Florence Williams is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slate, Mother Jones, High Country News, O-Oprah, W., Bicycling and numerous other publications. Recently she was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado's Journalism School.

“Breasts are a mirror of our industrial lives,” Florence Williams writes in her new book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History recently published by Norton. As she goes on to say,

“Twentieth century medicine taught us that germs make us sick, but human health, I came to realize, is far more complex than this model. It is also governed by the very places we live and the small-print ingredients in the water we drink, by the molecules we touch and breathe and ingest every day.”

Florence’s book is funny, smart, and incredibly important - I’m so grateful she took the time to share some of her thoughts below.

Ann: I absolutely love your book. You take on two pretty provocative topics: breasts and environmental toxins – each provocative for very different reasons and in very different ways. How did you pick this as a topic to write about?

Florence: I first became interested in how modern life is changing breasts when I learned that breast milk now contains industrial chemicals. That started me down a path of learning about health and the environment, and I pretty much didn’t look up for 5 years.

Ann: I also first learned about what was in breast milk as I nursed my daughter who is now 13. I felt such a mix of anger and betrayal: that to me what was one of the most sacred things I had ever done, was also potentially filling my daughter with, as you say, “society’s industrial flotsam”, more toxins than a body should bear in a lifetime. And not only that, that in nursing her, I was downloading those toxins from my body into hers, essentially passing my lifetime of exposure on to her. The anger and betrayal quickly led to despair and paralysis. And yet that doesn’t come through in your writing. How have you managed to not get crushed under the information about environmental toxins and their impact on human health you have gathered in writing this book?

Florence: Right, those feelings of guilt and despair can happen. I think it’s important to remember, though, that breast milk is superior to formula from a health standpoint, and it still contains precious long-evolved substances that confer protection and immune-boosters to your baby. Generally, the levels of chemicals in breast milk are still very small, and we don’t know enough about their health effects to throw up our hands in despair. What we do know is that it would be better if breast milk didn’t contain endocrine disruptors and neurological toxicants, or contained less of them. And we know that these chemicals need to be better tested, as soon as possible, so we can learn more about them and make better public policy decisions.

I like writing with humor when I can, but some parts of this book, like those about early puberty and breast cancer, are simply not funny. When you talk about breasts, though, there’s plenty of fodder for humor.

Ann: I think your voice is what makes this book work. I’m not sure I would normally choose to pick up a book about the toxins in my breasts – it hits too close to home and it brings up too much fear and anxiety, both general (about all toxins) and specific (about my children). And yet, you write about this in a way that makes me want to read more. That isn’t often the case in books about environmental toxins.

Florence: I’m so glad the voice worked for you and kept you turning pages. I think it’s important not to get overrun by despair, because it makes it too hard to get up in the morning. I wish more writing about science and the environment would lighten up a little, because those topics need more readers, not fewer. I’ve done a lot of my writing and reporting over the years using the first-person voice. I think it can engage readers, and sometimes, frankly, it keeps me more engaged, because it allows for a little more flexibility and creativity in the narrative.

Ann: You write, “Our bodies, I learned, are not temples. They are more like trees. Our membranes are permeable; they transport both the good and the bad from the world around us.” On so many levels this should be so obvious, and yet it isn’t. We live in a world that assumes our bodies somehow are impermeable. I look at the shampoo and cosmetics that my daughter’s friends use, that my daughter wants to use and the constant juggling act I face trying to balance making her become more aware and not being overbearing. And I live in Montpelier, Vermont of all places, where you would think there would be greater awareness!

What have you learned from your work on this book that has changed how you live and the choices you make? What advice do you have for the parents of teenage girls? What changes need to happen at a cultural/social level? And finally, how can we begin to help make those changes happen?

Florence: Well, I don’t think it’s a lot of fun trying to be a parent who denies her children the experiences of her peers. It’s not fun for them or for us. And I don’t think parents should bear this responsibility all the time, or bear it by themselves. Wouldn’t our jobs be so much easier if consumer products didn’t contain harmful substances in the first place? Perhaps that’s what parents should be spending more of their scolding-energy on: the government, and the regulatory agencies who are not doing their jobs with regard to testing more chemicals for human health effects. Aside from that, I try to reduce my children’s exposures to some things, like perfume-y products that contain phthalates, but I don’t try to do it all the time.

Ann: What are you going to write about next? I have an idea… since your next child is a boy : )

Florence: I think I’m done with body parts for a while. But it was fun while it lasted! I’m sure I’ll keep writing about environmental health, and I’m going to do some science-magazine writing for awhile. I like mixing up the book and magazine work. Thanks so much for your great work and your interest in my book.

For more information about Florence, her book as well as links to buy the book from your favorite independent book sellers check out her website: Book – Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History | Florence Williams.

And you can stay up to date on Florence by following her on Twitter and Facebook 

Larken Bunce MS is a clinical herbalist, educator, gardener, writer, and photographer deeply inspired by a life-long love affair with plants

I’ve known Larken for many years, through her work creating the new herb school in town, while working together in the Health Arts and Sciences Program at Goddard College, and most importantly, while dancing! Larken is a leader in envisioning how we can create more sustainable and resilient community-based healthcare and in working toward that vision by co-founding the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism.  Some of Larken’s fantastic handouts on using medicinal herbs for common ailments can be found in our resource guide and her stunning photographs of plants can be found here and on our website. Thank you, Larken!

For up to date herb tips from Larken, follow her on Twitter @physicgardener.

Ann: What was your vision in creating the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism?

Larken: I see the development of VCIH as having arisen out of need, that we’re riding the crest of a wave that has been building in our culture and we are lucky to be here to carry out the work. So, when you ask about vision, I don’t know that I was totally clear about what it was in the beginning–I felt I was answering a call, moving toward something with its own magnetism. Now six years from our inception, I do feel pretty clear about where the momentum of the wave is headed and I’m excited to build and guide it, along with my partners, Guido and Betzy.

My very general vision of VCIH has always been that of a beacon, shining out to light the way back to the plants, drawing people from down the block and across the country to answer the same call, to step up to the challenges ahead, and to find comfort and healing in the plants and in nature.

Recently, we collectively did some writing that coalesces our current hopes in light of our original mission and I can’t restate it any better. This little excerpt holds the power and clear intent of our vision for me:

Ultimately, we seek to bring about a system of healthcare wherein primary care is Nature-based and practiced in the home; the tools of technological medicine serve as secondary resources; and the herbalist acts as a bridge between the two. This model ensures each individual’s central role, utilizes the simplest and least invasive treatments, and emphasizes the co-evolutionary and interdependent relationship between humans and our environment.

Ann: What is your vision for grassroots healthcare in this country? And what are the steps you see we need to take to get there?

Larken: Successful grassroots healthcare, from my perspective, has to arise from relationship. First, we need strong relationship with the land, not just medicine plants, but all of the elements in our ecological environment. Second, we need strong relationship within our human communities. Our neighbors actually are a part of our ecology, but we often artificially separate humans from nature, so I’m pointing this out specifically. But, the bottom line is that we need to see and experience ourselves as deeply, inextricably embedded in the ongoing life around us.

