Herbs as-is

While preparing herbal medicines is a delight in itself, you don’t always need to go through all these steps of preparation to benefit from the power of herbs. Popping a few blueberries into your mouth or chewing up some yarrow leaf for a fresh cut is as simple a preparation as any, and still, these simple acts count (at least in my book) as practicing herbalism.

eating herbs

Almost every time I harvest fresh herbs and prepare them for medicine, or even just encounter a plant friend in the woods, I’m nibbling on a leaf or chewing on a root. While this may not be the traditional preparation method, I find just a simple nibble can teach us quite a bit about the personality and energetics of a plant.

Therapeutically, eating herbs relies on our ‘nutritive herbs’: dandelion leaf, chickweed, burdock root, alfalfa, blueberries/bilberries, nettle, violet and so many others. These are all herbs that can be eaten raw (yes, even nettle if you are daring), or cooked and incorporated into meals for their nutritive, antioxidant benefits, along with delivering a whole slew of phytonutrients to the body.

I also enjoy eating flowers of certain plants like I would take a flower essence of that same plant. Just nibbling on a flower like, say, Mullein, whose psychospiritual energetics encourages one to live upright and from the inside out (as you can see in the stature of the mullein plant from the root, upward and outward in its flowers). I’m not sure if flower essence practitioners would agree with the efficacy of simply ingesting a flower for the same effects, but I feel there’s something to it!

chewing herbs

Yes, eating requires chewing, but chewing doesn’t always require eating. This realm of herbal administration is significantly overlooked, but a method I learned from my teacher jim mcdonald, who is quite fond of a calamus (Acorus calamus) chew, as I learned to be as well.

All you need to do is choose your plant, and gently nibble (basically just a gentle press of the teeth) to release the constituents to mix with saliva without breaking up your herb into little pieces. You then might hold it in the cheek to continue infusing into your saliva, which offers medicine with every subsequent swallow, in addition to what is absorbed directly under your tongue.

Roots are probably the easiest to chew for some time before breaking up in your mouth. The favorite chew here, inspired by jim mcdonald, is calamus root, a highly aromatic and bitter wetland root that delivers a heightened sense of clarity and focus, while soothing vocal chords that have had their work cut out for them. You might also chew on a little marshmallow root to deliver some mucilage to a scratchy,  inflamed sore throat. Or osha, with its strong affinity for the lungs. Kava Kava is quite fun too if you can find a whole, non-powdered form, intensely numbing but deeply serene.

Leaves are a possibility as well, but need to be fresh. While I’m not allergic to ragweed, I’ve heard people who chew on ragweed leaf before it goes to seed tend to experience less of a reaction when the ragweed season comes. I gave it a try one year and discovered I just really enjoy the bitter and aromatic taste of ragweed, so when I’m walking in the woods I’ll just mindlessly pick a leaf or two to chew as I go. Plantain leaf is a great one here too, as well as sassafras leaf for a delicious and mildly demulcent chew.

poultices

Probably the earliest poultice I made was a dandelion flower poultice. For the delightful effect of staining my skin yellow (ah, to be so easily amused), I would gather a dandelion flower or two, rub them together in my hands and then my arm, just for kicks. Turns out this resembles the process of preparing a poultice, which is any external application of bruised fresh herbs (or infused dried herbs).

The simplest way to make a poultice is via one’s own spit (aka the ‘spit poultice’). You’re on the trail, feeling confident, and so you kick off your shoes for a grounding and earth-connecting barefoot hike, and 10 seconds later you hit a twist of tree roots and it pulls a little skin off your toe. Only a foot away are some flowering yarrow leaves which you then pick, pop in your mouth to chew up a bit (the saliva helps to pull out the medicinal constituents of the herb), and then apply to your cut for a while to stop the bleeding.

Another herb that shines here is plantain leaf, which one can rely on a long hike for bites, stings, puncture wounds, and preventing infection. I’ve also stuck chewed plantain inside my shoe when I’m developing a bit of a blister to speed up the healing process a bit.

You can also use dried herbs at home: cover the herb in just enough water to moisten and apply raw to a cut or dry inflamed skin.

amulets

Similar to what I shared above about eating mullein flowers to bring in the psychospiritual energetics of a plant (like in flower essences), simply carrying herbs around with you in your pocket, bag, or dedicated ‘medicine bag’ can offer a host of support for those who carry them (and perhaps even those who briefly encounter them). Protection in st. john’s wort and mugwort, clearing away of toxic energies through sage, creating an emotional boundary through yarrow, navigating grief with dandelion flower, all herbs will graciously offer their psychospiritual energetics to any weary traveler who respectfully requests their allyship on this wild path we call life.

While many may feel this practice is superstitious and a bit of a stretch, I encourage you all to allow the child-like part of you that loves collecting rocks and twigs and flowers like they are hidden treasures to open within you and just give it a try and see what happens!