Herbs Pt. 2

As you can see I started an Herb binder to gather information about herbs. I'm enjoying having my herbs inside, I find that I do use them more.

The main thing I've been studying is "The Kids Herb Book" that I mentioned before. It's mostly talking about medicinal uses of herbs. I found that herb tea is the most used preparation, but the book also shows you how to use many others.

I realized that I wasn't going to have enough fresh herb for some of the preparations and don't grow many of the medicinal herbs, but I found a shop where I can buy dried herbs. I can also buy herbal teas, but found that buying the individual herbs is cheaper.

Cinnamon is not what we think of as an herb but has many uses medicinally. The book says a medicinal herb is anything that can be use as a remedy so cinnamon qualifies. It is used for colds and flu, mild fever, coughs, abdominal complaints, so I think it is one I will try. A suggestion that appeals to me is cinnamon milk. Cinnamon is also suppose to be good for diabetic so I'm trying to remember to use it in my tea and coffee. It's good in both as well as things like yogurt.

I've been having a lot of nausea problems and have been using the mint I'm growing. I found that if you bruise it it really brings out the oils. I read a caution in using too much ginger and so I'm using less of that and more mint for nausea.

I'm growing lemon balm. It's still small so I got some dried. It is good for fevers, cold, flu, coughs, wounds and sores. I have problems with congestion and a lemon balm herbal steam is recommended also eucalyptus which would also be good for sinus problem so I want to try this.

Chamomile along with lemon balm and fennel makes a tea for helping you get to sleep. I've used chamomile before as a sleep aid with mixed results, but I want to try adding the lemon balm and the fennel. They also suggest taking a chamomile bath first. I wanted to make the bath bags, but found they take a lot of herb and it could get expensive if you did it regularly. I also want to make a dream pellow, but I don't have a lot of faith in it's actually working, I just think it would be fun to make one. Also would be a fun gift.

The thing I like about this book is because it is written for kids the herbs are all pretty safe and the preparations are simple.

The next thing I want to look into is essential oils. I already have a few I just don't use them and so I want to look into how to use them. I know about putting lavender in the bath to relax you and I've use lemon with baking soda to use as a scrub for the kitchen sink.

So my quest is to do this frugally and to see if these things really work. Tasha was friends with Rosemary Gladstar and my dd has her book, which is suppose to be one of the best herb books, so I'm going to study that too. I found her recipe for the rose cream Tasha uses on line and it would be fun to make that.

Linda