Herbalism

I've had a long-standing interest in herbs.  This topic meshes with other areas of interest such as being a nature lover, a passionate gardener, and an absorber of health information.  More recently, I've come to see that knowledge in herbalism might hold answers to some of the vexing problems in the health care industry.  

Over the holidays, I had a conversation with my nephew who is ready to begin a PhD program in medicine.  He has completed a pre-med degree and done several years of work in a medical research lab.  By pursuing an advanced degree, he believes that he is preserving the flexibility to either enter a clinical practice (after completing a residency) or doing further research.  I didn't think of it while I was talking to him, but I wish that he also could apply his considerable talents and skills to learning how to fit plant-based medicine into his framework.  

I wish health were not seen as the exclusive purview of professionals.  Even if nothing else shifted, I believe that people being more proactive in relation to their health would trigger good changes.  Being proactive seems to me to acknowledge some foundational truths about the created world, about God, and about human choice.  Being proactive also involves learning more in each of these areas.  

Herbalism is where learning about foundational truths intersects with the plant world.  God created a good world, but it soon became marred through human choice, the consequence of which was pain, disease, and death.  Even plants turned rogue, developing thorns and growing where they were not wanted.  Desirable plants refused to thrive without the exertion of human effort.  But God did not abandon His people and did not leave them without recourse.  Plants with medicinal qualities and good human choices to the rescue.

Medicinal plants can often be foraged in the wild, and many can be grown in small backyards.  They are accessible to people with few financial resources, unless they are too knowledge-poor to know how to make use of them.  Many of the effective compounds can be extracted with water.  Others require alcohol or oil. Lack of ability to refine plant products to the point of creating a "single-compound substance" is no detriment to their usefulness, since various compounds often act synergistically, to good effect.  

I believe that widespread availability of plant medicines provides evidence of God's provision for the health of all people everywhere.  Even in a "spoiled" world, nutrients and remedies for health problems exist wherever plants can grow..  The challenge then is to find what grows well where you live and how these plants can be put to the best possible use.  

I'm personally leaning into learning about medicinal plants on these fronts:

1.  Plants that grow in the wild near me that may have medicinal uses.  Learning about how indigenous people used them can be helpful.  Some of them have been the subject of good research.  I love when this is the case, and am very pleased that the University of Kansas has a Native Medicinal Plants Research Program.  It was established in 2009.  

2.  Identifying good sources of medicinal wild plants.  Some of them are so weedy that I'm not sure that I want to grow them on our small property, but I don't always know of places where they can freely be wild-gathered.  Permissions (on public or private land) and pollutants (along roadways or field edges--petroleum products and chemical sprays) can both be issues with wild gathering.  Diminishing supplies in the wild is another issue.  Digging roots is a bigger ecosystem disturbance than plucking flowers or leaves and gathering seeds or stems.  Echinacea comes to mind as an example here.

Many herbal books recommend plantain and stinging nettle--both reportedly ubiquitous "everywhere."  I have no idea where I could go to gather either of these plants, but I also don't know if I really want to plant them in my yard.  Mullein, dock, dandelion, purslane, and chickweed could be added to this list.  It might make sense to simply acquire these plants from a reputable source rather than to try to grow them or wild-gather them.     

3.  Learning what it takes to grow medicinal plants.  Some that need more moisture than can be relied on to fall from the sky can be grown with irrigation in my climate.  Plants like this might be worth planting if/until I find a native or wild plant that accomplishes a similar health effect.  

4.  Learning how to make and take plant medicines.  Indications, ideal stage of harvest, parts of the plants that are useful, how to extract and preserve the useful compounds, interactions with other plant compounds, reasonable dosages, etc.

5.  Looking for plants with multiple uses.  Some herbs are culinary, medicinal, and pest repelling. Some cut flowers have medicinal uses as well.  Prioritize growing these, especially if they grow wild in your climate.  

6.  Figuring out logical groupings for backyard herbs.  I don't have this one mastered yet.  Categorizations that have occurred to me are these:  1.  Similar growing conditions (sun, shade/moist/dry, etc.)  2.  Similar growth habit (annual, biennial, perennial, natural re-seeder, etc.), 3.  Similar effect on the body  4.  Similar plant parts used (probably most critical when root parts are the most sought after plant part) 5.  Ornamental value/weedy appearance/invasiveness.  6.  Proximity to the house.  7.  Hardiness.  (some might survive winter on the south side of the house, but not elsewhere).  In general, I suspect that the most ornamental and those that are most useful in small amounts for cooking will get a spot in the backyard. 

7.  Seeking our Christian perspectives on herbalism, including those from my own Amish Mennonite cultural tradition.  

What I'll likely do is to prioritize No. 1, pray, and do the best I can to take all the others into account as I go. 

I have been seeking information via books, seed catalogs, and online resources.  I own a handful of books on herbs, have checked out others from the library, and am purchasing more.  I'd love to hear from my friends and readers about any aspect of herbalism.  It can be the smallest snippet if that's what you want to share--personal experience, trustworthy source of information, good practitioners--or whatever else that comes to mind for you.