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Tag: Medicinals

Quails

Aren’t they the cutest little things? They’re day old quail chicks, and we’re finding they’re nicely suited to raising in suburbia. Besides being prolific egg layers, there’s some good science that quail eggs are very effective against hayfever, and possibly, probably other allergies too.

Cone flowers, five of them, bright pink circle of petals around an orange centre. The background is leaves. We can just make out an insect sitting on the underside of one.

Garden Pharmacy – Echinacea

They’re such a pretty flower. Nothing in my garden has just one purpose – this little suburban garden is too small to fit nectar sources for pest predators, pollen sources for pollinators, flowers for cutting for the vase on the kitchen table, compost materials, food and medicinals for the chooks and quails, food and medicinals for us – everything has to do at least two or three of those. More…

A small plant with light green lobed leaves and lots of small flowers with a single row of white petals around a yellow centre. Flowers are borne in clusters at the branch tips.

Garden Pharmacy – Feverfew

Feverfew is a pretty little perennial herb with flowers that look very much like chamomile. It’s is best known as a migraine preventative, and there is now some decent evidence that it works and is safe. Luckily I don’t get migraines. But there is also some evidence that it is useful as an antihistamine, and as a hayfever sufferer, that earns it a spot in my garden.

A small tree in a square, black plastic pot. It has glossy, medium green leaves and a small bamboo stake.

Garden Pharmacy – Cinnamon

I bought a cinnamon tree. It’s a small tree – two to five metres – and attractive with its glossy green leaves and red new growth. And it needs to be pruned hard. So I should be able to find a spot for it somewhere even in this little suburban garden. But some research about cinnamon being “a potent botanical for complicated UTI” struck me.

Cob of corn on a corn plant showing the fine corn yellow silks emerging from its top.

Garden Pharmacy – Corn Silks

Traditionally, corn silk tea is used for urinary related problems – things like cystitis, kidney stones, prostate problems, bedwetting. I’ll keep some dried silks on the shelf and keep it in mind in case of cystitis, but the reason I like drinking corn silk tea routinely is that it reduces LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels, without at the same time affecting HDL or “good” cholesterol. I have the genes for…

Golden yellow flower in focus in the foreground, with garden and hanging baskets out of focus in the background. The flower has a double ring of golden yellow petals with slightly toothed ends, around a dark gold centre.

Garden Pharmacy – Calendula

We talk about food security but not so much about medicine security. This is a series about the plants with a good evidence base for medicinal use. They all have garden ecosystem and culinary uses too, so worth growing anyhow, and having them growing close at hand might give you a small measure of security in the wild west of late capitalism. Calendula, for example, has some good evidence backing…