271: Brigitte Mars on Identifying Wild Plants.

Learning the identity and uses for common plants growing wild in North America..


Brigitte is an herbalist and nutritional consultant of Natural Health with almost fifty years of experience.  She is also the author of more than a dozen books and DVDs. However, today we are most interested in her mobile app for wild plant reference called iPlant.

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She teaches Herbal Medicine at Naropa University, and The School of Health Mastery in Iceland and has taught at Esalen, Kripalu, the Arise Festival and Mayo Clinic. Brigitte is the author of more than a dozen books and DVDs, including – The Home Reference to Holistic Health and Healing, The Country Almanac of Home Remedies, and her most recent book through Storey Publishing called Natural First Aid Handbook. 

In This Podcast:

Sharing her knowledge about wild herbs and plants is exactly what Brigitte Mars wants to do and she used modern technology to reach this goal. After an inspiring walk with a couple of Navy Seals, she focused on making a new mobile app specifically to help identify wild plants and educate on their uses and dangers if any.  She shares with us some common plant and what they are useful for along with a few suggestions on how to protect plants in your areas. 

Listen in and learn about: 

  • How her new app came about through an herb walk with a couple of Navy Seals 
  • More info about Purslane 
  • How to use the app to identify common plants 
  • Identifying a plant through the flowers 
  • Why knowing about plants in your area is important 
  • Learning to recognize the poisonous plants 
  • Identifying which parts can be used and how 
  • A bit about Stinging Nettle and ways to use this common plant 
  • Malva and how useful this plant is 
  • Lambs quarters and how this plant started everything for her 
  • Hybrids and plant evolution 
  • Water conservation 
  • Important things to recognize before using wild plants 
  • Knocking on neighbors’ doors to take their weeds 
  • Elder berries and flowers versus the leaves and roots 
  • Education and herb walks to help educate on the benefits of avoiding pesticides 
  • White clover as a habitat for bees 
  • Not using electric or gas mowers for lawn maintenance 
  • Use iPlant to figure out what the ingredients in herbal remedies offer 

Books written by Brigitte: 

See our list on Podcast 261 

How to reach Brigitte: 

Website: www.brigittemars.com

Producer’s note: Here is the link to Brigitte’s Podcast on Goats.

UrbanFarm.org/iPlant

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