Closing the Harvesting Season

I've been getting a lot of people asking me when I'm finally going to finish the three part blog series on The Vaccination Controversy. After several years of repeating the same pattern, I finally have to admit to myself that from the middle of April until the end of November my intense travelling schedule and harvesting herbs take up so much time that it doesn't leave me a lot of opportunity for writing. I'm not complaining. I'm following my heart and my path and love my work and still able to spend a lot of time just being with the plants and Nature. It requires prioritizing and setting boundaries. Following our heart, allowing time to just be and the quality of our relationships with people (human and non-human) and the world we live in is how we cultivate quality of life and allow space for healing. If I don't allow that in my life, how can I possibly help other people to do it? So, some things (like writing!) rarely get done during the busier months.

It's been a great spring, summer and fall! Lots of experiencing, learning, harvesting medicines and doing what a herbalist does. My travelling schedule for the year ends early to mid November and now I'm spending a lot of time harvesting the last of the root herbs that I need before the ground freezes for the winter. Judging by the way things are flowing, that will probably be in a week or two in this area.

Harvesting valerian root (Valeriana officinalis).

Today I harvested valerian root (Valeriana officinalis), marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis) and dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale). Tomorrow I'm going to harvest wild sarsaparilla rhizome (Aralia nudicaulis), wild ginger rhizome (Asarum canadense) and a bit more valerian root.

My friend Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) has offered me the opportunity to work with a different expression of his medicine.

I am going to harvest some of the rhizomes and roots of goldenrod this year so that I can deepen my relationship with this amazing herb.

The last couple of years I've been feeling called to start working with the rhizomes and roots of Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis). Up to this point I've only used the aerial parts of this herb. I'm also going to harvest a bit of Solidago so that I can begin to learn this new medicine. After that I'll be done harvesting for this year – and just in time!

Washing marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis) in our laundry tub.

Since I make my tinctures from fresh herbs I need to harvest enough of each of these roots or rhizomes to get through at least 15 months: 12 months until I'm able to harvest them again next year and 3 additional months until next years tinctures will be ready because I allow them to macerate for at least 3 months before I press them [see: Making Medicine, Part 3 of 5]. Therefore I need to know how many bottles of each of these tinctures I still have on hand and how much I typically use in a year in order to determine the quantity that I need to harvest. I'll usually add an extra litre (or half litre for herbs I don't use as much) to be safe. For herbs that I used 3 litres or less per year I will sometimes harvest enough for 2 years so that I don't have to harvest every herb every year.

Dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) washed and ready to chop. Note that dandelion maintains a rosette of smaller leaves through the winter.

I keep some of the younger leaves that are in good shape and include them in my dandelion root tincture.

Although the travelling that I do is related to my work and involves hanging out with great people in great places doing great things, I am happy to be at home for the next 5+ months. I'll be able to work on some of the other things that I can't seem to manage the rest of the year like doing a few blog posts (including hopefully being able to finishing the series on vaccinations!) and continuing the process of converting some of our classroom courses to an online format. The latter tends to take up most of my time through the winter months.

Stay tuned! More to come...

Applying a Poultice

This post is an tangent from my series on Healing Bone Fractures. In that series I have mentioned applying herbal poultices to my leg. I had considered including more details about applying a poultice in one of those posts but decided to do it separately so I can provide more details. I would like to thank my friend Elyse Portal who took some great photos while I was applying a poultice to my leg last weekend.

For the most part, a poultice is the most potent method of application of herbs to a localized area. This is because as the constituents of the herbs are absorbed into our tissues through the layer of moisture covering our skin, they are immediately replaced by more constituents from the herbs that diffuse into the layer of water. Also, the concentration of constituents is very high because the ratio of herb to liquid is very high. We are using a lot of herb and very little water.

We usually use dried herbs, but I often apply what I call a "survival poultice" if I get some kind of injury or bite when I'm wandering around in the fields and woods. In these circumstances I will find one or a few good healing herbs in my immediate area, chew them up and apply them where needed. I used to do this for my kids when they were small and we were on a hike or camping trip. You don't need to worry too much about bacteria in saliva because the antimicrobial properties of the herbs are very concentrated when applied this way and will take care of any risk of infection.

Here is the bowl of dried herbs I'm using for this particular poultice.

When using dried herbs, they should be coarsely ground. I usually rub them between my palms or use a mortar and pestle. We apply just enough boiled water to moisten them but so that they are not runny.

The herbs after moistening them with boiled water.

