Do you have a patch of wooded land on your homestead, or even a shady nook that doesn’t get much traffic? If you’d like to put that land into production for cash flow, or if you’re an herbalist who would like to grow your own herbs, I invite you to consider these woodland herbs for forest farming on the homestead.
In agricultural circles, these woodland herbs are one of the many non-timber forest products that can be produced on a small scale. The woodland savvy among us called them NTFPs for short.
NTFPs are emerging as a viable source of income for those of us with forestland on our farms and homesteads. They’re also valuable to grow for our own use, even if we never sell or trade them.
I really should say that these herbs are RE-emerging as a viable source of income and profit because these plants have been cultivated, harvested, used, and traded or sold for generations. From native tribes to farm wives, these woodland herbs have been appreciated and cultivated for generations.
It should also be noted that while woodland herbs are typically those found in the understory of the forest in full shade to dappled shade, some of the following herbs can be found in part shade at the edge of the forest.
Learning to observe your native woodland herbs – placement, soil, water, sun exposure – is vital to figuring out how best to grow your own.
Other Herb Articles For When You Have Time:
50+ Herbs for That Grow in the Shade
Winter Sowing – Starting Seeds Outdoors
Woodland Herbs for Forest Farming
This article is a bit long, so here’s a list of what we’ll be discussing:
- A short list of typical woodland herbs in North America and where to find planting stock.
- Basic cultural requirements for growing woodland herbs, which are different in their needs from Mediterranean and wild, prairie herbs.
- Preparing your planting site and managing pests.
- How to harvest, preserve, and market woodland herbs. This includes some value added products to consider if you’re selling your herbs, and making your woodland apothecary for your own use.
- Suggested resources for learning more because this is a huge topic!
Woodland Herbs to Consider Growing
Each of these suggested herbs have different monetary values and those fluctuate from year to year. You also need to consider their value to you.
Maybe you don’t have an obvious market for natural dye plants like bloodroot but you’re a weaver and really want to dye your own wool with natural materials.
- This makes bloodroot (and others) valuable to you for that reason alone!
There are many values to place on any given homestead element besides money, as valuable as money can be.
You may see some of these herbs show up on several lists and that’s because they perform multiple functions. In permaculture, we call this stacking functions and it’s a highly desirable trait!
Wellness/Medicinal Herbs
Here are a few short lists of herbs to consider grouped by function.
- Black Cohosh
- Blue Cohosh
- Boneset
- Elderberry
- Elecampane
- False Unicorn Root
- Ginseng
- Goldenseal
- Jewelweed
- Nettle
- Oregon Grape
- Solomon’s Seal
- Spikenard
- Trillium
- Winterberry
Food Crops
- Elderberry
- Nettle
- Ramps
- Watercress
- Winterberry
- Wood Sorrel
Natural Dye Plants
- Alkanet (takes awhile to germinate, requires shade to reach transplant size, and then is planted out to full sun.)
- Bloodroot
- Butterfly Pea (Not a woodland herb at all but so gorgeous I had to include it on this list! It does require some shade and fixes nitrogen in the soil, so it may be a worthy inclusion with your woodland edge herbs.)
- Elecampane
- Nettle
- Oregon Grape
- Our Lady’s Bedstraw
- Sweet Woodruff
For more ideas, here’s a list of 50+ Herbs That Grow in Shade – you’ll see some of our woodland herbs listed here.
How to Grow Woodland Herbs – the Basics
Woodland herbs are different from Mediterranean herbs like rosemary and others like basil. They like shaded habitat, damp soil, and quiet spaces where they can grow undisturbed.
Nearly every garden, except those in the desert, have such a space – even urban gardens! If you want to grow these woodland herbs in small amounts for your own use, I encourage you to try them.
If you have a larger track of forested area on your homestead, you might consider growing woodland herbs for profit – either commercial sale, farmer’s markets, or even trade.
Locating Planting Stock
Here are only a select number of places you can find planting stock for woodland herbs since they’re not the most popular herbs that people commonly purchase. However, the following places provide wonderful options for growers.
Be sure to look around these websites for their woodland or shade native plants and herbs. These sources have seeds, but many also have rootstocks, rhizomes, and plant starts.
The Meadow Project is technically for meadow replanting/rewilding, but they have a fantastic interactive map of the US. To use it, click on your state and it will bring up native plant providers in your area.
