Home grown herbal remedy kit......?

[JimmerG]

So the idea is this...

Mrs. G is keen to grow a medicine garden, and wants to produce tinctures, salves, herbal remedies, lotions and potions at home. So I thought I'd try and put together a kit for her for Christmas.


Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should get for her? I'm thinking - Plants, bottles, oils etc etc...

Thanks so much for any help.

J

[oldie]

If you have not got it the Grow Your Own Drugs by James Wong is a good buy and has lots of info about suppliers and guidance on what to grow. Covers all the recipes from his TV series.

[Jeanied]

You will need a nice selection of herbs and flowers too - sage and lavender spring to mind. Plus oil to infuse. Almond oil is often used as a fairly neutral 'carrying' oil. In order to make creams and potions you will need some natural beeswax discs and probably olive oil and some cocoa butter. If you know her favourite smells then you can buy essential oils in her favourite perfumes - Rose, Carnation, Lavender, Jasmine, Orange flower, Violet for example.
What a fabulous pressie idea - I am so jealous!

[ginger ninger]

Have a look at this site, it should give you a good idea what sort of plants to buy....O, by the way, I think your wife will love her present.

Healing plants for traditional herbal remedies proven effective by wise herbal healers for generations

[JimmerG]

Thanks for your collective help - I've found a marvelous on-line shop... Baldwins, they seem to sell pretty much everything you need to start making herbal medicine. So I've put in an order for some waxes, oils, bottles etc. Now I've just got to trawl around a few garden centres to get a good collection of plants and seeds for the 'medicine garden'

Oldie - we do have James Wong's book, initially I was slightly rude about it, bit having delved deeper, its actually imparts an awful lot of useful information.

J

[Reb Williams]

Another good addition to her kit: a pestle and mortar. Or even two, one for seeds etc and another bigger one for pastes.

Lovely idea. And you can always go on adding to her kit for future presents - eg get pestle etc next time.

Reb
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The perfect present for allotmenteers who can laugh at themselves - Grow Your Own Cows

[chris]

My wife makes facial scrubs and stuff from herbs (I know lemon balm is a big ingredient)...

Some of the stuff stinks like, but she swears by it