Grow Your Own Drugs [Hardcover]

James Wong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2009

James Wong is back, putting his ethnobotanical expertise to use once again, with over 100 new, natural, cheap and easy remedies, showing you and those around you how to have a fantastically healthy year. Whether you're fed up with your hormones, worried about your baby's nappy rash, your partner is prone to a sore-throat, or leg-waxing is proving just too expensive to maintain, Grow Your Own Drugs: A Year With James Wong offers over 100 great new remedies to soothe all manner of common conditions and beauty problems - whenever they might flare up. James shows how easy it to have access to the right ingredients whatever the weather, with his easy-to follow seasonal focus - whether you've got a window box, a roof terrace, a country garden (or a computer to order the goods online!). His seasonal planner takes you right through from Spring to Winter, making sure you know what to plant when, the best time to harvest and how to create your own mini-apothecary (or store-cupboard) at home. Packed with James's personal top tips and easy solutions for both growing and making remedies, this is your must-have companion to help ward off any ailments and complaints which might crop up throughout the year, the natural, James Wong way. FEATURES: / Over 100 new remedies / New seasonal guide - how to make sure you have all the ingredients you need for a healthy body and mind all year round / New non-gardener's guide: if you're not green-fingered or don't have a garden, James reveals how to identify plants and how to source good quality ingredients online / More about James's personal inspirations: how he came to a career in ethnobotany, how he goes about living his own GYOD year and why a seasonal approach is important and easy to adopt / James's top tips and new gift flashes (perfect for cheap, thoughtful presents) / New case studies: how people who've tried and tested the remedies have got on / New HOME section: brilliant natural and cheap remedies for home life. Contains pet flea powder, horsetail metal polish, wood polish, carpet deodoriser

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The recipes in Wong's book offer remedies for a wide range of ailments -from sore throats to hot flashes to head lice...Wong says humans have been battling with insects for only a few thousand years. Plants, however, have been at war with insects for millions of years. 'Over that huge period, there's been time for them to evolve all sorts of unusual strategies, many of which are natural chemical weapons - insecticides - that exist in the environment that can be used in all manner of ways, ' he says. In his recipes, Wong says he hijacks what plants have evolved for themselves, and he uses that to treat humans and animals."
-NPR's "All Things Considered"
"A provocative title-which sounds even more provocative when you realize that the author's name rhymes with bong. Bonus! But back off, dude. This is actually a guide to growing home remedies - legitimate remedies - for a variety of legitimate ailments, from athlete's foot to water retention. And Wong is an ethnobotanist wh

About the Author

James Wong grew up in Malaysia and Singapore. He trained at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and gained an MSc in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent, graduating with distinction. His research has taken him to highland Ecuador, as well as to China and Java. He now lectures at the University of Kent and has also co-designed and built two RHS medal-winning gardens (in 2004 and 2008), which were designed to show that there is more to plants than 'looking pretty'.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Reference Hbacks (November 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007345305
• ISBN-13: 978-0007345304
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Wong grew up in Malaysia and Singapore. He trained at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and gained an MSc in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent, graduating with distinction. His research has taken him to highland Ecuador, as well as to China and Java. He lectures at the University of Kent and has also co-designed and built two RHS medal-winning gardens (in 2004 as the youngest medal winner and again in 2008), which were designed to show that there is more to plants than "looking pretty."