Welcome to "Easy Herbalism!"
This course was originally put out by John Gallagher, L.Ac., CCH of LearningHerbs.com.. I thought it was really interesting, so I editted it and am passing it along for your benefit as well.
Learning about herbs is an incredibly rewarding, inspiring, creative and nourishing experience, not to mention healthful.
It can be overwhelming at first as well. All those plants, all those remedies, Which ones to use? How much? Is it safe? Do they really work?
It does take a little time and some experimenting to find what works for you. Some of you may want to know a lot and become teachers or practitioners. Others may simply want to know what works and what they need to do to keep their families healthy.
There needs to be a guide and this short course serves in this capacity.
Even though herbal medicine is incredibly simple to
learn and use, it doesn’t seem like that to the beginner.
There is a very important secret that the herb books forget to mention.
That secret is that the key to learning is taking it ONE EXPERIENCE at a time.
The more experiences we have, the more we learn. For example, if someone tells you that ginger tea is good for a cold, that will inspire you to make the tea. If it works, you might go and look up ginger in your reference book. You’ll find out HOW ginger works for a cold and you might find out a few more things out about ginger on the way, such as the fact that it helps with digestion issues. The next time you need a digestive aid, you might make ginger tea. Also, in looking up ginger, you might also read a bit about other herbs, remedies, and recipes. Before you know it, you’re off making a remedy with a different herb.
The more you use herbs, the more you will learn. Many herb books are meant to be for reference. You grab them off the shelf when you need them.
The
more you experiment and use your books, the more you will learn about
plants and what you can do with them to bring health into your life.
Many buy several herb books, really wanting to learn, but are still
confused and don’t know where to begin.
Why a Supermarket Herbal?
The reason this is called "Supermarket Herbal" is because anyone can pick up the ingredients to make these herbal items from their local grocery store and get the ingredients needed for this cours. There is no need to buy dried herbs or go out and pick something from the garden or wilderness somewhere. That will come later if you choose.
Right now, let’s stick with some things you are already familiar with and use them in new ways. You probably didn’t know that there are wonderful herbal remedies located right down the street at your local co-op or even Safeway.
Once you make these remedies with items you probably already have in your kitchen, you will see just how simple it is.
Just to let you know, there are more free remedies posted on LearningHerbs.com.
You are now officially on your way to becoming a home medicine maker!
Day 1: Gathering your herbs
Time to build our first herbal apothecary.
SO LET'S GO TO THE SUPERMARKET! Watch the video below...
Check to see if you have:
- a bulb of garlic and an onion
- a 3 inch or more piece of ginger root
- a lemon (or 100% lemon juice)
- a jar of honey
- a potato (optional)
- a small container of oats
- peppermint tea (bags or loose)
- chamomile tea (bags or loose)
- A pint of whole milk (external use) (if you're vegan, just skip it)
- A muslin (opaque or non-see through) bag or pack of cheesecloth (available at all supermarkets)
For
the tea, often "Celestial Seasonings" or "Herbal Medicinals" brand has plain peppermint or
chamomile. If not, look for tea names such as “Calm,” which might be
chamomile or ‘Refresh,” which might be mint. If you can’t get straight
chamomile or mint, then do the best you can with these other teas. For
now, it’s ok that the teas are in tea bags. I've found that the "Herbal Medicinals" brand carries what's called,
the "Eater's Digest", which used to be the peppermint tea.
Garlic, ginger, oats, potatoes, lemons, they're common foods that are plants. Herbs are plants. They are all considered important medicinal herbs, even honey.
Isn’t it great that you didn’t have to purchase any herbal supplements or pills? Just bought them from the local supermarket?!
A bonus lesson for today
You probably heard the reference in the video about the potato being used for burns, remember. Well here is a bit more on that...
The potato, a burn remedy?
I bet you never though of the potato or honey as a burn remedy.
Herbs are excellent for first aid. Virtually every first aid situation that comes up in the family can be treated with the herbal potions and salves that can be have made.
However, did you know that there is a first aid "friend" in the potato?
About burns
These treatments are for minor burns or sunburn. For burns that effect a large area or for more serious burns, seek medical attention.
If you have a minor burn, make sure you get cold running water on it immediately. If it is not clean, make sure you clean out the burn with cold running water.
THEN, peel and slice or peel and grate a potato.
Apply the potato onto the affected area. Keep replacing it as needed. At some point, you may need to hold it on with a bandage or gauze.
This mass of grated potato you are using is called a poultice. Now you know that a poultice is a mass of plant matter that you apply to an affected area in a first aid situation. You see this term a lot in herbal books. (Now you know what you can do with those sticky mashed potatoes, mom or your wife makes. :))
Potato is excellent for drawing out the heat.
Other uses for potatoes:
Itch relief, a poultice for sties
Perhaps the most ironic thing would be getting burned making french fries. Then you could treat the burn with your left over raw potatoes! :)
Another minor burn remedy: your honey!
Once you are finished using your potato, protect and heal the burn by simply applying honey to it. Wrap in a sterile bandage. Honey has so many uses that there are entire books written about it. We’ll use honey again tomorrow!
Myrl Evans of Harvey, Louisiana writes this interesting bit about honey.
I was bitten by a pitt bull last Summer. I went to the doctor, got a tetnus shot and a prescription for $150.00, threw it away. I went home found my info on honey and washed the wound and used the honey as a dressing for a week. Today you can bearly see where I was bit. You can put tea tree oil in with the honey and it heals faster. I am a firm believer in using honey as a dressing, food, facial moisturizer. I also mix honey and cinnamon and put it on toast instead of using butter or margarine.
Another idea: you can also wrap a burn in bandages soaked in apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is yet another supermarket herbal remedy that has a myriad of uses.
Hope you enjoyed it and found it really interesting.
See you tomorrow!
----------------------------------------------------------------
If you haven't had a chance to check out the Herbal Medicine Making Kit,
I urge you to do so now. It's the most complete system (and easiest to follow) Herbal Medicine Making Kit avaialable today!
Check out Herbal Medicine Making Kit Today!
