Over the last six years, as I have consciously worked to deepen my connection to nature, I have developed a love for wild plants, in particular, wild foods and herbs. My identification field guides are well used, I have staked out my spots for harvesting, returning year after year to gather plants for us to eat, and to make medicine from, and I am now growing many medicinal plants both in our gardens, and around our property. Time has been spent learning from people who are not only experienced and knowledgeable, but also have a deep love for the natural world. They have shared so much information with me over the years, and slowly I have gained trust and confidence in my identification skills, and in making medicine.
Sitting in the corner of the main part of our schoolhouse home is a corner cabinet. A gift from, and made by, my dad. It was meant to be a china cabinet, and was for quite some time, but things change, and it is now my own little apothecary. In it I store my essential oils, dried herbs, infused herbal oils, tinctures, supplements, candle making supplies, ingredients for body butters, salves, bug spray, soaps, and lip balms, and product ready to be used.
This little cabinet is magic, in so many ways. It holds the very things that help keep my family healthy, from healing salves for cuts and scrapes, to nourishing teas, to tinctures for PMS to fever. When our bodies send us a message to rest, via a cold or fever, we take note and listen. We stop the daily plans and we rest. And while we rest, I open this cabinet and pull out a little bit of nature to help our bodies heal.
When I rely on plants from Mother Nature to heal us, I feel like I have come full circle. I have walked her paths, climbed her trees, and studied her plants. I have carefully and respectfully harvested plants, and turned them into medicine. As I harvest, I thank her, and more gratitude is offered as I work with the plants. The day then comes when I call on these medicines to heal us, and I recall where the plants were harvested, the kind of day it was, the work done to turn plant to medicine, and I again offer gratitude..to this earth, to Mother Nature, to the people who have shared their knowledge and experience with me, and to this journey, that has brought me to this place.
Plant medicine is so very powerful, from the healing connection I have gained with the earth, to the teas, tinctures, and salves that heal us. Mother Nature is amazing, and this cabinet reminds me of that every time I open it.