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’s a pleasant satisfaction, too, in preparing herbal remedies for your family, your friends, and yourself. 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.
Large, bright yellow flower umbels bloom on 3-5 foot plants. Grow in sun or part shade. Self seeds.
Traditional Healing Uses: Fennel seed tea has been used to stimulate milk production in nursing mothers, to freshen breath, and to relieve flatulence, hiccups, and colic. Fennel tea was used to treat infant colic and to relieve coughs and bronchitis. Fennel seeds have been recommended both to stimulate appetite and as an aid to dieters. Fennel oil has been used externally to ease pains of rheumatism, arthritis, and sore muscles.
Other Uses: Leaves or seeds add a mild licorice flavor to salad, soup, meat, fish, potatoes, baked goods or pickles.
Harvest: Collect seed when ripe, in dry fall weather. Dry in the shade.
Preparation: Pour 1 cup of boiling water on 1-2 teaspoons of lightly crushed seeds and infuse for 10 minutes, 3 times a day. A cup of this infusion half an hour before meals may ease flatulence.
Caution: Oil distilled from fennel is not for internal use; applied externally it may cause allergic skin reactions.
Take a look at all our Traditional Healing Herbs in this amazing flip-book! Or click here for a poster.
