Respectful Wildcrafting
By Tina Hodge
Eagle Peak Herbals
Eagleville, California

PLAN AHEAD:

• Do you have positive identification?
• Have you sought permission from the private or public landowner?
• Do you have the proper emotional state?
• Do you have the correct tools?
• What shoes are you wearing?
• Have you chosen the best season and time of day?
• Are you picking plants in the proper order for a long trip?
• Do you have the time and proper equipment to dry or process the plants that you are harvesting?
• Are you taking notes and recording pertinent information in order to monitor the future health of this plant community?

CHECK FOR CONTAMINATION:

• Ask questions of landowner about possible chemicals that may have been applied and other past land use practices.
• Use your sense of sight, smell, and intuition.
• Harvest away from roads, power lines, trails, campgrounds, and manure piles.
• Be aware that lawns, parks, cultivated fields, and burned areas often have invisible chemicals in the soil and plants.
• Check what is upstream!

CONSIDER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:

 

 

 

• Is the stand healthy and abundant?
• Will you make a visible impact?
• Is it fragile- too wet, too slippery, have erosion or weather damage?
• Are there endangered, threatened or sensitive plants nearby?
• Are there Grandparent plants to seed and multiply?
• Are there any nest sites visible?
• Is there evidence of foraging by wildlife?
• Are these plants needed here to heal the Earth's wounds?

WILDCRAFTING:

• Seek permission from the plant and give an offering or exchange.
• One guideline is to harvest up to 10% of native whole plants or roots and up to 30% of native leaves and flowers and 30% of naturalized plant species. This is only a guideline and would be less for rare plants and impacted environments, more for abundant common plants. Each situation is unique, when in doubt, harvest less than more.
• Harvest roots in the fall (after the Equinox) when the energy from the upper parts of the plant goes downward, or the winter/early spring before the energy moves upward. Biennials: harvest in autumn of the first year or spring of the second year. The traditional moon phase for harvesting roots is the new moon. After harvesting roots, if possible, plant a seed or root crown before filling in the hole.
• Harvest leaves in the spring/summer before flowering, when the plant's energy is focused in the leaf. Harvest flowers just as blooms are opening (usually). When harvesting flowers and leaves, pinch or cut the stem above the bottom set of leaves. The traditional time for harvesting above ground plant parts is on or near the full moon.
• Harvest barks in spring or fall. Cut off branches and then strip or coppice young trunks in dense stands rather than stripping standing live trees. The ideal moon phase for barks is the three-quarter waning moon. Harvest saps and pitch in the winter or early spring.
• Harvest seeds when fully mature; about the time the plant is sending them out into the world, but before the birds take them all. Never take all of the seeds, as future generations of plants, birds, and animals depend on them.
• Leave unused plant parts on or near the place of harvest to return nutrients to the soil.
• Step back and survey your impact. Clean up as needed.
• Give thanks!

GROW YOUR OWN:

Take the burden off wild populations! Try planting seeds you gather, trade or purchase on your land or in your garden. (The rare species of native medicinals are non-invasive, hence the rarity.) Resist the temptation to domesticate or "improve" the Wild Ones by heavily fertilizing, over watering, or cultivating. Duplicate their wild lives as closely as possible.

Try purchasing young plants or dormant rootstock of your favorite medicinals for late fall/early spring planting.

Sources:

Local farmer's markets
United Plant Savers Nursery Guide
Herbalists
Nurseries

If unable to grow certain local herbs by seed, try transplanting a couple of dormant specimens (very early spring or late fall) when cool and cloudy, lightly raining or snowing. Only transplant from healthy, abundant, close to home stands.