Wild Crafting

The first step in making herbal medicines is harvesting the plants that you will use. Whether these plants are growing in your backyard or in a wild area, there are guidelines that should be followed before, during and after your harvest. Behave like a caretaker and always strive to leave an area better by your passing not worse.

Ethical Guidelines When Harvesting

  • Never gather endangered or sensitive species (i.e. wild ginseng)
  • Always ask if your need justifies your harvest
  • Make a positive identification before harvesting - not only to make sure that you have the correct plant for processing but because many poisonous plants look like useful plants.
  • Collect small amounts from several different stands (your harvest should not make a visible difference)
  • Never gather before you verify the welfare, health, sustainability & interdependent elements of the entire area
  • Walk, Look, Listen, Feel & Learn as much as you can about the ways of the land before you harvest.
  • Never gather more than you can conservatively use. Plant material loses its potency over time.
  • Always get permission before gathering on private land; always ask before gathering on public land.
  • Maintain a journal of harvesting sites to monitor the long term effects of your harvesting.
  • Learn about the habitat, typical elevation, soil composition, sun exposure and moisture requirements of the plants you harvest. If you see a plant in an unusual place, it is probably not good to harvest there as the plant may be just surviving and damaging it could kill it.
  • Watch for opportunities to salvage plants from urban growth/construction areas. Ask them if you can go in and dig up anything that will be killed
  • Also take the time to spread seeds and split plants to replant elsewhere to help them to spread and thrive.
  • When you harvest a part of a plant or the whole plant, be sure to thank the spirit of the plant for its sacrifice; if you know what the plant will be used for, pass along that information and leave an offering...this can be a piece of hair or some tobacco or something from a previous harvest to give back to the earth.
  • Find a pristine wild stand of plants you would normally harvest and, when you go out to harvest, either look for a similar stand of plants or work to improve the health of the stand you will be harvesting from so it will be as healthy as the wild stand of plants.
  • Always use correct tools. -With Roots -you want the whole root if possible so use a spade or shovel so that you are not leaving a root behind to rot. Honour the plant by using as much as you can of what you take.
  • When entering an area, be as quiet as possible - look, listen and feel the area and plant your feet carefully to have as little impact as possible.
  • Monitor the damage of your passing -foot prints, broken branches, etc. -move slowly & methodically to minimize damage.
  • Don't attack the plants but prune with loving care. Go slowly and carefully.
  • Take care of the plants once you get them home (dry properly, get them in jars/bags in good time, use them before they lose their potency)
  • Accept any of your own weaknesses, identify any of your own chronic mistakes, strive to increase your awareness and from that develop your own ethics and guidelines

    • Harvesting

    Think like a caretaker. Look at the whole area for:

  • Hazards -roads, pesticides (farmers fields/parks), railroad tracks
  • Water flows -what is being carried down to you from upstream
  • Vibrancy -different areas, soil conditions, pollution & pesticides will change the vibrancy of a plant

    • Pay attention to what you harvest each season and harvest where the energy is:

  • Spring -harvest young shoots & leaves like stinging nettle, dandelion greens, plantain greens, chickweed. (you can add 15-20 leaves to a regular salad)
  • Roots -consider that you are taking the life of the plant. May be better to harvest that root in the fall once the plant has lived for the season (dandelion & burdock are good roots to harvest in the spring as we know they are abundant)
  • Summer -harvest leaves and flowers
  • Autumn -Roots, spread the seeds of the plants you have collected to help your harvested area flourish

    • Invasive species -don't worry about over harvesting these species -i.e. Dandelion, Garlic Mustard. Plantain -the more you pick the more it grows.

    Poisonous plants -be aware of poisonous plans touching your harvesting. Watch out for roots as well that could be near what you are harvesting. You don't want to harvest a poisonous root by mistake because it was close to what you were harvesting. Always trace the root to the plant to be sure that it's the correct root.

    Written by Sagesse Abiona and Blue Maple