- Many of these have shade and woodland collections of native plants that you can purchase. Meadow Project is a great resource!
If you’d like to save money and start your own seeds, be sure to read up on the ins and outs of this process for woodland herbs, which are reliably tricky to get started from seed.
- Many require cold (and sometimes warm) stratification, which is a process of providing an environment of just the right temperature and damp.
- Several types of woodland herbs have long germination times, from weeks to months to even years!
The process of providing stratification for tricky seeds is SO much easier when you’re starting your seeds outdoors. This is often called winter sowing.
Done without grow lights, heat mats, or any fancy equipment, you can start seeds outdoors in containers to grow up healthier, sturdier stock that is far more acclimated to the growing conditions it will experience as it grows.
- To learn the basics of winter sowing, please visit our article: Winter Sowing – Starting Seeds Outdoors.
- For a fantastic article that covers many of the details of starting these woodland herbs from seed, please read Cultivating Forest Medicinals.
Not only does this article cover seed starting, but it also covers a lot of vegetative propagation. Which is a gardener’s way of saying, starting hard-to-grow plants by harvesting parts from already flourishing plants and planting those starts on your homestead.
- Getting plant starts from a friend or neighbor is one of THE BEST ways to start these tricky woodland herbs on your own homestead.
- The VERY BEST way is to find them already growing on your homestead so youcan simply expand your patch to suit your production needs.
Either way, learning how to start new plants from roots and rhizomes will save you a lot of money and time. Not all woodland herbs can be started this way – some really do need to be started from seed – but when you can, do it!
Cultural Requirements
If you’re not starting your woodland herbs from seed, you’ll most likely plant when the bareroots are dormant, in the cooler weather of fall.
- You can transplant from your site to newer patches then, too, if you already have woodland herbs growing in your woods and you want to create a new patch.
It’s common practice to do a soil test to get an idea of what you’re workint with. Will you need to add calcium or lime? Should you add compost, etc.?
You can also observe which plants are already thriving on your land in your native soil.
- These may be the best woodland herbs to start with because you already know they’ll do well in your area without adding potentially expensive amendments.
- It’s also recommend that you do a nematode test to see if you have these root destroying critters. (More on those guys in the Pest section.)
The Best Soil & Light
You will need loose, friable soil for easy growth and to easily harvest your woodland herbs. These herbs are slow growers, so make it as easy as possible for them by giving them loose soil.
The simplest way to do this is to add natural mulch that is already produced in abundance in forested areas. Leaf litter, pine needles, etc. can be harvested and used in your woodland herb plots.
- This will most likely be in the forested/wild/outer area of the zone 5 sections of the homestead, but other areas could be producing mulch in bulk, as well.
Most woodland herbs need 70-75% shade cover to produce well and reliably. If you’re growing your woodland herbs in a manufactured setting (outside of the zone 5 forested area), you can use shade cloth to shelter your herbs.
However, trees are better suited to this task because they do it naturally in the forest. They’re also more advantageous for the homestead environment in that trees are perfect for carbon and nitrogen sequestration, and holding water in the soil. They also constantly shed compostable materials!
- I extol the virtues of trees on the homestead and small farm in this article: Trees to Plant & Forage: Best Firewood + Other Uses.
Companion/Guild Planting
If you look around your woodland areas, you’ll notice that different plants often grow close to each other and seem to benefit each other in the environment. As gardeners, we mimic this system in our own gardens by using companion plants; in permaculture, we call this guild planting.
A good example of woodland herb companion growers are goldenseal and ginseng, which often grow together. In fact, a good way to know if you might have ginseng in your forest is to look for its various companion plants, including goldenseal.
Additionally, keep a weather eye open for non-native plants that might become invasive and take over your herb plot.
A Note on Allelopathy
Be aware of any allelopathy of plants in your forest. Basically, this is where some plants are damaging to the growth of other plants.
Here’s a simple definition of allelopathy in plants from our article Create A Vegetable Plant Guild,
Experimentation is the best way to learn what performs well in your area and in your garden. However, be aware that some plants have allelopathic characteristics, which means they can harm or stunt the growth of other plants. These plants produce biochemicals that are basically in competition with other plants chemicals in the soil. “
The most common example of allelopathy in the forest is that of black walnut trees spreading the chemical jugalone into the soil from their roots and even the nuts themselves.
