So,
maybe I'm pitta-vata aggravated today. Perhaps. I've been in the sun a lot more lately, and there's not running river water near enough to the farm area, though it is near enough to visit for lunch, thank heavens.
I've begun week 3 of the Farm to Pharmacy program at the Goldthread Herb Farm and Apothecary, (which, for the most part, is going amazingly well, just to preface) but after being a bit too sun-blazed I have earned myself a spell to rant. Here goes.
I'm learning a lot about myself even though I'm only in week 3, and I think I do not like some of it. I do not like weeding, (how can I "weed" chamomile out of mint? Or sweet annie out of echinacea? or ...) nor much of the physical movements of gardening. My mind likes, it, but my body not. I do not like harvesting with a bunch of chatty people. I do not like eating tepid lunches, and I don't like drinking cold demulcents in the morning. I do not like tincture ratios because I never understand them, and I don't like it when people tease me.
I DO like quiet, rhythmic, intimate harvesting. I like to touch, taste, feel and listen to the resin, the yellow ray flowers, and to a new plant friend introducing themselves to me for the first time. I like to listen wholly. I like the enormous fragrant peach tree branches I got to bring home. I like the new plants I'm getting to know, and being outside more. I like eating slowly by the water, with my feet in the current, and I still love harvesting plants and making medicine more than anything. I like the brain input on the body systems too, that rocks. I love listening to people make herb honey for the first time. I love taking all the extra garlic scapes home to pickle them.
So there is my version of Kiva's
what herbalists really want (and don't want) post ;) entitled: The Very Picky Herbalist.
I probably could find more things I'm feeling pissed off about - but that would just be the heat talking :) I'll let it be, and instead, take you on a tour of my new plant friends, and some medicine making miscellany ...........
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| Inula |
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| Lavender and Echinacea |
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| Clary Sage |
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| Grindelia |
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| Yerba mansa |
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| Yarrow flower medicine |
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| Reishi mushroom |
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| Herbal infused ghee |
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| Lady's Slipper Ring treasures |
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| ready to go |
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| ready to nourish |
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| Shatawari |
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| Licorice |
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| German Chamomile & Chocolate Mint |
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| Lavender |
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| Lavender, more and more |
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| Little leaf Linden tree |
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| Poppy |
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| California Poppy |
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| A finale of Chamomile.... |
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| Wormwood punctuations. |
Love,
Ananda
3 comments:
I totally understand about the weeding part. I have a yard of plantain and borage where there ought to be ... grass. Why on earth should I weed? in the middle of a drought, no less? (And it is so cool the way Plantain spreads...covers up the patches of bareness...)
Oh, beautiful, thank you for sharing the plant walk. And your thoughts on what you enjoy about herbalism.
I'm much the same, no good at chatting or being social with people and plants at the same time. I try to harvest herbs alone, quietly, gently and at the pace that feels right at the time. I don't think I'd be much good in a group class/garden environment!
I'm also prone to foot-in-mouth when flustered, and people make me flustered, which is one of the reasons I was first drawn to trees and plants as safer companions.
Blessings and beauty,
Amber (Pixies Pocket)
Oh, I love this!!
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