The Stillroom—a space where women and often daughters, would gather to formulate family recipes of herbal remedies, hone their skills in preserving plants, and blend medicinal plant medicines for the well-being of their family and community. The woman of the house very often herself, a trusted herbalist operated her in-home Stillroom and passed the valuable plant remedy information down to others in the family so the tools and practices were not lost. These word recipe originates from receipts, the books that were filled with notes on the healing properties of herbs, formulas for tinctures, teas, syrups, oxymels, electuaries, salves, ointments and herbal compresses and more—and tips on beekeeping and food preservation, first aid practices, soap making, candle-making— these books, called Still books and these Stillrooms were a glimpse into the daily rhythm of women and who tended both hearth and health. These books were kept in Stillrooms, and a Stillroom was popular in England and in fact, one would be found in every cottage and castle, all the way to the North American Colonies. The Stillroom was at the heart of the home—serving as a space for science, health, well being and practical needs. The Early to late 1600s saw the Golden Age of the Stillroom. The name "still room" comes from the use of a small still, a device used for distilling waters, tinctures, and essential oils from herbs, flowers, and fruits. The use of Stillrooms continued to thrive through the 18th century and into the early Victorian period. But, by the mid-19th century, the role of the Stillroom began to decline as societal and technological changes and the forced takeover of the start of the pharmaceutical industry reshaped and in fact eradicated domestic plant based self care rituals of life in the home and hushed the knowledge that had been preserved and handed down for generations as a holistic know-how skill set.  

The Stillroom traditionally was a multi-functional space—part apothecary, pantry, and domestic science lab—usually overseen by the lady, wife, mother or Grandmother of the house.

These rooms were a staple in 16th-century households through to the early 19th century in England and spread across Europe as a feature in the homes of not just the gentry and aristocracy, but found in common folk homes and cottages as well. Every home no matter how humble had a Stillroom space or room. The concept and practices of a “still room” existed in a rudimentary form much earlier and were often tied to religious orders and monastic traditions. While the fully equipped household Stillrooms as we know them flourished later in history, the roots of this practice can be traced back centuries to medieval monasteries and even earlier Celtic and Druidic traditions.

In the same way I practice and offer our Stillroom Shoppe Essential Wellness Botanicals—located on our family organic herb farm— a place to capture, share, and celebrate the powerful benefits of traditional herbal medicine, the health magic of local raw honey as extractants and palatable carriers in syrups and oxymels, the freshly preserved organic and wildcrafted plant ingredients tinctured & formulated into loose leaf wellness teas and the ways in which these time-honored traditions continue to support wellness for individuals and  families today. Just like the women who worked in their Stillroom centuries ago, I invite you into my processes in usage, and information to inspire you to integrate these practices and botanical formulas into your own home uses for wellness. Incidentally, it was my adored paternal grandmother who laid the foundations of gardening and apothecary herbalism— instilled in me, from as a small toddler growing up in her backyard herb and vegetable garden and onward to early adulthood. I am carrying forward the ancestral practices of my own culture in our Stillroom Shoppe in the memory of the seeds she planted within me. Just has been done historically in Stillrooms since the Celtic and matriarchal Druidic traditions set in motion so long ago.  

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

Stillroom Notes ~ A Recipe for Living

Historically, the Still Book, again where recipe books originated from served as both a journal and a reference, documenting the herbal lore, practical recipes, and observations that shaped daily life in the Stillroom. Often kept by the lady or matron of the house, it was a personal and family guide and a precious source of wisdom that could be adapted season after season. The entries might include everything from an herbal ingredient recipe for soothing colic to the perfect proportions for a calming lavender tincture or notes on which herbs were flourishing that year in the garden and where to locate wild growing plant medicines year after year.

A Still Book was more than just a collection of instructions—it was a living, breathing document that grew and evolved along with the needs of the family and the knowledge of the women who filled its pages. It held not only the practicalities of herbalism but also the subtle nuances that came from years of experience: how to blend for a loved one’s particular constitution, the best way to store a batch of herbal vinegar, or the little rituals that made tending to the family’s health a beautiful, sacred act.

