The Homesteader's Guide To Growing Herbs: Learn to Grow, Prepare, and Use Herbs

I Want To Love It But It Contains Incorrect Information

The Homesteaders Guide To Growing Herbs: Learn to Grow, Prepare, and Use Herbs by Kristine Brown

I run my own small Eco family farm full time. I've been doing it for over a decade & have been growing herbs & gardening even longer. I'm not a herbalist, but one does learn a thing or two by doing. I was very excited to receive this book. As always, I geek out over anything to do with herbs & growing things. Making tinctures & other goodies is another great pleasure of mine. Aside from recipes for humans, the author provides recipes for livestock & pets (of which I have all three categories). Words simply cannot adequately express just how eager I was to dive into this book.

Off I go reading this book. I'm thrown here & there, questioning the accuracy of some things. My thoughts were, She's the herbalist and she studied with Rosemary Gladstar, so surely she is right & I am wrong. Fine enough but when I see that she claims elderberry bushes grow to 25' (that's twenty five feet!), I really had to put on the breaks. I grow my own elderberry bushes. They don't grow that big. They max out at about 12.5'; about half the height she claims. Sorry, but I've never had an elderberry bush grow taller than my house. I tell myself this is likely a typo & continue to read. Then I get to wormers. OMG. She's killing me. Not dewormers. Wormers. So I guess I'm giving my animals worms then am I? No, this is to remove or kill the worms. Therefore it's de-worm. Ugh.

I also want to point out that this isn't about just herbs. She has black walnut (tree), elderberry (bush), onion (vegetable), peach (tree), raspberry (admittedly, raspberry leaf is considered an herbal, typically taken as tea or tincture), rose (bush), willow (tree), etc. Personally, I enjoy these additional foods, but I can understand it causing confusion & maybe even anger if one is looking for herbs. These additional foods have medicinal benefits & that is why they are in this book. The book really should have been given a different title as to not mislead. 'The Homesteader's Guide to Growing' is 100% correct, the remainder of the title is misleading (& it features the largest text ~sigh~). This is geared towards homesteaders which is me. This doesn't mean there isn't useful information for someone who doesn't homestead.

There are so many recipes I'd love to try, but rather than trust what is in the book, I must first research it first for safety. I'm so disappointed. I have very mixed feelings towards this book as a result. Part of me adores it. Another part of me fears it for the potential risks should there be incorrect information & I do not realize it. I have autoimmune disease & must be very careful with what my body is exposed to. Living my holistic & organic lifestyle greatly helps me manage my disease.

Unless you are highly experienced in herbal medicine, I probably wouldn't get this book (I really hate to say that). But I'm going to guess that if you are highly experienced, you wont need this book.