The Essential Herbalist

Recent Posts

  • Beautiful Fall!

    Fall is my favorite time of year. I missed the change of seasons when we lived in Florida. I am so thankful to live here in Tennessee. The weather has been wonderful. Cool, crisp nights and mornings with comfortable afternoons. We have enjoyed having the windows open for a month now.

    I love to see the leaves raining down. There is a mountain ridge that runs at the back of our farm. The trees on that ridge have been wearing the most beautiful colors. Reds, Golds, Yellows and Oranges and a few splotches of green here and there. God is showing His majesty everywhere we look.

    On a few of the colder nights, our neighbor’s wood smoke has drifted tantalizingly across our farm. I love the smell of woodsmoke….fall isn’t complete without it! We have already had a couple of bonfires for toasting smores and enjoying the glorious heavenly display of stars. Shooting stars seem to be thick this year.

    The boys are talking about pitching a tent and spending some nights outside….I sense adventures in the making. They have spent the last few afternoons in a little rowboat on our farm pond. Evidently some beavers have arrived here and are making a home at our pond.
    This is NOT a good idea. It is out of character for beavers also since the only tree near the pond is a beautiful weeping willow. Beavers can do a lot of damage. Our pond is home to a variety of creatures at different times of the year. We often get Canadian geese, Mallard ducks, Blue Heron, and deer stopping by for a drink and a rest. This is our first year for Beaver.

    The horses and goats are getting their winter coats. They always get darker and fluffier in the winter. Isn’t God’s design awesome? The darker coat in winter helps them to absorb the warmth of the sun and the lighter coat in the summer helps to reflect the heat.

    We put the buck in with the does for breeding. We have laughed ourselves silly at the mating ritual of bucks….not the act itself but what leads up to it! We have talked of building bleachers and selling tickets….just to watch the faces that a buck makes…well….it is too hard to describe…ya’ll will just have to see it for yourselves someday. Guaranteed belly laugh!

    I have been busy gathering herbs for seasonings and medicine this winter. Roots from Echinacea, Comfrey, Elecampane, Astragalus, Dandelion and more. Leaves from Comfrey, Mullein, Motherwort, Mugwort, Rosemary, Stevia, Tarragon, Lavender, Thyme….they will be gone before long.

    I have more time for cooking now – something I truly enjoy. Fall and winter is my time to try new recipes that I have been gathering…last night I baked a Caramel Pecan Pie – it was a big hit! Last week Julie encouraged me to try Taco Soup – it was absolutely delicious and will become a frequent meal at our house. Seems like I am too busy from March through October to do much experimenting in the kitchen.

    God has been leading us to pare down our possessions. Each time we do this we sense a greater freedom. It also seems that it reduces our desire for acquiring more. It gives us more time to spend with each other instead of taking care of things. We will be having a garage sale this weekend and using the proceeds to purchase a commercial style ice cream maker. We make our own ice cream and the results are amazing…we just can’t stand the stuff from the store anymore…not even the gourmet brands. We burned the motor out of our last store bought ice cream maker so this time we are going for the heavier duty model. I hope we have homemade ice cream for the holidays!

    Tonight is family game night for us. We love playing games as a family. We enjoy Scrabble, Clue, Uno, Lost Mountain of God, Dutch Blitz, Dogopoly, Set, SkipBo and others. We also love jigsaw puzzles. We have been working on a HUGE Noah’s Ark puzzle for almost a year now….I hope we finish it before Christmas!

    Guess I had better get busy putting stickers on things for tomorrow!

    Ya’ll have a blessed weekend!

  • Back to the garden for Horehound……

    I remember that Grandpa used to keep Horehound candy in his pocket come cold weather. During the summer it was always peppermint….never Horehound. Now I know that there was a reason behind this. Horehound would be one of my top ten choices for a medicinal herb.

    Horehound, also called White Horehound is a perennial. It is a small rounded bush, very pretty. It has small white flowers that circle around the stems. It doesn’t bloom until after the second year. The stem is downy, square and white. The leaves are a pale green and heart shaped and they are wrinkled and have a white wooly covering.

    Once you start growing Horehound, (everyone should!), you will be picking the leaves and flowering tops after the flowers open. Dry both the leaves and flowers for winter use.

    Horehound is a very effective remedy for sore throats and coughs. When you feel a cold coming on, pick 10 to 12 small horehound leaves, chop finely, mix with 1 tablespoon. honey and eat slowly to ease sore throat or cough. Repeat this as necessary.

