Grow Your Own Medicine

by Ava Green, Kate Bensinger

Now more than ever…

…we all need to be self-sufficient.

Are you ready to Grow Your Own Medicine?

Ava Green has been on a journey of exploration and learning about herbal healing for 32-years. Kate Bensinger is a nurse and obtained a degree in Naturopathy with an Herbal Emphasis. Together, they set out to write the book they wish had been available for them starting out.

This is for every aspiring herbalist.

Indoors, backyards, or on a farm, you will become self-sufficient by growing your own medicinal and culinary herbs. As prices continue to soar, you can save money or build a business.

When you’re the grower…

…there’s no need to worry about additives or GMOs.

Benefits:

- Almost no side effects compared to conventional meds
- Become empowered and be your own herbal dispensary.
- Learn the medicinal, culinary, decorative, scent and dye uses of 50+ herbs
- Be the healer your family needs
- How to maintain your herb garden without chemicals
- How to prevent and treat the root causes of ailments instead of silencing the symptoms with conventional meds

You’ll love the beautiful illustrations, and this easy-to-understand beginner’s guide will make it a breeze to Grow Your Own Medicine

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Health, Nature, Plants, Witchcraft, Herbs

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 27, 2022

About the author

My name is Ava Green. Over my 32 years of being involved in the herbal medicine industry, I’ve experienced my fair share of ailments and remedies.
This has taught me so much about herbalism and inspired me to not only share my story with others but to take it a step further and offer support in the form of my first book "The Art of Herbal Healing: Herbalism for Beginners" to assist you in doing the same. And now I am just done writing and polishing my second book “Grow Your Own Medicine: Handbook for the Self-Sufficient Herbalist” to teach you more about herbs and how anyone can grow them whatever their living situation.
I want to share that knowledge with you now because I know that it can free so many people from the beginner's trial and error of creating herbal remedies, making it fun and accessible.
I am currently working on more books and will keep you updated! Make sure to join our FB group to keep yourself updated.

Reviews

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comprehensive book about herbs: how to grow them, what to use them for and how to store them or transform them into medicine was exactly what I have been looking for.



I prefer natural medicine over the traditional pill-pushing kind, but the author admits that there are definitely times when traditional medicine is the only route we can take in certain chronic situations. But to alleviate arthritic pain and to ease your breathing during allergy season, there are a whole slew of herbal remedies that will make your life more comfortable, without having to resort to addictive pain killers.



The chapter about seeding and creating your own cuttings was exactly what I need to clean up my own act. I've managed to kill off quite a few plants in my career as an amateur container gardener, but now that I have read this book, I might not be so lethal in my balcony garden anymore! (I tend to over-water everything: I love my poor plants to death!)



Also, some plants need more than just water and sunshine. Certain plants, especially fruit and vegetable bearing plants, require the aid of bees or other insects, and sometimes even a cold spell, in order to produce. I also liked that you could apply many of the tips and suggestions to just about any type of plant, not just herbs.



The author comes from a long line of herbalists and herb farmers. I loved the story about the author's grandmother, who would send her out as a child into the field to bring back clumps of soil. The grandmother would examine the clumps, then tell her granddaughter to go back and water certain patches or withhold water from others.



I highly recommend this beautifully illustrated, well written guide book. It is the type of book that you would keep for reference in your seed or gardening cupboard. Five well-earned stars for this educational (and very relaxing!) read. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is like a lot of mass produced "herbal" books in that it looks nice and seems great at first glance but lacks the real depth and substance to make it very useful. On the plus side, it has pretty illustrations and goes into some detail about how to grow some common herbs. On the negative, though, it gives very general information about how to use them and leaves out most of the ones I'd recommend. This is really better suited for people who want to grow common garden herbs like thyme, sage and chamomile and have a few new recipes to use them in cooking or (occasionally) medicinally.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Britney · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are new to gardening and herbalism then this book is for you!

