Nature's REMEDIES

Learn to forage for and dry your own herbs to use as part of your décor or DIY self-care products.

As we learn more about natural products, it’s getting easier to make decisions that are better for our home and wellbeing. Author and certified herbalist Ashley Moore wrote The Women’s Heritage Sourcebook: Bringing Homesteading to Everyday Life with Lauren Malloy, Emma Rollin Moore and Audria Culaciati so other women can learn and enjoy the benefits of using natural products. “I am inspired by the usefulness of plants, but also by how overlooked most of them are,” she writes.

While herbs are well-known as cooking aids, they can also be used as ingredients in natural, handmade self-care products such as medicines, hair conditioners, body scrubs, skin care and dyes. Here’s the best way to gather and preserve your own herbs.

BEST FORAGING PRACTICES

“The number one rule when foraging is do it with respect,” writes Ashley. Nature is providing you with free ingredients, and you want to ensure you don’t take more than you’ll use, so never take more than 10% of what’s available. “Someone coming along after you should not be able to notice that you have taken any plants.”

Also, never touch or eat a plant that you can’t identify. To learn which plants are edible and which are poisonous, walk around your neighborhood with a local plant expert, or sign up for an educational hike and familiarize yourself with a plant identification guide at your local library.