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How We Harvest Our Herbs Based on Seasons + the Moon's Cycle

You obviously know by now how much I love plant medicine. I find it so incredibly comforting to think about how much nature truly wants to help us mere humans (even if it's tough on us, too, to make us stronger). Everything we need to nourish ourselves is growing somewhere in the wild, and we just need to learn to speak the language. How amazing is that?

Nature wants to feed us, of course, but as many of you who have tried growing your own food know, gardening can be hard. It takes a lot of love, intention, creativity, and intuition to be able to (literally) enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Harvesting (aka foraging aka wildcrafting) is basically the exact opposite, but requires just as much care to be done in an ethical and effective way. You don't need a green thumb to harvest medicinal herbs because Mother Nature knows what she's doing, and she doesn't need our interference - plants actually tend to get stronger and more potent when they're stressed out by the elements and their natural habitat!

So, why would you want to start harvesting your own herbs in the first place? Because this centuries-old practice helps connect us with the essence of the Earth…and you the greatest human survival skill (in my opinion) is to be able to recognize and properly utilize the medicine growing all around you.

Those of you already dabbling with herbs, I see you-lavender and mint in your tea for relaxation or turmeric tinctures for pain. But what about the herbs you've never even heard of or thought to take? Gingko, valerian, milk thistle, mugwort… I could go on and on, especially about the plants we see as 'weeds'!

I'm here to make plant medicine easy and accessible by formulating powerful products that incorporate some of these lesser known herbs. But I want so much more for you, too. My products are just the beginning of what herbs can do for you, especially when the plants become your 'friends' - like my teacher Richard says, sometimes the medicine you need is simply sitting with the plant, not taking it. I fully believe that intimately understanding herbs and the power they have on the human condition (everything from hormonal to physical) will change the way you experience the world. My goal is to give you the tools you need to experience plant medicine to its fullest extent, and part of that includes the education about how to go out on your own and meet them.

That's why I want to empower you to interact with herbs in more ways than simply buying a tincture or taking a capsule-to discover which herbs and in which forms work best for YOU. Join me, nerd out, and dive deeper into the wonderful world of herbalism.

Three years ago, I started to really deepen my practice of spending time with herbs in the wild for the first time, and it was incredible. During my first adventures, I fell in LOVE with mugwort-a releasing plant used in womens' medicine, digestive medicine, and dream medicine (prepare for WILD dreams if you use it for this, though!)

Even though I had been obsessively studying herbs for years before that, this was my first intense wildcrafting experience thanks to my school. The excitement, the satisfaction, and the appreciation that comes from meeting plants in their purest state and actually extracting their medicine myself-just WOW.

Ethical Harvesting is Key

Before you start harvesting on your own, it is incredibly important to earn how to do it with integrity. I do recommend taking a class in person or online from a clinical herbalist who can go more in depth than this blog post can, but for now I want to share how I personally go about this process for my home apothecary and formulas based on what I learned from those who came before me. Consider nature, other people, and your own health when choosing where, what, and how to harvest.

Integrity + Nature

Harvesting is really a sacred transaction between you and nature. Herbalists believe, firstly, that you don't find the herbs-the herbs find you. Simply ask nature for what you need and be grateful in your acceptance of it. This relationship can and should be beautiful, and we encourage following a code of ethics:

Only harvest from a healthy and large stand of plants

Never harvest more than ¼ of a plant stand

You must come across a plant 4 times before harvesting