word-of-mouth thing, mostly because it is not something that’s legally recognized.

Before we wrap up, I want to ask you if somebody wants to get started doing the do-it-yourself method, give me a recipe. What would be one thing that they could make at home that would be simple and just something that they would feel comfortable with getting started with?

Beginner DIY Recipes

A calendula salve would be a really great thing to start with because all you need is some calendula flowers, some olive oil, and some beeswax. All you do is get a mason jar of whatever size, a little one is probably fine, fill it about half to three-quarters of the way with the petals, and then just top it off with olive oil. Let it sit in a cool, dry place for about a month, strain it out, and then you’re going to mix some beeswax in. I can share a link to that if you’d like.

Ginger tea would be another great one if you just slice some fresh ginger you get from any grocery store. Boil it in some water for a few minutes until it’s golden colored, and then you can serve it with some raw honey. Throw in some lemon juice if you want. Either of those is one of the first two recipes that I would teach somebody who wants to start with DIY.

Both sound good. You’re going to be at our conference in October in Washington, DC. Can you give us just a little bit of a sneak preview as to what you’re going to be talking about there?

I will be talking about how to build a medicine cabinet for beginners. If somebody is truly interested in what I should keep on hand and what are some simple DIY recipes I can do, come to the conference in October, and I will be sharing all that information with you.

That sounds perfect. As we wrap up, I want to just ask this one last final question that I ask all my guests, and that is, if the audience could do just one thing to improve their health, what would you suggest they do?

Pick one herb that intrigues you. It could be any herb, and figure out a way to use it. Whether it’s something simple like I get headaches or get sniffles, or whether you have something else going on, like you need some support with hormone balancing or whatever, pick one herb that intrigues you and just try it.

Kate, thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate your time, and I hope everybody comes to the conference and gets to see you speak. I hope to have you again on the show sometime.

Sounds great. Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

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Our guest was Kate Tietje. You can learn more about Kate, her book, Natural Remedies for Kids, and her work through Earthley Wellness. Herbalism can sometimes feel overwhelming or mysterious to people who are new to it, but Kate brought it back to something very simple and approachable, learning to work with nature instead of against it. In this conversation, we explored how herbs have been used for generations to support the body, why plants often work differently than pharmaceutical drugs, and how even small changes like reducing toxic products in the home or learning one simple remedy can make a meaningful difference over time.

Kate also shared practical wisdom for families who want to become more self-reliant in caring for everyday health concerns while reminding us that this knowledge is something worth preserving and passing on to future generations. Whether you’re growing herbs in your backyard, making your first cup of ginger tea, or simply becoming more curious about natural healing, this episode offers an encouraging place to begin.

I’m Kendall Nelson, the host and producer of the show on behalf of Weston A. Price Foundation. For a full transcript of this episode, visit The Weston A. Price and click on the show’s page. If you’re enjoying the show, we’d be grateful if you’d take a moment to leave a rating or review wherever you tune in. Your feedback helps others discover the podcast and become part of this growing community. Thank you so much for tuning in. Be well, be nourished, and be free. Who is we? Do you have more than one child?

About Kate Tietje

Kate Tietje is the owner and lead herbalist at Earthley Wellness, a popular holistic brand that offers herbal tinctures, magnesium lotion, curricula, and much more. Kate is a passionate advocate for medical freedom and works to increase access to and education on alternative health modalities. She is the author of Natural Remedies for Kids, now in its second edition, as well as The Green Family series of children’s books. Kate is passionate about living a holistic lifestyle, and she lives on a small homestead in Ohio, where she homeschools her 6 children and raises chickens, turkeys, and tends a small orchard.