Medicine in your own backyard
Step outdoors and check out the natural areas near your home, especially the wild ones that have weeds growing in them. Getting acquainted with the native plants in your area can open up a world containing all the medicine you may need.
Wildcrafting, carefully collecting herbs and other edible plants, was a part of daily living before the convenience of pharmacies and grocery stores replaced our con-nection with nature for these resources. But nature can still provide much of the medicine we need, especially the preventive medicine that promotes good health rather than focusing on illness. Herbalists make medicinal teas and tinctures from nettles, dandelion leaf, oat straw and many other plants that most people consider weeds. Nettles have immune sys-tem boosting properties and dandelion is a liver tonic.
Certified clinical herbalist Ginger Webb, says the best prevention of serious illness is to nourish ourselves. Greens such as chard and kale are full of minerals. Lambs quarters is a weed that grows in Central Texas can be eaten like a salad green when it’s too hot to grow lettuce in Texas. Purslane has omega-3 fatty acids Berries are rich in antioxidants. Studies show that eating the cactus plant can help prevent diabetes.
In cities with high levels of air pollution, nourishment from the natural world is even more important. Webb says a diet that contains lots of fresh, organic greens and herbal tonics helps the body take care of environmental toxins.