Commonwealth Podcast For Holistic Herbalism

We’re back on track! Today we continue our exploration of herbs in our home apothecary, giving you some unscripted thoughts about these herbs we work with very frequently. They’re the plants we want to have with us always, and it’s been fun to see the synchronicities that emerge as we progress in alphabetical-by-Latin order. Today’s plants make an interesting contrast.Filipendula ulmaria, meadowsweet, is cooling/drying/tonifying. Its salicylates & other astringent elements make it excellent as an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial when the tissues are spongy and red. We’ve found it very helpful for dental issues, including the irritations caused by braces. It is excellent for gastrointestinal inflammation also, famously helpful for ulcers & heartburn. It is not, though, “antacid” – as is sometimes claimed!Foeniculum vulgare, fennel, on the other hand, is a warming/moistening/relaxant herb. It’s one of our “sweet demulcents”, like licorice, which can moisten tissues without the “slimy” feel of mucilag

All herb schools are different, in their focus and their style. When you’re choosing an online herb school, whether for a short course or a long program, here are some key questions to consider:How can you ask questions to the teachers & admins?Is there a free course you can take first?What’s the teaching method (text, audio, recorded video, live sessions, etc), & does it match your learning style?How are the teachers accessible – what kind of contact do you get with them?Do you get to keep the materials when the course ends?How many ‘hours’ is the course, and how are those hours counted?Is there a student community you can participate in, and how does it work?Will you be “certified” on completion? (Beware: this is a trick question!)How will this fit in to your learning spiral: is this brand new material, or a new view on something you’ve learned before? (Learning herbalism is not a single linear path.)These answers will be different for every school, and there’s no one “right” answer! It all depends

Collapse is not a single event that occurs everywhere, once and for all. It occurs in fits and starts, unevenly distributed across communities. When there are floods and fires, when there are supply chain disruptions, when there is war and strife – these are expressions of collapse. Recognizing them is not in any way saying we shouldn’t bother to try and stop them, or reduce their severity! But it is a necessary acknowledgement of reality.Making plans for collapse in all its manifestations is a solid way to mitigate their effects on you and your family or community. It’s also good for your mental & emotional health in the meantime!These plans must include community. No one can go it alone for very long, even in the best of circumstances. When there’s disaster, we need each other even more. Stockpiling supplies is not a long-term solution. Building skills, and developing a community of people who are enthusiastic about learning these skills, is the best way forward. (Check out makerspaces, skillshares, &am

We’re continuing on as we highlight the herbs in our home apothecary. Today we reach the end of our first shelf!Erigeron canadensis, E. strigosus, & E. annuus are the species of fleabane we have worked with. We like the Canada fleabane best, but they’re all helpful herbs. All the fleabanes are very easy to grow – put some in your “feral garden” areas! In terms of taste, qualities, and actions, fleabane is very similar to goldenrod and yarrow – warming & drying & tonifying, with aromatic fluid movement, along with diuretic & vulnerary activity.Eupatorium perfoliatum, boneset, has recently been confirmed to contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Fortunately, the ones in boneset are the least dangerous! Also, we only work with boneset for short courses: 2-4 weeks max, then equal or greater time away from the herb. We also only take small doses (e.g. 1/2 dropperful of tincture) for the effects we want. Boneset is an excellent herb for viral infections and post-viral lingering symptoms. We’ve worked with

This week we’re talking about cardamom & eleuthero!About Elettaria cardamomum, cardamom, we actually do have “one weird trick” for you today! Here it is: get yourself a cardamom-crushing stone. It is so much easier than using a spoon to crush the pods and release the pungent aromatic seeds. Cardamom is great to “ground” a very aromatic formula, and of course it’s also excellent in foods of many kinds.Eleutherococcus senticosus, properly called eleuthero although sometimes referred to as “Siberian ginseng”. It got that name for very capitalist reasons, you know. And indeed it’s possible to use eleuthero in a rather capitalist manner, as a stimulant to improve work output. But we prefer to work with it for marathon-style stressors as a resilience-building herb.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles o

