Some thoughts on land-based herbalism:

There are some people to whom the natural world seems a bit dangerous and unfriendly. To the land- based herbalist, the natural world is full of generosity, willingness to help, and unfathomably ingenious biochemistry that protects and nurtures.

I remember a Facebook post by Arthur Haines, (a Vermont herbalist and traditional skills expert) which he made the concise and brilliant sentiment “I prefer to be healed by plants”. Some people feel this way. This doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate or value pharmaceuticals and Western medicine, just that given a choice, we prefer to be healed by plants! (and/or mushrooms).

One discovers that some of these remedies are incredibly effective. Just yesterday I banged my shin really hard on a wheelbarrow. I walked over to a nearby Comfrey plant, made a quick poultice, and the pain relief was pretty much immediate, and the annoying injury was soon forgotten and healed with no bruise. A teacher of mine told a story of a man he knew who literally chopped off his kneecap with a sharp axe and wasn’t able to get to a hospital for over 24 hours. He smothered the wound with Balsam fir gum and tied on the kneecap until he could get medical attention. The wound, to his doctor’s amazement, healed completely, with no loss of mobility, and no scar!

While we tend to think of the Amazon jungle as the hotbed of plant medicines, in actuality, the bioregion of the Great lakes was historically considered very rich in plant medicine, and its Anishnaabe stewards to be great healers (According to Anishnaabe herbalist Joe Pitawankwat). Add to this all the wonderful plants that have come across to this continent with the settlers and made their home here. Add to this the rapidly growing body of knowledge of medicinal mushrooms! And we’ll also occasionally add some exotic but common herbs like garlic, cayenne, ginger, etc. that have been adopted worldwide and are easy to obtain. (or grow).

Many of the cultural stories that I come across about medicinal plants are quite simple. They are some version of “and Creator made a plant for every ailment of the people (and animals)”. In a Buddhist story master herbalists travel the world looking to find a plant that has no medicinal qualities, and after searching everywhere, they find none.

I hope you’ll join us in exploring this beautiful and endlessly fascinating endeavour!