When we first decided we were going to be getting a puppy, I knew I wanted to provide the best food possible for our little family member, so I scoured books and the internet for hours searching for the best diet we could start him out with. Thankfully, years prior in a used bookshop in Courtney, BC, I came across a book entitled “Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable” by the renowned herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levy. At that time, I had just discovered this Turkish herbalist and nearly squealed in delight at finding her book on the shelf:

Juliette of the Herbs, as she is often known by, made her life and living surrounding herself and learning from the plants and the nomadic plant people she encountered while living in Europe. From a young age Juliette raised animals on her own farm, eventually breeding prize-winning Afghan hounds, but in her search for medicine to help her own animals, she discovered herbal medicine. This search brought her to study with the Roma people of central Europe, whom she cites as her biggest teachers and influencers. Juliette was a big proponent of natural, fresh, primarily raw foods for animals, and steered away from the trend towards prepackaged and processed food that was becoming the fad in the 1950s. During her life, she swore by the power of herbs to heal almost all animal ailments and was fiercely devoted to ensuring her animals lived the best life possible.

When I was growing up I was lucky to live in the country, and as such was involved in Beef 4-H, which involved caring for a steer from October to May every year, culminating in an auction and sale. In addition to cattle, we occasionally had orphan sheep to care for, once won a goat (Bailey) at a fair and had dogs and cats and I once begged my dad to let me raise Bantam hens. When I was 16, Madhatter, my beautiful and spirited paint pony came to live with us as well. In addition to domesticated animals, I also caught frogs and tadpoles and salamanders and made them elaborate terrariums out of sticks, moss and stones, and more than once tried to raise baby robins on cut-up earthworms in my bedside table after they had fallen out of the nest.

Looking back, I wish I had the knowledge of nutrition and herbs and essences I have now, back then. Perhaps I would have been able to raise healthier animals and been more connected to those pets, especially my pony, whom could have benefited from herbs and flower essences to calm her wild spirit (and perhaps her owner could have benefited from them as well).

Hermes our Goldendoodle lives on a diet of primarily raw chicken, every so often supplemented with eggs, vegetable oils, yogurt and shredded veggies. He is healthy and exceptionally energetic, and even the vet says he seems younger than he is (currently 3.5 years old), which I owe mostly to the wisdom in that book, Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable.

There are so many pets and animals out there whose health and quality of life is suffering from sub-par diets, perhaps only due to the ignorance of their owners. I feel like my herbal education is taking me away from the human world, and into the animal world, studying more deeply nutrition and the needs of companion animals, figuring out how I can raise my pets in the best way possible while also helping others.