    Here is an excerpt from my Medicinal Herb Class handout:

    “Horehound contains a compound called Marrubin which causes a
    secretion of fluids into the bronchial passageways that loosens tough
    phlegm from the chest and makes it more fluid. This makes
    expectoration easier during coughing. It relaxes the smooth muscle
    of the bronchi while promoting mucus production and
    expectoration. Horehound eases congestion and
    wheezing. It is good for bronchitis, bronchial asthma,
    croup, whooping cough, and non-productive coughs…….
    Marrubin is what causes the distinctive bitter taste of horehound.”

    So, how do we use it? At the first sign of a cold or cough, I start making Horehound tea. We sweeten it with either honey from our bees or with Stevia that I grow, dry and powder.

    (By the way, Stevia should be green….I see it in the health food stores and it is white. I assume it has been bleached….) I also take the tea, double strength, and turn it into cough syrup and cough drops. This is easy to do.

    To make cough syrup, warm the Horehound tea and then add honey (raw and unpastuerized!) to the desired thickness. Some people like a thin cough syrup (less honey) and some like a thick cough syrup (more honey). Place your finished syrup, while still warm but not hot, into a glass bottle with a cork stopper. Keep your syrup in the refrigerator. At our house, we take 2 tablespoons for adults and big kids and 1 tablespoon for smaller children as needed for a cough. We also continue to drink the tea and use Horehound cough drops as necessary.

    To turn your syrup into a cough drop, cook your mixture until it reaches the hard ball stage using a candy thermometer. Pour out onto an oiled cookie sheet, score when partially cool, do not wait until completely cool or you will be breaking it apart with a meat mallet! (Been there, done that!) Store in waxed paper in an airtight container. You can also dust with powdered sugar to keep the pieces from sticking…but I try to avoid the sugar. Use these as you would any other cough drop.

    There are many other health benefits to Horehound so I encourage you to read more about this herb. I have been giving Horehound cough syrup and drops to my children since they were small so I want to say something about the cautions listed below.

    As I study herbs, I sometimes find cautions listed without any explanations. If I find an explanation that seems reasonable for avoiding an herb that is applicable to my family’s health situation, and it appears in more than one resource, I will do so. Many times I will find a caution listed in one book but on checking a dozen other books that caution does not appear….. This is why it is important for you to do your own research and make your own decisions about which herbs to use and which to avoid. I will always pass the cautions on when I teach and encourage you to study and make your own decisions.

    CAUTIONS:
    DO NOT TAKE DURING PREGNANCY!!!
    DO NOT TAKE IF NURSING!!!
    DO NOT GIVE TO CHILDREN UNDER 18 OR ADULTS OVER 65!!!
    IF YOU HAVE HEART OR STOMACH PROBLEMS, CONSULT YOUR HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONER BEFORE TAKING HOREHOUND!!!

  • My Trip to the City….

    I spent last weekend in the BIG city. I don’t mean the little town close to us. I mean a huge, tourist attraction filled, outlet malls, traffic filled city. I had forgotten what it was like.

    I think what assailed me first was the noise….traffic, sirens, horns…loudspeakers blaring. It truly felt like an assault. I have become used to the occasional tractor, hay baler, donkey and dog. Daily I hear a variety of birds, the gentle mooing of our cows, the nicker of our horses and twice a week the afternoon train off in the distance. I think in 7 years on this farm I have heard sirens twice.

    Next was the traffic – 20 minutes to go 4 blocks!! I kid you not. How do people live like this? Did I really live this life just 7 short years ago? How much of a day is spent waiting on red lights, feeling the frustration mount….how much time over a lifetime?

    And finally the rudeness of people, in stores, on elevators, in restaurants….I actually saw a man almost run his truck through the plate glass window of a store in his hurry to get a parking space before the next guy. He was going so fast he jumped the curb narrowly missing shoppers. He just laughed….

    And talk about stores…on our way out of the city, we made one stop. There were cars there from dozens of different states. Thousands of people walking from store to store – buying, buying, buying….this was entertainment???…. and judging from the license plates this was most likely their chosen vacation destination! The thought of spending a vacation in this place was baffling to my 12 year old son….”You mean they shop for fun?”….

    I entered the “Le Gourmet Kitchen Shoppe”…my mission was to purchase a jar of sweet roasted pepper salsa as quickly as possible and get out. My Mom brought a jar of this along for our weekend of scrapbooking and it was delicious. My job was to take a jar home and try to re-create it. I confess that this is something I love to do…I can be a wee bit obsessive about it!

    As I walked through this very crowded store, I was amazed at what I saw for sale – all displayed to advantage…marketed very well….things that made your desire leap initially (the phrase that came to me was “it tickles the eyes”)…..but when you stopped to think….the desire quickly waned. As I have said before, I am not a big shopper. I am also not a kitchen gadget person – rather than have 20 tools to do 20 jobs in the kitchen, I prefer one tool that does it all or at least most of it. A good set of knives is about all I really need for most jobs – and I do appreciate the mixer that kneads the dough for 4 loaves of bread at once (it also does just about everything else)!

