Many of us are familiar with the local food movement, but what about the local medicine movement?

Bioregional herbalism provides us with the framework to develop a system of healthcare that is place and plant-based, ecologically sound, and can operate independently from the profit-driven system of allopathic medicine in this country. For any individual who understands the importance of living with a light ecological footprint on the earth, bioregional herbalism offers an opportunity to align one’s values with one’s healthcare choices.

I'm deeply enamored by the fall foliage, but even more so when I can make medicine with it. The Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) puts on such a show in the fall and, although the essential oils in the leaves are certainly more concentrated in the summer, the mucilage is still potent in the fall and lots of their aromatic and unique flavor is still present. I love gathering them now- when the trees are about to drop them anyway and they're in their full autumnal glory.- and make a potent and delicious herbal honey with them. You can even gather recently fallen leaves for medicine! 

“Amaro” in Italian means “bitter,” and the term is also synonymous with Italian herbal liquors infused with a staggering array of fruits, roots, barks, seeds, and herbs. Sometimes an amaro is also referred to as a “digestivo,” which makes perfect sense since these are often served after meals to aid digestion and to linger (even) longer over the meal.

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a phenomenal food as medicine enjoyed in cuisines the world over from China to India to the Mediterranean, Levant, North America, Mexico, Australia, and beyond. It’s a common weed on every continent except Antarctica and everywhere humans have encountered this plant, they’ve woven it into their culinary traditions.

Where does Star Magnolia belong? And for that matter, how do we decide where a plant "should” and “shouldn't” be?
My hot take? We don't.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom is a powerful nootropic, has a special talent for helping heal damaged nerves, supports mood and helps alleviate depression, and possesses the famous beta-glucan polysaccharides that make medicinal mushrooms such potent immunomodulators.

In honor of winter and the deep nourishment this season has to offer, I wanted to share with you all a favorite recipe I've been making that's also super appropriate for the winter in terms of food as medicine and seasonal energetics.

In thinking about herbs and preparations to have on hand during the winter months I find it helpful to think about classes of herbs by way of their herbal actions. Here are a few herbal actions to consider when picking herbs for your home winter apothecary and some of my favorite herbs to have on hand (but these lists are not at all exhaustive):

Our grief is a portal, an opening, a passageway into honoring that which we love. Anyone who’s ever been grief-stricken can tell you that grief is an expression of love - the two are inseparable. Grief itself isn’t something to be cured or healed, it’s something to be in relationship with. And, still, sometimes it’s too much. The weight of it can bear down and become immobilizing, expressed as a state of deep nervous system activation, exhaustion, and chronic stress.

In the herb world there's kind of an inside joke that's basically this- some people are "Blue Vervain" people, meaning they're pretty Type A, love lists and order and control (but often get stressed-out trying to control everything), tend towards holding stress in their bodies- particularly the neck and shoulders- and are often a "work hard, play hard" type. In the Ayurvedic framework these are folks with LOTS of Pitta.

Rose season is quite possibly my most highly anticipated “plant season” of the year. Many of us bioregional herbalists mark the year in this way…April is Dandelion and Violet, May is Nettles, and Rose season here begins in June. Whether it’s Beach Rose growing wild on the coast, Wild Rose growing every which way with the brambles in the hedges, or a fragrant antique Rose growing in a hidden garden- I love them all.

Wild Sodas are a fun and easy way to make living, medicinal, naturally probiotic beverages that are made by wild fermentation- we don’t add any yeast- the wild yeast on the flowers and yeasts in the raw honey are what cause the fermentation! They can be made with 100% local ingredients, making them a wonderful example of “localvore medicine” that reflects the true terroir of the land and has a super small carbon footprint. I mostly make them in the warmer months, but they can be made year-round. 

I first became interested in diversifying my apothecary with vinegar and honey-based preparations when, after a certain point, it started to feel like I was just dumping vodka on everything! And the more I began working with bioregionally abundant herbs, the more I wanted to start exploring bioregionally abundant menstruums (herbal vocab word for whatever you’re extracting into).

Spring is one of the classic times to work with tree medicine, during the season when the sap is rising, the vascular cambium is active with sap and nutrients, and the trees are waking back up. Below I share some of my favorite trees to work with in the spring and my hope is that even if you don’t have all of these trees in your bioregion, you at least have a few.

Barberry (Berberis spp) is a medicine I truly feel all of us should know. This ubiquitous shrub is abundant, pervasive, and rich in a very special alkaloid extensively studied to have a whole host of antimicrobial properties, Berberine. This alkaloid gives Barberry its distinctive yellow roots and inner bark and is the same alkaloid that makes the famous Goldenseal so antimicrobial and gives it its golden-yellow color as well.

It's blueberry season and the Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) in the garden is just going off, along with sooooo many other herbs, so I whipped-up a Blueberry & Anise Hyssop oxymel with the seasons' bounty. This recipe is kitchen medicine at its finest.

All throughout the Mediterranean and SWANA region various iterations of this dish occur- the combination of greens, herbs, eggs, and some kind of cheese (often ricotta or feta) for the ultimate peasant food that's deeply nourishing and draws on seasonally and bioregionally abundant ingredients.

Winter is a great time to work with and harvest conifer resin (also often referred to as pitch). It's much less sticky and viscous in the winter than other times, due to the cold temperatures, which makes it much easier to harvest! Locally, White Pine (Pinus strobus) is our most abundant conifer that produces resin and you can also find it in Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) and Spruce species (Picea spp), with Norway Spruce (Picea abies) being our most locally abundant Spruce.

At its most basic, nougat is a confection made with nuts, honey, and/or sugar, however it can also include egg whites, herbs, spices, dried fruit, and seeds depending on where it’s made. There are variations traditionally made throughout the SWANA region (Southwest Asia & North Africa), the Mediterranean, and southern Europe, and the name it’s most commonly known as in the US, nougat, comes from France.

Ferments are already medicinally active foods unto themselves and the additional medicinal herbs elevates them even further. I personally enjoy enhancing fermented vegetables with herbs and spices- kimchi, sauerkraut, and root vegetables in particular- choosing the blend based on what’s really in its prime and available in my garden, local farms, and woodlands and meadows.