The book is very thorough - almost like an encyclopedia - and teaches the medicinal, culinary, decorative, scent and dye uses of 50+ herbs in detail. The author takes the time to teach the reader the basics of soil, watering, and managing plant diseases. While there aren't any photos, there are beautiful illustrations that show relevant stages of growth and the active parts of the plant.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Nancy Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great! The cover is absolutely gorgeous and inside the reader will find recipes, hints, tips and several uses for over 20 herbs. Be ready to use each herb in many scenarios! I gave it four stars only because I wanted MORE! So many tips in this beautiful book; from your soil, garden planning, growing, watering and so much more. Highly recommended!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written to the beginner herbal gardener, tracing the history of herbalism and the many benefits of growing your own herbs. The author includes comprehensive information on types of soil, importance of light and watering, as well as graphs for climate and hardiness zones, and gardening methods and tools. Included is a helpful section containing 21 of the most commonly grown herbs and each herb includes information about propagation, maintenance, common problems, medicinal uses, safety, culinary and other uses, and harvesting. There is also good information about harvesting and storage, and how to identify and deal with pests and disease.

This book would be an excellent resource in any gardener’s library and would make a great gift. In this increasingly toxic world, homegrown herbs are a great comfort for food seasoning and medicinal purposes as well as providing beauty and scent to a home garden.

Thank you Netgalley, Green HopeX, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Bob Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several books on Herbalism and this is by far one of the best. Ava Green and Kate Bensinger have written a well-researched book on growing your own herbs. They share insight into why an herb garden is so beneficial as well as the benefits of many herbs used today. I love how they even tell the reader how to build an herb garden and what kind of soil to use. I think one thing that makes this book so very helpful is their writing seems to be from the heart, so to speak. They write from personal experience and I think that always makes a difference in a book that is trying to impart not just knowledge, but also the warm and fuzzy feelings you get from growing things that are beautiful, smell great, and are beneficial to all. Well done.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a detailed book on how to grow your own herbal garden. In some ways, it's more a gardening book than a herbal book. It teaches you the basics of soil, watering, managing plant diseases. This is very helpful for someone like me who's into herbs, but does not know much gardening. It also teaches you the types of herbs you should grow and how they can be used. It is exactly as the title describes, teaching you how to grow your herb garden!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Nikki Starbird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading through this book. It had a lot of good information and illustrations. If you're anything like me though, you'd like to have an actual photo with indentifiers. I don't trust myself to go off from the illustrations, even as beautiful as they are.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[ChapterNook · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a beginning herbalist myself, I started this title with quite a lot of questions. I didn't anticipate that each and every one of them would be answered. They weren't just answered, the authors also gave historical references and real life experiences to back up their claims and advice, and did it in a way that made the information more relatable and easier to digest. At the beginning of the book they mention acting as a guide through the journey and immediately fulfill that promise. I felt as if I were sitting there with them, learning first hand what and what not to do. This isn't just gardening for them, Ava & Kate highlight the importance of the connection between gardening, mental health aspects, giving to others, self sustainability and much more. They even provide a QR code in the middle of the book that provides access to even more plants and information that didn't make it into the book (to help with cost and sustainability) as well as offer alternative methods and products that you can easily do yourself, opposed to opting for store bought.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking to start an herb garden, no matter how small or large and regardless of your starting knowledge base. All the information is there for you in one convenient little book, from the very beginning seed, all the way to harvest (and even what to do after!) I give this title a 5 star review based on the information it provided and the needs it met for me. I cannot wait to get a physical copy to reference at my leisure and times of need. I enjoyed this copy via Ebook from NetGalley reads. I am not sponsored or promoted in any way.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provided a pretty good overview of herb gardening. I appreciated the overview of the layers of soil and the entries of specific herbs. The instructions for how to propagate herbs was also very helpful. It is mostly focused on growing, so some areas (history and uses) are glossed over and some biases are evident, but I appreciated how the author made scientific terms approachable and easy to understand.

However I was disappointed to see that despite including planting zone maps of many parts of the world (US, Europe, Australia), African and Asian countries were not included. I am used to seeing books written in English including only a U.S. map, which is perhaps indicative of the authors I have read. However I really hoped, as I turned the pages to see more and more countries, that I would see Asian and African countries included, especially since I live in Japan right now.

All in all, it is worthwhile pursuing, but not the best or only book one would need on gardening.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Laura Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very in-depth look at growing your own herbs. It is written in a very friendly, upbeat tone and you come away feeling ready to get started on digging that garden!

