An Exploration in Herb Garden Management and Usage

Weekly Tasks: Moving Cans and Logs, Weeding in the Herb Garden

Monday, 3/7

The first hour of class was spent in the farmhouse discussing self-evaluations and academic statements for the end of the quarter, so we only had an hour of work for our last day on the farm. We started off by moving the planting cans back to the outside of the RBGH since the roof is now on and intact. Then, we helped with moving some old logs that were used by students in 2018 for a mushroom growing experiment. With the tractor and multiple wheelbarrows, we moved the logs and stacked them by the food forest next to the trail back to campus.

The last 10 minutes of class were filled with group weeding in the herb garden. While not a lot of time, I was thankful for a final community effort in the garden as a way to wrap up the quarter. It was wonderful to already see things growing in the garden, I am beyond excited to see what spring holds for me. Thank you to everyone who has provided any support within the herb garden this quarter and last, I am so appreciative of everyone who has taken the time to enter this space and help to regenerate it. Onto a new quarter of sunshine and growth!

Weekly Tasks: Greenhouse tasks

Readings: Chapter 11 “Urban Farming” – Farming While Black

I think a lot of people feel very detached from or daunted by the idea of farming and growing plants because the vision of farming in their head probably includes big, industrialized monoculture farms. But growing plants can happen anywhere, as long as you take the time and care to do it. It can be as simple as having a few pots of herbs on your windowsill that add a little freshness and spice to homemade dishes, or it can be fancier if you have a garden plot to grow more of a variety of plants in. The urbanization of society should not limit us from producing food for ourselves or our community, and I think this Farming While Black chapter does a wonderful job at expressing this.

Monday, 2/28

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In order to stay out of the rain, Beth assigned us some tasks in the RBGH and the heated greenhouse for the morning. We first helped with rolling up and tying the side of the RBGH. Once that was completed, we were able to move into the heated greenhouse to learn about transplanting. Beth went over all the different types of seeding trays available on the farm before instructing us on how to fill each with fertilized potting soil. Once the trays were filled and watered, we started transplanting some baby lavender plants into the trays. This was such a wonderful and relaxing way to spend the morning, especially with the sound of rain on the roof of the greenhouse overhead. I really enjoyed the peace and calm of working with the soil and the baby plants, using a chopstick to carefully break apart the soil and separate all the little roots and plants apart. I also really appreciated learning more about Beth’s work process on the farm, seeing the trays in use, hearing her tips and wisdom, helping with the tags for plant starts. I really enjoyed this rainy morning of work!

Home Herbalism Series – Class 4

Herb-Infused Oils & Digestive Wellness

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While all of the Home Herbalism classes so far have been so intriguing and informative for me, Class 4 on Digestive Health especially caught my attention when thinking about the gut health of most people in America today. Maria called America “a nation of disordered digestion,” bringing up studies that shared how common issues such as acid reflux, ulcers, and more are within our society right now. This reminded me of our Animal, Vegetable, Junk reading, and how industrial agriculture has essentially set all of us up to have these issues with digesting certain foods.

Maria also shared the fact that the majority of people who seek out digestive help when it comes to these issues are white people, commonly women and younger folk, who are more educated and already more in-tune with the processes of their bodies. So essentially, the more privileged people of society. This brought up the question for me of how are we supposed to make herbal medicine more accessible for less privileged folk? How can we work to uplift the histories of herbal medicine in communities of color?

Readings

The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips

Chapter 1 “The Medicine of the People”

And we end at the beginning. This chapter was more of a general overview of medicinal healing, with some comparisons between herbal healing and western medicine and the idea that lifestyle and what we put into our bodies can have a huge impact on our health, and these should be the foundation that we start at when we find ourselves ill. “It is estimated that 70 to 80 percent of the people who go to doctors have nothing wrong with them that wouldn’t be cleared up by a vacation, a pay raise, or relief from everyday emotional stress” (3). Starting the healing process with the reminder that we are humans living in a stressful and somewhat depressing society is a good way to encourage the body to naturally heal itself. Support from natural remedies can help in this process as well.

