Start small…
Some simple tips on how to incorporate herbs into your life.
Starting an herbal practice can feel overwhelming and expensive. Here are some tips and tricks to start small and slowly begin to bring herbs into your life in a way that is manageable and simple.
Adding an herbal component to your life doesn’t have to take a huge amount of time or expensive supplies. Learn more in this post on how to take the first steps on your herbal journey. Give yourself permission to learn and realize NO ONE (no matter how learned or how many years they have been doing this) ever can learn it all. There is always something you can discover. Begin or continue your journey with an air of curiosity and forgiveness. I regularly have a “potion” fail or not come off the way I thought it would. I shrug my shoulders, shake off the disappointment, and chuck it in the compost. Ready to start on the next project, using the knowledge I learned from my mistake to help fine tune the next batch.
The first step in beginning herbalism is to choose plants that are easy to identify and that you know are safe to consume.
Here you see dandelions and violets I foraged this Spring. Dandelions are getting ready to return again as we go into the late Summer and early Fall. I could go on forEVER on my love of dandelions; their uses in both medicine and culinary cooking. You’ll need to come back for herbal “weed” spotlights in the coming weeks & months.
Another option, if you live in a smaller space or are unsure if the plants around you are treated, is to get an herb that you grow in a pot. Many apartment or condo complexes use weed killer or pesticides - you DO NOT want to forage dandelions or other plants if you are unsure of treatment of the grounds. You also do not want to forage beside roads, highways, or parking lots.
In lieu of foraging, get an easy to grow plant that thrives in a pot and you can put on your front stoop, deck, patio, or even sunny window.
Here you see my lemongrass plant that I keep in a pot because our bio-region does not allow for it to over-winter well. It does best in a place with warmer winters. So, I keep her outside in the warm months and when it gets too cold, I then have a wonderful “house” plant for the winter that is easy to care for, smells wonderful, and I can add to my cooking throughout the colder months.
In the summer, I cut this back every week and put coffee grounds onto her soil. Lemongrass needs a nitrogen rich environment, so this is perfect for her. I dry the grass and use it for making herb wands for cleansing. Come back in the next weeks and months for posts about both drying and creating herb wands for fumigatory purpose and cleansing.
A bay leaf is a great starter plant. It is another one that is easy to care for and a traditional one used for cooking, book marks, & Appalachian prayers. Stay tuned for a post about the use of herbs in prayer work in Appalachia.
And finally, if you have a space you can forage or land you know is safe from pesticides, find some “weeds” that are easy to identify and use. Like this yellow dock. Also known as curly dock, this plant is ready to harvest. I will dig the root and dry it for use in my apothecary. Yellow dock root is good to tincture, make teas, decoctions, and vinegars. I will be posting about vinegars soon, so check back in. Yellow dock root is a hormone balancer, energy support, blood sugar stabilizer, and immune system booster. It is one of the SUPER WEEDS - I will be posting about this soon.
Thanks for stopping by! If there is a subject you would love to hear more about, drop me a message. I’d love to hear from you.
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