Why all the herbs, TennZen?

I've had a lot of questions about why I am growing so many different herbs these days, not all of which are culinary.

Well, there are a few reasons for it and they all have to do with wellness.

The current government fiasco with healthcare is one factor. The attempt of the US government to introduce universal health care is just a nightmare waiting to happen. Living in Tennessee, we already have the disaster that is TennCare and it isn't even a universal plan. With TennCare, there is so much fraud, waste, and abuse happening that it has basically bankrupted the system. What's funny is that cutting out government fraud, waste, and abuse is what was supposed to have paid for TennCare. But that's not what's happened. Instead, it's become a prime example of nanny-state politics, creating a bunch of people dependent on the government and enticing medical providers to inflate their costs or order a bunch of unnecessary extras to maximize their payout from the goverment (i.e., the taxpayers). To imagine this on a national scale scares the daylights out of me, especially because it looks like there'd be no way to opt out. If I can use herbs and natural remedies to stay well and avoid the healthcare system, then it would be my own little personal opposition to a government program that I don't support.

Pharmaceuticals are another factor. Nowadays, it seems we can't turn on the tv without seeing some commercial from the Law Firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe saying that anybody who ever took the drug Nosensatol (No-sense-at-all) is entitled to compensation (via a class action lawsuit) because this wonder drug causes people to DIE. The government is more than happy to throw the book at some simple Amish farmer who wants to sell his raw milk, but not much seems to happen to Big Pharma when they're killing us. The less I support the pharmaceutical companies with my dollars, either voluntarily or through taxes, the better.

Part of the reason we have such deadly diseases these days is because we have overmedicated and oversanitized ourselves. Every time someone gets sick, we throw antibiotics at them, whether they really need them or not. And look at all the antibacterial products on the market these days. Even though plain old soap and water would have done just as good a job of cleaning, we have to have the most powerful, strongest chemicals out there. As a result, the bacteria and viruses have mutated to the point that some of them are now resistent to every remedy we have.

Another problem with some of the wonder drugs is that the scientists isolate the one chemical that seems to be effective against a certain disease and ignore everything else. Sure, you can extract all the vitamin C from an orange, but what about the other things contained within an orange that are beneficial? Which do you think is healthier, a pill or the orange? I'd rather try the whole, complete remedy instead of the single chemical - perhaps it's the whole remedy that does the real healing.

Yet another factor concerns self-sufficiency and, yes, survivalism. If the worst happens, or even just the pretty darn bad happens - not total economic collapse, mind you, but just regional or even personal - it isn't going to be feasible to get to a doctor every time one of us gets a sniffle. We are going to have to learn to heal ourselves. What better way to learn other than by just doing it?

It's also an exercise in Zen for me. I believe that we already possess the key to peaceful existence within ourselves and that all we have to do to find it is to look inward and wake up to the truth that is right here, right now. Satisfaction doesn't lie in possessions or material things and true peace is only achieved when one is fulfilled with what is already there. "To find happiness, look no further than your own backyard," so to speak. By taking advantage of the things that are locally and naturally available, I see it as an outward representation of the inward goal.

Lastly, the herbs are fun to grow and the plants are exciting to find in the wild. It reminds me so much of all the folk remedies my grandmother used when I was a child. I guess it's my way of holding on to a part of that. I'm a history buff and I smile when I read about an herbal remedy from Pliny. It's kind of inspiring to know that thousands of years ago, people were gathering these same kinds of plants and using them for the same remedies.

The best six doctors anywhere

And no one can deny it

Are sunshine, water, rest, and air

Exercise and diet.

These six will gladly you attend

If only you are willing.

Your mind they'll ease

Your will they'll mend

And charge you not a shilling.

- Nursery Rhyme