What is plant medicine?

When you hear the words "Plant medicine" you may roll your eyes. Or think "oh no it's just hippy nonsense", I get that. Not too long ago I would stay clear of anything having to do with essential oils or weird "nature hacks" online. It wasn't until I got sick and felt disconnected from modern medicine that I understood what plant medicine is.

A few years ago, I had a hormonal imbalance that was turning my body against me. I went to see different doctors, but instead of solutions to my problems, I got band-aids for the symptoms. I spent hundreds of dollars going to see doctors for 20 minutes at a time. Just to have them not listen to me but instead, prescribe me one thing after another. There's a lot of people who's stories are similar to mine.

I originally didn't set out to be a herbalist. I took courses on herbalism to try to find a "cure" for my situation. But what ended up happening is that I found so much respect for herbalism and just nature in general as sappy as that sounds. I learned that a lot (but not all) health issues can be helped with herbs. From brain function to joint issues. I learned that a lot of the medicine we use today were derived from plants like Aspirin or Penicillin. But the problem occurred when scientists singled out the properties they liked and ignored the rest of the plant. So of course that leads to a lot of side effects that shouldn't be normal. That's not to say that herbs don't have side effects. But the side effects you see are a lot milder and rarer. You shouldn't be taking something that will hurt another part of your body. The biggest thing I learned is that you can't treat your body like a game of whack a mole. Just hitting the problem areas that come up. Instead, realize that your body is one entity. One being that's systems all interact with each other.

So what is plant medicine exactly?

It’s just as the name suggests. It's medicine that you make from plants. When you make a Chamomile tea before bed, drink a Ginger tea for an upset stomach, or have a Peppermint tea to cool off in the Summer. You're taking plant medicine.

How is plant medicine made?

There are a few different ways to do it. Each method extracts a different percentage of herbal properties. As a general rule, the longer the extraction time, the stronger and more potent it will be.

Tinctures are when you process an herb in alcohol. Each herb needs a different percentage of alcohol to maximize the extraction properties. For example, Chamomile needs 30% alcohol but Nettle leaves would be better off with 50% alcohol. This extraction method is the longest (4-6 weeks), but it is the strongest.

Infusions are the herbal teas you're used to seeing. Herbal teas are a little different from regular teas. You steep herbal teas for 15-20 minutes instead of the usual 3-5 minutes of regular tea. That's because tea leaves get bitter pretty fast. Not only that but the properties of tea leaves are released much faster. Another difference is that you cover herbal teas. That's because some of the properties can be lost within the steam of the tea. These properties are called Volatile Oils. They are the most potent properties and also what essential oils are made up of. So you really don't want to miss out on those.

Decoction is the process of simmering an herb or root for an extended period of time in water. Usually about 30-45 minutes. This extraction method is used for mushrooms, roots, and hardy herbs that have a longer extraction time.

Each herb has it's own preferred method of extraction. For instance, you can make an infusion of Ginger tea and steep it for 10 minutes. But if you were to use the decoction method and simmer the root for 30 minutes, it will be a lot more potent.

Plant medicine isn't just about herbs, it's a different mindset of health and what it means to be healthy. Plant medicine is a holistic view of health. Taking into account the problem you're having, your constitution, mental state, and health history. The goal is to help the problem while also balancing the rest.

If you want to see the herbal products I make from scratch click below 👇