Transcript local herbs - Linda Diane Feldt

Using Herbs From
Your Landscape
Linda Diane Feldt
RPP NCTMB NC CPE
Holistic Health Practitioner
Herbalist
The Foundations of Herbalism
All herbs used were:
 Local
 Common
 Harvested by practitioner or user
 Prepared at time of use or preserved for offseason
 Special non-local herbs were available by trade
Current Practice
This type of use is still relevant today.
Advantages






Low or no cost
No fear of adulteration
Know plant part and if picked at best time
Fresh
Gets you out in nature
Personal/spiritual experience with plant(s)
Medicine or Food?





In traditional herbalism plants are used for both
Substantial healing can occur by nourishing the
body or systems of the body
Many herbs occupy both roles
The nourishing herbs are far less likely to have
unwanted side effects
Weeds in Michigan are often higher in available
nutrients than conventional foods
Michigan Herbal Allies
In Michigan we are surrounded by herbal
helpers. When you begin to learn them, it
changes the experience of being outside
and your ability to interact with nature.
Help is all around you. It is a very powerful
thing to experience regularly.You can
begin to feel independent of the large drug
company/pill dominated culture and the
associated insurance/medical systems.
Just a few of the hundreds
In your yard:
plaintain, dandelion, motherwort, lamb’s quarters, echinacea,
Groundsel, shepherd’s purse, chickweed, mallow, self heal
Coming in from the woods:
stinging nettle, cleavers, garlic mustard, poke, red raspberry
From the surrounding countryside:
mullein, yellow dock, burdock, chicory, red clover,
St. John’s wort, yarrow
Plantain Plantago


Used in salads, for bites
and skin irritations,
soothes oral cuts and
radiation burns
Leaves chewed, poultice,
juiced or salve. Seeds
some species ground
seeds internally for
diarrhea and constipation
Plantain (cont.)


Externally speeds
healing, stops
bleeding, draws out
foreign matter, kills
bacteria, decreases
itching.
Grows in driveways,
paths, near
sidewalks, lawns.
Dandelion Taraxacum
officinalis



Famous for liver
support and
nourishment, rich in
vit. A, diuretic
Relieves gas and
heartburn (20 drops
tincture before meals)
All parts are edible
Dandelion (cont.)


Grows in lawns,
fields, and where it is
needed.
Used as tincture
(leaves and root),
eaten as green,
steeped in vinegar,
bitter infusion
Echinacea


A plains flower
perennial, Ech.
purpuria grows easily
in Michigan gardens
Roots are harvested
in fall of third or fourth
year and tinctured
fresh
Echinacea


Echinacea angusifolia
harder to grow, roots
can be dried.
Uses are commonly
known, note that
Echinacea can be
used to stimulate or
nourish.
Lamb’s Quarter Chenopodium



Eaten for high
calcium and
carotenes
Available early spring
through fall (if picked
regularly)
Can be blanched and
frozen for winter
nourishment
Lamb’s Quarter (cont.)




Excellent green for
making calcium rich
vinegar
Grows in disturbed
ground
Easy to identify by
“chalky” appearance
Use in place of lettuce
for salad base
Nettle Urtica



Leaves eaten for
calcium, iron, protein,
micronutrient content.
Can also be made
into infusion.
Tincture or infusion
aids kidneys,
adrenals
Salve or tea used for
burns
Nettle (cont.)



May decrease insulin
resistance
Infusions, soups,
vinegars maximize
nettle’s rich nutritional
value that nourishes
many body systems.
Grows near water and
high nitrogen sources
Garlic Mustard Allaria
petiolata


Seriously invasive
plant. You are
encouraged to pick it
(roots and all) nearly
anywhere you find it.
Save the top 1/3 and
compost the rest.
Garlic Mustard (cont.)


Use fresh in salads,
blanch and freeze as
pot green, great in
sauces and soups,
use in place of garlic
in many recipes.
Medicinal benefit
unknown, but as
nutritious as most
greens.
Mullein Verbasci



Traditional use to stop
smoking (substitute)
Leaves, infusion, and
tincture nourishing for
lungs
Oil from flowers used
for earaches
Mullein (cont.)



Leaves used to help
effectiveness of coughs,
to reduce asthma, to calm
lung inflammation
Found by roadsides,
meadows, beginnings of
paths and in gardens.
A startling plant in the
second year, can grow 69 feet.
Yellow Dock Rumex crispus


Root used as tincture
to promote iron
absorption, nourish
liver.
Root used as oil as
wound healer
(bruises, tissue
damage, trauma)
Yellow Dock (cont.)



Leaves used as
food (great as
pesto) contain high
amounts of easily
absorbable iron.
Great plant for
treating anemia
Will only grow in
iron rich soil, fields
and open land
Burdock Arctium lappa



Tincture of the root is
used for skin diseases,
anti-tumor, as a deep
alterative
The root can be eaten
(first year and spring of
second year only). Used
raw, in stir fries, or pickled
Found in pour quality
disturbed ground, open
fields
Burdock (cont.)



Root contains high
levels of inulin, may
help blood sugar
stabilization
Leaves as poultice or
compress used to
heal burns (including
from hot pepper oil)
Leaves as poultice
quickly heal skin
abrasions
To Learn More





Spring and fall weed walks
Peterson’s Guide to Medicinal Plants with
Stephen Foster
Purchase remaindered wild flower books
($2-3) and use pictures (ignore text)
Free monthly herb classes sponsored by
People’s Food Coo-op (fourth Thurs.)
Free monthly herb classes sponsored by
Whole Foods (usually third Thurs.)
Other ideas


Learn 1-2 plants per year
Learn each plant thoroughly - were it
grows, why it grows there, what parts are
used, when are they harvested, what it
tastes like, and how to prepare it for
maximum benefit.