Hi,
I'm Ian, your host and my 
passion is herbs, growing fresh herbs, cooking with herbs, learning more about the contribution of herbs to healthy living, and more about their culinary and medicinal uses throughout the ages. I'm also fascinated by folklore about herbs and have reproduced a few titbits here, mainly, so far, relating to the common culinary herbs. Of course, the uses of herbs throughout the ages, and currently, have not been confined to culinary and medicinal. Many other uses have been found for them, from cosmetic to insect repellent, pot purri to sleep aids.
Check out our recipes in the cooking section. They all include herbs in different ways and are categorised by herb and under the headings of chicken, red meat, seafood, vegetarian and vegan. Get tips on growing different culinary herbs and learn a little about the history and folklore surrounding them.
Herbs can improve your lifestyle in a number of ways. Firstly, by using herbs, particularly fresh herbs, in you everyday cuisine you improve the flavour of your food. Secondly, by using herbs and herbal extracts in the form of herbal supplements you magnify the therapeutic benefits of herbs many times. A word of warning, however; different herbs have different therapeutic effects on the body and have been AND are being used effectively to address specific health problems. Disregard of recommended dosages and ignorance of interactions with other medication can have dangerous consequences. For example, people with chronic illnesses, pregnant women and nursing mothers need to be aware of which herbs, herbal supplements and, indeed, medicines in general, to steer clear of. Your physician may be able to advise; a qualified herbalist or an ND, a doctor of naturopathy, will certainly be able to give you good advice, because that is their training. It is with this in mind that we have prepared our herbal supplement guide, in which we have tried to provide current, and traditional, wisdoms on the use of medicinal herbs to address specific health issues in a measured, non-alarmist and non-sensationalised manner.
Certainly the most enjoyable way of enjoying herbs is to grow them yourself and make them part of your regular cuisine. I live in Queensland, Australia where the climate is warm and the soil will grow pretty well anything, so my advice on growing fresh herbs should take that into account. But I've also grown herbs in my native country Scotland and the same basic principles works. It's just that what we, in Australia, call winter, the Scots would regard as one of the temperate seasons (maybe even summer if my memory serves me right!). In summer here we have to keep our plants out of the sun, by positioning, or the use of natural shade or shade cloth, or keep them in pots on the verandah- it's all common sense, really.
I've called this site the herb spiral because I regard the herb spiral as a neat way of creating an herb garden in a small space. Of course some herbs have to be kept separate from the central herb garden and are, therefore, not suitable to grow this way, but I find for most it works well. It's all explained in the growing section of the site. The herbs shown in the spiral are all culinary herbs. (There's not a lot of point in growing your own medicinal herbs as the extraction of the active agents would be more trouble than it is worth). Of course, culinary herbs have their own health benefits, not least of all brought about by the physical exertion and sheer enjoyment drived from growing and harvesting them!
Click here to view our herb spiral and see how we made it..
I hope you can find your way around the site ok. I've just gone for a "wander" around myself and found old pages which I wrote about two years ago and had forgotten all about. There's always a "home" button should you get lost to get you back here. I'd really love to hear from you. I know I'm getting lots of visitors - over 700 a day, but that doesn't mean much to me unless I have some feedback.
Cheers, Ian