    I was amazed at the choices of “food” items that really contained very little food – the list of ingredients on most cans/boxes sounded like the inventory of a chemical factory. I was glad to find the salsa and then an open cash register! As I was leaving, I heard one of the workers bemoaning to anyone who would listen about the dreaded Black Friday….innocently I asked what Black Friday was….his eyes got wide….and he said “Oh, you don’t want to be here on Black Friday!!” “What is Black Friday?” I asked again. “The Friday after Thanksgiving” he replied, “it makes today look like a ghost town”. I can’t even imagine…..

    Thank you God for delivering us from city living…thank you for the beauty of Your creation that surrounds us daily….thank you for the thoughtfulness of country neighbors…thank You for the quiet that is filled with gentle whispered sounds…

  • Scattered Thoughts….

    We have a new agrarian blogger! Please visit Tn Full Quiver, the blog of my dear friends Michael and Julie. This couple are the only like-minded agrarian Christians living close to us. We have shared many great farm moments together! This is the couple who taught us to make soap in their kitchen! I am sure that they will have great bits of wisdom to pass along.

    I’ll be taking off for a few days. I am taking my Mom and my 12 year old off for the weekend to scrapbook. I have been scrapbooking for a year now and it has proven to be a wonderful way to record what God has done in our lives. Although I don’t often have time to scrapbook, it is a real stress reliever when I do. My Mom is 79 and she scrapbooks quite a bit. I am hoping this weekend will be a special time for her and my son. I know that Josiah is very excited!!

    I hope to talk about a few more medicinal herbs next week….considering we are entering the “cold and flu” season…I think horehound and red clover would be good choices….so get your plant i.d. books ready! I hope to show you how these two herbs can make your winter much more pleasant!

    Grace and Peace!

  • The Beauty of Farm Dirt

    I have been reflecting on the difference between farm dirt and city dirt in a conversation with the Ksmilkmaid. As women we want our homes to be neat and orderly and clean….somehow I think this is tied to the nesting instinct we have….to build a comfortable, safe and beautiful place for our families.

    When we were city people (has it only been 7 years ago?), we had a small 4 bedroom house that had been beautifully decorated by the ministry of a Titus 2 team of women. The floor plan was wonderful, not one inch of wasted space, but the kitchen was small. We had a corner lot and fenced yard. When the kids went out to play the most they could track in was grass, if the lawn had just been mowed.

    Because there were not a lot of outside responsibiities, we cleaned house on Saturday mornings as a family. It didn’t take long at all. The rest of the weekend was free for us to do what we liked. We played family games, did the grocery shopping, visited friends, had a lot of friends to dinner….the fairly normal American household except that we weren’t big shoppers and we didn’t watch much T.V. We quit watching network T.V. about 20 years ago – we do enjoy old movies and the occasional new movie that passes our family litmus test for acceptability (maybe one a year!). Although we were Christians, and very active in our church, looking back it seems that a lot of our lifestyle involved serving our own desires in our free time.

    Then we moved to a farm…..lots of changes. The house is a wee bit bigger but with lots of wasted space. It is a much older house and in need of many repairs. It appears to have been finished inside from the local bargain salvage store. Quite a change from my beautifully decorated home in the city. The kitchen is much bigger which is good news since my kitchen responsibilities have grown a hundred fold.

    But the most amazing difference is what comes into this house. It is rarely grass anymore…although that happens. But here we also have dirt, red clay, twigs, leaves, feathers, nasty old pieces of skeletons from small creatures (oops….treasures of great worth according to my boys!), hay, weeds, mud, poop (from all sorts of animals!)….and critters! Oh, my the critters….if you had told me 7 years ago that my living room would one day be a temporary home to a sick baby goat….well…I would have politely smiled and quickly backed away… all the while trying to remember what you needed to do to Baker Act a delusional person.

    Our main living area is actually one medium size room that includes living room, dining room and kitchen – in other words – very close quarters. In the seven years we have lived here we have had, as temporary residents for one reason or another, baby chicks, chickens, roosters, guinnea keats, goat kids, kittens (I am allergic!), puppies, injured dogs (BIG!) and a variety of injured wild birds of all ages. I am waiting for the day they tell me a calf needs to come inside….can I draw the line there?

    Now, you must understand that I was raised in a home that was like a picture spread from Better Homes and Gardens. My dad was a Marine Corps Colonel. Everything had a place and it was always in it….or else! It was ALWAYS clean. I quickly learned, after the birth of my first child, that this was not a reasonable lifestlye for someone who wanted to spend time with their children. But, I did need a semblance of cleanliness and order. This seemed to adjust with each child and worked very well for city dwellers.

