Spring and Summer Edible Plant Walks

Tomas Enos, PhD of El Milagro Herbs in Santa Fe is leading wild plant walks this spring and summer in Santa Fe, NM

The following green plants were found on our walk after the winter months:

Spearmint- Mentha spicata

Yellow Dock- Rumex crispum

Hierba de la Negrita (Scarlet Globe Mallow)-Sphaeralcea coccinea

Mallow-Malva neglecta

Catnip- Nepeta cataria

Burdock- Arctium lappa

The second session I talked about wild foods and herbs for Allergies, a common ailment of the spring. The third walk will take place on May 1st from 9 am to 1 pm. Everyday more edible plants are pushing up throught the ground providing us with an abundant amount of free food.

I have found that the nutritional content of wild foods is much higher than cultivated, even organic, foods. The alkaloid content has more healing properties in wild foods which clears out toxins from organs like the liver and enhances our immune systems.

How many people do you know who are eating very healthy foods but are chronically ill? It is my belief that our bodies need a regular amount of alkaloid-rich foods that are available from native wild plant sources. Our ancestors did eat a good amount of those plants; our agriculturalists bred many of our modern crops to taste LESS BITTER and consequently with less healing alkaloid content.

Stay posted with me about more walks, apprenticeships, and gatherings! Just remember a few key guidelines when harvesting wild plants:

1. Don't overpick plants from any area.

2. Pick in clean areas away from pollution and roads.

3. Before ingesting any plant be absolutely sure it is what you want it to be.

4. Give thanks for your harvest, although these plants are free, we need to honor the gift and the knowledge about them.

5.When just starting always eat a very small amount of a plant. Our digestive systems are not accustomed to these foods which are also medicine. Eating too much may cause stomach upset and diarrhea.

6. Be creative in your wild food preparations, make them taste good with exciting recipes. Most people are doubtful of a new food but will love it if it tastes delicious!

The Herbalist Manifesto

Whereas, our ability to utilize herbal medicines has been carried on for generations and the knowledge to use plants for healing has been passed on successfully from our ancestors so we may pass it on to our children.

Whereas, our ancestors through the millennia formed a relationship with plants for the purposes of nurturing and healing our families and communities which has insured our survival throughout the world.

Whereas, the development of distinct traditions of herbal medicine practices throughout the world has resulted in the most widespread medical system accessible to everyone regardless of culture, class, or economic status.

Whereas, thousands of plant medicines have been developed and utilized successfully worldwide for the benefit of community health and those medicines are a reflection of sharing of cultural knowledge and practices about our ecosystems and human health.

Whereas, the utilization of plants for healing is a basic right for everyone and is a demonstration of our many cultures relationships with the air, soil, water, and seeds, as well as a reflection of agricultural practices and spiritual practices.

Whereas, the connection of plants and people as native to a specific area makes them vitally interdependent for community health and essential to protect for future generations.

Whereas, the continuation of our connection to the land for securing plant medicines is essential for ecosystem health, biodiversity, communal, familial, individual, and spiritual wellbeing.

Whereas, the practice of herbal medicine embodies the caring for the land, water, seeds, and native ecosystem while forming an inseparable connection to our Mother Earth and each other.

Whereas, the caring for the Earth and the plant world is an important part of our traditions and security for the future.

Whereas, wild harvesting and cultivating herbal medicines are two essential aspects of community health.

Whereas, the overharvesting of certain wild or native plant species has resulted in a loss of biodiversity and a resulting impoverishment of the Earth and human community.

Whereas, purely economically-driven land practices have depleted our plant species, land, water, and air quality, as well as jeopardized human health.

Whereas, local and regional herbal medicine practitioners have been adversely affected by overharvesting of plants from the wild and unsustainable agricultural practices.

Whereas, the access to plants for medicine has been negatively affected by purely economical interests and risks ecosystem health and human health while damaging cultural, ceremonial, and spiritual wellbeing.

Whereas, countries throughout the world now participate in international commerce of herbal plants and medicines and indirectly participate in ecosystem and cultural erosion.

