AN HERBAL MEDICINE CHEST

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ECHINACEA

This is definitely my second favorite healing herb. It's the best herbal blood purifier (it cleans out toxins in the blood), is an excellent antibiotic (it fights infections), and is a good stimulant (it increases body energy). I use it mostly as a general antibiotic whenever I have an infection and when I need to fight colds, sore throats, and flu germs.

Use the root of the plant. Many herbalists make a strong tea from some ground root (one source suggests steeping a teaspoon of dried root to one cup of water) and drink it as often as necessary to relieve their symptoms. I like to store my echinacea in tincture form (a concentrated mixture of alcohol and herb). Then if I feel a cold coming on, I take one-half dropperful (about one-sixteenth of a teaspoon) as needed to rid myself of the cold before it becomes a problem. In acute stages, I'll take a half dropperful eveiy two hours for two days and then twice a day for two weeks. The only times it hasn't worked for me have been when I've failed to take enough doses. (Echinacea has no known toxicity level, although if you take a lot, you may experience slight dizziness or nausea.)

Echinacea is sold by many seed companies as a flower. (It's sometimes called purple coneflower or black sampson.) In my experience, it doesn't grow readily from seed. It's easier to buy plants. You can grow either Echinacea purpurea or E. angustifolia, although I've heard the latter has greater medicinal properties.

GARLIC

This herb is a remedy for almost anything! Garlic's an antibiotic, a blood purifier, an antiseptic (something applied to the skin to prevent bacterial growth), an expectorant (it helps expel mucus from the lungs and throat), a stimulant, a diaphoretic (it induces sweating), an antispasmodic, a nervine (calms nervous tension), a carminative (relieves gas and bowel pains), and a vulnerary. It can even destroy parasites in the digestive tract . . . help heal lung ailments . . . and counter both high and low blood pressure.

Don't boil garlic or it will lose its medicinal properties. Using it fresh is best. I simply munch on a clove when I want to avoid a cold. (Admittedly, this remedy does make my husband, Walker, tend to avoid me!) You can eat a clove a day to help lower high blood pressure. And when I need an expectorant, I crush cloves in just a bit of water . . . simmer the liquid gently to make steam . . . and put my nose-under a towel "tent"-over the vapors.

I've recently discovered Michael Tierra's recipe for garlic oil-it's in his book, The Way of Herbs (Pocketbooks, 1983). To make this healing liquid, put eight ounces of peeled and minced garlic, and enough olive oil to cover the herb, in a wide-mouthed jar. Close the jar tightly, put it in a warm place, and shake it several times a day for three days. Then press and strain the oil through unbleached muslin or cotton cloth . . . and store it in a cool place. Take one teaspoon of oil a day for colds, flus, fevers, and infectious diseases. For earaches, insert a few drops into the affected ear with a wad of cotton. And rub the oil directly onto the skin to ease aches and sprains.

Garlic is easy to grow, but-at least here in North Carolina-it takes almost a full year to mature. We plant ours before the ground freezes-anytime in August or September. We sow the biggest and best of our stockpiled cloves (growing-tip up, two inches deep and six inches apart) in raised, double-dug beds. (We also compact the soil just a tad with a board right before we plant. All alliumsgarlic's botanical name is Allium sativum like that.)

Garlic prefers a sunny, sandy, moist location. The green tips start to die back and turn brown sometime in July. Harvest the cloves when that happens or they'll begin to rot or to send forth lots of little buds from the ground, which will weaken the parent plant. Dry the bulbs out of direct sunlight on racks where they get adequate ventilation.

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