    But now-a-days….well life on a farm is different. Farm dirt is different….for one thing there is so much MORE! The amount of dirt that comes into this house amazes me. How can 7 pairs of feet do this much damage? With visitors, customers and 4 boys, who are in and out all day – early morning chores, playtimes, adventures, explorations, and evening chores – I have come to learn that I am fighting a loosing battle. There are days when I sweep the living room, leave it for an hour, come back and wonder what happened….didn’t I clean in here!?? Sometimes all that dirt is from my 7 year old who has found a great treasure and wants to share it with me (this can be anything from a huge frog, to an unknown bug, to a “beautiful” weed)…Sometimes from a boy who has run in and out to leave me a bouquet of flowers, a basket of eggs or some vegetables harvested from the garden…Sometimes from an unexpected customer, who has left a much needed check on the kitchen table….

    This dirt has begun to have meaning for me….it means that we are living in a beautiful valley between two mountain ridges….it means the air is fresh and clean…it means we are raising our own food, wholesome and nutritious….it means God has entrusted a variety of animals to us for their care and in return they provide us with many delicious foods….it means it is safe for my boys to play outside unsupervised and they are having wonderful adventures in the midst of God’s creation….it means we are beginning to make a small living from the work of our hands and the bounty of God’s provision…it means we are living the life that God wooed us to 7 years ago….

    I guess I need to thank God for the dirt….. (am I able?) because it is truly a beautiful reflection of God’s work in our lives and our choice to leave the normal American lifestyle and follow God’s leading to do something radically different….it’s just really hard, at times, for my flesh to appreciate the beauty of farm dirt!

  • The E.R. and the Comfort of Comfrey

    If I could only have one medicinal herb, it would most likely be Comfrey. Comfrey is a perennial and very easy to grow. It often grows wild. Be sure you plant it where you always want it to be…if you try to move it and leave even the smallest piece behind it will become another plant. Other names for comfrey are knitbone and bruisewort. You pick the leaves during the summer and harvest the root in the fall. Clean the roots, finely chop and dry for winter preservation. You can dry the leaves or make an oil infusion from them….we do all of these.

    The following is an excerpt from the handout that my medicinal herb classes receive…

    “Comfrey is one of the most valuable medicinal herbs known. It has been used successfully as a wound-healer and bone knitter. Comfrey feeds the pituitary with its natural hormone and helps strengthen the body skeleton. It helps in the calcium-phosphorus balance by promoting strong bones and healthy skin. It helps promote the secretion of pepsin and is a general aid to digestion. It has a beneficial effect on all parts of the body, being used as an over all tonic. It is one of the finest healers for the respiratory system. Comfrey leaves, and especially the root, contain allantoin which is a cell proliferant. It increases the healing ability for wounds, broken bones, sprains and slow healing sores. It has been used with great success to stop bleeding. It is soothing and is one of the most popular ingredients in herbal skin salves for wounds, inflammation, rashes, varicose veins, hemorrhoids… almost any skin problem. Research suggests that the whole plant may have anticancer properties.

    A fresh leaf poultice reduces swelling and bruising around fractures, sprains and arthritic joints and speeds healing of cuts, burns, open sores and eczema. Puree the leaves only and make a poultice to apply to minor fractures that would not normally be set in plaster, such as broken toes, ribs or hairline cracks in larger bones. A comfrey poultice applied immediately to a sprained ankle can significantly reduce the severity of the injury. The allantoin found in comfrey encourages bone, cartilage and muscle cells to grow and encourages ligaments and bones to knit together firmly. It is absorbed through the skin and speeds up healing. Comfrey heals with such rapidity that is important not to put it on dirty wounds – it can actually trap dirt and pus within the wound. Comfrey contains rosmarinic acid which has a strong anti -inflammatory action. As a poultice, bruise the fresh leaves and apply to burns, wounds, open sores, boils, gangrene and moist ulcers.

    Comfrey oil relieves pain and inflammation caused by injuries and degeneration, especially the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Make a hot oil infusion and use on arthritic joints, bruises, sprains and other traumatic injuries.

    Comfrey salve is also healing for bruises The combination of tannins and mucilage in comfrey helps to soothe bruises and scrapes. Comfrey salve relieves pain and speeds healing of pus-filled wounds, skin irritations, cuts, scrapes, sores, or insect stings and bites. The allantoin in comfrey is a compound that helps stimulate the growth of new cells. It aids healing through cell proliferation. Its’ astringent tannins form a protective surface over wounds that promotes healing. It also helps to prevent scaring.”

