Spread as much Goldenseal as you can, it's endangered in may parts of the world. Is there much in your local woods?

Goldenseal is a wonderful herb, you are so luck to have a close freash supply. I have wildcrafted Chicory, St John's Wort, Chickweeed and few others. It's a great exercise, biophilia.

John

I LOVE to wildcraft--would much rather do that than buy packaged/processed. Have been doing with my children for many years now.

Recently we had quite an abundance of coltsfoot to tincture. Not sure what we'll use it for yet!

Have not ever wildcrafted goldenseal--I think I saw it once but it was in a national park. Haven't found it on my land yet, too bad.

I do personally, in a responsible way. I don't really encourage other people to do it though. Partly because correct identification is so important, and partly because I think wildcrafters need to be responsible.

Responsible= correctly identified plants (sometimes observing plants for up to a year to spot identifying characteristics), no molesting of endangered plants (gather some seed only - not all - if a good sized bed is found), no transplanting from small colonies, take only what is healthy to harvest from the plants without shocking them, make sure the area being gathered from isn't treated with chemicals or subjected to large amounts of pollution, no national/state parks, check plants thoroughly for fungi and diseases, and when possible take cuttings to be grown in a controlled environment for later use.

And of course, the wildcrafted herbs I keep separate from those I grow in my gardens. I use them only for my own medicines, because if I botched identification I wouldn't want anyone else to suffer the consequences. Positively KNOWN herbs grown in my gardens are what I share with others.

With all that being said though, I love to hike through the woods and visit familiar herbs. And encourage them to grow within the forest, sometimes transplanting/seeding them to start new colonies. It's an enjoyable way to spend time.

Hi,
Looking for information on juniper berry,one seed.
Is it true there are worms in them and how to get them out.
My trees are over loaded with them.
Thank you,

Jehda - start a new thread on this one - no one will see this unless they're reading about wildcrafting.

I do a lot of wildcrafting for a naturopathic doctor I work with. Even though he asks for certain things, there are herbs I won't harvest - especially native plants that require me to take the root. The more you learn about herbs the more you find that there are many plants that have the same properties/uses as another plant. If a much more common plant can be used, why not use it? Why harvest a wild plant out in the woods when a weed out of the garden or even a plant I've grown in the garden would do? Anyone wildcrafting in the US should check out the United Plant Savers site.

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: United Plant Savers

I like the idea of spreading wildcrafted plants to new areas by transplants.

The best place to do this would be on preserved land, although it probably wouldn't be legal to do it in those places...maybe with permission?

There are folks that "rescue" native plants from bulldozers and more to relocate them to a different location. This is done with permission from the land owners. You could see if there are any of these groups nearby.

FataMorgana