The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook Quotes

“Herbal medicine-making is much like dancing; it’s easy, it’s natural, and it’s undeniably delightful. To say the least, it is a lucid expression of one’s distinct character.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“Pursued with intelligence and understanding, wildcrafting is a process of harvest pruning, which when practiced knowledgeably never exploits or diminishes wild plant communities, but instead supports and enhances them.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“Foxglove leaves applied as a hot compress enhance the peripheral circulation of the skin and promote wound healing, especially those wounds that appear to be healing very slowly or not at all, such as chronic skin ulcers.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“The knowledgeable use of herbs administered in the home in place of pharmaceutical drugs is frequently a far more pragmatic, benign, and responsible choice for an ailing child’s (and adult’s) well-being.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“When you get an idea of what you want, plunge in and do it! Take a risk. You may only semi-succeed, or you may blow it entirely, but so what? The materials of Herbalism are inexpensive (actually the cost of cocoa butter is a bit outrageous). Most likely you’ll ultimately create a successful experience far beyond your initial dream. It’s an adventure, and it’s fun. If it’s not, you should probably forget about the whole thing anyway and do something else. And you’re guaranteed to learn something of value (make notes), and it might make a poignant story you can divulge someday when you write your book.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“The advantage of using acidic menstrua became apparent, and experience proved the value of vinegar as a solvent in exhausting the drugs of this character, such as Goldenseal, Lobelia, Sanguinaria, and other alkaloid-containing plants.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“honey bees—our planet’s most brilliant herbalists”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“When making a tincture by percolation, the evenness of the texture of the powder is probably as important as how finely it is powdered.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“good principle to follow when formulating a menstruum for dried plant material is to make the proportion of water as large as possible while still efficiently dissolving all soluble matter and not endangering the permanency of the preparation.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“If the plant is high in alkaloids, you might want to add 5 to 10 percent vinegar to help convert these free alkaloids into alkaloidal salts which are far more soluble in water and alcohol.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“The official definition of a tincture is stated to be a solution that contains at least 45 percent alcohol and has an herb/menstruum ratio of at least 1:4.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“The Twelve Healers and Other Remedies: “Take no notice of the disease. Think only of the outlook on life of the one in distress. The same disease may have different effects [varying states of mind or moods] on different people; it is these effects that need treatment, because they guide to the real cause … as one becomes well by gaining increased happiness and interest in life, the disease goes, having been cast off by the increase in health. Health and disease are caused by how we think, how we feel within ourselves. Health and disease are the consolidation of mental attitude.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“Bear in mind that the amount of liquid used to prepare a medicinal tea is not so important, the weight of herb used is.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“The particular design of Dandelion’s root system breaks up soil in a unique manner which greatly enhances the condition of any garden soil. In fact Dandelion and its sister compositae, Chamomile, another soil-conditioning plant, have been referred to in farming cultures as “the soil doctors.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]

“The people of our southern communities could control the rampant spread of Kudzu vine through their countrysides by eating it; it’s a superb cardiac tonic, and it controls alcohol craving—if one wants to; if not, Kudzu curbs headache and hangovers.”
― James Green, The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual [An Herbalism Book]