Sunday, April 29, 2012

Fresh Plant Tincture Tips Using Simplers Method

Please feel free to incorporate the following suggestions into your medicine making!

Simplers Method is a popular way to make fresh plant tinctures.  Its pretty simple. After harvesting some beautiful, vital, local fresh plant material,  snip or chop plant material into small pieces and stuff a jar. 
  •  I find beginners tend to be hesitant about what "stuffing means"  lets use the word "packing" instead.  Pack the jar as full as you can, so that the plant material is solid-feeling in the jar. 
  •  Make sure to leave a little space at the top.  Sometimes a rock is helpful to keep the material down. 
  •  Fill the jar with alcohol at the appropriate %. If you do not know what the appropriate % would be Vodka being 40% and everclear being 96%, I recommend looking at Michael Moore's website and books like Making Plant Medicine or Herbal Constituents.  
  • Make sure to leave a space at the top so that the herb has about an inch of solvent(alcohol) covering it. This ensures that your plant will not be exposed to the air and allow for any oxidation--which usually manifests as brownish looking bits.
  •  If you have a vitamix, I like to empty this combined mix into it and macerate it for a minute or two.  I turn up the knob slowly and make sure the cover is on well, then let put it back int the jar.  Depending on the plant material, you can blow out your engine if you try to blend the tincture in a regular blender, so be aware.  
  •  Seal, label with Latin binomial, date, % of alcohol and method used(Simplers)--and where the plant was obtained.  
  • Store in a cool dark place and shake often for a full moon cycle.  Some folks think that in a pinch many tinctures can be ready as soon as two weeks after making.  Taste your tincture--see how the flavor ripens, or changes as it extracts.  Once the flavor is stable, usually the tincture is ready.  

Monday, April 16, 2012

Medicinal and Edible Plant and Seed Locator

You can join the Facebook Group here to locate plants and seeds in real time!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/327813930606438/


Small Farms and Herbalists Looking for or that Have herbs available to you. This list reflects more of a Microbusiness model---mostly practitioners, growers, and foragers of bioregional and obscure non-market driven herbs. Looking for something unusual or from someone who collects it and prepares stuff themselves? Or cant find something? I will list folks with resources and folks who have projects that are looking for plants.


Debbie Lukas at Siskiyou Mt Herbs lives on the Frog Farm in Takilma, OR,
 We have an herbal pharmacy and apothecary where we raise and wildcraft food and herbs.

MoonTime Farms near Eugene Oregon
The main crops produced are vegetables and specialty herbs. Seeds may be available, and there are tinctures and salves made on the farm.

Autumn Reine Learning Garden 嶸曉植物園 Beijing China
Learning garden for kids to learn about medicinal plants. We are looking for donations of seeds that will grow in this area, hot humid summers and cold dry winters, approximately USDA Zone 5. 

Fellow Workers Farm, Providence Rhode Island
The fellow workers farm is a microfarm and apothecary

https://www.facebook.com/lettuceturnipdabeets

http://www.villagefarmherbs.com/blog.html

Wild Spirit Apothecary Austin TX
Wild Spirit Apothecary is an extension of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine focusing on bioregional herbs and homegrown treasures. Formulation available. Some seeds are available as well.

Blue Turtle Botanicals, Darcey Blue French
Primarily wildcrafted, always ethical and sustainable, botanicals of the southwest deserts and mountains in small quantities. I can provide freshly harvested plant on request and tinctures/oils.
shamana.flora@gmail.com

Blue Wind Botanical Medicine Clinic & Education Center. Oakland, CA
Owner: Tellur Fenner-Clinical Herbalist/Educator
www.bluewindbmc@gmail.com
Over 200 herbal extracts in stock (check out our website to view our comprehensive pharmacy list) with new additions added regularly. Specializing in (yet not limited to) obscure medicinals found growing throughout the Western United States. Clinicians, inquire about our "practitioner list".

Amy Lynn Johnson
Lawrence, KS
18 acre farm with pasture-raised dairy goats and chickens, top bar bee hives, an acre of organic veggies, and several acres of non-gmo alfalfa, oats, and other grains.  This year I am transitioning a 1/2 acre of pasture to a medicinal native prairie plant mecca and starting our first medicinal plant nursery.  Lots of live plants for sale!  Additional fresh-cut medicinals (ethically wildcrafted and organically grown) also available in season.  Check out our offerings and growing practices at:

Pine's Herbals
An herb school integrating Western herbal medicine and Chinese medicine with a focus on clinical skills and medicine making.

ustya tarnawsky

Fairy Ring Herbs
Concord, CA
We have lovingly home grown medicinal herbs from our organic backyard garden. Fresh herbs available to the SF Bay Area, freshly dried available also for shipping. See our website for a list of what is available and what we are growing. We are happy to entertain many possibilities of trade, barter, purchase...

Gail Faith Edwards
Blessed Maine Herb Farm
Athens, Maine
We're a 9 acre botanical sanctuary, certified organic grower and processor of medicinal herbs with more than 2 acres under cultivation, wildgathering from our well managed wild stands. We've a well stocked apothecary of tinctures, formulas, herb tea blends and bulk dried herbs. Visit our website for full listing.