Proper Record Keeping

The one thing I’ve found the most important, out of everything during my journey, (outside of good sources and lots of study and practice) is record keeping.

I cannot stress enough how much you just need to learn how to really love writing in order to properly learn about Herbalism. Everything is important to write down, from personal trial and error with plants, to herbal properties, to book lists, etc. At the very least, if you cannot write it, then it should either be printed out, or it should be typed up digitally.

In modern times, as I move to combine Medical, Magical, and Spiritual Herbalism, all of my information is kept within my BOS, all combined into a singular document along with every other element of my craft. But when I was first starting out I originally organized it into three categories across three 3-Ring binders:

⤃ 1. Herbal Information. I keep my lists of herb uses, properties, and so on here. It’s actually subdivided further into 3 additional categories: General information on herbal medicine; a Bibliography, Terminology, Classifications, list; and Herb spread sheets similar to Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

No. Not all of it’s handwritten. A lot of it was printed off from web sources, or typed up by hand and then printed, punched, and added to the binder. I printed out every single herb and it’s information from Annie’s Remedies. Their database is inconclusive, by far, but it’s still an extensive database, and it’s easier than sorting through all of my notes. This entire notebook serves as more of a “quick reference” for me when I can’t remember properties, need basic information on history, etc.

⤃ 2. Recipes. This notebook came from a program I signed up for when I was younger. Unfortunately it was “pay to continue” and I didn’t finish it. The notebook, however, now serves as a conglomerate for remedy and recipe storage. I keep all of my remedies, information on remedy types, treatment and dosage information in this one.

⤃ 3. Journal. My journal is really more “as needed”, but I do highly suggest keeping one, or at least digital records. Especially when you’re first starting out.

I literally write everything down here- from recipes I experiment with, my personal physical and mental reactions to different plants or recipes, notes to remind myself to study certain plants, or research different things more. Random notes to add to materials in either or my other books, etc.

Regardless of how you organize your own records, keeping them is the important bit. You cannot have a successful herbalism practice of any kind without significant record keeping- and the more organized that record structure is, the better off you will be; it is an element of your practice that should never be neglected under any circumstances.