Guest guest Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Jacqui You may not know that I was a professional herb grower for many years before the onset of CFIDS/FMS. When I came home, crestfallen, from the pharmacy, I had my late son get out a number of my old herbals for me to study. In a number of them, the illusive anti-viral qualities of officinalis (lemon balm) were discussed. Those qualities are gone in the dried herb. Any well trained herb enthusiast should know this. Co-incidentally, the essential oil content of lemon balm is also very low and hard to capture, making this e.o. both very expensive and frequently adulterated. On the other hand, lemon balm is very easy to grow in most of the USA. It is a hardy herbaceous perennial and needs little care. It can be quite prolific.... thankfully..... so someone not well who has a bed of lemon balm can easily harvest and tincture their own. The other face of lemon balm, better known, is as a calming and relaxing tea herb. These qualities remain when the herb is dried. Most of my library went up in smoke during a major fire at the Foxhill Farmhouse about five years ago, so I can't give you chapter and verse. But, why don't you do a google search. My local supermarket had three nice looking lemon balm plants earlier in the week. If you or anyone wants one, let me know. The potted plants are $2.00 each. For the first year in the ground, it will take more than one plant to provide enough fresh to tincture. They will do fine on a sunny windowsill until winter's wrath has passed and Spring is sprung again. A couple of decades ago, when I was my healthiest, during the summer we made and drank lemon-ade out of fresh lemon balm and ate Pesto Genovese several times a week. Only because they tasted so good.... I remain very thankful for this low cost, non-toxic solution to Epstein-Barr. My CMV titres also dropped. The prescribing doc could hardly believe the change in just a few months. There is mention of this, I am now remembering, in the Herbal PDR, research section in German. The doc brought out her copy to me and said that lemon balm had no reference to the Herpes family in the English text..... then, I pointed out the research listings in German on the opposite page. Hope this helps mjh Posted by: " fideaueater " _delyme@... _ (mailto:delyme@...?Subject= Re:MJH%20-lemon%20balm) _fideaueater _ (fideaueater) Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:17 am (PST) Hi MJH, After reading your posts I started using this. Thank you! I know you've said the tincture needs to be made from fresh lemon balm to be effective on herpes viruses. Just wondering if you have any source i can show the comapny I buy my herbs from? BTW I've read it's also good for coxsackie, which I'm currently battling. So far nothing substaniated though. Jacqui **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 MJH, That's both a poignant and interesting story. Thank you. And no, I didn't know you were a professional herb grower, but it helps explain why you're such a font of knowledge on herbal matters. Thanks for the plant offer, that's so kind. I'm in the UK though, but last autumn I did plant myself a patch. I've been a bit scatty and should pot some up and bring it inside. Not sure how it will do looking at the rain but who knows. BTW do you know if varigated is as good as the green one? I had tried google. Anyway, having read your information, I again failed to explain all to the UK herb company. I'll order from the US until mine grows. For anyone who's interested Herb Pharm declare they use only the fresh (undried)leaves and flowering tops of organically certified melissa. I'll try the lemonade as soon as too. Sounds delicious. Warmly, Jacqui > > Jacqui > > You may not know that I was a professional herb grower for many years before > the onset of CFIDS/FMS. > > When I came home, crestfallen, from the pharmacy, I had my late son get out > a number of my old herbals for me to study. In a number of them, the > illusive anti-viral qualities of officinalis (lemon balm) were discussed. > Those qualities are gone in the dried herb. Any well trained herb enthusiast > should know this. > > Co-incidentally, the essential oil content of lemon balm is also very low > and hard to capture, making this e.o. both very expensive and frequently > adulterated. > > On the other hand, lemon balm is very easy to grow in most of the USA. It > is a hardy herbaceous perennial and needs little care. It can be quite > prolific.... thankfully..... so someone not well who has a bed of lemon balm can > easily harvest and tincture their own. > > The other face of lemon balm, better known, is as a calming and relaxing tea > herb. These qualities remain when the herb is dried. > > Most of my library went up in smoke during a major fire at the Foxhill > Farmhouse about five years ago, so I can't give you chapter and verse. But, why > don't you do a google search. > > My local supermarket had three nice looking lemon balm plants earlier in the > week. If you or anyone wants one, let me know. The potted plants are $2.00 > each. For the first year in the ground, it will take more than one plant to > provide enough fresh to tincture. They will do fine on a sunny > windowsill until winter's wrath has passed and Spring is sprung again. > > A couple of decades ago, when I was my healthiest, during the summer we made > and drank lemon-ade out of fresh lemon balm and ate Pesto Genovese several > times a week. Only because they tasted so good.... > > I remain very thankful for this low cost, non-toxic solution to > Epstein-Barr. My CMV titres also dropped. The prescribing doc could hardly believe the > change in just a few months. There is mention of this, I am now remembering, > in the Herbal PDR, research section in German. The doc brought out her copy > to me and said that lemon balm had no reference to the Herpes family in the > English text..... then, I pointed out the research listings in German on the > opposite page. > > Hope this helps > mjh > > > Posted by: " fideaueater " _delyme@... _ > (mailto:delyme@...?Subject= Re:MJH%20-lemon%20balm) _fideaueater _ > (fideaueater) > Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:17 am (PST) > Hi MJH, > > After reading your posts I started using this. Thank you! > > I know you've said the tincture needs to be made from fresh lemon > balm to be effective on herpes viruses. Just wondering if you have > any source i can show the comapny I buy my herbs from? > > BTW I've read it's also good for coxsackie, which I'm currently > battling. So far nothing substaniated though. > > Jacqui > > > > > > **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. > http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise? NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 Hiya Jacqui Glad to hear you've got some lemon balm in your garden. Hope you gave it plenty of room. For healing purposes, a pot on the windowsill will not provide enough harvest, but it is a way to get stuff ready for the next growing season. There are very few tincture makers who use the fresh herb and they are hard to find. I've lost my list. Let me know in late May/early June when you are about to harvest your first crop if you need help in tincturing. I harvest monthly from May through September here in Michigan USA. mjh Posted by: " fideaueater " _delyme@... _ (mailto:delyme@...?Subject= Re:MJH%20-lemon%20balm) _fideaueater _ (fideaueater) Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:50 am (PST) MJH, That's both a poignant and interesting story. Thank you. And no, I didn't know you were a professional herb grower, but it helps explain why you're such a font of knowledge on herbal matters. Thanks for the plant offer, that's so kind. I'm in the UK though, but last autumn I did plant myself a patch. I've been a bit scatty and should pot some up and bring it inside. Not sure how it will do looking at the rain but who knows. BTW do you know if varigated is as good as the green one? I had tried google. Anyway, having read your information, I again failed to explain all to the UK herb company. I'll order from the US until mine grows. For anyone who's interested Herb Pharm declare they use only the fresh (undried)leaves and flowering tops of organically certified melissa. I'll try the lemonade as soon as too. Sounds delicious. Warmly, Jacqui **************Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music. (http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?NCID=aolcmp00300000002\ 5 48) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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