The book covers everything you need to know. It starts with a brief history of herbalism, then goes on to talk about soil types, hardiness zones and climate, garden design, tools you’ll need, growing from cuttings and seeds, making compost, dealing with diseases and pests and general guidance on growing, harvesting and taking care of your herbs. It is full of tips and tricks the author has learned throughout her journey with herbs, and she clearly knows what she is talking about.

In addition to showing you how to grow and harvest herbs, the book contains information on 21 different herbs. For each herb you learn how to propagate, it, common growing problems, medicinal uses, safety (as some herbs can be dangerous in high doses or unsuitable for those with certain medical conditions and pregnancy), how and when to harvest, and culinary and other uses. Some herbs have a recipe included for things such as infused oils, food dishes, cough syrups and sweets, and herbal sachets. It would have been nice to have a recipe for every herb, rather than just some of them.

There are no photographs of the herbs but there are clear, detailed illustrations that give an excellent idea of what each herb looks like, and also what different plant diseases and pests look like. I felt the illustrations really added to the book and, personally, I think they were a better choice than photos would have been.

It is a little unusual in that there is an option to access information on 32 more herbs via a QR link, leading you to a pdf that is external to the book. The reason given for this is that it helps to reduce printing costs, which is a fair point, however not relevant for ebooks. I wonder if these extra herbs will be included in the ebook? Also, a web link would be useful for those readers who do not have smart phones.

Overall, this is a comprehensive book about growing herbs and I learned a lot. I would have liked more information about using the herbs as I feel this would have made it a more complete volume, but I understand the author is currently working on more books so perhaps this will be in an upcoming book. This is a book about growing herbs after all, and nowhere does it say I am going to learn about using them, so I feel this book more than adequately fulfils its promise to its reader. If you want to learn about starting your own herb garden, you will not go wrong by starting with this book, and I suspect you will be referring to it for quite some time before you feel the need to move on to another!

With thanks to Netgalley, Ava Green and Kate Bensinger for providing an advance copy of the book in return for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

[Arika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grow Your Own Medicine is a wonderful guide for anyone who is wanting to start being more self-sufficient. The book starts off answering some questions, helping the reader brainstorm as to what the purpose would be for them, what they would use herbs for, etc. It gives a brief history on what herbs have been used for in the past and why they are important still today. Then it moves to an in depth look at the foundation of your garden, this section can be useful for anyone wanting to plant a garden, not just an herb garden. Also included in this section is watering, fertilizing, compost, etc. and the names of the “types” of plants, which was really helpful! There is more information toward the end of the book about these processes as well. It then moves to teaching the reader about hardiness zones, an important and often skipped over topic that will make or break your garden. The next section is about the different types of gardens to choose from and what the benefits are to those specific types, as well as tools that you will need to get started.

The author then gives an in depth look at different herbs, a picture of what it looks like, how to propagate, common problems, medicinal use, culinary use, when to harvest, and other uses. I found this an incomparable resource, to know you can look up an herb in this easy to navigate book and immediately learn whatever you need to about it. As someone who is new into growing and using herbs, I really appreciate the author taking the time to list such important notes for each of these herbs. We then move on to how to grow herbs from cuttings, from seeds, light requirements, and a more detailed section on watering, fertilizing, composting, weeding, etc. We then get to a section on disease, where the author shows common examples of diseased plants, and what to do for each one. We end the book with an awesome index that allows you to find page numbers based on herbs, techniques, and also by ailments, which I thought was helpful and will definitely come in handy in the future.

Overall, this book was fun to read, I learned so much that I didn’t know and want to put into practice in my own herb garden. I appreciate the author taking the time to create such a beautiful guide to help the novice herb grower turn into a true apothecary.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Grow Your Own Medicine is an herbal and guide to medicinal plants and herbal medicine. Released 25th Jan 2022, it's 143 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a well written and accessible beginner-friendly guide (with recipes and tutorials) to herb gardening. The authors have taken care to not only provide an herbal listing with 21 different plants and their cultivation and uses, but also to give readers the necessary info to help the plants thrive: culture, harvesting, preserving, and uses for each of the included plants.

There is a short overview over hardiness zones as well as climate and humidity which is impressively broad in range: the authors include zone maps for the USA as well as Europe, South America, Canada, Australia, and the UK. They've specified regional characteristics as well, indicating where some of the plants are protected or restricted.

