The best thing about herbal medicine is that you can do it yourself. Instead of going to the pharmacy or drug store, you go out into your backyard or off into the woods, and find your medicine there. The forest is your pharmacy.

I believe that almost anything we need grows somewhere in the area in which we live. We are particularly lucky in that respect, since the plant diversity of the southern Appalachians is legendary, and we can find an incredible selection of plants right here at home.

But how do you go about gathering these plants? Even once we’ve learned how to use medicinal herbs, most people don’t gather their own medicines, perhaps because there seems to be so much knowledge involved.

But the basic skill of gathering plants is not hard. There’s just a few things you need to know to get started – how to identify the plant, what part to use, when to gather it, and what to do once you get it home.

The best way to learn to identify plants is to pick up Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide by Lawrence Newcomb, definitely the best field guide around, and spend an hour learning to use it. You can supplement your identification skills and plant knowledge by going on plant walks with local herbalists and botanists, who are used to seeing these plants first-hand.

The next trick is finding a stand of the plant you want to gather. “Stand location” can be the trickiest part of the process, unless you have woods in your backyard. Most wildcrafters spend whole days each season looking for new plants and new sites. It’s easiest if you have friends with land, but you can also gather on National Forest land with a permit. National Parks, including the Blue Ridge Parkway, are strictly off-limits – you can get a serious fine gathering on the Parkway.

At first, you’ll probably stumble on to medicinal plants as you’re hiking or exploring new places. After some experience and observation, you’ll begin to recognize where certain plants like to grow – whether in fields or woods, dry acid soils or damp streamside soils, in disturbed areas or untouched wilderness. Elevation, drainage and sunlight are also factors.

Whenever you find a plant you’re interested in using, notice where its growing, and what kind of plants and trees grow near it. That way, the next time you go to find it, you can make an educated guess about where it might be growing.

Generally roots are best gathered in the fall or spring, and aerial parts when the plant is in full flower or just before it flowers. Oftentimes, the best time to find something may be different than the best time to gather it. For instance, Black Cohosh is most easily spotted in June or July, when its tall stalk of white flowers stands out, but the root is best gathered in the fall.

Gathering
When I head out on a gathering trip, I usually take the same tools with me – a pair of good quality hand pruners (I’m partial to Felco’s brand), a thin blade one-piece hand trowel or a soil knife (“hoary”), and paper bags to put the plants in. I always use a different bag for each plant to avoid mix-ups, and I only gather one plant at a time.

If I’ll be digging deep roots, I’ll bring a digging fork and/or a trenching shovel (or “Nurseryman’s shovel” – the kind with a long thin blade, not a spade), and perhaps loppers if I’ll be gathering branches for the bark.
I use a digging fork to loosen the soil around the plant, and a shovel if I need to get a deep taproot, like Burdock. But mostly I use my trowel and soil knife and most importantly, my hands, to find where the root goes and learn how to get it out in one piece.

When digging woodland roots, you may notice next year’s bud near where the stem joins the root. Often you can break off the crown and replant it, so the plant can keep on growing.

Take your roots home and wash them in a basin (the dirt will clog your sink). I use a vegetable scrubber to gently clean roots, and an old toothbrush for difficult places. Then simply chop it with a good knife or your pruners, and lay it out to dry on newspaper or a clean window screen.
The best way to gather medicinal trees, such as Wild Cherry, Slippery Elm, or Black Willow, is to “prune” the tree, clipping branches that are crowded or are being shaded out. Never strip bark off a branch still on a tree, and never harm the trunk of the tree.

Once home, I strip the medicinal bark off the heartwood with a good knife, and simply snip up the twigs whole, since they are all bark with no heartwood.

If you’re picking aboveground herbs, these can also be laid out flat on screens, or they can be bundled by the stems and hung upside-down. In all cases, dry your herbs in a well-ventilated area where they won’t get direct sun.

Stewardship
It’s important to remember as we wildcraft that we are acting as stewards for these plants. If we want to maintain the health of the woods as well as our own health, we will watch how much we gather. If we want these plants to exist for future generations of people and animals, we must be selective in our harvesting. Once, Echinacea covered the Plains states, now it is getting so scarce many mid-western states have enacted laws against harvesting it.

When first arriving at the woods, there’s a jump to be made between the world of people and the world of the plants. Walking in the woods and spending time with the plants when you’re not gathering helps you acquire this consciousness.

Traditionally, when one goes to gather a plant, you can find the “Grandmother” plant – usually the largest and healthiest plant – and ask it if you can gather from this stand. Then one leaves a small offering, traditionally tobacco or corn meal, as a way of thanking the plant and of leaving a token exchange.

This is also a way of getting into “plant mind.” It allows us a space where we can listen to the plants and to our own intuition.
You should also walk around and check out the size and health of the stand you’ve found, so you can evaluate how much you can take without affecting the plants. Don’t take more than you need though. In the words of Oregon herbalist Howie Brounstein, “It’s easier to gather than not to gather.”

There are also some plants I consider “No Picks.” These are plants that are either too rare or too slow growing to pick. This list includes Goldenseal, Ginseng, False Unicorn root, Lady’s Slipper and all orchids.
In fact, though I’m emphasizing native woodlands plants here, don’t forget the medicinal weeds that grow everywhere. Weeds are alien plants that grow abundantly in our gardens, yards and fields, and many are medicinal and easy to find, such as Dandelion, Burdock, Plantain, Red Clover and Nettles.

Now you know the basics of plant gathering, so you can put that knowledge to use, and find and gather the plants that will help heal yourself and others. May you make good medicine.

Corey-Pine Shane is a Holistic Herbalist with a practice in downtown Asheville and is the Director of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine. He gathers plants and makes tinctures, teas and other medicines with them, available around town.

Contact this writer: writer@newlifejournal.com

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