In search of willow bark tea.

A common scene occurs in many works of fiction in which a traveller, soldier, lost child, or adventurer is injured, caught out in the weather, or otherwise suffers mischance. Found by a shaman, peasant, wizard, or other angel of mercy, the character is nursed back to health with the aid of teas, compresses, tinctures, or salves made from forest plants.

Readers of this sort of novel are not surprised when the rescuer prepares willow bark tea to ease the hero's aches and pains. Other medical marvels are coming. Major surgeries are accomplished with flint knives under herbal anesthesia. Dressings and compresses of moss and plant materials relieve pain, prevent infection, and speed healing. From the same herbal pharmacopoeia, gastronomic wonders are prepared, and the herb lore of the master is held in awe and fear by all.

I often wondered how much of this is real. I would wonder how cancer was treated in Middle Earth, Narnia, Camelot, or along the neolithic Danube. Did the writers actually know all this herb lore? Do these plants actually exist? What is the difference between a tissane and an infusion anyway?

As an apartment dweller in the inner city, my exposure to herbs remained largely literary, with a few culinary forays. I grew a pot of basil on the window sill. I rubbed grocery store sage into my chicken before baking. I added dill to my potato soup. Busy as a student, I had interest but little time to expand my knowledge.

Later, embarking on a career, buying and renovating a home, marrying and bringing children into the world, and changing careers consumed my time. My curiosity about the ways and uses of plants remained unresolved.

Finally my children's curiosity about the natural world and my interest in feeding them healthy food converged at a time when I had a place of my own to call a garden. Our family continues to create a garden from what had been a neglected yard and each year we learn more and are able to grow increasing quantities of a wider and tastier variety of vegetables.

The pot of basil on the window sill is now a whiskey barrel full in the garden. Dill, prolific seed maker, sprouts up in expected, and unexpected places. Parsley garnishes our soups. Cilantro flavors our salsas. These are all easy to grow, and now it's time to add some others.