We are lonely for connection to something greater than ourselves, something that draws our focus beyond the false boundaries of our insular lives. Some would say this is at the root of both individual illness and cultural dysfunction, and I agree. Developing relationship with the land outside our door is the first step in healing this experience of separation. Using plants specifically as medicine is a wonderful way to recognize our inter-relationship with them and, as an herbalist, obviously I see their medicinal activities as an important benefit, but not the sole or even most significant one. We can simply open our senses to the scents and tastes, the visual beauty, the tactile intricacies of the plants to re-awaken ourselves to the truth of our belonging to this greater ecology. We find that we are literally built, at a cellular level, to perceive and interact with our natural environment. Beyond their capacity to strengthen our immune system or soothe our headache, that they have the capacity to call us back, through our senses, to an awareness of ourselves as Ones Who Belong is perhaps the deeper healing that plants offer.

As a part of sinking back into a consciously interconnected life, the second thing we need to cultivate is relationship with the humans in our lives. Of course we have relationships with family, friends and coworkers, but there is a vast network of people living all around most of us that we are completely unaware of in all but the most superficial ways. We don’t tap into their skills or their generosity and worse, we don’t feel that we have anything to give, any reason to reach out. Our own generosity and gifts have limited outlets. Just as the plants have specific ways in which they can effect us physiologically, many of us have particular skills that we can offer each other for the purposes of healing: body work, counseling, acupuncture, growing and cooking food, knowledge of herbs. But, again, perhaps more importantly, we have the simple and powerful gift of our presence, our attention, time and care. We can just be with each other, offering our listening, our genuine compassion, simple acts of assistance, and even play. Through the unique gift of our humanity, we are a necessary part of our local ecosystem. And again, we belong.

So, when I think about the basis for a successful grassroots healthcare system, the answer is Belonging. Feeling needed and loved, feeling connected, supported and appreciated, feeling we have something to give and that we have the discernment to take only what we need–in our interactions with both our human and non-human communities–this is my simplest definition of health.

In terms of what that looks like in action, we’re thinking a lot about that, both at VCIH and in the Health Arts and Sciences program at Goddard College. We’re looking at practical and accessible ways to heighten awareness of the need for this felt sense of belonging and interconnection, and at how to offer tools for everyone to engage this work together. A strong part of our mission is to provide consultations and herbs to people, regardless of ability to pay. We’re also committed to educating highly skilled professional herbalists who can contribute to the paradigm shift we’re talking about and bridge self-care and medical care. But, at the foundation of our mission is to enhance people’s capacity to tend to themselves and their families and neighbors. By empowering everyone in enhancing their sense of well-being and managing common health concerns, we can take significant burden off of the current medical system and will even likely reduce the need for “alternative” health professionals, or at least shift the focus of our work away from assisting in day-to-day concerns.

To achieve this, we’re designing some programs that bring together a variety of basic skills and knowledge streams, essentially re-educating folks about traditional medicine–what we might have called folk wisdom in the past, but re-envisioned to take into account modern physiology and basic understanding of plant activities, nutrition and the like. Imagine everyone knowing where their stomach really is and how digestion basically works, three local plants to support digestive functions, a massage technique, acupressure point, or breathing exercise to relieve discomfort, what foods to avoid until they feel better and when it’s important to call in more assistance, from an herbalist or from the emergency room. Imagine knowing what questions to ask and more, being reminded how to truly listen and attend to another’s pain.

Central in this scenario is the confidence and accountability generated in people who are caring for themselves and for each other. Most importantly,the sense of belonging that I spoke of is strengthened through self-knowledge, through interaction with the plants grown, prepared and used for healing, and through the mutual care offered when tending to others in need.

Ann: You’ve worked in and studied a number of different healing modalities and while I imagine you draw on all of them in your teaching and work as a clinician, what draws you primarily to herbal medicine?

I think you can hear in what I’ve said earlier that I’m pretty smitten with the plants, with the green world in general and with what nature has to offer by way of reminding us of our own essential nature. So, that’s a big part of my draw to plants as medicine–they began whispering to me as early as I can remember, when I was a child living mostly outdoors with my family in the redwoods in California. We had a tiny wooden house, no electricity or running water. We had an outdoor kitchen, the creek was our refrigerator. There were no other children and few adults. The plants and animals around us were my primary relationships. They were my friends in a deep and unencumbered way. Clearly, that influenced my perspective on the primacy and value of intimacy with the non-human landscape, which has translated into my reliance on herbal medicine as a foundation upon which to layer all other modalities.

That said, my conception of a sustainable and effective healthcare system acknowledges that we are each unique and will be drawn to and best affected by diverse approaches. So somatic therapies, talk therapies, energy work, different movement practices, all feel important. I do believe that we all need some basic, conscious interaction with plants in a daily way. But, that can (and should) be in the form of a varied and colorful diet that emphasizes plant foods–we don’t all have to be herb fanatics!

Ann: There is so much awareness about local food, local energy, local economies. It seems that a local medicine movement is much harder to get moving…why do you think that is (if you agree!)? What signs do you see that this movement is happening, that awareness is growing? What are some of the obstacles that need transforming to make it grow even more?

Larken: As many would imagine, the prevailing system of medicine, along with insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and medical education all present structural and ideological challenges to implementation of a new and more sustainable system. However, what I think we need to focus on is our own attitudes towards health and our sense of accountability (or lack thereof) when it comes to healing. If we are willing to take responsibility, instead of abnegating to someone else–doctor or herbalist, etc.–then we have the power to change the system. Unfortunately, it is a deeply ingrained notion that we don’t know enough about our bodies or health to take care of ourselves, that it is dangerous to try, that we need technology and expertise to be truly well.

When people learned enough about the damage and hazards accompanying agribusiness, they decided they wanted local vegetables and meats and prioritized that financially and in terms of time and effort spent to access them. Farmer’s markets across the nation began to boom as a result, as has home gardening. If each of us chose to educate ourselves, even a little, to understand the benefits of stepping up self-care and relying on nature-based modalities to carry that out, then programs offering these tools and models to connect people in networks of care would also boom. Yes, as we’ve seen with various efforts to stop sale of raw milk for instance, there will be industry push-back, but ultimately, it is our right to care for ourselves in the ways that make sense to us and are nourishing, that engender genuine health.

I see the revolution coming, and while it’s slow, I think it’s also steady and will be built on a strong foundation. As long as we draw on all the tools available to us, on the richness of our communities, on the model of diversity that nature holds up, and the truth of our belonging, we’ll get there.

Lisa Rose Starner is an urban farmer, backyard herbalist, freelance writer and herbal CSA owner.

Ann:  You mention that you began as a local food advocate and that led you, like many others, to herbal medicine. In screenings of Numen, we’ve found that there is often a line between the idea of local, organic food and local, organic medicine. People who aren’t already familiar with herbal medicine often think of it as something you buy, not something growing out your back door that you can prepare in your own kitchen. I’d love to hear you talk a bit about your journey from growing and harvesting tomatoes to growing and harvesting dandelions and more..

