Today we are thrilled to announce that we are the first national herb company to sustainably grow Osha in our formulas! This is big news for us and big news for Osha.
Here’s a little about our journey with Osha and sustainability.
Part of what makes WishGarden special is the use of regional herbs. We started as a small home-based business in Boulder, Colorado, and many of the herbs that went into our formulas grew right outside our door. Even today, as a nationally distributed spice company, we still use many of our local Rocky Mountain and Southwestern spices. One of these plants has always had a special place in our hearts: Osha.
Osha (Ligusticum porteri) is native to the Rocky Mountains, where it likes to grow in mountain meadows near aspen trees. Osha root plays an important role in many of our formulas, including Kick-Ass Immune Activator, Serious V-Fighter, Deep Lung and Kick-It Immune Activator For Kids. We love this powerful respiratory herb because it is one of the best herbs for supporting respiratory mucous membranes while supporting optimal immune function, especially when your body needs it most.
Osha is a wild harvested plant. At first, Osha and its uses were not widely known outside its native region and was largely used by local herbalists and Native Americans, who have used it for thousands of years. Sustainable harvesting techniques were passed on so that those who harvested it knew how to do it without harming plant populations. Over the years its popularity has grown, and now more and more people are harvesting it who have not had this traditional training. With this loss of knowledge about sustainable harvesting among those who harvest most of the Osha, there is increasing concern about the impact of wild harvesting.
Osha is endemic to the Rocky Mountains, meaning this is the only place in the world where Osha grows. While there are others Ligusticum species found throughout North America, including L. canbyi, L. grayi, L. tenuifolium, L. felicinum and they are all known as Osha, Ligusticum porteri is by far the most used and harvested. In addition, Osha is notoriously difficult to cultivate. She can be quite finicky and has very specific growing conditions. Today, almost all Osha on the market is harvested from the wild. All of these factors, combined with the ever-growing popularity in the herbal industry, have led to many of our wild populations being considered endangered and in some areas critically endangered. Over the years, WishGarden has worked hard to support the sustainable use of Osha.
Here are some of what we’ve done to help protect this important plant:
Reformulation
Due to the sustainability issues in sourcing Osha, we made the conscious decision in 2015 to reformulate many of our formulas containing Osha to use much less of it, including our best-selling Kick-Ass Immune Activator. We have replaced it with lovage in many formulas (Levisticum officinale), a relative of Osha with many similar constituents and properties, but incredibly easy to grow. In some formulas we removed it all together. All of this significantly reduced the amount of Osha we had to collect from the wild. The Osha we do use in our formulas is always sustainably harvested.
Research
One of the problems we face in Osha is a lack of research and knowledge about the impact of wildlife harvesting on Osha’s wildlife populations. WishGarden was pleased to help support research conducted by Dr. Kelly Kindscher via the ERB Foundation of the American Herbal Product Association on Osha. Dr. Kindscher has spent many years measuring and analyzing the impact of harvesting in Osha populations at different intensities. We were fortunate to be able to visit the research sites and see their progress in the field. We hope this is just the beginning of much more research into this amazing plant and the impact of wild harvests on the populations of many of our favorite herbs.
Sustainable harvest guidelines
As co-chair of the American Herbal Product Association (AHPA) Sustainability Committee, I have had the opportunity to help create a pamphlet with guidelines on how to sustainably harvest Osha from the wild. With its increasing popularity and the fact that there is as yet no formal licensing process or training on how to properly harvest Osha, pamphlets like these are essential in helping those who harvest Osha know exactly what steps to follow to to make sure they don’t have to do it for a long time. – long-term damage to populations. AHPA also offers similar pamphlets for American ginseng (Panaxquinquefolium) and saw palmetto (Serenoa relents).
Cultivation efforts
Even with these pamphlets and an introduction to formal training in sustainably harvesting wild Osha, given the speed at which the herbal industry is growing and the ever-increasing demand for respiratory herbs, cracking the code for growing Osha is critical. That’s why we’re so excited to be working with a farmer who has finally found success growing Osha. There is still much work to be done. And as with many of our valuable herb roots, cultivation can take many years. It is our greatest hope that this is just the beginning and that cultivated Osha will be as common in the future as cultivated goldenseal and ginseng are today.
Thank you for supporting us all these years. Your support helps us continue to support all this important work in sustainability and the herbs that sustain us.
What you can do
Ask questions! As consumers, companies pay attention to the questions you ask. If you see Osha in your favorite products, ask them where they source it and how they ensure its sustainability. They should be able to give you answers.
Only use Osha if you really need it! There are many herbs that are incredibly abundant, such as dandelion and nettles, that you can use every day without worrying about sustainability issues. But other herbs, such as Osha, should only be used when absolutely necessary. Find out what the best support Osha can offer and only use it at those times.
Support organizations like United Plant Savers who watch over our important herbs and ensure that they survive for many generations to come.
Be prepared to pay a premium for sustainability. Cultivated herbs cost more to cover farmers’ overhead, time and expertise. To ensure the long-term sustainability of herbs like Osha, consumers must be willing to pay a little more.
Writer Erin Smith is a clinical herbalist and ethnobotanist who has worked with medicinal plants for more than 30 years. For ten years she worked internationally with indigenous and local communities on various issues in traditional medicine, natural resource management, community-based conservation and traditional knowledge, including for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and as Director-General of the Global Diversity Foundation. North America. She has been involved in the natural products industry for ten years and is currently Director of Science and Sustainability at WishGarden Herbs. Erin is passionate about sustainability and social responsibility in the herbal and natural products industry and is actively involved in the industry on these issues. She is a board member of the American Herbal Product Association (AHPA) and co-chair of the AHPA Sustainability Committee. In addition to her work at AHPA, she is a member of the Advisory Group for the Sustainable Herbs Program of the American Botanical Council and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and is a member of the Medicinal Plant Specialists Group of the IUCN.
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, or to sell any product.
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