When Grandma passed (though it started before that), she designated me the Family Historian. Given she spent years studying and researching our family genealogy. I’m proud she chose me for passing the title, stories, documents, and pictures to. She instilled a love of history in me that I hope my children continue to value and one day I can pass the title to one of them. With that being said, I’ve been wanting to contribute something more to our treasures. That’s where herbalism comes in.
Over the years lessons have been handed down, home remedies passed from generation to generation. I’ve decided to compile these as well as add some of my own, learned from classes, trainings, and research I’ve done. Over time I’ve learned a bit about why Grandma’s Coffee helped asthma, how Aunty Joyce’s Hot Toddy’s really did help colds, aloe is good on burns, oatmeal is a timeless face wash, 2 O’clock tea time really was a good thing, and so on.
To fit with something my ancestors would have chosen, I found a beautiful leather journal with a latch. I’ve been compiling research notes in another journal for sometime with scribbles, torn out pages, things to look up, cross reference and such. Notes on where things grow, how to grow, how to harvest, and all that garble. I’m now getting to a point where I feel like I can start transferring some of the information and I’m very excited.
So far, my plan is to have front pages for various herbs, mostly focusing on ones that are easily grown, then outlining ones that can be purchased that either are harder to grow or regionally specific and not my hardiness zone. Maybe a section of ones that are easily found growing wild.
The part I’m stuck on, feel free to give opinions, is how to or what to have for a table of contents/index. It’s going to be a living book so alphabetizing or grouping is out, either will essentially have to be a list that can be searched. I’m leaning toward listing pages in the back like an index and numbering pages as I go. Maybe on an introduction page I’ll have a note about the list being on the last pages and in no real order.
I suspect it will focus on day to day remedies like allergies, colds, injuries, and such. I’ve lived with asthma all my life as well as environmental allergies; that’s a gift I’ve already passed down to my kids. It will be nice to have a good place to put all the tricks and remedies I’ve learned over the years that I know will come in handy for them if they have interest or need the specific recipes once they move out.
Stay tuned, as I go, I’ll post updates and recipes.
Farm Land Love 