Honeyvine Homestead and Botanicals

08/11/2026

Good morning. Just a reminder that if your plant leaves are looking like this, they are serving some purpose in nature. Congrats!

08/11/2026

I *really* can’t stand blister beetles. I’ve not had them before where they eat my Cowpen daisies, my Honeyvine milkweed, and now my Luffa. 😩 This is what I get for saying earlier this summer that I don’t find them to be particularly destructive. Oops. And honestly, the damage doesn’t bother me as much as just knowing they are everywhere. I wear Crocs, dang it!

08/10/2026

Yeah, that sounds crazy alright. Because you don’t learn an art and science like herbalism and growing in a week. Good grief.

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08/10/2026

Maypops. Maypops are the fruit of Passiflora incarnata, Passionvine, a vine native to the United States. A lot of people wonder when these native passion fruits are ripe. I ultimately think it’s up to your own taste buds.

If you like it puckery tart, go for the slightly yellowed Maypop that gives some when you gently squeeze it and comes off the vine without much effort. If you like a sweet-tart experience, go for the Maypop that has just fallen to the ground on its own, or falls when gently pulled, and is yellow, fairly squishy, and feels heavy for its size. If you like it sweeter (in that slightly fermented way), go for fruits on the ground that are super yellow and wrinkly.

If the seeds within aren’t black yet, your fruit is unripe. As Maypops ripen, the pulp around the seeds turns more yellow and they feel more heavy for their size.

Happy foraging!

P.S. If you’re local to NE OK and have an abundance of Maypops you won’t use, I’d love to talk!

08/10/2026

I’m here to tell you, right now it’s cheaper to buy corn on the cob and process it yourself than it is to buy the cheapest can of corn at the store. 🌽

🔢The numbers: I took 33 ears of corn and turned them into 22 servings of corn for our family of five. I spent around $11 on the corn (.33 each). Each serving took around 1.5 ears of corn. We made 1.5 cup servings, and each serving feeds us about like 1.5 cans if corn would. Each serving cost about .50 vs the .82 can of cheap Great Value corn.

⏲️Process: I just par-boiled the corn, six ears at a time, for 6-7 minutes (yes I said it, Gen Z), added to an ice bath for a few minutes to stop the cooking process, cut the kernels off the cobs, and plop the corn in a freezer bag. It took about an hour of my time (not counting time to bring water up to boiling).

🌽Result: No salt. No preservatives. And it tastes SO much better than canned corn. My daughter and I were happily munching on the par-boiled corn “slabs” as I processed. Yum. It’s a taste of summer we can enjoy in February. If I want to make this shelf stable later, I can just defrost it and can it later.

🤷🏼‍♀️Reality: Yes, this is cheap, gmo corn grown with pesticides. I grew as much organic corn as I could but, but this cheap, gmo corn that I processed myself is still healthier than the now-more-expensive can of Great Value corn I would be buying otherwise. We live in the real world over here, and try not to let perfection be the enemy of good. This is healthier overall and less expensive for my family than we would otherwise have. And my kids learned something.
Win—win-win. ❤️

How much is corn in your area? I wish I would have started when ears were 4/$1!

08/09/2026

Future jelly and roasted Passiflora seeds!

P.S. I know these aren’t all ripe yet. I find they ripen nicely on my warm kitchen counter.

08/09/2026

I know not everyone is so lucky as to have a resident author who also happens to be your amazing son and right-hand man in all things homestead and herbs. But I am. 😊

My son, Mr. Bee, writes “books,” or what he hopes will be books someday. He spends hours every day writing very detailed stories. The main characters are Mr. Bee and the three older brothers he left behind in Ghana when he was adopted, Wise, Stephen, and Promise (true story). Mr. Bee misses them in his life, so he imagines an adventurous life with them.

In this story there are kings and princes and queens and international scandal. And lots of poison. ☠️

I love that Mr. Bee uses his knowledge of plants to make for very inventive poisons! LOL. Actually, he’s completely correct. Poke is toxic to humans and (some) animals, and the seeds inside Datura are potentially life-ending (we keep them for gophers and moles!).

