Natural Medicine in the City Day 1

The earliest example of herbalism was traced back as far as the 33rd century B.C. An ice man from 3300 B.C. was found with fungus in his pocket and parasites in his intestines. Studies later showed that the fungus in his pocket contained medicinal qualities that could kill the parasites. Over 5000 years later, herbalism is still practiced around the world and is the primary source of medicine for over 2/3 of the world's population. Over the course of the seven workshops, we will learn about herbalism and practice some recipes to make our own home remedies and teas. In our first workshop, we made our infusion that we will later be using in our salve. In addition, we also talked about the history of herbalism, practiced a little sensory exercise and discussed some basic guidelines for practicing herbalism.

The sensory activity we did was an exercise to practice feeling the environment using our senses of hearing, smell and taste. We performed this exercise in the Strathcona Community Garden. We stood/sat around a garden plot with our eyes closed and took a few minutes to absorb the environment around us. By focusing on our senses other than sight, we were able to hear/smell/taste things more clearly. It was an interesting activity to do as I felt better connected to the environment and was able to feel the air around us. We then began to harvest poplar buds to make our oil infusion.

Before practicing herbalism, there are some general guidelines that practitioners should be aware of. The most important rule is to know what you are doing. Herbalism can be dangerous if the practitioner is unsure of plant identification or dosage. In addition, interactions with other herbs and/or pharmaceuticals can occur, leading to unexpected problems. First time practitioners should consult with someone knowledgeable or do plenty of research to understand what you are doing. When in doubt, do not ingest anything. Either ask someone or test it on your lips before consuming (if applicable).

To make our infusion, we gathered about half a glass jar full of Cottonwood buds. We harvested them from Cottonwood trees in the garden. The buds should be tight and pointy and have a very aromatic scent. A good way of harvesting poplar buds is to scour the ground under the tree for broken branches. Branches are often broken off after windstorms and the buds on them are often still fresh. For the infusion, we covered the half jar of buds with grape seed oil. It’s important that the buds are completely covered with oil to avoid the buds from molding. In the original recipe, the jar should be completely full of oil to avoid aeration but we tried it with only ¾ full since the poplar buds will expand. This method of making the oil infusion is called the “folk” method which does not require heating. For the rest of the week, the poplar bud will soak in the oil creating the oil infusion. In the next workshop, we will continue making the salve with our poplar oil infusion. More to come then!

More Photos Here!