Spicebush, Lindera benzoin, is a wonderful wild spice. The berries should be collected when they are brilliant red in early fall. Watch your bush carefully as you will have to compete with birds for the harvest so try to get there first. Because the berries are difficult to dry, I use a technique I learned from Steve “Wildman” Brill, the famous Manhattan wild foods expert. Chop the fresh berries, including the seed, in a food processor until roughly ground. Spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight. The next day, scrape berries into a freezer container. Scoop out as needed and use in place of allspice or cinnamon. They go well with apples, pumpkin, winter squash, sweet potatoes, cider or a hot toddy.

I have occasionally used moonshine to make tinctures but only when I knew where it came from, which is difficult given the legal issues involved in making this potent liquor. If you have some you feel okay about, use it as you would grain alcohol, diluting as needed to make a custom menstruum.

No. Astragalus membranaceus is native to Asia though many other Astragalus species grow in North America. Here in the Appalachians mountains, A. canadensis or Canadian Vetch can be found in growing in fields. The roots of this and other species were used by American Indians for a variety of ceremonial, medicinal and food uses.

The medicinal properties of the root of Black cohosh, Actaea racemosa, seem to be stronger when the weather turns cold and the foliage begins to die back. Depending where you live this is usually sometime in October. While you can harvest the root in late summer after the flowers fade, I have found that the longer I wait, the better the medicine. One thing to keep in mind is that often the foliage fades completely before the first frost occurs. If this happens, you can sometimes identify the plant by the dried flower stalk with its distinctive bead-like seed pods that stands four to five feet straight up from the center of the plant.

My pleasure! There are few things more miserable than a few weeks of poison ivy rashes. And jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, is truly miraculous. It is also good for any kind of skin inflammation, insect bites or burns. I make jewelweed salve and use it frequently.