Our herbalist, founder and tutor of The Home Herbalist courses, Belle Gibbons, writes about herbs and her experiences as a herbalist, and spiritual counsellor. Join us as we delve in to the fascinating world of the Herb Woman.
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Herb WomanJanuary 30th, 2012  Homemade Wholemeal Bread I’ve never had many kitchen appliances but as I’ve gotten older and busier I find some of them are indeed time savers and a great help. My husband and I much prefer making our own bread but it does take time and effort and we certainly don’t have the time. For years we toyed with the idea of buying a breadmaker but heard on the grape vine that they only made small loaves so we thought there was no point bothering with one. Just after Christmas some bread we had bought at a local bakery tasted a little strange so we decided to check out the breadmakers again and low and behold they now make loaves in three sizes, 750 gram, 1kg, and 1.25kg so we bought one. It was the best thing we ever did as far as having delicious, wholesome, healthy and fresh bread. It’s so easy to make a loaf, all we do is plonk the ingredients in, press a couple of buttons and in a few hours we have the aroma of fresh baked bread in our kitchen and delicious bread that we know has no unpleasant ingredients.  Fresh Wholemeal Bread with Cherry Jam, It’s hard to resist fresh warm bread with butter and cherry jam. The breadmaker we bought comes with a recipe book which includes herb and garlic bread, and rye bread. It has a fruit and nut dispenser and also makes cakes and jams. I’ve already made sun-dried tomatoe and olive bread – delicious! January 23rd, 2012 Collecting seeds from your herb plants is a great way to ensure you have a plentiful and free supply on hand for years to come. Apart from these benefits you will know the quality of your own plants and that they’re bound to be disease free.  Flat Leaf Parsley Seeds It’s easy to collect the seeds; all you need to do is wait until they’re fully matured and harvest them first thing in the morning before the sun is on them but when the dew has dried. Hold a well-opened packet or envelope under the seeds and using scissors or secateurs, snip the stalk so it falls in. After you have the seeds in the envelope or packet you can remove them from the stalk without losing any. Although some plants can take a while to produce seeds after flowering just as the above flat leaf parsley has, it’s well worth the wait. December 13th, 2011  Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh How much do you know about Frankincense and Myrrh apart from them being precious gifts given to the baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men? Being so close to Christmas I thought I’d write about the wonderful healing powers of these herbs which were very valuable in ancient times. The very fact that gold was also a part of the Three Wise Men’s gift to Jesus verifies just how precious these herbs were. Frankincense (Boswellia thurifera, B. Carterii) is the resin tapped from the Boswellia tree of which there are numerous species and varieties with each one producing slightly different types of resin. The more opaque the resin the better the quality. Traded in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula for more than 5,000 years, Frankincense is usually used in the form of incense or essential oil which is obtained by steam distillation of the dry resin and is used in aromatherapy and perfumery. Good quality Frankincense that has no impurities is edible and is used in Asia to promote healthy skin and aid digestion. We herbalists prescribe Boswellia serrata for inflammatory conditions including arthritis, rheumatic disorders, ulcerative colitis, and pulmonary diseases. In aromatherapy Frankincense essential oil is used to treat asthma, catarrhal problems, urinary tract infections, and to cleanse ulcers and wounds. It’s also valuable as a uterine tonic during labour and is said to help slow wrinkles. Burn the incense to help nervous people, especially those who seem to be highly strung, and to help focus on the present rather than the past. Caution: Not to be used directly on the skin as it can cause irritation. Myrrh (Commiphora molmol) belongs to the same family as Frankincense – Burseraceae or Torchwood family – and is the resin taken from a shrub or low tree that grows wild in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula and Somalia. It’s a most wonderful anti-microbial herb from which a tincture or liquid extract is made and used to treat respiratory conditions. It also has a major role in treating external conditions such as sinusitis, tonsillitis, fungal infections, and abrasions and inflammations. Sinusitis can be treated by applying the liquid extract over the sinuses and tonsillitis can be treated by gargling a mouthwash made from 5ml of the tincture in a glass of water. Throughout history Myrrh has been popularly used as an anti-microbial, an antibiotic for preserving wine, an embalming agent, and to treat infected teeth, infections of the skin and mouth, coughs, worms, and chronic catarrh. Given the health benefits of Frankincense and Myrrh the Three Wise Men were very wise indeed when they gave these gifts to the infant Jesus. Now I’m wondering if Mary ever used them to treat Jesus for any ailments. Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year to you all. Belle Author, tutor and proprietor of The Home Herbalist Courses and website. October 2nd, 2011
