Harvesting Valeriana officinalis, originally collected in the wild for a Midwest Herb Fest 6 class with Mimi Hernandez. After that event they were transplanted to the garden.

Cleaning and preparing the harvested Valerian.

Extracting the essential oils from fresh Valerian using grain alcohol.

After distillation the remaining mark is burned to an ash.

You can see the herb begin to turn white.

Here the incineration is completed and the ash is ready to be dissolved in filtered water.

Tim Wilkerson, Herbal Alchemist.

Group photo, 2014, during the Plant Identification class in front of the herb garden.

From Crickets plant constituent segment.

Everyone taking turns preparing the plant for processing.

Weighing the amount of plant material used,
and recording it on paper for future reference.

The filtered ash/salts and water solution (left) are then married to the combined
essential oils and alcohol distillate (right) to complete the spagyric process.

Watching the recombination swirl together with an energy of its own.

Harvesting 3 Bloodroot plants, found during the plant identification walk, to make a spagyric tincture. These were located near an undeveloped access trail that is surely to get foot traffic this summer, so we harvested plants from the center of this small patch and left the larger patches undisturbed (photos right column).

Red sap leaking from a severed root. Pieces of root left behind will regenerate.

Extracting the essential oils from fresh Bloodroot using grain alcohol.

After distillation the remaining mark is burned to an ash.

You can see the herb begin to turn white.

Here the incineration is completed and the ash is ready to be dissolved in filtered water.

Our youngest student, participating in the herbal meditation segment.

Class photo, 2013

From Crickets plant constituent segment.

Cricket cooking dandelion flowers for a class snack.

The ash/salts having been dissolved in filtered water is then
poured through an unbleached coffee filter.

The filtered ash/salts and water solution are then married to the combined
essential oils and alcohol distillate to complete the spagyric process.

Watching the recombination swirl together with an energy of its own.