    Comfrey oil is the base of all of our healing salves that we make. Those salves are put into use daily, sometimes for simple things, sometimes for more serious problems. Yesterday afternoon, my 7 year old burst into the house screaming. He had taken a tumble down a ditch, unlodged a large slab of stone which tumbled after him and landed on his ring finger. One look and I knew we were taking a drive to the E.R. The stone had dislodged the nail bed, opened the finger to the bone and broken the bone. They were able to re-attach the nail bed with a couple of stitches, clean out the wound, and remove the fingernail. It was very bloody. I did this with another child 5 years ago – same wound, different cause. My 7 year old was much more dramatic…wailing “I don’t want to be a little boy without a nail!” It only got worse….most of it was fear of the unknown. He has been in a doctor’s office only a handful of times in his life and never in a hospital. He had to have a tetanuss shot…. he doesn’t remember ever having a shot. When we got home we unwrapped the finger and covered the wound with our healing salve which is comfrey based and it relieved the pain quickly….from my experience, it will heal fast and with very little scaring.

    Comfrey is a wonderful gift from God. It was used so much among the older generation for a variety of problems. It is mentioned throughout the Foxfire Books. We have lost so much…exchanged it really, for an unnatural, chemical/synthetic copy. I encourage you all to make a bottle of comfrey oil and keep it in the pantry. Even better….turn it into a salve! Let me know how you do….or if you have questions. Wish you were all close enough to “dig you a patch” for your garden!

    I have included all the warnings related to Comfrey that I have ever read. There are some I agree with and some I don’t. Please do your own research and make your own decisions as to how you will use this herb to treat yourself and your family.

    THERE IS CONTROVERSY ON WHETHER COMFREY SHOULD BE USED INTERNALLY!!!!! RESEARCH IS ONGOING! PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION ON THE DANGERS OF USING COMFREY INTERNALLY. PLEASE RESEARCH THIS ISSUE VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE TAKING COMFREY INTERNALLY OR GIVING IT TO YOUR FAMILY.

    IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE ON INFANTS, IF PREGNANT OR NURSING!! DO NOT USE COMFREY INTERNALLY IF YOU HAVE LIVER DISEASE, CANCER OR IF YOU CONSUME ALCOHOL ON A REGULAR BASIS! DO NOT USE IF YOU ARE TAKING ANTIBIOTICS, PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION FOR YEAST INFECTIONS, FLUOXETINE (PROZAC), CYCLOSPORINE, CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING MEDICATIONS, CALCIUM CHANNEL BLOCKERS FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE OR STEROIDS IN ANY FORM!!

  • Barn Devotions

    This weekend we had our church youth group out to the farm. We had 16 kids and 6 leaders. Everyone arrived about 9 pm Friday night. They were participating in the “30 Hour Famine”. They pledged to fast for 30 hours to raise money for World Vision and began their fast at noon on Friday. When they got to the farm, they were already a hungry bunch of kids!

    The youth pastor planned on having them sleep in the barn….true deprivation! No heat, no food! It was cold here that night – about 30 degrees and clear out. Our barn’s hayloft is divided into 2 sections – one on each end of the barn. Boys on one end and girls on the other – it was perfect!

    As the youth pastor talked with the kids in the barn, the banty hens gathered on a beam overhead. They were fascinated with this invasion of their home. They watched the pastor carefully, and appeared to listen intently. They looked like little ladies lined up on a pew to learn about their Creator! The Jersey cows, Nora Mae and Lizzie, kept peeking in the barn…their ears were up, their eyes were wide and every little bit they made this wonderful sound….a low sweet call…as if they were calling their calf… It was one of those times that I wished I knew what the animals were thinking. Was it like this on the night Christ was born? Were the animals so curious…so alert…so attentive?

    We mowed a maze into the field down by the creek at the bottom of the mountain last weekend in preparation for this night. All the kids and leaders clambered onto the hay wagon and took a hayride down to the field. An intense game of capture the flag ensued. They played for several hours and then returned for a bonfire and hot tea.

    Then began the most wonderful sound….a guitar and many young voices singing worship songs to our Creator around the campfire. The kids marveled at the thousands of stars, how clear and close they looked. These are city kids for the most part. Some were quite amazed at what you can see away from city lights. Evening prayers began….kids thanking God for this experience, for His creation….praying for their leaders….praying for each other….

    After worship it was time to hit the hay….literally! They went to sleep with the banty’s making their contented clucking sounds and the occasional low call of the goats and cows.

    Early the next morning the roosters made sure the kids were awake. We had a hard frost the night before and kids were cold….more hot tea! After morning devotions and worship in our living room (we wanted the kids to warm up!) they headed out to do service work at the local Abortion Alternative Center. Four hours were spent cleaning toys, sorting clothes and painting an office.