Lisa: I’ve worked in the local food community and sustainable agriculture movement as an advocate, practitioner, teacher, and eater for my entire professional and collegiate life. In college, I studied the rise of agriculture in the Neolithic as an Anthropology student and I spent time studying in Nice FR where I really learned the art of eating. I’ve also lived in the Bay Area, where I lived and worked in Napa Valley and volunteered growing vegetables and cooking with inner city kids at the renowned Edible Schoolyard. I’ve been the schlepping intern on an organic farm in northern Michigan; and in Grand Rapids, I started a nonprofit to develop school garden programs and kitchen classrooms in our urban schools that is now based out of our local nature center… lots of food-based, plant and people work, really. That’s my passion.

Along the way, I became a mom and developed my own wellness issues. These two facets of my life challenged me to critically evaluate my life, relationships, and relationships with the plants and my connection to the earth. This led to not just planting gardens, but I’ve learned to sit, listen and learn from the plants. It’s funny to say, but I was really called to this practice by the plants. From there (and with the guidance of some amazing plant teachers) I’ve developed a working knowledge of using local “weeds” and native plants as food and plant medicines. It was over the past several years that I really developed my own personal relationship with the earth — and by working with the land; gardening, sitting with plants, cooking in my kitchen, I’ve been reconnected to all the people along the way — throughout the world — who have worked with the plants to nourish and heal their families.

Ann: .You didn’t stop, as some might, with just preparing herbal remedies for your self. You’ve created an herbal CSA. Can you talk about how you came to do that? What inspired you to do this?

Lisa: My husband jokes that I always cook as though I am expecting 12 for dinner! There’s always a surplus and I am always excited to share what I grow and make with others! I saw that from my gardening and wildcrafting bounty I could offer a CSA that not only included my herbal preparations, but was a business model with which I could also begin offering classes along with these preparations so others could be as empowered — and excited — working with plants. That, and I always felt that the herbal connection should be more dirt-to-table in the way that the local food movement is heading. I believe it was Goldthread that originally inspired me to make the leap to do an herbal CSA. 

Ann: I’d love to hear some specifics about your CSA: When did you start, how many members do you have, what do you offer them: in terms of herbs and tinctures as well as education? What have been the challenges and what have you learned in the process of doing this? What changes have you made?

Lisa: This is my third herbal CSA growing season. I began with about 7 members and it’s grown to be 15 members.

At first, I offered a great deal of herbal preparations (simplers tinctures, teas, my syrups and balms) — a massive, all-local herbal apothecary, really! That first season I realized I was overwhelming my clients relative to the working knowledge people had about the plant preparations I was giving them. I mean, many knew about Elderberry Syrup. That one’s more or less easy because people are used to seeing that in the health foods shop. But Motherwort? Hawthorne? Mullein? Those aren’t as familiar to people. Fortunately, I don’t just hand people boxes of herbs — part of their CSA experience is plant walks in my gardens (both cultivated and wild spaces) to learn about the plants in their apothecary. Then we get into my kitchen where I share with them how to make infusions, infused oils, tinctures, steam inhalations — all so they’d be empowered with the knowledge and inspiration to take on folk medicine making at home.

Collecting Hawthorn berries, twigs and leaves

And that’s what I want. I want people in my community to have a rich relationship with plants that doesn’t just happen when they are sick, but a relationship that’s a needed — desired — part of their everyday lives.

Lisa organizing her herbal CSA baskets

Ann: There is so much publicity about food CSAs. It is much harder to find information about herbal CSAs, both the fact that they are being offered and also, more broadly, how it seems that herbal CSAs offer a really wonderful way of extending the values of traditional herbalism into the business of selling herbal products. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  There is a small number of herbal CSAs around the country, is that number growing? Is there any kind of network among herbal CSAs to share lessons learned, etc? Do you have any advice to others starting out? Do you collaborate and exchange information with others offering herbal CSAs? Is that helpful? Or would it be? Do you see this as a model that could expand the way food CSAs have?

Lisa: I’ve watched the popularity of CSAs grow tremendously over the past decade and now see a handful of herbal CSAs popping up around the country that range from individual herbalists running small herbal CSAs that include just basic preparations on a monthly schedule to large farm-based CSAs like Goldthread. But there aren’t many. I think many of us as herbalists are looking for creative, financially-viable ways to integrate our work into the community and leveraging the farm-to-table movement just makes sense.

However, the CSA business model isn’t perfect and there’s a lot of discussion within the agriculture community — and among CSA clients — that point out the limitations of the CSA. I am not sure exactly what the future is for the CSA in general, but it continues to change and evolve to suit the needs of both consumer and the needs of the farmer and as the herbalist uses this concept for their practice it will need to evolve as well to best reflect their personality and their community’s needs.

That said, I believe in networking with other herbalists — it helps us connect the dots and ideate around growing our work in our communities. In fact, I am talking now with a few other Michigan herbalist friends about working together and developing a cooperative herbal CSA called Mitten Herbals. It’s very conceptual at this time, but I feel working collaboratively is one of the best ways to leverage and maximize our knowledge, teachings, harvesting and plant preparations and this will be a great partnership for our local communities we each work with around Michigan. And the plants dig that.

Didi Pershouse is part of a growing movement challenging this disconnection. I first came across Did’s work while searching on the Internet about ecological and sustainable medicine. 

Didi Pershouse founded the Center for Sustainable Medicine  in 2006. She has run a sliding-scale clinic providing both standard and alternative care in Thetford Center, Vermont since 1995, and teaches classes on peer-counseling, resiliency and leadership.  Her book on Sustainable Medicine will be available in the fall of 2012, to be published by Chelsea Green.

You’re writing a book called “Sustainable Medicine.” Tell me about it.

The question at the heart of this book is: How do we get close enough to each other so that we can really look out for each other? More specifically: how do we create resiliency in the ways we take care of our bodies, our relationships, our communities, and the natural world that we depend on to be alive? People are discouraged about relationships, disconnected from each other and from nature, and it’s blatantly obvious in the way we approach health care. We have figured out all kinds of cool things to do with modern medicine and other technologies, and there are thousands of human cultures on earth today that are about to go extinct, that could all be helping us come up with elegant solutions to the problems at hand. But we have a long way to go towards figuring out how to actually support each other in making good choices about what to do with both the old and the new technologies.

Our health care system, like all of modern society, is hard on the environment and unsustainable economically and socially as well. Hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, ambulances, even doctors—these days they are mostly owned by corporations, which exist not only to provide healthcare but also to make money. To expect corporations to continue to take care of people in an economic crisis when they are losing money is naïve and dangerous. When it gets too expensive to provide care most of them will simply close up shop and go elsewhere to make money. It’s already happening in many places. So we need to start planning now on how we will look out for each other’s health and well-being as that starts happening more and more. We can do this. The solutions are there. Sometimes it’s just hard to see them.

What led you to the work you are doing?