There are no photos in the book, however, it's full of clear and well rendered illustrations. The botanical illustrations show relevant stages of growth and the active parts of the plant which can be utilized. Each of the plants in the herbal contain ID name (common and botanical (Latin) nomenclature) as well as keys for uses: medicinal, culinary, teas, perfume, etc.

The tutorials and recipes include tools and ingredients in a bullet style list. Measurements are in American standard units, followed by step by step instructions.

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, community garden/allotment member libraries, or the home gardener's library.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Lisa Briskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grow Your Own Medicine: Handbook for the Self-Sufficient Herbalist Book Review

Are you someone who is interested in herbalism and thinking of growing your own medicine, if so then this book is for you? Ava Green and Kate Bensinger have written this great book called Grow Your Own Medicine: Handbook for the Self-Sufficient Herbalist. It is one book you will want to read.

It was an eye-opener on reading this book. As a beginner in herbalism I learned many things from this book. I learned the reasons for growing your own herbs; gardening basics; what you can grow where you live; information on different herbs to grow and use; and how to keep your garden safe from pests and diseases. This book even gives the reader a list of resources and further reading on herbalism, a list of recipes, the herb properties, and different ailments. What I really loved that with each herb that was included you would read about it propagation, the maintenance, common problems, medicinal uses, safety, culinary use, how to harvest, and other uses.

This book was full of interesting tidbits from the first page. This book has everything a budding herbalist needs to know from the soil to water to composting to designing your garden and how to maintain and harvest herbs. While reading this book I realized how much one needs to do when growing a medicinal gardern.
The great thing about this book is that the author incoraprated her experience of growing her own medicinal garden throughout this book. This is what made it even more enjoyable and real. I learned more about the herbs from reading this book then the research that I did on my own. I have grown basil and oregano in the past and have used tires as pots but while reading this book I have learned the best way to plant them and how to take care of them. I will definitely be using this book alot in my future.

In conclusion, I believe that this book should be in every herbalist library. I would recommend this book to every beginner herbalist or anyone who wants to learn more about herbs and how to incorporate it into their lifestyle. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kristin C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very encyclopaedic and incredibly thorough. However, given the whimsical cover image, I was expecting a more integrated and playful design aesthetic throughout the book.

But let's jump right into the content. This book is a wonderfully comprehensive guide and provides every detail to help new gardeners get started planning and designing a medicinal garden. It explains topics like soil Ph, hardiness zones and must-have tools. It touches on how to propagate, plant from seeds, grow from cuttings. This book also distinguishes harmful and helpful garden insects, as well as helps to quickly identify and manage common plant diseases. Such Information is invaluable, and usually only available from extension offices and/or family-run nurseries.

The Holy Grail of this book, however, is the deep dive into the 50+ herbs you will learn to cultivate. Each herb offers a detailed key to identify medicinal, culinary, decorative, tea, dye and scent characteristics. Each herb section opens with personal and historical musings, then focuses on countless tips to ensure your growing efforts are wildly successful. Sprinkled with occasional recipes, DYI projects, and small illustrations, this helpful guide is essential for anyone just getting started with establishing and maintaining a medicinal and culinary garden.

[Lisa McEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to thank Netgalley for providing a copy of this book.

This is a fantastic guide for beginners looking to start their own medicinal herb garden. After trying and failing for the last couple of summers to grow my own herbs without really knowing what I was doing, I was glad to find this book so comprehensive. It covers everything from the basics of choosing the right soils and determining your hardiness zone to creating your own fertilizers and managing various plant diseases.

Though it’s still winter and I can’t get out into the garden just yet, the growing/gardening section is so thorough I have no doubt my herbs will be flourishing this summer.

For the medicinal section, I love that each herb not only lists its medicinal uses but also provides a paragraph on safety and contraindications. This is especially good to know if you intend to gift or sell your medicinal products, because you can include it as a disclaimer. In addition, the authors have included a variety of recipes to try out as well as a handy index of ailments that makes locating the right herb quick and easy.

I look forward to this summer!

