Creating an Herbal Medicine Cabinet

Herbal medicine cabinet has arrived!

Lesson one in "The Science and Art of Herbology" course instructs you to take inventory of your current herbal medicine cabinet. Prior to this weekend, mine was seriously lacking. I had lots of dried chamomile that I had picked and dried from our office garden last year. I had about two cups of stevia powder that I had acquired through working on the Mother Earth News article, All About Growing the Stevia Plant. I had three supplements  - ginkgo, melatonin, and zinc - as well as some neem oil. My essential oils included cinnamon, sweet orange, peppermint, spearmint and marshmallow root. I'm not the type of person to collect products that I don't need only for them to gather dust around my house. I've decided, however, that in order to really take this herbal course the right way, I need to be able to whip up all sorts of elixirs, salves and teas with the blink of an eye. If my throat gets sore or my ear starts to ache, I want to be able to go experiment in the kitchen right away.

Stored in glass bottled with cork tops

So, with the help of my lovely mother who is also taking this course, my herbal medicine cabinet tripled this weekend. Saturday was like Christmas when my mom showed up with a trash bag full of dried herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs,  one of my favorite online herb shops. We spent the afternoon drinking tea, catching up, and sorting our herbs into newly labeled glass jars.

So now, in addition to my aforementioned medicine cabinet, the dried herbs that I have on hand are....

1. Peppermint (Mentha piperita)
2. Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
3. Lobelia (Lobelia infiata)
4. Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
5. Hops Flowers (Humulus lupulus)
6. Comfrey Root (Symphytum officinale)
7. Wood Betony (Stachys officinales)
8. Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
9. Feverfew (Tanacetum Parthenium)
10. Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis)
11. St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
12. Scullcap (Scutellaria barbata)

With all these new herbs on hand I'm ready for less reading and more doing.

Herbal Home Study Course has Arrived!

The Science and Art of Herbalism 

Look what's here! I am soo excited to begin Rosemary Gladstar's home study course, The Science and Art of Herbalism.  It's up to me what time frame I finish this in, but my goal is to complete the 12 course packets within one year. I also just found out my enthusiasm is contagious and my mom will be joining me on this adventure! We're going to meet at our family's lake house every 3 weeks to experiment with making salves, tinctures and all the other herbal preparations waiting inside these pages.

This course includes materia medica, wild plant identification, tons of hands-on preparations and healing information on everything from pets and children to the nervous system. It will take us into kitchens, gardens, weedy lots, herb stores and apothecaries as well as the woodlands and fields to look for plant medicine. Enough writing, let the adventures begin!

Sourdough starter from Robin

Look what arrived today! Robin (our food editor) found out about this great family who has carefully nurtured the same sourdough starter for 150 years. The original starter was actually used on the Oregon Trail. Bringing this culture back to life is a bit Jurassic Park like...you find an old artifact with a bit of life in it an Voila! a part of history is brought back to life in our modern kitchens. I invested in a cast iron dutch oven this weekend to cook artisan bread right at home. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.