Discover the Top Medicinal Herbs to Grow: Your Guide to Natural Remedies

hi everyone I'm Jill Reagan owner of whispering Willow farm and welcome to my Cottage Garden so today we are going to discover the top medicinal herbs to grow your guide to Natural Remedies I am so excited to do this video so I have kind of re-dived in if you will herbal medicine has been something that I have been using and exploring and learning for the last nine ten years and I'm finally at a place where I am investing in my knowledge again I'm in the intermediate guide to herbalism course through the herbal Academy they have a lot of wonderful resources and so I am in this two-year program just learning so many wonderful things I'm growing so many different herbs this year for teas and tinctures and all those medicinal properties for all of those natural remedies for all of those you know health benefits that they provide just as I've kind of been on my own health Journey for the last year or so and so I'm excited to talk through these herbs with you guys today so if you would like any information on the courses that I'm taking I'm going to leave them for you down in the description below but growing medicinal herbs is such a great way to include those natural remedies into your lives your family's life especially if you're a gardener already a lot of these herbs are really great companion plants they're easy to kind of grow in containers and so if you're already familiar with growing whether you're growing food or flowers it seems like the next best step that's kind of where I am I've been growing food for over a decade I've been growing flowers this will be my third year growing flowers to sell to Market so it only seemed natural as I am walking on this journey of learning more about herbs and diving into herbalism that I added more herbs on our farm and really started taking back that control of making these natural remedies for myself I have been sourcing them out for the last few years I know how to grow a lot of things and so I knew it was time for me to just kind of take that back over and prioritize growing this medicinal herbs so these are really easy herbs to grow and I hope that that encourages you that you don't have to have a huge massive space you can grow these in containers if you're in an apartment it maybe you just have a small backyard you don't need these fancy raised beds or anything like that to be able to grow herbs and still be able to enjoy all of those medicinal properties that they hold and so as I am learning more about herbs I'm going to be talking more about them on our Channel I'm going to be covering the top 10 just easy medicinal herbs to grow I've actually grown all of these herbs before and growing food I am growing majority of these right now so I do encourage you maybe get a notebook or a pen maybe use your phone an iPad whatever you have I'm going to be talking through some of these easy herbs to grow and also their medicinal purposes what you can use them for I find that that was always the struggle for me right I would grow all these beautiful herbs but I wouldn't quite know how to use them which is really what I'm diving into in this herbalism course that I'm taking is it's teaching me all these different ways to learn about these herbs all these different formulations and so it's just been really really beautiful to kind of dive into that more so the first one we're going to talk about is lavender I'm sure so many of you guys have heard about this beautiful fragrance herb it is a great one to grow I will say this is one that I've probably struggled the most with in my climate so I'm in zone 7B and we either get a lot of rain or it's super super dry and so I've kind of struggled I'm trying again this year my fingers are crossed that it will be a really successful app under a year for me Lavender is most commonly known for those calming properties I happen to diffuse it every single night in my kid's bedroom along with a bunch of other oils so it is really kind of known for that calming property you can use it in teas which I have done a lot I've added it into a lot of my stress tees that I make with chamomile and a few different other herbs so along with making soothing teas those calming teas you can Infuse it in oils which I'll be real honest this is something that I have never done I have companies that I've bought from for years that I trust and that's kind of how I source that out but there's also a lot of like aromatherapy products you can make I've made satchels and put under my pillow I've made different back tees so there's a lot of Versatility when it comes to Lavender and just as far as the things that you can use it for I would say it has just a ton of uses and it's super the second medicinal herb we're going to cover today is peppermint I'm sure so many of you guys have either grown this and we all kind of joke around right when you grow some sort of mint once you will have it in your Gardens forever it is so prolific it will self-seed it's one of those that just kind of goes wild it's a very versatile herb it has a very strong scent a lot of people will use it for headache reliefs you can put it right here on your temples which I've done that gosh so many times it's kind of my natural remedy when it comes to headaches you can use it for a lot of digestive issues and then one of my favorites that I'm actually going to be hitting on later in the Vlog this week is you can use it as a natural insect to repellent and so I'm going to be talking about natural ways to combat with pests and peppermint is one of the things on that list I hope you stay tuned later in the week to catch