Easily Understand Herbs
and their Properties!

Grasp 7 Fundamental Principles
that Help Speed your Herbal Studies

As she walked in the door her feet squished. Not her shoes. Her feet. "Herbs and their properties! That's what I need to know more about!" were the thoughts that raced through my mind. "Then I could help with the swelling caused by her overexposure to the sun!"

How herbs helped my sister!

The result? Serious sunburn and swelling in her lower legs and feet. I was just an herbal newbie. Just starting to learn about herbs and their properties. So, I called a Naturopath I knew.

Expecting a long list of herbs to buy from a health food store, I was surprised when she asked me a singular question.

That question drastically changed how I looked at learning herbs and their properties!

The question?

What do you have in your cupboard
and in your back yard?

In the cupboard:

• cinnamon
• cloves
• parsley
• sage
• rosemary
• and thyme!

In the back yard:

• dandelions
• comfrey
• lamb's quarters
• chickweed.....

That was enough. She drank chickweed and parsley tea (a lot of it!), and took a nice soak in a tub with a strong comfrey infusion.

It worked! Her relief from the painful burn was amazing! And she was up many times in the night using the bathroom. By morning the swelling was almost totally gone!

That night I learned a significant principle about herbs.

Since then, I have picked up a few more Important Principles that make all herbal studies less complicated!

7 Fundamental Herbal Principles

1. Herbs are FOOD:

   Now that doesn't mean you can consume all of them with reckless abandon (some of them you can)! But it does mean that when used appropriately, they act to nourish and sustain the body, aiding it in its proper function of maintaining (or regaining) health!

   There are actually 3 grades of herbs , all of which can be beneficial to health. It is important to understand the differences in the grades of herbs, so you can use them appropriately.

2. The cure is in the cupboard or in the back yard (And if its not, it soon can be!):

   Once I realized that I could gather or grow valuable herbs, and learn how to use them to benefit our family, it lit a fire under me, which has never gone out! In fact, learning about herbs and their properties is a fire that grows stronger all the time.

3. Each herb has many diverse properties:

   When I first started studying herbs and their properties, I selected one herb to study in detail (it was Comfrey ). One of the overwhelming principles I learned was how many different things it was good for.

   As I studied more, I realized that most herbs, although they may be definitive for one body system (such as the respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, etc.), were beneficial for several if not many different systems.

   This idea is powerful when you realize that if you study just a few herbs and their properties, you can effectually cover a wide variety of symptoms.

4. An herbal property is often shared by many different herbs:

   So, in other words, let's say you have a symptom such as constipation. But you are out of the herb you usually use for this condition like Chickweed . Well, Plantain can help you instead (and so can many other herbs!).

5. Each herb can be used in multiple ways:

   For example, if you have Plantain in your backyard, it has been used historically, externally and internally, for a wide range of symptoms such as:

   • bleeding
   • skin irritations
   • bee stings
   • edema
   • constipation
   • wounds and sores
   • burns
   • bronchitis
   • ulcers
   • to name just a few...and believe me, there are many more!
6. It is better to know a few herbs well than to know just a little about many different herbs:

   One certain way to stay perpetually confused and overwhelmed by the study of herbs and their properties is to try and learn a ton of different symptoms and all the different herbs that can help them.

   Have you ever looked up a symptom in an herb book and found a list of 30 different herbs that will help it? After a while, all that information gets tangled...true information overload!

   Keep it simple by choosing a few herbs and their properties and learning them well. You will be astounded how many symptoms each herb can address!

7. An herb's synergy is of supreme importance:

   Synergy is the way in which all of the constituents in an herb (some of which have been identified, most of which have not) all work together to create the benefits observed and utilized for centuries.

   So, if you isolate out one phytochemical and attempt to use it, it will not (and probably cannot) be as effective as the herb as a whole. Always remember, whole foods/herbs are best.

   Science has not even begun to learn all that the Lord has put in each herb that He has given for the "service of man." (Psalm 104)

Learn about Specific Herbs

If you don't have an herb chosen that you are dying to learn about, may I make a suggestion? Choose one that is in season right now in the "wild."

Remember, the wild doesn't mean only out in the country where you have access to fields and woodlands (although that is ideal). It can be your backyard, a city park, an abandoned lot, even the cracks in a sidewalk!

Some of the most beneficial herbs are often looked upon (shudder!) as weeds! But once you start learning about herbs and their properties, you will gain a real appreciation for these abundant, beneficial plants.

Start looking at all the plants growing around you. Surprise yourself and identify them by looking in a field guide, our herb introductions page or our pictures page .

Then really dig in by learning all about your herb and its properties:

• It's history
• It's uses
• It's constituents
• It's life cycle
• How to grow it
• How to propagate it
• etc!!

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