Many, many plants reputedly have medicinal properties, but I find myself reaching for the same few over and over because they work so well. Aloe vera, mint, garlic, ginger, cayenne, comfrey, and cloves. I use everything but the aloe and comfrey in cooking as well, so I have them available in my kitchen year round. And the aloe plant grows in a pot on the kitchen counter where it will be handy for use on burns. These are not the only herbal remedies I have used, but they are the ones I use most commonly. And I'm not the only one to make this discovery. Turns out that Lalitha Thomas includes all but the aloe as the focus of her book "10 Essential Herbs", and she does use aloe vera gel as a substance to moisten some of her herb powders for topical application. In fact, Lalitha calls cayenne, comfrey, garlic, ginger, and peppermint the "core five" herbs and says "even with just these five herbs it is quite possible to handle MOST common health needs effectively". The other essential herbs her book focuses on are chaparral, cloves, onion, slippery elm, and yarrow. It's a good book with clear instructions and I recommend it for anyone overwhelmed by the prospect of learning to use herbal remedies. Lalitha picked these ten to focus on both because of their effectiveness and multiple applications as well as the fact that you can find most of them in groceries or open air markets all over the world. I've used all but yarrow on occasion and found them effective. I happen to grow yarrow in my garden to attract beneficial insects, but I just haven't needed to use it medicinally yet. I also grow onions, garlic, mint (peppermint and spearmint), and cayenne. I buy the remaining five herbs. The cloves and ginger I get from the bulk food section of a health food store; I also bought the comfrey at an health food store. I get the slippery elm powder and chaparral leaves or powder from an herb store that sells them in both small packets and in bulk. I also buy myrrh and goldenseal powder there to make Lalitha's "people paste" remedy. Homegrown ginger is a possibility in parts of California, but not where I live. Chaparral doesn't grow hereabouts either, though it's plentiful in parts of the American Southwest. Slippery elm is native to the eastern U.S. and Canada. Homegrown comfrey is a possibility for most folks, but right now I prefer to buy it because of its reputation for being invasive. As for cloves, I think we're all stuck with buying them. Even if you choose not to grow your own herbs, the above list is a good place to begin because the remedies are inexpensive, easy to use, and readily available. I've also found them to be quite effective. I'm afraid the pharmaceutical companies don't make much money off our family. Carol (and Brodie) -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Owens [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, May 10, 1999 1:12 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ecopath] Medicinal Herbs, Weeds, and Diversity <snip> For me the biggest attractions of medicinal herbs are: they usually have fewer side effects, some can be sustainabily manufactured at home, and they empower people to take an active role in health. The current trend is to rely on doctors and hospitals for cures and spend little effort on prevention or health education. If this home production of medicine was encouraged and researched it would save some people money and consume a lot less resources for packaging and transportation. It also would be a way we could obtain quality herbs without worrying about toxic additives. A few days ago i began researching herbs that could be grown at home and were proven to be both useful and effective. One might think this would be an easy project, but i'm finding some problems. The growing methods are not usually discussed in sufficient detail and the processing of harvested herbs can be complicated. Also, the strength of a herb depends to some extent on how it was grown. After sorting through a pile of books, i've concluded that this is going to be a difficult and interesting project. <snip>
