Dr. Pamela Yee, MD is a functional medicine doctor who has been growing her own organic home garden for 12 years. Functional medicine is a system biology-based approach to medicine whereby they search and treat the root cause of an illness. Oftentimes, they will use food and herbs as medicine or for preventative measures.
She grows medicinal herbs, fruit trees, and organic vegetables. Her garden is loaded with lots of medicinal herbs, fruit trees, and organic vegetables some of which you wouldn’t expect to grow in the New York climate like the paw paw tree. It’s fruit tastes like a fabulous combination of mango, banana, and pineapple.
Some of the medicinal herbs that Dr. Yee grows are thyme, lemon grass, yarrow, and elderflower. This is actually the first year that she planted yarrow and elderflower because of the need for immunity support. She compares her medicinal herbs to an arsenal should you need to go there.
As Dr. Yee walks us through her garden, she shares the medicinal, health, and environmental benefits of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs that she grows. Thinking about her garden as a whole system is the idea of permaculture where plants have multiple uses. It is this principle that makes her garden so harmonious and productive.
Dr. Yee’s garden is impressive and probably intimidating to many of us. However, don’t be discouraged because you can do a lot with 2-4 beds which is what Dr. Yee started with. With 2-4 beds, she would grow something annually and eat it. She had such pleasure from growing, harvesting, and eating her own food that it expanded as she did more research on permaculture. So, start small, think about what you like to like to eat, and go with it.
To read more about Dr. Pamela Yee and functional medicine – Blum Center For Health
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