that but super easy to grow again it's one of those that it's kind of nice to just have in your tool belt because it is such a versatile number three is chamomile which happens to be one of my favorite herbs it was one of the first herbs that I experimented with a fun fact about me when I first started our farm this was the product that I was taking to Market we did actually used to set up at different various markets and I would make herbal teas tinctures I would make loose leaf tea Blends I would make bath teas and I would make sags and this is actually how I got started I was really really into this movement and then just kind of transitioned into growing more food but I would make a calming bath tea and I would add oats and I would add chamomile and it just became such a normal part of my kids routine we'd have a chamomile bath and then they would go to bed chamomile is one of those relaxing soothing herbs you can use it to help promote sleep specifically with your children it is one of those safe herbs for your kids I utilized it a lot during that toddler stage it also helps reduce anxiety and can help with digestion issues as well number four of our medicinal herbs to grow is echinacea also known as a cone flower so this is really cool because it can be a dual purpose uh you know herb as well you can grow it and add to Arrangements I primarily right now my echinaceas only this is its second year so they really recommend waiting until you have a three-year plant to harvest The Roots but you can't Harvest those roots and it's an immune boosting a lot of people make it into tinctures but it helps AIDS you know keeping your immunity if you have those common colds you can also harvest the petals the leaves the flowers of your echinacea and dry them and use them for various teas I mean it's just really one of those herbs you want to keep in the cabinet when it comes to the winter time to help kind of Aid with some of those you know immune boosting supports that we really need during those colder months when the cold and flu is kind of circulating a bit more number five is lemon balm it obviously has a pretty lemony scent and because you you know most of those Citrus herbs they are uplifting which is what lemon balm is really good for it can help with Stress and Anxiety kind of boost your mood um quite a bit you can make it into teas tinctures you can do various bombs there's a lot of different things you can use lemon balm for as far as what you turn it into that product that you turn it into but I really like having it around especially just as a mood booster I can really tell that it makes a massive impact next up is calendula you actually harvest the flowers of the calendula there's a lot of different varieties right now I'm growing a calendula mix which are throwing some really really stunning flowers and so I'm really excited about that but they have the flowers have a really healing and anti-inflammatory properties which means they're really good to make into salves creams ointments for skin irritants for you know minor scrapes and bruises and cuts and things of that nature and so that is primarily why I am growing it this year is to make up a bunch of different sacks to have on hand we're going into the summer my kiddos are home with me which means we have quite a few hours um that take place and so I like having some of these um just like salves to keep on hand that's really easy to throw with us when we go hiking and they last a really long time too so that's a great way to be able to like use your herbs for a longer storage use I have found and so I think this is a great one that I definitely have in your toolbox then we have Sage I love all of those herbs that are just so versatile right you can use all these in the kitchen I actually bake a ton with herbs with my bread and focaccias but then they do have all of these antimicrobial and antiseptic properties the sage specifically and so a lot of people will make teas with them it's known for you know helping sore throats and other mouth irritants and so that's kind of my favorite thing is when you can find these herbs to grow that you can use for culinary purposes you can use from additional purposes you heck you can even use them for like floral arrangements there's so many herbs that actually are great medicinally you know aesthetically and also culinary purposes as well that's when you really kind of have that you know double triple whammy if you will so those are a lot of the things that I'm looking to add into my Cottage Garden what can I use in the kitchen what can I use in floral arrangements what can I use as I'm kind of stocking my homeopathic here to make sure that I can make all these different tinctures and teas and staffs to really kind of set us up so Rosemary is next on our list as our number eight top medicinal herb to grow and again it's got all of those culinary purposes but aside from all the culinary things that you can do with rosemary it actually has a lot of medicinal properties as well the Rosemary is known for its antioxidant properties it's used in a lot of herbal oils people do it and I made a hairspray once that had a rosemary and Cedarwood and a couple other types of sprays for your hair so there's a lot of things you can add it into as well as with other sort of herbs and oils to really kind of promote a common goal and then of course there is the aroma therapy property of the Rosemary it's actually known to like kind of help Focus which is something that I just recently found out and so I've been diffusing it more in my office to kind of add some clarity I will use it in conjunction with some other herbs Rosemary is