Whereas, many indigenous cultures of the world maintain intellectual property rights to the utilization of certain plants for medicine and ceremony and are harmed by purely economical and unsustainable practices.

Whereas, herbal medicine practitioners and ceremonial leaders have served to protect plants for human health and are the originators of the knowledge that now serves a wide spectrum of people including profit-serving businesses.

Now therefore let it be resolved that:

The traditional cultures and herbalists and their sustainable land practices that supported the evolution of herbal medicine until today seek to continue the ways of plant medicine utilization as given to us.

The herbalists, land stewards, and ceremonial leaders seek to perpetuate the herbal traditions to youth including protecting, wild harvesting, growing, and using plant medicines for health and wellness.

We will work with individuals, businesses, tribes, communities, and governments to protect our natural environment and the ability to gather medicine for human health.

We will work to protect our plant medicines from unsustainable harvesting, unsustainable agricultural practices, environmental contamination, greed, private ownership, and misuse.

We will work with each other to create documentable and sustainable practices to ensure the viability of plants for medicine and the practice of herbal medicine.

We will work together with farmers, land stewards, and communities to create programs for the revitalization of herbal medicine traditions, practices, and environmental wellbeing.

Damianita

Chyrsactinia mexicana, also known as Damianita, used only as a landscape plant in the U.S. but widely harvested in northern Mexico as a medicinal. It has been found to inhibit Apergillus flavus, a fungus that affects human respiratory function. A. flavus is known to grow in dry climates and also on grain while in storage; that means it grows on many food crops like corn and wheat which we later ingest. Do you know someone with breathing problems, low energy, low immunity, chronic infections, poor digestion and overall weakness? It could be attributed to a fungal infection such as Aspergillus because we are exposed to it so regularly. In the
Southwest we have numerous people with fungal/mold infections. Many cannot eat even pure, organic food because the infection has gone so deep into their immune systems.

Fungus and mold are hard to detect and many insurance companies do not like to cover the expense as it can be found in so many places and people.

Research at The Institute of Social Security in Monterrey, Mexico also found Chyrsactinia mexicana to show the greatest antimicrobial activity against the drug-resistant strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogenic bacteria species attributed to tuberculosis, which also affects our lungs. Information was reported in The Journal of Ethnopharmacology Volume 109, Issue 3, pages 435-441.

Watch my mini-video about Damianita that is growing at my lab in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I will be extracting compounds in the leaves for patients who have respiratory issues such as those mentioned above. I also recommend a specialized diet for optimizing lung healing and recuperation. Please contact me about consultations and advice at drenos@milagroherbs.com

Paz,

Tomas

Chaya

Chaya is Cnidoscolus chayamansa a plant in the Euphorbiaceae family. It primarily grows in tropical areas, although as you will see in my video clip here it can grow quite well in greenhouses in cooler climates. Chaya is well known in Mexico as a common edible plant; the leaves are harvested and used either fresh or dried and then made into delicious and nutritious

drinks and foods. As a Super Green Food Chaya is unparalleled in vitamin and mineral content. It has 3 times the protein content as common spinach. I find it beneficial for increasing my energy level and providing many of the trace minerals I don't get in food. In Mexico it is also reknowned as a weight loss herb, as well as mitigating diabetes and kidney ailments. Many markets in Mexico sell Chaya fresh and then locals blend it into smoothies or jugos/liquados, tamales, or even tortillas. Chaya as a plant has been endorsed by the Mexican Department of Agriculture as a highly prized crop that is inexpensive to grow and high in nutrition. Check out my link to Answers.com and you will see how high Chaya ranks nexts to other green, leafy vegetables; the highest! www.answers.com/topic/chaya-plant.

My business partner, Dr. Edwin Riley, and I are in the process of commercializing Chaya in the U.S. by growing it in ideal climates and producing Chaya products. To date we have produced liquid extracts, powder, and Energy Bars. We are currently seeking investors to develop our Chaya business, if you are interested contact me. We have a full business plan and are ready to go!

Damianita

Hierba de la Negrita