Once upon a time, I thought all the answers to my health problems were in my local pharmacy. There were people in white lab coats who could tell me what my latest medication would do for me, and would then explain all the things the medication could possibly do to me (Sweet sweet side effects; a little gastric bleeding and increased risk of seizure never hurt anyone). Nothing from the pharmacy ever made me better, but I had yet to learn about the other kind of medicine.
Over the weekend Josh, a fellow nutritionist, and I decided to hit up my parents’ mid-town Toronto front yard and harvest some ‘medicine’. My parents have four ginkgo biloba trees in their front yard.
Ginkgo is an awesomely healing herb.
- Beneficial for conditions of the circulatory system, particularly among the demographic of aged populations.
- Benefits the treatment of short-term memory loss, headache, tinnitus and depression by improving blood flow in the arteries and capillaries.
- Good extracts of the plant may prevent blood clotting and damage by free radicals as well as give an improved sense of well-being
- Traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine use the ginkgo as an astringent for the heart, lungs, as well as to treat asthma, bronchitis, wheezing, cough, etc.
- Benefit in regulating urinary frequency, diarrhea, gonorrhea, toothache, skin diseases, fever and other ailments, as well as being a digestive aid.
- High in antioxidants
After harvesting a great big batch of leaves, we made a portion into a tincture (check out how to make your own!), and the rest are currently maxing and relaxing in my dehydrator so I can grind them down to make teas and toss into smoothies.
What I have recently realized is that most of what we need for our healthy well-being, is literally out our front door (or our parents’ front as the case may be). Plants grow all around us and all too often we fail to recognize them, not only for what their healing properties might be, but in the case of my parents’ ginkgo trees, to even give it a thought in that direction. As it turns out, we don’t actually need a flourescent lit, open-24 hours pharmacy. A lot of what we need to maintain and regain health is sun-fed, moon-lit, free of charge, free of side effects and right there in front of us. We just have to look for it.
I am not suggesting you go out to your local park and start picking it clean of whatever you recognize. You could start by planting your own, to be ready next spring. You might even look into some herb walks/tours in your area. It’s amazing what grows all around us, we just have to stop and pay attention.
That is really cool! I never take any medicine anymore, I usually just let my body ride it out while eating nourishing foods
Just wanted to say, I love your gingko biloba-picking outfit! So bright and sunny. Brought a smile to my face this morning
gosh, the first two comments took the words right out of my keyboard! I was thinking the exact two things.
So cool and interesting! I love it!!
I went for a walk to the park yesterday and on my way home swooshing my feet through the leaves I came across a tree with those leaves you show in the last photo, on the ground. I didn’t know what it was. Thanks for this! Now if only I could get to know them so I could take their leaves.. lol.
hey! i’m currently living in South Korea where these plants grow along every street basically. do you know if there are different kinds of ginko trees? i ask because i have noticed that some have orange berry-like fruit (stinky little buggers!) and others don’t. do you know if i can harvest the leaves off any old tree?
thanks for any info you might have
What a lovely way to spend an afternoon (or morning). Outside, with friends, near family. Even without the ginko-y goodness you filled your time with good medicine.
Well pointed out Meghan. Just make sure that people don’t get these healing herbs confused with the other, er… medicinal herbs.
cool! i bought some elderberries from the farmer’s market a few weeks ago (they were too gorgeous not to buy, though i had no idea what i’d make with them), and when i got home and googled what to do with elderberries, tincture was the most popular idea.
i think i’ll do it! (the berries are hanging out in the freezer right now so removing them from their stems would be easy) just gotta go find my alcohol dealer (or lcbo as the case may be)
[...] cooler than that, is that I now have Gingko in my front yard, and Chaga out back. I think I have caught the wild crafting bug. More will surely come this summer [...]
[...] again I have been reminded that all the world’s a pharmacy. Remember last Spring how I made a whole big whopper of a deal about My Green Thumb? I had gone to [...]
[...] again I have been reminded that all the world’s a pharmacy. Remember last Spring how I made a whole big whopper of a deal about My Green Thumb? I had gone to [...]
tru dat
Trees have “male” and “female” species. I remember when the university I attended planted the wrong sex of a certain tree one year, and we were also plagued by stink berries that constantly fell on the ground and got walked over. I called them Poopberry Trees.
I doubt there is a difference between the leaves of the male and female ginko tree. Just don’t eat the berries.
Amazing! Let me know how it turns out.