- Jugalone can be a growth inhibitor for other trees like apples, deadly even. However, as is common in the forest, other plants have adapted to live around walnut trees just fine.
- For example, wild ginger can live under walnut trees!
These allelopathic characteristics aren’t all bad, as we note in the article. However, you should be aware of them all the same.
- Be sure to note everything in your herb journal!
Preparing the Site: A Note on Controlled Burning
If you want to use controlled burning to prepared your woodland herb site, the first thing you have to do is be sure it’s legal in your area. Call your local fire department first thing!
- If it is legal, you will most likely need to pay a permit fee, FYI.
It’s possible your local branch of the conservation or forestry department has someone who can consult with you, make a plan, and even help execute the burn. This is fire and you want to get all the help you can find to be sure you do it correctly and safely.
You may also have local burn coalition groups that you can turn to for help. These groups are popping up in my state and they may be in yours, too.
Burning can help remove small, stubborn perennials and annuals from your planting bed. It can also provide valuable nutrients.
Once cleared of competition, the soil is ready for you to begin to plant your woodland herbs!
Observation
Once you plant, get into the habit of checking on your woodland herb patch regularly, especially if it’s not close to your house but off in zone 5 where it belongs. Schedule regular checks and put them on your calendar or set an alarm on your phone.
Keep a small notebook and pen in your pocket to jot down little things you might notice about the site or the plants.
- Observing and interacting with our garden enterprises is one of the most basic things we can do to ensure abundant production on the homestead.
Before you get started planting woodland herbs, be sure to check around your local woods and forested areas. Also, naturally, check your own woodland area on your land.
See which of these herbs are already growing natively and what the conditions are in these places. You’ll most often find them under trees.
Some plants have natural pests that are often deterred by intentional companion planting. Again, in permaculture, we call this guild planting.
Pests of Woodland Herbs
Beware of deer and digging animals like voles, which can decimate woodland herb patches in very little time.
To deter deer, you can set up a double deer fence around your patch of herbs. Living Traditions Homestead can show you the basics.
You can can also cage the woodland herb patch. There are various ways to do this from building a lumber frame to using simple PVC pipe. I’ll link a few ideas here for you to see:
- If you only have one plant to cover, maybe try this quick plant cage from Stone Family Farm.
- Very basic DIY vegetable garden cage from My Simply Simple if you have a raised bed area to cover.
- Here’s something a bit stronger and more durable for repeated use: Raised garden bed with a cage from Fun Home Building.
Nematodes are another pest that can prey on some woodland herbs. Nematodes are microscopic, transparent worms of various kinds that live in the soil. Some are actually beneficial, while others are parasitic and harmful to plant life.
Test your soil for nematodes by sending a soil sample into your nearest agricultural college or extension office (in the U.S.).
- Illinois State has a decent PDF explaining how to take soil sample for a nematode check. You’ll want to do this BEFORE you plant.
Honestly, human pests who break into your patch and steal your profitable crop can be the worst pests there are!
- Be careful with whom you share your woodland herb venture and how many people you let see it or even know that it’s there.
Harvesting
Some woodland herbs take years to mature, so getting to the harvesting stage is a long game. When it’s time, here are some things to keep in mind.
- You’ll need to know whether you’re harvesting leaves, flowers, or roots for each plant. Keep your herb books handy!
- Be sure to shake off loose soil or other grime during harvest to keep your piles tidy and easier to clean later.
- Keep each plant separate as you’re harvesting and have a different basket for each part – root, leaf, flower, etc.
- Work with another person to get done and get the herbs back to wherever you’ll be cleaning and preparing them for immediate sale or for preservation. If you’re dealing with something like ramps, you’ll want to clean, process, and get them to market asap.
It’s helpful to have a processing room or other designated space for cleaning and preparing your herbs.
Cleaning Woodland Herbs
As with most of this advice, this is all herb-specific. Leafy parts can usually be shaken to remove topical loose dirt, but roots require more attention. In general, when thinking about cleaning herbs:
- Lightly spray water on leaves and flowers only if necessary and gently shake them to dry them further. I only do this if they’re very obviously dirty.
- With rhizomes and roots, though, be prepared to wash them thoroughly in a big tub. If your harvest is large and you’re producing on enough of a scale to warrant it, use a cement mixer body with its own plastic barrel for easy cleaning. The barrel should ONLY be used for herbs and nothing else.