I like this opening visual concept that Nancy provides in this chapter: “One of the concepts taught in an introductory course on the use of medicinal herbs is that herbs are not all used or categorized the same way. I learned to visualize this concept much like a clothesline: The tonic, or nourishing, herbs are all hung at one end, the specific medicinal herbs are in the middle, and the low-dose herbs are at the opposite end of the line. The sequence – oats, raspberry, nettles, chamomile, echinacea, black cohosh, goldenseal, lobelia, poke, digitalis – reflects an increasing specificity in plant medicines” (1). The herbs most commonly used in herbal medicines are the ones closest to us on the clothesline, the nourishing, everyday herbs that support our body in its healing process. As healing progresses, we may need to call upon other herbs further down the line, but these tonic herbs are our foundation.

Weekly Tasks: No Class, President’s Day

Review: Chapter 16 “White People Uprooting Racism” – Farming While Black

Even though we do not have class together this week, this chapter is such an important one that is not worth skipping out on. As a group of majority white people, it is our duty to listen to, learn from, and uplift people of color whenever possible.

Readings

The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone

Chapter 3 “Herb Foraging”

The final chapter from The Evergreen Herbal! I really appreciated this chapter and honestly wish I had read it earlier on in the quarter, as it provided a wonderful layout of seasonal work and planning that could go into herb garden maintenance and usage. It broke down the year into the four seasons, giving brief overviews of what each season is best for (for example, winter is best for root harvesting since the plant’s energy is fully focused on root production). Then, the chapter broke the year down into separate months, laying out work objectives for managing and using an herb garden. As a newbie to this herb garden position, I think this chapter was a wonderful nudge in the right direction when it comes to wildcrafting herbs and getting herb garden and medicine making plans in place.

The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips

Chapter 7 “Making Earth Medicines”

For the most part, this chapter was just a wonderful review of what I have already learned about medicine making through the Home Herbalism Series and my other earlier readings. It goes through in-depth directions and information surrounding making all kinds of herbal medicine, from salves to tinctures to infused oils. It also talks about the art of herb combinations in medicine, discussing primary herbs (the herb addressing the primary problem), supporting herbs (for soothing the body through healing), and the activator herbs (to activate body organs and catalyze the actions of the other herbs). Examples of these combinations are drawn in a triangle pattern in this chapter, which I really appreciate for the visual side of my brain.

“Making my first salve and, later, my first tincture were empowering events in my life.”

– NANCY PHILLIPS

This starting quote was definitely the one that stood out to me the most in this chapter because of my own experience making my first tincture through the Home Herbalism Series with Wintergreen Botanicals. The entire tincture-making process took me around twenty minutes at most with simple measurements and ingredients. All I have to do now is shake it every day or two to help with the extraction process for around two weeks to a month. This was a huge ah-ha moment for me, that realization that all of us have the ability to make our own medicines and it’s actually quite an easy thing to do. Once my first tincture is done extracting, I’m excited to strain and try it and I am also very excited for more tincture-making in the future as well.

Weekly Tasks: RBGH Plastic Cover, Vegetable Distribution

Readings: Chapter 9 “Raising Animals” and Chapter 13 “Youth on the Land” – Farming While Black

Monday, 2/14

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today was focused on helping Beth with replacing the RBGH plastic roof, as well as distributing the radicchio, beans, leeks, and squash for our cooking lab next week with the Olympia Food Coop. We sorted the five different varieties of radicchio that had survived the big snowstorm before heading out to get the plastic prepped for hoisting up onto the RBGH structure.

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First, we laid out the new sheet of plastic and tied rope around bunched up sections along the side we would be pulling over the structure. Then, we tossed the rope over to the other side and lined up along all sides to help guide the plastic over top. We ended the morning by straightening out any wrinkled patches around the sides before beginning the process of inserting the wiggle wire along the edge to hold the plastic in place. Overall, this was a really fun morning with lots of movement and action as a combined group of classmates. It was a nice change from the peaceful quiet of weeding in the herb garden each Monday.

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While our work did not directly correlate with this week’s Farming While Black chapters, I appreciated the knowledge and ideas surrounding raising animals and welcoming youth into agricultural settings. I have had quite a lot of experience with chickens; my family got our first flock of chickens when I was quite little and I remember chasing them around our backyard with my brother, laughing and watching them dustbathe in the sunshine. Pigs, however, I am less familiar with, so learning about their care and impact on the land was really exciting to me. I was especially intrigued by the fact that chickens and pigs are the most climate-friendly meats, accounting for only 10% of the total greenhouse gas emissions by livestock while still providing three times as much meat as cows globally.

