Herbal Cultivation session 1

© Copyright PCNM 2011
Herbal Cultivation
Session 1

This Session
During this session we will cover:
History and importance of herbs in human culture
Introduction to Herbal Cultivation

Introduction
"A garden is a grand teacher.
It teaches patience and careful watchfulness;
it teaches industry and thrift;
above all it teaches entire trust."
Gertrude Jekyll 1843-1932

Herb Farms
Harvesting Marigolds Drimlabarra Herb Farm, Isle of Arran, Scotland
photo © Keith Robertson F.NIMH

Herb Farms
• Herb Farms can be formal gardens with greenhouses and raised
beds
photos © www.jekkasherbfarm.com

Herb Farms
• or use machinery and synthetic mulch materials

Herb Farms
Herb Wheel Drimlabarra Herb Farm, Isle of Arran, Scotland
photo © Keith Robertson F.NIMH
…or be much wilder affairs of the heart!

Early Peoples & Plant Cultivation
• The real human story goes back to the roots of our time here on the
planet when Homo sapiens evolved about 100,000 years ago.
• Pastoral peoples moved away from being hunter-gatherers to
grazing cattle and cultivating food plants, moving out of Africa
between 20,000-7000 years ago.
• Archaelogical evidence of the Tassili-n-Ajjer (S. Algeria) of
12,000BC demonstrate the rise of language, partnership society and
complex religious ideas.
• They brought with them the cult of cattle and the cult of the Great
Goddess of Fertility depicted in rock paintings
in the late neolithic (between 4,500-2,000).

Tribal Peoples
• The Rig Vedas give us our first
mention of humans using plants
and mushrooms as hallucinogens/
medicine for the soul – the great
SOMA (thought to be Psilocybin or
Fly Agaric mushroom).
• Other Shamanic cultures
throughout the world were using
plants as medicine following a
more oral tradition: the first
concepts of Cosmic
Consciousness and disease
processes to be cured by
Shamanic Journeying to other
cosmic dimensions.
Indian sadhus worship in Shiva temples

Tribal Peoples
• Terence McKenna’s book Food of the Gods (1992) Bantam
Books, charts humankind’s embrace of plants for food pastorally as
well as medicinally for communion with the Cosmos and our place
in it with the use of consciousness expanding plants.

Shamanic Practices
• Himalayan peoples still practice the ancient rites of Shamanism
originated from Mongolia including drumming to facilitate going into
trance and using herbs, incense and chanting in healing
ceremonies.

Amazonian Shamanism
• Unbroken use of hallucinogenic plants for
healing ritualistic ceremony can be found
in the use of Ayahuasca (Vine of the Soul)
(Banisteriopsis caapi & B. inebrians)
• Other plants are decocted with it such as
Brugmansia sps Angel’s trumpet flowers
(Solanaceae) and
Psychotria viridis (Rubiaceae).
• Richard Schultes’ book Plants of the
Gods (1992) Publ Healing Arts Press
describes these plants as considered
divine gifts to the earliest Indians on earth
as their power is due to supernatural
forces residing in the plants themselves.

Central American Shamanism
• Peyote or Mescal button (Lophophora williamsii) continues to play a
major sacramental role among the Native people of Mexico despite
these practices being condemned by the Spanish conquerors and
local governments.

The Importance of Herbs in Human Culture
(for a more detailed account please see HM1)
• As human civilisation developed, so did its medicine
• The war-torn lands of Iran and Iraq were originally the cradle of
civilisation and were known as Mesopotamia. The area is also
known as the Fertile Crescent and is where farming was born.
• Here we have the first written records in clay tablet form. Many of
these tablets, inscribed over 5000 years ago, relate to the medicines
of the day.
• In ancient India, medicine was taught mainly through an oral
tradition, but they started writing it down in Sanskrit around this time.
• The ancient Egyptians also have a long tradition of medicine and a
papyrus known as the “Ebers Codex”, written in 1550BC,
contained information on plants which are still in use today, not least
of which is Garlic, for which it listed 22 uses.

