Herbalism

Herbalist and herbology services should be inquired about to Sam Schaperow, B.S., M.S.

For information specific to plant and mushroom foraging, please see here. Or, see the free resources: The world's most active Yahoo! foraging group and the world's most active Yahoo! mushroom group, both run & co-run by Sam Schaperow. Otherwise, please see below for more information on herbalism & herbology:

Herbologist: Beginning in 1996, while at the University of Connecticut (UCONN), Schaperow was first introduced to the value of the wild plants and mushrooms during a biology course during his B.S. degree. This formal UCONN training was but the beginning of many years of study. Today Schaperow is well versed in a wide variety of uses of plants and mushrooms, but takes a much different approach than most people in herbalism. Schaperow considers himself to be an herbologist, and therefore studies herbs and considers the actual evidence out there instead of simply assuming info. passed along from person-to-person or book-to-book is accurate. Schaperow's method is to teach people about what herbs exist right in our very environment (e.g. in the woods or on "weedy" lawns), and then help people to best assess the odds the herb can help a problem or enhance health. Schaperow will refer out to physicians as appropriate, as well.

Note: There are herbs that have been well-proven to be ineffective, and so taking them may cause more harm than good. There are also undetermined and [proven] effective herbs:

Example of an herb that may be helpful: Camomile has been studied moderately-well to determine if it helps a person fall asleep. Does it? Winding down at night to a warm cup of non-caffeinated tea (technically an infusion) is already helpful to some people to get ready for bed. Does camomile really have a component that induces sleep, or does it function identically to a non-camomile tea alternative? Studies conducted to determine this have not been conclusive, nor have they proven camomile to be ineffective. Schaperow explains this example as inconclusive, and in a consultation session will recommend that people try specific courses of camomile vs. non-camomile to get a better sense of if it is worth the extra expense to get camomile. (Note: Schaperow's M.S. degree further helps him to assist people in sleeping, even beyond the sole example of camomile, including many highly effective techniques shown to help even the most extreme insomniacs).

Example of an herb that is effective: Willow trees contain a chemical similar to aspirin, particularly used in their bark, called salicin. However, it also may have the same side effects as aspirin, despite being herbal and chemically not quite the same thing. Nevertheless, this is a proven herbal & effective pain reliever.