Herbs for Vibrant Health
joanneameyacohen.com/ It is Q & A Wednesday! Dear Joanne, I love your Q & A's because of the information that you provide about herbs for specific women's symptoms. So, my question is, for someone who is super interested about herbs but not sure where to start, what advice can you give? How do I know where to buy the herbs? And to figure out the quality? Thank you so much! With love, Monica Thank you so much Monica. I am always so excited when someone wants to jump in and learn more about herbal medicine. It is so empowering to take control of your health and connect more deeply with the medicines of the Earth. So, here is the deal. It is super important to know about sourcing your herbs. Remember this is your medicine so whatever you are putting into your body needs to be of the highest quality. Here are some tips when buying herbs: Always, always buy organic or ethically wildcrafted. Organic means there are no pesticides or herbicides... and ethically wildcrafted means that a farmer or herbalist has harvested the plants in the wild (rather than growing it in cultivation) and has harvested ethically (meaning they only take a little and leave the patch -- no overharvesting!) Look at the color of the dried plant materials: do they look vibrant? Are they green or are the flowers still colorful? Are they brown and lifeless? These are always ways to know about how long they have been sitting on the shelf. Smell the herbs -- Do they smell fresh? Or maybe you know how a plant smells when fresh and still growing? It should smell similarly. And then of course, you want to get a sense of the store they are being bought in. Have they been sitting on the shelf for awhile? Are they stored in glass jars away from the sun? Use your intuition here. The best is to buy directly from an organic farmer or check out Jeans's Greens or Mountain Rose Herbs -- they are distributors of all things herbs sourced from the best farmers and herbalists. I hope this helps. What has worked for you? How do you source your plants? If you like this video, please send to a fellow budding herbalist. And know that you are doing yourself and this Earth a great service by learning and using botanical remedies. And subscribe to this youtube channel for regular updates! With Love, Joanne
