Waller - The herbal handbook for home & health : 501 recipes for healthy living, green cleaning & natural beauty

Zowie! One of my favorite herbal authors hits a home run again! I didnt know you could do so many things with herbs. Pip Waller stretches the herbal imagination! M atthew W ood , herbalist and author of The Book of Herbal Wisdom Another wonderful, very useful, and incredibly beautiful book from Pip Waller. S tephen B uhner , herbalist, earth poet, and award-winning author of The Lost Language of Plants Pip, a successful and experienced herbalist, has put together a wonderful compendium of her own and her colleagues favorite recipes. E liot C owan , founder of the Blue Deer Center, New York, and author of Plant Spirit Medicine This is an amazing resource full of recipes for a wide variety of daily living and healing products. Great for our health and the environment! I recommend it to anyone who wants to live well and develop a deeper relationship with the products that they use. M ichael V ertolli , founder of the Living School of Herbalism, Canada This book of recipes has many gems, which will delight everyone from experienced professional herbalists to herb-loving beginners.

A truly creative and inspirational book. L ucy H armer , author of Shamanic Astrology Having known Pip for approaching thirty years, her ongoing commitment to herbal medicine and health care is as fervent now as it was then. Drawing on her own and colleagues knowledge, The Herbal Handbook for Home and Health offers a practical, encyclopedic guide on how to make, prepare, and use home remedies. S teve K ippax , former president of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists This essential compendium will delight and excite each and every reader, whether they are an herbalist or have a more general interest in the subject. It is an indispensible guide with easy-to-follow recipes and lovely illustrations. A must-have text for anyone interested in domestic alchemy.

D edj L eibbrandt , fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists THE
HERBAL
HANDBOOK
FOR HOME & HEALTH 501 Recipesfor Healthy Living, Green Cleaning
& Natural Beauty PIP WALLER Designed for the whole family, including pets, The Herbal Handbook for Home & Health shows how anyone can harness the power of plants to reduce the amount of toxins and allergens in their environment. Expert herbalist Pip Waller provides 501 plant-based recipes for cleaning products, food and drink, medicines, beauty products, and more in this beautifully-designed compendium. With recipes from the authors own library, and from other leading herbalists, this handbook offers detailed yet easytofollow advice on sourcing, growing, and preserving herbs. An illustrated herb directory introduces readers to essential plants with details about their histories, uses, and preparation. Packed with information about everything from tinctures to tonics to teas, this guide gives readers resources to start their own green revolution. For Krishna, who is the potency of medicinal herbs, the dearest well-wishing friend, the inexhaustible seed. BG.9.16.

Text copyright Pip Waller 2015 Design and layout copyright Ivy Press Limited 2015 All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books. Published by North Atlantic Books P.O. Box 12327 Berkeley, California 94712 PRINT ISBN: 978-1-58394-892-7 EPUB ISBN: 978-1-58394-893-4 This book was conceived, designed, and produced by Leaping Hare PressCreative Director Peter Bridgewater Publisher Susan Kelly Commissioning Editor Monica Perdoni Art Director Wayne Blades Senior Editor Jayne Ansell Designer Andrew Milne Color Origination by Ivy Press Reprographics North Atlantic Books publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Waller, Pip. The herbal handbook for home and health : 501 recipes for healthy living, green cleaning, and natural beauty / Pip Waller. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978-1-58394-892-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58394-893-4 (ebook) 1.

Herbs--Therapeutic use. 2. Herbs--Health aspects. 3. Materia medica, Vegetable. 4.

Herbal cosmetics. 5. Cleaning compounds. 6. Beauty, Personal. 7.

Natural products. 8. Organic living. I. Title. RM666.H33W33 2015 615.321--dc23 2014018903 MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The following information is intended for general information purposes only.

Individuals should always see their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion and is his or her sole responsibility. CONTENTS Chapter One The Power of Plants HERBAL LORE BELONGS TO US ALL, A GREAT AND LASTING LEGACY. Throughout history and across cultures, plants have been used for food, shelter, clothes, and medicine. Plants contain the proteins and other nutrients that all animals need to thrive, so we depend on them for our survival. The soil itself is nourished by living plants, and even when they die, they decompose to form soil from which new plants can grow.

Plants sustain all life; everything we need can be obtained from plants. Today, however, the central role plants play in human lives has been almost forgotten in the Western world. After several generations of urbanized living, those in modern industrialized countries are far removed from nature, creating a damaging imbalance and further misuse of our greatest resource. Even most of us living in rural areas no longer regularly cultivate, gather, and use the helpful plants that grow all around us. ALCHEMISTS OF THE NATURAL WORLD Herbs are the wondrous alchemists of the natural world. They take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for their energy production, and give back the oxygen that we need to breathe; they take nitrogen from the air and use it to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

Plants build all kinds of chemicals, and they do so in constant relationship to the circumstances in which they find themselves, and in communication with each other. They make medicinesfor themselves, for other plants, for the soil and environment around them, and for us.