Thanks so much. I looked all of those up. For English readers, Capim limao is Lemongrass.

Glad the video was timely. No other herb videos yet, but my process is identical for any herb I dry.

Hi Dawn. I'm SO sorry about the shingles! Ugh. Awful. I'm not a medical doctor of any kind, so I can't really advise you. And what works for some may not work for others (diet, stress level, environmental exposure, age, genetics...). But know that lemon balm is very mild and you can't really overdo it as a tea or oil infusion. I do HIGHLY recommend Rosemary Gladstar's herbal books for learning about how to use herbs and dosing. My understanding (no personal experience) is that Valerian root is good for anxiety (they call it nature's valium). Very easy to grow and reseeds like crazy, but because you harvest the root, it can take a few years to get to harvest. Try it from an herbalist first to see if it helps.

I have another video on making it into a syrup. This is my favorite resource for all things Lemon Balm. I never trim the flowers off of mine (you certainly could). It was already here and well established when we bought our place, so it was a losing battle from the beginning. We just mow it/weed wack it late in the season. practicalselfreliance.com/lemon-balm-uses/

@@cookingtheharvest thank you for the response! I saved the link! We don't have "a loosing battle" on our hands yet - I planted lemon balm less than 2 years ago (a friend shared a plant), and it only spread to one more location so far, and is coming out in both this year.

You can also just tie it up and hang it to dry. Depending on your climate (high humidity or not) you may want to make your bunches smaller so there's more air flow. But air drying it should work just fine.

Depending on where you live, you can put them on the dash of your car or the backseat. Just leave the windows cracked and put some parchment paper down or something like that. I used to put them in the back of my suburban before I got my food dehydrator. keep in mind we live in a low humidity area so that works really well for us

@@ForgingFreedomTV love this idea.

Baking soda might be fine in a home kitchen, but it is not recognized as sanitizer by the state and local health authorities. (It is not a disinfectant - just good as a scrubber). And because I am selling this product, I need to comply. My guess is if you used much baking soda, it would leave your herbs tasting "soapy" so if you choose to use baking soda, be sure to rinse well.

For me, because I'm selling this product dried, I have to use something that is PROVEN to sanitize. It's part of my kitchen license. In order for salt to do that, it would need to be enough that it would actually flavor the dried herb, so a non-starter for me. But you can do whatever you like. 🙂

OK, understand. Thanks for your answer.😊