Although it's still summer here where I live, I am now gathering my herbal medicines for the winter. I hang them up around my little cabin and set some on the metal drying rack I bought at a local thrift shop. When cold and flu season arrives, I will be ready.

Yesterday, a friend of a friend came over to talk herbs with me. She is at the beginning of her journey, whereas I've been actively learning about herbal medicines for more than two decades.

Our conversation got me thinking about some of the worst herbal mistakes I have made or know about. Naturally, I wanted to then share these with you so that you don't have to make the same mistakes that I did! I should note that some of these below are my errors, and some of these are the errors I have seen and heard herbalism green horns make. Read on and learn. 

Rely Solely on an App

Now, this one is super trendy these days. Just stick that smartphone of yours in the direction of any plant and it will tell you what it is. Personally, I see no benefit in this whatsoever. To me, the absolute foundation of herbalism is plant identification. 

Is learning plant identification fun? Well, yes and no. Like a lot of valuable skills on the homestead, it is actually a lot of work. It did not come naturally to me to learn the technical names for the shapes of leaves and how they attach to the stem. However, learning these has helped me understand how to look at plants and what distinguishes one plant (excellent medicine and good for you) from another plant (poison that could kill you). Apps can fail. There might not be cellular service during the Apocalypse. You will be in the forest and not actually know anything.