I’ve been working as an acupuncturist and health care provider for almost 20 years, and for many of those years I shared clinic space with physicians, psychologists, and other healers. I love cross pollination of ideas. It is what fuels me as a systems thinker. After a trip to Cuba in 1999 to research their “post-petroleum” medical system, I started thinking about the links between sustainability and alternative medicine, and started trying to define what “sustainable medicine” would mean. I have been writing about, thinking about, and talking about the intersections between sustainability and health care ever since.

I saw the film “The End of Suburbia” around the same time, then discovered the Transition Town movement, which is a worldwide movement encouraging communities to build resiliency in the face of rising oil prices, climate change and uncertain economics. They were doing great work in the areas of transportation, housing, and food, but not much at all about health care. I already knew our health care system was very vulnerable to this triple threat of oil, climate change and economics, and I started giving talks at Transition Town initiatives.

Have you noticed a change in awareness since you started working on this?

When I first started, there were only a few other people in the world that I could find who were working on this issue of building resiliency in our health care system. So I decided it made sense to write a book for people who know something better is possible and is about to happen. I want to help them in the process.  I don’t have all the answers, though I think I have some of them because of my experience as a bridge person. For 20 years I’ve been listening to people’s stories about what has and hasn’t worked for them in the medical system, and I’ve studied many different alternative medical systems and seen what does and doesn’t work in those. My book serves partly as a toolkit of ways we can figure this out together. What I have noticed is that once people start thinking about it, they are very eager to hear more. The fundraising film for this book http://www.indiegogo.com/Sustainable-Medicine-Our-Bodies-Our-Earth got over 80 funders just in the first few weeks—many of them people I had never met, who got really excited by this subject.  Chelsea Green is publishing it and I am now in the last few weeks of writing the manuscript.

 My book makes the point that there is no such thing as “human health” apart from the rest of the planet. There is only health. We are part of a whole system. I encourage people working in health care to see the natural world as part of their patient base, to start working on climate change, to choose the forms of technology they use with that in mind, and to help patients see the links between their life choices and the changes that happen as a result of them, not just in their own bodies, but in the body of their community and their world. Otherwise we are all just practicing palliative care on a dying planet. Palliative care takes care of symptoms, and relieves the suffering but doesn’t focus on curing the problem. It is often used on people who are expected to die: like giving them pain medication, antidepressants, playing harp music, etc.

There is absolutely no reason this particular patient needs to die.  We can dive into the pain, act right now and the earth can live. If we think of the earth as our beloved child, or the love of our life, how much attention would we give that situation? What would we drop in our lives to make sure they would live? We have about five years to turn things around in terms of climate change, which is already having a huge effect on the health of the natural world, and is starting to have an effect on our health—like the spread of Lyme disease in New England, and the flooding from hurricanes as more moisture gets into the air from warmer temperatures.  Are we going to do something? Or just take medication so we don’t have to feel how hard it is?

There are hard but wonderful choices we need to start making now in terms of how we take care of our own bodies and the earth’s body. My book shows ways we can support each other as we make those choices, even when they are difficult.

There is so much that is discouraging, especially around the unsustainability of medicine and the fate of the earth. What gives you hope and inspires you to keep up the effort?

Once you understand that all discouragement is old, and that hope is not just rational and useful, but also a moral imperative, it kind of changes the way you operate. Discouragement is not about the current situation, it’s about things that happened long ago that the current situation reminds us of.  We don’t know the outcome of the current situation, and we have a lot more experience and insight, having gone through the past, so it makes sense to be hopeful. The pattern of discouragement runs deep enough that most of us think it is just a normal outlook to be kind of cynical. I can go there at times, but most of the time I feel very hopeful. At our core we are all quite hopeful. We are also cooperative, brilliant, loving, and all kinds of other great things.

If you put a bunch of people in a room and gave them enough attention and support, and let them cry about all the old places they got discouraged, there would be enough wisdom in that room to solve any problem facing the world right now, including the problem that we haven’t done a very good job of figuring out how to take care of each other in modern medicine.  The most interesting part of my work right now is figuring out all the ways to keep myself and other people from getting discouraged so that we can see the opportunities that are right there, waiting for us to notice them.

What does that look like in your life?

I have groups like that in my life where we are doing just that.  I describe this process in detail in my book. We shed dump-trucks full of discouragement every time we get together to laugh and cry and put our minds together to think really clearly about what is needed. I have a good cry at least a few times a week. It helps to clear the decks and keeps me from bringing old discouragement along with me.  I think much more clearly since I started allowing myself to cry. I have lots of people in my life I can do that with, in a number of areas: deep friendships, peer counselors, colleagues, a contemplative prayer group of fellow mystics, and some very wonderful family. It’s a little tricky in a rural landscape where people are so spread out, and in New England where people have such habits of wanting to be independent of each other and being afraid to get close to each other because it seems too messy.

What about New England?

Well, in general, New Englanders have these funny ideas that say somebody is always bothering somebody else. It trickles down through U.S. white culture in general.  “I really want to call you, but I’ll probably be bothering you if I do.” Or “You seem nice right now, but probably we shouldn’t get any closer because sooner or later you will want too much and you’ll become a bother to me.”

So I’ve been working on getting closer to the people in my life no matter how uncomfortable I feel. It’s pretty amazing what happens. It has been really hard and really, really, fruitful. I have relationships with my kids, with friends, with ex-partners, my siblings and parents that I never thought were possible.

I’ve always loved deep relationships, but I was more comfortable having them with people where there was a chance of escaping: like people who lived on other continents, or people who were about to move away, or long conversations with people on a greyhound bus that I would never see again. Now I’m holding myself to a new standard of permanent loving relationships with those who are right around me, and it makes me squirm like crazy but there is tremendous growth.

That’s a much better way to change things. The same is true whether you are with your friends, working with patients, or trying to change the medical system. You have to get close enough to really feel the heat of the places that aren’t working, and close enough to have the trust of the people who are going to be relying on you to lead them to a better place.

This is actually the core of my work in creating a sustainable health-care system—this thing of creating permanent loving relationships instead of people being a bother to each other. We need to get over that if we are ever going to enjoy taking care of each other in a deep way. So I talk about this to my patients, my students, and my friends. I get asked to give talks about building deep community in churches, and I taught workshops about it after the flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011.  I’m trying to make it a conscious practice for me and everyone around me.

What is next for you?

After the book is published I want to be doing a lot more speaking and teaching. I think helping people understand the process of going from deep discouragement to clear thinking and action is probably the most useful thing any of us can be doing right now. I am looking forward, as a result of writing this book, to having more minds working along with me in this time of huge change.

Ann: What role do plants have in your journey?

Raylene: As an Hawaiian, the plants are our ancestors. Our creation chant brings into the world everything that exists here in this world. What we learn by the chant is that we, as human beings, are the youngest. We’re the youngest, perhaps the favorite, and we were loved and cherished and pampered and given things sometimes perhaps that we would not cherish in the manner we should have, as we reveal ourselves today.

