Customer Reviews

From Earth to Herbalist: An Earth-Conscious Guide to Medicinal Plants

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this book so much that I made it required text for my Roots and Branches Herbal Home Study Course with the Herbal Medicine Making Kit.

NO OTHER BOOK covers ethical wildcrafting like this one. Not only does it have excellent background information, the plant descriptions are fantastic.

When I want to know how to wildcraft a plant, this is the first book I reach for. It has helped me in MANY situations.

I can't say enough about this book. So I'll stop here... If you want to learn how to harvest plants and use the plants you harvest... this is the book....period.

This book goes beyond the typical field guide to herbs in promoting the ethical harvest of wild plants and putting emphysis on the herbalist's connection to the Earth. Although it only covers 52 common herbs, it does so thoroughly and includes nice color plates for identification and typical information such as habitat and range of the herbs, applications & seasons to harvest. However, it also includes plant-animal interdependence and a "tread lighly" section which discusses how to minimize damage to the micro-ecosystem when harvesting each specific plant. Also incuded is a general chapter on ethical harvesting, and a chapter on basic herbal preparation. More field guides and herb books need to follow this ethical approach to help preserve our wild plants for the future.

From Earth To Herbalist: An Earth-conscious Guide To Medicinal Plants is a straightforward field guide to the sustainable harvesting and usage of North American medicinal plants, emphasizing the principles of ethical wildcrafting and the herbalist's connection with the earth. The introduction offers a basic guide to earth medicine; detailed profiles of 52 medicinal plants, along with color photographs, detailed line drawings, instructions to distinguish, harvest, handle and propagate herbs, how to make use of herbal remedies, and when to choose alternative herbal medicines make From Earth To Herbalist an practical, easy-to-use, quick-reference resource. A resource list, bibliography, and index, round out this valuable field guide to healing plants from Bee Balm to Goldthread and Valerian.

Why I like it: I would give this 4 stars for the content. I was happy to find a book that actually addressed the ecological consequences of "ethical wild-harvesting". The author suggests keeping field notes, and gives specific things you should observe, which seemed like a great idea. Most of the book is a plant-by-plant guide with the following: name, picture (though the id is not sufficient in my experience, you would still need a good id book or 2), actions, habitat and range, applications, alternatives and adjuncts, propagation and growth characteristics, gathering season and general guidelines, care after gathering, plant-animals interdependence, and tread lightly. Each heading (except for the name etc) contain about a paragraph of text.

What I'd like to see improved:
Given that I've found so few books that really delve into the ecology, this one is a keeper for me, and I'm sure to share with others. Still I wish there was more depth, not as specific as I'd hoped about the ecology. Also, the herbs are bit more focused on the western US (where the author lives), and I am in the east (though there are some important entries that are found in the east).

The biggest problem was with the press not the author. The book goes from pg 18 to page pg 195-210, then back to pg 35. pgs 19-34 are missing. 195-210 are repeated later. I am not sure if all the books are like that, I got the second printing (2006).

I was extremely pleased with the condition the book has arrived in to my home. The information contained in this volume is great for beginning herbalist and a good refresher for those of us that have been at it for a while.

For anyonyone that wants to know more about the memdicinal uses of herbs, this is the book to read.