Week One: Orientation & Foundations

This week for me consists mostly of finalizing and solidifying a plan for the upcoming quarter.

Garden Work:

This quarter the majority of my ILC work will be tending, weeding, harvesting, and planting in the Medieval Herb Garden on campus. I will be focusing on growing Hyssop and Shiso in partnership with the Craft Brewing & Distilling Program at SPSCC, and hopefully providing them with something they can use in their work. I will also be acting as the Student Coordinator for other students who are interested in working in the Herb Garden.

This is the blog for the Evergreen Teaching Gardens project of which the herb garden is a part:

http://blogs.evergreen.edu/teachinggardens/the-gardens/medicinal-herb-garden/

Research:

The other part of my interests lies in the connection between gardening and farming and the cosmos. I am fascinated with astrology as a language of symbols that can be used to help us to better understand the world around us and ourselves. I want to explore this language and its ability to help us get more in touch with the rhythms of the land and the bountiful sources of food and medicine She provides us. This means I will be doing lots of reading about other peoples connection to plants, exploring different cosmologies that build foundations for a broader range of relationship with the Earth, and how they have been practiced throughout history. I will be in conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer and her book Braiding Sweetgrass in order to explore Traditional Ecological Knowledge and its lessons, as well as farmers interested in and utilizing biodynamic farming methods, and a handful of herbals which speak of older plant lore and planetary correspondences.

Materia Medica:

This portion of my ILC will flow smoothly into my learning from both the other sections. Each week I will complete a watercolor and ink drawing of one of the plants within the garden. I have done plant monographs before and find them to be an invaluable way of connecting with the plant and getting to know it in a more intimate way. It also is good practice when stewarding, tending, and making medicine from them, reminding us of their aliveness and the beauty of their gifts.