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I love, love, love herbs! I love cooking with them, making natural remedies, decorating, cleaning… they are so fabulous! Several of my most viewed posts are about herbs, so I asked on Facebook if I should start doing herbal tutorials. You all gave me a resounding, “YES!”, so let’s get started! 
Grow Your Own Herbs
Whenever possible, try growing your own herbs. Use pots, make a raised-bed herb garden, or even put them in your flower bed (make sure not to use any kind of chemicals on them, though!). Here are some of my favorite herbs to grow, which are all wonderful for culinary uses (like in my roasted chicken and potatoes) and for medicinal uses.
Some of the benefits of growing your own herbs are:
- Once you’ve planted them, it is very economical
- Organic growing is easy and cheap
- You will be able to use herbs fresh or dried
- You will have plenty to use whenever you need them
- They are beautiful and smell wonderful
Buy From a Good Supplier
For herbs that you aren’t able to grow, you’ll need to have a good supplier. We have a wonderful local health food store that we like to support (buy local!), but there are some things they don’t have and I don’t grow. For those, we have two places we order from.
- Mountain Rose Herbs: This company has an amazing selection and the quality is always outstanding. Many of their herbs are organic and you can even buy tons of other things, such as carrier oils, essential oils, clays, ready-made natural remedies and more! There is nowhere else that I will buy cinnamon from, because their cinnamon is the best. The customer service has always been great and we’ve never had a problem with anything we’ve ordered.
- The Bulk Herb Store: This is a Christian company with a very good selection of dried herbs and fast shipping. They also have Celtic sea salt (my favorite salt!) and a bunch of wonderful books and DVDs. They don’t have as much of a selection of the “extras”, like essential oils, that Mountain Rose Herbs has, but the quality of their products is just as good.
Storing Dried Herbs
I will have a post soon about several ways to dry herbs if you’re growing your own. These point apply to all dried herbs, whether store-bought or home-grown.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Air-tight containers- Exposure to air will allow the properties of the herbs to deteriorate more quickly. You can just use zip-top bags, but then your herbs are subject to being smooshed (that’s a technical term
) and I really don’t think that anything that might be consumed should be stored long-term in plastic. A better choice would be to buy some plain ol’ canning jars and store your herbs in those. You could also buy metal containers (think: tea tins), but that will get more expensive. - Darkness- As with air exposure, exposure to light will break down some of the best properties of the herbs. If you’re storing your herbs in tins, then you’re good to go. If you’re using jars, you’ll need a dark cupboard or other place to store them. I keep mine in a dark corner of our basement.
- Cool location- Yep, just like with air and light, heat in your storage place will make the herbs less potent. If you have your herbs stored in a cupboard right up against the side of your stove, you might want to rearrange things. A basement or root cellar really is ideal, since you’ve got cooler temperatures and darkness. If you don’t have a basement, think about the coolest, darkest storage place you have. Coat closet? Linen closet? Pantry?
Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking about supplies you need for making herbal remedies, different methods to use and how to do them and many other things. Then, we’ll get into specific herbs. Are you excited, too?!
While we go over the basics, be sure to check out my natural remedy posts that are already available!
- Natural Remedies for Ear Infections
- Natural Remedies for Mastitis
- Natural Remedies for Morning Sickness
- Natural Remedies for Abscesses
- Natural Remedies for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease
- Top Five Natural Remedies for Summer
Do you have any questions you would like to see answered about using herbs? Any particular herbs you’d like to see highlighted?
Linked up at:
- Growing Home: Teach Me Tuesday
- Far Above Rubies: Domestically Divine Tuesday
- Frugal Days Sustainable Ways
- Wildcrafting Wednesdays
- Little Natural Cottage: Natural Living Link-up
- Thrive at Home Thursday
- Hearts 4 Home
- Your Green Resource
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Yay! I’m looking forward to this! I have to buy my herbs…in real life, I just kill plants.
LOL! I kill indoor plants, but my gardens love the neglect!
Will you be covering pregnancy/nursing safe herbs? It seems as though I will always be one of those two things for the next several years!
Good question! I am in the same boat. I’m currently nursing and I *hope* to have more babies, so that is a very important thing for me, too. At this point, I will always mention in each post which herbs are generally considered to be safe and which ones are not recommended, but that is, of course, just my opinion and is based on the sources I trust (such as a few books and my midwife). I always recommend that women do their own research, especially during pregnancy. I do hope, someday, to put all of the wonderful things I’ve learned about herbs and natural remedies to use during pregnancy in an ebook! I have no idea when that project will get tackled, though. I’m always willing to let you know what I’d do for any given situation, if you have something specific you’re dealing with. Just shoot me an e-mail or facebook message!
