What do you keep in your Medicine cabinet?

7/15/2020 Comments

What do you keep in your Medicine cabinet?

I found an interesting post the other day on Facebook, and it was a picture of an herbal medicine cabinet, and it said something like "this is what a medicine cabinet should look like" and it was filled with all types of herbs and jars, and such. I thought- oh my gosh! That is what my medicine cabinet(s) look like. I must say I do have a typical, pharmacy stocked chest as well with hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, band-aids and gauze and antibacterial creams, as well as a first aid kid. Although I love love love my herbs, there have been times when CVS products have come in super handy, so I would suggest being stocked in both. My herbal chest however is much bigger, and contains many more varieties of remedies. Below are some pictures of my main herbal medicine cabinet, but I have also taken up space in many of my kitchen cabinets, and spaces on my sun porch for other herbal making supplies. It is truly time to upgrade to a second kitchen space for my plants.
I decided to write a list of what I keep on hand and have stocked to give the reader some inspiration for their own herbal supply. Some of the items are tools that are needed to make medicine, tincture, salves, and other herbal products for personal use- as well as to share with friends, family and your community.

1. Eye wash cup, and Dr. Christopher's Herbal Eyewash tincture. (I use to make this from scratch. It contains some wonderful herbs, such as eyebright and cayenne, in an alcohol base, but this is not one I am currently making, and prefer to buy this.)
2. Cheese cloth for straining tinctures.
3. Blood pressure monitor, for personal check-ups.
4. A thermometer when running a fever.
5. Many glass jars, with lids.
6. 1 and 2 oz. amber tincture bottles.
7. Cleaned and sanitized baby food jars to use for salves, herbs, or seed collection.
8. 1 and 2 oz. metal tins for salves and ointments.
9. A size 0 capsule maker.
10. A small 1 pound kitchen scale.
11. Wheat germ oil
12. Extra Virgin Olive oil and beeswax
13. Raw local honey
14. Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, as well as Distilled Apple Cider vinegar. I like the distilled version when I make vinegar tinctures
15. Red wine and White wine (preferably organic to keep on hand to make a cordial type tincture).
16. A bottle of good quality Vodka to make alcohol tinctures.
17. Pure vegetable glycerin to make my glycerites.
18. I also keep food grade plastic bags to put my mixed teas in for friends and family.
19. I have labels to label everything I make.
20. A cabinet full of essential oils. (I use Young Living oils right now, but am thinking of switching to a smaller company with more sustainable plant practices. Suggestions welcome!) I use my essential oils for some aromatherapy purposes, but also in some of my salves, and other refrigerator remedies (like jewel-weed juice), to help with preservation time.
21. All natural cough drops.
22. Homemade garlic oil for earaches.
23. Size 0 and 00 capsules (vegetarian preferably).
24. Aloe juice/ gel kept in the refrigerator

