Product Categories
- Bulk Herbs
- Capsules, Non-GMO & Vegetarian
- Children's Herbs
- Culinary Herbs and Organic Spices
- Gluten-Free
- Herbal Extracts with Organic Alcohol
- Herbal Extracts, Alcohol-Free
- Medicinal Herb Oils
- Men's Herbs
- Organic Teas
- Specialty Herbal Products
- Supplies: Bottles, Containers, Tea Preparation
- Topical Herb Applications
- Women's Herbs
Conditions
Our Organic Goldenseal Project
Here at Oregon's Wild Harvest, we have many goals to make sure this business - and the herbs we grow - remain sustainable into the future. One of our goals is to create a complete herbarium, which includes keying out all of our plants to guarantee true genius and species. We are also seed collectors and maintain a good supply of certified Biodynamic® and organically grown traditional medicinal seeds for our use as well as to share with others who would like to experience growing medicinal plants.
Our Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) project is a good example of our goal of sustainable harvesting practices. Goldenseal is an endangered plant due to over-harvest in the wild. Harvesting and digging of medicinal plants still provides an income to many rural families. If sound harvesting practices are used faithfully and consistently, this practice can continue to provide an income for future generations. Wise and sustainable wildcrafting will not hurt wild plant populations, and, if done correctly, will actually help to improve those plant populations.
The problem is that because of the high demand and the short-sightedness of many wild crafters, these plant populations are now in trouble. Additionally, loss of natural habitat, clear cutting, and over-use of herbicides and other poisons have also resulted in endangering this useful and powerful herb.
Our goal is to create a natural setting where Goldenseal seed will germinate.
The standard method of cultivation is to cut and transplant, spreading the bright yellow, rhizomes. This process works, but does not work well for increasing root mass. So although using root cuttings works for starting the plants growing from seed, a more natural way will work much better.
The challenge is that it appears to be very difficult to get the seeds to germinate. Our research indicates that the collection and treatment of the seed varies widely in all available literature. So we are trying several methods to try and provide conditions that are similar to plants that grow in the wild. A ripe fruit can contain 20 to 30 seeds. We expect to have up to 30,000 seeds available for our test. Even if we can get 50% of that number, it will be a great start into the future of the Goldenseal plant and its survival.
Our Goldenseal project is of utmost importance, not only to meet our production needs with good clean organic plant material, but also to ensure that these plants are here for future generations.
