Lets start by saying that this is pretty informal.  The premise is that of a big juicy letter full of ideas from a gathering of friends.  We jazz it up, turning it into the herbal confection that our readers have come to love and subscribe to over and over again.  The magazine is not slick or colorful.  It is crammed full of the things herbal enthusiasts are looking for - crafting ideas, recipes, medicinal lore, and interesting information.

 The Essential Herbal magazine is always looking for instructions for interesting crafts, good unusual recipes, and medicinal uses of herbs. From time to time, we receive a lovely poem, an article musing on the beauty of the plant world, wild crafting, eating wild foods, or letters containing recipes for salves or culinary treats. And that is exactly the way we like it. 
   
The emphasis is seasonal.  Check the "upcoming Topics" tab for ideas.

Check and see if there is anything you would like to add. Send it by e-mail or regular mail, along with your name, and if you have a business, a bit about it. Blow your horn. Give us the shop name, address, and email/website, and we'll add it to the end of the article.

We will send you 3 copies of The Essential Herbal  magazine when it comes out.
If you would like, send your e-mail address to essentialherbal@aol.com and we will send a notice about 2 weeks before deadline as a reminder.

We use Microsoft Publisher to put the publication together, and prefer that program. Short articles can be inserted into the body of an e-mail if you are unsure of programming.  Articles are preferred in text format.

Photos and drawings - PDF is fine (usually that will fill a page, though and it sometimes requires editing on our end).  JPG, GIF or TIF are acceptable graphic extensions.  If they are in another format, we can't always open them and they may not be included with the article. They must also have a resolution of 300 d.p.i.  They may also be sent as camera ready copy to:

The Essential Herbal 1354 N. Strickler Rd.  Manheim, PA 17545
The deadline for each issue is 45 days prior to publication . If submitting something for the Sept/Oct issue, for instance, the copy must be to us by July 15. We prefer that copy be sent well before the deadline, but we've worked with "herbies" long enough to know that we all work best by deadlines.  If we receive photos for an article on July 15 and they cannot be opened, there will be no time to remedy the situation and we will insert something of our choosing to fill in.

Publication Deadlines:

Jan/Feb - November 15
Mar/Apr - January 15
May/June - March 15
Jul/Aug - May 15
Sept/Oct - July 15
Nov/Dec - Sept 15

Please go to the "UPCOMING TOPICS" section for ideas if you would like to contribute. And don't forget to include contact information at the end of the submission.

The Essential Herbal ~ 1354 N. Strickler Road ~ Manheim ~ PA ~ 17545