LIVING WITH HERBS

CONTAINER HERBS ON MY DECK

 I have disabling Osteoarthritis in most of my major joints and back, I am in a wheel chair, I have Polymyalgia Rhuematica (PMR), which makes the use of my arms and shoulders, sometimes a living hell, my poor shoulders, if that is not enough has Osteo- Arthritis as well so swinging my arms over my head or reaching behind my back, ain't going to happen, I mainly have use of my arms from my elbows down. I have my mom and dad's genes to thank for this. My pharmaceutical medicines just don't cut it most of the time  because of adverse side effects ,so for a number of years I have been raising my own herbs that I use in tinctures, teas, cooking ,capsules and salves. 

I grow my herbs mainly  on my deck in pots. I like growing them on my deck so I can have easy access to them all the time, just working and tending them helps me greatly, I love the smell they give off especially after they have been watered. I grow, rosemary,sage, thyme,oregano, various mints, lemon balm,aloe,basil, onion and garlic chives,echinacea, chamomile, Lavender and marigold. I am hoping to add to my collection this coming growing season. 
My best go to herbal tinctures that I do not grow is olive leaf tincture , a must have in anyone's herbal collection. It is what I go to when I have the first sign of colds, flu, cough, you name it, I start taking a teaspoon 4 times a day to ward that crud away and it has not let me down.  I am on prednisone for  my PMR and it suppresses my immune system so I have to be diligent when any signs of sickness comes my way usually via my grand-kids. I also have insomnia thanks to the prednisone and so I drink chamomile tea every night before bed with a little cannabis to help me sleep , most days it works but about 2 nights a week, nothing helps and so I get to have all nighters, yippy. There are many good places on line to find out about these herbs and how they can help you, I am sure their information will be a lot better than I can give you. I am just saying how important it is to be able to provide herbal medicines for ones self in this day of easy pill popping.

 By raising my herbal medicines, I am able to have a very real connection with my plants, they give me great pleasure seeing them grow and thrive .  I find that most bee's and nectar loving insects choose flowers from herbs over any annual flowers I have. Even if the flowers from my annuals are big they choose the little herbal ones over them, they know where the good stuff is.
It is much cheaper and healthier to raise your own medicines, you know what has or has not been placed on your herbs. You also don't have the government telling you what you can have or not have. I believe there will be a time when medicines may be harder to get when you need them and one must be able to take care of your family and one's self when you need medicine. Even now they have made it hard for me to get the pain medication I need because some twit has abused them, so now all of us are now suspect, even though I have xrays, MRI's to prove my pain, it is getting harder and more expensive for me to get them so I have to think outside of the box and take care of things myself.
I am hopefully going to do some landscaping in front of my home , some old worn out hedges along side of my front step needs to go and I am going to replace them with herbs and edible plants . I can't wait to have tall lavender at my front step so all can smell them and be given their awesome aroma when they come into my home.
Happy growing.
PATC