The Herbalist's Way: The Art and Practice of Healing with Plant Medicines by Michael Phillips & Nancy Phillips

Author:Michael Phillips & Nancy Phillips [Phillips, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781603581660
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Published: 2012-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

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Richo Cech

HORIZON HERBS in Williams, Oregon, is a seed company dedicated to preserving the diversity of medicinal plants from around the world. The Cech family grows more than five hundred species of herbs for seed, with about three acres under intensive cultivation. Richo Cech acknowledges that keeping these gardens looking good and productive are a full-time occupation. “We work really, really hard to provide our customers with viable seeds for improving their environment and their health. Cultivation of medicinal plants from seed is of absolutely imperative importance,” observes this Earth steward, “if we are to turn the global tide of degradation of native medicinal plant resources.”

The ways to do just that are shared liberally throughout the Horizon catalog, which includes a thorough description of germination requirements for each herb. This seed information covers all the essentials: light-dependent germinators need to be sown shallowly; some species do best started outdoors in nursery beds; certain seeds require scarification of their impermeable coating. Richo encourages gardeners to plant at-risk species such as arnica, Echinacea tennesseensis, and yellow gentian. The concept of plant conservation through organic cultivation rings clear throughout the catalog. Advice on how gardeners can incorporate herb use into their lifestyle is included. Marsh mallow root, for instance, can be cut into cross-sections and dried, later to be used as “tasty pills” that can be chewed as treatment for gastric ulcer.

Early on, Richo developed a bent toward ethnobotany while doing anthropological research on the coast of East Africa. “I came back home to Iowa and started doing the back-to-the-land thing with Mayche,” recalls Richo. “We focused more and more on medicinal herbs when we moved out to the West Coast. I was heavily influenced by Maude Grieve’s book, A Modern Herbal, right from the start.” He worked for Herb Pharm (a well-respected manufacturer of liquid herbal extracts) for a decade, first as the production manager in the fields, then as the staff herbalist in charge of making medicines. Horizon Herbs was conceived in 1985. “Our first catalog was basically a one-page list of seeds that we had harvested from our gardens. My mom saved a copy of that first list and sent it to me recently in a scrapbook. I had to laugh when I read the ordering details. Instead of the usual rundown of specific shipping and handling charges, it just said, trustingly, ‘send extra for postage.’”

Horizon Herbs will never stray far from the family vision on which this lovingly tended farm began. “Our kids were all involved with the seed work from the get-go,” Richo says.

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