Making Medicine, Part 1 of 5: Wild Harvesting Blue Vervain

This is the first of a series of five posts in which I am going to use the process of wild harvesting and making a fresh herb tincture of blue vervain (Verbena hastata) as an example to explain in detail the process of making medicine. You'll have to excuse me for having changed the title a few times. As I've been writing these posts, they've become longer and more detailed and less about blue vervain and more about making medicine in general. There are a lot of aspects of this process that I realized needed to be explained in detail. So this has been an evolving process.

A week ago, Monika (Monika Ghent, my partner and the Living Earth online course supervisor) and I went harvesting blue vervain. I decided that this would be a good herb to feature in in this series because the process is pretty typical for an herb for which we harvest the aerial parts. Also, being a wetland species, it allows me to address a couple of issues that are particular to harvesting in wetlands.

The home of blue vervain (Verbena hastata).

Back in the early 80s when I first started exploring wild spaces and eventually herbs in the rural areas beyond the boarders of Toronto where I lived, I used to look at detailed maps of the surrounding area to look for wild spaces where there weren't any roads and hopefully no development (that was before the Internet and Google Maps). When I found something that looked promising, my friends and I would drive around the area to get a sense of the landscape and determine if there were any trails accessing the area. In the winter I used to hike along the course of a creek near where I lived by walking on the ice. One winter day when we were exploring a new area I suggested that it would be easier and more interesting to access the area by walking on the ice along a river that flowed through. We didn't get as far following the meandering course of the river, but we didn't care. I have always preferred quality over quantity. After that day doing this became a regular activity for me. Sadly, for the last decade or more the winters in my area have been much warmer and the rivers rarely freeze. Occasionally when they do the ice is usually too thin to walk on.

The summer following our first river ice excursion we were heading out to explore a provincial park not too far away. We wanted to avoid most of the people and explore areas that weren't easily accessible by trails. I suggested that we walk up the river. So we put on old running shoes without socks and walked up through the river. We called it "water walking" and I've done it ever since. In the early days the only drag about it was the water sloshing around for awhile in our running shoes when we left the river. For a couple of years in the early 90s I took a bunch of workshops in New Jersey with Tom Brown. The first time I was down there a few people were wearing these really cool sandals that had adjustable Velcro straps. They were Tevas of course! They weren't very common yet and I had never seen them before. I realized at once that these were the perfect all-terrain footwear for use in warmer weather, and in particular for water walking. They were the one piece that was missing from water walking. I bought my first pair 20 years ago. I'm still on my second pair. That's pretty amazing considering they are about the only footwear I use (when I'm not barefoot) during the warmer months of the year. I wear them through just about everything when I'm harvesting, hiking, canoeing or camping.

So now let's get back to wild harvesting. Wetland plants often live in areas that are not easily accessible. The plant growth can be very thick and difficult to get through. There can also be deep muck that is hard to walk in. There is also a particular kind of grass that grows in wetlands that we call "sticky grass". I don't know what species it is. Grasses can be difficult to identify and I haven't devoted any energy to learning the many grasses because I don't use any of them. What is particular about sticky grass is that it has a row of tiny barbs along the mid vein of the blade that slices your flesh. If you walk through it with exposed skin you will get numerous cuts that are like paper cuts. It's not very pleasant. With these challenges in mind, in the early years when I first started wild harvesting the medicines I realized that the best way to access wetland plants is by water walking along the course of a creek or river, or along the shore of a lake. Of course it only works when the water isn't too deep. Another concern is that we have to be very careful not to step on any flat rocks because there are often fish, crayfish or other aquatic animals living underneath them.

Monika water walking while we were harvesting blue vervain.

So on July 1st Monika and I headed off water walking down a river that is not too far from where I live. Monika needed to harvest blue vervain and yarrow (Achillea millefolium), both of which are common along the banks of the river. That day I only needed blue vervain.

Whenever I pass through wild spaces I am always keeping track of lots of information: How healthy is the ecosystem? Which plants are growing there? At what stage are they in their life cycle on that particular date of that particular year? Do any of the medicines I use grow there and, if so, what is the maximum sustainable amount that can be harvested? What mammal, bird and other animal species live there? When I get home I record all of this information in a data base and update it every time I'm in the area. In this way whenever I need to harvest a particular herb, I have a quick reference to locations where it grows and approximately how much I can harvest at each location.

