It is a powerful and revolutionary act to grow your own herbs organically, make useful medicines from them and share the bounty. Imagine if everyone in this country had a personal connection with one plant as a medicine. The quality of your medicine, the opportunity to support ethical harvesting, the independence of doing it yourself, the chance to make less of a footprint on an overburdened planet and the relationship you will have with the plant itself are just some of the benefits of growing your own. So, if you have never grown and made medicine before, here is a calling to you. And if you are already tending the family medicinal garden, may you be inspired to keep it going and know what important and wonderful work this is!

Start by looking at the resources available to you. Move slowly and simply, so you don’t get overwhelmed and give up. Vision your garden space, whether it is in containers, your yard or a community plot. Ask seasoned gardeners and turn to the library for books that explain the steps of growing herbs without any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. (Living with Herbs by Jo Ann Gardener, The Complete Herb Book by Jekka McVicar, The Herbalist’s Way (aka The Village Herbalist) by Michael and Nancy Phillips, The Green Guide to Herb Gardening by Deborah C. Harding and any books by Richo Cech, wonder medicinal herb grower in Oregon, are some to look for).

Having good soil is imperative for a plant’s ability to adapt to weather variables and to mature healthily. Build your soil year round, adding nutrients and bio mass as needed. Be intentional about what plants you want to grow by researching ones that are a match to illnesses or weaknesses you may have. For example, if depression is an issue for you, grow St. John’s wort or lemon balm. These are also powerful for fighting the herpes virus. If your child has earaches, grow mullein. Or if you are plagued by digestive problems, plant fennel.

Pharmaceutical antibiotics are overused and often unnecessary if an herbal antibiotic were administered diligently. Echinacea and garlic are potent antibiotic plants having an intelligence that manmade antibiotics lack. Herbs know which harmful bacteria to attack without killing everything in your gut. Sage is a splendid herb to grow and tincture or make a tea for healing a sore throat. Feverfew can cure migraines. You get the picture. Pick at least one plant and go for it. Experiment and enjoy the process. Eventually, your plants will be growing you!

If something is growing in such abundance that we call it a weed, doesn’t it make sense that we investigate whether it is agreeable as an ally for us humans? I would think that a culture so technologically advanced would have at least mastered relationships with the basic plants in their yards and streets. Yet when I speak of the common weed plantain, people often think that I am referring to those weird bananas in the grocery store. We humans are such a mystery.

Plantain, of the Plantago spp. in the Plantaginanceae family, is a cosmopolitan weed, found pretty much everywhere excepting Antarctica. I personally don’t think anyone should be allowed to graduate from elementary school if they cannot first identify plantain and know how to use it. It will serve them well for the rest of their life.

The plant’s habit is one of hugging the ground in a basal rosette of leaves that can vary between quite broad to long and narrow, displaying parallel veins similar to a monocot. It is an herbaceous perennial with inconspicuous flowers on tall spikes that produce little seeds that you may have unknowingly used before as a bulk laxative.



Greet the mighty Mustards, more formally known as the Brassicaceae, for within this family one species alone, Brassica oleraceae, can be kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or kohlrabi, depending on how it is cultivated! For example, a cabbage is a terminal bud that is bred to swell while kale is made to open. This family knows how to maximize the permaculture design principle of obtaining yields through added value. ‘Tis the season for wild food from this family so keep an eye out.

Mustards are cool weather plants, and one of my favorites from this big old family is watercress (Nasturtium spp.), available to harvest from streams in the dead of winter. The mustards are easy to identify by their flowers, both simple and quaint with four petals, 4 sepals and 6 stamens and their seedpods which spiral up the plant’s stem in a raceme.

Wild mustards like the cresses, pepperweeds, silver dollar plant, shepherd’s purse and garlic mustard are some of our early spring flowers, giving the landscape new color after a winter’s cold. They make great additions to salads and often when I see one in seed, I break open the pods and chomp the seeds right there on the spot. They are powerful and spicy and give a surge of vitality into my bloodstream. You can get these benefits in a more civilized fashion if you like, by harvesting mustard seeds to make your own mustard condiment.

Homemade Mustard Recipe

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons wild or cultivated mustard seeds

Enough vinegar and water to cover seeds

Wild mustard greens optional

Salt to taste

This makes a small batch. If you like it, increase the amount of seeds next time. Barely cover the seeds in a half vinegar/ half water liquid and soak over night. Change the ratio of this liquid if you want a more vinegary mustard. Optional step-Add in aone-fourth to half a cup very finely chopped wild mustard greens if you are going to use the recipe within a week’s time. Grind all ingredients together, and add salt to taste. Does great as an ingredient for salad dressing or to flavor a stew, and of course as a sandwich spread. People must love mustard because worldwide it is estimated we eat 700 million pounds of it annually. Enjoy Mustard Mania!

The genus Brassica produces more agricultural foods than any other in the world, including collards, turnips, broccoli rabe, mustards, arugula, rutabagas, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, totsoi and rapeseed (canola). Yet there are over 300 more genera in the Mustard family, all of which are edible (this is not to say all taste good, however).Some members of the Brassicaceae family are planted as ornamentals, like sweet alyssum, candytufts and wallflowers (avoid eating their seeds.)

Nutritionally the mustard vegetables give us plenty of vitamins A, C and E, and are good sources of antioxidants and phytochemicals. Medicinally the paste of mustard seed has been used to relieve sore muscles or toothache, as an appetite stimulant and as a poultice to break up congestion through its rubefacient properties (improves localized blood circulation by drawing blood to the surface of the skin).

How many mustard relatives can you find growing around you? Thomas Elpel’s book Botany in a Day and his website www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com can help with identification and Marc Williams’ website www.botanyeveryday.com also has more detailed info on Brassicaceae plants.

For me, one of the greatest forms of freedom is to know what is edible in the plant world and what is not. And since all members of the Mustard family offer some kind of nourishment, it is worth getting to know them and greeting them with thanks whenever you see one.