Juliette de Bairacli Levy was born in Manchester, England, in 1912.
After studying veterinary medicine at the University of Manchester, she decided to spend her life traveling the world, studying the herbal healing practices of people in Mexico, France, Spain, England, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Algeria, and French and Spanish Morocco.
Her research was particularly valuable because she gathered much of her knowledge in the era before the widespread use … Read more
In this video, we learn about a specific plant (skullcap), a specific herbalist (7 Song) and how a good herbalist approaches plants and healing.
7 Song is based in Ithaca, New York, in a beautiful area of Upstate New York.
In addition to lecturing, teaching and maintaining an herbalist practice, 7 Song is also active in the Ithaca Free Clinic, which is staffed by volunteer physicians, herbalists, acupuncturists, and other … Read more
Matthew Wood talks about the traditional Native Americans approach plant medicine and healing.
Being forest dwellers, Midwestern and Eastern native people developed special expertise in the use of roots and barks.
Wood is the author of:
– Seven Herbs, Plants as Teachers (1987)
– Vitalism, The History of Herbalism, Homeopathy, and Flower Essences, originally entitled The Magical Staff (1993)
– The Book of Herbal Wisdom (1998)
– The Practice of … Read more
Very soon after you start reading about herbs, you’ll come across technical names that describe the kind of things particular herbs are good for.
Don’t be intimidated by these terms.
They’re just fancy names for simple concepts.
Need to stimulate the flow of bile from your gall bladder? You need a “cholagogue.”
Need to control or stop the flow of blood? Reach for a “hemagogue.”
Are you a mom with … Read more
A nervine is a plant remedy that has a beneficial effect on the nervous system.
You’ve probably heard of some of them: chamomile, valerian, and kava kava.
There are actually hundreds of plants with nervine effects and they come in different strength and properties.
Nervines fall into three categories:
* Tonic nervines
* Relaxing nervines
* Stimulating nervines
David Hoffman lays it out.
– Ken McCarthy
PlantWisdom.org
If I were footloose and fancy free – and fit enough for ten weeks in the fields – I might consider this.
Herb Pharm runs three of these programs every year.
In addition to hands on experience (aka serious work) in the fields and in the workshops and barns there’s classroom learning time too.
Topics covered include plant identification, ethical wildcrafting, traditional western herbal energetics, ayurvedic herbology, ethnobotany, plant communications, … Read more
David Winston is the founder of Herbalist and Alchemist, an herbal medicine maker and education company he started in 1982.
He’s also a clinical herbalist with forty years of experience.
By interesting coincidence, I met David when his practice was new. He was already growing and making his own medicines way back then. How far things have come since then.
David on energetics and herbal medicine:
– Ken McCarthy… Read more
In an interview at the 1999 International Herb Symposium, Ed Smith, the founder of Herb Pharm, talks about what drew him to studying and eventually growing and processing herbs for medicine in the US.
– Ken McCarthy
PlantWisdom.org
… Read more
This is a proposed film by Louie Schwartzberg. The working title is “Fantastic Fungi: The Spirit of Good.”
It features some fantastic time lapse photography of mushroom growth.
It also includes a heart felt statement from Paul Stamets, one of the mycologists who is doing so much to expand our understanding of the natural world.
Under our feet, there is an invisible web of life that makes life for … Read more
There’s farming which can include big corporate farms, small family farms, and gardens.
Then there’s foraging which is roaming around looking for “free” food to pick and eat.
Is there something in between?
Yes there is.
In this wide ranging conversation with Tama Matsuoka Wong we talk about a middle way in which wild edible plants are encouraged to grow.
This is a “new” idea to … Read more
