Herbal Medicine--Book Reviews--The Herbal Medic and The HomeGrown Herbalist

I purchased The Herbal Medic, Volume 1 (there is no volume 2) shortly before taking a class from author Sam Coffman and Dr. Steve last summer.  Let's start off by saying there is absolutely no wasted space in this book.  Sam's extensive experience as a medic in the military and in working with clients shines through in the book.  He does really know whereof he speaks.  He shares that information clearly and succinctly, and in that respect this book is more like a manual. 

Sam covers 50 herbs in 150 pages with color photographs so you can get a better idea of the plants you're looking for.  Unlike so very many herbal medicine books, Sam provides detailed instructions of exactly how and when to harvest and how to prepare the plants for maximum efficacy.  For this reason alone, The Herbal Medic is the number one choice for preppers wanting to learn more about herbal medicine.

But wait, there's more!

The materia medica, the 50 herbs covered in 150 pages, is actually the last half of the book.  In the first half, there's so much more to be really impressed with.  Like setting up a clinic.  I've never seen anyone anywhere address this issue.  How to build the equipment to tincture herbs efficiently and cheaply.  And it's something even I could (ask my husband to) build.  (Yeah, I don't actually use power tools or sharp, pointy objects.  Bad things happen to me if I do.)  Childbirth.  Makeshift supplies for dealing with tear gas and pepper spray.  Keeping a low profile even in a bad situation so that you can still help as many people as possible.  There are also chapters on dealing with venomous snake bites and how to distill alcohol.  How to make various herbal preparations--extracts, infusions,  tinctures, salves, poultices, etc.  Honestly, out of 344 pages, there are probably only 3-5 pages that I don't find particularly useful.  This book is solid.  Naturally, Sam focuses on herbs that are found more in his area of the country, which may not be as useful to someone in an entirely different climate, but really, most of the herbs covered in here grow in most parts of the country.

One thing I hate about buying herb books online is that I can't see what herbs they're covering.  I really want to learn more about herbs I can actually grow and use here for my family.  Honestly, if something only grows in China or India, I don't care about it at all.

With that said, here is the list of herbs Sam discusses:  Algerita, astragalus, bee balm, bilberry (blueberry, huckleberry), birch, boneset, burdock, butterbur, California poppy, chamomile, chaparral, chaste tree, comfrey, dandelion, echinacea, elder, elecampane, gotu kola, greenbriar, horsetail, juniper, licorice, lobelia, marshmallow, milk thistle, mugwort, mullein, myrrh, neem, nettles, Oregon grape, parsley, passionflower, plantain, poke, prickly ash, prickly pear, red root, rosemary, self heal, Siberian ginseng, skullcap, St. John's wort, sweet annie, usnea, white horehound, wire weed, yarrow.  He also discusses the use of non-herbs activated charcoal, honey, and bentonite. 


I got The HomeGrown Herbalist last month after watching author Dr. Patrick Jones on a webinar.  He's funny, very personable, and discusses herbs and treatments at a layman's level.  As an added bonus, he lives in Idaho, in an area with a climate and herbs very similar to mine, so I was hoping for more detail using plants native to my area.  Unfortunately, a 4.8 rating on Amazon with 56 reviewers giving 5 stars was severely misleading. Situations in which I would choose to purchase The HomeGrown Herbalist over The Herbal Medic:  If I were purchasing for someone middle-school age or younger with a budding interest in herbs.  It's got about 150 words per page or per herb, and precious little in the way of information or how to use any particular herb.  (For example, 126 words on aloe vera, 82 on blackberry, and just under 300 on Brigham tea.)  A cursory internet search would provide much more detail.  Maybe I'd get it if I were attending a short class that Dr. Jones was teaching--there's loads of white space on every page for taking copious notes.

The first 100 pages of this 176-page book (the overall dimensions of this book are just a little smaller than Sam Coffman's book) address the reasons for using herbal medicine, general guidelines for preparing them, harvesting and storing them, and, because he is a veterinarian, using them on your dogs and cats.  The last seventy-five pages covers his twenty-five favorite herbs for healing:  aloe vera, blackberry, Brigham tea, burdock, calendula, cayenne, chamomile, cleavers, comfrey, echinacea, rudbeckia, dandelion, elder, garlic, gumweed, lemon balm, lobelia, mallow, mullein, nettle, parsley, peppermint, plantain, St. John's wort, yarrow.  There is a color photograph to accompany each herb.