a very strong a scent and so I like to add it with maybe some different calming herbs and then it just really kind of helps me mellow out and like focus in on the task number nine on our list is holy basil also known as Tulsi uh there's not any herbalists I've talked to or even someone who's interested in herbs who does not grow holy basil it is kind of a staple in the holistic herbal World which is so funny because I've been growing holy basil for as long as I can remember and unfortunately I haven't been using it to its fullest potential and so this year I knew I was going to change that I was going to grow holy basil and I was going to really tap in to all of those medicinal properties that it offers so it is a great herb for stress support for immune boosting the great thing about basil is that it grows like crazy the more you pinch it and prune it the more it's going to keep branching and produce and so I love those things too that are just super easy it can self-seed come back year after year which is great is that most of these herbs are going to be perennials and that means that there going to come back as long as you mulch them right you're in the right Zone and they'll come back year after year but basil is one of those that would be an annual it's going to die with the frost those leaves do not like being cold but if you let it go to seed towards the end of the season it will self-seed and come back the next year so that's great because it's one of those that you can kind of treat as a perennial by letting itself seed itself and then you know you're always going to have that in the garden here and then the last top 10 number 10 herb to grow for medicinal purposes natural remedies is the Lemon Verbena it's a very common herb to grow again it's got that nice lemony taste and scent so it's going to be really really great to infuse and make into teas these teas will aid in digestion help with relaxation and sleep so it's one of those really good nighttime teas I am trying to detox myself from caffeine and the way I'm doing that is replacing my one to two to three cups of coffee and day with herbal teas and this is one of those herbs I've been sourcing out locally to be able to make into one of those evening teas so those are my top ten these are not by any means the only medicinal herbs these are just some of the common ones that really anyone at any skill level can grow when I wasn't even into herbal medicine I somehow still had most of these herbs in different pots around my garden to attract pollinators to dry for cooking purposes and it's so fun to kind of have been on this journey rummaging through my kitchen cabinet seeing some of the first herbal tea Blends I made nine years ago and now I'm just kind of come full circle and I'm really just stewarding this dream I had of being connected that was one thing I really felt moving into the new year is that I wanted to connect with nature in a way I never had before and that might seem silly because I'm a farmer and I'm out in nature every single day but I wanted to view nature differently I wanted to really kind of tap into the healing properties of Nature and what what God has given us and I knew in order to do that I was going to have to roll my sleeves up and really start educating myself again that way instead of sourcing out a lot of these things I could be the one to make them I could teach my kids this is going to be a lot of what we're doing this summer harvesting our herbs foraging making different teas bath teas salves tinctures all sorts of stuff my girls are so excited so I hope you guys are enjoying this content I hope you'll stick around as we continue to learn and grow together in this category in this topic I find it so fun when you dive into a new thing you find that there's so many like-minded people there are so many people in this farming gardening realm that want to know more about medicinal herbs they want to grow their own medicine they want all those healing properties that we have access to and so for me this is just another crucial part of the puzzle right I grow my own food because I want to have access to locally organically sourced food that's free of chemicals that's free of pesticides it's free of crap to be honest with you I want to grow my own flowers because flowers are not locally sourced and that's a problem I want to be a solution to that and so for me it makes sense that if I want to Source out herbal medicine I'm the one that's growing this and making these recipes for myself so I certainly hope you all enjoy today I would love to know what medicinal herbs you're growing in your Gardens this year for your own natural herbal remedies if you don't mind leave them in the comments below again I'm going to leave the courses that I'm currently taking through herbal Academy if you guys want to check out any of those it's something that Nathan told me we've been getting asked often so I'm going to leave the link down in the description below but thank you all for hanging out with me today I will talk to you guys soon

Channel: Whispering Willow Farm

Views: 49,934

Keywords: whispering willow farm, vlog, herbal medicine, medicinal herbs, medicinal plants and herbs, medicinal plants and their uses, herbal remedies, home remedies, essential medicinal herbs, medicinal herbs and their uses with pictures, medicinal plants at home, natural remedies, medicinal herbs to grow for making home remedies, medicinal herbs natural healing, herbal medicine for beginners, herbal medicine course, herbal medicine for headache, medicinal herbs to grow at home

Id: rkJxinCFokE

Length: 16min 2sec (962 seconds)

Published: Thu May 18 2023