While I'm moving through the landscape I keep my mind quiet and tend to use my peripheral vision most of the time so that I can be aware of as much of what is going on around me as possible. Fairly soon after we started down the river last week I noticed a flash of red way off to my right in a clearing between some cedars. To my surprise I noticed some Oswego tea (Monarda didyma) that was just starting to bloom. It was early for these parts, but most species are blooming two to three weeks early this year because of the heat and the drought we have been experiencing. Oswego tea isn't very common in southern Ontario. It is much more common south of the Great Lakes. It only grows in a couple of the areas that I frequent and this was only the second time that I had seen it in bloom. Luckily I had my camera with me that day. In our area wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) is fairly common and that is the species that I use. When I first started using wild bergamot there was almost no information on it in the literature. There was a bit of information on Oswego tea and the few references to wild bergamot usually just said that it was very similar to Oswego tea. It is not uncommon for plants in the same genus to have very similar properties. Because several sources had made this comparison, I had assumed that they probably taste very similar. Then one day a few years ago Monika and I were walking along a deer trail on the bank of the same river further upstream from where we were last weekend. As we were walking I picked up a strong scent of wild mint (Mentha arvensis). I looked around where we had been walking and all I saw were some baby wild bergamot plants. I tasted a leaf and sure enough that was where the smell was coming from. I then realized that they weren't wild bergamot (although at that stage they looked almost identical) but rather Oswego tea. So it turns out that although Oswego tea is very closely related to wild bergamot, it tastes almost identical to wild mint. That means that the components of its essential oil are more similar to wild mint and therefore its medicinal properties are also probably closer to wild mint than wild bergamot. It seems that the information I had read was based on an assumption, not on experience.

Oswego tea (Monarda didyma), one of the friends I met that day.

Blue vervain grows along the edges of wetlands, rivers and lakes. In my area it rarely grows in large groups. It tends to grow singly or in groups of a few plants along the edge of the water or a bit further back in areas where it is wet in the spring and the soil remains fairly moist through the summer. As a result, it is necessary to travel some distance along the edge of the water to get a decent amount, especially since we don't harvest all of the plants.

A group of blue vervain plants growing along the bank of the river.

Blue vervain can tolerate a wide range of light conditions. It prefers to grow in locations where it will get direct sunlight 20-100% of the day, although 40-80% is ideal. In very hot dry years when the water level where the plant is growing is very low, it is best to harvest it in areas where it gets direct sunlight 20-40% of the day. On the other hand, in cool wet years it is best to harvest this herb in areas where it gets direct sunlight 80-100% of the day.

On this trip we were able to harvest a larger percentage of the plants that were ready because it hadn't been flowering for very long and only about a third of the plants were blooming. This year I only needed to harvest enough to make 2 litres of tincture because I made extra last year. I had already prepared 1 litre a couple of days earlier from a different location. Monika needed to make 2 litres as well. We had to water walk about 2 km along the river to get enough for both of us. In years when I need a fair bit I usually have to harvest at two or three locations to get what I need.

A closer look at the flowering spikes.

Blue vervain is harvested at the beginning of it's flowering period. The best time is from a few days to a week after it goes into flower. However, since all of the plants don't go into flower at the same time, generally the best time is one to two weeks after the first plants go into flower. In the area where I live, that is usually the second week of July. It was earlier this year because of the very hot, dry weather. It can be harvested a bit later, but like most plants the internodes (the sections of stalk between the nodes, the points where the leaves are attached to the stalk) get longer. This results in a higher stalk to leaf and flowering spike ratio and therefore a greater amount of stalk that needs to be discarded when we separate the usable from unusable portions of the herb. Also, the later we harvest it, the less time the plant has to produce more flowering stalks and reproduce. Typically we harvest the terminal 30-40% of the herb because this is the most potent part and it minimizes the amount of stress on each plant to regrow.

Me demonstrating how much of the plant to harvest. I am standing in shallow water in the river

and the plant is on the bank, so it looks about 6-8 inches taller than it actually is.

We had a great time water walking that day. It was quite warm, but a few degrees cooler than it had been. The sun was very strong, but travelling through the river there was a fair bit of shade. Water walking is great on hot days because walking through the water helps to cool us down. We also enjoyed the songs of many bird species and met a few friends along the way, both in and out of the water.

Some of the other visitors to the river on that day were

Canadian tiger swallowtail butterflies (Papilio canadensis) and...

...white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We didn't see any deer but we heard them

bounding off as we approached. I usually only see them when I'm harvesting alone.