(Sam Coffman and Dr. Patrick Jones both offer online herbal medicine courses (thehumanpath.net and homegrownherbalist.net, respectively).  I have wanted to take both but unfortunately have not made the plunge to take either.  I had a good recommendation for Dr. Jones' class, so perhaps he offers more online than in his book.  I've taken a two-day class from Sam, so I have that experience as well.  Sam's online class is very structured, in real time at a set time, and he sends the herbs to you so that you are getting real hands-on experience, and as I recall, you have access to it after the class for a limited time.  Dr. Jones' class is much less structured, you can access it whenever, and you have access to it forever.)

In comparing The Herbal Medic with Stephen Buhner's Herbal Antibiotics (reviewed here on 7 November 2018), I'd really hate to have to choose between them.  There is some overlap in the two; Coffman covers more herbs with good detail while Buhner covers just antibiotic herbs but in great detail.  Get both if you can.

Links to related posts:
Herbal Antibiotics review
Prescription for Herbal Healing review 
Backyard Medicine for All review
Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs review
Herbal Antivirals review  

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  

Expanded Food Storage--Dried Beef/Jerky

One of the best things about going to visit grandparents is getting lots of love and spoiling, and my Grandma Bessie was no exception.  She wasn't a particularly huggy person; she showed her love with food.  While my wild cousins who lived nearby her apparently favored store-bought cookies, the rest of us who lived an hour away loved Grandma's beef jerky.

As I've come to learn over the years, what she made us isn't truly considered jerky by most people.  By definition, jerky is simply lean meat, cut into thin strips, salted, and dried to preserve.  However, jerky aficionados insist that true jerky is dried meat that is marinated and seasoned with more than just salt and pepper.

Whatever.  I'm happy to call my stuff dried beef if it keeps everyone else from eating it.

Grandma passed away when I was nineteen years old, and as the oldest granddaughter, and the only one interested in food preservation, I inherited her four-tray Excalibur dehydrator.  Even though I was still in college, I started using it right away.  And the first order of business was to figure out how to make Grandma's beef jerky.

I knew Grandma watched for sales on pre-sliced meat when we went shopping, and the cut she looked for was called breakfast steak.  I don't know whether stores just don't do that cut anymore, or whether that's only the case here.  I buy pre-sliced carne asada at WinCo, but only if it's sliced thinly enough, 3/16" thick or less.  If meat is any thicker, it may not dry thoroughly and you'll end up with spoilage.  

Grandma only used salt and pepper to season her jerky.  She believed in keeping things simple, and especially for her grandchildren.  She definitely didn't make jerky for her own children.  I still can't figure out why my mom and her siblings didn't eat it; I still love it, but maybe it's just because it reminds me of Grandma.

Anyway, back to drying beef.  Remove excess fat.  Lay the beef slices on the dehydrator trays and salt both sides.  I put pepper on just one side, but add pepper according to your tastes.  Of course, you can also add other seasonings; I happen to find that salt and pepper work just fine for most people and are best suited for children.  You may want to run a small test batch first to get an idea of how much salt and pepper to apply.

Set your dehydrator temperature to 155 degrees.  If the temperature is set too high, case hardening may occur, whereby the outside layer dries too quickly and thoroughly and does not permit the moisture to escape adequately from the inside.  (A little side note.  Do I think the temperature has to be that high?  No.  Native Americans, and indeed people the world over, have been drying meat for millennia, long before electricity and Excalibur dehydrators.  And I'm pretty sure they weren't doing their meat at 155 degrees.  But they didn't live in a litigious society where anyone can be sued for anything at any time.)

It usually takes about a day to dry, but I live in a desert.  Drying time will vary due to thickness of the meat, humidity, amount of salt used, and how full and efficient the dehydrator is.

I like the idea of vacuum-sealing the dried beef in bags, but I dry my beef completely, and it invariably pokes holes in the bags.  So I usually resort to vacuum-sealing in canning jars.  How long will it last?  Well, beef jerky is kind of like chocolate around here, so we don't have extremely long term studies.  However, we did misplace a few jars in our move and then somehow came across three-year old jerky.  It tasted just fine and disappeared rather quickly.  Even the pieces of fat tasted fine and had no trace of rancidity, which is what I would expect, as long as the vacuum seal isn't compromised.  

28 january 2023