Jr. Herbalist. Farmer. Caregiver. Plant expert. Author. Quite the resume for a 20 year old “disabled” person. 😉

Stick around. I’m going to be sharing about Mr. Bee more often, because without him our homestead would not be nearly what it is. And I’m proud to call him my son.

P.S. You’ll have to wait for the book to read the whole story. This book was about 50 of these pages. And it was just Book I in the Prince who Became King series!

08/08/2026

Be sure get your pre-orders in today so I can have your syrup ready for you by the 15th!

I’m taking pre-orders for elderberry syrup!

My first batch, with all fresh Oklahoma-grown berries will be ready by August 15th. Eight pints are already reserved, so please let me know soon if you’d like to pre-order for back-to-school!

👉Pre-orders need to be to me by Sunday, August 9th for this batch.
Just message me on FB or text 918-230-2787 to reserve. No $$ required to reserve unless doing half-gallon or larger.

🫙Pint Jar: $20
(add $2 for a flip-top bottle)
🫙Quart Jars: $38
🫙Half Gallon: $75
🫙Full Batch (8 pints): $130

❓❓How much to buy? For most families of 3-4 people, a quart will last 1-2 months, a half-gallon will last around a semester, and a full batch will take care of your family for the entire school year. This will vary depending on if one takes teaspoons or tablespoons, and how often.

A typical dose is a teaspoon to a tablespoon a day, upping that to 3-5 times a day when you need an extra boost for your immune system during illness.

There are 96 teaspoons and 32 tablespoons in a pint, so a pint will last most people well over a month, but larger families may want to plan accordingly.

❓❓What’s in Honeyvine Hill’s elderberry syrup? This is not yo’ mama’s elderberry syrup! My elderberry syrup is anything but basic, but every herb and spice was chosen intentionally. I’ve formulated 13 herbs and spices that complement and synergize one another to make for a very tasty, safe,* and highly effective syrup.

🍇Pesticide-Free Elderberries
🍇Ginger
🍇Lemon
🍇Orange
🍇Rosehips
🍇Turmeric
🍇Cinnamon
🍇Green Cardamom
🍇Black Peppercorns
🍇Star Anise
🍇Cloves
🍇All-spice
🍇Vanilla Bean

Because of the way it’s made, my syrup is generally good for up to a year if kept in the fridge (honestly, usually more), or several months on a cooler pantry shelf.

👉Send me a message today if you’d like a jar! I look forward to serving you.

P.S. Also available this autumn, Elderberry Remedy Kits. Make syrup, tincture, elixir, or infused honey, instructions included. $35.

*These are all generally very safe foods and spices, but always double check with your healthcare professional before usage if you have medical issues.

❤️Reminder: I’m not a doctor—just a community herbalist who loves sharing information and herbal remedies with others. My words haven’t been assessed by the FDA and are intended for educational purposes only.

08/08/2026

Facebook:

Taking a moment out of regularly scheduled programming to address a few things.

“AI Content”: A few of my posts where I used Canva to make graphics, without using AI features, are saying they contain AI content. It’s not AI unless working in Canva for hours to make it without AI tools still counts as AI. I don’t get it. I am, in general, fairly against AI. My only AI weakness is Picture This plant app that I use as a tool to find plant ID’s. That’s the truth. I would venture to guess the AI tool they use to determine these things made a mistake when labeling my posts. Imagine that.

Secondly, it appears my Anita Gpie account that I have had since 2008 has been deleted. I don’t know why. I received no notice. It’s just gone. The last thing I posted was about racism in my state of Oklahoma, how dangerous that is for my children, and how hard that is on moms of Black and brown children, like me. I posted screenshots of the racist comments. My best guess is that angered someone and they reported it to FB. Except since when do posts saying racism is bad cause an account to be deleted? I’ve never even been in FB jail before.

At any rate, if you were friends with me there, feel free to friend me on the Yarrow Marie account. That is still me.

Thanks.

08/07/2026

Anybody else having a good year for Monarch Caterpillars? We are seeing a good bit more than in the past few years. Yay!!