    Back at the farm, they were given free time to ride horses, explore the farm and generally daydream about supper. It was a beautiful afternoon – the perfect fall day!

    At 6:00 pm the kids broke fast with fruit, pasta, garlic rolls, hot dogs and bar-b-q beans. Pound cake, smores and hot chocolate were served as the bonfire was started again.

    We were so blessed by these kids. They were tender and helpful with our younger boys. They were very appreciative of the experience and the meal! I enjoyed getting to talk with different ones throughout the day as they drifted in and out of the kitchen to visit. For the most part, these are kids who are truly seeking to follow God.

    I am already looking forward to their next visit…..I hope there are many times that our farm can be used to bless others…to bring a bit of refreshing to city folks….to encourage those who are weary….to show God’s creation in new and wondrous ways….and may we always find time to worship among the animals!

  • Starting a Medicinal Garden…

    When people find out that I make our own medicine it strikes a nerve. Sometimes good…”Ooohh, I want to learn that”…. sometimes bad …..”Are you out of your mind? You are NOT a Doctor!”…..but I knew that! Often the naysayers become ardent believers.

    The next thing everyone wants to know is …where do I start….what do I plant? Although there are some common plants that everyone will want to grow, your own particular family’s needs will dictate what you grow. What illnesses does your family tend to suffer from the most? Do you have lots of winter colds? Sinusitis? Allergies? Kidney problems? Immune deficiencies? The herbs of choice will be herbs that treat your family’s problems. As you study herbs, make notes of what will help your family overcome their problems and plan on planting those. I happen to grow a wide range of things because I am overseeing the health of young children (7 to 12), teenagers, young adults, middle age adults and an elderly adult (my Mom).

    Again, you must be sure that what you are using for medicine is organic or you are just wasting your time and money and might actually do harm instead of good.

    Let me tell you about some of the more common herbs that God gave to us for healing. I hope to show you why these are good to start with and will try to talk about several each time I post about medicinal herbs. These are the herbs that almost everyone will want to grow. Please remember that when I talk about annual and perennial that I am talking about my planting zone – zone 6. Check your seed packets for your area. Why don’t you go grab a plant I.D. book (such as a Peterson’s guide or DK guide) so that you will know what to look for and let’s take a walk through my herb garden…..

    On the way to the garden, we find lots of Plantain growing wild. The English used to call this Waybread – it grows everywhere – if you don’t use chemicals. Plantain is very healing…if you are ever outside and stung by a bee, wasp etc. grab some leaves and chew them for a minute and slap it on the bite – it will relieve the pain and reduce the swelling and your healing time will be much faster! It is wonderful to put in salves to be used on wounds. It is especially effective on slow-healing wounds. The juice of the leaves is good in cough syrups. By the way, the seeds are called P. Psyllium or flea seeds. They are a wonderful natural laxative. You will find them in many over-the-counter medicines! They also have other healing properties of their own. We pick the Plantain leaves and dry them so we can use them as needed during the harshest part of winter, they are readily available during the rest of the year…spring to late fall. Dry under cheesecloth until crumbly, place in an airtight jar and store in a dark place.

    At the corner of my garden is a large patch of Calendula flowers. Calendula is an annual so we need to plant this each year. The flowers are bright and cheery, come in many shades of yellow and orange, single ruffle and double ruffle. It is also called pot marigold. This is different than regular marigold. Make sure the seeds say Calendula officinalis. We use Calendula in some of our healing soaps and salves. Calendula is beneficial for a wide range of skin problems and inflammations. The leaves are also beneficial internally for several things. Be sure to harvest frequently. This job has been turned over to my 7 year old after careful training. He harvests every other day and is always amazed that he can cut off all the flower heads and then 48 hours later find another bountiful harvest. Place the flower heads on a cookie sheet and cover with a piece of cheesecloth to keep the dust out. When dry, gently pull the petals from the head and place in an airtight jar. Store in a dark place. Light is detrimental to your dried herbs.

    As we walk along the side of the garden, we find a large patch of Echinacea, also called purple coneflower. Echinacea is a perennial. Start growing this now because the roots really need to be at least 2 years old before you begin to harvest them. You want to grow E. angustifolia instead of E. purpurea. Angustifolia is a much more potent variety and is preferred for herbal remedies. This is one of the most beautiful flowers in the garden!. It is a perennial. It has antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties. It is also easy to save seed from! Just let some of your flowers go completely to seed – they will look like little spiney balls. Clip and save for planting next year. Keep in the freezer until planting time. Use the root in either a decoction or tincture. You can also powder the root and make your own capsules. Echinacea is a wonderful immune supporter. It helps your own immune system function as God designed to fight off infections. Be careful when taking Echinacea, if your dosages get to high you may begin to experience nausea and/or dizziness.

