Medicinal Earth

What are the "weeds" telling us? When plants and mushrooms show up, they are terrific messengers for us, our health, and indicators of that of our soil. They are there to help create balance and are harbingers of survival and what it takes to thrive, especially critical during this time of drastic changes of climate and weather. The gorgeous thistle survived through the winter and has expansively grown over the past 2 weeks of spring, now with dandelion companions, all here t...o break up the compact soil, and revitalize it with essential minerals and precious metals, like calcium, magnesium, copper and iron, to name a few. To find out more about what they are telling us: #sayyestoweeds #gowildstayhealthy #soilscience #soilregeneration https://www.permaculturenews.org//using-weeds-read-soil-b/ and how the nutrients help us: https://www.health.harvard.edu//precious-metals-and-other-

A must listen (free until the end of March). THE best overview on fungi I have ever heard. Peter McCoy, researcher, educator, author, discusses how to work with these powerful ancient organisms within our bodies and on the Earth, from composting to soil regeneration and myco remediation.

Keepers of the Earth, indigenous elders from around the world speak on healing, the medicine in honouring the natural world, our connection to one another, spirits, ancestors and the Earth. Beautiful filmmaking. A 5 year long journey of a couple, traveling with their children, documenting these healers, across cultures and continents, all sharing the same messages and sense of the sacred. https://youtu.be/RoWgEOxoQy4

I realize the tough balance this is to find in an urban setting especially, with only a small patch of lawn to call our own. It is happening even at the school where I am teaching, with the human need to tidy, uncover, open up and nature’s need to insulate, protect, nourish, even decompose and ferment... All we can do is be informed, live and make our decisions consciously and with open hearts and minds. Being respectful of life in all its forms, realizing the reality of the crisis we are in, (have put ourselves and the natural world in) is not easy, but forcing us to shift out of comfort and complacency, to feel and think deeply, to be more and do more and differently. Feels like we humans have been put on notice.

Field penny-cress (thlaspe arvense). The last of my late season wild harvesting. An easily recognizable widespread, but largely unknown, plant of the powerful medicinal food Brassica family from which we get our cultivated broccolis and cabbage and our wild mustards. Ironically, one of its common names is wild garlic, as I harvested it before being trampled underfoot at volunteer work day at Ottawa’s Beetbox Farm, planting cultivated garlic. I am so surprised how we have co...mpartmentalized foods and medicines in our lives and minds in the western world, such that these wild, hardy, self sustaining powerhouses are considered weeds and yanked out or walked on as we make way for the less resilient ones that require so much more tending, and specific conditions to survive. I was harvesting this to be used in cooking but have since learned of its wide range of traditional medicinal uses. Although having a peppery flavour, it has a cooling affect on the body, as an anti-inflammatory, for muscle aches to arthritis, lung clearing, blood tonic, and a powerful antibacterial and microbial to tackle even streptococci. The list goes on. Love learning about these overlooked weeds and feel almost desperate to spread this message, champion for this cause, to listen to the whisperings of Mother Nature, as she shows us ways to survive, even thrive, through this time of transition in our human adolescence. With climate change, from droughts to floods, we had better start getting to know these tough survivalists. As you walk around in the cities, these will be the plants, even when the lawn’s cultivated plants are struggling, still green and thriving (being sadly pulled, mowed or sprayed with herbicide). In our fields, when our food crops are brown husks, awaiting a human hand in the spring to be replanted, these will still be standing tall, already ready for regrowth, offering shelter for overwintering insects and seeds for our birds and other winter wildlife who, in turn, will ensure its future propagation. Time to start looking to Mother Nature for reciprocal, full circle, life sustaining examples to #shifttheparadigm #learnfromnature #wildfood #medicinalearth See more

Fall...aaah... love it. Harvesting the last of the food /medicinal garden’s post frost survivors (green tomatoes, lavender, calendula & chamomile) and some forest foraging- mushrooms and roots are the focus this time of year (dandelion, burdock, black eyed Susan and evening primrose shown here). #autumngarden #fallforaging #lovenature

Although summer in the northern climes seems to be making an abrupt transition to autumn, Goldenrod, powerful healer and vital late season wildlife nourisher, is still visually warming our world with its swaths of sun shiney beauty and resilience. Somehow, it, ironically, gets confused with allergy causing ragweed, when it actually fortifies the body AGAINST allergic reactivity, among its many medicinal properties. https://youtu.be/Lbq3T3ZDvbQ

Have Medicinal Earth products in yet another farm market store. Yay! From Marché et bistro fermiers aux petits oignons in Tremblant to this incredible realization, The Glengarry Market, in Alexandria Ontario, by a courageous visionary woman, conceiver/owner of the fermented foods The Brine Cellar and supportive colleague, beekeeper and honey producer of Honey From the Glen. I remember, a couple of years ago, all vendors of the Cornwall Kinsmen market, they spoke to me abo...ut their idea, and this Saturday I saw it for the first time. From CSA baskets with local farm produce, teas, maple syrup, ancient grains, art...you name it. I am so blessed to know all these amazing women, connected to the Earth, creative and of entrepreneurial spirit, all about supporting one another and encouraging local industry, sustainable food and other small batch artisanal products. #womensupportingwomen #localbusiness #localfood #medicinalearth See more