Lately, I’ve been exploring how to build relationships with all plants in the ecosystem, including opportunistic (invasive) species and in and in re-orienting our view away from just a human-centric one and re-centering nature. Just like anything else in nature, opportunistic plants have much to offer us, and learning to honor them, their uses, their medicine, and how to work with them is an important part of aligning with our local ecosystem. In today’s post, I want to do a deep dive into one such common opportunistic species throughout Eastern North America – Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)–and create a comprehensive guide. First, I will share a story of an event I recently hosted in collaboration with two organizations to help remove and educate the public on Japanese Barberry and European Barberry (two opportunistic species listed on Pennsylvania’s Invasive Species list). I’ve had multiple readers ask for how to do this and to share resources to organize.Then, I will will offer resources for this specific plant in terms of identification, harvest, processing, and medicine making.
I have intentionally made this guide very comprehensive with the goal of making this a primer for people who want to offer a similar kind of event. You have my permission to reproduce and adapt parts or all of this post and the additional PDFs and photos to help teach about barberry and the medicine of the plant.
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