The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [36]
• Leaves, green parts, and flowers, up to one year
• Roots, seeds, and barks, two to three years
• Broken, crushed, or powdered herbs lose their value more rapidly than whole, uncut herbs.
Enjoy your garden pharmacy; garble passionately; keep an eye on those jar lids.
BUYING HERBS
First of all, ask to speak to the herbalist on staff. If there is no herbalist working at the store, act astonished (they’ll get the message); then do your own sleuthing. Ask where the herbs came from. Are they organically cultivated or wildcrafted, who grew them or who harvested them? Are any of the species they offer for sale threatened, and if so were they harvested consciously, etc., etc. You get the idea (refer to Rule #1 in “Rules (Proposed) of Medicine Making,” Chapter Twenty-Five). Encourage the herb merchant to buy from green-conscious suppliers. You’ll probably find that many do, and they’ll appreciate and respect you for inquiring. Those that don’t buy from green-conscious sources may learn something from you.
Now check the store’s herb stock. If the dried herbs displayed on the shelves are contained in clear glass jars sitting in direct sunlight, shop elsewhere; that’s inexcusable. If the herbs on the shelves all look about the same color, they’re probably “commercial grade” herb and not good quality. Shop elsewhere (refer to Rule #2 in “Rules (Proposed) of Medicine Making,” Chapter Twenty-Five). Varieties of herbs as they are growing and co-mingling in the garden or in the wilds naturally show a diverse array of colors and shades of green. They will continue to show a similar diversity of color when properly harvested, dried, and displayed in jars.
If the herb store passes the above examination, proceed to the taste and smell tests. Upon removing the lid from a jar of herb, you should smell a fine herbal aroma, and when a tiniest pinch of the dried herb is placed upon your tongue and slowly chewed and/or sucked on, it should provide a distinct flavor. Not necessary a yummy one, but a significant one. Good herb has color, aroma, and flavor. If all seems harmonious to your senses and to your inquiry, shop in this store. They probably have good herb to sell you; settle for nothing less (remember Rule #2).
The Western symbols of medical power, knowledge, and competency standardized in mass consciousness by nineteenth and twentieth century “scientific” fanfare are the images used extensively by marketers in today’s medical/pharmaceutical industry to communicate their perspective that all things are made better by the science and the high-tech industry. These same nouveau-archetype symbols are being adopted by much of today’s herbal products industry to suggest that they also produce (herbal) commodities that the common person—who does not have access to the company’s advanced technology and special (scientific) knowledge—can’t match. During the past five years, my mailbox has found itself stuffed with full-color, high-gloss, printed literature picturing multi-story, sprawling “modern facilities,” full of towering stainless steel vats sitting on polished linoleum floors, peopled by white-coated lab technicians peering through microscopes, operating computerized analysis equipment, and holding intricately designed lab-ware, testing and analyzing sterile beakers filled with colored herbal liquids and aseptic herbal powders. This attempt to impress “the mailing list” with the company’s mysteriously advanced ability to produce herbal medicine is all about herbal marketing.
Mind you, there are some excellent herb companies active in the marketplace run by skilled herbalists whose intent is to make high-quality herbal products and a good living while also empowering their customers. These folks provide premium-quality products while evoking a marketing atmosphere of integrity and sound herbal education. I praise and honor these folks. However, the rising trend for