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VOLUME 13 • NUMBER 4 |
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Learning the Legacy, Living the Lifestyle:
2006 Herbal Mountain Medicine Appalachian Tour
A Learning Vacation
In September a group of CCNH students and graduates, herbal enthusiasts, staff, and instructors gathered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a long weekend of learning the history and wisdom of Appalachian folk medicine. During the college’s annual fall travel event, Phyllis D. Light, director of herbal studies, and Darryl Patton, adjunct professor for herbal studies, led eager students through three and a half days of intensive study and hands–on experience with the medicinal plants and healing traditions of the Appalachia region. Travelers came from as far west as Seattle, Washington, and as far north as Poughkeepsie, New York, and from everywhere in between.
The four–day trip offered something for everyone. We heard the legacy of Patton’s mentor, the legendary Tommie Bass, and we studied the history of Appalachian folk medicine. We learned how to identify plants in the wild, and we made herbal teas, tinctures, soaps, and salves. The days were full of activity and we were “on the go” a lot, but the full experience was worth it.
A Rich History in Times of Poverty
After a welcome dinner in one of the Chattanooga Choo–Choo’s original ballrooms, Light gathered everyone into a circle to share her and Patton’s personal histories with plants and an overview of the folk medicine traditions of the area. Learning about the international influences on the region’s folk medicine traditions brought a deeper respect for the healing power of plants.
The earliest influences in the development of Southern folk medicine were the Native American uses of the plants combined with both the African healing techniques brought by the early slaves and the European humoral system brought by the Spanish, English, and French explorers and colonists. Light’s grandmother was Creek/Cherokee and handed down her knowledge of plants and healing techniques directly to Light when she was a young girl. The final influence on Southern folk medicine was the Scots–Irish, who migrated into the area during the 18th century, as they found the Appalachian landscape reminiscent of the mountains and lochs of Scotland.
Patton shared a brief history of his mentor, Tommie Bass and his teachings, around which much of the tour was centered. Bass’s family worked as sharecroppers at the turn of the 20th century. The Bass family, like the majority of post–Civil War Southern families and freed slaves, did not have access to the emerging advances in allopathic medicine and pharmaceuticals that more affluent people had. In fact, there were entire generations of Southerners raised between the Civil War and the Great Depression who knew only poverty in their lifetime.
Bass, known as “the herb doctor of Shinbone Ridge,” first learned about plants at the age of seven from an elderly African–American woman, Molly Kirby, who was a family friend. Bass never had a formal education in botany, biology, human anatomy, or herbal studies, but he had an innate wisdom and a capacity for identifying plants and learning their healing properties.
Patton and Light have both dedicated their lives to handing down the wisdom and work of their mentors and elders by teaching the current and future generations of traditional herbalists about the healing plants found in their own backyards. Light and Patton are living legacies and spending time with them, absorbing their generously shared knowledge, has a grounding effect. It affirms the efficacy of healing plants, and it gives one a sense of being more closely connected to the earth, to other people, and to a way of approaching health and wellbeing that has served humanity through the ages.
The Tougher the Life, the Heartier the Plant
Spending time in Light’s workshop making teas and tinctures, hitting the outdoor classroom to observe plants in the wild, and making salves, liniments, and soaps with Patton and fellow herbalist, L.C. Moon, were the real highlights of the journey. Seeing each herbalist in his or her element, doing what each does best, and loves to do, was nothing short of amazing. It is probably safe to say that everyone on the trip received a dose of inspiration watching the herbalists and participating in some of the processes for handling the plants.
While explaining the simpler’s method — using only one or two herbs at a time — of preparing herbal remedies, Light demystified making tinctures. She began the process by filling mason jars with freshly picked prickly ash berries and enough “cheap” vodka to cover them (brandy makes the best tasting tinctures, but any 80 proof alcohol will do), then sealing the jar, giving it a good shake and setting it aside. Do this with the desired herb — seal the jar and let it sit for at least two weeks — and you have a tincture. Alcohol is used both to preserve the herbs and to act as an extracting agent or solvent for releasing the chemical constituents of the plants.
Light also demonstrated the proper method for brewing herbal teas. It seems simple, but there are subtle nuances that can make or break the potency of the finished tea. It all begins with boiling water. Then add the plant to the water and allow it to come to a slow boil. When it comes to making teas, add the denser plant materials such as roots and bark to the water first because they take the longest amount of time to brew. Stems follow the roots and bark, then leaves, berries, and finally, the delicate flowers. Plants with a high volatile oil content, such as the mints, are only infused and never boiled. Strain the finished tea and serve with a bit of honey if desired. The group enjoyed a sample of wildcrafted scarlet sumac tea. It had a slightly bitter/sour, but refreshing, taste and a beautiful, deep coral color. Light considers the sumac tea to be a diuretic with anti-viral properties.
