A Day in the Life of a Mom-Herbalism Student

This daily blog is about the struggles of juggling motherhood with being a full-time student. I also share information each day on herbs that I've learned along this journey. The herbs I am currently discussing are all things I received in my lab kits for class, meaning I get to actually work with them and pass on first-hand knowledge. While my herbariums are listed for free membership, I provide four fields from them in my blog: Constituents (the active ingredients of the herbs), the therapeutic actions (Examples are expectorant and stimulant), indications (colds, skin rashes, emphysema, etc), and safety information. More information can be found in the herbariums but these are the most important educational fields.

Membership to this site is free.

Semester 4, Week 2, Day 3

9/14/2019

2 Comments

It took an hour or so to cook eggs this morning because the kids decided they needed to be chased out of rooms they had no business being in all morning but we finally got through it and they are now happily playing. My daughter has engaged Daddy in a game of "kick it". In other words, she brings him the ball and asks him to kick it. This makes her happy so have fun. I really enjoyed reading the constituent below this morning. I remember when writing about this herb in class that it was unknown if it actually had any estrogenic effects because some said yes and some said no. Interesting information! I was also shocked at how few constituents were left after I eliminated the ones I had talked about. I'm going to go with they don't know much about this herb yet. I do have a few old-school books on the way and a few more I need to get. One is quite expensive but it will be worth it. I think it important to understand how they were used in the past, how they are used now and what the science has been able to prove. I hope to encapsulate all of this in my book entries as well. I have a LOT of reading to do before I can write the essay that's due next week. I just need to find a way to read this book without the children mauling it. The cover almost got ripped off yesterday. This is one of my toxicology books. This is the only one issued for this class but I did buy the supplemental material for this class. I cannot stress safety enough. I'm gong to go ahead and try to get some of this reading done. It does have short chapters. I got one read yesterday which was only 3 pages. That is also how I found out about some books I should have. I used the bibliography at the end of the chapter to go searching for those books. Love and Light!

On to the constituents of fenugreek!

Diosgenin synthesizes hormones. Hoffman says it’s used for partial synthesis (Ganora adds this is the aglycone portion) of steroid hormones. Ganora says these may be antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory. She also says there have been questions on whether this effects estrogen but there is no current evidence this constituent is able to synthesize any sex hormones (Hoffman, 2003, p. 82; Petersen, 2018, p. 46).

Nicotinic Acid is niacin, also known as Vitamin B3.

Constituents: 4-hydroxyisoleucine, histadine, arginine, the alkaline trigonelline

Have a Great Day!

2 Comments

Mindy

I am currently a student at American College of Healthcare Sciences earning my Masters of Science degree in Herbal Medicine. This blog is my journey of juggling mom-life with student life. My husband is a truck driver so I'm essentially a single mom all but 3 days a month. It's a challenge but we will get through this. I complete this degree on 18 December 2019. I plan to write books and continue here on my blog after I complete school.

Rather than using the Herbal Lists page for some things, let me try this and see what everyone thinks.

constituents.docx
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indications.docx
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side_effects.docx
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nutrients.docx
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therapuetic_actions.docx
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bryan o'driscoll

9/15/2019 09:28:50 am

Always nice to see someone interested in herbs. I don't know what part of the US you live in but I'm sure you get warmer weather there in summer than we do here in Ireland. I have all of the herbs you show in your pictures except ginger. One method I use is to get some old tires, stack them (usually two, sometimes three), fill them with soil and then plant or transplant the herb or whatever to it. The tires being dark absorb heat and keep the soil warm longer. I would imagine that with the very high temperatures possible in your area that you would want to prevent the soil from getting too hot. I find that the mint tends to take over unless you control it, as is the case with lemon balm. Although it's not a herb you might try growing some lemon verbena. The oils in the leaves are very aromatic and it has medicinal qualities.
Anyway, best of luck.

9/15/2019 10:35:53 am

Bryan, I'm in northwestern Louisiana and it gets pretty warm here in the summer but the winters can be a bit cold. I have been here 3 years and it snowed the first 2. It's not as cold as where you are for sure! I actually have a LONG list of herbs I want to grow. Sadly, my mint and lavender are not in very good shape. We don't get much rain here and I have been too busy to pay attention to watering. The town I'm nearest to can be getting flash flood warnings due to down-pouring rain and I'm staring at the sky asking why I can't get any! I would actually like to move somewhere where rain is a bit more plentiful but still not in a largely populated area so I go back and forth between building a greenhouse on my property and moving THEN building a greenhouse on the new property. I would love to be in a position where I can grow all my families medicinal needs. Thanks for the suggestion! Mindy