    A little further down the path is a patch of Chamomile. Chamomile is also a perennial and has been called ground apple because of its smell. You can grow either Roman or German Chamomile but I happen to prefer the growth habits of German Chamomile. You will be harvesting the flowers – again on an almost daily basis. One home-grown and dried flower can give more flavor than a tea bag of commercial chamomile (Can anyone say Sleepy Time Tea?). A cup of tea at night is good for insomnia, anxiety and stress. On those days that my boys seemed hyped beyond tolerable levels, I make a huge pot of Chamomile tea sweetened with Stevia and serve it over ice at lunch,….we always end up having a calmer afternoon! It is also beneficial for people suffering from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and appetite or indigestion problems. It is healing in a salve for eczema, itching, insect bites or wounds and irritations. It also has many other benefits. The essential oil of Chamomile is good for using in a steam inhalation for difficulty breathing and for those suffering from a lot of nasal mucus. If you have sensitive skin, wear gloves when working in your chamomile patch because it can cause contact dermatitis in some people.You do not want to use this essential oil in pregnancy because it can act as a uterine stimulant.

    One word about working with essential oils – wear gloves. Some oils are very strong and can hurt you if they get on your skin. One time I was working with Peppermint Essential oil and one small drip landed on my tablecloth – it burned a hole right through it!

    I hope this is a beginning of your “To Grow” list for next year and I hope you will all be on the lookout for Plantain….

    Happy Hunting!

  • Types of Herbal Remedies

    Before we begin to talk about medicinal herbs let me state that I am NOT a doctor! I don’t want to be accused of practicing medicine without a license so… any ideas and suggestions in this blog are my opinions based on my own research. It is your responsibility to do your own research… this is very important because any plant substance, whether used as food or medicine, externally or internally, can cause an allergic reaction in some people. It is your responsibility to study medicinal herbs thoroughly before you begin to treat yourself or your family. Herbs are very powerful and if they are misused, they can be harmful. Herbs can also interfere with traditional medications by blocking their effectiveness or reacting with them in a harmful way. Many people think “oh it’s just an herb so it’s safe” or “since it is an herb I can take as much as I want” and are not careful with dosages, length of treatment etc. This is very dangerous! They can end up doing more harm than good!

    Now, as Grandma would say “Nuff said ’bout that!”

    I have used herbs for almost 24 years to treat my family. But for the majority of that time, I purchased from other people….pre-prepared formulas, capsules, salves etc. For the last 5 years I have really begun to study herbs and make our own medicines. It is fun, rewarding, saves TONS of money and you know for sure what is in each item that you make. This is very important to me.

    Let’s talk about the different forms of herbal remedies. The easiest and most common is called an “infusion” (which is a fancy way to say tea!). Almost everyone has had a cup of herbal tea…perhaps chamomile after a long day to relax before bed (ever had Sleepytime Tea?) or maybe peppermint when you had a head cold or an upset tummy. This is one of the safest ways to use herbal medicine. You can also infuse oils in either a cold process or hot process. These oils can be used for culinary purposes or medicinally for massage, creams, salves, or ointments.

    Next is a decoction. This is used for roots, barks, twigs and some berries. It is made similarly to tea but you simmer for up to an hour with a lid on the pot. It takes that long to extract from tougher, woodier plant material.

    Then there is a syrup. You can take your infusion or decoction (or both) and mix with unrefined sugar or honey to make a syrup. We prefer to use our honey from our bees. We make our own cough syrups and cough drops and have found them to be much more effective than over the counter medicines.

    You can make salves (ointments, creams). We make 5 different salves and use at least one of them every day here on our little farm. During the summer it seems as if we use it by the hour!
    They have also been big sellers for our little business.

    Herbs can also be used in other ways: in poultices to place on the body, they can be dried and chopped and placed into capsules (yes we do that too!) and the hot infusions can be used in compresses.

    The strongest form of herbal medicine is the tincture. The medicinal properties of the herbs are extracted using either glycerin or alcohol. We use alcohol. The ratio of water to alcohol must be exactly 50/50. The easiest way to do that is to use 100 proof vodka. You can use other forms of alcohol but I use vodka because it is tasteless. If you wish to use a lower proof, there are certain mathematical formulas that you can follow. We use something called the simpler’s method – this is how Great-grandma used to do it! You must really be careful with tinctures – research your herbs and be sure that you know what you are taking. If you are taking a prescription medicine or over the counter medicine, make sure your herbal tincture doesn’t interfere or conflict with your medicine.