In today’s episode we continue our exploration of the herbs on our home apothecary shelves. This week we made an extra effort to share formulation ideas for these herbs!The hawthorns – Crataegus spp. – are best-known for protecting the heart and vasculature. The quercetin, anthocyanins, and bioflavonoids in the leaf, flower, & berry of this giving tree help modulate inflammation and reduce allergic expressions. Hawthorn berry is flexible enough to prepare in a variety of ways and it formulates well with other herbs. Today we drank a formula with: hawthorn berry, pine needles, mugwort, damiana, juniper berries, and orange peel.Curcuma longa is our good friend turmeric. It’s famous as an anti-inflammatory herb in a general way, but we think of it particularly as a digestive herb. It’s also very good as a topical remedy. You can prepare a “ginger family reunion” blend with Zingiberaceae plants: turmeric, ginger, cardamom, grains of paradise, galangal… Or, if you like the 80s, you can make “Karma Chameleon te

Today’s plants are both precious and powerful.Codonopsis pilosula, codonopsis, is deeply restorative. We locate its center of activity in the marrow, where it feeds the production of both white and red blood cells. It is not a stimulant, yet it’s very helpful for those who are feeling fatigue – whether that is a post-viral chronic illness, or simply due to depletion and stress. Codonopsis is excellent in a broth or a long decoction, and you definitely want to cook the same roots more than once (they are expensive). Don’t leave the medicine behind!The exudate from Commiphora myrrha trees, myrrh, has been valued for its medicinal virtues for millennia. Katja’s favorite way to work with it is to take a small lump of resin and hold it in the mouth, to fight infections and heal abscesses. It’s very potent, so it is good to formulate it with other herbs. And of course, it also makes an excellent incense.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organ

This week’s herbs are orange peel & cinnamon. Each one has multiple varieties: sweet orange, bitter orange, cassia cinnamon, “true” cinnamon, etc.Citrus x aurantium and C. x sinensis are the bitter and sweet orange, respectively. Not just an excellent flavoring agent (although that counts for a lot!), citrus peel makes a nice gentle digestive bitter and is a classic in cocktail bitter blends. It’s great in mulled cider or wine, but also a nice cooling drink in the summertime. If you’ve only had citrus as juice – or, on the other end of the spectrum, orange oil as a cleaning product – we recommend drying your own organic citrus peels and working with them in tea!Cinnamomum cassia is sometimes just called cassia, or cassia cinnamon. C. verum is the “true” cinnamon, a bit sweeter and less astringent by comparison. Cinnamon is a great relaxant to the viscera and the lungs, one of our favorites in a wintertime blend for spasmodic coughs. It’s got an interesting relationship with water and can act as an astring

Happy new year! We’re continuing our Herbs A-Z series in 2022, starting off strong with gotu kola & chicory. These widespread herbs both have long histories & active presents of medicinal application.Centella asiatica, known best as gotu kola, is today mostly thought of as a neuroprotective or even “nootropic” herb. It does indeed protect the nerves and brain, and help with cognitive health. It even has some similarities to ginseng and jiaogulan in terms of stress, immunity, and inflammation modulation. But it’s also a good topical antimicrobial and wound-healer, with some similarities to marshmallow in that regard.Cichorium intybus is chicory – and also radicchio, endive, and frisee! They’re all variants or cultivars of the same plant species. Chicory root is often roasted and taken as a coffee substitute, and that’s perfectly valid. It’s not caffeinated, but it does have the roast-y and bitter flavors of coffee. Plus, it’s got food for your friendly gut flora (as long as you make a water preparation

This week we highlight two herbs who are close to our hearts. Heather is a plant we both met together and have come to appreciate each in our own way. Centaury was “Ryn’s first herb” in many ways and made a huge impact on his digestive health when he was originally learning herbalism from Katja. Both are friends we turn to frequently!Calluna vulgaris is heather, a lovely little pink flower from the highlands and moors. Its light, floral aromatic profile is subtle but delightful. It’s an excellent fluid mover, helping disperse stagnations and improve internal flow. Heather supports kidney function and the elimination of wastes, while elevating mood and lightening mental state.Centaurium erythraea is another lovely little pink flower, actually! This one is bitter, with a capital BITTER. But don’t let that scare you off! It’s an incredible ally for those with weak stomachs. Centaury strengthens the stomach and digestion more generally, helping us get all the nutrition our food has to offer.These quick plant prof

