Holy Basil – Lemon Grass – Lemon Balm
Herbs are an important part of our garden. We grow everything without pesticides, which can be a challenge, even though many things are grown inside a deer-proof fence. The weed control paper helps to keep the herbs clean for picking. The featured photo is picture of the entrance into my daughter’s garden and herbs. She lives across the road.
Holy Basil has been used for many years for numerous health benefits. This list of some of the health benefits of holy basil was taken from AI:
- Cardiovascular Support
- Stress Management
- Immune System Enhancement
- Blood Sugar Regulation
- Liver Detoxification
- Weight Management
- Oral Hygiene
- Skin Health
- Vision Protection
- Bone Health
Many websites provide the benefits and uses of Holy Basil, but we will attempt to demonstrate in this post how we grow, harvest, and utilize Holy Basil.
This picture shows two varieties of Basil that we grow. The basil in the left two rows is very popular in cooking, but it also has medicinal properties. The Holy Basil on the right is the one that is featured in this post. The leaves and flowers can be picked and dried for teas.
The second basket of Holy Basil has been dried naturally for several days in racks. After picking off most of the stems, leave it out for more time to make sure it is completely dry to eliminate mold. My daughter does all this work with the tea preparation; she uses a mixture of herbs.
Lemongrass has three major uses: culinary, medicinal, and even household applications. One that I plan to cover in this blog is making teas that will aid in digestion, colds, for anti-inflammatory, and of course, taste. The first picture is of one of my daughter’s plants, and the second one shows harvesting the lemongrass. After that, she makes it into a wreath that is easily used in teas.
Lemon Balm
The next herb we will demonstrate is Lemon Balm, which we use in the tea mixtures. It gives the tea a great taste and is definitely healthy. It can be made into essential oil, even lemon balm drops. It has both culinary and medicinal uses. The following benefits and uses were found on AI.
- Tea (hot or cold)
- Cooking
- Stress Relief
- Cold Sores
- Digestive Aid
- Sleep Aid
- Bug Spray
- Breath Freshener
- Itching bug bites
These 3 herbs are just a few that we grow, harvest, and use. I will create other posts in the days to come on other herbs and their use.