C. Norman Shealy

This wasn't quite what I was hoping it would be, but I'm still giving it 4 stars because it's a wealth of information and comprehensively spans more than I ever wanted to know about.

My goal when I bought this book was to learn more about how I could use what I grow in my garden and as a bonus, perhaps get some ideas for other plants I could add.

I got almost exactly that - and I learned a lot about what a tincture is versus a decoction, versus a poultice... things I always sort of wondered about but not enough to actually look up.

The book is setup to cover 5 'schools' of healing remedies: Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese Herbs, Folklore Herbalism, Flower Essences, and Vitamins/Supplements and I suppose this is where it fell short for me in a perverse way; I got more than I wanted. I was really just looking for a resource that would cover Folklore Herbalism and perhaps an easy botanical reference of plants that were known to have healing properties. Oh, and how to use them properly/effectively. This book has a few recipes, but not as much as I'd have liked.

I'm glad I bought it and I know I'll use it (I used it this morning, in fact) but I'm still on the look-out for something closer to what I'm looking for.… (meer)