While Light made teas, Patton made an iron weed tincture and passed pieces of plant around for us to taste. He explained the benefits of wildcrafting, or the art of gathering herbs in the wild, and how to practice ethically. According to Patton, the tougher the life a plant has had, the heartier it is. Cultivated and preened plants do not produce as many phytochemicals. He suggested going at least 50 feet away from any roads and as high up on any ridges as possible to get the cleanest plants. Simply wash the plants to remove dirt and debris.
Both Light and Patton made a passionate case for ethical wildcrafting. An herbalist never removes the plant if it is the only one in the area when ethically wildcrafting. That one plant must be given the opportunity to multiply so the species will continue to be available in that particular area. They also suggest that, when possible, take only the required part of the plant. Let the roots and stalks remain in tact if only leaves or flowers are needed for a remedy. Herbalists and people who use medicinal plants inherit a responsibility to protect the environment and practice ethically so that these powerful healing traditions can be preserved and passed from one generation to the next.
How Do You Know So Many Plants?
Other hands–on learning experiences included several “weed walks” with Patton and Light and a day at Lake Guntersville State Park making herbal salves and soaps with Patton and Moon. The group gathered lakeside in the cool morning to observe the art of herbal soap making and learn about natural skin care with Moon. Because the process is time intensive, we watched a demonstration of pouring up a batch of organic lavender–orange peel glycerin soap. Each participant received a bar of this rich soap that smells fantastic and is an excellent exfoliant.
While discussing the benefits of caring for the skin with natural ingredients, Moon melted beeswax and jojoba oil to make a lip balm. She added sweet orange oil to the mix once it reached the right consistency. Then, we each took a turn pouring up our own little pot of balm. After letting the lip balm set for about an hour, everyone was enjoying its wonderful scent and amazing moisturizing properties.
After a picnic lunch and time to enjoy the lake and the surrounding nature, the group spent the afternoon making Bass’s original herbal salve with Patton. Bass learned the recipe from his English immigrant parents, who probably learned it from their parents, and he passed it on to Patton, who makes several batches a month. There is history and tradition in the salve itself.
While melting beeswax, Patton passed around bits of each plant that went into the salve, letting his attentive students smell and taste each ingredient. In a moment of feeling overwhelmed by the many disciplines (botany, biology, human anatomy, chemistry, biochemistry) one must master in order to make being an herbalist look easy, someone asked Patton how he knows so many plants and their healing properties. Patton replied, “How do you know what a tomato plant looks like?” Someone answered that we know how a tomato looks because we have learned what the plant and its fruit looks like. Patton said, “Exactly. It benefits you to know about the tomato plant. The same is true for every other plant you know.” We learn about the plants because they heal and nourish us. We need to know them.
Everyone took part in the salve–making process by cutting or tearing up plants, adding ingredients to the pot, or stirring it as it cooked. Once it was finished and cooled, Patton poured it into containers for each person to take home. According to Patton, the salve can be used to relieve all sorts of skin ailments including sores, wounds, and insect bites.
The benefit of hands–on learning cannot be underestimated. Watching and participating in the herbalist’s processes helped to bring all the various pieces of information together. It connected the plants with the people and the people with the traditions. Each person took away a bit of the Bass’s family legacy — the salve and centuries’ old traditions and knowledge — to share with their friends and families. Legacies are priceless.
See Rock City, Say Farewell
The last stop on the learning vacation was a leisurely day spent at Rock City, Chattanooga, enjoying the gardens, the vista of seven states, and the caverns. Patton led the group on a plant walk through the Rock City Gardens and amazed his audience with his immediate, authentic, and encyclopedic knowledge of plants. He emphasized the importance of using our senses when identifying plants in the wild. What does it look like? What does it smell and taste like? Is it bitter or sweet? How does the plant’s stalk, leaves, or flowers feel — smooth, rough, or sticky? Frequently, a plant’s characteristics are indicative of its uses — this is known as the doctrine of signatures. Everyone completed the weed walk with copious notes on each plant that Patton highlighted and with a fistful of various leaves and flowers to taste, smell, and study at a later time.
It was evident that the band of travelers was tired after the long weekend of absorbing information in the warm weather of the outdoor classroom. After a private farewell dinner at the Tennessee Aquarium, the elated, but weary, newfound friends said their goodbyes on the bus ride back to the hotel. It was time to shift from the relaxed mode of the learning vacation to the harried travel plans of Monday morning.
As everyone went their separate ways on Monday morning, each person carried a piece of the weekend’s experience with them to share with their friends and families. Bringing together like–minded individuals for educational opportunities like The Herbal Mountain Medicine Appalachian Tour is just one of the ways CCNH supports our distance–education students, graduates, and all who share the passion for natural health lifestyles and education.
Tara N. Brown
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