The Herbal Apothecary: 100 Medicinal Herbs and How to Use Them

Say you've gotten into enjoying some medicinal or soothing teas from the store, and you're starting to figure out how to grow or gather the ones that help the most with your cramps or insomnia or anxiety or headaches or muscle pain or your runny nose or what have you. When you're ready to take your tea-drinking to the next level, Dr. J.J. Pursell's book The Herbal Apothecary is a great guide to do so smartly, safely, and with aplomb. She has step-by-step guides, with plenty of lore and facts thrown in, for growing and foraging the herbs you need and then turning them into the best delivery system for you, be it a tea, a tincture, a salve, or a capsule.

Fun Microcosm fact: we met Dr J.J. because we used to go buy medicinal herbs for our dog in her herb shop (#onlyinportland), and when we needed someone to fact check and revise the gynecological herbal advice for the Hot Pants book, she was the perfect match! And then she introduced us to someone at her publisher who could sell us her books, who went on to become our Northwest bookstore salesperson. Basically, everyone won.