From the BookShelf: Wild Remedies
Let’s just start with the conclusion, Wild Remedies is a gem of a book written by Roselee De la Forêt and Emily Han. This is definitely one to add to your library if you are an herbal medicine plant enthusiast. Roselee De la Forêt came into my radar about 6 years ago when I came across her blog while researching herbal remedies for children. Her way of teaching herbs is really accessible to new comers and extremely useful to more experienced community herbalists and I was hooked on learning with her. So when this book came out in 2020 during my herbalism training I scooped it up and devoured it in about two days. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Wild Remedies
It’s as if this book was written with my lifestyle in mind. The authors organized it by seasons, which as a gardener I have done with my own life. Everything in season I always tell my kids (much to their chagrin when they want fresh strawberries in December).
Part One starts with the all important introduction to herbalism and what it means to wild craft plants and the responsibility that comes with that. There is a nice introduction to botany as well. I find this is a crucial element of any good herbal plant book. Especially on that is geared towards new herbalists.
The next four parts are broken down into seasons and in those seasons are the chapters pertaining to herbs/plants that are available to be wild crafted in those seasons. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. The authors have chosen plants that are easily identifiable and safe to consume as well as fairly common across the US and Europe.
My favorite part about this book is the information given with in each plant chapter. Each one is an incredible materia medica that I turn to time and time again. Let’s look at the chapter of my favorite edible plant: Nettles as an example.
In each chapter there is a botanical drawing of the plant as well as pictures of the plant in it’s living state. Along with the botanical drawing is a list of the information most helpful to herbalist in a short form, including botanical and common names, plant id information, properties, uses and preparations. I like to use this as my quick guide to the plant. If I see something in that box that I know will be useful to me then I’ll go in a read more.
After that, each chapter contains a section on Medicinal Propteries and Energetics, How Plant helps support various body systems and organs, how to ID the plant, harvest it and how to grow it. This last part is especially useful if you are gardener and an herbalist and want to reduce your foot print (consumption) on the wild plant population in your area.
Last but certainly not least is the really fun part, recipes for actually using the plants! Nettle potato pancakes? Yes please! I’ve made the Purslane and Cucumber salad as well as the evergreen needle lip balm and the citrus peel cleaner. All of these recipes were a success so the recipes in this book are definitely accurate.
I’ve talked about so many pros of the book. Are there any cons? Yes, only one. There needs to be more chapters! I could certainly do with a second volume to this book. I turn to it so many times looking for information only to find they didn’t have room for certain common herb. I listened to an interview with Roselee and even she admits she wished they could have included way more chapter.
To conclude, this book is a must have addition to your materia medica. It has great recipes as well for both eating and gifting.
~ Have you checked out this book? Let know what you thought in the comments below.
Note: I’m not being paid or compensated for this review in anyway. I just want you to know about great herbal books.