As for welcoming youth onto the land, I get excited by the idea of working with kids and educating them on agriculture or more specifically, herbal medicine and the healing magic of plants. I loved the wisdom and the activities that Leah Penniman shared on incorporating history into their learning practices for youth. Creating connections between children and the land and also their histories is important and empowering, and I think these are things that normal education systems miss out on most of the time.

Home Herbalism Series – Class 3

The Nervous and Endocrine System Part 2: Relaxation, Sleep & Mood – Flower Essences

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The Home Herbalism homework has been taking me longer to complete than I originally assumed it would so I am not quite finished with Class 3’s homework as of the end of Week 10. However, this week’s home remedy-making was all about flower essences, which are an aspect of herbal medicine that I have been highly excited to learn about. Because of this, I have included excerpts from my Class 3 homework below to share information on flower essences and why I think they are so cool!

I was unable to make my own flower essence due to the fact that there are no flowers blooming in the winter season, but stay tuned for spring as I already have plans for multiple flower essences I wish to make!

How do you make a flower essence? 

Supplies: 

• Filtered well or spring water
• Brandy
• Plain glass bowl
• Strainer, funnel
• Scissors
• Glass bottles for storing
• Labels
• Thank you gift for plant
• Optional: notebook, camera

Before beginning, be sure you are in a good mental and physical state to work with the plants. Clean your materials however you see fit, through smudging, water, etc. Make sure you are creating flower essences on a sunnier day, preferably earlier in the morning when flowers are first budding. Select your flower, whether you have a specific one in mind or are open to hearing the “call” of one, and sit with it for a bit to gain permission for usage. Then, you can snip the flowers into your bowl of water, covering the surface or selecting a specific number to use. If the plant is sensitive or at-risk, you can gently bend the bloom into the water or adjust the bowl so the blooms are resting in the water. Leave the essence to infuse in a sunny place for 2 to 4 hours or however long feels best. When the essence is ready, strain into your bottle until half full. Fill the other half with brandy and succuss to create your mother essence. To make a stock essence, fill a separate bottle with ⅓ brandy and ⅔ water and add 5 drops of the mother essence (most flower essences for sale are stock essences). To make a further dosage bottle, fill another bottle with ⅓ brandy and ⅔ water and add five drops of each stock essence. Stock and dosage essences can be taken on the tongue, added to water or tinctures, placed on the skin, and more. A typical dosage is 1-5 drops up to three times a day. Store all essences in a respectful space without touching one another. 

What is unusual about flower essences compared to other herbal remedies?

Flower essences bridge the gap between the science of herbal medicine and the magic of plants. They capture the vibration or energy of the plant and encourage the body to heal itself. They allow you to connect with your favorite plants on a deeper, more spiritual, level, getting to know these plants in an entirely new light. 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using flower essences?

Advantages:

• Small dosing 
  • Can be used in a variety of ways
  • Lasts a long time
  • Very little plant material required, sometimes you don’t even need to harvest 
  • Easily added to other remedies 
• Incredibly dilute and unlikely to have any chemical effect on the body
  • Perfectly safe combined with pharmaceutical drugs
  • Useful for children, babies, pregnant mothers, elderly, etc.
  • Can be used for pets
  • Unlikely to have side effects
• Works on a deeper level than most medicines
  • Provide emotional, spiritual, psychological support

Disadvantages:

• Not necessarily a disadvantage but taking a flower essence can sometimes cause “resistance” when we consume the essence for something we are not quite ready to do. Can result in moodiness, weird dreams, a viral infection which should all pass in a couple days.

Readings

The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone

Chapter 2 “Community Herbalism”

I really loved this chapter and how personal it was to Evergreen and the Olympia area, it feels like a chapter that is speaking directly to me and my path of study. It highlighted three community herbalists from around Olympia, Corinne Boyer of Maple Mist Woods, Renee Davis of Goldroot Botanical Medicine, and Sean Croke from the Hawthorn School of Plant Medicine.

Out of these three herbalists, the one that I connected with most while reading was Corinne Boyer. Her combination of herbal medicine and plant magic speaks very strongly to me, as I am a strong believer in the spiritual and magical properties of plants as well. I did some searching around on her website after reading as well and got very excited about her class and apprenticeship offerings, especially her class on the magic and folklore of the forests. I hope Corinne is someone I will cross paths with someday, regardless of where my herbal interests take me in the future.

