Obtaining Herbs

You have many choices in your method of obtaining medicinal herbs. You can grow them in a garden or windowsill; pick them in the wild; purchase dried herbs from reliable botanical sources; buy food herbs from markets; purchase tinctures, ointments, lotions, oils, liniments from botanical, homeopathic, or regular drugstores. There are many excellent mail order sources listed in the Resources section.

Buying Dried Herbs

Seek out the best sources. Decide in what form you wish to purchase each plant. Leaves, flowers, resins, seeds, berries, and whole plants can come in whole form. Roots, rhizomes, resins, leaves, flowers, stems, whole plants, and barks are available in cut form. This sometimes means small or large chunks, especially with roots. Seeds, bark,,roots, buds, vegetables (such as red pepper), resins, berries, flowers, and leaves are available in powdered form.

You must specify the part you wish to purchase. For instance, in buying yarrow, the whole plant is usually sold, but I prefer to use the yarrow flowers. I never buy cut peppermint; it is usually a lot like peppermint dust. Therefore, I purchase only whole leaf peppermint. The same is true of chamomile flowers. Since these flowers are low growing, you risk getting ragweed in the dust if you buy powdered or cut chamomile, and that would increase the possibility of an allergic reaction.

Storage of Dried Herbs

All herbs must be stored to preserve their color and strength. I keep most of my fresh or dried herbs in strong, labeled, brown bags or in their paper container. I keep frequently used tea herbs in opaque containers on the food shelves in the kitchen. Others, I keep on a pantry shelf with a door. Because I usually have well over a hundred herbs available many for demonstration or teaching purposes I keep the bags, bottles, oils, tinctures, wines, liniments, gargles, brandies, and so on, in loose alphabetical order. Thus cocoa butter, calendula, comfrey, chamomile, and cayenne pepper are all in one grouping, and that makes them easier to find.

I keep first aid oils, salves, and tinctures in the medicine chest. All medicinal herbs must be kept out of reach of children!

Dried herbs are potent for one year, but may often be used for as long as two years. See directions for making tinctures, extracts, oils, and other long lived preparations.

Collecting Garden or Wild Herbs

While all parts of a plant contain chemicals, not all parts are valuable for teas or remedies. You will want to pick only the part or parts that will be of use to you. Therefore, you must learn which are the valuable medicinal parts. Furthermore, garden or wild herbs should be picked according to the nature of the part used. The plant will be more potent for home teas and preventive and remedial uses if gathered exactly when the special juices within the plant are most abundant.

Flowers Gather before or immediately after flowers open completely. Collect in clear, dry weather, in the morning after the dew has disappeared.

Leaves Gather leaves at full development just before the flower fades. Biennial leaves should be gathered during the second year when they are strongest. Collect in clear, dry weather, in the morning after the dew has disappeared.

Aromatic Herbs Gather when in flower. Collect leaves, flowers, or herbs in clear, dry weather, in the morning after the dew has disappeared.

Stalks Collect stalks in the autumn.
Twigs Collect twigs in the autumn.
Bulbs Gather bulbs after the new bulb is perfected, just before the leaves decay.

Barks Gather root, trunk, branch bark it either fall or early spring. Separate and discard all decaying material. Use only the inner bark of slippery elm.

Seeds Collect seeds at the time of full maturity.

Rhizomes and Roots

Annuals: Gather just before flowering.
Biennials: Gather after vegetation of first year has ended.
Perennials: Gather either in the spring before vegetation begins, or in the fall after vegetation ends.