Earth to Herbalist (From), by Gregory Tilford

Back to

Many Wilderness Awareness School students want to learn how to harvest and use the plants they are learning about.

In my years teaching about plants, I noticed many common barriers people had that blocked them from utilizing the gifts of the plants they were learning about. Some of those barriers include where to pick a plant, how to pick it, and what to do with it after they harvest it.

From Earth to Herbalist takes an earth-based approach to teaching plants. It is really a “field guide to harvesting plants.” It includes a wonderful introduction to ethical “wildcrafting and dozens of plant monographs.

Each plant description focuses on identification, gathering, propagation, care after gathering, plant/animal interdependence, and applications in wonderful detail. The photos are excellent.

I consider this more of a harvesters guide than an herbal remedy book. It is a book I often consult.  I like it so much that I made it one of the required books for the herbal home study course I wrote.

From Earth to Herbalist should be on every herbalist’s shelf. Because it focuses on plant safety and harvesting sustainably, we felt it was an essential plant book to carry.

Review by John Gallagher, herbal instructor