Harvesting

Today was an excellent harvesting day! Although the idea of wild-harvesting may seem like a romantic one, the truth is not quite so rose-coloured. Between the vigorous hiking, the mosquitos (yes they are out already in full force), the blistering heat and getting lost (which is not uncommon for me) - harvesting is darn hard work! I will admit though, as hard as it is, I love every minute of it. There is nothing more satisfying than making your own herbal medicines by hand from herbs harvested in their natural habitat.


Today we decided to scope out a new harvesting location. Part of starting a new herbal practice is scouting out viable harvesting locations. Whenever I arrive at a new spot, I have no idea what I'll find. Perhaps I'll find a great source for multiple herbs or perhaps there won't be a large enough population to sustain harvesting. It can be frustrating - spending hours in a location only to find that it isn't as great a source as you had hoped. Today however, luck was on our side.

This new location will be an excellent source for herbs such as Horsetail, Sulfur cinquefoil, Hawthorn, St. John's wort, Plantain, Queen Ann's lace, Goldenrod and tons more!

Here are some photos of today's finds:

Ox-eye daisy - Leucanthemum vulgare

• Harvested enough for 500 ml

Red clover - Trifolium pratense

• Harvested enough for 120 ml

Herb Robert - Geranium robertianum

• I was so excited when I found a HUGE patch of herb Robert. Last year I wasn't able to harvest any and this year I managed to at least get enough for 120 ml. Woo hoo!

Fleabane - Erigeron spp.

• Harvested enough for 250 ml of infused olive oil

Have a fantastic weekend!


Peace,


Correne

Drying Coltsfoot Leaves

Hi all! Went out harvesting this past long weekend and managed to find a huge section of Coltsfoot leaves. Made 250mL of tincture and dried the rest. Check it out!

I channelled MacGyver and turned my laundry drying rack into Coltsfoot drying central! When you're a student you work with what you have.



Peace,

Correne

The Great Soap Experiment

Hello all!

 

I didn't have class today so I decided to use my free day catching up on some much needed product making. I know... on the most gorgeous day so far this season I decide to stay inside and make soap!

I've never made soap before and I honestly don't know how the whole experiment will turn out, but it was great fun either way!

This one has patchouli and bergamot essential oils, orange zest and a bit of ground cinnamon! I haven't decided on a name for it... if anyone has any suggestions please comment and send me an email!

Enjoy the sun!

Correne

Making Menstruum

MAKING MENSTRUUM

This is Part II of a series of posts about making your own herbal medicines. Part I was on wild-harvesting your own herbs.

Introduction

For herbalists and fellow herb-lovers the beginning of wild-harvesting season also brings a new season of herbal medicine and tincture making. Vital to the formation of your own herbal medicines is the creation of a menstruum. When I first heard this term, it was completely unfamiliar to me. My exact words were something along the lines of “men... what?”

Technically a menstruum is “a solvent, especially one used in extracting compounds from plant and animal tissues and preparing drugs.” 1 In laymen’s terms, a menstruum is the medium you are using to extract the constituents from the plants. If you are making tinctures, your menstruum will most likely be alcohol based.

Every person who works with herbs, either professionally or as a hobby, will have their own methods for making plant-based medicines. The following menstruum recipe is the one that my teacher shared with us in our field studies classes.2 It is not the only method available and I invite you to experiment with a variety of menstruums to find one that you feel works best for your needs.

The Ingredients
Alcohol

Unless you have a license for the purchase of 95% alcohol, your choices are limited to what you can procure from your local beer/spirits store (e.g. LCBO in Ontario). After doing a brief Internet search on making menstruums I quickly discovered that most people simply listed “alcohol” as the main (or only) ingredient. Although your choices can vary from rum to brandy, not all alcohols are created equal.

When choosing an alcohol to use as your base you have to consider what its ingredients are and what it’s made from. If your alcohol contains sugar, other herbs, colouring or added flavourings, these ingredients could affect the extraction of the constituents. There is also the possibility of altering or adding to the effects of the constituents. For example, gin is made from juniper berries (a common herb used in herbal medicine). The gin will still contain some of the constituents from the juniper berries, which means your medicine/tincture will as well.

The alcohol of choice (as suggested to us in class) is vodka. Vodka is composed of ethanol (usually 40%) and water. That’s it. It can be made from any of the following fermented substances: potatoes, rye, wheat, molasses, sugar beets, grapes or rice. Of your choices of alcohol, vodka has the cleanest list of ingredients.