 

An expert from ‘Still Rooms and Still Room Books’ by ROSETTA E. CLARKSON, 1949 on the subject “The household book for the many recipes and rules was the stillroom book which contained the best in every family and was handed down through many generations much as our grandmothers cherished old cook books with recipes marked "good". In the still room books the favorite recipes were marked "probatum X". One would always find in the still room book the secret method for making the pot-pourri that was kept in huge covered jars in the main hall and uncovered when the smoke grew too dense. These rules had been handed down through generations of the family, perhaps added to or subtracted from as newer mistresses married into the home. When the young bride came from her own home to her new abode, if she were at all squeamish, she soon got over it for she not only was Lady Bountiful to her husband's retainers, which comprised the surrounding village, but she was usually veterinarian, surgeon, apothecary and general practitioner to every man, woman and child of the village. Her guide and help was her precious stillroom book. It was unorganized and unclassified, without benefit of index or table of contents, containing a miscellany of culinary recipes, medicinal cures, details of laundering, care of clothes for the winter, poultry raising, preservation of meat after slaughtering, care of broken bones in man or beast, midwifery, making of cloth from shearing of the sheep to the finishing of the woolen cloth, all perhaps within a few pages of each other.”

 

 

From “The 17th Century Still Room.” 1935 —

“The good house-wife of the 17th century was expected to be very wise in the preparation and use of the herbs she grew; in large country houses a room was set apart for the lady of the manor to carry on these house-wifely arts: this room was called the still-room, and its story is almost hidden in the closely-woven warp of the domestic life of the period. To the 20th century such a room is a sort of mystery, as it has no counterpart in our life; the still-room was a sort of composite, partly a laboratory, a medicine closet, and somewhat a storeroom and pantry.” 

“In William Lawson's New House and Garden, 1638, a diagram of a house and grounds shows a river flowing in front of the house. At either side is an entrance to the garden with a still house at each entrance. These were the places where the stills were located for distilling the various liquids.

To the still room, the farm hands brought the harvest of herbs at various seasons of the year. Some herbs, such as Coltsfoot, were harvested in spring, others, like Basil, in midsummer. As many as possible of the herbs were dried on racks out of doors during the day but brought into the house at night to avoid the ill effects of the dew. Several projects would be afoot in the still room. The housewife supervised them all in the role of surgeon, doctor, chef, beauty expert and druggist and she taught her daughters and maids to assist her.” 

“There was space to prepare these and many other products in the still room. Individual wood fires were placed at intervals about the room with holes in the roof directly over them through which the smoke could go, but rarely did. So even the task of steeping many herbs separately must have been a slow process. Shelves were put up on which to lay the herbs as occasion called, cupboards to store products and leafy stalks hung from racks and rafters. These were the furnishings of the still rooms.” 3

A notable fact——is that Stillrooms didn’t always have to be confined to a single place. They could move with the seasons, adapting to weather and activities. In that regard, the Stillroom embodies the spirit of living in harmony with the seasons, preserving knowledge, and connecting with one another for the good of the home and community.

“But in whatever place we find it {the Still Room}, it was here that the lady of the manor directed her maids in the composition of the laborious recipes by which she produced the domestic remedies for her household, and the poor in her parish; here she dried the herbs for the flavors for the kitchen, and distilled the sweet waters, scents and toiletteries in which she delighted..”

 

 

Resources:

Cole, Adeline P. “The 17-th Century Still Room.” The New England Unit The Herb Society of America from The Herbarist, 1935, http://www.neuhsa.org/StillRoom.html.

Clarkson, Rosetta E. “Still Room and Still Room Books.” The Herb Grower Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 6, September, 1949, http://www.neuhsa.org/StillRoom.html.

Clarkson, Rosetta E. “Still Room and Still Room Books.” The Herb Grower Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 6, September, 1949, http://www.neuhsa.org/StillRoom.html.

Cole, Adeline P. “The 17-th Century Still Room.” The New England Unit The Herb Society of America from The Herbarist, 1935, http://www.neuhsa.org/StillRoom.html.

​