No time to garden? You might try what I did. Years ago, we had just purchased our first home, I was pregnant, mothering a 2 year old, and working. There was simply no way that I could start my dream herb garden. So…I decided to let Nature design my herb garden.

By happy accident, I discovered that our property had a nice selection of wild herbs growing quite contentedly on their own.

First, we had four old crabapple trees that stood on a carpet of violets. Violets are so wonderful. The blossoms, stems and leaves are all edible and make great salads. The blossoms are especially pleasing atop a tastefully arranged salad and can be candied for even a greater delight. They are also a premier anti-cancer herb. Crabapple blossoms are edible, as are their fruits.

Secondly, wild sorrel. This is a delightfully sour green that is great stuffed in fish before baking or used as one would use scallions as a garnish to soups, meats and grains, not to mention salads.

Thirdly, we had lots and lots of dandelions — again, a great liver food and cancer preventive. We had lots of salads from the corner of our yard that was allowed to have dandelions. We made fritters with the buds and flowers, steamed stems as a side veggie, and salads and green juices from the leaves. In areas of the yard where we didn’t want dandelions we dug them up, ate the roots as a steamed veggie, dried some roots for dandelion coffee and ate the greens.

Fourthly, I spied a couple of small patches of stinging nettles in my neighbor’s yard. He was quite bemused and agreeable to me digging up his nettles for him and I promptly transplanted them into our yard. These delightful greens provided a gourmand’s “spinach” green (served with butter) all summer long. Guests were always amazed at the most delicious “spinach” they had ever tasted! The dried leaves provided for nettle tea.

Fifthly, burdock. The bane of many farmers and yard owners, this cancer-fighting herb is one of my favorites. The young leaves are edible (spring) as are the roots, and the seeds in fall make a great nut butter.

Sixthly, plantain. The young leaves are buttery and slightly bitter and make a great quick energy snack, but the best part are the seeds in fall. They’re great fun to harvest (just grab the stem between you thumb and first finger and zip up the stem, you’ll end up with a palmful of delightful seeds.) The leaves are also wonderful at stemming pain from bee and wasp bites (crumble or chew the leaf first before applying to the bite).

Over the years, I transplanted the herbs into an attractive arrangement in our backyard. We had a violet patch that stood 20 x 10 feet, a nettle patch, a plantain patch, a sorrel patch, and a burdock patch. The colors and textures added to the ebb and flow of the garden. Low, light green plantain, dark green nettles, large bushy “Jurassic” burdock, yellow dandelions. It made for a great backyard garden bordered with old crabapple and Braeburn apple trees.

So I had this wonderful garden that took no work and no watering. And then, one lovely summer day a few years later,  my two little girls called for me to come out to have a “picnic” with them on the deck. Memories of mud pies and stone soup welled up as I wiped my hands on my apron and came out onto the sunny deck, only to have that vision shattered. There sitting on the deck were my two little daughters with three little dishes (the dishes were actually burdock leaves). Each dish had a salad of dandelion, sorrel, violet and plantain greens, topped with white and purple violet blossoms. No mud pies here. We actually ate our picnic salad!

So, if you have precious little time and no knowledge as to which herbs would best grow in your garden, take a look at what is coming up on its own. (Be sure to consult someone who knows your local plants so that you can be sure of your identification.) Dig up the candidates and transplant them so they are clumped artfully together. Water the transplants daily until they are well established — and then, your work is done. Just watch and harvest.

Note: Always, be careful that your yard is safe from chemicals that may be used by neighbors and never use chemicals on your own yard. How sad indeed that those carcinogenic lawn chemicals kill the very plants that prevent and cure cancer.

For 26 years I have watched patients come through my office with a variety of health concerns. With few exceptions, all had some knowledge of what was really going on and what really needed to be done.

Take the gentleman who came in with chronic depression, secondary to a sub-optimally functioning liver. Although he had no idea that his liver was the major cause of his debility, he stated that for the first time in his life he had purchased beets at the grocery store the previous day and he had no idea why. He had never eaten beets and did not even know how to prepare them. He offered this information to me after I had recommended to him that he eat beets daily as part of his program for healing his liver.

Or take the woman who brought in her mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was due for surgery in one week. They came to me for advice on what they could do to help the body heal itself. Our consultation was brief, maybe 40 minutes all told. During this time it became obvious that the mother and daughter had a very strong sense and faith in the universal power that pervades all of us and its ability to heal. It was this faith that caused that tumor to dissolve over the next few days so that at the time of surgery it could not be found.

There are countless cases of children healing themselves. Small children have not yet lost their intuitive/psychic ability to know what is good for them. The common craving for sour foods for example demonstrates a child’s need for foods that would stimulate healthy functioning of the liver and gallbladder, as sour is a flavor that helps these organs.

Unfortunately, for many children this beautiful intuitive impulse is satisfied with non-food sour candies. If your child craves sour, please provide it in a healthy, organic, whole foods form. Offer organic lemons – rind and all – or apple cider vinegar water (mix to child’s taste about 1 teaspoon per 6 ounces of water, and a little honey if necessary) or sauerkraut (the real kind e.g. Power Kraut, Veggie Delight). Children will eat as much as they need and then quit. Forcing them to eat more is counterproductive.

The craving is correct – "I want sour…!" – and as parents we should heed that craving and provide a real food source. Sour optimizes the liver and gallbladder, which work hard in growing children, providing mental sharpness and calmness, healthy ligaments and tendons, a robust immunity, a happy stomach and gut, and normal hormonal levels among many other functions. A child’s intuitive attraction to good and healing foods can be adversely affected by parents, other children and the media.

Adults, of course, still have these intuitive abilities, too. Our problem, of course, is our heads. They get in the way. That pesky left analytical mind tends to override our intuitive abilities. The gentleman mentioned in the first example bought those beets on that particular day because he – like many other patients – relaxed his worrying left brain, allowing his intuitive mind to guide him. He did this on that day because he knew he was going to see somebody tomorrow who was going to take over the responsibility of making decisions for him.

Maybe we need to institute a Headstop program for adults. Headstart is great for helping little ones get ready for our left-brained world, but at some point a balance must be made. For those adept at psychic ability, you know the importance of relaxation, emptying the mind and allowing our innate intuitive/psychic powers to work.

Whether it’s rubbing a spot on the body that "feels" like it needs a rub (probably a reflex point asking for some activation to support an organ that needs help) or eating a food that you suddenly crave (always consider the flavor or feeling and a healthy source for it) remember that your body is always trying to lead you to that which is healthy and good for you. You need only to get out of its way, get your thinking, analytical mind out of the picture and surround yourself with that which is healthy and natural and you will do the right thing.

The mother who was told that there was no more that could be medically done for her child gathered up the child in her arms and took her home to die. Holding, rocking and loving that child 24 hours a day, she loved it back to health and a full life. Always follow your heart. It will never fail you, and it is a direct line to your psychic abilities.

But hey, you’ve got to relax to hear what it says.