A few months ago Ian and I were driving around and I was jabbering on about my online store. Sales were bad. I was thinking of closing it. And then I thought, well, what if I were to just change my focus? Instead of trying to be everything for every mom like me, I would offer things I was passionate about. So the brainstorming began and I narrowed it down to baby shower gifts and herbal kits. Well, guess which one I’m more passionate about.
If you guessed herbs then ding, ding, ding, you are the winner! But sorry, I’m not giving anything away right now. Not yet anyway.
I am in the unique position where my dad is the manager of a very larger herb supplier and has been for years. Growing up I heard about herbs like peppermint, coriander, echinacea, chamomile, alfalfa, shavegrass and many, many more. And then I grew up and turned into a hippy and well, my interest in herbs blossomed into a love of all things natural with herbal remedies being one of my favorite subjects.
And so I thought and thought and thought about what I could offer to people out there. Specifically other moms like me – ones who were interested in herbal remedies, had some excellent herbal resource books and believed that God provided us these wonderful plants to keep us healthy and heal us when we were sick.
My solution? Herbal kits. When I first started reading herbal books I thought that it would be great if they sold small amounts of each herb that I could try out. I looked for them, but all I found were websites that sold herbs by the pound or half pound. And I didn’t really want pounds of herbs that I might only ever use a few ounces of.
I know! I’ll make them myself! Yes!
And so I have. Thanks to my parents’ business I’ve got herbs packaged and ready to go. The largest kit is the Herbal Starter Kit. It has 28 one-ounce packages of different herbs – general herbs like peppermint, plaintain and calendula and more specialized herbs like Lady’s Mantle to help ease menstrual cramps. These herbs were the ones I found referenced most in the different herbal books and websites I read and are a great way to start out your herbal medicine chest.
I’ve also put together a kit for babies and one for children. They come with an insert with dosage information and instructions for preparing the herbs as well as some muslin bags for steeping. And because I’ve been pregnant so much in the last 5 years and was pretty familiar with different pregnancy and postpartum herbs, I also put together some herbs for the childbearing year. Some of them are not meant for pregnancy or lactation, so please check with your healthcare provider and your herbal references.
I know I said I wasn’t doing a giveaway yet, but now I think I should 
. The giveaway is now closed.
One lucky reader will win a complete herbal starter kit! I will draw the winner on July 19th (my brother’s birthday) at noon pacific time.
Leave a comment with your favorite herbal remedy or something you’d really like to learn about herbs.
You can also earn more entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you’ve done the following:
Twitter – update your account with something like this: I’ve just entered a giveaway for an herbal kit from @shalommama. Enter now at http://shalommama.com/read.
Facebook – Post a link to this giveaway and let your friends know that you’ve entered.
Blog – Blog about the giveaway and leave me a comment with the link to your blog.
Subscribe – Subscribe to my blog and let me know.
If you’re having problems entering, just send me an e-mail at shalombeginnings@gmail.com. I’ll make sure and get you entered.
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This post was written by
Nina Nelson – who has written 203 posts on Shalom Mama.
Nina Nelson is a freelance writer, mama to four and wife to one. She writes regularly about minimalism, living more sustainably and living more intentionally. She loves reading, snuggling and giggling at miniature horses.
Oh, I’m totally dumb when it comes to herbal remedies but I’d LOVE to learn more. You include dosages and what they are all good for? Is there a good reference/ starter book you recommend?
posted it on Facebook. I don’t do twitter but I may have to now, lol. I really want to try this! But I wouldn’t have any followers to tweet to, lol.
I have dosages for children based on what they would be for adults. Those dosages come from your herbalist or a good book you have. I don’t have what they’re all good for (it’s a LOT) but I plan on posting blogs with a few herbs and they’re uses so that I can cover all 28. As I get more knowledge on herbs I’ll add that, but for now I just want to make the herbs available so that you can get started with your books.
Some good books are The Handbook of Vintage Remedies by Jessie Hawkins. Another good one is Herbal Medicine: Revised & Updated by Dian Dincin Buchman. They’re both very good for beginners with lots of info that pertains to the whole family. I also suggest the Sister Wisdom blog for more information on herbs for babies and kids.
I’m just starting to think about these type of remedies but I’d love to win your kit!
That’s great! I’ve been trying to go into it with baby steps. Eventually I’ll be studying herbs a lot more.
I loved using herbs during pregnancy and postpartum! The Maui Mother’s Postpartum Brew was amazing! I’m really interested in using herbal remedies for the kids. This is exciting, Nina! Great job!
One entry for Kelli.
And one for Jamie.
This kit would be awesome! I’ve had Aviva Jill Romm’s book- Naturally Healthy Babies and Children, but its hard to find the herbs for the recipes. The 28 herb kit would be so helpful. I’d love to win=)
I posted on facebook too!
It would be great to have a kit to try out different herbs, especially to use for chldren and the whole family in general. This is an awesome idea.