Yet everything before us, everything that was birthed before us, are our elders. We’re the baby. And in our culture part of that is that, as the younger ones, we take care of our elders. Because if we can take care of them well enough, they will share their wisdom with us. And so the plants, all the creatures – everything – are our elders. So we truly look upon them as our family. And we cherish them. We love them. We take care of them as anyone would take care of their human family. We truly understand them as our uncle, our auntie, our cousin, our grandparent. So there’s a very personable, personal relationship; when we go to talk to a plant, we are addressing, you know, a cousin, a family, a family that is part of us.

Ann: What advice do you have for those of us for whom this connection the ancestors and the plants has been broken?

Raylene:  It seems that in our world, many of our youth are disconnected from these things that some of us are shown, that we remember. We remember the stories, and yet there are many who desire these things but don’t know how to get there. And I have come to realize that there are many ways of getting there. And sometimes we only validate a few, when it just takes a desire to go talk and a willingness to allow yourself to be vulnerable, to talk to an ancestor whom you might not know. And it really reflects back where you are in your understanding of how the world is, how the creative forces are . What do you believe? What do you doubt? What do you hold valid? Because it’s going to call to question those same things that you so desire.

What happens in your mind is that you question, is this real or am I making this up? Did I really get a sense that this plant was talking to me? Or is it because I wanted it to talk to me so I think it talked to me.

And so why not just go with that? Why not go with, so what if it was talking to me? And so what if I did just make it up in my head? Soon enough you will start to realize that some of the information that you’r making up in your head is information you didn’t have before… What does it truly matter if I can come to a further understanding, a fuller understanding of existence and if in healing and in working with the plants, that I might understand more and be able to be of greater service?

Ann: Given the state of the world now, at this juncture in time what does this connection with plants and spirit have to offer?

Raylene (in one of the clips we included in Numen): In our world today, we look at the environmental issues and think about how it is impacting or perceived to be impacting all of us. And for some of us, we want to say to, “Believe that she is whole. Understand.” I’m gonna get caught at this because it’s so deep. My mother, our earth mother. It’s like saying to someone, oh poor thing, you don’t feel good. 

And she’s going, I don’t? It’s like manifesting illness rather than wellness. Can we not look upon her and see that she is quite capable of what she has always been capable of? Can we not look upon her and not know that she is connected to all the powers that be, that whatever the needs that she needs will be provided?

Please, everyone, look what you’re calling, look what you’re bringing forth. Turn it around. Say to her, ‘Our mother, you are so beautiful. Thank you! You provided us with this. We are so fortunate that you are there for us.’ Feed her, rather than pull it from her.

Feed her the energy that you have. Let her know. Sing to her. Dance to her. Give thanks so her so that she is renewed, so that she is filled with the spirit of all of what we are. As we are her stewards. We are here to take care of her.

And I asked Raylene about the role of spirit in healing.

It’s the seat. This body, for many, is the temple that houses our spirit, the spirit is that place of us that is who we are. There’s a question that comes up every now and then: are you a human being on a spiritual journey or are you a spiritual being on a human one? For us, we recognize ourselves as spiritual beings.

With deep love and gratitude for Raylene’s journey here, on this earth, during the time her spirit traveled as a human…

Oats

Oats  Avena sativa  Annual Oats are going to be a very important ally for the transition because of their calming effect on the nervous system. I have heard oats appropriately referred to as “herbal Prozac” due to their ability to sooth and nourish our nerves thus reducing stress and symptoms of mild depression. They are rich in minerals and vitamins, especially calcium and iron. There is also remarkable research demonstrating their ability to help increase libido in both men and women which I suppose could evoke an analogy of “Herbal Viagra”. They also help to regulate cholesterol and are a great source of dietary fiber. Many herbalists have spoken highly of their effectiveness in treating addiction withdrawal symptoms due to the nourishing and calming influence this plant has on the nerve synapses. They are also one of the richest sources of plant protein and contain roughly the same percentage of protein as Soy protein, Eggs, Milk and Meat. Topically they are soothing for eczema and other irritating skin conditions.

Growing Oats is easy and rewarding for the humans who gather nourishment from the plant, the beneficial insects who call it home for a time, and the soil that benefits from the addition of organic matter when the stubble is incorporated into the earth. Oats are a warm season annual and are direct seeded early in spring and harvested later in the season when the seed heads become plump and full of a rich, milky plant latex that is the source of most of this plant’s goodness.

Milky Oats Harvest

Oats should be harvested during the milky stage before the seed starts to ripen and are great fresh, juiced, or frozen, to be made into tea or liquid extracts or dried thoroughly and stored for extracting later on. Oat seeds are easy to save by allowing the heads to ripen to seed stage, stripping them off the plants and storing until the following spring. There are several resources that go into more detail about growing and using Oats for food and medicine and as cover crops for nourishing our soils.

Astragalus Membranaceous  Perennial This plant is a classic Chinese herbal adaptogenic and longevity enhancing herb for building the bodies natural defenses and improving stamina. Adaptogens are plants that help us adapt to physical, environmental and emotional stresses and this plant is one of the best examples of this class of herbs.

Astragalus is also a powerful but gentle immune stimulant that exhibits anti viral and antibacterial properties. It is also said to increase the production of white blood cells.

Zackwoods Farm

Rosemary Gladstar, Vermont’s most famous and beloved herbalist, says “Astragalus stimulates the rebuilding of the marrow reserves that support and regenerate the body’s protective shield or immune system.”

Astragalus is a legume that is started from seed and the small hard bean-like seeds should have the seed coating stratified (nicked or sanded) to allow for better germination. Grow Astragalus in the full sun in very well drained and moderately fertile soil. Harvest by digging the roots when the tops die back in the fall after at least 3 years of growth. Mature roots should have large laterally growing branches that can be harvested individually while leaving the plant alive for a smaller yet more sustainable harvest. The roots can be diced and added to soups, teas, or extracts fresh or they can be dried and stored for later use. Seeds are easy to harvest when the bean-like seed pods “shatter” or open to reveal the ripe seeds. There are many resources that discuss the virtues of growing and using this plant in further detail.

 Tulsi or “Sacred basil” Ocimum sanctum Tropical annual Tulsi is a Sanskrit word meaning “the incomparable one” which is a very apt descriptor. It is considered by Hindus and many others to be a very sacred plant and comes to us from India and the Ayurvedic tradition. Many worship this plant as a sacred deity and keep it in pots around homes and temples to invite and appease benevolent spirits

Tulsi

Medicinally Tulsi is another incredible adaptogen and recent studies are demonstrating that it may be a COX-2 inhibitor similar or better in analgesic or pain reducing properties as synthetic painkillers. Tulsi is also considered an excellent immune enhancing herb that is gentle enough for every day use. Calming, centering, and incredible tasty, this herb is a great choice for anyone looking for a powerful yet gentle herbal ally. It is also a great herb for cooking, especially in dishes with Indian or Asian influence.

Tulsi is easy to grow from seed in warm soil after the threat of frost. This member of the Ocimum or basil family should be grown in the full sun in well-drained soil and is the only basil that will self seed. Seeds are very easy to harvest and save from the dried flowering tops. Mature plants will survive a mild frost but anything below 31 F will kill them. Harvest the leaves and flowers of mature plants several times throughout the growing season. Tulsi will keep flowering all through its growth and will grow back vigorously after each cutting if ample soil fertility and moisture are present. Leaves and flowers can be used fresh in teas or liquid extracts or dried and stored for later use. There are many great resources delving deeper into the magical world of Tulsi.

