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August 20, 2005
White Sage Harvest
Here it is, for all of you White Wage fetishists - the biggest White Sage patch in the world! I've driven the White Sage country from very northern and of its range in the Santa Lucias to the southern end in Mexico, and there's nothing like this spot anywhere. Look at the size of those plants - look how many there are, all those bronze stalks in the background are white sage, and it goes on for miles!
Ok now it's time for a quick lesson on White Sage. Some people think White Sage or "sacred sage" grows throughout the West in states like Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming etc ... those people are wrong. White Sage (botanical name Salvia apiana) is only found in Southwestern California and just over the border into Northwestern Baja, Mexico. That's it - honest, you can look it up in any book on native plants of the West. I understand why people might be confused about this though, because every new age store and trading post in western tourist towns from Jackson, Wyoming to Taos, New Mexcico sells White Sage smudges. And while many folks believe that Native Americans burned White Sage in the pre-columbian days, there is no historical record of Native Americans outside of Southwestern California ever having used White Sage prior to the past 30 years. As far as I have been able to determine from interviewing people who have been in the White Sage business for a long time, the White Sage phenomenon was started by a couple of enterprising Native Americans in the 1970's who promoted White Sage for its spiritually purifying effects on the Pow Wow circuit. White Sage's popularity spread from there into the new age circuit in the 80's and beyond into the larger bohemian/organic Whole Foods world and its present mammoth popularity in the 90's. And I wouldn't go on in excrutiatingly boring detail about this if it weren't for the fact that there are is a large popultion of turquoise jewelry wearing white folks who who will beat you over the head vigorously with their medicine sticks if you try to tell them that White Sage doesn't anywhere near Sedona. This isn't to say that White Sage doesn't have special purifying effects that its promoters say it does. I just don't get why White Sage is put up on this untouchable pedestal by people who wouldn't know the plant if it crawled into bed with them after a night of carousing ... oh man, look at me - I'm totally ranting, I'm frothing at the mouth and drooling all over my keyboard. This blogging thing is so cathartic, I can just sort of yap off and say whatever I want, and instead of just my wife, 3 month old baby and dog having to hear about it, you do too - welcome to my world! Woo-ha-ha-ha (evil Count Dracula laugh)
The world of White Sage harvesters is clausterphobically small - there are about 4 of us who supply 95%+ of the White Sage you see on the market, and all of us are getting the White Sage from the same area which includes the big patch plus a few other areas within a 50 mile radius of the big patch. That's right, that smudge stick you bought in the Wild Oats in Santa Fe, or the one you got from the nice old Native American at the farmers market in Billings, MT; or the cool Hippie store on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley - they all came from here.
Now for the bad news - see those shiny big machines off in the distance? Those are bulldozers, and this entire patch of miles of White Sage is slated to be bulldozed to make way for a huge ex-urban development. Just as White Sage's popularity is taking off, the big patch where everyone harvests their white sage is disappearing into the sea of costcos and taco bells. This is not to say that there isn't plenty of White Sage still out there - but most of it grows on steep hillsides in the mountains and is much more difficult to harvest, so when this patch goes under and all of that harvesting pressure disperses across the remaining, smaller stands of White Sage, it is going to put an enormous amount of harvesting pressure on those remaining stands.
The good news is that White Sage can easily be harvested sustainably if the harvesters aren't too greedy. So what is left can be harvested indefinitely without substantial impact to the plants if it is done properly. Here's my friend and co-harvester Kevin "Vanna White" Rowell attractively modeling a bundle of properly harvested white sage clusters. If you harvest from the soft part of the stem up (in other words short stemmed clusters) rather than farther down where its more woody (long stemmed sage clusters or "wands"), the sage plants respond to the pruning vigorously producing two clusters the following year on the pruned stem. If you harvest farther down the stem into the woody area (these are typically sold as long "wands"), the stem won't put on any new growth the following year.
A big pile of properly harvested White Sage clusters!
Posted by juniperridge in Wildcrafting
Comments
Great info on White Sage. I had no idea it's range was so small. Too bad about the $#$%!!! bulldozers. Can white sage be successfully transplanted?