This is the end of Part 1 of this series. Later this week I'll post Part 2, in which I will be discussing preparing the blue vervain that I harvested in order to make a fresh herb tincture. In the third post I will discuss making the maceration; in the fourth, different kinds of equipment that are available for pressing and filtering tinctures; and in the fifth, the actual process of pressing and filtering the maceration to make the tincture. In the last post I will also provide information on the properties and uses of blue vervain.

Wild Harvesting Herbs

Wild harvesting herbs comes with a lot of responsibility. It is essential that we harvest in an ethical way. There are many levels to what constitutes "ethical" in this context. There are ecological issues, like not over-harvesting or doing anything that harms the ecosystem where the herbs are growing. This includes other plants and animals as we move through the landscape. There are social issues, such as our responsibility to ensure that the plants we are harvesting continue to be plentiful for use by future generations. There are also spiritual issues, such as cultivating right relationship with the medicines and our Earth Mother. All of these come into play and are interrelated.

As more people develop an interest in herbs and making their own medicines, growing herbs becomes increasingly more important. Many herbs have become rare or extinct in much of their former range because of wild harvesting on a commercial scale. The average person or even herbalist does not need to harvest herbs on that kind of scale, but as more people do it the results are potentially the same.

This reminds me of the growing popularity of the local food movement. The idea of eating locally has many important social and ecological benefits, and I strongly support it in principle. Unfortunately, one of the negative consequences of this orientation is a growing popularity of wild harvested foods. I cringe every time I see wild leeks (Allium tricoccum), fiddleheads (Matteuccia struthiopteris), various wild mushrooms and other wild harvested foods at farmers markets or in supermarkets. They are becoming more popular each year. It is a lot easier to wipe out a wild plant or fungus species by harvesting it for food than for medicinal use because wild foods appeal to a greater proportion of the population and are consumed in much larger quantities. As a result, some local food enthusiasts are promoting practices that are ecologically and ethically destructive. They look upon wild species as free for the taking. Some of them are probably following some ethical guidelines, but they are still contributing to the growing popularity of these foods which leads to more harvesting and more people getting involved who are of questionable ethics.

Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) fiddleheads.

I have often witnessed the results of unethical wild harvesting. For instance, although I wild harvest, walk, canoe and camp in hundreds of different locations in southern and central Ontario, I have only come across wild ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) in very few of them. In every instance they were in provincial parks and conservation areas where harvesting is illegal. Wild ginseng is protected in Ontario anyway because it is rare. I do not harvest it myself. Nevertheless every plant that I have ever come across in my travels has been harvested by some unscrupulous people. I currently don't know any places where it grows.

Although I strongly recommend that people who want to make their own medicines grow their herbs whenever possible, there is still a place for wild harvesting on a small scale if it is done in an ethical manner. Getting to know the medicines in the places where they grow wild is also an excellent way to develop a deeper relationship with them and Nature. This is important even for people who are using commercial herbal products. In fact, it is especially important for them since it provides them with an opportunity to interact with living plants. Observing herbs in their natural environment can also provide us with important information about the kinds of conditions in which they prefer to grow, which is essential if we want to grow them ourselves.

As an herbalist, I am extremely anal about three aspects of my work:

1. The quality of the medicines that I use.

There are no ends to which I won't go to ensure that the medicines I use are the highest quality that I can possibly prepare, both pharmacologically and energetically. I am constantly reassessing what I am doing and remaining open to ways that it can be improved. This means harvesting them from the healthiest plants growing in the habitat that is ideal for them; harvesting them when the conditions (temperature, sun, rainfall) are best; harvesting them at the preferred stage in their life cycle and time of day; using only the most potent parts of the plants; and preparing them in a way that maximizes their potency and minimizes any degradation of their chemical constituents.

As I mentioned in a previous post, for me all aspects of harvesting, preparing, storing and using the medicines are a sacred act. I treat this work like a ceremony, meditation and prayer. At all times I am in a place of gratitude and respect, with a clear intent to prepare medicines that are as pure and potent as possible that are intended to provide those who seek the medicines with whatever healing they require physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I don't want to fill the medicines with the scattered energies of mental chatter or with negative emotions. It is essential that my mind is quiet and my heart open when I am doing this work.

