Emelie Who?

I’m Emelie

Tolley and for more than 30 years I’ve shared my love of herbs with others through a newsletter, Living With Herbs; a series of best-selling books; as a contributing editor of Victoria Magazine; in a series of calendars, lectures, television appearances, articles in newspapers and magazines; and in herb-inspired products such as wallpaper, china, towels, potpourris and candles. Now, if you’re just discovering herbs or already love them, I’d like to help you enjoy them more whether gardening, cooking, crafting, making beauty treatments or simple herbal remedies, or keeping house with an emphasis on keeping green.

My love affair with herbs has lasted so long because of their incredible versatility. With a low threshold of boredom I tend to lose interest in a subject once I learn as much as I want to know, but herbs always entice me with something new to discover. I may see an interesting way of weaving plants into a garden, taste a special dish in a restaurant or read a recipe and be inspired. Walking through a store might suggest a splendid decoration for the house; a visit to a spa a new beauty treatment. It never ends.

My first encounter with herbs came through cooking (still my first love) so as soon as I had my own little cottage in the country, I planted a culinary herb garden. My decision to start an herb newsletter was followed by a long winter of reading everything I could find about herbs I knew and those I’d barely heard about. When spring finally arrived, lavender and other heavenly scented plants along with a few of those with medicinal leanings joined the culinary herbs in my garden. Writing these letters once a month made me realize there was much more to learn... and that there was a need for a lifestyle book to entice the uninitiated into the world of herbs. That was the birth of a series of books on herbs that combined my knowledge with that of experts all across the United States and Europe. I’m still learning: join me here to discover all the ways herbs can make life more enjoyable.

Get in touch at emelietolley@aol.com.

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