Herbal Lore - Newsletter

Herbal Lore

For centuries herbs have been used in medicines, food, embalming. There's no way of knowing precisely how the earliest cultures used herbs, but they had thousands of years to experiment. Early cultures probably recognized that certain herbs had curative powers, and it's likely these curative powers were attributed to supernatural causes. A 60,000-year-old burial site in Iraq contained evidence of eight different medicinal plants, probably intended to be taken along in the afterlife. Naturally, medicinal herbs remained steeped in magic and superstition for millennia.and all manner of interesting things.

Here are some interesting herb facts:

Celery: was used by the Abyssinians for stuffing pillows. Ancient Greeks and Romans crowned their heroes with dill and laurel. Dill also was used by the Romans to purify the air in their banquet halls.

Chives: still a common herb often found growing wild, had economic importance throughout Asia and many Mediterranean countries. Odd as it seems now, the early Dutch settlers in this country intentionally planted chives in the meadows so cows would give chive-flavored milk.

The medical inheritance of ancient Egypt passed to Greece, then to Rome. The Roman empire used herbal remedies quite extensively. For example, Mandrake herb was used in Roman times as an anesthetic.

The Ancient Sumerians used Thyme as an antiseptic as far back as 3000BC. The early Egyptians used it as part of the mummification process. Greeks used it for massage as an ingredient in bath oils, as incense, and for medicinal purposes. The Ancient Romans would bathe in water scented with thyme before going into battle.

Castles and manor houses often smelled damp and musty. To counteract this, herbs and rushes were strewn across the floors. Lavender and thyme; meadowsweet and marjoram; germander and hyssop were all popular and if the house owner was wealthy enough - the stems and leaves of the Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) which grew only in the Fenlands of Norfolk and Cambridge and the low-lying countries of Europe.

The floors of the court of King Stephen was regularly spread with rushes and flowers so that his knights need not sit on bare flags. And Thomas à Becket ordered his hall floors covered each day with May blossom in spring and sweet scented rushes in summer.

The earliest known records of medicinal herbs date back to 3,000 BC, from northern China. The herbs identified in those records; such as, myrrh and frankincense, are still being used today. At that time, however, herbalism was often explained in terms of astrology and folklore.

So as you can see the herbs we use today have been used for thousands of years the sad thing about modern herbal remdies is that more laws and regulations are stopping the use of such a natural medicine, Please take time to investigate what is happening in Cananda where they are limiting the growing of certain herbs, this would be a tragic loss to us and our birds and bees, all in the name of profit. So even if you live in an appartment grow some herbs in a pot, its fun, great in cooking and you never know you may get addicted to growing these delightful Plants.