One of  the most effective methods of ingesting herbal remedies is in the form of an herbal tea. Herbal constituents are easily assimilated in the form of a tea, and allow for larger doses to be taken without causing indigestion. Thus you can take a more potent, and therefore more effectual, dosage. Herbs are not refined chemicals. In most cases you are not going to take one or two little capsules, and experience much therapeutic effect from them. In some cases an herb is so potent that this is not the case, such as in the case of Cascara bark, and others. But to heal a bad infection I have seen people take a half cup of Echinacea root via a tea, and this would amount is a dosage that would certainly cause indigestion if ingested in its whole raw form. But it is a simple, and a very powerful remedy to take this much Echinacea in a tea. But try taking 100-200 capsules of Echinacea root, and emptying them into a pan, and you will begin to wonder why you pay 10 times as much to have it capsuled.

There are two main methods of making an herbal tea. The one is called an infusion, the other, a decoction. An infusion is made of the leaves or arial parts of the herb, and you make it just as you would a cup of black tea.... you boil water and then steep the herb in the water until it reaches drinking temperature, at which time you strain, and drink it. A decoction, on the other hand, is made from the roots, bark, seeds, or fruit of an herb, which, because of their hard or woody constitution must be boiled for 15-25 minutes in order to obtain its constituents in the solution. If you are going to make a tea made of both, you may boil the roots and then add the leaves to steep when you remove it from heat. One would typically make such a tea in 1-2 quarts of water. If you are making a decoction, then the 2 quarts will boil down to approximately 1 1/2 quarts by the time you are done, and this must be taken within a 24 hour period, as it will spoil. You will know if it has spoiled because it will begin to stink. Sometimes you can get away with a day and a half, and the cooler it remains the longer it will keep. As to how much herb to use in your tea, that is a matter of which you will have to educate yourself. Different herbs have different effects. Some will make you quite sick if you try to take a large dose of them, such as Cascara bark, or Poke root. But most you can take several tablespoons in a batch of tea, and it will only increase the healing effects.

Because this method of taking herbs is not as convenient as popping few pills, some are adverse to attempting it. But while it does take more effort, it also has the benefits already described For those who have tried herbal remedies with little effect, insufficient dosage is a possible cause. But for those who must at all cost have convenience, there are herbal tinctures. What you gain in convenience with a tincture you loose in price. They are still far more economical than capsuled herbs, IF YOU MAKE THEM YOURSELF, (click here and learn how) and much more powerful, but not so much so as taking the raw herbs.The only benefit that tinctures have over a tea is that they are extremely convenient. Some argue that the alcohol will also break down any fatty substances in the herbs better than the boiling water, and technically this is doubtless true. In my family, however, we have experienced more significant healing experiences with the teas. I cannot say, however, that our application of tincture therapy was consistent.

Then there is the cost factor. When you consider that an average bottle of herbs has 100 500mg. capsules, (50,000mg) and that a pound of herb is approximately 445,000 mg., that means that the bottle is slightly over 1/10 of a pound. When you pay $10.00 or more for that bottle of herbs, that means you are paying $100.00 per pound! There is not an herb I sell that costs a hundred dollars per pound. Quite a few are under $5.00 per pound! Will they be selling capsuled herbs for $0.50 per bottle any time soon? And, more importantly, will people be inclined to take a therepeutic dosage at this price? And when they fail to do so, all will suppose that herbal medicine didn't work! No, herbs work, it is just that people are often too apathetic or uninformed to make them work.

The best thing for a person to do who is interested in taking health care back into their own hands, is for them to educate themselves, and for this end nothing will be as valuable as a few good books. We sell some good ones. There are a lot of good ones we don't sell, but hope to soon. And it is recommended that you would not just get one book, but several, as the different perspectives of the authors tend to round out your own understanding, and to offer different insights which help form your own opinions. I would avoid, however, those natural health books which prescribe 20 different kinds of expensive concoctions...... the kind the health food stores put right by the cash register. That is is not to say that such substances are unworthy as healing agents. My own perspective is that they should be used in moderation as an ancillary measure to a more natural approach. The fact is that I use some of them, and sell the more useful of them in the catalog.

It can be an inexpressibly liberating experience for a person to come to the realization that they can heal themselves with some weeds growing out their back door, and that they are no longer beholden to the tyranny of a medical priesthood to run between them and the patented nostrums of multi-billion dollar pharmacutical corporations. We once overcame an acute illness with nothing but some hot packs and some VERY stong Echinacea tea. When this disease had passed, I considered that I had saved myself several thousand dollars in expensive hospital treatments. And not only so, but that herbal medicine had just cost this oppresive medical monopoly several thousand dollars, and I understood then better than ever before, the inveterate enmity to it in the modern medical community. As one has aptly stated, "A healthy person is a lost customer". Modern medicine is a system run by GREED, and no longer serves men in mercy as it once attempted to. That there may be a revival of domestic knowledge of medicine is certainly our prayer, and we hope that we may do something for that cause as we are enabled of God to do so.

Return to Index