Goldenseal import arrives

Since my visit to the United States in autumn 2010 I have been looking for ways to arrange import of sustainably-produced Goldenseal direct from suppliers. At last the Goldenseal roots have arrived!

Through my United Plant Savers internship in 2010 I was fortunate to meet many people committed to the preservation of medicinal plants and their use in a responsible way. I saw Goldenseal growing in the wild, and as an intern helped in the United Plant Saver scheme to distribute cultivated roots to help maintain this important plant. And, since then, I have been looking for an opportunity to support small growers in the United States who can sustainably produce Goldenseal. Both Goldenseal and American Ginseng are included in the list of plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Suppliers have to obtain an export permit to demonstrate that they are obtaining Goldenseal in a responsible way. I also wanted to ensure that payment would reach the grower more directly rather than through other agencies. Alongside arranging import I have been promoting ideas about alternatives to endangered plants by offering talks about my US visit.


Here is a view of some of the roots, chopped with my sturdy herb grinder.

Saving Water for Trees

At last, we have several water tanks installed at Holt Wood. These tanks can store up to 1500 litres of water each. With two of them connected to the gutters of our Tool Shed we are expecting to have a good backup water supply soon. This may be needed if rainfall is insufficient to maintain propagation of young trees and some plants through a dry patch. These tanks were originally used for orange juice storage but the orange juice has been washed out, otherwise we might end up with orange squash! The water will also be valuable for washing roots when harvested, and other everyday needs except drinking water. We have other plans for conserving water, including ongoing mulching of the ground as we strim weeds, maintaining furrows and ridges to slow water run-off down on slopes, placing smaller open metal tanks around the site, and widening the adjoining water course to provide an additional source if needed. Meanwhile it seems like spring has almost arrived at Holt Wood with Violet Willow (Salix daphnoides) springing into life and producing fluffy white catkins. This willow, alongside Purple Willow (Salix purpurea), is reputed to have high levels of salicin, a natural form of aspirin, in the bark. Harvesting of this bark will start this year.

Happy New Year from Holt Wood

Our snowy gate in Devon, UK, festooned with a sign from United Plant Savers in Ohio - it warns people not to mess with our medicinal wood! We are looking forward to learning more about harvesting medicinal barks this year. Join us if you can, see our Programme Newsletter for events in 2011 at www.holtwoodherbs.co.uk

Have received a brilliant Christmas present of Martin Crawford's new book Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops, published by Green Books. Full of really helpful lists of useful plants, for hedging, for ground cover, for insects, and for year round food production and more plus detailed guidelines on designing a forest garden. Martin has tons of experience with growing a wide variety of these plants in South West England, though many are drawn from other countries. The book includes a very informative section on mushroom growing and detailed descriptions of all of the useful plants including means of propagation. Well-illustrated and clearly written - invaluable.

Holt Wood Autumn

It is a busy time at home, redecorating, getting ready for Christmas, and the cold snap in UK makes it harder to do things outside except chop logs up for the wood burner. Still, Holt Wood has been looking stunning as the autumn progresses into winter. We have been able to collect lots of Spindle (Euonymous europaeus) seeds to pass on at a local Seed Swop event in Crediton run by the Food and Farming Group of Sustainable Crediton (you can see more about them at http://www.sustainablecrediton.org.uk/). The seeds are a wonderful pink and orange colour, the plant itself makes a small tree or shrub to about 20 feet ideal for growing in dappled shade. Traditional uses for the root, and possibly stem, bark include stimulating the digestion and liver disorders, although Spindle is not something used by herbalists nowadays.

Back in the UK

Back home in the UK and it is great to see the leaves turning, our own 'fall', with some sharp frosts to clear pests in the garden. I have great memories of the people and places from my stay at the Goldenseal Sanctuary in southern Ohio. Now thinking about ways to promote sustainable herbal medicine growing, and how Holt Wood can develop to support these ideas. Meantime have been fortunate to gain some support from the local Sustainable Crediton to arrange a talk about my experiences in USA.
See more about the local group at http://www.sustainablecrediton.org.uk/

“Endangered Plants and Herbal Medicine: The Potential for Sustainable Herbal Harvesting” 7.30-9.00 pm, Thursday 2nd December 2010 An illustrated talk with Anne Stobart, MNIMH, consultant medical herbalist. At Crediton Arts Centre, East St, Crediton, Devon, EX17 3AX Anne Stobart is a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and a local consultant medical herbalist. She has recently visited the United States where she stayed at the Goldenseal Sanctuary in southern Ohio, run by United Plant Savers. Herbal medicine in the United Kingdom draws on a wide range of plants sourced from all over the world. Many remedies are native plants, like Hawthorn, and these are frequently imported although they could be readily harvested here. Some important remedies suffer from being extensively harvested in the wild such as Goldenseal, Ginseng, Echinacea and Black Cohosh. These plants are considered ‘at risk’ in the United States but could be cultivated in sustainable ways. Anne will talk about these and other herbs and the possibilities for sustainable harvesting and use. Her talk will include information about alternative projects in the United States as well as in Africa and here in Devon. There is no charge for this talk although donations will be welcome and a share of these will go to Treeaid, a charitable concern funding tree nurseries for medicine and other purposes in Africa. Refreshments will include herb tea. For further details contact Anne at 01363 777531 or at herbaid@herbaid.co.uk