Peace,
JG
Posted by: Jim at August 22, 2005 12:42 PM
horizon herbs is doing well at cultivating it in oregon. cultivating this endemic species is going to be key in preserving it for the future.
the other problem, is people say white sage, when they see any smudgy type thing, which often is an artemisia, which natives thorughout the west did use...because it is VERY widespread. many species of artemisia around here....
Posted by: darcey at September 1, 2005 7:31 AM
That's true that many "White Sage" or "Sacred Sage" smudges are, in fact, are Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) and not White Sage (Salvia apiana). White Sage and Sagebrush are totally unrelated - true sages are in the mint family, whereas Artemesias are in the sunflower family. But you do see a lot of true White Sage smudges sold in tourist towns throughout the West. They aren't locally gathered, obviously, but come from one of the big wholesale suppliers of White Sage smudges. As far as smudging with Artemesias, there's no history of native americans burning sagebrush (artemesia tridentata) for incense either - or at least that I can find.
Posted by: Hall Newbegin at September 1, 2005 10:55 AM
Hi- Would you think about making white sage infused oil for ceremonial purposes? Thanks,Dede
Posted by: Dede at December 15, 2005 4:48 PM
Great blog! Very well done. Keep up the great work...-lorazepam
Posted by: lorazepam at March 21, 2006 7:16 PM
Very informative and...entertaining! I have a small plant I obtained from Richter's herbs in a pot. Your pruning information will be very useful.
Posted by: Kati at September 2, 2006 11:44 AM
I have never grown sage before and would like to. I thought that it would be really nice to supply our bear dancers, and other dancers from different areas with sage bundles. DO you have any tips for growing, i have never done it before.
Posted by: Malissa Tayaba at September 6, 2006 10:37 AM
good to see you guys are making good sustainable use of native plants! I work in the mountains around so cal (as a botanist) and wanted to buy a little white sage sachel to put in my car (it smells great) but i felt a tinge of guilt wondering if it came from one of those people who rip the plants out of the ground roots and all to convert to incense or what not. we get a lot of that in the san gabriels. If only more people would harvest it sustainably! It's too bad about the 'dozers though. ugh.
and yeah, the stuff definitely has a limited range, although it can be common in places.
Posted by: Charlie at September 23, 2006 7:21 PM
That's the difficulty with using common names to describe plants. "White Sage" is also used in many areas of the US as the name for Artemisia ludoviciana. Which one is right? Both, or neither!
As far as burning and using Artemesia ludoviciana medicinally, here's an interesting article with sources...
Posted by: Terry S at October 14, 2006 5:11 PM
Can we grow Salvia apiana in North Carolina (Mooresville area). I would have to bring it inside for the winter months, but the summer months are certainly sweltering enough, I think.
Posted by: Ed at October 27, 2006 8:41 AM
WOW! How interesting! I have often wondered exactly where this beautiful herb grows, and the process. I would love to be there, right in the middle of all it. I hate that some will be killed. I grew up in the country, and we always burned sagebrush, it made the soil it was growing in rich and the crops good. The smell of sage burning sends me into a wonderful bliss. Thank you for taking the time to do all this. Now I will go and place an order. THANK YOU!
Posted by: Sheila at November 4, 2006 6:14 PM
How about white sage essential oil, since the plant is so resinous.
Thanks ever so much for your wonderful products!
Jane (who has a Salvia apiana in her organic herb garden)
Bandon-by-the-Sea, Orygun
Posted by: Jane at November 30, 2006 10:24 AM
I LOVE YOUR WORK, THE PICTURES ARE GREAT,I also have whitesage growing on my land in Monterey. Bless your harvest. FAY
Posted by: Fay Wray at April 26, 2007 6:40 PM
Hey! great and informative post. I didn't really know how the craze began, so that was great info. I'm so glad that you, at least, of the several harvesters, are harvesting responsibly. Thank you for that! I came lookin' via a google image search for photos for a tattoo featuring white sage and you have some lovely photos here for me to use as reference. Thank you!! These pics happen to be of the Etiwanda Sagefields? I used to harvest small personal amounts there for ceremony. I do love white sage specifically, but the artemesias are lovely to smudge with also. Mountain, or "white" mountain sage has a scent similar to sweetgrass (I harvested some on my last camping trip to June lake! Yummy!!)
Posted by: Thorne at November 11, 2007 1:53 PM
