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FROM THE GROUND UP
Modern Herbalism is a Grassroots Movement by Patricia Staino
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s long as herbs have grown, their cultivation, gathering, preparation and sharing have synergized a kind of grassroots movement, spurred by neighbor helping neighbor and “hyped” by word of mouth. Herbalism goes back thousands of years, to early healers and mystics, although in the last century or so, its purpose was obscured and its practice frequently misunderstood. “I’ve been working as an herbalist for nearly 25 years, and one of the things I hear more than anything else is people don’t know what [herbalism] means,” says Lupo Passero of Twin Star, a New Milford-based apothecary and school of herbal and energetic arts. “They either think I grow cannabis for a living or that I’m a naturopathic or homeopathic doctor, which I don’t and I’m not. There’s a lot of confusion about what an herbalist is.”
Better Together
According to the American Herbalist Guild, herbalists are people who dedicate their lives to working with medicinal plants. They include, but are not limited to, native healers, scientists, naturopaths, holistic medical doctors, researchers, writers, herbal pharmacists, medicine makers, wild crafters, harvesters, herbal farmers and possibly your own grandmother. The scope of related vocations makes sense when you realize 16
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how many of their tools are rooted in the soil under our very feet. Joan Palmer, a nutritionist and community herbalist, found the connections intriguing; the symbiosis of food, health, health, healing and lifestyle motivated her to start The Institute Of Sustainable Nutrition in West Granby. She had completed her degree in human nutrition, but felt that her course of study, and many like it, focused narrowly on a statistic of what food is. I was really frustrated because I knew that the nutrients found in a carrot are not the same if they are grown with chemicals in lifeless soil as opposed to being grown by sustainable, regenerative gardening practices,” she says. “I knew we couldn’t talk about nutrition and not also talk about the health of the soil, herbs, and what grows in our area, both wild and cultivated. From there it became a whole picture of sustainability.” The one-year certificate program Palmer developed around sustainable nutrition takes her students on a journey from science to gardening and foraging, to culinary skills like fermentation, to herbalism, preparing healing remedies, and even mixing up their own cleaning and body care products. While some students attend to round out their professions, many more attend to educate themselves on sustainable practices to improve their well-being. “This is truly a community movement,” she says.