Water
The percentage of alcohol to use in the making of your menstruum is almost as varied as your choices in alcohol. Some herbalists prefer 50% alcohol solutions and others less than that. Most vodka that you can purchase in liquor stores is 40% alcohol. Some folks have a preference for straight vodka, which is a perfectly acceptable option. This will give you a tincture made in a 40% alcohol solution.

If you choose to make a menstruum solution with a lower percentage of alcohol, you will have to water it down. The water you use should be filtered or from a spring. Personally I use twice filtered tap water (using a Brita filter). Avoid using water that has been stored in plastic bottles. When making my own herbal tinctures, I use a 30% alcohol solution. This means that my vodka has been watered down by 10% (see below for the exact recipe).

Glycerine
Vegetable grade glycerine is another popular option for the making of tinctures. I use approximately 10% in the making of my menstruum. Glycerine’s sweet taste helps to cut the harshness of alcohol. It also works with the alcohol to extract some of the herb’s constituents.

When making tinctures for recovering alcoholics, glycerine is often used as the main ingredient in a menstruum. As an example you could use 50% glycerine and 50% water.

The Recipe
What You Will Need
• Measuring cup
• 1 litre mason jar
• Vodka or other 40% alcohol
• Filtered or spring water
• Vegetable grade glycerine (optional)

Instructions – with glycerine
• In your measuring cup pour out 750 mL of vodka (or other alcohol)

• Add 150 mL of filtered or spring water to the alcohol

• Measure out 100 mL of glycerine and add to the measuring cup
o Ensure that it is vegetable grade glycerine that is safe for consumption

• Pour contents of the measuring cup into the mason jar

• Shake the jar vigorously to ensure the glycerine doesn’t separate

The end product will contain 30% alcohol, 60% water and 10% glycerine.

Instructions – without glycerine
• In your measuring cup pour out 750 mL of vodka (or other alcohol)
• Add 250 mL of filtered or spring water to the alcohol
• Pour contents of the measuring cup into the mason and shake vigorously

The end product will contain 30% alcohol and 60% water.

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In the next blog post we will be exploring the wonderful world of tincture and herbal medicine making. Thanks for reading!

In good health,

Correne

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References

Dictionary.com - http://dictionary.reference.com/ 1

Living Earth School Field Studies – class notes 2

Stinging Nettle Lasagna

Good morning all! My friend and fellow student at Living Earth School shared this recipe with my fans on facebook this morning and I wanted to pass along the good fortune.

Here is the link to a recipe for Stinging Nettle Lasagna. Thanks go to Munna and the fine folks at Learningherbs.com!

Have a lovely morning,

Correne

Harvesting Herbs

WILD-HARVESTING HERBS

Spring has officially sprung, and with its arrival brings the beginning of the wild-harvesting season. The coming of sun, rain and bird song is a welcome sign to many an herbalist. It speaks of new growth and bringing with it the amazing healing power that herbs have.

There is no better way to learn about and get to know our herbal friends, than through observing (and eventually harvesting) them in their natural environment. That being said, there is most certainly a right way and a wrong way of doing it.

Why Wild-Harvest?

Wild-harvesting your herbs is a lot of work and with an abundance of with dried herbs available at most health food stores, one may wonder why undertaking such a laborious task is necessary. My teacher often talks about the relationship an herbalist has with their herbs. He speaks of the importance of touching, tasting and observing the plants in their natural environment. The ultimate goal is the formation of a respectful relationship and an understanding of all plants that we use in our practice and our daily lives.

Before starting my classes at Living Earth School, I had taken some other herbalism courses through correspondences. Although their information was valuable, most of it was through books and websites. I spent much of my time memorizing and not understanding. My ability to truly appreciate herbs and their properties only came when I started working with them hands on. Being involved in the process from harvesting to tincture making gave me a deep respect for herbs and nature in general.

When you purchase dried herbs – even from a reputable source – it is unlikely that you will ever be able to see the environment in which those herbs were grown. Wild-harvesting gives allows you that ability. It also brings an element of control. Is the environment polluted? Do people abuse the land where the plant is growing?

Plants growing in their natural environment also tend to be hardier than those grown in a controlled setting like a garden. Even in larger commercial gardens, the herbs are planted in the optimal soil, with the optimal lighting conditions and are given water a regular basis – basically, they are pampered. They have never had to struggle for survival. Think about “survival of the fittest”. Herbs in the wild have had to fight to live – through adverse soil conditions, possible drought or flooding, insects and other creatures. Those that survive are stronger and therefore have the strongest properties.

