Building a materia medica

My medical materials, my materia medica, began in the kitchen. As far back as I remember, I have loved cooking and most especially exploring herb and spice combinations from a variety of cultures. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t live with a relatively robust array of kitchen herbs and spices. Even as a kid, I remember these Lazy Susans chock full of herbs and spices that my mum had, arranged alphabetically, just above a chopping block next to the stove.

As my interests in medicinal herbs and spices began to grow and blossom, these culinary herbs and spices took on new life. Thyme and bay, peppers and leafy herbs … who knew that they had such healing potentials. I became entranced and I have been exploring the world of healing herbs for about 30 years.

I remember seeing my first herbal storehouse or αποθηκάρι (pronounced apothecary, from the Greek, meaning warehouse or storehouse). I was completely and utterly blown away. I felt at home immediately. I knew instantly that I wanted to cultivate a storehouse to serve my community, my work and myself.

I was particularly impressed by the herbal collection: bottles of varying shapes and sizes, the tinctures and liniments, oils, oxymels and more. I was especially enchanted by the feel of these energies and the aroma.

“What’s a “good sized” herbal storehouse?” I get that question a lot. “What herbs should I get?” This question comes up a lot also. So I thought I’d stop and address a few of these questions briefly.

If I miss a question that’s blazing in your mind, drop me a line and let’s have a conversation!

“What’s a “good sized” herbal storehouse?”

I’d say that there’s no, “one size fits all”, even when it comes to a medicine chest. It depends on a person’s understanding and knowledge of the plants, their community and yes, a community might consist of solely one’s self.

We can imagine that health considerations differ greatly person to person, home to home and location to location. My herbal storehouse grew as I began to become more familiar with individual plants as well as working with myself and others.

“What herbs should I get?”

Begin by choosing one herb. Look inside your kitchen spice cupboard, or walk outside, visit a park or look between the cracks in the sidewalk. Likely an herb will choose you. Get to know this one herb. Maybe have a look at my monographs blog for a few helpful tips on points to consider.

The pandemic underlined the importance of working with local medicinals. Not only are these more readily available, I believe that we respond to local flora in ways that are different to plants from different regions.

Each herb that we explore will likely lead into beginning to get to know another. This may be via a circuitous path or a more linear one, for example by getting to know one aromatic or antiscorbutic herb and then another, etc. etc. Some people may begin with a focus on a body system. Some may find mentorship helpful in offering direction.

If you’re looking for a suggestion and really don’t know where to start, then why not begin with yarrow, Achillea millefolium.

“Can you tell me where I can buy a complete apothecary herbal storehouse?”

No, I can’t.

“I’ve heard people say that ten (10) herbs are more than sufficient for any apothecary. Is that true?”

Maybe. I really don’t know. It depends on the ten herbs.

An appropriate analogy might bring us back to kitchen herbs. If you’re keen on making tomato sauce, then you likely have an array of herbs to make this single recipe. Or, perhaps you make variations on the theme in which case you’ll likely have a few more herbs and spices on hand. But if you also like to make chicken soup, or coleslaw or guacamole or any other dish, then most probably you have the herbs and spices to make these dishes also.

If herbal teas are your jam, then it’s a good idea to focus on how to dry, process and store dried herbs. Learn about drying leaves and flowers as well as roots, barks and berries. Because we don’t always use the same parts of an herb when making medicine, developing skills when working with each of these different sources of medicine is key. Be sure not to collect, dry and store too much material.

Be intentional. A slow expansion of our materia medica, reflecting the growing understanding of the medicinals that we work with is likely to yield a comfortable pace. There’s certainly no prize for speed. Nor is there any rush. It’s always preferable to get to know one herb, its richness and its many uses before accumulating jar after jar of material.

If tinctures are of interest, my suggestion is the same. Get to know the process, then tincture different parts of plants while slowly growing the contents of an herbal storehouse.

And compare! Compare the tastes of the same herb when prepared differently; perhaps compare differing amounts of herb to make a tea, or differing steeping times or how these flavors compare to a tincture of the same herb. You get the idea. Oh, and take notes!

“Do all herbalists have an herbal storehouse?”

I don’t know. Increasingly, there are a number of small businesses that focus on supplying herbal formulas as well as simples (single herbs). They can be found online.

“Where should I start?”

Start from wherever you are. If you’ve never worked with herbs in a medicinal capacity, begin with herbs that you know in your kitchen or your favorite plant in your garden. Still unsure? Get in touch, we can have a short conversation and I will happily offer a suggestion.