This is me - and this is why this blog exists.

Okay, let’s be real for a moment; why does this blog exist?

This blog was forced into existence for a university project. But, in all honesty, I think I might have started a blog anyways. Life is more interesting when you have to write about it. PHOTO: Wix Images

With approximately 600 million (yes, that many) blogs on the internet, why on earth did I decide to create one? Wouldn’t it be just another voice in a very large crowd? Well, maybe.

I find it fascinating

In the winter - because I am weird - of 2023, I started gardening. And, quite frankly, I started gardening by accident. I didn’t think anything would grow.

Well, 45 chilli plants, 23 bell peppers and 15 tomato plants later, and I’m hooked. I find it fascinating that something so small and seemingly insignificant can turn into a plant. Not only just a plant but foods are growing on this plant! Stuff that we humans can use and eat and sustain ourselves with.

That same fascination then spilt over into herbs and their health benefits. Not only did a tiny seed sprout and become a bush, but that bush contains antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, vitamins, has rejuvenating qualities and the list just goes on.

I found that as soon as I started researching one thing, it led to the next thing, and the next, and the next. All things natural are so interlinked it is almost impossible (especially for an ADD brain like mine) to just focus on one small sliver of the natural world.

It is this fascination that led me to choose to start a blog. One that doesn’t just give watered-down facts and recycled ideas, but one that is based on personal experience and focused research. And, talking about research…

No recycling information or complicated jargon

I don’t know about you, but as soon as the words “astringent” and “salicylic acid” pop up, I am clueless. I then have to abandon my current path of research to then find out what those terms are. I then discover more unknown words, and have to find them…and down the rabbit hole I go, until I find myself mindlessly watching cute puppy videos.

But what I find even more difficult and frustrating, is when the first 17 posts that pop up on Google about a certain topic, the same line is used. And then you decide to take a look at each of these 17 posts and discover that they all say the same thing.

Recycling information is so unnecessary. We live in an era of information. Whatever you want to know about a certain herb can be found online. And yet, most blogs just pull the most basic information about a certain topic and present that. At the other end of the spectrum, if you want more in-depth information, you have to plough through technical jargon and before long you’re exploring rabbit holes (and puppy videos).

So I started this blog to address the more technical aspects of the herb and health world while doing so in an easy-to-understand manner.

My foundation

You can’t explain why you do something without bringing beliefs in, can you?

I am a Creationist (philosophically and theologically – because nothing else truly makes sense of the world). I believe the world was created by God in six literal days. I also believe God gave man a cultural mandate, namely to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion” (Genesis 1:28).

Part of this mandate is to take care of the earth and use what God has given us through the earth in a responsible manner. And part of this responsibility is to use the plants God has given us for our benefit, so how can I not be fascinated by the amazing herbs and plants he has given to us? How can I not want to know more about the amazing benefits he has in store for us with these herbs?

It boggles my mind and fills me with a profound sense of wonder and gratitude.

Furthermore, since God has created everything, anything lawful that we do, is part of His creation and therefore doing His work. This means that I don’t have to be engaging in social-justice in order to do God’s work! Discussing health and the benefits of the plants God has given us is just as much His work as anything else. The distinction between sacred and secular is man-made and wholly unhelpful in life. So I can happily discuss these things, not ignoring the greater concerns in the world, but not feeling guilty about focusing on some of the beauty and wonder God has made in this aspect of our lives.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/9d8f64_87439fd97c8244539350d3e6a4e46a4a/1080p/mp4/file.mp4