Herbal Medicine Making Resources

Here you have it! All of my contacts, resources, favorite suppliers, special deals and whatever else you need to create your own herbal remedies and medicinal foods!. Making your own botanical medicines and healing foods is healthy, empowering and fun. I love getting together with a few friends and making a batch of body care products, winter remedies or digestive tonics.

Reading about how to use herbs is great, but making medicine with them is how you embody your experience about what you are learning. I learn new things all the time when I start mixing everything together. It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to use and give foods and medicines that are created with my own love and appreciation.

Enjoy!,
Kami

Alcohol

www.alcsol.com/about/content_location.html High quality organic alcohol for tincture making

www.marianfarmsbiodynamic.com Organic, bio-dynamic certified grape alcohol for tincture making

Ayurvedic herbs

www.banyanbotanicals.com

Base oils

www.mountainroseherbs.com They have a wide variety of high quality base oils

www.ohohorganic.com This is a company that I have very much enjoyed working with, they answer any question and have very high quality all organic oils including almond, olive, castor seed, pumpkin seed, sesame and palm. They also have great beeswax and aloe vera

www.tehamagold.com The world's most amazing olive oil

Baskets

I have dozens of baskets, all shapes and sizes that are used primarily for drying herbs in. You want something with a tight weave so the plants can breathe but won't fall through the cracks. My favorite baskets I have found at Goodwill

Beeswax

Here are some resources for beeswax. Your best bet though is to find a local beekeeper that will sell the beeswax to you. Go to a farmers market and see who is selling honey and ask for referrals. Most of the beekeepers in an area know each other and will be able to tell you who has beeswax. Have you ever thought of keeping a beehive yourself?

www.beeswaxfrombeekeepers.com

www.fromnaturewithlove.com

www.hiveharvest.com

Bottles, jars and packaging

http://www.burchbottle.com

http://www.ebottles.com

http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com

http://www.sealitinc.com Heat shrink temper evidence bands for packaging products

http://www.sks-bottle.com

http://www.specialtybottle.com

www.sunburstbottles.com

www.visionpaper.com Kenaf, non tree product paper

Bowls

You can use any bowl for your medicine making, except I don't really recommend plastic. I have some specific bowls that I use for my herbal preparations. I like to use the same bowls, they accumulate the healing energy that I focus with when making medicine. Find a couple bowls that you really love and use them to create your healing remedies in. I have a few very simple bowls that belonged to my grandparents that I love to use. It is nice to have an assortment of sizes.

Bulk herbs

www.bulkherbstore.com Nice selection of herbs with extensive description of herb qualities

www.elkmountainherbs.com High quality, wildcrafted and family farmed organic herbs from the Rocky Mountains

www.neemtreefarms.com Organic neem and aloe vera (add affiliate link)

www.oregonswildharvest.com Organic bulk herbs from all over the place www.sonomaherbs.org Fresh and dried bulk herbs that come fresh from the farmer. I love buying herbs directly from the people who grow them. This is an umbrella organization for many different growers in Sonoma County, California

www.pacificbotanicals.com Extensive resource for high quality dried herbs

www.zackwoodsherbs.com Family farm providing fresh and dried herbs from Vermont

Bulk ingredients

www.fromnaturewithlove.com Measuring equipment, bottles, bulk oils and body care ingredients

www.mountianroseherbs.com

www.wildweeds.com Bentonite clay, lanolin, glycerin, beeswax and lots of medicine making miscellaneous from a friendly family of herbalists

Chinese herbs and supplies

www.bluepoppy.com If you look under books for laypersons you will find a great selection of books that distill Chinese medicine concepts for your health

www.chinesemedicinalherbfarm.com Domestically grown, organic Chinese, Ayurvedic and other Asian medicinal field grown herbs and seeds

www.drkangformulas.com Search under Main shop to find bulk Chinese herbs

www.localherbs.org Medicinal Herb Consortium (MHC), a nationwide group of Chinese herb grower

www.omsmedical.com Moxa and cupping supplies

Clippers

www.felcostore.com/pruners.jsp I use my Felco clippers that I have had for 15 years for chopping fresh leaves and stems.

I use some bigger corona clippers for chopping fresh roots.

Fermenting, sprouting, dehydrating supplies

www.bodyecology.com Probiotic starters for making kefir, sauerkraut and more

www.gemcultures.com Some of the best cultures available in the U.S., including starters for kombucha, tempeh, kefir and sourdough

www.sproutman.com Everything for sprouting and dehydrating

www.therawfoodworld.com Excaliber dehydraters, Omega and Champion juicers, sprouting and fermenting supplies

www.vinegarman.com How to make vinegar

Flower essences

www.fesflowers.com High quality California and Bach flower essences

www.mothernature.com Just about any flower essence you could every want for the best prices I have found

Henna

www.hennapage.com How to do henna, henna supplies and everything you ever wanted to know about henna

www.mothernature.com Tons of henna supplies

Herbal food ingredients

www.therawfoodworld.com

www.sunfood.com Great organic nut butters, coconut oil, Artisana coconut butter, agave nectar, yucon syrup, seaweeds, algae, organic spirulina, the best raw chocolate ever

Herb grinders

Coffee grinder. Any electric coffee grinder will do for powdering small quantities of herbs.

