This compact yet complete guide to herbal medicines shows you how to transform common plants into healing remedies. While using herbs as medicines can often seem complicated or costly, the Backyard Pharmacy gift edition offers a way to learn that's simple, effective, and low-cost.

Plants you once believed were just seasonings for sauce in the kitchen or scents for your home are, in fact, medicines that can help heal and soothe if you know what to do with them. This book shows how easy it can be to make your own herbal remedies for common ailments. Profiles of common healing plants offer advice on growing, harvesting, preparing, and using these herbs in healing tinctures, oils, and creams.

You'll find all-natural, low-cost herbal solutions for a range of common ailments, such as:

• Learn how to grow and craft a poultice to soothe mosquito bites.
• Make an herbal tincture to fix sluggish digestion. 
• Brew up some lemon balm iced tea to ease a stressful day.
• Craft echinacea drops to support immune system health.
• Use elderberry to ease cold and flu symptoms.
• Blend a cayenne salve to relieve inflammation.
• Steep chamomile tea to aid with insomnia. 

Simple, all-natural home-grown ingredients can make you feel healthy and happy, from the common cold to a nasty scrape, headache, or digestive issue. With guidance from this useful yet beautiful book, you'll be able to match the properties of each plant to your own medicinal needs. And with this new, more compact gift edition, you can share the soothing essence of herbal remedies with everyone you love.

Herbs are quickly becoming a common aid for healing all kinds of ailments. In Mother Earth News Healing with Herbs, you’ll learn about making your own medicine, find health tips, and discover the most-trusted herbal companies.

Twenty plant profiles cover the health benefits of each. Whether you’ve been working with herbs for years or just starting to take the leap, this guide is packed with helpful tips and recipes for every level of herbalist. Broken into four chapters (beginning with an introduction and safety tips and ending with common ailments that can be cured with herbs), Mother Earth News Healing with Herbs will teach you something new on every page!

Articles include:

• All About Aromatherapy – Smell is our most primitive sense. Harness its powers through aromatherapy to calm the body, reduce headaches, stimulate the mind, and more.
• Infusions, Decoctions, and Tinctures – If you’re interested in making your own herbal medicines start with some of the most basic medicines you can make at home.
• Solving the Pain Puzzle – Whether it’s a headache, sore muscles, or arthritis, pain can put a stop to everyday life. Combat pain without relying on risky over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
• And more!