The Importance of Locally-Grown Herbs
Why buy local herbs?
When an herb is grown and processed within your community, you can know every aspect of the methods used to produce your herbal preparation. You can learn the growing practices, the processing techniques -- you can even know what the attitude is like of the person handling the herb. Is the person cheerful, peaceful? Are they happy to be picking or cleaning the herb? You can be confident that you are receiving the highest quality product available.
Garbling goldenrod that’s been foraged/wildcrafted on the farm.
Local herbs are vibrationally aligned with your body.
Locally-grown herbs connect you with the natural rhythms of our regional ecosystem. The plants have experienced the same weather you have all season: the same rainy June, the same drought in August. The plants experience the shortening daylight and dropping temperatures the same way that you do. The energy of the plants is already more in tune with your body's energy. Thus, when you consume the plants, their energy is already more available to you. Taking ashwagandha root that lived out its life in the climate of India will be a very different experience than one that was harvested during a New Jersey October, after experiencing a New Jersey growing season. The energy within this plant is already more aligned with your body's energy.
You can trace the supply chain of local herbs.
It is also important to know that herbs we use have been harvested sustainably. Many exotic herbs are over-foraged in other countries or even our own forests or deserts. It is crucial to the future of herbalism that we preserve our natural plant communities. When purchasing herbs that grow in other ecosystems, we have little way of knowing the sustainability of the harvesting practices. We have an abundance of medicinally-potent herbs available to us in New Jersey. In prioritizing these local herbs for healing we honor the natural bounty of our ecosystem.
For more information about the herbal supply chain, I highly recommend this book: