Natural Resource

Jane Desotelle has been harvesting wild herbs, flowers and other plants from the Adirondacks for more than three decades.

Story and photos by Megan W. Munroe

Jane Desotelle is no ordinary gardener.

For more than 30 years, she has been harvesting wild and cultivated herbs, flowers and plants to use in a wide variety of tea blends. Tea was the foundation of her business, Underwood Herbs; before her friends suggested she sell them, she was actually just giving them away.

“My grandma and my mother had me making jellies as soon I could stand on the stool and stir the pot.”

Now, the self-taught herbologist sells a variety of herbal and natural products, making use of the abundant resources in her own backyard.

In addition to tea blends, Desotelle makes all-natural wild herb, fruit and flower jellies. Devoid of artificial color or flavor, jars of jewel-toned jellies in flavors like May Apple and Elderberry (denoted by handwritten tags) line the right side of her booth at the Plattsburgh Farmers' and Crafters' Market.

“My grandma and my mother had me making jellies as soon I could stand on the stool and stir the pot,” she says.

Her interest in using wild plants and herbs began when she was finishing college. Desotelle had worked in the school library and did much of her shelf reading in her major section, philosophy. Where the philosophy section ended, the medieval section began. It was there Desotelle says she found books on ancient medicinal recipes and other concoctions.

This attraction to natural recipes and remedies grew after she graduated. Desotelle was part of the “back to the land” movement in the early 1970s, she says, in which people gave up the urban lifestyle in hopes of a quiet, self-sustainable country existence. On her plot of land, Desotelle’s curiosity about the wild plants surrounding her grew. Building on some knowledge she had grown up with, she began to read many books on the subject, and still keeps up with research.

Making teas for herself and friends turned into producing teas for sale. As she went from store to store selling her teas, she noticed that the balsam products were coming from out of state. Balsam was once a huge industry in the Adirondacks, Desotelle says, “and I was pulling balsam up like weeds in my garden.”

So Desotelle began making wreaths using locally harvested balsam, which she now ships all over the country. She uses only natural decorations – “no plastic knicky-knacks,” she says.

Desotelle sells her items at farmers markets and craft shows as well, but no longer has a store. Running a store that was “too successful” left her with little time to collect necessary wild herbs and plants, she says, so taking orders and bringing her products to shows is much easier.

“Some people say, ‘you work from home, you can do whatever you want.’” she says, “But that isn’t really true.”

For example, Desotelle says, elderflowers bloom for only one week, and that timeframe is especially stressful. If she wants to have any elderflowers for tea, she says, “I have to get my year’s supply in a week.”

Violets, she adds, bloom for only a few weeks. In that time she harvests quickly and produces several cases of violet jelly to last the whole year.

There are more than 100 wild plants in the Adirondacks that Desotelle can choose from, she says, and she uses a great many of them in her products. Desotelle also teaches through Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Adirondack Mountain Club about how to recognize and use these wild plants. Her courses cover these “wild foods and medicinal plants,” and strongly emphasize ethical collection, so as to not deplete natural resources.

Desotelle also arranges private walks with people, usually on their property, to help them identify trees, shrubs, mushrooms, herbs and other plants. Desotelle points out the plants that are edible and goes over how to cook them, and also points out invasive plants that property owners might want to get rid of.

At her own home, Desotelle says she tries to “collect from the wild as much as possible. Why take the time tilling and cultivating when you don’t have to?”

Desotelle does have a garden of her own, and a botanical sanctuary. There she grows plants she has collected, many from rescue. She says she tries to get to construction sites before work begins to collect plants that might otherwise be destroyed. Her sanctuary, called The Adirondack Botanical Sanctuary, has 350-400 species of plants on just one acre.

In 2007, Desotelle was one of three people honored with a Traditional Arts in Upstate New York heritage award. It’s no wonder, considering the wealth of knowledge Desotelle has accumulated under her own tutelage. Her preservation of precious wild resources is also remarkable; with such an incredible number of plant species on a single acre her contribution to the Adirondacks is real feat – one that could be expected of only the most extraordinary gardener.

What is your favorite herbal tea or remedy?