The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips

Chapter 4 “Considering Your Niche”

This chapter was a humbling chapter about herbalism, a reminder that we cannot do it all and that we need to remember to create balance in our lives between herbal practices and other daily callings. It started with a section on how most herbalism begins with oneself and healing oneself, learning what works and doesn’t work for you so that you can better help other people. “We need to slow down. Breathe deep. Understand. Be. This is the place where healing starts” (Page 109). This is a wonderful reminder not only for herbalists, but for all of us.

The chapter continues with the importance of service as an herbalist, while also acknowledging the need to make a living. We should heal because we want to and have the ability to, not solely to rake in cash. There is also the discussion of making your medicine available while not giving yourself entirely away with nothing in return, which brought up the idea of a barter list; if your patients are unable to pay, ask for their support with chores or other daily needs as payment in return for your medicinal wisdom. I love the community that this chapter creates in its pages, the idea that we should heal because we can and not because we expect anything in return, while still creating that balance so that we aren’t being used and our efforts are being acknowledged and rightfully appreciated in whatever way the patient’s privilege allows.

A final section in this chapter that was highly intriguing to me was the short section on flower essences, which was the home remedy that we covered in my Home Herbalism class for this week. Flower essences draw upon the spirit of the plant, its essence, rather than the actual medicinal properties of it to invoke healing. I have never used a flower essence before but come springtime, I am excited to make my own with the fresh flower blossoms from around campus.

“Chief Seattle advised that what we do to ourselves we do to Earth. Maybe the message for us today should be: What we do to Earth we do to ourselves.”

– NANCY AND MICHAEL PHILLIPS

Weekly Tasks: More weeding, trimming of perennials

Readings: Chapter 7 “Tools and Technology” – Farming While Black

I really appreciated this week’s reading as preparation for future projects within the herb garden. I think it did a wonderful job of highlighting the necessary tools and materials needed for working on either a small- or large-scale farm, while also highlighting the racial histories of these tools and educating on the connection each tool has to Black farmers. I am now very excited about transplanting the new lavender plants into the herb garden and also fixing the busted irrigation system!

Monday, 2/7

Today was probably my favorite day in the herb garden so far. Not only did we get quite a lot of work done, but I felt like I made more connections with my classmates today than I have in previous weeks.

The morning started off with my usual meeting with Beth, where we decided that (you guessed it!) more weeding was in order. Along with weeding, there was an unidentified perennial that needed trimming down, as well as a pesky thimbleberry and some nettle plants that needed careful removal. Finally, it was time to pull out the dead calendula plants as they had already successfully reseeded their area.

I only had two helpers in the herb garden today, Laura and Casey, but the three of us worked fast and also talked quite a lot as we did. I really appreciated these connections, I felt so disconnected from my classmates last quarter but I have so much hope for what the rest of this and next quarter hold when it comes to community building. I am so excited for classes to be returning to in-person and to create even more connections with the other two Taste programs.

Finally, in honor of our “Tools and Technology” chapter for the week, I wanted to share some appreciation for digging forks, rubber gloves, and wheelbarrows, as these tools have made work in the herb garden so much more manageable and enjoyable. I am thankful for the trust from Beth in letting us use these tools and thankful for their help in making the herb garden a beautiful place.

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Readings

The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone

Chapter 6 “Plant Monographs”

This chapter was another that I mostly skimmed through, as I had already explored a lot of it last quarter for my personal materia medica. It contains a wonderful collection of monographs on 15 easy-to-grow herbs as well as 10 native herbs that you could probably find in your own backyard.

15 Easy-to-Grow Herbs

• calendula
• chamomile
• feverfew
• lavender
• lemon balm
• mugwort
• mullein
• oregano
• peppermint
• rosemary
• sage
• thyme
• valerian
• violet
• yarrow

10 Native Wild Herbs

• chickweed
• red clover
• blue elderberry
• dandelion
• yellow/curly dock
• horsetail
• stinging nettle
• Nootka rose
• Oregon grape
• self-heal, heal-all

I was especially excited about the list of native, wild herbs because a few of them were plants I had worked with last year for a project on natural dyes. I love these colliding worlds, discovering, and even experimenting, with the many uses of plants that can be naturally found in my own backyard. It makes me very excited for spring to arrive so I can get to know these plants even better.