I’m a vegetarian, however, the rest of my family and many of my patients aren’t so I have good cause to be concerned about the foods they are eating. Most of us purchase our food without a thought as to where it comes from or what it really contains. We do this because we trust our Government and laws that are supposed to protect us but they don’t. Most food labelling doesn’t tell us what we need to know because of slack laws and loopholes in the laws. I have a story I would like to share with you which will help you realize that trusting our food source is not enough, we must do our best to find out what we’re actually eating. For almost four years my little female cat had epilepsy seizures, usually about one a week and sometimes more. All this time I had been trying to find out what was causing it but in the meantime I had her on herbal medicine to try and control it. When a seizure was beginning I would do Bowen Therapy on her and give her the Australian Bush Flower Emergency Essence. Sometimes this helped but most often it didn’t and she would still have to go through the whole process. She is an elderly cat – just turned 20 in September – so I thought it could be late-onset feline epilepsy which is not uncommon. The seizures don’t hurt her but they are horrible for her (and me) to experience. About five months ago I noticed my little cat hadn’t had a seizure for about a month and then she started having them again. I thought about what I had done differently for her and then the penny dropped. My animals have always had a natural diet but when my cat got old and her teeth became weak I began giving her good quality tinned food for the vitamins she needed as well as continuing with fresh meat that I cut up very finely for her so she could eat it. At the beginning of her seizure-free period I realized I had discontinued the fresh meat which was barbecue steak purchased from the local supermarket. Then after about a month of not giving it to her I felt she was missing it so bought some more for her and cut it finely as usual. The seizures began again and they continued for about a week until I realized it must be something in the meat so I stopped giving it to her and her seizures ceased. I also realized I had been buying it from the same place for the four years she’s had the seizures. I questioned the supermarket butcher about the problem and he assured me they don’t put any preservatives in the meat at all. Following this I went to a private butcher and asked him about the mince he sells and he assured me he doesn’t put any preservatives in the mince so I bought some to try. My cat ate some that night and had a seizure about 11pm and one again at 2am. I immediately threw the meat out. That was around four months ago and she hasn’t had any fresh meat since then and she’s had no seizures since then. I questioned both butchers again and told them what had happened and they still insisted they don’t put preservatives in the meat they sell or the mince. So I began researching what is actually in our beef in Australia and all I have found out so far is that some of our cattle have implants containing hormonal growth promotants which are placed under the skin at the back of the ear and slowly release a low dosage to the animal. These hormonal growth promotants (HGPs) are approved and regulated by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority which, according to Food Standards Australia New Zealand, ensures they are safe for consumers, not harmful to animals and effective when used according to label instructions. Why are HGPs used? Food Standards Australia New Zealand says they are used to improve the efficiency in cattle converting stockfeed into meat so cattle can be processed earlier with less stock feed being consumed. They also say these HGPs applied to cattle contain naturally occurring hormones (oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) or synthetic hormones (trenbolone acetate and zeranol). According to the European Commission the use of zeranol for growth promotion in food animals was banned in the EU in 1985. So why is it still allowed in Australia? If the butchers are telling me the truth and are not adding preservatives to the meat they sell then there must be something in the meat causing my cat to have the seizures. Without having her tested I can only surmise at what may be the cause or causes. Apart from hormone growth promotants there has been evidence over the years of beef being contaminated with pesticides and other harmful chemicals so any one or more of these may be causing the problem. All I know is that the meat I’ve given her has definitely caused the seizures. I’ve replace the meat with fresh fish that I cook for her and she still has the tinned food for her vitamins. She’s a very healthy girl and still enjoys life. However, the experience I’ve had with my cat and her seizures has made me try even harder to give my family organic food which is not easy to obtain in our area. This experience has made me think of a number of health problems that are on the increase such as obesity, autism, ADHD, cancer and so on. Could the obesity epidemic be partly related to the hormone growth promotants? Could autism and ADHD be partly related to hidden chemicals and hormones in our food? What about diabetes and cancer? What we are eating is certainly food for thought! Until next time stay healthy, happy and most of all, wise. Belle
June 20th, 2011
“I would suggest that a major cause of illness is the disconnection with our own body, mind and spirit. Staying connected to our selves and the needs of our bodies will aid recovery and help prevent reoccurrence of an illness. I also believe the closer to nature we can stay the easier and more holistic our recovery is going to be. It is well known that the drugs often used can cause problems and illness in other areas of the body whilst trying to heal a condition. I feel that giving our personal power away and allowing our families to consume large amounts of unnecessary drugs to fix illness that can be healed by a family member in our own home using natural remedies is aiding the disconnection people have to their own bodies. If we can treat minor illness in our own homes for our own families we can remain in touch with each other and stay connected to our selves, we can keep our personal power and be more self reliant and kinder to ourselves. I believe that our bodies instinctively know what we need and I believe that nature holds all we need to keep ourselves well mentally, physically and spiritually. I also see the need to ask the help of an expert when an illness is serious or the home healer can not find a remedy that helps the person they are treating. It is our responsibility to keep our selves and family healthy and well balanced at home but not to delay help from a professional if needed.” A.P. “For me it is a personal journey back to my roots and that of my ancestors as Herbs have always featured greatly in the German culture and medicine. Unfortunately they also burnt a lot of the wisdom at the stake, so it is time to revive this ancient knowledge and work with nature, not against it. I don’t have a family to treat with herbs (grown up, not interested) for me it is merely a stepping stone on a