a greater risk of the herbs deteriorating in quality. It is, of course, perfectly possible for large-scale operations to incorporate management practices that preserve maximum quality in the harvested crop, and I am sure there are conscientious growers who do this skilfully. Equally, I am sure there are many growers who do not.
Take temporary storage following harvest, for example. If freshly harvested or gathered herbs are piled up in crates or in a trailer, there is a risk that the lower layers will become compressed and will start to heat up through natural biological degradation. This process takes place alarmingly quickly, especially on a hot day. You do not want to include herbs that have begun to turn into compost in your medicine. Once the herbs get back to the processing area, there are many other factors that can result in changes to their quality. These include the temperature used to dry them, their exposure (or not) to light, the amount of cyclical rehydration they experience during the drying process, their vulnerability to insects and fungi, the amount they are cut, whether they are handled once wilted, and much, much more. These factors and how to avoid them impacting on the quality of the herbs that we are growing or gathering are discussed in detail in Part Two.
When we grow or gather our own herbs, there is so much that we can do to improve the end quality of the medicine that we produce. We can make sure that at each stage of the process the herbs are treated with knowledge, care, and respect. First, we can harvest the herbs at the optimal stage of growth, on a day when the weather is suitable. We can ensure that they are not piled up too deeply or for too long after gathering, instead being transported quickly to the processing area before decomposition starts to take place. We can avoid excessive handling of the plant material so that bruising and consequent fermentation do not happen. We can choose to dry our herbs as uncut as possible, to avoid the loss of medicinal compounds. We can store them in the dark in a cool place. There are a great many stages in the process between harvesting a herb and processing it. If you contemplate the potential for loss in quality at each stage, you can see that there is an equal and opposite potential for preservation of quality at each one. All of these add up to create a significant difference in the end product.
If you have any doubt about the effects of handling fresh plants after harvest, think about the efforts that farmers go to in order to maximize the quality of their hay crops. I have first-hand experience of this from my time spent running a small sheep dairy farm in North East Scotland.
Nowadays I no longer need to make hay, but I do need to provide the best possible quality and the most effective herbal medicines for my patients. The principle is the same. The time lapse between cutting and drying makes a huge difference to quality, as do the many ways that plants are handled and treated during processing and storage.
Let me give you a couple of specific herbal examples to illustrate the difference in quality between home-grown or wild-harvested herbs and those that have been mass-produced. When I first started on the road to self-sufficient herbalism, I noticed significant differences in scent and efficacy between batches of Cramp Bark or Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus) that I had wildcrafted compared to batches that had been purchased from herbal wholesalers. Cramp Bark should ideally be harvested in early spring, just before the buds burst. As its name suggests, it is the bark that is used for medicine since it contains the highest concentration of medicinal constituents such as valerenic acid. In early spring, the potency of the medicine is at its peak, and the bark is much easier to strip away from the stems. The Cramp Bark that I gather consists of pure bark. It is fragrant and musky, smelling slightly of Valerian due to the valerenic acid present. It consistently works quickly and effectively when I use it to treat patients. Once, when I purchased a batch of Cramp Bark from a large-scale wholesaler, I was shocked to see that it consisted not just of bark but of small bark-covered branches that had been chipped. The bought-in batch looked totally different and was much milder in aroma than my own Cramp Bark. My batch had a very pronounced fragrance; the bought-in batch had the same fragrance, but it was considerably fainter. I cannot tell you how well it worked therapeutically, because I could not bring myself to use it. After much thought, I decided to gather additional Cramp Bark, even though it was the ‘wrong’ time of the year. It was harder to remove the bark, but after drying I found that the end product still seemed far superior to the bought-in batch. I resolved to harvest a greater volume of Cramp Bark the following spring.
A sample of bought-in Viburnum opulus on the left, and one of home-grown bark on the right.
Home-grown and carefully dried Agrimony being weighed for a prescription blend.
The second example is Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria). Agrimony is a member of the Rose family with a beautiful subtle lemony fragrance. I never like to admit to having favourite herbs, but what I can say is that Agrimony is one that I know very well and use often. Its lemony scent makes it a delight to work with, and I feel that this aromatic element is an important part of its therapeutic action. Every time I open the storage box containing my own dried Agrimony, I smile because I smell its gorgeous fragrance. I use my Agrimony frequently in teas and prescriptions, and I think it is fair to say that I find it very effective. I have never bought in Agrimony from a wholesaler, but I have handled and inspected Agrimony from different wholesale sources on a number of occasions. Each time the bought-in samples belonging to fellow herbalists had a completely different appearance to my own home-grown stock. Instead of being a bright green colour consisting of whole leaves and flower heads, the bought-in Agrimony was a pale greenish-brown colour, and it had been cut quite finely, so it was not possible to see the individual plant parts. It did not smell lemony, or if it did, the scent was only extremely mild, almost as though I was imagining it because I was searching for it.
In these two examples, differences in the way batches were handled and prepared had a significant impact on their resulting fragrance and appearance. In the case of the Cramp Bark, there was less of the desired plant part in the sample, and other factors that came into play during processing may have reduced its overall potency further. In the case of the Agrimony, the fact that the lemony scent was absent or very faint would indicate that the volatile components had been lost or considerably reduced. This can happen when the drying period is prolonged or has been carried out at too high a temperature. It can also be the result of poor storage, or of exposing too great a surface area of the herb to degradation by cutting it finely before drying. It can also be due to stock being old and past its best. The fact that the colour of the samples I looked at was pale green or brownish could have indicated either poor drying practice or old stock.
I have never gone as far as carrying out laboratory testing, such as thin-layer chromatography, to prove that my home-grown or wild-harvested herbs are superior to bought-in stock. I do not see that as necessary or helpful, especially as it would entail considerable financial cost. Every batch will vary, and the quality of herbs from different suppliers in different years will vary, just as the quality of my own herbs will vary to some extent. In the two examples above my aim is to illustrate the differences that can arise from the way in which herbs are handled. It is my consistent experience that home-grown or wild-harvested herbs that have been dried carefully have a superior appearance and fragrance to those that have been bought in from bulk sources in a finely cut form. I have been using my own herbs in therapeutic practice since 2006, and I have always been delighted by how well they work. I think that it is completely justified to assume that fragrance and appearance are very good indicators of medicinal potency, but if you have doubts, then I would encourage you to try for yourself and form your own conclusions.
In addition to issues of physical quality, I firmly believe that each person who comes into contact with a herb will have an energetic impact on the quality of the medicine. Tibetan medicine teaches that the attitude during harvesting and the preparation of medicines is a very important