The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips

Chapter 2 “The Gamut of Herbal Possibility”

This chapter was so wonderful, probably my favorite that I have read so far. It covered the different roles and opportunities that come along with being an herbalist, how there is no one path of herbalism and there are different possibilities of work within the title of herbalist. The main opportunities include practitioner, grower, medicine maker, apothecary, and teacher, but oftentimes herbalists combine a few of these or even practice all of them at once (although that can become quite demanding).

Weekly Tasks: More weeding, removal of plastic from the RBGH greenhouse

Readings: Chapter 6 “Crop Planning” – Farming While Black

Monday, 1/31

This morning, Beth and I decided that the continuation of weeding was a good plan for the herb garden. With the help of many hands, we were able to almost entirely finish the upper right quadrant and got a good start on the upper left quadrant as well. I am really enjoying having so many helpers within the garden, the space feels so alive and bright with all of us working together. I am also highly thankful for no rain during our gardening sessions up to this point!

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The final thirty minutes of class were spent assisting Beth in taking down the damaged plastic from the RBGH greenhouse. The plastic had torn greatly and with the wind picking up, there was the risk of it blowing completely off on its own and damaging plants on the farm. Together, we all pitched in and cut the plastic free before pulling it off one side of the greenhouse. It felt really nice to have all of us work together on this project as well, and I know Beth was really grateful for our help.

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Home Herbalism Series – Class 2

The Nervous and Endocrine System Part 1: Stress & Energy – Herbal Tinctures

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This week’s home remedy-making was all about tinctures. A medicinal tincture uses alcohol to extract medicinal properties out of an herb. It is one of the simplest herbal medicines to make and consume (more information on making herbal tinctures can be found in my Home Herbalism homework above!). A tincture can be taken on its own or added to a drink or meal if the taste does not agree with the patient.

As I am underage, I opted to use apple cider vinegar instead of alcohol in my tincture-making process, which also works to extract medicinal value from herbal plants. I made a tincture of dried schizandra berries, which are a plant native to China that grow in red berry clusters on a woody, vine-like stem. Schizandra berries are a good overall immune support herb, but they are most known for supporting the liver and lungs, as well as being good for chronic stress and anxiety (especially in cases that cause insomnia). I am most hopeful that this tincture will be useful in my own experiences with stress and anxiety, and I am excited for it to finish extracting after a month so I can taste it!

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Readings

The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone

Chapter 1 – “Developing Relationship with Plants”

This chapter was such a lovely introduction to the more in-depth information later on in the book. It began with a reminder that the medicinal information within these pages came from the connection and relationship between the plants and Indigenous tribes, and that it is an herbalist’s duty to decolonize medicine and honor these original relationships within their work.

The next section focused on the idea of redefining healthcare, which I think is an especially important idea in the age of covid. This section emphasized the importance of plants within medicines while reminding us that not all allopathic medicine is bad, it just fails to acknowledge our health and wellness as a whole. “When allopathic medicine treats just our physical symptoms, our health is compartmentalized, fractured. Herbal medicine invites us into holistic wellbeing – the self observed as a whole – where we can simultaneously address multiple areas needing attention” (13). This quote, and elsewhere is my research, highlights the fact that modern medicine works solely to treat our symptoms rather than find the root of the problem. This is part of the magic of natural medicine, in my opinion: it helps us fix the problem as a whole instead of just addressing the symptoms.

The rest of this chapter touched on the importance of plant connections within nature as well as using plants for self-care. Nature has become such an important aspect of my personal self-care routine; I can’t remember a walk in the woods that didn’t leave me feeling lighter and happier by the end of it. It has been tough, however, in recent weeks to feel safe embarking on these walks after the news of an assault that happened within the Evergreen woods, my go-to walking spot. I am hopeful about rekindling my sense of safety on campus so that I can further strengthen these plant relationships come springtime.

The final section in this chapter talked about the different pathways that herbalists take in their herbalism journey, which sent me down an intense rabbit hole of looking up apprenticeships and internships that I could possibly pursue someday. I am unsure of where I hope to go with this herbalism study as of right now, but a hands-on apprenticeship sounds so appealing to me currently!

Weekly Tasks: Weeding in the right quadrants of the garden

Readings: Chapter 5 “Feeding the Soil” and review/browse Chapter 12 “Cooking and Preserving” – Farming While Black

Monday, 1/24

This morning in the herb garden, I met with Beth before class to come up with a plan for the day. We decided that some final weeding in the bottom right quadrant of the herb garden would be good, along with the start of weeding in the upper right quadrant. Once weeding was finished, we could begin putting down mulch.