2. The quality of my relationship with the medicines.

For me the medicines are not things, they are living, healing beings. In my interactions with them I come from a place of humility, respect and reverence. That may sound pretty airy fairy, but anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am one of the least airy fairy people you will meet. I've always found that the mental attitude that works best for me in life is to be an open-minded sceptic. I don't easily buy into things that I am unfamiliar with or don't make sense to me, but I also know that anything is possible. What we know and experience is such an infinitesimally small fraction of what is out there. One of the biggest blunders of our modern society is the belief that through our rationalizations and our sciences we have things all figured out. This is pure arrogance! When I come across something that challenges my paradigm, I have found that the best way to approach it is to give it the benefit of the doubt; to put it into practice and see if it works in my life. If it works, I'll continue to use it; if it doesn't, I won't.

Getting back to the medicines, when we approach the plant people with humility and an open heart and mind, things start to happen. They communicate with us and teach us. When that first started happening to me I was sceptical but open to the possibility. What I found out pretty quick was that when I listened, things worked out; when I didn't, things screwed up. It didn't take long for me to learn to stop fighting it and just accept it. The only issue for me is not the existence of or accuracy of these communications, it is whether or not I have the clarity to receive them. I have learned that when things aren't clear it's because I'm not clear. I will do whatever is necessary to become clear or leave it and come back to it when I am.

 

Blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) is one of the first medicines that "called" me.

I don't work with herbs because they are readily available or because of curiosity. I only work with the medicines that call me. In working with them, it is important that I approach them with the right attitude. It is also a universal understanding within indigenous healing traditions that energy always moves in a circle. That means that when we take something it is important that we always give something back. On one level that includes the humility, respect and love that I approach the medicines with. I also pick up any garbage that I find when I'm out on the landscape, whether I'm harvesting or not. However, there is also an understanding that it is best to give something back that is more tangible; something for which we've made some sacrifices to grow it or working to earn money to purchase it. In North America the most common gift that we offer is tobacco. Cornmeal is also used, especially in the southwest. In many traditions it is said that the main reason tobacco is used is because the spirit of tobacco offered itself to be used for this purpose. It is part of it's medicine. Tobacco is used to carry the prayers of those who smoke it in a ceremonial way using a sacred pipe. Many of the peoples of Mexico, Central and South America traditionally use it in the form of cigars. Tobacco is also used for healing, connecting with the world around us, and as a form of energy exchange, as an offering or gift whenever we receive something. Tobacco is a very powerful medicine. There are healers for whom it is the only medicine that they use. One of the consequences of using powerful medicines is that they make great demands on those who use them and there are often significant repercussions when these medicines are used in an inappropriate way. In our society we don't need to look very far to see the negative consequences of the misuse of tobacco.

Wild tobacco (Nicotiana rustica).

Having said all of this, there is something that I've mentioned in previous posts and I need to reiterate here. I want to be clear that I'm not saying that the way I practice herbalism is the only way to practice herbalism. There are many different traditions of herbalism and many great herbalists working within each of them. This way of practicing and living herbalism is the essence of the tradition that I come from. It is what works for me. That being said, it is my experience that the deeper our relationship with the medicines that we use, the more profound the results that we will witness in our lives and in our healing work. Deepening our relationship with the medicines is something that will benefit any herbalist regardless of what herbs or system of herbalism that they use. The same applies to anyone who is working with herbs on a personal level. It also helps us on our own path of healing and the greater the depth of healing that we experience in our own life, the better we are able to be vehicles for the medicine on behalf of others. This way of relating to medicines is common to all of the ancient healing traditions. In my experience, it is something that has largely been lost in Western herbalism, but is making a resurgence. I'm putting this out there to demonstrate how it works for me. Hopefully it will help other people on their own path. This theme will definitely come up from time to time in my posts. However, for people who want some guidance on how to experience more of this in their lives, you might want to check out The Spirit of Herbs workshops on my website. There are other people offering these kinds of teachings as well.

3. Ethical wild harvesting.

The issues that I discussed in point #2 above are very personal. This is not something that I talk about much with my clients or even other herbalists unless they express an interest in it. Similarly, although I'm quite open about where I'm coming from with my students and this stuff comes up periodically in the courses that I teach, I present it as a way of looking at things (as opposed to the way of looking at things). I also introduce it in greater depth and help my students to experience doing herbalism in a this way in The Spirit of Herbs workshops, but ultimately it is up to each student to decide to what degree they want to integrate it into the way they practice herbalism (if at all) once they begin to practice on their own. However, the issue of ethical wild harvesting is something that I stress repeatedly. I have a handout that outlines guidelines for ethical wild harvesting that the Traditional Herbalist students probably receive a half dozen times in various classes over the course of their program. I am going to provide those guidelines here (see below). For those who are interested, I am also making this handout available as a PDF file on the Herbal Resources page of our website.

