Embracing an Herbal Lifestyle: Some Insights

Crunchy Christian Podcast

Want to know about embracing an herbal lifestyle? Join Julie on today’s episode as she interviews Jamie Fivecoate Larrison of The Herbal Spoon. She is a trained herbalist and in addition to her own site, she is also the DIY and Natural Remedies Editor with Wellness Mama. She has trained with some notable herbalists such as James McDonald and Dr. Aviva Romm, among many others. And Julie is thrilled to have her on the show. Julie talks with her today about her background with plants, embracing an herbal lifestyle, and more. Jamie is one of the speakers at the upcoming Family Wellness Conference. Take a peek at the interview.

Embracing an Herbal Lifestyle: An Interview with Jamie Fivecoate Larrison

So, Jamie, you were telling me that you have always had an interest in plants since you were a young girl. How did that interest develop initially?

So, I grew up with my grandparents and my grandpa had been a farmer. I thought it was totally normal for everybody to have seven gardens and a small fruit orchard at their house. I can’t really pinpoint a moment in my life where I thought, now this is the moment I love plants. It just developed over time.

So, growing up, gardening with my mom, gardening with my grandpa, we did a lot of canning and preserving with my grandma. Plants were very much a part of our life. We were embracing an herbal lifestyle. And my grandma had a patch of mint growing in the yard that we would always get leaves from. I think all of that played a huge influence and I developed a love for nature at a young age.

Tell me a little bit more about those seven gardens. Did they have a garden for each type of vegetable?

Well, we had a fairly large property and my grandpa thought if it could be done, it should be done.

My grandpa decided if there’s space for a garden, we’ll put another garden here. So, yeah, he had his own system, but there was there was quite a bit to it.

Hear more about Jamie’s experiences growing up embracing an herbal lifestyle on the podcast. She shares additional stories and how to encourage kids to love nature.

Would you mind sharing with our listeners today some of your favorite recipes, or maybe your favorite story of some something that happened with one of your kids or with yourself where you were using your herbal knowledge?

I will start off by saying that one of my first memories of using herbs for medicine is when I was about 13 years old. And at the time my mom had been in a car accident and was not mentally able to really care for our family at that time. So, I really had to grow up fast. I was about 13, I was sick with the flu, and I thought, OK, I’ve got this. I’ve read about how to cure the flu and I’m going to go find some herbs in my yard and get this over with.

I had this book from Penelope Ody at the time, and it was one of those Dorling Kindersley books where it doesn’t really get into details and it’s probably not the best. I made a really, really strong mulberry leaf infusion and drank a whole quart of it and I thought I’d killed myself because I started sweating like crazy.

I thought, Oh, no, I’ve done myself in. Nobody even knew what I did. Then, I took a really long nap and I woke up feeling perfectly fine.

But that was one of my one of my first stories. Over the years, I’ve come up with different recipes that maybe aren’t such strong infusions and I have gained a little more knowledge.

Hear more stories from Jamie and about some other remedies and her adventures with her skin care products.

What do you think is the most important aspect of health to address first for somebody who’s just learning about embracing an herbal lifestyle?

Well, as an herbalist, of course, I love working with herbs, but I do feel like one of the most important things is nutrition. So many people I’ve seen are perfectly happy to take a whole pile of herbal supplements, but they don’t want to change their diet.

And if we don’t?

If we don’t give our body the building materials that it needs to be healthy, we’re going to continue to manifest these symptoms. And so I think the important thing is to try to get that mind set shift first, because if we get our mind set in the right place, then everything else can start to follow

Do you have any last comments, last tips that you want to share with people before we say goodbye?

Something Jim McDonald had shared with me regarding what we had been talking about with nutrition, with helping people make healthy choices, and have that mindset shift is this. Instead of thinking about What am I going to take away from my lifestyle and my diet? so much, think about positive things. For example, What am I going to add? Because if you focus on the positive, focus on what good things you’re adding, it’s going to automatically push out the bad habits.

Hear more from Jamie on the podcast and attend her workshops at the Family Wellness Conference held on March 4-5, 2021.

The post Embracing an Herbal Lifestyle: Some Insights appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.