Online Herbal Remedies Advice

How to make simple home herbal remedies

Learn to do it yourself with this online herbal remedies advice. Make simple home herbal remedies such as teas, infusions, decoctions, tinctures and poultices from common garden herbs.

When you empower yourself by making your own home healing remedies with herbs, you single-handedly enhance your quality of life, not to mention feeling in tune with the natural order of things.

From the herbal simples to the more complex cosmetic salves, incorporating herb plants into how you feed and heal your family makes good economic sense. Herbs are relatively easy to find in nature, you can grow them yourself or they can be purchased at the garden centre or produce store. You may already have all the tools and supplies needed in your kitchen cupboards to make the remedies described here.

Please note that we do not prescribe or diagnose, and all data included in this online herbal remedies advice is to be used for informational purposes only. In addition, please carefully read carefully this caution on the safe use of herbs.

How to make herbal remedies at home

To take full advantage of a plant’s healing powers, we need to access the chemicals within the plant parts and prepare them in such a way that they are easy to ingest, if taken internally, or apply, if used externally. There are a number of ways to extract, or release, those helpful phytochemicals.

Some simple ways that you can do this at home in your own kitchen are:

• making a tea or an infusion.
• making a decoction.
• making a glycerine and a tincture preparation.
• making a poultice.

Don’t use pots, pans or other cooking utensils made out of metal, especially aluminium (aluminum), as this metal reacts with the chemicals in the plants and may cause poisoning with long term use.

You may use fresh or dried herbs for your plant materials. One is not better than the other, that is, if the drying process used has preserved the plant’s essential force and potency. Sometimes that is hard to ascertain, so that is why I prefer to use fresh herbs when making my herbal preparations, and if they are readily available. Even in Winter, fresh herbs are oftentimes available at the grocery store. The choice is up to you.

Quick guide to herbal remedies

Here is an expanded look at ten medicinal herbs that may be helpful for home use to treat minor conditions. These herbs are commonly found and can be easily grown in the home herb garden. Click on each herb for further information on the herbal remedies available.

• Aloe, Aloe vera
• Catnip, Nepeta cataria
• Echinacea, Echinacea angustifolia or E. purpurea
• Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis
• Garden Sage, Salvia officinalis
• Greek Oregano, Origanum vulgare hirtum
• Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis
• Feverfew, Tanacetum parthenium
• Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis
• Thyme, Thymus vulgaris

by Raymonde Savoie Johnson
Pl. Sc. Tech., Herbal Consultant

Another guide to herbal remedies is available at the Herbs Index:
A list of medicinal herbs that are compiled according to their properties, such as anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, etc. Ways to use these herbs in herbal remedies are also listed.

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