I don’t know about you, but I just love giving (and receiving) handmade gifts. Not only do they come straight from the heart, they show a level of dedication that just makes my soul sing. In a world where everyone is so busy and overworked, when someone takes the time to make you something, it shows they truly care.
Last year I created a series of videos sharing some of my family’s favourite Yuletide holiday traditions. I had so much fun sharing that aspect of my life with you all.
You can find that video series here:
Yuletide/Winter Holiday Video Series
This year I want to inspire you to give the gift of herbal wisdom and love this year to those you care the most about. Not only will this cultivate a level of creativity and simplicity in your life, it will inspire you to dive into the wonderful world of plant medicine even more.
The first DIY herbal holiday gift inspiration I will share with you is this chai honey recipe.
Inspired by Kami McBride, I did do a bit of tweaking based on my own tastes and what I had on hand. This is a delicious, healthy and simple DIY gift that will be whipped up in less than ten minutes.
If you enjoy video instruction, check out my YouTube video on the same herbal inspired gift idea!
- 2 cups raw local honey
- 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1-1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1-1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1-1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- Combine all ingredients and stir well. I find this is easier with either a chopstick or knife.
- Store in a sealed glass jar. Label.
- For every 1 cup of liquid use 1 tbsp of chai honey.
To use your chai honey you have a few wonderful options! For every 1 cup of liquid you want about 1 tbsp of chai honey, but this is very much to taste, so feel free to experiment. Below I will share some ideas to get you started.
Basic Chai Honey Tea
Combine 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of milk of choice (animal or plant) in a pot on the stove. Warm it up and stir in one tablespoon of chai honey.
Immune Boosting Chai Tea
Add one tablespoon of chai honey to a cup of hot astragalus tea.
Traditional Chai Tea
Combine 3/4 of a cup of water and 1/4 cup of milk of choice (animal or plant) and one black tea bag (or 1 tsp of loose leave black tea). Bring to a hot simmer and stir in one tablespoon of chai honey.
Feel free to substitute rooibos or green tea for the black tea.
I’ve also created some neat little tags that you can print off at home and attach to your chai honey if you plan on giving it as a gift! Click on the image below to download the PDF file.
I hope this project has inspired you to give the gift and herbal and handmade this holiday season.
Winter blessings,
Regular Readers/Watchers
If you are a regular reader of this blog or viewer of Spiraea’s content on YouTube, I would be honoured if you took at peek at my Patreon site. Patreon is a crowd-funding site where folks can show their gratitude for the free content that creators like me produce. My currently Patreon family has been so amazing and supportive. They are the only reason I can continue to put out free video content on my YouTube channel and write blog posts right here. I have immense gratitude for them and would be thrilled if you joined us.
