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Herbs

Frugal Herbal: Simple Supplies for Herb Collecting

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Now onto collecting your herbs. I will assume you have grown your own, positively identified some you wild harvested OR bought some bulk herbs from a reputable source. If you need some resources for herb identification I would suggest: Herb Pinterest Board.

basic supplies to help with herb collecting

BASKET-I use baskets that I have been given, cardboard boxes from the grocery store, or occasionally an ice cream bucket. I admit I did buy a cute rectangular basket from the Dollar Tree to aid in herb collecting! (Using our affiliate links to help you find what we own and use)

great little basket to help collect herbs

PLANT ID BOOK-If you are still trying to figure out what grows in your yard or neighborhood then I would suggest a good book like:Identifying & Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants, The Complete Book of Herbs: A Practical Guide to Growing and Using Herbs,  Edible Wild Plants for Beginners,  Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat and Western Garden Book of Edibles: The Complete A-Z Guide

SCISSORS-helps to harvest herbs and the parts of plants that you want without damaging plants around it or hurting yourself.

GLOVES- simple fabric garden gloves or even cheap food service gloves can both come in handy.

DRYING RACK- You will need a good place to dry your herbs. You could use a clothes drying rack, diaper drying rack, herb mesh rack or herb horse. Of course you could make a drying screen for cheap from an old picture frame.

 

Frugal Herbal: How to Prepare Glass Jars for Herbal Remedies

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Today I am going to share with you some ways to prepare your collection of jars for herbal remedies. Since you may have had your bag of jars sitting around you will need to wash them. Remember when I told you to start saving your spaghetti, relish, and pickle jars? Remember when I suggested you ask your friends and family to save jars for you? Well, now is the time to dig that stash of jars out and put them to good use!

prepare glass jars

 

Do your jars have old food labels on them? Try soaking them in a sink of hot soapy water sometimes this will do the trick. If they have soaked and still have sticky residue then I have a tip for you. OIL. Grab some oil, doesn’t matter what kind, and rub or spray onto the sticky residue. Allow your jars to sit for 30 minutes to 2 hours. I used a drink holder from a fast food restaurant so my jars didn’t roll away and get oil everywhere.

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Frugal Herbal: How to Prepare to Make Herbal Remedies

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As I journey on this path of herbal learning I thought I should share some tips and trick along the way. The first thing I want to share is how to prepare to make herbal remedies. You are probably thinking plant identification would be first, but not for me. I will challenge you to gather your supplies first and then learn about plants.

preparing to make herbal remedies

First, start collecting glass jars. You will need all sorts of jars to store your dried herbs, infused oils, tinctures, syrups,etc. Since you are a novice like me and probably on a budget you won’t be able to go buy everything you need. Start saving baby food jars, spaghetti jars, pickle jars, maraschino cherry jars, relish jars, etc. Ask you friends and family to save their jars for you as well.

 

How many jars will you need? This depends on the number of herbs you have to work with. If you are growing them or if you wild harvest them you might have a little more time to play around. If you buy some bulk herbs then you will want a place to store them instead of the bags they come in. I would say you will need three jars for each herb. Now don’t freak out on me. This is why you need so many jars. You will need a larger jar for dried herbs (pickle or spaghetti), medium (pint sized) jar for oil infusions or vinegars and small (baby food 4-6 oz.) for tinctures.

Once you have your collection of jar you will want to learn How to Prepare your Glass Jars for Herbal Remedies. So hop on over and read that post with tips and tricks for cleaning your glass jars.

We will discuss collecting herbs, drying herbs, and plant identification in other posts. For now check out some herb books or plant ID books from your local library. Until next time happy herb learning.