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You had me at “intro”…this is so timely! I really need to learn how to dry my own herbs…like soonish. We’ll have snow before long, and I have worked too hard to keep my plants alive. I’m also convinced of using herbs for medicinal uses. I have so much to learn! I look forward to this series!
LOL! I’ll get that herb drying post ready to go soon… just for you!
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Looking forward to the rest of this series! I am clueless about herbs as remedies.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!
Hello, I popped over from Jill’s Home Remedies. I tried to grow some basil, oregano, and chives from seeds, they did not grow at all. I purchased some organic soil, and planted them in the started containers. I did the same with my tomatoes which have sprouted and grown, but the herbs did not. I live in Louisiana which at this time of the year is very hot and humid, any tips for starting with seeds? Should I maybe try again and keep them in the house? As it stands right now, I do not let the tomatoes sit in the sun all day, I bring them into the shade during the hottest part of the day. Any tips and/or advice would be great.
Welcome, Joyce! Glad to have you.
It could be a few different things. The first thing I’d check is the seed packets, if you still have them. It could be that wherever you bought them from just pulled out old seeds and stuck them on the shelves. This actually happens fairly often, but most seed packets do have dates on them so that you’ll know. Old seeds don’t tend to have a very good germination rate. Older seeds can be fine, but they must be stored properly, which most stores don’t bother doing.
My other thought is that maybe there was too thick a layer of soil on top of the seeds. For most herbs, they only need a very light layer (1/4 inch is more than enough). If they are buried too deeply they won’t germinate. Since the tomatoes did sprout, I believe your soil quality is just fine.
When you want to start seeds for herbs, you do want to keep the soil moist and in a fairly warm place. I like to turn a clear plastic bowl upside down and set it on top of the pot, just until I see sprouts. That helps keep moisture and temperature more moderate. That being said, you might try putting them inside in front of a window that has bright, but indirect light. If it’s too hot (which it sounds like it might be), seeds often won’t germinate. Also, be sure that the soil isn’t extremely wet, because seeds can rot in very soggy soil. A spray bottle is a great way to dampen the soil without disturbing the seeds and over-watering. Moderation in light, temperature and moisture may fix your problem.
If you’re able to get the seeds to germinate inside, remove the plastic bowl from on top and then move them outside to the shade. Make the move in the evening, since it’s so hot during the day. That will help avoid shocking the seedlings. After they seem to be doing well, you can start giving them some direct sunlight for a few hours, if you want.
For the tomatoes, would it be possible to set up some kind of lattice to provide filtered sunlight throughout the day? That way you wouldn’t need to move them in and out of the sun every day. Just an idea.
Any other gardeners have tips for Joyce? I know there are tons of methods and secrets, so feel free to chime in!
Great info! Sounds like it’s going to be an interesting series. Thanks for linking up to Thrive @ Home!
Thanks, Jenni! I’m so excited about this series. I could spend all day talking herbs, so this is such fun for me. I hope you all enjoy my babbling!
Joyce,
Herbs can be tricky to germinate. As stated by Justyn, be sure you have fresh seed, and just press them into the soil that you have already pre -wetted. After pressing them in you can sprinkle just a bit more soil over top if it is fine. I always place the whole flat inside a clear garbage bag to keep the soil moist. You can also use plastic food wrap over the top. Be careful to not over water, and keep them in the house until they sprout. Some seeds need light to germinate, but you won’t need direct sunlight. Herbs can take several days to sprout, don’t give up. As the seedlings get their first true leaves you can transplant them into larger containers.. The trickiest part of herb gardening for me is not watering them too much. I hope you have fun and better luck on your next try
[...] An Intro to Herbal Remedies – Learn the Basics by Creative Christian Mama [...]
This looks like a great series.
Thanks for sharing at Wildcrafting Wednesday. You have one of this week’s featured posts – http://www.commonsensehome.com/pineapple-weed/
Thanks so much!
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[...] Intro to Herbal Remedies – Read this if you’re new to natural and herbal remedies. [...]
I have bought so many herb plants and transplanted into a makeshift garden (I live in an apartment)and they do so good for about 2 months and then they die. I don’t know what I am doing wrong and I’m frustrated. Any ideas?
There are quite a few possibilities. Are they inside or out? Honestly, when I lived in an apartment, I couldn’t keep many of my herbs alive inside. I haven’t got a clue why, since they did just fine inside my house. Some things to check would be the watering needs of each plant (some should stay well watered and some should be allowed to dry out between waterings) and what nutrients they get. I never use synthetic fertilizer, but there are some wonderful all-natural ones that might help. I have a friend who wrote an ebook about apartment gardening, which might be helpful. Jami, the author is such a sweetheart and does apartment gardening, so I’d bet she could answer questions that I can’t.