My love of herbs first started at an early age when my parents taught me that gardening could be fun. Little did I know how the joy of gardening would inspire me to focus almost exclusively on a variety of herbal arts.
Many of us like gardening. We like to get our hands in the soil, grow vegetables, flowers and so on. We can appreciate the changing of the seasons and see how the world changes as we move from one season to the next. Gardening turns us on to the surprisingly easy tasks associated with growing herbs. If you want to get started with the gardening pastime or hobby, why not grow herbs, to keep things easy?
I have loved herb garden design and our top two herb garden design books can be found in our store.If you like design work then you will love these books as they are leaders in their focus of geometric herb garden and kitchen French-inspired potager herb gardens.
But, personally, even though I love gardening, farming and landscaping... there has always been something special about herbs. Maybe it is the connection between herbs and wellness and how our American culture has been influenced by the intersection of these two dimensions over time.
I started to appreciate herbs from a culinary standpoint at an early age. Because I love to cook, herbs were a natural aspect of advanced cooking techniques. If you want to "up your cooking game" from the mundane to a next step beyond, then you can take a major step forward by actively incorporating herbs into any meal.
But, it is only recently that I have been drawn further into the world of herbs which goes way beyond herb cultivation and culinary arts. Or the use of herbs for decoration or domestic uses such as repelling rodents by using home-grown mints. I could go on and on.
But my point is that even though there are many ways to appreciate herbs for mundane, everyday purposes or for specialized wellness purposes, there has been a more important aspect that I struggle to verbalize. In essence, my fascination with herbs goes much, much deeper. My guess is that I love the historical aspects and how the birth of herbal wellness lore and practices got us started on the significantly important trend of exploring herbal plant power!
Herbal lore and practices started in medieval times. Herbs were raised within the safety of the monastery in western cultures as well as in temples in eastern cultures.
As I look back at my career, here are the modern-day herbalists who have most inspired me:
1.) Adelma Simmons - Developer of the Caprilands herbal farm and sanctuary in Connecticut.
2.) Bertha Reppert - Herbalist and author of the book entitled, "Growing Your Herb Business" and founder of Rosemary House.
3.) Elaine Dow - Herbalist and author of the Simples & Worts guide from the Historic Society of the Parson Capen House in Topsfield, MA.
3.) Rosemary Gladstar - Herbalist and founder of Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center.
4.) MarleneAdelmann - Herbalist, published author, and the Founder and Director of The Herbal Academy, international school of herbal arts and sciences and The Herbarium, a virtual membership publication for herbalists.
In future posts we will cover the above herbal rock stars in more detail.