Creating a Backyard Apothecary With Children

Jun 14

Medicinal Herbs, Traditional Skills, and the Knowledge Worth Preserving

The average child can identify hundreds of corporate logos. They can navigate apps, streaming services, websites, and digital devices with remarkable skill. Yet many could walk past chamomile, yarrow, mullein, lemon balm, calendula, plantain, or echinacea without recognizing a single one.

For most of human history, that would have been unimaginable.

People depended on plants not only for food, but also for health, healing, and everyday well-being. Children learned about those plants the same way they learned to cook, garden, preserve food, and care for animals—by participating in daily life. They watched parents gather herbs, helped grandparents harvest flowers, and gradually learned which plants were useful, how they were used, and why they mattered. This knowledge was woven into everyday life and passed naturally from one generation to the next.

Today, we have access to more information than any generation before us, yet much of this practical wisdom has quietly disappeared. We can name dozens of medications, yet struggle to identify the herbs and medicinal plants that supported human health for generations. We can search for almost any answer imaginable, yet often lack the kind of hands-on knowledge that previous generations took for granted.

A backyard apothecary is one small way of reclaiming that knowledge.

Health Begins Long Before Illness

Many conversations about health begin after something has already gone wrong. A diagnosis has been made, symptoms have appeared, or a problem needs to be solved.

For most of human history, however, people spent far more time thinking about how to support health before illness ever arrived. They paid attention to food, movement, sleep, sunlight, relationships, stress, and the plants growing around them. Health was not viewed as something separate from daily life. It was cultivated through countless small decisions repeated over time.

That perspective is what first drew me toward medicinal plants. As a parent, I wanted to better understand how to support my children's health and well-being. What began as questions about food and nutrition eventually led me toward natural products, then toward learning how those products were made, and finally toward growing many of the plants myself.

The deeper I looked, the more I realized that previous generations possessed a tremendous amount of practical knowledge that had largely disappeared from everyday life. Knowledge about food, herbs, gardening, preservation, and health was once commonplace. Today, much of it has become specialized knowledge that many families never encounter.

The Knowledge We Are Losing

Perhaps one of the greatest ironies of modern life is that knowledge has never been more accessible.

With a few clicks, we can learn almost anything. We can watch videos on gardening, herbal medicine, food preservation, cooking, beekeeping, animal husbandry, and countless other traditional skills. Yet despite having more information available than any generation before us, many of us possess fewer practical skills.

As modern life has become increasingly specialized, we have outsourced much of our knowledge to experts. Doctors manage our health, schools oversee education, restaurants prepare our meals, stores grow and distribute much of our food, and specialists solve an ever-growing number of problems on our behalf.

There is tremendous value in expertise, and no one person can know everything. But something changes when we no longer possess even a basic understanding of the systems that sustain our lives. When we don't know how food is grown, how meals are prepared from scratch, how seeds become vegetables, or how to identify the plants growing around us, knowledge becomes something other people possess rather than something we actively cultivate ourselves.

A backyard apothecary is one small way of reclaiming that knowledge.

Why We Created a Medicinal Garden at Urban Green Harvest

When we created the medicinal garden at Urban Green Harvest, it wasn't simply because we wanted to grow more plants. We already grow vegetables, flowers, fruit, and herbs throughout the farm.

The medicinal garden was created because I wanted children and families to reconnect with a type of knowledge that was once common in nearly every community.

For generations, people knew which plants could be brewed into teas, infused into oils, made into salves, or simply kept close at hand to support health and well-being. They learned those skills through participation, observation, and daily life.

Today, much of that wisdom has been forgotten.

I wanted to create a space where people could learn about the plants that have supported human health for generations, discover how beautiful and useful they are, and realize that many of them are surprisingly easy to grow at home.

More than anything, I wanted the garden to spark curiosity. To encourage questions. To remind people that plants are not merely decoration. They are sources of food, medicine, pollinator habitat, beauty, and knowledge.

Why Every Child Should Know a Few Medicinal Plants

One of the things I love most about medicinal herbs is how naturally they invite children into learning.

Children want to smell the lemon balm. They rub mint between their fingers. They ask why calendula flowers are harvested or why bees seem to love bee balm. They notice the soft leaves of mullein and wonder what makes them different from other plants.

Before long, they are asking deeper questions.

What is this plant?

What is it used for?

Can we make tea from it?

Can we grow it at home?

A medicinal garden creates opportunities for children to learn through participation. They observe, harvest, dry herbs, blend teas, watch pollinators, and develop a deeper understanding of the natural world around them.

In a culture that increasingly disconnects children from the sources of their food, medicine, and daily necessities, those experiences matter. They help children see themselves not merely as consumers, but as capable participants in the world around them.

Medicinal Herbs That Grow Well in Idaho

One of the encouraging things for gardeners in the Treasure Valley is that many medicinal herbs thrive in Idaho's climate. Some, such as yarrow and mullein, can often be found growing wild. Others, including calendula, chamomile, lemon balm, lavender, echinacea, sage, thyme, and bee balm, are easy to grow in raised beds, containers, and backyard gardens.

A surprisingly small space can produce enough herbs for teas, infused oils, salves, pollinator habitat, and endless learning opportunities for children.

Some of our favorites include:

Lemon Balm
Mint
Chamomile
Calendula
Lavender
Yarrow
Echinacea
Bee Balm
Sage
Thyme
Mullein
Anise Hyssop

Together they create a beautiful, useful, and pollinator-friendly garden that can provide enjoyment for years.

Three Simple Ways to Use Your Backyard Apothecary

One of the best ways to learn about medicinal herbs is simply to begin using them. You don't need years of herbal training or a cupboard full of specialized equipment. Many traditional herbal preparations are surprisingly simple.

Herbal Tea Blend

Combine:

2 parts lemon balm
2 parts chamomile
1 part mint
½ part lavender

Dry the herbs thoroughly and store them in a glass jar. To prepare, steep one to two tablespoons in hot water for five to ten minutes.

Calendula-Infused Oil

Fill a clean glass jar halfway with dried calendula flowers and cover completely with olive oil. Store the jar in a warm location for four to six weeks, shaking occasionally. Once infused, strain the flowers and store the oil in a clean jar.

Backyard Apothecary Salve

Combine one cup of calendula-infused oil with one ounce of beeswax and gently heat until the beeswax has melted completely. Pour into small tins or jars and allow the mixture to cool.

For many children, it is a powerful moment to realize that flowers they grew in the garden can become something practical and useful.

Growing More Than Herbs

This summer, our medicinal garden will become a new part of life at Urban Green Harvest.

Children will have opportunities to learn about medicinal herbs, observe pollinators, harvest flowers, dry herbs, blend teas, and discover that plants can offer far more than beauty.

Our hope is that the garden becomes more than a collection of useful plants. We hope it becomes a place of curiosity, conversation, observation, and learning—a space where children and families can reconnect with knowledge that was once part of everyday life.

CSA members will also be invited to harvest from the medicinal garden throughout the season, taking home not only herbs, but also inspiration, practical skills, and ideas for creating their own backyard apothecaries at home.

In the end, a backyard apothecary is about more than herbs.

It is about participation.

About knowing a little more about the world that sustains us.

About understanding where things come from.

About recognizing that useful knowledge doesn't only exist in books, on screens, or in the hands of experts.

And about rediscovering that some of the most valuable knowledge may be growing quietly in our own backyards.