Yesterday i ventured out to Warren Wilson to meet with my mentor. We spent most of the day inside the herb cabin. He showed me the final products created from the herbs. Among these include some teas, balms, lipbalms, salves and oils. He showed me where they store the herbs when they are just in the leaf form, and he showed me examples of the herbs in the middle stage, where they are mixed with a liquid and stored so that the next step in the process will be turning them into one of the items mentioned in the final stage. I was taken up to the drying room, and got to see the procedure used for drying out the leaves correctly. I learned how to shuck a plant called Ladies Mantle, the trick being to get the leaves and flowers and try to keep from getting the stems in. You then pour what you have got off the plant into jars and label them for storage. I also learned how to harvest. We went out and collected golden rod, then i learned how to rubber-band them together and add a hook so that they may be hung up to dry.
|
|