This week’s herbs are fluid-movers, with drying and tonifying effects. They’re both excellent topical remedies which can also be helpful when taken internally. We prefer water or alcohol extracts of them in most cases, but birch makes a decent infused oil and calendula is excellent in oil.Betula spp. are birch trees – all the different kinds are similar. Their bark is famous for its salicylate content – mostly in the form of methylsalyicylate, which gives the bark its ‘wintergreen’ scent and exerts substantial anti-inflammatory effects. Birch and wintergreen are our favorites for topical remedies because they have this active, volatile form of salicylate. Birch is also rich in betulin, a constituent with its own anti-inflammatory actions along with antimicrobial and cancer-fighting actions. (Betulin is also found in chaga, because the fungus absorbs it from the birch trees it grows on.)Calendula officinalis is one of the brightest, sunniest flowers around. Its capacity to move lymphatic fluids is fantastic me

This week’s herbs from our apothecary shelf are shatavari and astragalus! These are a couple of slow-acting herbs for long-term work. Their restorative properties take some time for full effect, but they’re worth building the habit. We prefer to prepare both of these as decoctions.Asparagus racemosus, called shatavari, is an Ayurvedic herb with cooling, moistening, and relaxant qualities. It’s an adaptogenic herb which can improve the stress response – especially for people with dry constitutions. Shatavari is famous as an herb for the dry tendencies of aging humans, but it’s really good for anyone prone to dryness, or for whom depletion has led to fatigue.Astragalus membranaceus is a Chinese herb which is mildly warming, moistening, and tonifying. It is an immune restorative herb, most appropriate when recovering from illness. It can also help build up immune reserves when one may go into a place where they’re likely to be exposed to sick people. Astragalus maintains our immune defenses, but it’s not an immu

This week we have two more herbs from our shelf – rooibos & pleurisy root! We’re working our way along the shelves and giving every plant a bit of attention, to explore the variety of helpful herbs that exist. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, so we’re giving everyone an equal shot.Asclepias tuberosa is known as pleurisy root, and also butterfly weed. It’s best-known as an herb for directing moisture and relaxation to the lungs, which can correct dry and tense conditions there. (“Pleurisy” is a drying-out of the pleura or ‘sac’ that contains the lungs.) But this herb moves water in the body more systemically than just the lungs! It’s helpful for lower-body edema as well.Rooibos, Aspalathus linearis, is a South African herb which has been popularized around the world as an alternative to black or green tea. It’s powerfully antioxidant, and has traditional medicinal applications for digestive tension. Recent science has shown it beneficial for high blood pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, and even as a chem

Here we go with some more of the herbs on our apothecary shelves! This week our spotlight is on uva ursi & mugwort.Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, known as bearberry, uva ursi, or kinnikinnick, is a very astringent herb. It can knit wounds together, combat infections, and squeeze stuck fluids out of tissues. When we drink it it has a lot of action on the urinary system – it’s famous for UTI – but it also helps with other stagnation & laxity conditions in the pelvic region.Our final Artemisia species (for now anyway!) is A. vulgaris, mugwort. This herb is fantastic for a host of troubles. Today we focused on “not the dreaming stuff, and not the emmenagogue stuff” because those are covered extensively in most discussions of mugwort. Instead we spent more time discussing this herb as a stimulating relaxant, as a mood lifter, and as an herb that can sharpen the mind and cut through mental fog.Mentioned in this episode:Arctostaphylos uva-ursi profile at GoBotany.Artemisia vulgaris profile at GoBotany.Mugwort for

We’re turning our attention to all the herbs we keep on the shelves in our apothecary, two at a time, in this ongoing series. (Check out the podcast stream for previous episodes!) We know that we tend to focus on a small group of favorite herbs, and we’re trying to make sure we don’t neglect helpful plants out of habit.Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, is an herb we work with rarely. Yet it has a very long history as a medicinal plant, and it has a particular notoreity as an ingredient in the alcoholic spirit, absinthe. In fact, wormwood – and its constituent, thujone – are often “blamed” for the purported hallucinogenic effects of absinthe. But is this the whole story? Not quite!Katja leads us on a romp through history, looking at the development of kräuterlikör from folk recipes to commercial liquors. We see how absinthe is one among many such drinks, and wormwood’s place in the formula. We also get some insight from modern science about the actual levels of thujone in these spirits, as well as certain other

