Spring is one of the classic times to work with tree medicine, during the season when the sap is rising, the vascular cambium is active with sap and nutrients, and the trees are waking back up. Below I share some of my favorite trees to work with in the spring and my hope is that even if you don’t have all of these trees in your bioregion, you at least have a few.

This past week my family and I got away for one last beach get-away to Maine. I love the languid and liminal days of late summer on the coast when the Rose Hips start to ripen and the ocean-side Goldenrod is in bloom- it’s my favorite time to visit.

Have you met Autumn Olive (Eleagnus umbellata) yet? I absolutely love this plant. It’s abundant, easy to harvest, is insanely good for you, and is wild plant we can harvest without concern of over harvest since it’s listed as “invasive” in many states (I prefer to call it “opportunistic”). Also called Autumn Berry and Japanese Silver Berry, this northeast superfood was introduced to the US in the 1830's.

Herbalism is trending and it’s easy to understand why. Plants are beautiful. They are powerful healers. Interacting with them feeds us-body/mind/spirit. So it’s no wonder that more and more folks are turning towards herbal medicine and learning the art and science of herbalism. For any budding herbalist the most exciting thing is wildcrafting herbs.