[MPWG] Cultivation of Medicinal Plants

[Jean Giblette]

I know many growers in the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand who consider themselves to be the ORIGINATORS of this knowledge base of ecological cultivation.  Yes, there were the prophets -- Okada, Howard, Steiner, Voisin, Fukuoka -- but in the industrial world the machine worldview has ruled for a century.  Organics was an entirely grass-roots activity for 50 years in the U.S. until the Federal rule was formulated in the 1990s.  The agricultural education establishment was actively hostile to it.  [Steve Diver has been quite the exception to the norm, all along.]  I myself was rebuffed by my local Ag Extension agent in the early '90s when I began growing Chinese medicinal herbs -- now he's very courteous and helpful. Fortunately I was able to find enlightened academics, but many are encumbered by their institutions.  The ecological farmers have created their own separate teaching organizations, associations and conferences.
 
Bio-dynamics, historically, was developed only by growers, never the province of the academy or industrial concerns unless owned by Anthroposophists.  It was almost entirely underground until the 1990s in the U.S., as its practitioners were met with utter derision at the idea of following the course of the moon in their procedures, or using fermented herbal preparations in homeopathic doses.  As far as I'm concerned, a bio-dynamically cultivated herb is as good or better than a wild plant.  I visited two biodynamic medicinal plant gardens this past summer, in NY and Quebec, where the plants exhibited truly astonishing vitality.  It's so apparent I call it the "Findhorn effect."

For one moment, can we address class prejudice against farmers?  An anecdote will serve.  This past September at the conclusion of one of my workshops, an Oriental medicine practitioner in attendance told me that the weekend had changed his life.  He's a young African-American man, practicing in Jersey, whose ancestors were sharecroppers in North Carolina.  He said, "I always thought that farming was beneath me, something I would never want to be involved in.  Then I saw that man [referring to the bio-dynamic medicinal plant grower who was lecturing], how incredibly skilled and thoughtful he is, and how wide-ranging his knowledge.  And my whole worldview shifted."  He later told me he had enrolled himself and his two young children in a horticulture course.

To be ruthlessly frank, the big deficit of this listserve is that the growers are missing from the discussion.  I can afford the time to write this response only because I'm holed up after a snowstorm in January.

Ecological cultivation of medicinal plants is the way to go.


Jean Giblette, Director
HIGH FALLS GARDENS
Box 125 Philmont NY 12565 USA
518-672-7365
hfg at capital.net

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: JPS Kohli 
  To: MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org 
  Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 1:27 AM
  Subject: [MPWG] Cultivation of Medicinal Plants


  Steve Diver has further strengthened my belief that cultivation (bio-dynamic or organic or any other form it takes) will be the next big thing to happen in the field of medicinal plants. It is my belief that cultivation is the immediate next step forward which has to be understood before embarking on newer (and maybe better) methods towards conservation of medicinal plants. Good agricultural practices (encompassing all processes starting from soil preparation to harvesting/storage) needs to be implemented industry-wide and certification agencies will have an important role to play.
   
  Sadly, the growers/cultivators of medicinal plants are among the most inaccessible parts of the chain of supply in medicinal plants trade and the knowledgebase (as improved from time to time) takes an eternity to percolate down to them. Lets hope things change for the better sooner rather than later.
   
  Note for Steve Diver - Your website mentioned in your email is an awesome source of information. My compliments for this achievement.
   
  J P S Kohli (B. Pharm)
  Business Horizons
  Pharmaceutical Publishers
  G-59, Masjid Moth, GK-2
  New Delhi - 110 048, INDIA

  Ph: 91-921206 1554
  Fax: 91-11-5163 7296, 2921 1676
  E-Mail: info at businesshorizons.com
  Alternate: businesshorizons at yahoo.com
  Web Site: http://www.businesshorizons.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  MPWG mailing list
  MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
  http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org

  To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
                                                         
  Disclaimer                                                                
  Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc. reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20050107/f4715cec/attachment.html>