whole new (old) path. Growing up in Germany meant constant exposure to herbs even in ‘modern medicine’ as the hospitals would always serve herbal tea throughout the day, offer Valerian to help settle worried and sleepless minds etc. I lived in a big house with flats, which also housed a huge herbal shop on the ground floor. The scent emanating from the shop would assail my olfactory senses every time I used to enter the building and must have left its mark somewhere. The course is a wonderful tool to empower individuals to move away from modern medicine with its authoritarian ‘expertise’ approach and enables them to confidently administer basic care and treatment to their family.” C.P. “The first thing that comes to mind is that it is a fantastic way of getting the medicine that is needed into your body without having to have added chemicals put in the body. Treating my family with Herbal Medicine is as normal and natural as breathing. My first impression when I started studying was utter amazement at the amount of conditions just one herb can heal. Also with the exception of the odd warning how safe they are. I am now under the impression that for every ailment that man has there is a cure for it in nature. Apart from the reason mentioned above about the chemicals that are put in modern medicine my other reasons for wanting to use Herbal Medicine is because they are natural and if they were good enough for the ancients then they are good enough for me and my family. Nature obviously provided everything we need so we should use it and take care of it and nurture nature. Not only will it be very satisfying to be able to heal my family with Herbal Medicine but it will also be a great achievement to me to be able to grow, cultivate and make remedies as well as treat, to see the results at each stage and become very close friends with herbs and nature as it intended. ” J.S. “My family is my most precious possession and consequently I want only the best for them. I encourage them to look after their physical bodies as I believe that the good health of the body is strongly linked to their emotional, social and spiritual well being. Herbal medicine is something that has always been of interest to me and I have used it in some small form over the years with my family. This comes from a belief that our earth has been created with the plants and other elements that are needed to treat illness. We just have to know where to find them and how to use them. I also believe that the human body was created with the inherent ability to heal itself provided that we are looking after our bodies to the best of our ability etc. diet, exercise and lifestyle. I also believe that man has been given knowledge that benefits us in what is today’s modern medicine and the two practices should be used together for the benefit of man. Herbal medicine in my opinion is the best way to treat common complaints because the treatment doesn’t have the side effects that most conventional medicine does as the herbs also have the actions that counteract side effects that may occur; “a whole plant to treat a whole person.” Herbal medicine also treats the whole body in a holistic sense and not just the symptoms by treating the stress or emotional causes that maybe the underlying cause of the illness. Treating the family with botanical medicine is also cheaper, effective, less toxic and easily accessible with the added bonus of being used as a tonic, treatment and a preventative.” M.T. “I have always loved herbs. I love their flavor and the way they make the food taste, then I discovered by putting a cut onion beside the bed at night, it can stop the tickle in the throat there by stopping you from coughing. Next it was simmering chopped onion in honey then taking a table spoon of the juice when you have the urge to cough, plantain to stop bleeding, thyme cough syrup and so on. I started buying books, which my children used to call my ‘Witches Book of Concoctions’. I loved that I could go into my garden and my pantry and make something up that would give my children and husband a remedy that gave them relief from small ailments and I knew that it was all natural. A couple of years ago my husband’s cherry picker fell over, with him in it, and he cracked the joint in his shoulder. A lovely Thai lady gave us a comfrey plant, heaps of leaves to use as a poultice and comfrey oil, he was back to work in a couple of weeks, a bit slower but still he was out there (the Dr. just gave him pain killers a sling told him to go to physio sent him home). Now I have been able to do this course with you and been given this opportunity to learn more about each herb and their actions, learning how to make hot and cold oil infusions, ointments, decoctions etc, has made me hungering for more! My family doesn’t get sick often usually just the occasional common cold but I’m able to keep them healthy usually with infusions or massage some comfrey hot oil infusion on a sore muscle or two. I love the fact using herbs and a good diet can cure the cause not just the pain, and I get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction making my ‘Witches concoctions’!. Thank you.” W.V. “The Uni student home for the weekend complains about cold sores, sinus and headaches saying ‘I can’t afford to see a Doctor”. From my dispensary I am able to give her ‘lotions and potions’ that will help. In the uni break we spend a lovely day together preparing a first aid kit for her. The young grandson comes to visit; he has a cough and is not sleeping well. He readily takes the cough syrup I’ve made for him while his frazzled parents sip on chamomile tea. The husband runs inside clutching his thumb and looking pale as a ghost. I give him rescue remedy and bath his crushed thumb in Hypericum. Ten minutes later he is back in his workshop. The chooks have taken a beating from the rooster’s talons – missing feathers and nasty red sore patches on their lower back. I drizzle the oil infused with calendula, plantain & comfrey on the spots, three days later there’s no sign of angry weeping sores. Walking around my garden I give thanks to the beautiful plants that provide such bounty. How satisfying, how enriching, how useful being able to use them to help others and share this age old knowledge.” W.C. Belle Gibbons The Home Herbalist Courses Tutor |
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