The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [25]
In order to take good care of yourself, you will also need a full water bottle. Get a quart-size bottle, maybe two of them, as a pint of water is seldom enough. Put a fresh sprig of Mint, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, or a slice of Lime in the drinking water. Never go harvesting without taking water. The arid shadow of dehydration lurks in nearly every ecosystem. Drink lots of water while harvesting and gardening. It’s the medicine-maker’s field tonic, and plants are indulgent water-drinking buddies.
Amidst your enchanted wonderings, you will happen upon many intriguing plants in the field. If you are a person who likes to give a name to them, carry a plant identification guide with you. Search bookstores for pocket guides that speak clearly to your intellect, ones that focus on the locations you frequent. However, when the sight of a particular plant stops you in your tracks, I suggest first sitting and asking the plant itself for its name. Then, following this private conversation, consult your identification guide, key out the plant, and note the names others have given it. Practice plant communion first, then practice using your plant key. You also have the botanical-poet’s inalienable right to give the plant any “common” name you choose. I strongly suggest you revel in exercising this right. It’s fun, intimate, and highly creative. Utilize all opportunities to beckon and inspire your inner poet.
Some individuals like to keep a record of their harvesting experiences. In Appendix E, I have given you a sample of the Harvesting Information Chart we recommend using at the California School of Herbal Studies for documenting the details of harvest that pertain to plants we process for our use. This form is offered merely as a sample guide. Format your own design to suit your particular interests.
First aid equipment obligatory for the harvesting tasks that await you can be summarized in three words—Lavender essential oil. I mean, you shouldn’t be jeopardizing your life and limb out there in herb-land, but frequently you do put your skin at risk. What with biting and sucking critters, abrading surfaces, scraping and puncturing stickers and thorns, bumps, nicks, cuts, pruning shear bites, I tell you, it can be itchy and irritating out there. And what one needs most when a cutaneous crisis occurs is an inexpensive, soothing (anti-inflammatory), cleansing (disinfectant) accessory, that smells great. This would be a 15 ml bottle of pure Lavender essential oil. Slather it on any and all offended skin.
ECOLOGICAL HARVESTING PROTOCOL
Ecological harvesting protocol is founded on the knowledge, experience, intent, and actions of human beings who hold in their hearts and minds a deep respect for plant communities. These people I recognize as “plant persons,” the green herbalists. When in the field, a green herbalist realizes that he or she is a visitor, a guest in quest of great gifts. This field persona emits respect and gratitude, and monitors one’s harvesting technique in such manner that the plant community is honored and can continue to thrive. Because the relationship between the green herbalist and the plant community is such that, season to season, the number and health of the plants will have been sustained or increased, the herbalist will be welcomed back for the next harvest and the one following that, as will his or her children, apprentices, companions, and so on for generations to follow.
Please peruse the “Eight Principles of Excellent Medicine-Making” found in Appendix C offered for your contemplation.
The primary principles of gathering wild medicinal plants are discussed below.
HARVEST ABUNDANCE ONLY
Gather solely in those prime areas that you find abounding with plants of