Gathering Herbs

The How To, The When and Care of Once You Have Them...

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The Basics...The Obvious and Not So Obvious

It matters little if the herbs being cultivated are wild or grown in a formal garden. The important thing is that it's a celebration of life surrounding us. It is easy to forget the wonderful gifts that our world bestows upon us sometimes. Whether being used to add flavor and excitement to a meal with their culinary attributes, or helping relieve an illness with their medicinal properties, Herbs are one of Nature's greatest gifts..

Years upon years of research and investigation have been spent honing into the proper times to cultivate herbs for the best results. It turns out that ancient herblore was right all along. Our ancestors knew not only the right time of year, but also at which stage of development and even what time of day was best to collect the various herbs for maximum effect.

Generally speaking, however, the plants are at their best after the period of most active growth. It is at this point that the plant's chemical composition is at its most potent. This stage of growth is most likely going to be just prior the flowering stage in the plant's life. Before harvesting herbs, one should also consider the weather the area has seen lately. Long spells of heat and drought of course will not leave the herbs in their best condition possible. The same is true if there has been a good deal of rain. The best thing to keep in mind is to only pick the best examples of the plant you come across. There is nothing saying the plant cannot be re-visited later once it has had the chance to recoup.

Another environmental factor some neglect to consider is the plant's location. Which sounds healthier; a plant that has grown on the roadside, where it has been exposed to conditions likely to include exhaust and other chemicals, or one that has spent its life in a more natural setting? These factors are obvious to some, not so obvious to others. Just consider the health of the area the herbs are being harvested from. Harmful chemicals are metabolized by the plants along with everything else it is exposed to..

When cultivating the herbs, be as gentle to the plant as possible. If the leaves or flowers are being harvested, use a sharp knife or scissors to retrieve the plant material. If the plant is damaged at this time, it is more susceptible to all sorts of problems including mold and parasite infestation or retarding the growth of new plant material. If it is the roots of the plant that are being sought, be gentle with the exposed roots. Breaking the roots off will also affect the potency of the herb. Please use as much of the plant material as possible from the herb during cultivation. Don't just take the leaves if the stems, flowers or roots can also be used. If nothing else, put the remaining portion in a compost heap so it can be useful later.

Drying What You've Collected.

Best results are found when the herbs were dried in well ventilated ,loose collections on a flat surface. Wire mesh screens, such as those used to screen in a window in the summer months, makes an excellent drying rack for herbs. The key is to make sure that there is a good volume of air circulating around the herbs. Herbs should not be dried in the oven or other heated surfaces. By doing so much, if not all, of the oils in the plant will be evaporated off and all that will be left is useless brown crunchy bits on a rack. Drying time widely varies from herb to herb. The more moisture in a plant when it is cultivated, the longer it will take obviously. It's also a good idea to flip and rotate the herbs as they are drying. By doing so, the herbs will have plenty of air circulation and the plant material will be less likely to be crushed or damaged..

Roots

The care of roots is somewhat different than that or other plant material. Special care is needed in not just the retrieval of the herbs roots, but also in timing, cleaning, drying and storage of.

Roots should not be collected until the plants are done with their growth cycles for the season and the foliage growth is mostly done for the season. It's not until this point in the plants life cycle that the medicinal content of the herb is at it's full strength.

When digging the root-ball up, great care must be taken to get the entire root stucture out of the ground intact. Obviously, there will be a great deal of mud on the root-ball but much of this will simply fall off or is easily removed by hand. The best way to clean what remains is to gently wash the roots off. A mild detergent can be used, but gentle scrubbing is the preferred method as detergents can leave residue or film on the roots thus affecting taste or possibly effect.

Once the roots have been cleaned drying is next. Drying of roots can sometimes be the most difficult part as they have a good deal of water content. This water content can cause mildew or molds to appear on the roots. Just as with foliage collected for drying, the roots should be air dried. Separate the roots as much as possible so that they do not touch during the drying phase. This stage should take about 10-14 days. During this time, check the roost daily and rotate if they are drying on a screen. At the end of this stage, check the roots to see if they have dried evenly. Let those that are in need of additional drying to remain and move those that have dried well to the next phase. At this point, the roots should be placed in a warm place such as above a stove. Again checking on them daily for an additional 10-14 days. Dried roots are quite brittle and can loose up to 3/4 of their weight when they are ready.

Once the roots have dried, they are stored much like other dried herbs, in an air-tight container away from direct sunlight. It is perfectly ok to cut larger sections of roots into smaller pieces for storage..

Storing What You've Dried.

Dried herbs should be stored in a container with a tight fitting lid and placed in a cool dark area for prolonged storage. The best materials for use as a storage container are glazed pottery, glass and/or metal. The reason is because other materials will either absorb the oils from the herbs or wick the oils out and then evaporate off the containers surfaces. In either case, the herbs potential is affected and its potency lessened to almost nil in come cases.