Goldenseal  Hydrastis Canadensis  Perennial 

Goldenseal

This woodland plant is native to Vermont and is considered threatened in its native range due to overharvest and loss of habitat. Medicinally it is a powerful anti-microbial that is especially useful for irritations and infections of the mucous membranes. It’s action is derived from potent alkaloids such as berberine and hydrastine. Goldenseal root is powerful medicine and should be respected and used minimally for acute situations requiring a strong antibiotic.

We encourage growing your own Goldenseal plants, which is not difficult from seed or root starts. Although it is a woodland plant most commonly found growing in dappled sunlight in a mature hardwood forest, it will grow well in Vermont even in the full sun although it does prefer protection from the late afternoon sun.

Goldenseal and Ginseng

Well drained, humus-y soil rich in organic matter yet not too rich in fertility with supplemental watering during dry spells will reward the grower with harvestable roots after 3 or more years growth from seed or from root division. In the years preceding harvest of the roots, you can also obtain a sustainable harvest from the leaves which contain the same compounds although not as concentrated as the roots. When harvesting mature roots, they can be divided and re-planted by ensuring that the divisions to be placed back in the ground have nascent buds to produce next year’s leaf stalks. Seeds are harvested from the berries in July if you can beat the wild turkeys and deer to them. Simply wash the fruity pulp away from the seeds and store them in the refrigerator to be sown in early spring. Harvest roots anytime the plants are dormant for the highest concentration of alkaloids.

Goldenseal leaf or root can be extracted fresh or dried or frozen and stored for later use.

Burdock  Arctium lappa  Biennial  This oft maligned European import is another popular Chinese herb gaining in popularity both for it’s medicinal as well as culinary use.  Yes, this is “that plant whose burrs stick to my clothes and pet’s fur.”

Burdock Burrs

Medicinally the root is incredibly useful for treating skin conditions and infections, particularly staph infections, psoriasis, eczema, acne, boils and gout. For acute skin conditions, Burdock should be combined with a diuretic such as dandelion root to move toxins gradually through the urine instead of skin. The leaves also make a great poultice to be used externally for skin conditions or made into a strong tea and added to bath water.

Nutritionally Burdock roots are packed with minerals and vitamins and the young roots taste great chopped and added to stir fries, soups and other dishes. They are somewhat similar to carrots in taste and texture with a mildly sweet and earthy taste. Only the first year roots should be harvested because after the first year of growth, this biennial plant puts it’s energy into seed (burr) production and the roots become hollow and pithy. The best way to grow and harvest Burdock is to use the same technique as growing carrots.  The seeds are larger than carrots so thinning isn’t as difficult and they can easily be dug after 50-70 days growth in rich soils in the full sun or partial shade. They are also very useful for breaking up hardpan soils due to their long tap-rooted nature.

Harvest can be done with a spading fork or shovel and the roots should be stored the same way you store carrots in a root cellar or other cool, damp, dark environment. They can also be frozen or dried and stored for later use in teas, cooking or extracting. Seeds are easy to save from wild plants that have gone to seed by waiting until the burrs “shatter” or open, revealing the ripe seeds. See further resources for more information on this great healing “herbal vegetable”.

Comfrey  Symphytum officinale  perennial  Comfrey is a remarkable plant that has served as both a rich forage for animals and an incredible medicine for humans for centuries.

Comfrey

Medicinally the leaves are primarily what are used externally due to their high concentrations of Allantoin, a compound that can repair damaged cells and create new ones including the production of white blood cells. Comfrey has also been shown to be a great anti inflammatory herb and is commonly used in poultices, and salves for assisting in the healing of contusions, ligament and tendon damage, and assisting in the “knitting” of broken bones. It is also useful externally for minor wounds and burns. The root also contains similar compounds and has a synergistic or potentizing effect when combined with leaf preparations.

Comfrey has become controversial recently due to some lab tests that demonstrated a hepatotoxic reaction due to the high concentration of Pyrollozidine alkaloids in the leaves. People with damaged or compromised livers may want to take this into consideration before using this plant internally but external use is completely safe in this regard. I personally use comfrey (leaf and root) tea internally in conjunction with external poultices to treat contusions and skeletal injuries and I feel like this herb has been a tremendous ally for me in speeding up my recovery process.

For those of us who raise livestock for food or pets, Comfrey leaf is an incredible forage plant that is very easy to grow. In fact it is so easy to grow that many people consider it “invasive” I prefer the term “aggressive” and pick an area to grow it where I feel comfortable knowing it will always come back. The leaves are even richer in protein than alfalfa and some tests have shown a higher protein content than soybeans. The leaves are fuzzy which some animals will find irritating to their mouths at first but if the plant is wilted before being fed to animals, they will soon realize how tasty and nutritious it is and forget all about the fuzziness. On our farm, our hogs and chickens go crazy for comfrey leaf and this has proven to be a great source of “free” protein for our pasture-raised animals.

Comfrey is also one of the best “free” fertilizers we know of. The plants like to grow in rich soils and require a good amount of nitrogen but once they become established they become incredible “dynamic accumulators”, mining fertility from the soil, and storing it in the leaves which release the fertility when used as a mulch, added to the compost pile or fermented in a compost tea preparation and fed to plants. They are especially rich in potassium and phosphorous which our native soils here in Vermont tend to be deficient in. We recommend growing the cultivar “Bocking-14” which is a sterile Russian cultivar especially useful for both forage and fertilizer. This cultivar doesn’t produce seeds which can assist in keeping the plants from “running around the gardens”

We recommend harvesting Comfrey leaves before they go to flower as this is when the levels of Pyrollozidine alkaloids are lowest. The leaves are cut, wilted, and used fresh in poultices and salves or dried for later use. They can be difficult to dry well due to the amount of moisture in the leaves and so slow drying with lots of air flow in temps around 80-90F helps to maintain the rich color and vibrancy of the gigantic leaves. Roots are dug when the plants grow dormant with spading forks and used fresh or dried and stored for later use. This is one of the easiest plants in the world to grow from root cuttings.

Yarrow achillea millefolium   Perennial

Yarrow

Yarrow is an amazing herb that has been known to save lives due to its ability to slow and even stop excessive bleeding in wounds.  Historically this plant was known as “Soldiers wound-wort” or “Staunchwort” due to this nature. We have had employees on our farm cut their hands while harvesting with field knives and the first thing we do is find some wild Yarrow growing nearby and make a Yarrow poultice to slow the bleeding until we can get to the first-aid kit or hospital. This herb is very common in open meadows and lawns and always seems to be readily available when needed. It is also a very effective diaphoretic herb which helps to induce sweating therefore aiding in fever’s ability to eliminate viral infections. It also contains salicylic acid which is a mild analgesic (pain reliever and fever reducer) Yarrow tea along with Elderberry syrup is our family’s first line of defense during cold and flu outbreaks.