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever thought about growing herbs and using them to make healthy teas or to relieve common symptoms? If you have, Grow Your Own Medicine is the book for you. This well-organized, thorough guide covers it all. Beginning with the technical side of gardening, authors Ava Green and Kate Bensinger discuss optimal soil conditions and growing zones. This is followed by plans for beds, community gardens and indoor gardening. Next is my favorite section: 21 herbs with information on growing, propagation, healing properties and simple recipes. Herbs include lavender, parsley, bee balm, chamomile, purple coneflower and others, all probably familiar to the beginning herbalist. The guide concludes with information about harvesting, drying and plant diseases.

Grow Your own Medicine is an ideal reference guide for beginners but more experienced gardeners will benefit from the detailed information included. It belongs on every gardener’s book shelf. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, IBPA and Ava Green and Kate Bensinger for this ARC.

[Karissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book packed with knowledge!

I have been dabbling in growing herbs over the past few years, and knew that they had many benefits. But this book absolutely blew my mind in terms of just how useful herbs can be for supporting health!

I really enjoyed learning about the history and origins of herbalism along with the sacred responsibility of caring for the earth through our approach to growing and harvesting herbs. It felt very intentional to start the book this way, setting the reader up to approach the rest of the content with an awareness and appropriate mindset.

This book makes growing herbs accessible for anyone, by addressing the climate zones all around the world and explaining how they play into growth. Suggestions for different environments and both indoor/outdoor growing are provided,

My favorite part of this book is the herb-by-herb catalog which talks about each herb, their uses and how to avoid common growing problems. I can't wait to start with some new herbs this year and this book will be with me every step of the way!

[Shelby Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grow Your Own Medicine covers the basics of herb gardening, from why, to how and what. The introduction is well written and makes you excited to get to gardening herbs. The book then goes through 21 plants (not sure if this is just the kindle version, there was then a link to another 32). Each plant has a great infographic that shows the plant and its primary uses. The author then dives into a brief history of the plant, how to grow and care for it and its uses. I do wish there had been more information about what part of the plant is being used.
The second half of the book goes deeper into general garden information, like soil health, fertilizers, common issues and beneficial pollinators.
Overall, the book is a great introduction to gardening herbs and gives lots of ideas for which herbs are right for your garden. It has enough information to get started, however, I will end up looking up the plants I grow to get more detailed information.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

[Sharon Mcelwee]

I love the way the authors share their love of plants. It was definitely evident with all the personal anecdotes.

I would like to see better organization for the book itself. Putting the herbs in alphabetical order would be nice.

One thing that did concern me is not seeing any specific references to studies or research on particular herbs. Also, the section on Echinacea is completely different than what I've learned on which species is best for medicinal purposes. A recent book I've studied cited Angustifolia as the most effective.

Would also love a glossary, as certain terms were unfamiliar like stratifying and deadheading.

But I do love the energy put into this book and it definitely will have a place in my library 😃

Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy of this title for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

[LittleRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been using herbs and holistic medicines for awhile now and this is a great introductory book for beginners. Not a big list of herbs, with only 21 covered in the book, but the author has provided a QR code for a more detailed listing.

If you’re looking to grow herbs for medicinal purposes and are starting from the beginning, you will find this book helpful to get you started. The only thing I will say is that you should always understand the contraindications of any herb or supplement you use…it may not always work well with another herb or some other medication you have been taking. Doing your due diligence in all areas will help you find more natural ways of healing your family and yourself while cutting out synthetic medications, where possible, that can be replaced by nature.

[Jolandie Mielitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book for a complete beginner at gardening and herbalism.

I felt it was a bit of a slow read and at times my concentration lagged from it but only because it sometimes felt like I was being bombarded with too much information.

Perhaps if there was some diagrams or pictures of for example the different kind of soils or beautiful pictures of established gardens to keep the mind from wandering.

Otherwise a great read. I particularly loved the part where all the herbs were explained. Well done. A definite recommend from me.

One last note I noticed an error where there is a continuous use of an herb instead of the correct use of a herb. Although annoying to me it did take away from this otherwise wonderful book.

Diclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It has wonderful information and the illustrations are lovely.

My favourite part was the herb directory with the uses and safety etc for each, but I don't like that there are only 21 and you have to download a PDF file for the rest. If I bought this book in print form, I would not be pleased.

