To make one gallon of tea:

Get about 4-5 average size roots, preferrably young roots, wash in cold water, peal and cut into pieces. Boil in one gallon of water for about 20 minutes. Strain, sweeten with sugar or honey and serve hot or cold.

Take a few leaves of Lemon Balm and chew them in your mouth until you release the oil in the leaves. Place the leaves on an insect bite and this will relieve itching.

The leaves of the Sassafras Tree can be dried and made into a powder that is a good thickener for soups and stews, it gives a very good flavor when cooking with it.

Also you can use the roots of saplings (I generally use about 5 or six small pieces), cut them from the green stem, wash the dirt off and place them in water. Boil this until the water turns slightly reddish in color. If you prefer a stronger tea, boil it longer. You may add sugar or honey to this tea if you desire and it can be serves hot or cold. This is a refreshing tea and  one that was once well loved here in the South.

Wood Sorrel:

This is one of my favorite herbs. Use the leaves to make a mild tea and cool this. Sip it for heartburn and it works pretty good.

New Jersey Tea:

Another one that requires one to know exactly what part of the plant to use…

Take the bark from the root of this flower and dry it. A mall handful of dried bark STEEPED in hot water for 1 1/2 hours makes a wonderful medicine for sinus issues. Drink 2 cups a day and it works as a sedative AND antihistamine.

Gargle it for sore throats and toothaches. It is also good for cold sores.

Mullein:

The best use I have found for this herb, and there are many….
If you have a stomach virus….

Get a handful of flowers from mullein and STEEP them in 2 cups of hot water, strain this and drink one entire cup. This will almost immediately ease stomach cramps.

These flowers make a good sedative for the nervous system and also will ease pain.

Breathe in the vapors of tea made with fresh leaves for congestion.

CATNIP:

Tea dosages:

Fever: One cup of strong tea made by steeping dried leaves for 20 minutes in hot water

Pain: Steep green leaves in hot water 7-12 minutes

Stomach Cramps: double the dose of the herb in one cup of water and simmer, not steep, for 15 minutes

Relaxation: Use the small, tiny leaves just below the flower head, right before it flowers. Dry them in a cool, dry place then steep the leaves for 20 minutes.

Bone and Joint pain: Make a mild tea by steeping the fresh (or dried) JOINED leaves of Boneset for about 30 minutes. A handful of leaves to two cups of water is sufficient.

Laxative: Make a cold tea from steeping a palmful of leaves of Boneset for 20 minutes and drink as a laxative.

Flu: Steep the Boneset leaves for 30 minutes and drink for colds, flu and fever.
You can add mint to this as well.

*use the upper, unjoined leaves for cold, flu and fever remedies. It is important to know when studying herbalism that one cannot just know this plant is good for that. One must know what part of the plant, when to remove it from the plant and how to remove it, how to prepare it and what route to present it to the body. One herb, like boneset, has many uses, making it the same way, but steeping it for different amounts of time. You don’t want to drink it for the flu and end up on the toilet because you mistakenly made the tea as a laxative!

Poison Ivy or skin rashes: Boil the twigs from a Black Birch Tree. Make a strong tea out of it and then let it cool. Apply it to the affected area, repeating several times after it dries. The young leaves used fresh and the bark of the twigs are the main medicinal parts of a black birch. Drying the leaves for later use does not work unfortunately. I have only known this tree to work when the parts are used fresh.

Sedative: Make a strong tea from the leaves and twigs and drink when stressed and needing sleep. It induces a good night’s sleep and calms the nerves.

Pain: Boil the bark and twigs to release the oil and apply this to sore muscles and strains to relieve pain.

Rattlesnake Plantain:

Make a tea with the leaves and mix with whiskey for colds and toothaches
*If you have a burn type accident when hiking, chew some of the leaves and place it on the burn, it eases the pain