Table of Contents
Foreword Barbara Fahs vii
Introduction: Why grow medicinal herbs in your backyard ix
Meet the Plants: Getting to Know Your Herbal Allies 1
Cultivating the Medicinal Garden: Design, location, choosing the herbs to grow, planting, and maintenance 65
Implementing the Medicinal Herb Garden 75
Testing, Soil Types, and. Amending Your Soil 81
Planting Your Garden 83
Urban Medicinal Gardening: Growing in small spaces, containers, windowsills, and on rooftops 93
From Harvest to Storage: When to harvest, how to harvest, drying methods, and storage 97
Harvesting 99
Drying 101
Storage 103
Simple Herbal Medicines & Homes Remedies: How to make teas (infusions and decoctions), syrups, dental health recipes, tinctures, powders (capsules, pills, and poultices), oils, salves, liniments, baths, sachets, dream pillows, and smudges 105
Conclusion 129
Appendices
Appendix 1 Properties and Actions of Herbs 131
Appendix 2 Additional Herbal Remedies 133
Appendix 3 Freezing Fresh Herbs 143
Appendix 4 Dosages 145
Appendix 5 Collecting Herbs in the Wild 146
Appendix 6 Cooking with Herbs 148
Recipes 151
Appendix 7 Herbal Cocktails 155
Appendix 8 The Healing Power of Mushrooms 156
A Few Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms Profiles 157
Resources: Companies/Organizations and Books 159
About the Authors 163
Photo Credits 167
Index 168
