I have had a lot of questions come in over the last few weeks and I am going to attempt to answer some of them here. Hopefully this will “kill a lot of birds with one stone” So, here goes:
Jeff asks: “Thanks, Cheri. I guess limiting you to one book was not fair. So let me try again. For a well equipped agrarian homestead, which 5 books on herbs would you recommend with Balch’s being at the top of the list?”
Jeff, and others who have asked this question…it is really hard for me to recommend books – mainly because I know I will be recommending something that is most likely filled with pagan garbage and I just HATE that. It is also hard because there are books that specialize in certain areas (men’s health, women’s health, children…etc.) and perhaps that is what you need in your family situation. it is also hard to limit yourself to 5 authors but I will give it a whirl. I am warning you though, I may go a bit over 5 if you will bear with me. Also, these are referencing only books on using herbs medicinally – using them in cooking is another thing…and much easier to recommend!
My first recommendation is my own Medicinal Herb Course . I like this course because I can guarantee that you won’t find any pagan teachings, because it gives simple and easy to follow directions on making herbal remedies from teas to poultices to tinctures (and everything in between!) and because it addresses the most commonly needed plants in family care (based on my own experience of raising 4 little ones and treating them with herbs for the last 25 years). There is a color picture of each herb being discussed with instructions on cultivation, parts used, how they are used and what they are used for….with contra-indications listed in bold after each herb.
My next favorite books would be Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC closely followed by Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC and James F. Balch, M.D. I like the Balch’s books because there is little pagan nonsense, contra-indications are clearly pointed out and they are easy to use for research or reading. I like books that are based more on science than folklore, although some folklore is wonderful. The Balch’s books meet this need for me. They have researched and presented information in a clear and easy to understand manner. They can be purchased through the Amazon link on the right side of my blog as can most of the other books listed below.
My fourth recommendation would be The Complete Medicinal Herbal by Penelope Ody. Great book – wonderful color pictures, good instructions at the back for making herbal remedies. What I don’t like about this book is that all herbs are listed alphabetically by Latin names….so, if you can’t remember that Self-heal is really Prunella vulgaris then you have to use the index in the back of the book each time you want to look up an herb. Ms. Ody is from England so all the measurements given in the “how to make it” section are in metric units….another drawback for me. The pictures are wonderful but I also wish there were more information on each herb.
On to #5…Herbal Antibiotics by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Great book on learning more about how to fight bacterial infections naturally. I like that he emphasizes building your own immune system. He is careful to list contra-indications for herbs. However, there are no color pictures to help with identification, which I think is very important.
#6…Therapeutic Herb Manual by Ed Smith. This is one of my favorite books and costs a whopping $3.95. Ed Smith is the owner of Herb-Pharm in Oregon. The first half of this book lists and describes uses for different herbs. The second half gives many recipes for tinctures and compounds that you can actually purchase from Herb-Pharm. If I needed to purchase a compound, I would go to Herb-Pharm before I went anywhere else. I don’t know if Amazon carries this…you can get it at Herb-Pharm’s website but you will have to search for it….
#7…Natural Health Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Andrew Chevallier published by DK books. Great for beginners – some color pictures, description of parts used along with traditional and current uses. It has a small herbal remedies section in the back. Not a strong emphasis on contra-indications.
This was a hard job Jeff….to take well over 100 herb books and narrow my choices down to just 5. When I am researching something you will find me with dozens of books open and covering my dining table….after enough notes are taken, those will be exchanged for more books off of the shelf. But I think I have given you a good starting point to begin building your own home library for herbal studies.
Now, I’d like to hear from ya’ll…..what are YOUR favorite books on herbal medicine?
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