Know Your Herbs

Identification
I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Not all herbs are alike and many have toxic side effects. A misidentification could mean the difference between life and death. My goal is not to scare you off from wild-harvesting – instead I invite you to learn everything you can about a plant before you go out and harvest it.

For anyone who is considering wild-harvesting plants of any kind (or just simply has an interest) I recommend purchasing at least one (but preferably more) wildflower identification guides. If used correctly they will allow you to properly identify the plant in question. This does take some practice, but with time you could be at a 90-95% success rate. A list of book suggestions can be found below.

I also recommend signing up for some local herb walks or herb identification courses. Bring along a notebook and a camera. Take notes on the herbs you’re interested in and take photos for reference later on.

When it comes to flower/herb/plant identification there are two simple rules:

• If you don’t know what it is – DON’T TOUCH IT

• If you don’t know how it’s used – DON’T HARVEST IT

Medicinal Uses and Parts Used
Before heading off into the wilderness with your handy dandy books and your knife you must also know why you’re harvesting in the first place. Is it for food, for medicine or for drying herbs to make tea? Whatever the case may be it’s wise to know the properties of a plant (and their possible related toxicity) prior to harvesting it.

It’s also important to know which parts of the plants are traditionally used. For some herbs you will only use the flowers, others perhaps the root or rhizome. Being armed with this information is essential to successful harvesting. There would be nothing worse than arriving home with a bunch of leaves and flowers only to discover that the berries were traditionally used.

When to Harvest

Each herb has an optimal time in which it should be harvested. As a rule of thumb, if you are harvesting flowers and/or leaves, it is usually at the beginning of its flowering period. If you are harvesting roots, it tends to be in the fall (October to November). These, however, are just generalizations.

Sustainable/Ecological Harvesting

I would be amiss as a future herbalist to not discuss the proper and ecological way to wild-harvest herbs. Overharvesting plants of any kind is nothing but disastrous to the plant population and the surrounding ecosystem. When wild-harvesting it is always best to err on the side of caution. Here are some general guidelines to think about when you’re out in the field.

• Never harvest anything you don't need or plan on using. Also never harvest more than you need.

• The herb should not be rare or endangered. It should be common and abundant, not only in the area you are harvesting, but in the surrounding region as well.

• Only harvest from a plant if it (and the rest of the herbs in the area) look healthy. Just as people are susceptible to disease, so are plants. Rainy harvesting seasons can also cause mildew to form on some herbs. Watch out for this as well.

• Never take more than 5-10% of the plants in a particular area. More than this could stress out the species and decrease its chances for successful reproduction for the following year. Also, many plants spread by rhizome and if you harvest too much you risk killing the entire colony.

• If it looks like someone has been harvesting in the area before you – don’t harvest there. This may seem like a strict rule, but if you take 10% and the person before you takes 10% and the person after you... well you get the idea.

• Avoid harvesting the same herb from the same location every year. Give the species at least 2-3 years to recover and then go back to that area.

• Unless you grow it yourself you shouldn’t harvest in cities or other urban areas. They tend to be polluted and dirty. Also be wary of harvesting locations near farms – you don’t know what kinds of sprays and pesticides they may be using.

• Do not harvest from provincial parks and conservation land – it’s illegal.

What You Will Need

Each wild-harvester has their own method to harvesting. Tricks of the trade and individual flare will come with time and experience. Whenever I go harvesting I always have the following with me. Some of the items are essential (in my opinion) and others are just super duper extras!

• 2-3 identification guides
• A knife
• A compass and/or map of harvesting location
• Paper bags

• Camera

• Spring scale *

My teacher recommended the purchase of a spring scale and it has been a life saver! It is impossible for me to tell if I have 10 grams of an herb or 50! I am very careful to not harvest more than I need and the spring scale allows me to measure my herbs with relative accuracy while I’m out in the field. I always take a few extra grams to be sure and I’ve never arrived at home short! Here is where I purchased mine: Efston Science


Book Suggestions
Identification Guides

• Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide – Lawrence Newcomb

• Peterson Field Guides – Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants and Herbs – Steven Foster & James A. Duke

• The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario – Timothy Dickinson, Deborah Metsger, Jenny Bull & Richard Dickinson

Herbal Information Books

• Earthwise Herbal Series – Matthew Wood
• Holistic Herbal – David Hoffman
• Medicinal Herbalism – David Hoffman
• New Encylopedia of Herbs & Their Uses – Deni Bown
• Prescription for Herbal Healing – Phyllis A. Balch

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to email me or leave a comment.

Happy harvesting,

Correne