Thursday, February 9, 2012

Community Supported Medicine: A Conversation with William Siff, Goldthread Herbal Apothecary


This afternoon an interview with Goldthread's founder William Siff was featured on the Numen News & Blog. Haven't heard of Numen?

Numen, defined as the animating force in nature, is a 95-minute documentary film focusing on the healing power of plants and the natural world. 

Featuring stunning footage of medicinal plants and thought-provoking interviews with Drs. Tiearona Lowdog and Larry Dossey, the late Bill Mitchell, ND, author Kenny Ausubel, herbalists Rosemary Gladstar, Phyllis Light and many others, the film calls for a re-awakening of traditional knowledge about plants and their uses. You can watch the trailer on YouTube.

Here's an excerpt from the interview, which you can read in its entirety here. And finally, here is a link to more information about our Community Supported Medicine shares!

Community Supported Medicine: A Conversation with William Siff, Goldthread Herbal Apothecary
Posted February 9th, 2012 by Ann Armbrecht

Goldthread Herbal Apothecary is a fantastic example of grassroots, community based medicine. Like many herb schools, they offer classes, apprentice programs, and herbal medicines for sale. But to me their community supported medicine program (CSM) is the most exciting – and revolutionary – work they are doing. I was thrilled to be able to speak with William Siff about his vision behind this model. Lots more information is available on their website!

Ann: I love the model of herbal CSAs on so many different levels and wondered if you could talk some about how you came to create an herbal CSA. What is your vision is with your CSA? And why do you think it is important?

William: We modeled our CSM after the now popular CSA model thriving in certain parts of the country like here in Western Mass. In my opinion the CSA model of reviving community-based agriculture is one of the most positive social trends happening in our culture today. Herbs are just a natural part of this revival and yet the knowledge and understanding of where and how they fit into daily life to enhance and improve health has largely been lost. The CSM is an attempt to reinvigorate this knowledge and connect people directly to the source of their medicine and associate it with the emerging organic vegetable renaissance.