With the hot days of July comes Earthstar Farms’ busiest time of year. It is harvest time for many of the different flowers that grow on the land here. Some of our medicinal flowers are cultivated, but our biggest flower harvests come from wild-crafted varieties such as Hypericum perforatum (St John’s Wort), Monarda fistulosa (Bee Balm) and Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) that grow wild in mountain meadows.

Due to the two heavy snowfalls in late spring, this is a bumper year for St. John’s Wort. For two weeks the big east-facing meadow at Earthstar Farms is covered in big swathes of golden-yellow flowers. There are literally millions and millions of flowers. This provides a bounty for bees, local pollinators and Colorado herbalists. Every year we welcome volunteers to assist with this golden harvest. We also share the harvest with local herb shops and herb schools via a pick-your-own program. This influx of enthusiastic herb lovers makes this harvest time feel quite festive. That is the nature of Hypericum – sunny! It is a wonderful herb for assisting people who struggle with depression, SAD and other nerve related ailments. It is lovely to harvest as well. The down side of Hypericum is that it is listed as an invasive, noxious weed that can spread aggressively, pushing out native plants. It is not popular with Boulder County, and it is currently illegal to sell the seeds or plants. As harvesters we do our bit to help stem the spread of this ‘weed’ by picking the flowers, thus taking away potential seeds.

Some of the other medicinal flowers that we harvest in July are Bee Balm and Yarrow (as mentioned above), plus our cultivated Calendula, California Poppy, Red Clover, Chamomile, Passionflower, Elder flower and Clary Sage. Very soon the Lavender, Hyssop and Feverfew will be ready to harvest as well. This list does not include the herbal leaf medicine that we harvest as well (such as nettles, comfrey, mints, etc…). So July is a time for us growers to practice pacing ourselves and prioritizing our work – otherwise burnout can happen. This is one of my challenges, but I am learning. Cold watermelon is good medicine after a big harvest morning!

So bear with us if our blog posts are not quite as regular as they were in the spring. We are busy harvesting our herbs, juggling our work schedules and counting our blessings. We will be back blogging with more posts as soon as we can. Have a beautiful summer!

We’ve been very busy growing and harvesting herbs for the past month or so, so our blog has been sadly neglected. But we’re happy to report that the St. John’s Wort harvest has begun, and that means daily picking of St. John’s Wort flowers in the meadow to the west of Wildcat Gardens, which Earthstar Farms has been harvesting since the 1990s. We welcome volunteers to help us harvest, contact me if you’re interested. We typically harvest from 8 am – 10 am daily, either selling it freshly picked, or dried.

St. John’s Wort helps with depression, turning summer sunshine to a beautiful yellow flower to assist people in feeling great! It is also a noxious weed in Colorado, and our picking of the flowers helps in a small way to keep the seeds from spreading.

July Harvest

St. John's Wort