    I have had many requests to sell my herbal tinctures but legally I can’t – I would need a commercial kitchen and a lawyer’s help to make sure it didn’t equal selling medicine without a license. Instead, I teach classes here on the farm for a small fee and pass the knowledge to others. We spend an afternoon making something from each category above – it is very hands on (that means I make the students do all the work!). This is so that each person leaves with the confidence to go home and do what they have been taught in class.

    I have been working on a way to place my classes online somehow, if I get it figured out I’ll be sure to post it here. I am open to suggestions!

    I hesitated to recommend books but I know some of you will ask. Please, please remember that the philosophies espoused in some of these books are based on eastern mysticism and other new age beliefs that are contrary to the Word of God. Please, please eat the meat and spit out the bones, I do not want to be a stumbling block to any of you! With that warning, here are some of my favorite medicinal herb books:

    *Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis A. Balch
    Therapeutic Herb Manual by Ed Smith – great for dosages!
    The Complete Medicinal Herbal by Penelope Ody – lots of color pics and how to directions!

    *If you can only buy one medicinal herb book….this is the one!

  • In response to GMOs and clintdiggs post…

    I felt that this response was important enough to turn into a post….

    Sir,
    I am sorry to hear about your 950 acres of Roundup Ready Soybeans…if the science bears out and history repeats itself, in a few short years your fields will be full of weeds that will take even heavier applications of pesticides and herbicides to eradicate. The scientists call them superweeds. By the way, evidence shows that once a field has GMO crops grown in it…it can take up to 15 years before it is GMO free again.

    From what I have read, people have been harmed by eating GMO foods. The companies promoting GMO foods do not want them labeled because market surveys show that people will not buy them if they know. This causes health problems. What if I eat one of the tomatoes that have had their genes spliced with a certain North Atlantic flounder so that it will survive colder temperatures….and I just happen to be deathly allergic to flounder? I don’t know I am eating fish…after all it is a red, juicy, ripe tomato. I become ill and am rushed to the E.R…..because I don’t know I ate fish, then I don’t know why I am having this reaction. I can’t tell them what is wrong….can they figure it out in time?

    In 1989 the Showa Denko company in Japan realized that they could speed up the production of a food supplement, tryptophan, by using genetic engineering. However, there was an unexpected toxin produced in the tryptophan, which killed at least 37 people and permanently disabled 1500 others when this product was marketed in North America before it was tested. Over two billion dollars of litigation was instituted and ended up being paid by Showa Denko.

    In 1996, Brazil nut genes were spliced into soybeans by a company called Pioneer Hi-Bred. Some individuals, however, are so allergic to this nut, they go into apoplectic shock (similar to a severe bee sting reaction) which can cause death. A study by scientists at the University of Nebraska found that GMO soybeans modified to contain Brazil nut proteins caused reactions in people allergic to Brazil nuts and the product was removed from the market before any deaths occurred.

    I suggest you do some reading at this site https://www.healthfreedomusa.org/codexblog/2005/09/15/now-you-buy-it-now-you-dont/

    You might also do a Google search on “GMO Dangers”. You will find people from all walks of life, respected scientists from genetics, medicine, epidemiology, bioethics, ecology, sociology, agronomy telling you why GMO foods are a very dangerous technology if you want to live a long and healthy life.

    More importantly what does God say? Genesis 1:11 “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.” Genesis 1:12 “And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

    Notice the “according to its kind” and the “seed is in itself” parts? Man, in his wisdom, has gone beyond God’s design by playing around with Genetic modification/manipulation. We are eating things the human race has NEVER eaten before – it has never been studied….we have no idea of the long term implications. All new drugs are supposed to undergo rigorous testing before being approved for human use….but this new GMO food has bypassed this. WE ARE THE STUDY! We have no idea what will happen 10, 20 or 30 years down the road. The government wants us to trust them but their pockets are being filled by the companies that produce this mess.

    Again, the Word says: Pr 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Pr 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” If God is repeating it, then it is usually very important. Our wisdom seems right but it can end in death.

    GMO foods are on the shelves of grocery stores everywhere…at least in this country. If your product has soybeans or soybean oil in it….it is most likely contaminated with GMOs. Corn is following down the same path as soybeans….do you know how many products contain corn syrup? What you spray on your crops, whether in a garden or on a field does get into your food supply. That chemical is washed into the soil and is taken up with water into all areas of the plant. Try sticking a stalk of celery in a glass of water with one drop of red food coloring in it….tell me what color the leaves on that stalk of celery are in a few days…

    By the way, one of the reasons that we raise our own food is to avoid all those instances you listed of GMO food products. We mix our animal feed with whole grains from reliable sources. We are doing our best to avoid GMO contamination and we heartily encourage others to do the same!I

    I hope you will do some serious reading about this subject…..don’t just listen to one side of the story….especially when that side is trying to sell you the product!