Traditional Healing Herbs are gentle, nature‑centered ways of easing the symptoms of flus, colds,and digestive upsets, of working with chronic maladies, and of giving first aid for minor accidents such as cuts, bruises, and stings. For thousands of years, people have relied on plants for healing. Gathering summer plants for winter remedies is part of the year’s rhythm. There is a magic in the healing herbs of gardens. This magic consists not only of the plants’ reputed medicinal properties, but in the strong sense of connection and interdependence that comes from growing and collecting what you need to stay healthy. There’s a pleasant satisfaction, too, in preparing herbal remedies for your family, your friends, and yourself. When a child catches cold, one can open a bottle and take out a pill or brew a fragrant pot of peppermint‑yarrow‑elderflower tea. Each way of treating the cold has its advantages, but the sweet ceremony of brewing and offering tea may be as much of a remedy as the herbs themselves. Among the joys of summer can be growing and gathering beneficent garden herbs, drying them in big fragrant bunches for winter teas, and preparing a collection of herbal tinctures, syrups, oils, ointments, and cosmetics. In winter, we can use summer’s bounty to keep ourselves healthy.
Aloe, sometimes called Burn Plant, forms a rosette of pointed, fleshy leaves with spiny-toothed edges. Native to Africa, it’s hardy to only about 38 degrees Fahrenheit. In summer, grow it in a warm, sheltered site with non-acidic and very well-drained soil; move indoors to a sunny windowsill over the winter. Aloe thrives when slightly crowded in its pot, with soil kept on the dry side. Grows up to 3 feet tall.
Traditional Healing Uses: The thick, mucilaginous gel from aloe leaves has traditionally been applied externally to minor burns and scalds, sunburns, fungal infections, poison oak and poison ivy, insect bites, and various skin problems like dry skin, skin blemishes, inflammation, diaper rash, and heat rash.
Other Uses: Aloe gel is used in cosmetic lotions, creams, salves, and shampoos.
Harvest: As needed, break off a leaf or a section of a leaf from the outside of the plant rosette.
Preparation: Split the fresh leaf open and apply gel directly to skin.
Caution: Aloe should not be taken internally. Although it has sometimes been uses internally in the past, it is a violent purgative and may cause severe gastrointestinal cramping.
