I have had some people ask me for reading recommendations and so I am adding a primary source reading list to the website. I spent more time curating this list than I should have.
I struggled with balance a little bit. I want you to have a good introduction to historical medical practice while at the same time mixing things up a little and highlighting domestic practices through the centuries. I want you to get a grasp of how much medicine was made in the kitchen.
I also want you to see the differences and similarities between the early modern Materia medica I was taught to work with by family members and with and the one a lot of you use today.
I don’t think this matters in terms of who is “right” and “wrong.” Humans have been incorporating the plants they encounter in their environment into their regimen since the beginning of time.
I am writing towards an audience who wants to connect with their cultural practices and that means that some of these herbs would not have been in your grandmother’s materia medica.
I am going to interject if I see something being “historicized” to market at you in a way that I think bears discussing because it unsafely veers away from historical practices. I do it because I work with medical providers every day. Safety is of utmost concern to me.
Some of the books I link you to might have language that is unfamiliar to you. I already have some measurements and terms on a page here, but I also have spent putting together The Appendix. The Appendix is a direct descendent of the notes I keep while poking through my old texts and transcribing.
I might also use the Appendix to explain why I use a certain language. For example, if you look at the Appendix you will find that “needleworker” is an old-fashioned term for a person who sewed clothing for a living, and I prefer to find gender-neutral terms like this to use.
Domestic Medicine 