Kynes - The herb gardeners essential guide : creating herbal remedies and oils for health & healing

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

The Herb Gardeners Essential Guide: Creating Herbal Remedies and Oils for Health & Healing 2016 by Sandra Kynes.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2016

E-book ISBN: 9780738747736

Book design and format: Donna Burch-Brown

Cover art: Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Cover design: Kevin R. Brown

Editing: Stephanie Finne

Interior illustrations: Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Llewellyn Art Department on pages 14, 15 and 38

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kynes, Sandra, 1950

The herb gardeners essential guide : creating herbal remedies and oils for health & healing / by Sandra Kynes.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7387-4564-0

1. HerbsTherapeutic use. 2. Health. 3. Self-care, Health. I. Title.

RM666.H33K96 2016

615.321dc23

2015015227

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Amy Glaser whose vision started this book,

Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for her beautiful artwork,

and Lynne Menturweck for her direction in pulling it all together;

Liz Parsons and Rosanne Graef for inviting me to join

our neighborhood apothecary garden project;

and my family Lyle Koehnlein and Jessica Weiser

who share a small oasis of a backyard garden with me.

Contents

: Creating an Apothecary Garden

: A History of Herbal Medicine

: Garden Design Past and Present

: Choosing Your Plants

: Bugs and Birds

: Tools and Personal Gear

: Lets Get Going

: Preparing the Soil and Planting

: Maintaining Your Garden

: Window and Porch Gardens

: Preparing Herbs for Storage and Making Herbal Remedies

: Harvesting the Bounty of Your Garden

: After the Harvest

: Essential and Carrier Oil Basics

: Making Your Own Herbal Remedies

: Other Forms of Remedies

: Culinary Uses of Herbs for Good Health

: Herb Profiles

: Herbs for Ailments, Conditions, and Support for Good Health

: Measurement Equivalents

Disclaimer

This book is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice and treatment from your personal physician. Readers are advised to consult their doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals regarding the treatment of their medical problems. Neither the publisher nor the author take any responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, action, or application of medicine, supplement, herb, or preparation to any person reading or following the information in this book.

INTRODUCTION

T here is a special be auty to herbs. We may know many of them as unassuming garden plants, but their use is intertwined with human history. For thousands of years they have provided people with fragrance, taste, and healing. My interest in herbs has affected several aspects of my lifecooking, gardening, and the desire for natural healingwhich has led to an interest in essential oils. Before going further, I must explain that I am not a trained herbalist nor am I certified through any program or school. I am like the many thousands throughout the ages who have gone before me to learn from others, observe, and study on my own. I grew up in a household where the first line of defense against illness or discomfort and the first aid rendered after injury came from the kitchen or my grandmothers garden. While commercial products eventually made their way into the medicine cabinet (new and convenient were the buzzwords of the early 1960s), my mother often drifted back to remedies she knew as a child. Because of that, I became familiar with them, too. However, while I consider herbs comforting, my preference for herbal remedies goes beyond childhood memories. Like many people today, I think nature offers a better way of dealing with common, basic health issues, and I prefer not to use medicines made from synthetic chemicals.

As I mentioned, I am not an expert. I work with herbs and essential oils for my own purposes and not to provide treatment to other people or sell products. While it may seem odd that I have written a book on herbs and essential oils, my purpose is to encourage others to explore the healthful bounty of the plant kingdom without feeling intimidated. After all, our ancestors were not herbologists, they simply used the knowledge that was handed down through generations and did what they needed to do to relieve discomfort and stay healthy. That said, we must keep in mind that herbs are powerful and they must be used properly.

Like many books about herbs and healing remedies, details on how to grow and prepare them for use is also included here. However, I have veered onto my own path by integrating information on essential oils. After all, the history of essential oils is intertwined with that of herbal medicine. While essential oils require a great deal of plant material and few of us have the space to grow enough or the equipment to distill it, I have included them because they expand and enhance our herbal repertoire.

General Precautions

My purpose for writing this book is to encourage others to explore the health benefits of herbs without feeling intimidated, however, working with herbal remedies must be done with knowledge and common sense. Although herbs and essential oils are natural alternatives to synthetic, chemical-based remedies, they must be used with safety in mind. Herbs are powerful healers, but they can be harmful when not used properly.