Blue Wind Botanical Medicine Clinic and Education Center

MEDICINAL PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA:  PROPAGATION, CULTIVATION, AND PREPARATION METHODS

With the popularity of herbal medicine increasing at an exponential rate in the U.S, real concerns arise with regard to the sustainability of the practice. Back east, sustained high demand for industry favorites such as Goldenseal, Black Cohosh, American Ginseng, and Echinacea have left once thriving plant communities on the brink of extinction. Unethical harvesting practices in conjunction with ever increasing urban and agricultural expansion are the main culprits in this tragedy. Here in the west, we are starting to see some of these same impacts on our own unique medicinal plant communities. Obviously, in a liberal minded urban center such as the Bay Area we would be in serious trouble if all those interested in plant medicine traveled to the outlying areas to harvest. To remedy this dilemma it is imperative that we begin to expand our cultivation of such useful plants in yards, gardens, and other areas around the cities where we live. This class will take place on a “converted” urban plot which has undergone such a transformation. Many of the more popular (and lesser known) medicinal plants of California will be covered in the class including both natives and "weeds". Each student will take home a medicinal plant cutting from the garden in addition to an herbal product s/he helped prepare.