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part of the plant you are after, and collect only that part. A person might collect tap roots, woody roots, rhizomes (a thin runner-like root usually located just below the surface of the soil, such as those produced by mint or crab-grass), tubers (potato like roots), leaves, stems, flowers, berries, fruits, seeds, or whole plant. As it sounds, "whole plant" means that all parts of the plant are medicinal or useful. Look for precautions when researching a particular herb. The reason for this is that in some cases, one part of the plant may be very usable and medicinal while another part is mildly to strongly toxic. An example of this, though not an herb, but readily known by most people, is the potato plant. The potatoes, growing underground as part of the root system, are very edible, but the potato leaves are not, and can cause illness.

Collect only the amount of herbs that you can process fairly quickly. It doesn't do you, or the plant, much good if you collect so much that some will be thrown away. In my early years, on a fishing trip, I came upon a stand of very healthy succulent Water Cress, and promptly filled 2 pillowcases with them. When I got home, I put these in a bathtub to wash them, and only then did it occur to me that I had about 45 pounds of cress! Though for limited uses, cress can be dried, it simply does not store well. Thankfully, I know a number of people who love water cress, and I was able to give all but a couple pounds of it away, so there was no waste. Don't make this mistake. It is better to go out gleaning several times than to get too much and having to discard the excess in the compost pile, or worse still, in the garbage.

It is a great idea to have some idea of how you are going to prepare and store the herb before you collect it. For instance, a small amount of collected mint may be used fresh, but it only keeps for about a week in the refrigerator, so a large quantity will probably be dried. The reason this is important is, if you have limited space for drying, you will want to limit the amount of mint you collect, and will probably not want to collect much in the line of other herbs that require drying, at least until the mint has dried. Most of the time, it is not a good idea to dry herbs using a heat source unless it can't be avoided. If an herb contains volatile oils, heat will drive out the oils, leaving the dried herb far less effective. (Mint is an excellent example.)

When collecting, gather only the healthiest specimens

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