This is an excellent book for identifying, growing, cooking, and healing with herbs. There are, of course, a plethora of books about herbs, but this one excels because:
1. It's simple and efficient. Each herb has its own section with picture and explanation for health, garden, and food.
2. It's colorful. Other books have driven me crazy with little or no illustrations. Here, there are color photographs, sometimes showing both the way the herb looks while growing and the way it looks when drying or being prepared for food.
3. It's practical. Along with the section on each herb, there is also a section showing exactly how to grow an herbal garden, with several accompanying designs for the garden. There is also a chapter on using herbs, such as how to dry them or use them in holiday decorations.
After reading this, I have already decided to take an un-used garden area and turn it into an herbal knot design, thanks to this book. Extremely helpful and extremely useful.
Book Season = Spring (when it's time to get the garden going)
It's a very Euro-centric book that only covers the European history of herbs in terms of how gardens were designed and what herbs were used for. There's no mention of Indigenous people in the Americas or other parts of the world or how they cultivated herbs for cooking and other uses.
There are some interesting recipes included in this book, like marigold wine, but some are a bit time intensive. There's also information on identifying herbs which is helpful.
Overall it's a helpful starter guide to identifying and using herbs or starting an herb garden.
Weeding my gardening books. I almost put this in the rehome pile, because I have the more comprehensive The Herb Society of America Encyclopedia of Herbs. This book is a bit too large making it cumbersome (about 11" square). There's also a lot of focus on projects to use herbs in, which didn't interest me. However, it does have nice photos, and and attractive design that's easily accessible. Most importantly, it has information on cultivation of the herbs, which is what is missing from the Encyclopedia.
It is what it's advertised to be. The only thing that I didn't really care for were the diy flower/herbal arrangements. They're cute, but the latter pages with individual herbs were much more interesting and informative. I liked how it went beyond cooking as well and into potential medicinal uses, which I've gotten fascinated with as of late.
I really enjoyed this book. Recipes, history, and great tips for growing and personally processing the herbs for use. An entertaining and fun read as well. Wholeheartedly recommended for anyone interested in knowing more about herbs and their culinary, and some medicinal, uses.