Harvesting Echinacea-coneflower

I have always had an interest in natural ways of health and healing. As a Christian, I believe that God has given us all we need to live well, perhaps things are not quite as well since sin entered the Garden, but I still believe in a loving Father that cares for His children...and so call me 'Crunchy' or call me a tree hugger, but I think it is so much better than chemical solutions to health.

In the past we have bought most of our herbal needs from local shops, that carried what we needed. This year however, I decided to begin to make my own herbal treatments from what I have growing in my gardens. I have done research for years, on what herbal/natural treatments exist. We've used echinacea tincture for years, this year I decided to make my own.
We use this at the first sign of a cold coming on, just a half a dropper full is enough, continued every few hours until you've beaten it.

Parts of the coneflower that are usable:flower, leaves and roots. I picked away from my large bed of coneflower, the best time to pick is near frost time. I snapped off several plants, then also tugged out 20 roots (they are not very big roots). I gave everything a rinse in the sink, the roots got a gentle scrubbing to remove all the remaining dirt. I laid them out on cookie sheets in my kitchen and put the oven on the lowest setting for 20 minutes, leaving them for several hours before opening the door to begin the next process. Make sure the flowers and leaves are totally dry (don't want any dampness that can later create mold).

I tried to snap of as much of the stems from the roots, prior to drying. These roots get rock hard. I ground them in my coffee bean grinder, a few at a time until powdery. It makes an awful racket. A few leaves and flowers were thrown in.

You can use leaves, flowers and roots fresh...I do some of both for echinacea.

More to follow...I will let you know how to make a tincture of echinacea, how to use the now dry echinacea in tea, or how to put them into empty gel capsules. I also made some cough syrups, an echinacea, an onion syrup, a honey-ginger-garlic cough syrup, a cilantro syrup...so come back and see.

Will it taste good? Well, probably not like candy...but my kids take it without too much fuss. And we tend to be a very healthy bunch, thanks to God.