Herbal medicine is a continuum with food at one end and toxic herbs at the other. Some medicine we eat everyday to nourish us while others are used in very particular circumstances.

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is an entity I’ve been acquainted with since childhood. It lived in the cupboard: stale, powdered, in individually wrapped tea bags, sitting in a fragile cardboard box beside the peppermint tea; the only other herb in our house.

Four principles of health maintenance from Chinese medicine