Bidens as an Herbal Antibiotic: A Case Study

by Dave Meesters I got curious about using Bidens species as an “herbal antibiotic” after reading about it in Stephen Buhner’s book Herbal Antibiotics (2nd edition, Storey Publishing, 2012).  I usually take the clinical information in Buhner’s books with a grain of salt, as he always seems to be reporting much more on the results …

Winter Reverie and Rant (and why its a good time for Hawthorn)

by Janet Kent  One of the great joys of living in the woods year round is watching the seasonal changes of the plants and landscape. While fall and spring in the Southern Appalachian Mountains are famously beautiful, winter receives less acclaim, except when the hills and trees are covered with snow. Though the snowy landscape …

Root Work

by Janet Kent This summer, I went with my mother to visit the cemetery where her parents and other relatives are buried, less than a mile from the one room shack where she and her three siblings grew up. My grandmother, Elizabeth Pitman Buchanan, died of tuberculosis when my mother was 9 years old—and even …

Dark Medicines: On Seeing Patients with “Bad Habits”

by Dave Meesters (This article was originally published in the Autumn 2013 edition of Plant Healer magazine.) Faced with a patient who habitually uses certain problematic herbs or substances such as tobacco, coffee, alcohol, cannabis, or harder drugs, most herbalists instinctively frown upon such use, or take a “harm reduction” approach that emphasizes the harm …