The purpose of the poultice I am preparing is to help heal the incisions from my surgery and to penetrate deeper into my leg to help heal my broken tibia (shinbone) as well. This poultice consists of 1 part common comfrey leaf (Symphytum officinale), 1 part stinging nettle leaf (Urtica dioica), 1 part purple loosestrife herb (Lythrum salicaria), 1 part pot marigold petals (Calendula officinalis), 1 part Canada goldenrod herb (Solidago canadensis) and 1/2 part whole flax seed (Linum usitatissimum). It is essential that a poultice is very mucilaginous. Comfrey is one of the few herbs that is mucilaginous enough that it doesn't require the addition of a more mucilaginous herb. However, since comfrey is only making up 20% of this formulation, it is necessary to add something to make it more slimy. My preference is to use a small amount of whole flax seed whenever I prepare a poultice. It will add the extra mucilage that we need and has important healing properties of its own. Never use ground flax seed. We just want the mucilage. We don't want to release the oil.

Getting ready to apply the poultice. At this point I had been poulticing the smaller incision on the right twice per day

for two weeks and the larger incision on the left for one week. There is clearly a difference between the two.

When applying a poultice I always put some gauze between the poultice and the skin. This serves two purposes: firstly, it ensures that small particles of herbs can't get into an open wound; secondly, it allows the poultice to be easily lifted off when finished without having to wipe bits of herb off the skin. This is important because when we remove the poultice we want any remaining herb infused liquid to dry on the skin. We use the minimum amount of layers of gauze to prevent bits of herb from getting through. The number of layers will depend on the thickness of the gauze.

Laying the gauze in preparation for the poultice.

When we apply the poultice we must completely cover an area a bit larger than the area we are working on with the moistened herbs and press down on them so that there is good contact with the skin. I usually apply it with a spoon and use the spoon to press the herbs once they are applied.

Beginning to apply the poultice...

...and finishing it off.

Under normal circumstances our skin is water-proof. In order to get the constituents of the herbs in our poultice to penetrate through our skin our skin must be hydrated to eliminate its water-proof characteristics. To accomplish this it is necessary for the entire area where we wish to apply the poultice to remain moist. We can't allow the skin to breathe. To accelerate this process it is also necessary that the poultice be applied as hot as we can tolerate and remain warm for the duration of the application. This process also takes time. The longer the poultice is in contact with our skin, the more hydrated our skin becomes and the better the penetration. I usually recommend a minimum of 30 minutes, but an hour or more is sometimes necessary, depending on the severity of the condition being treated. To facilitate the hydration of our skin it is best to wrap the poultice in plastic so that our skin remains in complete contact with herb infused liquid from our poultice and isn't able to breathe (no contact with air). Most types of plastic wrap are made of polyethylene which isn't known to leach any toxic chemicals. After wrapping the poultice I recommend pushing down on it once more to make sure there is good contact with the skin and no air spaces between the plastic and the herbs.

The poultice wrapped in plastic.

This whole process must be done as quickly as possible so that the herbs are still hot. Once the poultice has been wrapped in plastic it is necessary to cover it with a towel or something similar to help insulate it to keep it warm. If is going to be applied for a long period of time it may be necessary to apply a hot compress over the plastic. A cloth soaked in hot water that has been wrung out so that it isn't dripping will do. The cloth can be reheated periodically when it cools down. If the area where we need to apply the poultice isn't too large, a hot water bottle will also work and is more convenient than using a compress.

Covering the poultice with a couple of layers of towel.

Once we are done we can remove the poultice. For my leg, I have been applying a poultice for 45-60 minutes twice per day. When we use gauze the whole thing will lift off really easy.

The poultice has been uncovered and is ready to be removed.

When we remove the poultice the skin will be moist with herb infused liquid. We don't want to wipe this off. Let it dry completely before covering the area.

After removing the poultice we let the remaining liquid completely dry on the skin.

Notice the larger droplets of herb infused water.

Once the remaining herb infused water has dried completely the process is complete. We can bandage the area, if necessary, or cover it in some other way. We can also apply an ointment or liniment to the area, if appropriate, to further assist the healing process.

Which herbs we use, how often and how long we apply a poultice will depend on the situation, but the basic elements of applying a poultice will always be the same.

Cultivated Vs. Wild Harvested Herbs

Here comes another one of the "background" posts that I mentioned. I took some photos when Monika and I were harvesting on Sunday and am going to do a post on harvesting blue vervain (Verbena hastata) soon, but I have a couple more background posts to do first. I'm doing a series of posts this week to kick this thing off. After that it will have to find its place in my schedule and the posts will be less frequent.

As I mentioned previously, the way I do herbalism necessitates that I make all of my own medicines. I also have a preference for using tinctures made from fresh herbs. That means that the group of herbs I work with are those that are native, naturalized or can be grown in northeastern North America, southern Ontario more specifically.

I don't grow many herbs. I've always primarily wild harvested them. When I tried growing them it was not very successful. I spend so much time wild harvesting that my garden tended to be neglected. I anticipated that and only planted hardy perennials, but over time my garden became over-run with plants such as goldenrods (Solidago spp.), asters (Symphyotrichum spp.) and tansy (Tanacetum vulgare). Although I planted hardy species, most of them couldn't handle being shaded by these taller plants. I just don't have much time for "weeding" and don't use the roots or rhizomes of these species, so digging them up isn't useful for me.