When everyone arrived, it was really nice to have lots of helpers in the garden. Cedar and I began in the upper quadrant while Laura, Elijah, and M tackled the bottom. We got through quite a lot of weeding in the two hours we were there; two buckets were filled and dumped for compost. It was a very successful day, and was especially nice to have so many hands helping in the garden.

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We also spent a bit of class testing the soil after learning about it in our Farming While Black chapter this week. I rolled the soil from the herb garden into a ball, which was a bit hard to do as it was rather crumbly. Then I tried to make a ribbon by squishing the soil through my fingers. The results can be seen in the photos below. I enjoyed being able to put what we learned from the soil chapter into action in the herb garden today, and am excited to go out and test with different soils around campus too.

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Readings

The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone

Chapter 4 – “Herb Gardening”

I had already briefly browsed this chapter last quarter so it was a nice review for my week. This chapter gives brief descriptions of both the Evergreen European Medicinal Herb Garden and the Longhouse Ethnobotanical Garden on campus. It includes this diagram which Beth had also just shared with me as well: a layout of the herb garden from 2017. This will be highly useful in determining how things have changed in the garden since then. I am excited to work off of it to revive lost herbs and bring the garden back to its full potential.

The rest of the chapter shares information on starting your own herb garden and also on harvesting and drying herbs. The steps listed for beginning an herb garden include:

1. Set intentions and a realistic goal for your garden
2. Assess your environment and commitment level
3. Get creative with your space
4. Gather your plants
5. Lay it out
6. Learn maintenance needs

I appreciate receiving this list from fellow college students because the idea of limited and temporary space for herbs is present in their minds as well. When most of us envision a garden, we see a plot of land with plants growing right in the earth, but a garden can also be a set of pots and planters that are small and easy to transport. This reminder of quality over quantity is important for all.

The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips

Chapter 6 – “Growing and Drying Medicinal Herbs”

This reading went well with the selection from The Evergreen Herbal. It went into a lot more detail on the growth, harvesting, and drying of medicinal herbs. I was especially appreciative of the information on seeding, cuttings, and root divisions, as we may be doing some seeding of our own this winter, along with the transplanting of the lavender plants. There was also lots of information on how to properly harvest different parts of herbs, whether it be picking the leaves and blossoms, digging up roots, or stripping tree bark. The chapter ended by talking about proper drying and storage of herbs, along with how to properly price herbs for sale (which doesn’t apply to the Evergreen herb garden but is still wonderful to learn about). A lot of this information I had already learned from the first class of the Home Herbalism series, as well as through other readings, but it was, of course, a good review.

I was especially appreciative of the section discussing wildcrafting, as foraging for herbs is one area of herbal medicine that I have not gotten too much information on but am very excited about. Our planet already provides us with so many wonderful medicines, but it is important to approach these natural remedies in an ethical and respectful manner. We always want to leave an area better than when we arrived at it, never taking too much or leaving too much of an impact on the land. I am excited to explore the Evergreen woods come springtime and experiment with foraging for herbs growing right in my own backyard.

Weekly Tasks: No class, MLK Day

Reading: Review/Browse Chapter 15 “Movement Building” – Farming While Black

On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, take some time to read/review the “Movement Building” Chapter from Farming While Black. While every chapter within this book so far has been highly important and empowering, I think this is one of the most important chapters to read.

“…what can a nation of farmers have to offer the rest of the world?”

-from the film Black Panther

Tuesday, 1/18

Over this weekend, I got into communication with Beth, the farm manager of the Organic Farm and I met with her before class on Tuesday to discuss more in-depth plans for the herb garden this quarter. We agreed that from now on, before community gardening on Mondays, I will show up between 9:30-9:45 to create daily plans with Beth that I will then share with my classmates once class begins. I also shared some of my visions for the garden this quarter, including replacing the busted irrigation system and the ruined lavender plants, as well as possibly seeding or getting cuttings of herbs to add to the collection. Finally, we agreed that a good starting point would be to generate a map of the herb garden to get a general understanding of which plants are where, what is missing, and where space is available for new plants.