For all cleaning and processing, an outdoor sink will make life easier because these herbs can get messy with mud, especially the roots!
Preserving the Harvest
Once harvested, be sure that the area you’re drying them in has good air circulation with minimal dust and no direct sunlight.
I like to have a collection of screens of various sizes for drying herbs. Many can be hung to dry, but screens are helpful for roots especially.
- I’ve had screens the size of a door (literally, it was a repurposed screen door with new screen) and some as small as picture frames that stacked.
You can also use cheesecloth in place of screen, or to lightly cover herbs to keep the flies off while they dry.
Please read our article for more information on how to harvest herbs in general.
Preparing Rhizomes & Roots
All roots should be clean and hairy parts removed before preserving. This can be tedious but it’s important to ensure that the rhizome or root is free of anything that will lead to spoilage.
Plus, if you’re marketing these parts, they’ll simply be more appealing clean and fiber-free.
To preserve them:
- Cut the roots into smaller pieces as uniformly as possible to dry quicker and more evenly.
- If the skin is thick over the root, peel it to enable it to dry better.
- You can use air-drying screens, a dehydrator, or a freeze dryer.
- Store them in airtight containers out of direct sunlight – this is true for ALL herbs.
To Harvest Seeds from Woodland Herbs
Wait for seedheads to mature and dry on the plant and then clip the seedgead before they drop their seed. This requires a good deal of attention, so check on them daily once they begin to mature.
- The easiest way to dry small seeds is to cover the seedhead with a bag or piece of muslin tied around it.
- Then, invert the stalk and hang it upside down to fully dry the seeds.
- They will drop into the bag or muslin, so remove those with care.
Big seeds like rosehips can be dehydrated at the lowest temperature your dehydrator can be set to and dried slowly over time.
- You can also invert them and hang them to dry if your climate will allow them do so fully without molding.
Replanting Woodland Herbs
Make a plan for replanting your stock after each harvest. Growing from seed is tedious with most of these herbs, so be careful with your thriving patches.
Only pull out what you need at harvest time and leave the rest. Examine the growing patches and keep them growing together. Don’t leave outlier plants at the fringes by themselves; flesh out your patches so the plants can protect each other.
Be aware of the foot traffic around the herb growing spaces during harvest and instruct anyone helping you to be careful in the woods.
- You don’t want to go tromping or tearing around in your woodland herb patches on accident and damage them.
If you have seed trays with woodland herb starts in shady spots closer to your zone 1 area near your house or tucked into the woods, be sure to check on them regularly. Protect them from wildlife and human traffic so they have the time they need to germinate and grow successfully.
Marketing Woodland Herbs
There are several ways you can market your woodland herbs and which you choose will most likely be determined by where you live.
If you’re close enough to get your product to a city center, you might want to consider selling direct to the public. Local customers will always be more loyal to your products, and you can cut out the middle man by doing the labor of connecting people with your products yourself.
Local sales outlets include:
- Restaurants
- Filling jars at local herb shops
- Farmer’s markets
- Your own storefront
There may also be co-ops at your regional or state level. Woodland herbs are gaining in popularity and its worth an internet search or a conversation with your local conservation department to see if your area has such a group.
You can also go commercial eventually, if you decide you want to. This involves getting connected with a kind of herb broker who connects smaller growers with the larger industry.
Be cautious about selling directly from your homestead to keep people away from your stock so they don’t steal, trample, or ruin it.
- If you’d like to connect with local herb growers to find out what they do and learn from them, use Mountain Rose Herbs Find a Local Herb Grower List!
What to Sell
- Seeds, rhizomes, and cuttings of your woodland herbs.
- Herbal wellness products like tinctures, salves, and herbal supplements made from your herbs.
- Herbal soaps and personal hygiene items.
- Natural dye kits made with your woodland herbs suitable for dyes.
Resources for Learning More
We’re constantly learning, learning, learning – it never stops with herbs!
Here are some useful websites and an article:
- United Plant Savers
- The Center for Agroforestry
- Forest Farming Extension
- Medicinal Shade Plants, by Jeanine Davis
Great books:
- Any book by Richo Cech of Strictly Medicinal Seeds
- Farming the Woods, by Mudge and Gabriel
- Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals, by Davis and Persons
Look for agroforestry and herbal podcasts, too!
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