Link to PDF file.

Guidelines for Ethical Wild Harvesting

• Only wild harvest a species of herb that is common in the region that you are harvesting, and is common in general (i.e. don’t pick an herb that is common in a specific region if there are only a few regions where it is common).
• Only wild harvest a species of herb that is plentiful in the immediate area that you are harvesting it.
• Only wild harvest individual herbs that are healthy and from a strong, healthy, local population.
• Never wild harvest more than 10% of the plants of a particular species in any specific area if you are harvesting roots or rhizomes, or from 20% of the population of the species if harvesting the aerial parts, as long as in the latter case you are harvesting them early enough for them to produce more flowers and reproduce.
• Never wild harvest any species of herb from any specific area if there is evidence that someone else has been harvesting the same species in the same area.
• Whenever possible, always wild harvest individual herbs at a time and in a way that allows the particular plants that you are harvesting to reproduce (i.e. early enough in the season that they can produce more flowers and there is time for their seeds to mature if you are harvesting the aerial parts, and late enough in the season that they have finished producing their seeds if harvesting roots or rhizomes).
• Always locate at least three different areas from which you can obtain each species of herb that you need to wild harvest in accordance with the above guidelines so that you never wild harvest any particular species from any specific area more than once every three years.
• Never harvest any more than you need. 100-250 ml (4-8 ounces) is enough per year for personal use. You might possibly need 500 ml (16 ounces) of a very few herbs that you use a lot. Double these amounts if you are harvesting for a family rather than a single individual.
• Herbs should not be wild harvested in urban areas. They should be harvested in healthy wilderness areas of a significant size that are free of any obvious sources of pollution. Don’t harvest herbs near major roads or near areas of intense agricultural activity. The herbs should be growing at least 50 m from any minor roads (100 m if they are dirt or gravel roads) and 200 m from any small scale farming unless it is an organic farm. If a species of herb that you are harvesting is growing in or along the edge of water, there should not be any major sources of urban, industrial or agricultural pollution upstream or adjacent to any body of water where the herbs are being harvested.

The Underlying Philosophy of this Blog

Now that I'm blogging, I am going to briefly explain where I'm coming from. In these posts I'm probably going to say a few things that will freak out a few people. Others will just think I'm crazy. This is unavoidable. I'm going to be completely honest about how I experience the world and not hold anything back. When these philosophical elements creep in, if it seems weird or doesn't make sense to you, try to go easy on the judgement. There will be a lot of information here that is useful to anyone who has a passion for herbs, regardless of their personal paradigm.

Spending a lot of time in nature and working with the plant medicines can alter the way we experience the world. When we approach life with an open heart and mind we can find ourselves living in a world that is no longer filled with objects, but instead filled with people. Humans are one among a myriad of non-human people living on this beautiful planet. So to me the plant medicines that I work with are not objects or commodities. They are people! They are my friends, colleagues and teachers. It is a great blessing that our Earth Mother has given birth to these wonderful healing beings. As an herbalist I am honoured to be able to learn from them and work with them. Without them there is no herbalism, no medicine. At the same time the plant people need herbalists in order to do their work. We are the bridge between them and the human people who need healing. So the medicine is not just the herbs or the herbalist, it is something that we create together.

Some of my plant friends and colleagues.

Some people may think that this is absurd. That's fine! We can choose to experience the world any way we want. If we approach life from a materialistic perspective, we will experience a world that is full of objects. When we approach life with humility and an open heart and mind, the world is a very different place. It's a big, awesome, living, mysterious place...

The Great Mystery!

Anyway, this is just a heads-up. This kind of stuff is going to be weaving in and out of all of the practical information that I'm going to be sharing. Herbalism is my life and my path. I can't separate it from how I experience the world. They are one and the same. Some of you may love this stuff. Others will learn to tolerate it. Still others will find it offensive and go off to other corners of the internet to read other kinds of information on herbs, such as the many interesting ways scientists are using herbs to torture the rat people. That reminds me of a study that I read about a few months ago concerning rat ethics. Apparently a rat will forgo a meal to release another member of its species from a cage within the cage, even though it would have to share the meal afterwards. Apparently scientists could learn a thing or two about ethics from the rat people!