The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale
About this ebook
"[A] beautiful and informative book . . . A dirt-smudged copy should be within easy reach of every home gardener or farmer who grows—or wants to grow—medicinal plants."—Michael McGuffin, President, American Herbal Products Association
Both a business guide and a farming manual, The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer will teach readers how to successfully grow and market organic medicinal Western herbs.
Whether you’re trying to farm medicinal plants, culinary herbs, or at-risk native herbs exclusively or simply add herbal crops to what you’re already growing, successful small-scale herb farmers Jeff and Melanie Carpenter will guide you through the entire process―from cultivation to creating value-added products.
Using their Zack Woods Herb Farm in Vermont as a backdrop, the Carpenters cover all the basic practical information farmers need to know to get an organic herb farm up and running, including:
- Size and scale considerations
- Layout and design of the farm and facilities
- Growing and cultivation information, including types of tools
- Field and bed prep
- Plant propagation
- Weed control, and pests and diseases
- Harvesting, as well as wild harvesting and the concept of geo-authentic botanicals
- Post-harvest processing
- Value-added products and marketing
The authors also provide fifty detailed plant profiles, going deeper into the herbs every farmer should consider growing, including:
- Arnica
- Calendula
- Echinacea
- Ginko
- Ginseng
- Peppermint
- Saint John’s Wort
- Valerian
In an easy-to-understand, practical, and comprehensive manner, readers will learn how to focus on quality over quantity, and keep costs down by innovating with existing equipment, rather than expensive technology. Market farmers who have never before considered growing medicinal herbs will learn why it’s more important to produce these herbs domestically.
The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer makes a convincing case that producing organic medicinal herbs can be a viable, profitable, farming enterprise. The Carpenters also make the case for incorporating medicinal herbs into existing operations, as it can help increase revenue in the form of value-added products, not to mention improve the ecological health of farmland by encouraging biodiversity as a path toward greater soil health.
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About the author
Jeff and Melanie Carpenter co-run Zack Woods Herb Farm in Hyde Park, Vermont. Jeff Carpenter has farming in his blood. Descended from generations of Vermont farmers, Jeff deepened his love and understanding of plants through an apprenticeship with Rosemary Gladstar and as the former co-owner of Sage Mountain Herb Products and the International Herb Symposium. Since those early days, Jeff’s work as a farmer, agricultural consultant, author, educator, and researcher has focused on the cultivation, conservation, and marketing of medicinal herbs. His passion for the green world is evident as he spends his days working in the fields and in the community.
Melanie Carpenter grew up at Sage Mountain with her stepmother, herbal visionary Rosemary Gladstar. It was from Rosemary that Melanie first cultivated a love for medicinal plants. Over the last twenty years, Melanie has worked in the field of medicinal herbs as a farmer, community herbalist, educator, and mother. She believes that some of the most profound teachings and healings come from working on the land with the plants and works to help people explore and deepen their connection to the green world.