NOW FOR MY HERBS
*I keep a lot of different herbs on hand. I am always changing the amounts because I use some, sell some, and give some away. I am not going to notate the exact ounces of what I have because it fluctuates but I will make a note if the particular herb is one I keep in abundance (like upwards to a pound). I am not going to list my kitchen spices, which is probably a good idea for another post. I do sometimes use my kitchen spices in my herbal mixes, such as turmeric, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
1. Lobelia tincture (homemade with Apple Cider Vinegar and Sage from my garden).
2. No More Sugar Tincture (this is a formula I created for sugar cravings, and it contains herbs like Rose, and Yarrow.)
3. My homemade Valerian, Lavender, Chamomile glycerite.
4. Red wine soaked with Rose, Clove, Cinnamon and raw honey. (I drink less than an ounce if feeling very anxious, to settle in the evening.)
5. Red wine that has been turned into a valerian/ wine tincture. (Again this is for the nerves, and just a tiny thimble full will work).
6. A white wine tincture with fresh horseradish that I keep in the refrigerator for lung and bronchial complaints.
7. Multi-vitamin glycerite made from Dr. Christopher's Vitalerbs powder.
8. Herbal Calcium formula I made from comfrey, peppermint (from my garden), lobelia and horsetail.
9. A Kidney tincture I created with cornsilk and dill seeds. I love this! And so do my kids, because it tastes like pickles. (I used a ACV base).
10. Catnip and ACV tincture.
11. Chaparral powder
12. Chickweed dried from my garden
13. Echinacea leaf and root
14. Cornsilk
15. Red Clover dried from my garden (I usually have close to a pound of this herb).
16. Nettle
17. Comfrey (dried from my garden).
18. Lavender flowers (a teeny bit dried from my garden.) I need to plant more lavender!
19. Calendula flowers (partially wild-crafted).
20. Catnip (dried from my garden).
21. Lemon balm or Melissa (dried from my garden).
22. Hops powder
23. Burdock leaf dried from my property.
24. Dandelion root and flowers (some of it wild-crafted, but I usually purchase extra root).
25. Burdock root
26. Marshmallow root (some of it dried from wild-crafting).
27. Licorice root
28. Elderberry
29. Hibiscus flower
30. Mullein (I dry some from wild-crafting but also purchase because I like to have about 1/2 a pound on hand).
31. Red Raspberry leaf (some years I take the time to collect and dry). I like to have quite a few ounces of this on hand as well.
32. Yarrow (One of my favorite herbs. I usually have a pound on hand, and also I grow and dry a lot of Yarrow).
33. Shavegrass
34. Spirulina
35. Charcoal
36. Horseradish root soaked in vinegar (kept in the refrigerator).
37. Wild carrot seeds (wild-crafted)
38. Juniper berries
39. Fennel seeds
40. Mustard seed powder
41. Peppermint (dried from my garden).
42. Spearmint (dried from my garden).
43. Rose petals (I sometimes have this on hand).
44. Golden rod flowers (wild-crafted)
45. Boneset (wild-crafted from my property).
46. Pau D'arco
47. Horehound
48. Cayenne pepper powder 90K heat units
50. Sage (partially dried from my garden).
51. St. John's Wort (wild-crafted)
52. Slippery Elm (I always have at least 4 ounces of this).
53. Cedar berries
54. White oak bark powder
55. Lobelia (I like to keep a pound on hand).
56. Mugwort (wild-crafted and dried)
57. Echinacea flowers as well as Black-Eyed Susan flowers dried (from my property).
58. Rosemary (dried from my garden).
59. Oregano (dried from my garden).
60. Dried plantain from my yard
61. Alfalfa powder
**And I am sure there is something I am forgetting.
62. I almost forgot! Black Walnut Tincture. I am almost out! I usually make a gallon in the fall. I am down to my last ounce. LOVE LOVE. I also keep and store the hulls in the freezer. Works so well for skin conditions, and this is the best method I have found to preserve the hull/ juice intact.
63. This year I made Honeysuckle and Dandelion Oxymels. The dandelion is already all gone, but I still have the honeysuckle. It is delicious!
64. Valerian root

SALVES I KEEP ON HAND
1. I love the Dr. Christopher ointments- especially his Black Ointment.
2. I make my own black drawing salve.
3. I usually make a Calendula ointment for skin issues.
4. I have a bone/ muscle/ cartilage salve I make with Comfrey
5. Chickweed ointment
6. Jewel-weed juice I keep in the refrigerator (not a salve, but for the skin).
7. A Cayenne based ointment I make for muscle aches and pains.
8. Plantain ointment

MISC.
I am not going to list all my other pre-made herbal supplements I buy, but I do have quite a few other tinctures and capsules I purchase, usually Dr. Christopher brand that I keep on hand for daily use. We have a big family of 7 people. I also have a few powder supplements with mushrooms (like shitake). I plan on learning more about this wonderful healing modality and either growing and drying or collecting and drying my own.
1. Peppermint smudge stick (homemade)
2. Mugwort smudge stick (homemade)

That is pretty much what I currently have in my home right now. It does fluctuate sometimes, and I am going to be harvesting/ wild-crafting a great deal over the next few months. I will make an updated blog post perhaps this winter when all of the stocking is updated.