Herbmountain
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Generally, pick roots and barks in the early Spring and Fall and leaves in the Spring before blossoming. It is generally best to pick herbs in the early morning before 10:00 as this is the time when the life force is at its strongest. Later in the day the plants may weather and wilt under the stress of the sun and have a weaker life force. Life force is also used to explain the essential oils in the plant that are in the leaves. The oil later in the day pulls back into the bark to protect the precious life force of the plant.
Bring gloves, cutting knives, shears, stuing and a large bag to carry your harvest home.
Before picking, develop a ritual of making an offering to the mother plant (geneerally the biggest and healiest one) and quietly ask that the plants surrender their lives and healing properties for your reverent use in healing. Do not ever pick the mother plant, as this is the guardiian of all the rest. The offering should be somethig of importance to you:corn, rice, tobacco, even a special prayer or song.. This is a gift and sacrifice from you in exchange for the plnat's sacrifice of life.
Try to pick where there is an abundance of a particular herb and only take about one=third by thinning so the plants are assured of repropagating themselves. Try to spread any seeds that you don't need to help propagation. Also if digging roots, be sure to cover over the hole you made in the ground. Keep you picking plaves secret so that they will not be crudely plundered by others.
When taking barks from trees, only stuip the circumference completely around when you intend to take the whole tree because this will surely kill the tree if done. Otherwise take the longiitudianl strips from the tree.
Dry your herbs in a semi-shaded and well ventilated area, either spreading them out on screens or sheets. If they are too close to each other, they wil take too long to dry and turn brown, losing much of their healing value.
Crush and "garble" (clean) your harvested herbs so that you can easily store them in dark colored jars or containers that are not in direct sunlight. Shelf life is from one to two years, and some things like barks are much longer and even improve with age.
Usually, except for barks such as Cascara which must be aged for a year to bring out its best qualities, fresh, live herbs are best to use for teas, alcoholic extracts and so forth. However, for making salves it might be best to use freshly dried herbs in order to remove the water that can later cause spoilage of an otherwise good healing salve.
A good way to organize the herbs in your clinic is to group them according to their therapeutic actions. This is a method used in many Chinese pharmacies which is very convenient and superiot to listing them alphabetically.
Most herbs for culinary use are ready to harvest just before the flowers appear on the plant. At this time, the plant contains the most oils and therefor, the greatest flovor and fragrance.
The herbs for drying should be harvested early in the season so that successive cutting can be made. Harvesting perennial herbs late in the season not only causes a lessening of flavor, but the possibility of plant loss as well. Another caution is to not cut annuals such as basil and borage too closely to the bround. This lower foliage is necessary for continued plant growth. At the end of the growing season for annuals, the entire plant can be harvested.
The best time of day to harvest herbs is in the early morning, just as the sundries the dew from the leaves, since the oils are the strongest in plants at this time. *This is repeated often to ensure it sinks in*
Roots on the other hand, are best collected in the fall and froth or late winter-early spring before the herb starts sending its energy upward again. The idea time of day is the early evening when the plant;s energy and medicine are resting in the earth.
As for harvesting by the moon, herbs grown for their:
Leaves-harvested in water signs and 1st phase of the moon.
Flowers are air signs and harvested in the 1st and 2nd quarter of the moon.
Seeds-fruit are fire signs and harvested in the 2nd quarter of the moon.
Roots are earth signs and harvested in the 3rd quarter of the moon.
As soon as the herbs are cut, waste not time in getting them ready for drying. If the foliage is dirty, wash the leaves and shake off the excess water. This is especially important for basil which bruises easily from too much handling. The tops and leaves can be picked off the heavier-stemmed herbs such as lovage and basil. The reason for removing the leaves and stems it to shorten the drying time, thus getting better flavor.
Another tip. Only harvest herbs that are not near roads. These plants absorb the fumes of cars and some are urinated on. Use plants that are one half mile back from all road-ways.
