Herbalism research resource…try saying that 10 times fast.
Here in Inland Southern California, we don’t really have four seasons. There are basically two, wet and dry. Or more realistically, warm and hot. “Spring” is really kind of a quaint notion here because there’s pretty much no differentiation from what went before, except that the days are getting longer. But my body still feels it, and I know because I am suddenly craving bitter greens. After months of heavy, sluggish, but admittedly comforting foods, my system wants to get moving again!
Do you feel it too? (Apparently my dog does, as he noshes on any wild grass he can find.)
I know, it may be a while yet for those of you snowed under back east. In the meantime, what I really wanted to share with you today is this free ebook, The Herbalist’s Guide to Botanical Research. It’s brought to us by Renee Davis of Goldroot Botanical Medicine, an herbalism website with tons of info. One has barely to dip one’s toe into the waters of online herbalism before one discovers that there is, well, a lot of BS out there. I mean, how many times have you seen the claim that drinking massive quantities of olive oil and lemon juice will detox your liver and gallbladder? I see it everywhere! And it’s complete bollocks. (Seriously people, please do not do that.) I swear at least 90% of blog content is plagiarized from the most dubious of sources. Sometimes the info is basically correct, but is being passed on as gospel by people who don’t really understand why it’s true or how it works. (Of course, there’s a lot of herbal medicine that no one understands how it works! But you know what I mean: if Susun Weed or Jim McDonald tell me that X officinalis is antimicrobial and stimulates bile production, OK; but if I hear it from an anonymous infographic on Pinterest, hmm…maybe not so trustworthy.)
The Herbalist’s Guide to Botanical Research is designed to help you access scientific and academic research reports by helping you formulate better searches and find search engines that return less BS results. Bound to be useful for every herbalist at some point. And it’s free, so check it out!
Worts & All 