Home Herbalism Series – Class 1

Introduction to Herbalism – Herbal Nutrition – The Art of Tea

In order to get some experience working with herbs outside of the herb garden in a more medicinal sense, I signed up for Wintergreen Botanical’s Home Herbalism Series, which is a nine-class series that focuses on how to incorporate and use herbs as medicine within daily life. Taught by Maria Noel Groves, an herbalist with over two decades of experience and the author of two herbalism books, this beginner series will teach me about different types of medicinal herbs, about medicine making, and will help me create deeper relationships with herbs through an in-depth materia medica as part of our homework. I will include files to my homework for each class as they are too long to copy and paste into each post.

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In order for participants to have a more enriched experience with the course, Maria sent out wonderful packages of herbs to use in medicine and tea making. It was really exciting to receive my package and be welcomed by a wonderful assortment of herbal smells upon opening it.

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Homework:

Readings

The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone

Chapter 5 – “Medicine Making”

“As humans, we are undeniably in relationship with plants, we need them to function as a species on this earth. This relationship can be defined, for some, as spiritual.”

– Geena Barker, The Evergreen Herbal

This chapter was a wonderful companion to my first week of the Home Herbalism course with Maria Noel Groves. It covered similar information as the class, giving brief overviews of different herbal medicine types, tincture making, herbs specific to stress and anxiety, as well as a wonderful assortment of recipes for a wide variety of herbal remedies. Some of the recipes I am most excited about are the herbal teas, as this is probably the herbal remedy I personally use the most.

I also really appreciated the discussion on plant spirituality in this chapter as this is a subject I have started to explore during my time at Evergreen as well. Plants are a part of our history and our DNA whether we choose to acknowledge it or not; it is worth taking the time to listen and learn from them. I am very intrigued by the idea of flower essences, a plant medicine used to harness the spirit of a plant in a person’s daily life instead of just the medicinal properties. Once more flowers are in bloom come springtime, I will make my own flower essence.

The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips

Chapter 3 – “Learning Your Path”

This chapter was another wonderful companion to the first week of my herbalism course. Similar material was covered in both, including the importance of using Latin names when talking about herbs to ensure the same plant is being talked about.

The big takeaways from this chapter for me include the idea of mixing pharmaceutical drugs with herbal medicines. This is a question I had never asked but definitely subconsciously been curious about; would the effects of one diminish the effects of the other? Could the combination create a negative reaction to the medicines? There seems to be a negative stigma in media around combining the two when in reality the majority of herbs are perfectly safe to consume along with chemical drugs. A well-versed herbalist will know when this might not be the case or which herbs should be avoided in general. Overall, however, it’s always a good idea to keep a doctor and herbalist in the loop about everything being taken, in case any complications could arise from whatever combination is happening.

Another takeaway from this reading was about the Doctrine of Signatures, which is the theory that plants resemble the organ in our bodies that they can support medicinally. An example provided by Maria Noel Groves, my teacher in the Home Herbalist series, is the appearance of hibiscus tea: a deep red color, almost like blood. It just so happens that hibiscus is good for the cardiovascular system. Of course, this theory shouldn’t be heavily relied on, but other examples do exist and make us wonder about the role plants play in our lives.

This also leads into the conversation about plant allies, and how the right plants may appear to us exactly in our time of need. Many herbalists have told stories of having a certain pain while in nature and not knowing what to do about it, before noticing a certain plant waving at them in a seemingly wind-less environment. Sure enough, upon further research, the waving plant was offering its aid with whatever issue the herbalist was having. Plant allies can appear to us out of the blue or can happen from fostering a close relationship with a certain plant over an extended period of time. And not solely learning and researching about this plant, but spending time with it, listening, and getting to know it physically as well.

Something that sparked ideas for a potential spring quarter project was the mention of an herbarium, a collection of pressed and dried herbs mounted for display with information that a person can refer back to. The book gives directions for creating a simple plant press with plywood, bolts, and cardboard, which would be easy enough to recreate. Maria also recommends the creation of an herbarium to accompany the plant monographs in our homework, so this might be a good place to start if I have access to the herbs I am monographing.

The end of this chapter was chocked-full of resources for budding herbalists, it was a bit overwhelming, to be honest. There was everything from old herbals to new herbals to women’s health herbals to medicine making books to herb gardening guides. There was information on finding a mentor, participating in an apprenticeship, going to an official herb school, joining an herb conference. The list could go on. While slightly overwhelmed, I ended this chapter very content in the knowledge that I have a wide variety of sources available to me, so if I ever feel lost, I can come back to these recommendations.

