Richo's top 10 (or so) herbs

This is a summary of my notes from listening to Richo Cech on Medicinecrow the other night, with a few of my additional comments.

1. St John's Wort (AKA St Joan's) Richo told a story of the wildcrafter who cured his own sciatica accidentally by getting the medicine on his skin; and the nutritive use for all kinds of nerve damage. Use oil combined with
2. Calendula, a great skin healer and soother, and
3. Yarrow to use it on open wounds (also for antisceptic properties)
Arnica (He mentions the kind I grow - chamissonis) for sore muscles and bruising.
4. Self Heal- Prunella for herpes, throat irritation, cancer sores. In TCM it is also used to clear heat. This is one of the plants that grows well in many pacific northwest gardens.
5. Goldenseal- (But grow it yourself or have someone grow it for you!) This herb can be as potent as penicillin, but there is research (by Richo's daughter) proving that the whole root is important to use because of a symbiotic relationship at the root level. It is most prevalent at the late stage of growing. This is the one you would want to have when the "Big One" of the flu years came around. It is used to treat upper respiratory infections at the yellow mucus stage (stage 2). We can use oregon grape root, and that may answer my question of why can't we use the inner bark of the branches instead... maybe there is a similar symbiosis?
6. Comfrey- for deep wounds and healing scars, etc. This one works so well that if you put a poultice on an infected wound, you run the chance of sealing it in, but it helps regenerate skin, so it is really good for cuts and after surgery.
for UTI
7. Marshmallow is always a good call when you have irritated parts. It is best used as a tea, and cold water makes it more slimy, but whether it is your throat, intestines or urinary tract &
8. Golden Rod both soothing demulcent to the urinary tract,
9. Juniper as an antiseptic and astringent- ahh gin infused goldenrod with marshmallow tea!
10. Elderberry Fruit is great for flu prevention as a syrup preserved with glycerine or honey after cooking the juice down to a concentrate. The birds got the berries this year, but I made some of this syrup the year before with my after school program. Yum!
11. Tulsi- another one of my favorite herbs! It is great for helping humans adjust to change. Sometimes it is the change of seasons, and other times it is life changing events. Just remembering the smell alone could bring on the healing from this gentle plant. I added Rama Tulsi,  motherwort and wood betony to my Holy Mama tincture. You can add a little of the tincture to hot water or cold tonic or soda water to enjoy a stress reducing beverage.

Among other things, Richo talked about red clover's anti cancer properties, Shizandra's 4 tastes profile to identify it, Making plant medicines with Indian co-operatives and how to treat staph infection. I am going to leave that explanation for another time. I suggest you get either or both of his books.

Herbal Webinar!

Last night I joined a webinar hosted by medicinecrow.com featuring a discussion with Richo Cech! It was pretty awesome. He had over 200 people on the conference call and talked about everything from growing plants to making medicines and traveling to Zanzibar for seed,and a bit of his philosophy of growing plants for medicine and receiving their energetic healing by observation and appreciation.  I will recap his top ten plants to have your hands on and why in the blog tomorrow.

Richo, as all village herbalists recommends growing your own vegetables as a first step in getting healthy, and I fully agree. I started growing my own food after a suggestion by Richo at a conference. I was having a hard time figuring out how to grow his herbs (weeds mind you),  and he asked if I grew my own food. Not really, was the truth. I didn't depend on the food I grew. I started getting serious about it shortly after that.  I got healthier and stronger as my soil health got better. I also started to save seeds and notice how water moves across the land and try to manipulate my landscapes to catch water or cleanse and drain it off the site.

Sister Sage Herb Farm AKA: Crowded Herb Land! on Vashon Island

Another thing I learned while gardening is that if you find your place in relation to nature, your "work" will be easy. Once I started noticing my micro ecology, I started working with it instead of against it. After all, water wins and seeds travel! Probably two of the most influential "farmers" I have read about or met are Richo Cech  and  Masanobu Fukuoka   Less human intervention is best, but when you do have a hand in it, do it with intention and knowledge of functions and systems. When I went to a farm tour at Horizon Herbs one year, I realized that the herbs on my farm are doing exactly as they have been bred to do.... I have been concentrating on cultivating soil nutrition, finding more uses for the plants that already grow on my farm, and giving thanks to the plants that offer their ancient wisdom and healing to humans.