The young leaves when steamed make a tasty spinach-like green that are both delicious and nutritious. The nectar of this plant is also very attractive to beneficial pollinators making Yarrow an incredible companion plant in the garden.Yarrow stalks have been used for millennia for divination when casting the I Ching oracle.

Yarrow is not only a very common wild weed found in openings in the full or part sun but is also very easy to grow from seed. It is a short-lived perennial and therefore needs to be replanted every few years but the seeds are very easy to sow if the plant doesn’t do that work for you.

The leaves and flowers can be harvested and used fresh or dried in teas or extracts. Poultices are made by wrapping the leaves around small wounds or in serious situations, packing the wound with chopped up pieces of the leaves until further medical help can be obtained.

Jeff Carpenter is a farmer, consultant, educator and researcher focusing on the cultivation and propagation of medicinal herbs.

I first met Jeff and Melanie Carpenter, founders of Zack Woods Herb Farm, years ago when I was an apprentice at Sage Mountain and came to know them much better when we visited their farm to get footage for Numen (that’s their root washing machine and Jeff is the one at the end of the film harvesting Echinacea). I love their farm, their vision, and especially love their dried herbs! I’m thrilled to include Jeff’s comments here from a talk he recently gave in Montpelier, VT organized by Transition Town Montpelier.

As people are losing confidence in our modern health care system, we as herbalists, herbal product producers and herb farmers are participating in what many refer to as the “herbal renaissance”. The industrial revolution taught us to think of food and medicine in terms of efficiency and convenience first. This gave rise to the “silver bullet approach” which is to take a pill that will ease or mask the symptoms of the illness or injury while paying little attention to the underlying factors causing these health challenges. If we get a headache, take some Ibuprofen to make it go away but never mind what is causing the headache in the first place as long as we can’t feel it.

I’m not downplaying the importance of allopathic medicine because it certainly has a critical role to play in saving lives, preventing and curing diseases and easing suffering but there can be a more preventative and integrative approach and this is what people are really starting to figure out. If we can take care of our bodies by eating healthy whole foods, making wise dietary choices, exercising, and leading healthy lifestyles we can build our defenses to many of the health issues that we face.

When our bodies become compromised by illness, disease or injury we can approach many of these challenges by turning to nature’s apothecary because there is a virtual“medicine cabinet” right in our own backyard or our neighbor’s fields and woods.

I’m going to discuss 10 primary herbs that we can either easily grow from seed, and save our own seeds from each year, or easily find and wild harvest from the woods and fields around our homes. It is important to consult with a good plant identification book or bring along a knowledgeable plant geek to ensure proper botanical identification before wild harvesting. It is also important to remember that when wild harvesting plants, to do so in a sustainable manner to ensure that your green friends will still be there the next time you go seek their gifts. United Plant Savers www.plantsavers.org is a great resource for wild harvesting ethics, information and guidelines.

Garlic

Garlic Allium spp. Perennial 

An Indian proverb says, “Garlic is as good as ten mothers.” And Hippocrates famously said “let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food.” Garlic is about as good an example of this philosophy as there is.   This is one of the oldest cultivated plants; it is mentioned in texts as far back as 4000 years BC and is said to have originated in the Hindu Kush mountainous region of Pakistan.

Medicinally, Garlic is incredibly useful. The Roman philosopher Pliny listed 61 Garlic remedies ranging from coughs to madness to wild animal bites to improving low libido and also mentions some possible side effects including thirst, odor and flatulence.

Its uses include but are not limited to:

• lowering blood pressure;
• lowering LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and raising HDL (the good kind);
• cleansing toxins from the liver and other organs;
• a strong anti viral as well as an anti bacterial;
• a vermifuge (helps get rid of internal parasites);
• an insect repellent, vampire repellent and sometimes people repellent which can come in handy.
• Best of all is that this “stinking rose” tastes divine.

Garlic is relatively easy to grow. Start out with good seed stock (there are several varieties and species available to choose from) and plant in the fall before the ground freezes in fertile, well-drained soil in full sun. The Garlic will overwinter and emerge the following spring. Keep it well weeded, watered and nourished and harvest it around late July or early August when the tops have died back about 75%. Immediately after harvest, Garlic needs to be cured slowly for two to three weeks in a shaded, dry, well ventilated area until the tops (greens) are completely dry at which point the tops and rootlets should be removed and any soil brushed off the bulbs taking caution not to remove the paper-like skins. Garlic can store for up to a year in a cool, dark, dry area. Save your largest bulbs for seed for next year’s crop. Each individual clove planted pointed end up in the fall becomes next years full head of Garlic. There are lots of resources available that give greater details on growing, storing, and eating Garlic.

Stinging Nettles Urtica dioica  Perennial

Although much maligned for it’s tendency to grow vigorously where we love to run bare footed while blissfully unaware then stinging us when we least expect it, this herbaceous perennial is a virtual panacea.  Another perfect example of food as medicine, this herb is very popular in herbal supplements and should in my opinion be a part of every herbal protocol. But how many of us think of Nettles in terms of food? I do, and if you haven’t tried steamed or sautéed Nettles, you don’t know what your missing. The sting is transported through cystolith hairs on the surface of the leaves via formic acid (the same stuff red ants sting with) and is completely neutralized by cooking or dehydrating the leaves. Nettles should be harvested and consumed before they start going to seed, which is when the levels of silica elevate to the point of rendering the leaves very rough and tough.

steeping tea

Nettles are a perfect example of what are called “tonic herbs.” The word tonic means that it tones or tonifies the body. This plant has more minerals and vitamins than any vegetable with the possible exception of sweet potato and is rich with chlorophyll which the human body just craves. Some of the constituents that have been isolated in Stinging Nettle include but are not limited to Vitamins A, C, D, E, F, K, P including B complexes; nettle contains up to 20% protein by volume in it’s fresh form and up to a whopping 40% when it is dried. Minerals include thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, selenium, zinc, Iron, and Magnesium.

Jeff teaching at his farm

Nettles also make an incredible forage plant for livestock. Our chickens here on the farm literally brawl to establish pecking order for the big fresh leaves and the hogs go wild for it.

Nettles are fairly common in the wild especially around old barnyards and are easy to start from seed, root divisions or herbaceous cuttings. They thrive in rich, moist soil in the full sun or partial shade. Some consider Nettles to be invasive but I prefer the term aggressive because they love to jump around the garden but are easy to weed out when they are young. Many cuttings can be harvested throughout the growing season before they run to seed. Harvest with our without gloves depending on how intimate and itchy you want to get with your feisty green friend. Cook fresh, juice, or dehydrate them on screens or in bundles in a dark, well-ventilated, dry room until they snap, crackle and pop. Refrigerate or freeze fresh Nettles and store dried Nettles in an airtight container in a cool dark area for making teas or extracts later. Seeds are easy to harvest when they mature and “shatter” or are released from the mother plants. The plants also tend to self-sow vigorously. There are many resources available which give much more information on growing and using Nettles for food and medicine.

