Herbal Adventures

Wanting share the magic of plants with your kids? This book is perfect for parents and kids wanting to know the basics of foraging, herbalism and wild crafting. Wolfs infectious style will have you in the garden or your local forest hunting with your children for ingredients to make delicious tasty healing treats. Kids will love the spit poultice recipes readying them for any scrap or bee sting on the go. Educators and homeschoolers will find this book most useful with lots of eco and sustainable activities included. Written for the northern hemisphere market, southern hemisphere folk may need to purchase some ingredients dry from a herb provider although most herbs discussed in this book are readily available globally or recipes can be adapted.

This book is a fabulous beginning way to become familiar with a few common herbs and their uses. I will for sure be purchasing this book as soon as possible. Loved it!

Herbal Adventures: Backyard Excursions and Kitchen Creations for Kids and their Families is a carefully worded, simple to understand guide for kids and their adults to create - and enjoy! - the cultivation, storage and use of many of the herbs that have been used by families for generations to promote health and ward off illness. I have many guides I have collected over the years but this is the best I have ever seen for youngsters and beginners to understand and enjoy the family herb garden. The photos are crisp and clear, making identification simple, and the enthusiasm expressed by Rachel J. Wolf is contagious.

I received a free electronic copy of this guide from Netgalley, Rachel Jepson Wolf and Young Voyageur publishing on Jan 5, 2019. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

I am a gardener and a hiker, but I hadn't really thought about how these two things go together. I grow many herbs, but foraging wasn't something I ever did when I was walking in the woods or hiking. Herbal Adventures opened my eyes to the fact that many of the things I seasonally grow are also available thanks to Mother Nature. Having some basic knowledge of what you can pick and how you can turn an enjoyable time outside into something that also means you might come home with some herbs has me looking forward to spring.
There is quite a bit of useful information in this book. Chapters cover Getting Started, 10 different plants(from chickweed to white pine), and Basic Recipes. I especially appreciated the section, “Leaflets three-let it be”. I am one of those people who has a severe reaction to poison ivy and for anyone who doesn't know how to recognize and avoid it, this was information you don't want to skip.
The author does a wonderful job explaining each plant. In the Elderberry chapter( for example) the plant is identified by a picture and a breakdown of the stem, leaves, flowers, berries, growth habit, habitat, range, and lookalikes. She then discusses how you can use it to make natural dyes, syrup, gummies, soda syrup, honey, and switchel. There is something to learn in every chapter even if you aren't a novice. Lots of pictures, lots of ideas, and a good selection of resources at the end. If herbs and/or foraging interests you, I would recommend this book.

I'm interested in foraging, so this was right up my alley. I like that the focus is pretty narrow. Here are a few plants that a person can safely find and use. They are common plants, relatively easy to find, and with a wide range of uses. I might have liked a little more information about identifying the plants, specifically a guide to similar plants and how to distinguish this plant from similar plants. I like that there were a wide range of used for these plants - medicinal, nutritional, and artistic. Plenty of safety warnings too.

Thank you Quatro Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

This was a great book to encourage and enthuse children to the world of gardening. We enjoyed reading this book and all the ideas it gave us.

I am really interested in foraging and I loved how many photos they are in this book. It helps a lot. Also, the recipes are great and really interesting to start with a plant you do not know about. I therefore recommend this book to everyone who wants to know the plants that can be easily foraged and used but also some other things that were a great addition to this book.