United Plant Savers Conference

One of the tasks of the Interns at the Goldenseal Sanctuary in Ohio is to help get everything ready for a one day conference held by United Plant Savers in early October (or earlier in the year for the spring group of interns). So we have been cleaning up, weeding, fixing signs, setting up trash bins and road signs, putting chairs into outdoor classroom tents and lots more. The Sanctuary looked pretty impressive this fall (note I have been learning correct use of American words like 'fall', 'truck' and 'awesome'). Local Sanctuary steward Lee Wood, and family, have been clearing weeds and mowing trails for weeks to show off the Prairie, Buckeye Walk, Reclaim Trail, Heart Pond and other delights familiar to past interns and visitors. On this occasion some 50 people registered and with teachers, organisers and interns we made a total of 70 people for an opening circle. Our conference went well, some excellent workshops including natural fertility, looking after bees, green business development, herbal first aid, using elderberries, and sustainable ginseng cultivation. Guided walks along the Sanctuary trails were very popular. There were exhibitors too including stalls with herbal teas, medicinal plants, Indian herbal salves, and plant growers. United Plant Savers held a raffle with lots of wonderful donated prizes, I was very pleased to win a signed copy of the new book Invasive Plant Medicine: The Ecological Benefits and Healing Abilities of Invasives by Timothy Lee Scott (Healing Arts Press, 2010). Although focused on the US this book has lots of suggestions for plants like Japanese Knotweed, a familiar invader in UK. I am hoping this book will help me to get my head around the thorny issue of how to introduce useful non-native plants in a way that adds to sustainability rather than reducing biodiversity. After all this excitement I am now preparing for travel back home to UK, so sad to leave this vibrant place where I have learnt so much, and met such inspiring people.

Bark, roots and seeds

We have been collecting plants for replanting to extend populations, like goldenseal, and during the last week sustainably harvesting other plants for making herbal medicines, gathering bark, roots and seeds. In some cases we can benefit from plants before they die from other causes. Here in the United States, the Dutch Elm disease has been attacking elm trees including Slippery Elm (Ulmus rubra). Paul Strauss showed us, on the trail through the forest, how to spot trees that may be in trouble - if the tree is going to die within a few years then it may be considered for medicinal use. The inner bark of this tree is an important soothing and nutritious medicine useful for gastro-intestinal and skin conditions. We marked one such tree on a walk last week and went back to harvest it this week with Paul. Felling trees within the forest is no easy task because they will often 'hang' on trees close by, but Paul deftly worked with his chainsaw to bring this Slippery Elm down. Once on the ground, the tree was chopped into sections about 5 foot long and we carried them out of the woods to a waiting pickup truck. Back at the Plant Sanctuary barn we learned how to use draw knives to shred off the rough outer scales and to reach the whitish inner bark above the yellow heartwood. The shreds of bark can be further pulled into thinnish strings and these dry readily in the sun. Our Slippery Elm will be shared out with the land owner and much appreciated. At the moment there is no obvious substitute for this useful remedy.

Another plant which is on the United Plant Savers 'At Risk' list is the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) . In the Sanctuary there is a large field area which was seeded some 16 years ago with a variety of prairie plants. At this time of year, in September, the prairie area is a sea of yellow, white and purple including native grasses which contribute to the soil fertility. Here there is a large stand of Purple Coneflower, its roots are widely in demand for its immune system stimulating properties. We were able to dig up a small number of roots around the edges to make Echinacea tincture. The seeds were scattered back on the ground although they too can be used medicinally. The roots are quite small with purplish buds but when cut they produce a characteristic tingling and numbing taste on the tongue, indicating active constituents. Our prized roots were washed and chopped up with added alcohol (50%) without any delay. We have a growing number of jars and containers of all sizes which sit on top of the refrigerator in the Yurt, our roundhouse cooking and meeting place. We have been back to the Prairie a few times now, usually collecting seed for replanting in other schemes. This area is rich in beautiful and useful plants from Indian Hemp (for rope making) to False Wild Indigo (makes a good babies rattle from seed pod) to Boneset (gathered by every family and dried for winter complaints) to Maximilian and Downy Sunflowers (roots of all sunflowers edible) and more. These wonderful plants are tall and a path needs to be cut through the prairie to appreciate them with ease. Establishing a prairie like this apparently takes a few years of cutting at specific times of year and then it is almost self-maintaining so long as occasional invasives are spotted and removed. Almost everywhere I have been in the area I see freshly mown grass areas from roadside to well beyond every house - it would be wonderful if everyone could set aside part of their huge lawns to have a Prairie Patch (or even a Prairie Maze!) and appreciate the wild plants.