"I have often stopped to wonder why the growing hordes of urban and rural "survivalists" spend so much time buying really cool knives, oiling their marginally illegal armaments, and passing antiauthoritarian gossip around like a bunch of tongue-clucking fishwives. True survival rests not in the big macho stances, but in the gentler arts of knowing one's natural world and knowing how to use it in a moral and renewable fashion." -Michael Moore
Michael Moore was the foremost authority on anything to do with herbalism in the U.S. and especially the Southwestern U.S. His words should echo in the minds of all who collect plants from their native habitat (wildcrafting), it should be done "in a moral and renewable fashion."
Wildcrafting is the collecting of plants growing in the wild, not cultivated, and using them for our own purposes. Whether that be for food, medicine, crafts, or beauty aids, the collection of plants from the wild is called wildcrafting.
I am of the firm belief that Earth provides what we need, when we need it. But our responsibility is to use it with respect, reverence and thanks. And common sense (intuition) dictates, if a plant is picked to extinction, it will no longer be there to help anyone. A good rule of thumb is, if an herb is not abundant in the area, there may be others there that serve the same purpose. Multiple plants have similar healing properties, so choose those that are plentiful in the area. And whenever possible choose to use the parts of the plant that are renewable (leaves, stems and flowers) as opposed to the root. When you dig the root you kill the plant. Dig the root only if there are at least 20 more of the same plant to take it's place. And be aware of the immediate surroundings, plants assimilate what is in their environment. A busy roadway would not be the best place to gather. But amazing plants grow in abandoned lots and along the back roads.
The story of the Osha root, Big Medicine, is one in which the herb was not treated with the respect it was due. In the area that is now Albuquerque, the pueblo people respected and used what was provided for them by the Earth. Osha root is a powerful medicine, and grows at altitudes generally above 8000 feet in the Sandia Mountains. The trek to find the medicine was an arduous journey to the mountain and even then the identification could be deadly. Osha is easily mistaken for Hemlock, which causes certain death. It was treated with respect by the entire pueblo and the journey to collect it, was in itself, a healing process for all involved. But with the advent of modern life and the automobile, this herb has been decimated in the Sandias. To supply a demand in the marketplace for the root, those with little to no respect or ethics, dug it almost to extinction. Perhaps it is time for this herb to rest, at least in the Sandias.
Wildcrafting is the opportunity to connect and be present with the natural world and spend time in the solitude of the search.
If you collect herbs with mindset of lack, you will not find many. But if you collect with abundance in your thoughts, what you seek will be everywhere!
In upcoming posts-
Goatheads (Puncturevine), most people (and dogs) hate 'em, they're really not that bad, unless you step on them.
Horsetail (Equisetum) is a living fossil and your skin will love it!
