So many of you have been asking me which book I would recommend you get if you are new (or old) to Herbalism.

Our Favorite Gypsy Herbalist:
The Grandmother of Herbalism

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I haven’t told this story yet, but 5 years ago I lived on the coast of Maine in a beautiful stone house, 50 ft from the Atlantic Ocean. I spent a summer there farming (there and at Eliot Coleman's 4 Season Farm 2 miles down the road), reading, swimming, and making friends.

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I had a lot of good books to read in the enormous library that was in the house. You see, I was living in the final home of Scott and Helen Nearing, who many call the Grandparents of the Back-to-the-land movement. That is a post unto itself, and likely one I will write, but this morning I want to tell you about a book I discovered there.

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Helen was an avid reader, like myself, and as I perused her books I found that many of them were autographed by the authors! Not only that, they often contained hand written notes addressed to “My Dear Friend Helen,…” Helen knew a lot of interesting people and it seems many of them wrote books. Studying Herbalism at this time, I was drawn to a thin book simply called,

Common Herbs for Natural Health

by Juliette de Bairacli Levy

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As usual, there was a handwritten note here, which just added warmth and beauty to the story. It always felt special holding a book addressed to Helen and reading it in her library as I often felt she was there with me while I read in the evenings, delighting that someone was enjoying her library (but making sure to take care of the books very well- she was a little anal about that!).

As I opened the book and read the reviews, I noticed a few of my favorite familiar herbalists names like Susun Weed and Rosemary Gladstar.

Susun Weed even said, “This is the book that got me started in herbal medicine. It’s solid gold.”

Woah, hearing that from the woman who got me started in herbal medicine really piqued my interest!

Interview with Juliette on Susun's Wesbite

And Rosemary Gladstar says, “I can truthfully say that book changed my life.”

And

“It may be that this small Gypsy woman had a more profound influence on American Herbalism than any other individual in the last several decades.”

Ok I am hooked!

As I started to read Juliette’s words, I realized that we were kindred spirits and that is why I had been drawn to the book. To find a familiar spirit, to be inspired and to learn from one who had dispensed wisdom she had learned the world round.

For Juliette is a gypsy and her travels took her throughout the Mediterranean, Europe, the Azores, Mexico, Israel, Northern Africa and many more places. She was greatly influenced by the nomads and traveling folk in each of these areas and she usually took up with them and traveled, too, with her goats, afghan hounds, and children in tow. I am always impressed by the lightness of spirit with which Juliette writes. There seems to be a sparkle or twinkle in her words.

From all of her travels, she shared the knowledge she had learned and practiced it with the people she met. She is responsible for incredible cross-pollination of so many arts.

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In her book, which I am profiling today, she shares this knowledge with us! She is a powerful teacher because she has lived it, saved lives, helped birthing, cared for humans and animals, all with the use of herbs! For this reason, her book is one of my favorites of all time. It is simply fun to read as well for she includes anecdotes from her travels throughout.

Her timeless book runs like a normal herbal and includes:

• Gathering, Preparing, and Preserving Herbs
• Herbal Materia Medica
• Recipes (Cosmetic, Medical, Culinary)
• Herbs applied to Garden and Orchard

Her stories along with the herbal uses are what I love best.

Of Raspberry she writes,

“The foliage and fruits are used as an aid to easy childbirth, for health of the mother and the embryo. It would be rare for a Gypsy woman to go through pregnancy without having taken raspberry leaf tea from the first weeks of knowledge of conception. And the true nomad Gypsy gives birth to her children with the ease of the wild vixen.”

She gives profiles of all of the “common herbs” (like thyme, oregano, mint, basil, etc.) Here is an snipit from the intriguing section on Rosemary,

“As an herbalist, if my name could be associated with any plant I would choose rosemary. I use it more than any other plant and I love it most of all…Rosemary is another of the few cure-all herbs of the herbalist. It is also a proven supreme heart tonic, one of the most important of the aromatics…The Gypsies especially love rosemary, and in former days they used to peddle the world over a preparation of flowering rosemary sprigs known as “The Queen of Hungary’s Water,” much valued as a cure-all for the ills of mankind, and as a general beautifier for women.”

Of Cayenne she says,

“I first learnt its use from the Mexican Indians, who use cayenne pepper as an internal disinfectant to overcome the dangers of impure food. The Indians, often having to eat unclean food, suffer no ill effects because they sprinkle powdered cayenne peppers freely as a condiment on most of their eatables. I was able to risk raw milk daily for my children, even from cows and goats of uncertain health, as I cute half a pod of cayenne into every cup of milk and let it steep, knowing it would destroy harmful bacteria.”

Her experience extends to the garden and household and also to the care of livestock. She has another book for taking care of Field and Stable and another for raising kids naturally called Nature's Children.

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I would highly recommend this gem of a book to anyone interested in expanding their herbal knowledge and even for those interested in even just reading the stories of such an interesting life well lived.

In a time when many are becoming hyped on superfoods, it helps to have the down to earth, timeless knowledge of one like Juliette who has traveled the world and shares its simple and pervasive treasures and lore with us here.

If you cannot wait to get the book, there is also a popular documentary of her that you can watch called Juliette of the Herbs. I searched to no avail this morning to find a copy online for free (I have watched it online before), but perhaps you'll have better luck.

Green Blessings!