I adore the little badges for things like tea and scent. The only thing I noticed is that they are listed in the order of scientific name instead of common name. That makes sense and it's no big deal, it just means it's not as easy to quickly find which you are looking for.

Another thing I really loved was the diseases section with the visual aid, to help you identify what may be wrong with your plant. And also the beneficial insects.

*Free e-copy received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Dearbhla She-Her · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is first and foremost a gardening book, not a book on alternative medicine. Its starting point is gardening know-how i.e. soil, light/shade, tools and techniques; working towards the plants that may or may not be suited to where you live. To my mind, it suffers a bit in not having more herbalist know-how. The section listing different herbs mentions medicinal uses for each herb, alongside safety concerns or culinary uses. Some herbs include mention of making tinctures, syrups or oils but no generalised section on the methods to be used to make these.
Also, for those of us on netgalley.co.uk - this book is focussed on gardening in North America. The section on parasites may not be as useful for those of us living on the islands of Ireland and Britain.
Thanks to the publishers for the ARC via NetGalley.

[Michelle Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fully believe in science and vaccines, and I also believe in the healing power of herbs from the earth. I view herbals as preventive care - I make elderberry syrup and fire cider every fall and winter, I drink fresh peppermint tea to help avoid indigestion, I like raspberry leaf for cramps, etc., etc.

We’re in our new-to-us home and I’ve been plotting out my garden for four for a couple of months so I was pleased to read an advance copy of this because a garden just isn’t complete without homegrown care plants.

This is a lovely beginner’s guide to healing herbs as well as a beginner’s guide to gardening, complete with helpful illustrations and suggestions.


eARC kindly provided by Green HopeX and NetGalley. Opinions shared are my own.

[Viragos Reading Odyssey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grow Your Own Medicine
Handbook for the Self-Sufficient Herbalist
by Ava Green and Kate Bensinger

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So I went into this expecting a coffee table style book with a ton of pictures interspersed with information. Were I in a physical bookstore this would not be an issue because I could flip through it first. Just fyi - not a coffee table book with lots of pictures.

There are a sufficient number of illustrations to make identification of a relevant item clear. There is solid information presented in a clear and concise format in easy to understand language.

An excellent addition to any library. 5/5

[Kimberly Tierney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking forward to the medicinal education that the book could offer, but it is just a gardening book with a little bit of chatter about what some plants can do for your health. I wish they would have talked more about the health reasons why we should have more herbal plants in our diets, but they only gave each one a small paragraph. Their talk about soil and growing methods went on for a page or more for each plant, which is understandable for a gardening book. I guess with a title like Grow Your Own Medicine there should have been a better balance of gardening education and medicinal use education.

[Nita Ankrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives you everything you need to have a successful herb garden. The first 25% of the book includes the basics of herbalism and gardening. The middle part of the book gives very detailed information about many herbs, including a bit of the history of the herb, how to grow them, start them, and use them, as well as information on the best times and ways to harvest and what pests may be a problem. My favorite part in this section was the recipes that were included for several of the herbs. The book concludes with a section on preparing your soil and making your own compost. As a bonus at the end, there is a link to a document with more herbs which I found to be very helpful.

[Martine Francois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grow your Own medicine by Ava Green & Kate Bensinger turned out to be just what I needed to read as a newbie gardener and hopeful herbalist. It was simple in its details and didn’t showcase a lot of plants to make me feel overwhelmed. It tells you the plants history of herbs, how to grow it, form the soil types to the zones. I would say this is a beginner’s type book as there were some plants and herbs that I thought I would find there that were not listed or spoken off. All in all, though, it makes for a great starting point in growing herbs for medicinal purposes at home. This review was given on the ARC copy received from the Publisher via NetGalley in return for my opinion.

[Witch-at-Heart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grow your Own Medicine is a great place to start learning about creating herbal remedies. It is a good resource on common garden herbs and how to grow them. I would call this a beginner’s book because it only covers the most common and easiest to grow herbs with some good tips on how to deal with problems that might arise growing them but I did find it helpful if you haven’t grown herbs before and since it can be complicated it’s a good basic starting place for those new to the hobby. If you’re a serious or experienced herbalist this book is probably too basic for you. It would be a good gift for a beginner.