Generally, pick roots and barks in the early Spring and Fall and leaves in the Spring before blossoming. It is generally best to pick herbs in the early morning before 10:00 as this is the time when the life force is at its strongest. Later in the day the plants may weather and wilt under the stress of the sun and have a weaker life force. Life force is also used to explain the essential oils in the plant that are in the leaves. The oil later in the day pulls back into the bark to protect the precious life force of the plant.
Bring gloves, cutting knives, shears, stuing and a large bag to carry your harvest home.
Before picking, develop a ritual of making an offering to the mother plant (geneerally the biggest and healiest one) and quietly ask that the plants surrender their lives and healing properties for your reverent use in healing. Do not ever pick the mother plant, as this is the guardiian of all the rest. The offering should be somethig of importance to you:corn, rice, tobacco, even a special prayer or song.. This is a gift and sacrifice from you in exchange for the plnat's sacrifice of life.
Try to pick where there is an abundance of a particular herb and only take about one=third by thinning so the plants are assured of repropagating themselves. Try to spread any seeds that you don't need to help propagation. Also if digging roots, be sure to cover over the hole you made in the ground. Keep you picking plaves secret so that they will not be crudely plundered by others.
When taking barks from trees, only stuip the circumference completely around when you intend to take the whole tree because this will surely kill the tree if done. Otherwise take the longiitudianl strips from the tree.
Dry your herbs in a semi-shaded and well ventilated area, either spreading them out on screens or sheets. If they are too close to each other, they wil take too long to dry and turn brown, losing much of their healing value.
Crush and "garble" (clean) your harvested herbs so that you can easily store them in dark colored jars or containers that are not in direct sunlight. Shelf life is from one to two years, and some things like barks are much longer and even improve with age.
Usually, except for barks such as Cascara which must be aged for a year to bring out its best qualities, fresh, live herbs are best to use for teas, alcoholic extracts and so forth. However, for making salves it might be best to use freshly dried herbs in order to remove the water that can later cause spoilage of an otherwise good healing salve.
A good way to organize the herbs in your clinic is to group them according to their therapeutic actions. This is a method used in many Chinese pharmacies which is very convenient and superiot to listing them alphabetically.
Most herbs for culinary use are ready to harvest just before the flowers appear on the plant. At this time, the plant contains the most oils and therefor, the greatest flovor and fragrance.
The herbs for drying should be harvested early in the season so that successive cutting can be made. Harvesting perennial herbs late in the season not only causes a lessening of flavor, but the possibility of plant loss as well. Another caution is to not cut annuals such as basil and borage too closely to the bround. This lower foliage is necessary for continued plant growth. At the end of the growing season for annuals, the entire plant can be harvested.
The best time of day to harvest herbs is in the early morning, just as the sundries the dew from the leaves, since the oils are the strongest in plants at this time. *This is repeated often to ensure it sinks in*
Roots on the other hand, are best collected in the fall and froth or late winter-early spring before the herb starts sending its energy upward again. The idea time of day is the early evening when the plant;s energy and medicine are resting in the earth.
As for harvesting by the moon, herbs grown for their:
Leaves-harvested in water signs and 1st phase of the moon.
Flowers are air signs and harvested in the 1st and 2nd quarter of the moon.
Seeds-fruit are fire signs and harvested in the 2nd quarter of the moon.
Roots are earth signs and harvested in the 3rd quarter of the moon.
As soon as the herbs are cut, waste not time in getting them ready for drying. If the foliage is dirty, wash the leaves and shake off the excess water. This is especially important for basil which bruises easily from too much handling. The tops and leaves can be picked off the heavier-stemmed herbs such as lovage and basil. The reason for removing the leaves and stems it to shorten the drying time, thus getting better flavor.
Another tip. Only harvest herbs that are not near roads. These plants absorb the fumes of cars and some are urinated on. Use plants that are one half mile back from all road-ways.
