I think I always loved sipping cups of tea and dwelling in the warmth of a greenhouse surrounded by plants. There’s something about walking through the doorway of a greenhouse, smelling the warmth, the soil, and the plant oils lingering in the air. Seeing the vibrancy of their colours in the light, feeling their smooth surfaces or soft fuzz, and tasting their chemistry while nibbling their leaves. My mind quiets and I hear the pollinators buzzing by. All my senses are engaged, drawing me into the present.
But it wasn’t in the greenhouse that I learned to listen to the plants. It was the voice of Cedar trees that resonated with me. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I actually started to listen to the plants and the mushrooms. I was working as a guide - hiking and paddling, sleeping in forests, and I started to get more curious about my plant neighbours.
Who are you? What are you called? What medicine or textile do you offer? Before long the past tense of plant uses became present tense, and the idea of using plants was overlaid with their intrinsic value. They are being, living, sensing, learning, and doing alongside us and they have been there since before we came to be. What do they know deep in their being that I don’t know? So many things…..
Eventually I was drawn to the medicinal plants. My love for Chamomile and Mint tea, the smell of Lavender, and the energy I felt near a Western Red Cedar bloomed into curiosity about the European medicines of my ancestors. It was all right there in front of me, but I couldn’t find the key, the access point to dive deeper into learning about the herbs. Then one day I listened deeply - my heart connected to the web of plants on the land on which I sat. I heard very clearly that I should start with food. So I did. I gardened, I shifted my diet, I registered for a correspondence course on Holistic Nutrition. (Yes a correspondence course, on paper, completed in a tiny cabin with only dial-up internet and books). I devoured the information in the books, felt the soil, and met new herbal allies in the garden, the roadsides, and the forests. And I kept listening, feeling, and watching. I knew another doorway would open before me and the world of medicinal plants would be there.
I was already walking with the plants, but I didn’t fully see them yet. I was waiting for more. Ultimately the plants planted their seeds in my heart, and wove their xylem into my vessels, their root hairs into my villi, they whispered into my ears, and offered their leaves to uphold my feet as I wandered along the path. They were always there and have been since before I ever was. I just needed to open my own doorways to let them in.
Western Red Cedar tree
While I got a lot from the course overall, I think the most difficult part was trying to learn about herbs without real plants and an instructor. Happy to hear that you are teaching now!
I love this! I too took a correspondence course in Holistic Nutrition around that same timeframe. I wonder if it was the same? That aside, I love your love of plants and nature