Elder in bloom

Elder Sambucus Nigra or Canadensis  Perennial

In my opinion, Elderberry is the herb supreme for cold and flu season in Vermont. The blossoms, which bloom in early July in Vermont, are an excellent diaphoretic (makes you sweat) for helping to break fevers and ease aches and pains while also exhibiting anti-inflammatory actions and make a great tea for colds and flu.

The berries are where most of the goodness is found and they are incredibly useful in preventing and easing the symptoms of colds, flu, hay fever, nasal, respiratory and yeast infections. They are rich in Vitamins A, B and especially C. They contain a wealth of antioxidant flavonoids including Quercitin and Anthocyanin that exhibit anti viral and anti bacterial actions. They are also said to help lower cholesterol and improve eyesight.    There are extensive research trials going on to study Elderberry’s role in the treatment of H1N1 that have shown amazing effectiveness.

bushes are fairly common in Vermont, mostly found growing along streams or on the edge of fertile openings. They thrive in rich, moist, soil in the full sun or partial shade and are easiest grown either from a potted plant purchased from a local grower or from softwood or hardwood cuttings taken during the plant’s dormancy and rooted in potting soil. They can also be grown from seed saved by washing the berry pulp off the seeds and planting them in very early spring. Plants will start to flower and fruit after two to three year’s growth at which point the flowers and or berries can be harvested. We usually try to leave about 1/3 of the flowers or berries on each bush to share with the birds and deer who relish this plant’s gifts as much or more than we do. The flowers can be used fresh or dried thoroughly for tea or liquid extracts.

The berries can be used fresh which is preferable or dried or frozen for later use. We find Elderberry syrup to be the finest and tastiest vehicle for delivering Elderberry’s gifts to our bodies. There are many resources that delve into greater detail on this incredible plant and its many uses. Caution is necessary if one isn’t completely sure of the correct species due to the fact that Blue Elderberry (Black Elderberry’s cousin) can be mildly toxic. Consult with a field guide or knowledgeable plant geek to ensure proper identification.

We’ll post the rest of Jeff’s list soon!

Elderberries

We’ll be posting Jeff Carpenter of Zackwood Farm’s list soon!

In the meantime, we’d love to know what herbs you recommend we all grow for keeping ourselves, our families and our communities well as we transition beyond fossil fuels …

Ann: I love the model of herbal CSAs on so many different levels and wondered if you could talk some about how you came to create an herbal CSA. What is your vision is with your CSA? And why do you think it is important?

William: We modeled our CSM after the now popular CSA model thriving in certain parts of the country like here in Western Mass. In my opinion the CSA model of reviving community-based agriculture is one of the most positive social trends happening in our culture today. Herbs are just a natural part of this revival and yet the knowledge and understanding of where and how they fit into daily life to enhance and improve health has largely been lost. The CSM is an attempt to reinvigorate this knowledge and connect people directly to the source of their medicine and associate it with the emerging organic vegetable renaissance.

Ann: Why did you decide to do this as a way to support the other programs you offer rather than, as is more typically done, selling herbal products directly on the market?

William: While there is nothing wrong necessarily with herbs being sold in the marketplace as commodities, we are more interested in connecting people directly with herbs as plants first. Ultimately, it seems that what we need as a culture is reconnection to nature and the earth as the living source of our medicine and healing. Creating a context whereby people are able to connect directly to a medicinal herb farm and see and feel the living vibrancy emanating from these special plants changes things in a big way. People then see herbs as much more than just dietary supplements and link them in their thinking with healthy agricultural practices and farming.

On our farm we invite CSM members to visit the farm and see the medicine in the ground that will later comprise their shares. If they are willing we even invite them to grab a shovel and help out.

Ann: How is it going? How many years have you been offering the CSA? What lessons have you learned? What has worked well and what changes have you made?

William: We have been offering the CSM shares for about five years now. We have gone through a lot of changes with the ways in which we have structured the shares and the additional ways through which we build connection and share benefits with our shareholders. We have settled on compiling one share per season that has an assortment of finished teas, elixirs, syrups, tinctures etc. This is available for pick up three times a season by shareholders at the farm. During pickup we offer tea, tours, education on how to use the products in their share and we just get to know one another. This works well at this stage. 

Ann: You’ve been speaking nationally about your work and grassroots medicine, most recently at the 2011 Bioneers conference. What is your vision of grassroots medicine? What part do herbalists and medicinal plants play in that vision? What is your own 5-year plan to expand/deepen the work you all are doing?

William: Education and getting out and speaking is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my current role as director of Goldthread. Relative to much of the country, where we live is highly functional and rich in resources both from a community and land base perspective. As I said there are many CSA’s, beautiful farmlands, and an educated empowered population for the most part. That is one of the main reasons that what we are doing has been as successful as it has here.

My intention has always been to create a Mandala of grassroots herbalism in this community. With the Apothecary, farm, CSM, and education, all firmly rooted at this stage, the new intention is to export aspects of the model for others to learn about and potentially replicate in some form or another according to their specific circumstances and needs. I have been traveling around the past few years talking about the models we have created, the successes and failures, and the ongoing learning curve that we are always contending with. The intention is to plant the seeds for a grassroots herbal healthcare revolution in this country, community by community.

I think, as do many others, that the time has come to look at health in a truly holistic framework that takes into account first and foremost relationships: relationships between individuals and their health, communities and their environment, economy and the rest. Individual health can no longer be looked at in isolation of everything else.

The resurgence of herbal medicine is just one more affirmation of the collective movement to reclaim something vital and essential, namely our felt understanding as a culture of interdependence between all things. My hope is that the time is now.

Five-year plan is to expand all that we are doing, grow into it in a sense. We have many elements up and running and all of them can be refined endlessly it seems. I am personally writing a book on this subject and look forward to continuing to go around and speak about this subject that I am very passionate about wherever I am invited. Practically we are planning on expanding our farm and potentially opening a couple more apothecaries in key areas of our bio-region to continue to expand the many benefits that this medicine has to offer.

 Ann: There aren’t a lot of herbal CSAs around the country, is that number growing? Is there any kind of network among herbal CSAs to share lessons learned, etc? Do you have any advice to others starting out?

William: Not too many CSA’s of this kind that I know of. We were featured in Herbal Gram a couple years ago and there were a few others doing similar work, but not too many yet. There is plenty of room for this to be the next big thing as it relates to the organic food movement currently well underway. Advice to others is just to be creative, persevere, and be deliberate. I am available for questions and consulting if needed, but this is truly something people are looking for and is as old as homo-sapiens. It is not a hard sell because it is in our genetic structure to use and connect with plants. There are of course practical measures and considerations that need to be looked into but that is a case-by-case sort of thing.

With people who are severely ill, deeply ill, I think you have to seduce them back to wellness. And you do that by making life appealing again. You make good tasting teas, you put beautiful flowers in their room: they can be medicinal plants in that bouquet, plants that have that healing energy. You plant gardens, you paint the rooms beautiful colors. You make life beautiful so that people want to live.  Beauty is what brings us back to wellness, what makes us want to be healthy and vital.