Osterizer blender. I use an Osterizer blender for making oils, grinding and powdering herbs and making herbal foods such as pestos. This is a great tool, and all regular sized Mason jars fit to the Osterizer blender. It is easy to replace parts if you need to.

www.cooking.com. Cooking.com has just about any kind of coffee grinder, hand grinder, mortar and pestle, juicer or blender that you could ever want.

Mortar and pestle. Everyone needs a mortar and pestle.

Vitamix. I love my Vitamix blender. With an Osterizer and a Vitamixer I do just about everything. The Vitamix holds more and grinds herbs more efficiently than the Osterizer. You can do larger quantities faster than with an Osterizer.

Champion Juicer. I have had my champion juicer for almost 20 years and I still love it. I make syrup with fresh ginger juice.

Herbal tinctures

www.desertbloomherbs.com Great resource for a wide selection of hand crafted tinctures and other herbal medicines.

www.eaglepeakherbals.com Family farm and medicine making company in pristine northeastern California. High quality tinctures and oils.

www.greatcape.com/index.html A family farm that carries lots of organic bulk herbs, single herb extracts and tincture formulas.

www.naturespiritherbs.com Family wildcrafters selling high quality seaweeds and extensive line of good tinctures.

Homeopathy kits and supplies

www.homeopathic.com Extensive source of homeopathy educational information.

www.mothernature.com Homeopathic remedies and kits.

Labels

These websites can help you with creating your own product labels

www.thesage.com

www.sunburstbottle.com

When I make labels at home I use Microsoft Office Publisher. I print out the labels, cover them with laminate paper and then cut them with a paper cutter. The laminate paper is GBC SelfSeal letter size clear laminating sheets that you can purchase from Quill office supply store.

www.quill.com Quill has all size labels for the Microsoft Publisher program, the laminate sheets and other colored labels.

Lab supplies

www.coleparmer.com beakers, funnels, scales, hot plates.

Pots and cooking equipment

Canning pots: For making large batches of teas, steams and hydrosols

Cast iron pans: For roasting roots

Double boiler: www.cooking.com Double boilers for some reason can be a little hard to find. They are the best for making salves, ghee and any product that involves heating oils.

Hot water dispenser: www.cooking.com I love my hot water dispenser. This is especially useful for when someone is sick, you can continually warm their teas and drinks with a splash of hot water. It is also very helpful for keeping drinks from getting cold in the winter. When I have a child that is sick, I always keep what they drink warm.

Mason Jars: http://ruralroot-store.stores.yahoo.net I use mason jars for storing most of my herbs in. I also use them for drinking tea from. Look for the Mason jar that has a handle on it. All you your regular sized Mason jars fit onto your Osterizer blender.

Scale

www.unionscales.com Open up any scale category and then hit the view all button and this kitchen scale is under portion scales. I have a Yamato DKS-3002 Digital Kitchen Scale. I have used the same scale for 15 years. It measures up to 5 pounds. It is small and I keep it in my kitchen for measuring out herbs for making oils and tinctures. There are also other more expensive Yamato models that hold more weight.

Shelving and cabinets

As you begin making your medicine you will find that pretty soon you are taking over the kitchen and possibly other common areas of your house. Clean out a cupboard, drawer or set up some shelves in the pantry so you can keep all of your herbs and medicine making supplies in one place that is easy to access. If possible, it is nice to have your herbal pantry or shelves near your kitchen. I often cook and have herbal projects going at the same time. I have a dresser drawer and keep all the dried herbs in the drawers.

Tincture press

business.gorge.net/longevity This family makes good tincture presses in a few different sizes.

www.horizonherbs.com Handmade tincture press created by an herbalist. This is for when you make lots and lots and lots and lots of tinctures.

Vinegar

Some of the best apple cider vinegar and other vinegars that you will find is from small organic apple growers that make their own vinegar. If you live near an apple growing region, often the farmers will form cooperative websites and you can call around to see who is making vinegar. Also you can ask around at the farmers market who the apple growers are.

www.hasapplefarm.com Home made vinegars from the grower.

www.philoapplefarm.com Click on the farmstand menu and then on 'products made from apples'. This family apple farm makes the absolutely most FANTASTIC apple cider vinegar. They also make an apple cider balsamic vinegar. I love this place and use their vinegar for making my herbal vinegars.