I was pleased to share my gardening experiences on a recent health and wellness panel hosted by the Columbia chapter of the National Council of Negro Women. This organization was founded by renowned educator, Dr. Mary McCleod Bethune, and focuses on empowering women of color in social activism. Each panelist was given ten minutes to share tips or research from their prospective areas of expertise and answer questions from the audience. I must say it was an humbling experience, and I was quite honored to join this panel of true experts as I am an educator, then a gardener. It was very unexpected but liberating to speak about one of my passions- growing food, flowers, herbs and raising chickens. One of the guests asked a question that caught me off guard. Although I started a blog back in 2015, this was my first time speaking publicly about our gardening and hobby farming experiences. I was nervous. I shared a lot but left so much unsaid. The question was, what herbs are good for headaches? During the conversation, I only spoke about the mints- spearmint and peppermint to be exact, but there are so many more. Once the forum ended, my thoughts began to flood about what I should have or could have said or done differently. I’m sure you know that feeling. Well, if I had a do-over- and I’m taking this opportunity to do it over- this would have been a better response. Q. What herbs are good for headaches? A. The easiest herbs to grow and blend for teas when supporting headaches are members of the mint family. Spearmint and peppermint are the first to come to mind. However, my absolute favorite and go-to that I mix with everything is lemon balm. The fragrance alone is intoxicating, and I personally find it soothing. Mints will take off in your garden once you get them going, so it is important to grow them in a space where you can keep them contained. We grow all of our mints in pots. Chamomile and lavender are probably the most popular of the herbs to use for a myriad of things, but stress relief is a primary issue supported by these two herbs. They are both beautiful flowers to add to your landscape. Chamomile can be a bit tricky to start, but once they get going, they can be known to self-seed. The flowers are small, daisy-like with a yellow center and white petals. Snip the flowers just as they open and use them fresh or dried in your teas. The plant will continue to produce more flowers all season long. Lavender is treated in much the same way. You can use the leaves or flowers in teas or even baking, but the flowers are much more potent. Lavender is a little more finicky to start from seed. If you have a few extra bucks to spend on the plant, I recommend at least starting that way. They are rather slow-growing. We plant many different varieties of basil in our garden simply because I love walking through the scent. This year we experimented with lime, Thai and cinnamon basil teas. They are quite refreshing, and while I have not used them specifically for headaches, there are many herbalists who support their use in this way. The tea alone has a floral taste, but some of them present better coupled with other herbs. This is a basic basil leaf tea written by herbalist Rosemary Gladstar that uses a combination of these herbs to soothe headaches and stress. Start by bringing the water to a boil, then pour it over the herb mixture. When I steep my teas, I like to keep them covered to trap all the goodness in the cup. The aroma and steam emitted from the brew contributes to the calming effect, in my opinion. When preparing the tea, use 1 teaspoon of dried herbs or 2 teaspoons of fresh herbs for each cup of water, and steep the blend for 15 minutes. For this recipe, you would use 1 teaspoon each of fresh basil and lemon balm, and add ¼ teaspoon lavender or chamomile. I prefer a bolder taste, so that ¼ teaspoon more wouldn’t make much of a difference. You might also consider premixing the dried herbs. Four tablespoons of basil leaves, 4 tablespoons of lemon balm and 1 tablespoon of chamomile or lavender flowers added to a mason jar and shaken well would be ready to go whenever you needed it. Another quick recipe comes from Jodi Helmer’s Grow Your Own Tea Garden. This recipe is for a much larger quantity but follows the same idea. It calls for fresh herbs. If you only have dried herbs on hand, cut the amount in half. For this recipe, steep the tea for 3-5 minutes and strain. Chamomile tea is my normal stress reliever. I don’t know about you, but for me, stress brings on a headache real quick. Even if you don’t happen to have chamomile growing in your garden, you can pick an organic chamomile or chamomile-lavender tea blend from your local grocery store and add other herbs to it. If you can’t get used to the slight bitterness of the flowers, add a little lemon balm and you won’t be disappointed. Some other herbs worth researching for headache relief are ginger, feverfew, catnip, sage, rosemary and lemon verbena. You can’t go wrong adding any of these to your tea garden, but you will want to look into whether or not any of them don’t play well together in your teas. I’d love to hear about what you are sipping from your teacup. Check out a few of my summer concoctions on Facebook. For further research: Gladstar, R. (2008). Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health: 175 Teas, Tonics, Oils, Salves, Tinctures and Other Natural Remedies for the Entire Family. Storey Publishing: North Adams, MA. Helmer, J. (2019). Growing Your Own Tea Garden: The Guide to Growing and Harvesting Flavorful Teas in Your Backyard. For Chapel Publishing: Mount Joy, PA Please note, I am not an herbalist or medical professional. The information contained in this blog are my opinions based upon my own research and are not intended to advise, prescribe, diagnose, remedy or treat anyone for illness or disease.
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AuthorI'm a wife, mother, daughter, educator, writer and hobby farmer. Welcome to my world of simply living. Archives
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