Weekly Tasks: No class, MLK Day
Reading: Review/Browse Chapter 15 “Movement Building” – Farming While Black
On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, take some time to read/review the “Movement Building” Chapter from Farming While Black. While every chapter within this book so far has been highly important and empowering, I think this is one of the most important chapters to read.
“…what can a nation of farmers have to offer the rest of the world?”
-from the film Black Panther
Tuesday, 1/18
Over this weekend, I got into communication with Beth, the farm manager of the Organic Farm and I met with her before class on Tuesday to discuss more in-depth plans for the herb garden this quarter. We agreed that from now on, before community gardening on Mondays, I will show up between 9:30-9:45 to create daily plans with Beth that I will then share with my classmates once class begins. I also shared some of my visions for the garden this quarter, including replacing the busted irrigation system and the ruined lavender plants, as well as possibly seeding or getting cuttings of herbs to add to the collection. Finally, we agreed that a good starting point would be to generate a map of the herb garden to get a general understanding of which plants are where, what is missing, and where space is available for new plants.
Home Herbalism Series – Class 1
Introduction to Herbalism – Herbal Nutrition – The Art of Tea
In order to get some experience working with herbs outside of the herb garden in a more medicinal sense, I signed up for Wintergreen Botanical’s Home Herbalism Series, which is a nine-class series that focuses on how to incorporate and use herbs as medicine within daily life. Taught by Maria Noel Groves, an herbalist with over two decades of experience and the author of two herbalism books, this beginner series will teach me about different types of medicinal herbs, about medicine making, and will help me create deeper relationships with herbs through an in-depth materia medica as part of our homework. I will include files to my homework for each class as they are too long to copy and paste into each post.
In order for participants to have a more enriched experience with the course, Maria sent out wonderful packages of herbs to use in medicine and tea making. It was really exciting to receive my package and be welcomed by a wonderful assortment of herbal smells upon opening it.
Homework:
Readings
The Evergreen Herbal – Tari Gunstone
Chapter 5 – “Medicine Making”
“As humans, we are undeniably in relationship with plants, we need them to function as a species on this earth. This relationship can be defined, for some, as spiritual.”
– Geena Barker, The Evergreen Herbal
This chapter was a wonderful companion to my first week of the Home Herbalism course with Maria Noel Groves. It covered similar information as the class, giving brief overviews of different herbal medicine types, tincture making, herbs specific to stress and anxiety, as well as a wonderful assortment of recipes for a wide variety of herbal remedies. Some of the recipes I am most excited about are the herbal teas, as this is probably the herbal remedy I personally use the most.
I also really appreciated the discussion on plant spirituality in this chapter as this is a subject I have started to explore during my time at Evergreen as well. Plants are a part of our history and our DNA whether we choose to acknowledge it or not; it is worth taking the time to listen and learn from them. I am very intrigued by the idea of flower essences, a plant medicine used to harness the spirit of a plant in a person’s daily life instead of just the medicinal properties. Once more flowers are in bloom come springtime, I will make my own flower essence.
The Herbalist’s Way – Nancy and Michael Phillips
Chapter 3 – “Learning Your Path”
This chapter was another wonderful companion to the first week of my herbalism course. Similar material was covered in both, including the importance of using Latin names when talking about herbs to ensure the same plant is being talked about.
The big takeaways from this chapter for me include the idea of mixing pharmaceutical drugs with herbal medicines. This is a question I had never asked but definitely subconsciously been curious about; would the effects of one diminish the effects of the other? Could the combination create a negative reaction to the medicines? There seems to be a negative stigma in media around combining the two when in reality the majority of herbs are perfectly safe to consume along with chemical drugs. A well-versed herbalist will know when this might not be the case or which herbs should be avoided in general. Overall, however, it’s always a good idea to keep a doctor and herbalist in the loop about everything being taken, in case any complications could arise from whatever combination is happening.
Another takeaway from this reading was about the Doctrine of Signatures, which is the theory that plants resemble the organ in our bodies that they can support medicinally. An example provided by Maria Noel Groves, my teacher in the Home Herbalist series, is the appearance of hibiscus tea: a deep red color, almost like blood. It just so happens that hibiscus is good for the cardiovascular system. Of course, this theory shouldn’t be heavily relied on, but other examples do exist and make us wonder about the role plants play in our lives.
This also leads into the conversation about plant allies, and how the right plants may appear to us exactly in our time of need. Many herbalists have told stories of having a certain pain while in nature and not knowing what to do about it, before noticing a certain plant waving at them in a seemingly wind-less environment. Sure enough, upon further research, the waving plant was offering its aid with whatever issue the herbalist was having. Plant allies can appear to us out of the blue or can happen from fostering a close relationship with a certain plant over an extended period of time. And not solely learning and researching about this plant, but spending time with it, listening, and getting to know it physically as well.
Something that sparked ideas for a potential spring quarter project was the mention of an herbarium, a collection of pressed and dried herbs mounted for display with information that a person can refer back to. The book gives directions for creating a simple plant press with plywood, bolts, and cardboard, which would be easy enough to recreate. Maria also recommends the creation of an herbarium to accompany the plant monographs in our homework, so this might be a good place to start if I have access to the herbs I am monographing.
The end of this chapter was chocked-full of resources for budding herbalists, it was a bit overwhelming, to be honest. There was everything from old herbals to new herbals to women’s health herbals to medicine making books to herb gardening guides. There was information on finding a mentor, participating in an apprenticeship, going to an official herb school, joining an herb conference. The list could go on. While slightly overwhelmed, I ended this chapter very content in the knowledge that I have a wide variety of sources available to me, so if I ever feel lost, I can come back to these recommendations.