As a compromise, I have introduced some native and naturalized species onto the land where I live. In some cases they don't proliferate to a degree that I will be able to harvest them here, but they are good friends and I like having them around. In other cases plants that I have introduced have expanded quite a bit, some of them enough that I can harvest part or all of what I need right here. The key is to understand the kind of soil, moisture and light conditions that each species prefers. This is something that is easily learned by spending a lot of time with them in places where they grow naturally.

Musk mallow (Malva moschata) is one of the plants that I
introduced and now grows wild on my property.

Another thing that I do is pay close attention to what is growing on my lawn. Knowing how to recognize plants when they are very small and being attentive when I am mowing allows me to mow around the species of herbs that I use when they arrive here. By selectively mowing around these species it gives them a competitive advantage over the grass and other plants by allowing them to grow to full size and reproduce. Some of them multiply very fast. I have about 3/4 acre of mowed space around my house with many trees and shrubs, so there is a variety of amounts of light and moisture available. This is important if we want to encourage a large number of species to grow. It's amazing how many species arrive on their own. After mowing my lawn this way for about 12 years, there are now 96 species of plants that weren't there before I started mowing in this way. Of these, 22 were introduced. About half of the introduced species escaped out of my garden, whereas I introduced the other half directly onto my lawn. There are 38 species that arrived naturally, and 10 that I introduced that are either plants that I don't use, or herbs that I use but are not growing in sufficient quantity for me to harvest them. On the other hand, there are 36 species that arrived naturally and 12 that I introduced that are growing in sufficient quantity that I can harvest directly from my lawn some or all of what I need of each of these species to prepare tinctures for my clinic from year to year. Regardless of how plentiful they are, I use all of them as teaching tools as I run my classes and clinics out of my house. My lawn is my herb garden!

The view from my front door. Things are not as lush as

they should be in early July. We've had the driest

and hottest spring that I can remember.

Some of the herbs that are now growing

wild in my back yard.

Many herbalists, including myself, recognize the superiority of wild over cultivated herbs. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Assuming that herbs are grown organically (I'm not going to get into the numerous issues associated with the use of commercially grown herbs), there are essentially four reasons why cultivated herbs are inferior:

1. Cultivated herbs often aren't grown in conditions that each species prefers. Again this includes soil type and levels of moisture and light.
2. Cultivated herbs are grown in monoculture on bare soil. Plants need to be interspersed with other species. This reduces diseases and insect damage, and provides a bit of competition. Bare soil doesn't exist in nature except after a major disturbance. It increases erosion and loss of moisture from the soil and is an invitation for any plant that likes disturbed soil to grow there.
3. Cultivated herbs are babied. They are watered too much and "weeded" excessively. This may make them grow more lush and faster, but it doesn't make them stronger. In order to be strong and healthy, all living things need to struggle. When life is too easy they get weak. If there is a prolonged dry period, it's OK to water them. Too much stress will also weaken them. But we don't want to overdo it. We also want to take into account the amount of moisture that each plant requires. If it is a wetland plant and we can't plant it by a wetland, it will need more watering and probably some shade. Similarly, plants need competition. There are no "weeds", only opportunistic plants that take advantage when we screw up the balance of things or create habitats that they like. It's a good idea to keep out the invasive species or any plants that are large and will overshadow the herbs that we are growing. We also don't want to let our herbs get too overcrowded. Most of the "weed" species are medicinal anyway. We can harvest them as well. We just need to make sure that they aren't too competitive or plants that when harvested will result in too much disturbance of the herbs we are growing.
4. Cultivated herbs are usually harvested incorrectly. They harvest too much of the plant at the wrong time of day and the wrong stage in the plants life-cycle. This is because the scale necessitates it, both in terms of when and how much of the plant is harvested. They need to harvest herbs in a way that results in the greatest yield, and when growing a very large number of plants that need to be harvested, it isn't possible to be very picky about when they are harvested.

If we take these things into consideration when we grow herbs (or vegetables), the herbs we grow will approximate the level of potency and vitality of wild harvested plants. There's also the option of wild gardening: introducing plants where we live (as long as they are not invasive species). Once established, we can encourage them along in various ways.

This discussion is very important to the issue of wild harvesting. Although wild harvesting is a very healing and empowering activity, as more people become interested in it there is a very great potential that we can seriously impact wild populations in a negative way. This can happen even if everyone does their best to wild harvest in an ethical way. It is inevitable because there are just too many people living on this planet. So learning from the wild plants what their needs are and applying it by wild gardening or organic gardening that takes into account the specific needs of each species is a very important alternative to wild harvesting. It will become even more important as more people become interested in making their own medicines.