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Herb Teas from My Garden

© Traute Klein, biogardener

Herbalism for You and Me

Herbalism is alive and well. I grew up in a country where it is taken for granted and where physicians are more likely to prescribe a tried and true herbal remedy than an aspirin. Folk remedies are passed on from generation to generation and from neighbor to neighbor. North America also has a rich background in herbal traditions which have been brought here from many different cultures. Unfortunately, in our 20th century acceptance of packaged consumer goods, herbs also have become a marketed commodity. This is not what herbalism means to me. Like a frozen dinner, prepackaged herbs may serve their purpose in an emergency, but they should not take the place of fresh ingredients just for the sake of convenience. Do you remember the friar in Romeo and Juliet? He gathered fresh herbs in his garden to concoct the potion which put Juliet into a temporary state of seeming death. He could have found the ingredients for any other malady in that garden. I concoct my herb teas in the same manner. Every day I pick a selection of herbs which I brew for that day's tea. That tea may not be designed to heal a specific illness, it may, however, keep my family in good health. And it certainly tastes good.

Herb Teas All Around Us

In my childhood, I learned to pick the ingredients for teas and salads among the weeds in the ditches and forests of Europe. With the present-day use of herbicides and pesticides, however, it has become necessary to be more selective in choosing the sites for picking edibles. My organic garden is the safest site close to home, but whenever I am hiking or camping away from civilization's reach, I have no problem collecting a good assortment of wild plants for a good tea or for a munch-as-you-go salad. Let's see what you might be able to find in your own garden. You will probably be surprised by the many fresh herb tea ingredients which you did not expect. You will also find ingredients for a fresh salad among the weeds which you had meant to compost, and I have written about them in Weed Salads from My Garden. If you have preserved your childlike curiosity of everything new, you probably already know which of the weeds in your garden taste good. Fortunately, very few of them are poisonous. Before you become too adventurous, it would, however, be a good idea to acquaint yourself with those weeds in your area which are capable of hurting or even killing you before you become too adventurous. At least get to recognise the nightshade plants and stay away from them. They all contain some poison and the ones which grow wild can be deadly. Other common garden plants to be avoided are lily-of-the-valley as well as several other lilies and bulbs.

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