Herbs that really work

Fantasy. Herbs. They go together.

Almost every good high-fantasy novel has an herbalist or a ranger or even a simple peasant whose grandmother told her to use this or that leaf in an emergency. There are wounds that close with miraculous speed. Medicines that work like magic.

That’s fantasy. Right?

I used to think herbs were for fantasy stories and for comforting, sort-of-funny-tasting tea. I had heard that some herbs are good preventative medicine or useful for a little symptomatic relief if you aren’t sick enough to go to the doctor.

Oh, and I had always heard that herbs were “gentle”, a nice, weak, natural alternative to heavy-duty pharmaceuticals, which were the real medicine.

Then ten years ago, my husband and I moved to a little plot of land at the edge of the village of Mnichovice in Central Bohemia. Our soil is poor and sandy and sits on a cold and rather steep northeast slope. It’s a rugged place to garden. In a good year I can coax out a crop of squash and pumpkins, green beans, Siberian kale, super hot radishes, a little corn and a very few sweet peas. That’s about it for vegetables.

But what our little plot can really grow like gangbusters is weeds.

Yeah, I know. I’m not known as an expert gardener. But my weeds are special. Over the years I have encouraged the useful weeds and pulled up the others. I’ve even specifically planted a few things most people consider weeds. The result is a flourishing and ever growing herb garden.

At this point, I grow or can gather within a five minute walk almost all of the basic household medicinal herbs of the temperate climate zone. I have acquired a library of herbal reference books. And I now have ten years experience as a gardening and wildcrafting herbalist, raising two kids with herbal medicines and watching with awe as my simple herbs put to rest medical problems that had modern doctors and their pharmaceuticals stumped.

I don’t go in for the more experimental or risky herbs. I stick primarily to those that are tried and true. Our family doctor knows I use herbs and he doesn’t complain because he hardly ever sees us. We’re almost never sick and when we are we almost never need a doctor.

Here are the basic concepts I have learned about herbs through my studies:

1. Herbs contain a variety of chemical compounds that can be used for medicinal purposes. The main difference between herbs and the synthetic “chemicals” in pharmaceuticals is that herbs were developed by the natural evolution of plants, while pharmaceuticals are made by humans.
2. Some herbs have been tested in large scientific studies and found to have such powerful effects that the chemicals in the herbs are now either extracted or synthesized to make modern drugs. A notable example is the family of drugs like Digoxin and Digitoxin used to prevent heart failure. They are digitalis preparations originally extracted in the highly poisonous herb Foxglove. Herbalists used foxglove for centuries before it was discovered by modern doctors but it is one of the more dangerous herbs and I am not planning on trying it. Still it is a point well taken that herbs are not necessarily gentle nor safe and they certainly can be highly effective.
3. Some herbs have not been tested by pharmaceutical companies and yet consistently produce dramatic medicinal effects when processed carefully. It is unclear why some herbs with a very strong track record of medicinal use have not been sufficiently investigated in modern medical trials.
4. Herbs are not weak. On the contrary, I have seen many instances when herbs could heal a stubborn skin infection or other problems that modern medicine had not been able to crack. I have seen a deep cut on my husband’s hand close with fantasy-like speed when I applied fresh comfrey leaves to it. (In fact, comfrey should be approached with caution precisely because it can cause wounds to close too fast. More on that in another post.)
5. Herbs are not always gentle. Many useful herbs can have significant side effects. Some are truly poisonous. Others can cause allergic reactions. Some work as they are supposed to but the cure is almost as bad as the disease. It is possible to drink enough fresh garlic juice to mimic the antibiotic effects of penicillin but that sort of dose causes uncontrollable vomiting in about one third of those who’ve tried it.

That last bears emphasizing. Herbs are not, as I once thought, a harmless game for fantasy lovers. They are quite useful and should be approached with respect and seriousness.

After ten years, I have found a great many herbal medicines that are easy to grow, gather and make at home. These are simple, herbal medicines that actually work. I have decided to create a record of my work here, so that others can learn from it.

While many herbal reference books are huge tomes filled with endless lists of obscure plants and obscure uses, one of the best books I ever encountered is a slim, roughly illustrated book by Joyce A. Wardwell, entitled The Herbal Home Remedy Book.

This little book gives all the basic techniques for making herbal medicines at home and a list of the easiest and safest herbs to use. This was one of the books that really got me started in the beginning. I have no connection to the author and I simply stumbled across it at my seed-supply store (Heirloom Seeds, which started out as a small family business). I recommend both just because I’ve had great experience with them and I like to buck big corporations and support the little guys. No they don’t pay me.

In any event, I would like to expand on the type of herbalism Wardwell presents. On this blog, I will write about the easiest and most useful herbs for people who want to incorporate herbs into their food and medicine, the various ways of making herbal medicines and my most interesting experiences as a home herbalist. I don’t make money from herbs or even sell my herbal medicines. I often give my excess harvest out to friends or passing travelers with backaches and sore feet. But that’s about it.

That also means that I’m not actually a doctor. I can’t give medical advice and you shouldn’t take what I say as medical advice. I suggest that you always discuss any significant use of medicinal herbs with your doctor, even if that requires finding a doctor who is open-minded on the subject. Particularly if you have allergies or take prescription drugs of any kind, you should be cautious with herbal medicines. They are real power tools, not toys.

I’m not going to try to duplicate the huge catalogs of obscure herbal remedies that you can find on sites like A Modern Herbal, which is incidentally a good site for experienced herbalists. What I intend to do on this blog is to give you a practical guide to herbs that really work, that beginners can use - basically the easy, tried-and-true stuff.