As herbalism is becoming more popular, the sustainability of plants themselves needs to be a primary focus for all of us. But like all issues of environmental sustainability, it’s not just about individual decisions and habits. We must pay special attention to the activities of large corporations, because they can have much larger impacts than single people – for good or for ill.One company working for good in this way is Mountain Rose Herbs. They are one of the biggest herbal suppliers in the United States, so it’s important that they’re taking seriously the impact their business has on plant populations. That commitment leads them to make some business decisions that put plants ahead of profits – just the way it should be!Mentioned in this episode:Mountain Rose HerbsCITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)United Plant SaversHerbalGram’s 2020 Herb Market ReportFoster Farm BotanicalsHolistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 109: Sustainability for HerbalistsIf you have a moment, it would help

There are so many medicinal plants! In an effort to pay some more attention to herbs that aren’t quite our favorites, we’re profiling all of the herbs we keep on the shelves in our apothecary. (Check out the podcast stream for previous episodes!)Angelica, Angelica archangelica, is an herb who thrives in extremes. Long days or nights, hot and cold temperatures, wind, rough soil – these conditions make strong angelica. We draw on that strength when we drink decoctions of the roots. When we make infusions of the seeds, they carry a light uplifting scent right into the spirit. Both parts are at least as much nervines & restoratives as they are emmenagogues, so don’t restrict angelica to “an herb for slow periods”!Tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus, is the tastiest little dragon around. It’s less bitter and much more aromatic than wormwood, or even mugwort (two close relatives who we’ll be profiling next week). Tarragon is great in chopped cranberry relish, and it makes a lovely tea for calming anxiety while impr

Every herbalist has their core favorite herbs. Sometimes we lose sight of the vast array of plants we have to work with. In an effort to not neglect our less-than-favorites, we’re profiling all of the herbs on the shelves in our apothecary. (The herbs go marching two by two, hurrah hurrah!)This week our pair of herbs is two plants who are both very helpful with the regulation of fluids in the body. First up is alder, Alnus incana and other species. Alder is a plant with excellent integrity: it holds itself together in watery areas, and it can help us hold water where we need it – or disperse it from where it’s stuck. Got swollen lymph nodes? Got varicosities & edema? Alder can help.Marshmallow, Althaea officinalis, is our #1 demulcent herb. It’s very helpful whenever dryness is the defining state we’re trying to shift. But marshmallow is also an excellent wound healer, and a surprisingly powerful antimicrobial too! We quite like to work with the leaf, despite that the root is a bit more famous and common

This week we’re continuing our review of herbs in our current apothecary, from A to Z by their botanical Latin names. We want to give all our herbs an opportunity to get in the spotlight and share their particular talents.Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is neither an anise nor a hyssop! Its flavor and digestion-warming actions may remind you of fennel, or of black licorice candy (which is anise-flavored). Its capacity to relax respiratory tension and quell coughs may remind you of hyssop (without the bitterness). But it is an herb all its own, and one of our favorites for improving the taste of our formulae.Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) is a protective and comforting plant for anyone – not only ladies – who needs to cultivate feelings of safety. On the physical level it has a measured and helpful tonifying effect on the pelvic floor; it also improves fluid circulation in this part of the body. A flexible herb that pairs well with others to adjust its effects in the direction needed.Mentioned in this

Hi everyone! We’re back from a brief hiatus, and kicking off a new series on our podcast feed. We’re going to be profiling every one of the herbs on the shelves in our home apothecary. Why? Because we definitely have our favorites, herbs we work with really frequently – and these also tend to be the herbs we talk about most on the show. So we want to make sure everyone gets a bit of attention!We begin this week with Achillea & Acorus. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an herb with complex energetic qualities, particularly along the warming/cooling axis. It’s what we call a “polycrest” herb, one with impacts on several different body systems and the capacity to help out with a wide variety of health issues.Calamus (Acorus calamus) could perhaps be reductively described as “a digestive herb”, but it’s much more than that. Calamus acts notably on the vagus nerve – and so, on all the many internal organs which are connected to it. It eases transition into the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state, and opens