I have planted many herbs in the garden over the years, and used them when necessary.
My family have never been able to afford what we in South Africa call “Medical Aid” insurance.
I have relied on my knowledge of diet and prevention rather than pharmaceutical cures to keep us healthy.
If I were to calculate how much I would have spent over nearly 50 years it would be a fortune compared to how much we needed that insurance.
I understand that where broken limbs are concerned, professionals are the answer, but, even then, to heal quicker I have used Comfrey – knit bone – and other natural salves, rather than chemical pastes to aid recovery.
I do this by boiling the Comfrey leaves and making a poultice to put between cotton wool (next to the skin first, because the actual leaf affects the skin badly ) and a bandage. You can also boil it and use the juice to moisten cotton wool to rub on the affected area.
I used these on myself with a sprained ankle and fractured wrist.
The mixture will keep, but only a couple of days in the fridge!!
Bulbine is also used externally for any thing affecting the skin. Excellent for burns, cuts, bruises, insect bites, moles and other ‘eruptions’.
I scrape the sticky innards of the leaf out onto a plate and mix it with twice the amount of aqueous cream. We used lashings of it when my son got roasties from falling off his motor bike and petrol burns, and he has no scars.
The other panacea succulent is aloe vera which can be used as a salve externally, or a gut cleanser if well diluted.
Of course, I use them in our food. Good old mint for spuds and peas, and the others as and when I feel the need for a flavour.
Now, after a very dry Winter, they are looking a bit sad, but just now, when the rains come, they will liven up again.
The last pair I will talk about is Rosemary and Geranium.
I use these as a hair tonic, which you can read about here
There are many other flowers and trees in our garden which have their medicinal uses, but there are tomes to be found on these. Just a few that we grow – ginkoe, blackjack, lavender, spekboom and eucalyptus.
I have been fascinated to learn about the African uses of herbs from our local Zulus as well.