Greek Medicine
• Ancient Greeks also made great contributions to medicine and
include in their number some of the Great Names in the history of
Medicine. Hippocrates, known as “the father of medicine”, lived in
the 4th century BC on the island of Kos.
• Hippocrates laid the foundations of Arabic medicine used to this day
and of Western medicine for the next 2000 years. His methods
were often very practically based and there is a recipe recorded for
Hippocrates soup, which he used to treat patients, a soup thick with
beans and pulses and, of course, onions and garlic.
Hippocrates’ Plane Tree in Kos Town said to be
alive in his time.
.

Greek Medicine
• Hippocrates (c 460-390 BC) was intensely interested in the effects
of climate and geography and one of his other main therapeutic
tools was fasting his patients to reveal suppressed symptoms.
• Dioscorides (c AD 40-90) was known as “The Father of Pharmacy”
and wrote down the first Materia Medica.

Arabic Medicine
• Perhaps the most overlooked contribution in the Western Tradition is
that of Arabic medicine. The Arabs took Roman and Greek
Medicine, refined it and kept the knowledge throughout the period
when Europe was plunged into what is known as ‘The Dark Ages’.
• Perhaps the greatest known Arabic physician was Hakim Ibn Sina,
known in the West as Avicenna. He lived in the 10th Century AD
and his work was mandatory in the study of European medicine right
up until the 1600’s. We should remember that Arab physicians
documented the circulation of the blood many thousands of years
before Harvey ‘rediscovered’ it in the West.

Medieval Medicine onwards
• St Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
• Abbess who produced a Materia Medica
of over thirty herbs, truly beautiful poetry,
music and inspirational visions.
• She coined the term viriditas, or “the
greening power of God”
• Paracelsus (1493-1541) a Swiss
physician who is also known as ‘The
Father of Scientific Medicine’. He is
burned Galen's book and so broke with
the conventional medical thought of his
day. He also broke with tradition by
consulting with folk herbalists, midwives
etc. to learn their knowledge and is said
to have been a keen observer of nature.

Gerard & Culpeper
• The next major work was “The Historie of Plants” by John Gerard in
1597, his key botanical work followed by Gerard’s Herbal
• Nicholas Culpeper half a century later. He was very much a man
of the common people and outraged the medical establishment of
his day by translating the knowledge of the elite, which was written
in Latin, to the common English of the day. He followed the
Hippocratic notion of humours and also a system of classifying
remedies into categories based on Astrology.

Ayurveda & TCM
• Ayurveda means “the knowledge of life”.
• Based on the Meditative and oral teachings of the Rishis c.4-2000
BC culminating in the publication of the Rig Veda c 1700-1100BC
• Uses the 5 Elements and the 20 Attributes of the Gunas
summarised in the 3 doshas of Vata, Pitta, Kapha for
constitutional assessment of humans, plants and disease
processes.
• The Yellow Emperors Handbook c2700-2600 BC was the first
medical discursive in print.
• One of the first Chinese Herbals in the 5th Century AD was a
collection of commentaries on Materia Medica.

• Although there is proof that indigenous Australians have been around for at
least 47, 000 years it wasn’t until 1982 that their medicinal practice was
studied and documented by the ‘white man’, when the Northern
Territory(NT) Department of Health recorded more than 50 different
medicinal plants. This became the first published Aboriginal
Pharmacopoeia.
• All plants were identified then screened for essential oils, minerals,
saponins, tannins, triterpenes and steroids
• This was published in 1988, and its sequel ‘Traditional Aboriginal Medicine’
detailing many more species was published in 1993
• In 1995 an NT study compared the effectiveness of wound healing by use
of the traditional remedy Bauhinia root (Lysiphyllum cunninghamii) and
western preparations for the treatment of boils, sores and scabies.
• The traditional remedy was found to be as effective as western treatment.
Other studies are currently underway.
Australian Indigenous Peoples

• Spilanthes is one Australian native plant that is used worldwide in
commercial preparations
• Over half the world’s supply of the drugs hyoscine and scopolamine come
from the Duboisia tree. These are used to treat seasickness. The Aboriginal
people use it as an emu and fish poison but also chew it to relieve
exhaustion and help them to cope with the harsh desert conditions. It is
known as pituri.
Spilanthes Duboisia
Australian Indigenous Peoples

