Stephen Harrod Buhner is an Earth poet and the award-winning author of books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine. He comes from a long line of healers including Leroy Burney, Surgeon General of the United States under Eisenhower and Kennedy, and Elizabeth Lusterheide, a midwife and herbalist who worked in rural Indiana in the early nineteenth century.
The greatest influence on his work, however, has been his great-grandfather C.G. Harrod who primarily used botanical medicines, also in rural Indiana, when he began his work as a physician in 1911.
Stephen’s work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman’s Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. He has spoken at colleges and conferences around the world, including the United Nations.
Stephen’s books include:
* Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria
* Healing Lyme: Natural Healing & Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis and Its Coinfections
* The Lost Language of Plants: The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines for Life on Earth
* Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native America Herbalism
* Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation
* The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature
* The Natural Testosterone Plant: For Sexual Health and Energy
* Herbs for Hepatitis C and the Liver
…and more
Stephen and I started our conversation around old-time doctors and kitchen medicine, exploring herbs like ginger, cayenne, and even honey. Then, as I expected and hoped for, Stephen went in some interesting directions. So, though he talks about the effects of accidentally breathing dust from Western Skunk Cabbage, and ingesting some well-known toxic plants such as Poison Hemlock…well, I would ask you to stay away from using those plants internally.
Stephen does offer some amazing gems of information, and you never know when he is going to drop one of them on you. However, there is gold in the overall message he is trying to say. Try to stay in the space of looking at the larger picture of the conversation.