Weekly Tasks: Introduction to the Herb Garden and Organic Farm

Reading: Chapter 4 “Restoring Degraded Land” – Farming While Black

Welcome to our first week in the herb garden! Today, we will be reacquainting ourselves with the garden and hearing from Beth, the Organic Farm manager, as she gives us an overview of work to be done today and in future weeks. Come prepared to work in the rain and mud!

Monday, 1/10

Today was a wonderful introduction to our winter quarter on the Organic Farm. There was minimal, if any, rain, which allowed for a grand tour of the entire farm, starting with the herb garden (which I, of course, forgot to photograph). According to Beth, our main focus for winter in the herb garden is the continuation of weeding, as well as laying down compost and beginning any seeding or cuttings of herbs we might want to plant in the spring. This opens up a conversation for the class if there are any specific herbs anyone would like to see in the herb garden, whether it be herbs for future use or just a favorite herb that appears to be missing.

Beth then continued our tour through the rest of the farm, showing us the mischievous chickens, the brassica beds, fruit trees, and eventually the radicchio beds our class is taking over for winter. The snow and frost had done a fair amount of damage to the plants; it looked like a radicchio graveyard when first walking up to them. But upon peeling back the outer damaged leaves, it was clear that some of the radicchio had made it through the worst of the winter and would hopefully still be enjoyable for a second radicchio tasting closer to the end of the quarter. However, a lot of the radicchio was still greatly damaged by the frost and snow, as well as mice that had burrowed in the dirt to eat the bottoms of the plants. It was very interesting to see how the different varieties of this winter vegetable reacted to the harsh winter weather.

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Finally, it was really cool to make connections between the Organic Farm and our weekly reading from Farming While Black on the regeneration of degraded lands. Winter is a time of reset, a time to make plans and preparations for the upcoming growing season. Beth was able to show us some of the examples for soil prep from our reading in person, including cover cropping and the use of tarps to prevent weed growth. She explained how the tarp method made the soil ready for use earlier in the season compared to cover crops since there’s no need to grow the crop and then turn it back into the soil and wait for it to be usable. These insights and in-person examples of what our reading talked about were very valuable to see.

Readings

“Herbal medicine is more about a deep relationship with the plants – and ourselves – than it is about a dusty jar of distant leaf that happens to retain enough vitality to serve a specified remedy.”

-NANCY AND MICHAEL PHILLIPS

This week, I began by reading the introductions to my two books, The Herbalist’s Way by Nancy and Michael Phillips and The Evergreen Herbal by Tari Gunstone. Obviously not very information-heavy, these introductions gave me a brief overview of what each text will provide me with over this quarter. The Evergreen Herbal is particularly exciting to me because of its connection specifically with Evergreen and the same herb garden I am working in now, as well as the connection to local herbalists and herb shops around the Olympia area. That being said, it is a student-written book, meaning it will probably not be very dense in herbal knowledge. I think the brief overview of herbalism as a whole in the context of the Evergreen herb garden will be very beneficial though, along with the familiarity of knowing it was written by students like me.

The Herbalist’s Way is written by an actual herbalist, Nancy Phillips, so I am excited for the insight and knowledge from someone with herbal experience. Her way of writing about plants even just in the introduction is beautiful to me, so I am excited to dive in for more.

In order to stay on top of the readings in these two books this quarter, I also created weekly reading schedules for myself this week. The schedule for each book is listed below.

The Evergreen Herbal  

• Wk 2 – Intro + Foreword 
• Wk 3 – Chapter 5 – Medicine Making   
• Wk 4 – Chapter 4 – Herb Gardening    
• Wk 5 – Chapter 1 – Developing Relationships with Plants  
• Wk 6 – Chapter 6 – Plant Monographs 
• Wk 7 – Chapter 2 – Community Herbalism  
• Wk 8 – Chapter 3 – Herb Foraging  

The Herbalist’s Way  

• Wk 2 – Introduction  
• Wk 3 – Chapter 3 
• Wk 4 – Chapter 6  
• Wk 5 – Chapter 5  
• Wk 6 – Chapter 2  
• Wk 7 – Chapter 4  
• Wk 8 – Chapter 7  
• Wk 9 – Chapter 1