Herbal Cultivation
• Land based plants have some basic requirements:
• Sunlight
• Water
• Minerals and/or Soil
• Climate is also crucial:
Not too hot
Not too cold
Herbs in Snow

Herbal Cultivation
• Different climatic zones will have herbs that grow
best there.
• A large number of our popular modern herbs are
originally from the Mediterranean.
Chamomile Fields Lavender

Herbal Cultivation
• Greenhouses can extend that
climatic range and the growing
season.
• In warmer climates, the use of
shading may be required.
• The availability of water is a
major factor in hotter climates.
• It is worth remembering if we
buy herbs from another country
we are also buying and
transporting their water.
Greenhouse growing
Using shade

Herbal Cultivation
Propagation
• The simplest propagator is a pot
with a plastic bag held onto it by
a rubber band.
• The bag should have condensation on it
and as the plant grows, the bag may need
re-inflated. Simply breathe into it for extra
CO2!

Herbal Cultivation
• Most plants need moisture
and warmth to germinate.
• Some need to be frozen
first to mimic winter eg.
Cowslips (Primula veris)
Either ‘stratify’ outside in
sand or pop in a freezer
overnight!

Herbal Cultivation
• A variety of different commercial propagators are available,
generally with electric heating pads or under soil heating coils.
• Check germination temperatures for different seeds
eg. Most plants germinate between 70-75°F (21-24°C)
• Asparagus, cucumber, aubergine (eggplant), melon, pepper &
squash germinate between 75-80°F (24-27°C)
Commercial propagation Greenhouse propagation Simple propagator

Herbal Cultivation
• A hugely, practical and informative
book.
• Coleman uses soil blocks
extensively.
Eliot Coleman The New Organic
Grower, Chelsea Green Publ. Co.
ISBN 0-930031-75-X

Herbal Cultivation
• Soil blocks have an indentation for seeds. Sow singly or in multiples
and then thin.
• To sow seeds tap a folded piece of paper or pick up using a
moistened straw or stick.
• Cowan does not cover small seeds as light can help.
• For larger seeds you can sprinkle dried compost to fit the hole.
© Eliot Coleman

Herbal Cultivation
• Blocks can be transplanted into
bigger blocks or go out into the
field.
• The bigger blocks instead of
having an indentation for the seed
on the top, have a hole the size
and shape of the smaller block.

Herbal Cultivation
• Advantages of soil blocks are:
• Financial – after the investment of a press, the blocks are ‘free’.
• The blocks are sloped inwards so there is an air gap all round – the
roots sense this and don’t grow across the gap giving a couple of
days grace in potting them on.
• Plants are transplanted without root disturbance.
• Space is a saved if seeds don’t germinate – just remove and resow
the block.
• Disadvantages of soil blocks are:
• The mix of soil, compost, sand and lime can be tricky to get right.
• The soil can dry out quickly if neglected.

Then the choices are…
Herbs in pots
Herbs in beds
Herbs in rows

Then the choices are…
Formal Herb Garden
Kitchen garden Informal Beds

Harvesting
• If all goes well, then the next thing is the harvest.
Harvesting Herbs India
Harvesting Herbs India Human transport of herbs
• CAUTION: don’t let fresh herbs sit in a pile – they heat up and spoil
quite quickly.

Processing
• Herbs can go straight into tinctures
• Or are generally dried on racks or in specialised dehumidifiers.

Processing
• Once dried, herbs must be stored in a dry, pest-free environment.
• One of the best storage containers is paper bag!

Marketing
• Dried herbs can look very
attractive if well packaged.
• Fresh herbs are trickier to sell
and require air tight packages.
• Having your own outlet increases Packaged herbs
the profit margin.
Farm Shop
Fresh Packed
Herbs

Successful Herb Cultivation
• Then is should be a case of simply putting your feet up and
watching the profits flow in…

Checkpoint!

Summary
Today we have covered;
• The importance of herbal medicine
in historic culture and an
introduction to Herb Cultivation

Next Session
We will cover:
Plant Families and specific
cultivation considerations
&
Advanced Botanical Classification

Preparation
Brief Notes
• Don’t forget to log on to the LMS and download and print off your
brief notes and handouts for the next session.

Herbal Cultivation session 1

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Herbal Cultivation session 1