When uncovering traditional plant knowledge, try to do so as though you were learning from an experienced elder. Be attentive and respectful of their knowledge, yet also critical, holding your own lived experience alongside the traditional knowledge.
Too often, folk hold a romantic, idealised impression of traditional cultures. As though those humans had it all sussed. Never forget that humans are humans, with all the usual warts. To idealise a past culture is to see through a romantic lens, one that is often not grounded in reality.
The folk knowledge embedded in herbals and regional traditions is compressed observational data, accumulated by communities over generations. It isn’t necessarily superstition, and it isn’t scripture.
This balanced approach honours ancestral knowledge while also expanding and correcting it. Ancestral knowledge is a process, not some end point. Add to it from your own lived experience rather than freezing it in aspic.
Where does your own experience begin to fill in the gaps the traditional knowledge leaves out?