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.
