Who Are the Bane Folk?
Bane Folk is a resource on poisonous plants, mushrooms, animals, and insects created as a labour of love. Original artwork and herbal products are created with sincere devotion to poisonous plant medicine combined with over a decade of research, experience, and practice.
Bane is an ancient word for death originating from Old Norse. It is used in many common plant names to denote their poisonous nature such as henbane and wolfsbane. Folk is an ancient word with Proto-Indo-European roots that means “the common people”. This site is a resource devoted to people who share a love of poisonous flora, fauna, and fungi. Together we are the Bane Folk.
Poison as Medicine
Here at Bane Folk we emphasize the medicinal nature of poisonous substances and promote the education and understanding of their proper and safe uses to help abolish the fear and misuse of these plants and other natural substances.
Sarah Anne Lawless
Owner / Herbalist
Sarah is a published author, artist, herbalist, manufacturer, and educator who hails from the Pacific Northwest but is currently living in rural Ontario, Canada. She has been a herbalist for 15 years, creating herbal medicines, publishing articles, and teaching at herbal conferences in Canada and the United States. Some of her biggest influences include herbalists Michael Moore and Robert Rogers along with ethnobotanists Nancy J. Turner and Wade Davis. For the past 10 years she has focused on researching and working with the medicinal properties of poisonous plants & fungi with a particular focus on medicinal nightshades. Sarah has taught native plant and mushroom identification walks & workshops to private groups, local schools, scouting programs, outdoor education programs, and via horticultural societies for the past 15 years.
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