How I Fell in Love with Growing Herbs for Remedies at Home (and How You Can Too)
- Sayanah Janell
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
There’s something utterly enchanting about having herbs growing in your home. A little rosemary by the kitchen sink, lavender on the windowsill, mint thriving like it owns the place—each one bringing more than just flavor. They bring life, purpose, healing... and, if you ask me, a sprinkle of magic.
Before I go full Hallmark movie on you, let me rewind a bit. I grew up on a farm in South Africa—surrounded by plants, animals, and the steady rhythm of rural life. But the real magic started with my parents. When I was just a baby, my dad received a life-altering diagnosis. Conventional medicine offered little hope, but my mom? She wasn’t having it.
Determined and fierce, she found a naturopathic doctor in California, and together they took a path less traveled—one that led not only to healing, but to an entirely new way of living. That spark lit something in her, and she spent the next decades becoming a walking encyclopedia of natural health. Homeopathy, Chinese medicine, herbalism, aromatherapy—you name it, she studied it.
Our home became an apothecary. There were tinctures for every cough, oils for headaches, poultices for everything from burns to bee stings, and chamomile tea before bed that smelled like safety and mom hugs. I didn’t know it at the time, but those moments planted seeds in me too.
Fast forward a few decades (and a few dozen countries later), and I’ve been lucky enough to learn from healers, grandmothers, botanists, and herbalists around the world—from the lavender fields of France to Costa Rica’s Carpenter’s bush and Croatia’s Travarica. Every herb, every story, added another chapter to my understanding—and deepened my love for the way plants can heal us.
And now, I’ve wrapped all of it—my mom’s wisdom, my travels, my experiments and flops—into a cozy little e-book: From Garden to Remedy: An Easy Guide to Growing Herbs at Home for Wellness
✨ Free exclusively for Herbasal & Sayanah Wellness subscribers.
It’s warm, a little witty, totally beginner-friendly, and filled with practical tips for growing, harvesting, and making remedies with 13 healing herbs—even if your “garden” is a windowsill. Join our lovely wellness site family and-
And if you're already part of SW, your copy is already on the way to your inbox - so dig in!
Whether you’re just getting started with herbs or already have your basil acting like it pays rent, I hope this guide feels like sitting down for tea with a friend—herbal, of course.
With love, lavender, and a little dirt under my nails - Bee (Bianca Fortin)
This blog was written for Sayanah Wellness by Bianca (Bee) Fortin from the Herbasal Team.
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