The Other Pharmacy: A Guide to Family Herbalism - Laetitia Luzi, Mathilde Cinq-Mars

An accessible and nuanced guide to creating your own home herbal medicine cabinet. Do you and your loved ones live in a stressful and polluted environment? Are you worried about a vulnerable relative? Are you caring for a highly sensitive child? Are painkillers no longer effective, does anxiety keep you awake at night, and do you live far from healthcare facilities? Perhaps you simply want to listen to and strengthen your body, rediscover the uses of the plants that grew under your grandmother's balcony? We all have good reasons to turn to plant-based healing and learn more about herbalism. This precious heritage, this knowledge built up over millennia on every continent, has long been marginalized. Today, natural medicines are no longer practiced in secret, but are beginning to be recognized, studied, and taught. This book contributes to this emancipation by encouraging us to reconnect directly with plants in order to develop our independence from the pharmaceutical industry. Among other things, you'll find: 50 fact sheets on plants, primarily non-endangered and native to North America or Europe; advice on preventing and relieving more than 40 simple and common ailments, ranging from childhood illnesses and rheumatism to premenstrual syndrome, nausea, and eczema; explanations on how to choose, harvest, prepare, and use these plants (tinctures, decoctions, etc.); warnings about side effects and contraindications; and a section dedicated to essential oils. Much more than a plant dictionary, this book offers a wealth of advice for prevention and treatment, in simple and precise language. It includes everything you need to create your own home medicine cabinet. The author shares her professional knowledge with rigor and care. She also offers us the benefit of her unique perspective, gained from her experience on several continents, which combines anthropology, fieldwork, theoretical studies, and patient care. This approach gives his work exceptional depth, all to measure and respect the great wisdom of plants.