Since 2017, when I was an herbal apprentice for 7Song at the Northeast school of botanical medicine, I have been intermittently gathering and making medicine from the plants around me. While apprenticing, I had access to a much different ecosystem (northeast US woodland) than where I currently live (prairie Parkland bordering the Boreal). We also traveled across the states to eastern Oregon, to North Carolina—which is simply tropical compared to Alberta—and where I harvested mimosa bark, passionflower (AMAZING) and Montana for pedicularis and anemome. 7Song also ordered fresh kava from Hawaii, which was incredible. Many of the tintures I made then I still have and use from time to time. To note, tinctures can stay good for 10 years or more, depending on the constituents. With others, the medicinal constituents break down more quickly, so need to be shaken if taken, or used up more quickly. However, since I am to start seeing clients within the year, I am beginning a more methodical and intentional approach to my home apothecary. These are just a few things I’m thinking about as I build it out.

1. Why/for who are you building an apothecary?

Clarifying the reason you want to build an apothecary simplifies the decision making process around what herbs you will include. Here are some questions to consider: Are you creating this apothecary just for you and your personal health needs? Or are you creating it with certain people in mind, such as your family or larger community?

2. What herbs will you use?

What issues are you addressing? Do you know you will be dealing with coughs and colds?Menstrual issues? Digestion? Many herbs can multitask for a variety of issues, so consider some basics and go from there. Start small at first! Remember that all medicines you make, whether tea, powder, glycerine or tincture, will degrade over time. To this end, I recommend a limit to the herbs you include in your apothecary (aiming for 20-30ish), so as to keep things manageable for processing (and using).

Next, I consider what I’m really interested in experimenting with and lastly, the herbs I like to use or imagine myself using a lot. And I also tried to forecast the types of health issues i might encounter. I know cough/cold and bronchial stuff, menstrual things, digestive complaints, anxiety and sleep and hormonal issues I hear people mention/I encounter in my family and friends.

3. How much of an herb will you use?

How much of an herb do you think you are going to use? Bear this in mind when deciding what herbs to include in your herbal lineup. It might be easy to get caught up in harvesting fever and gather many armloads of willow or burdock root, but do you use this particular plant and will you use all of what you harvest? Even if it is an abundant or weedy plant like willow or burdock, practice restraint and keep your harvests to a respectful minimum, the amount you buy or gather should reflect what you are actually going to use.

Even if purchasing from a farm or store, consider how frequently you will use the herb.

4. Part 1: Where will you wildcraft or buy/obtain these herbs (and some notes on wildcrafting)

I also looked at what was easy to gather or very abundant in this area. Depending on your climate, ecozone, and geography, there are going to be plants that are readily available very close to you—perhaps right in your neighbourhood! Urban gathering from your back alley, backyard or local park is a really great way to get started. There are quite a few highly useful and medicinal plants that grow like weeds in the city I live in. Burdock, horseradish, nettle, plantain, dandelion, mugwort, hops (garden escapee)chickweed, and for trees there is rowan/mountain ash, ginkgo, willow, fir, pine and poplar that are abundant. So much!

A note about urban gathering: please ensure cleanliness and permission before harvesting plants! Plants or trees growing near busy roads or on boulevards and along the edges of walking paths should generally be avoided because of contamination from exhaust, salt and animal urine or feces. In addition, I leave plants within sight of walking trails because plants are also there for the enjoyment of people walking by and digging holes or ripping fungi off of trees in a visible public space is an eyesore and generally just rude. Plants are there for everyone! As for permission: many parks do not allow gathering plants for the reason stated above—plants and parks are for everyone! Most people are not going to notice the gathering of dandelion or plantain, but make sure the place you are gathering from has not been sprayed with herbicide! In my city, we are lucky to have a river running through the centre, so there is access to a large and extensive river valley where many plants grow. And because most of it is “wild”, people are free to harvest what they please. So, take a look at what is readily available and decide what will make the cut.

4. Part 2: What herbs can you grow?

Then I looked at what I have been able to grow. This step wont be for everyone, as it requires space for propagating seed, growing the herbs and the money and tools (lights, seed soil mix, trays, shelving) to do all this, plus not everyone enjoys gardening. I LOVE gardening and growing herbs from seed, it really is a source of great joy. Over the past two years, I have successfully grown valerian, holy basil, german chamomile, skullcap, horehound, feverfew, spilanthes, elecampane, sweet annie and lovage. Again, I urge restraint! Just the other day I was flipping though the Richters seed catalogue and drew down a list of 21 plants I wanted to order, in addition to the 15 I would already be starting with saved seed from previous year. To be frank, I dont have enough space for that! My work now is to go back through the list and compare it against my apothecary, aiming to stay within the 20-30ish plants list for sanity’s sake.

5. How will you process and store them?

Are you planning on drying them for tea? Or making a bunch of tinctures? Or perhaps you like making glycerites or herbal beverages?

Glass jars have been the gold standard for keeping teas and tinctures fresh for centuries. Amber or blue glass is even better as it protects them from light as well. All herbs will need to be stored away from the sunlight, and preferably in a cool, dry place. Both heat and moisture will degrade herbs. Sometimes glass will not be practical for the space you have, so I have also used large freezer ziploc bags for storing loose herbs, and plastic dry goods containers (think storage for pasta) as well. Currently, my loose tea herbs are stored in ziplocs in a plastic woven basket that stays on a high shelf, away from heat and light.

One last thought: keep it manageable and enjoy the process!