Angela Bowman

Thanks so much for the suggestion, Jon - that sounds like a great idea

Anthony Cooley wrote:Angela, great to meet you!

We recently bought a property outside of Missoula after living here for about 7 years. We're just starting to learn foraging and have many plants on our property that are yet to be identified. I would love to have you out to teach us both what we have and how to use it.

Anthony - congratulations on your new property!  That's so exciting.  There's MUCH to be foraged on these gorgeous lands around us.  Some of it, I'm still learning as well; being new to an area opens up more opportunities to learn about more plants.  It's been an amazing ride, seeing the differences in the plants that I'm used to finding in the south and PNW, plus finding plants in the wild that I've previously only been able to get online.  I'd be happy to come out to your property and see what all is on there and teach you about what you've got and how you can use it....and which ones to stay around (there's a lot of poison hemlock around here).  Yesterday, I was able to collect some pine resin, arrowleaf balsamroot (which I imagine is on your property somewhere), arnica, cleavers, a little bit of yarrow and lupine for flower essences (which I also imagine is on your property).  And of course, the season is really just starting so there are many more things to come.  There's a lot of elder out this way too, which is great medicine in the winter months.  I'll shoot you a quick message and we'll get together.

David Marks wrote:Hi David,

If you have a chance, I would love to hear your thoughts on the strength of alcohol for Muellin or just in general.  
David

Well Sharol handled this question very nicely but I wanted to add since you asked, that you can dilute your alcohol menstruum down a bit if you want.  For dried herbs, I usually go with 50% alcohol, so if you're using 160 proof, you're already at 80%.  You can add a bit of spring water to make it a little more palatable. I like adding the water at the beginning of the tincturing process because I want the plant's water-soluble properties in the tincture as well.  For fresh herbs, I raise the amount of alcohol just a touch since the fresh plant contains water.  It really depends on the herb that I'm using and how moist of an herb it is.

Hope that helps

ETA - oh, and another note, you didn't waste a batch of herbs and vodka.  You can adjust it now if you like, or dilute it a bit later.  And as far as grinding goes, some folks use a blender and blend the entire thing; herbs & alcohol together.  I think it's perfectly suitable (and preferable, for me) to chop or cut the herbs a bit to increase the surface area.  I don't blend or pulverize though because I've never found it necessary.  I think the idea behind blending is to decrease your tincture time (or at least that's mostly what I've heard) but I just leave my tinctures to work their magic for 4-8 weeks, depending on what I'm making, and end up with beautifully potent & balanced tinctures.

Honestly, the best thing to do is to ask your supplier.  What you're asking could absolutely be true but there are other variables as well.  Some suppliers get their herbs from places with longer growing seasons or they might have several growers in different areas.  It's also important to note that if an herb is dried, cured and stored properly, it's not an issue being carried over through the winter months.   I personally harvest/forage some of the herbs that I use in my skin care business but obviously, I can't harvest all year; so I cure my herbs instead of drying them (there's a bit of a difference) and I store them in a light tight closet.  Doing this, they retain a great deal of their potency so I imagine that a reputable herb seller is going to go to great lengths to make sure their herbs are high quality.

The first thing I would do is to ask the supplier.  Most are pretty forthcoming with their information.  If they're not, go somewhere else.  Then you can order small quantities from a few suppliers and see which ones you prefer.  You're still looking for a bit of a scent in most herbs.  Green herbs should still be pretty green.  If you get stinging nettle and it's brown, it's old.  The less broken down a plant is, the longer it will stay potent; so look for suppliers who don't pulverize the herbs.

As far as the supplier being out of stock - it doesn't mean that they're over harvested.  It could be exactly what you're asking; perhaps they've run out and they're not into their growing/harvesting season.  If they're getting the herbs from an herb farm, they only plant so much.  If the herb is wildcrafted, there are sustainability practices in place that keep us from harvesting too much of the plant (we need to leave enough in place so that the plants come back the next season).  

So there are a lot of variables, even for each individual plant.  Hope that helps

Good morning all!  I'm new to the forum and am so excited to have found it.    

We moved to Missoula last year and absolutely love it here - so much so that we're looking for a bit of land to build our little house on. The only downside to moving to a new place is not knowing anyone or having any resources when you're new to town.  I'm a bit of a forager and am looking for places in or near Missoula that are suitable for foraging & harvesting - be it wild places or someone's back yard.  I've been lucky in finding nettle, cleavers, dandelion (of course) and a few other things but thought I would put some feelers out into the universe.    I'm looking for fruits & wild edibles as well as medicinal herbs and things of that nature.  If you know of somewhere / someone or if you have foods & plants you're not using, I would love & appreciate you getting in touch with me.

Now, I'm off to spend a bit more time in the forums....