Month: February 2022

Looking Up Herb Info

Have a Headache?

Medicinal Herbs A Beginners GuideLooking Up Herb Info to help with a health malady is not hard to do. For instance, grab your copy of Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide.

Medicinal Herbs Index HeadacheIndex

Turn to the back of the book to locate the index and look under H for headache, to see what is listed. You can see three different herb formulas to aid in dealing with headaches.

MedicHerb Headache Basal TeaBasil Tea for Headache & Stress on page 55

Medic Herb Headache TincHeadache Tincture on page 186

Medic Herb Headache Lavender TincLavender-Feverfew Migraine Tincture on page 154

Medicinal Herbs TinctureThe How to Make an Herbal Tincture, cited in the above recipes. Hopefully, this will show how easy it is to follow the instructions laid out in Rosemary Gladstar’s books. Her books have been the most reliable help for me in getting our herb garden to prosper.

Herb References

Medicinal Herbs A Beginners GuideRosemary Gladstar

Our herb references amount to a library of real books lined up on a bookshelf that has evolved over the years. Preferring to have real “page-turning books”  is old-school, I know. There is a gentle assurance and stability when information is known to be available without the need for electricity or internet to access it. Here are three of my favorite herbal references.

The best reading reference materials I have found are written by, Rosemary Gladstar. I have written about her in previous herb posts. Her books are numerous and are my favorite references whenever I have an apothecary question. She is easy to read and explains everything so well from start to finish. There are many titles under her name, covering a lot of different subjects. I have not run into any that were anything but helpful. Enjoy!

Modern Herbal DispensaryThe Modern Herbal Dispensatory

Secondly, in our reference library is “The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide” by Thomas Easley and Steven Horne. This book is an encyclopedia of many tinctures and herbs. He doesn’t focus on teaching how to grow or harvest the herbs but is more interested in properly making up recipes for medicines. Sometimes this book gets a little too precise and scientific for me but my husband really likes this one the best for that very reason.

The Secret GardenThe Secret Garden

Thirdly, our reference library has this little book well-worn over the years. “The Secret Garden: Growing Delicious Food for Essential Living” by Susan Patterson. It’s the greatest help in teaching me to group plants together that like each other and keep plants that are enemies far apart. Very helpful when you lay out your garden plan in the spring. Although it is not everything you could ever need to know about gardening, it does have some real gems in it.