Spring Wild Greens
My body rejoices as I taste these first vibrant flavors of spring – fragrant violet, sweet salmonberry flowers, the delicate new leaves of miners lettuce, dandelion, wood sorrel and chickweed. My plant teachers say that wild spring foods wake our bodies up after a winter diet. These foods connect us to beginning of a new seasonal cycle – both physiologically and in our relationship to our place. They improve our health through stimulating digestive juices, flushing our kidneys and liver, and cleansing our bowels. We are celebrating the birth of the season with all of our senses. Here are...
Read MoreStinging Nettle
Restorative food, purifying medicine, guardian. Nettle is a constant friend. I find it wondrous that one plant can bring such richness to my life. It is a regular part of my diet, an essential tool in my medicine kit and a keeper of cultural teachings, both ancient and new. I mark seasonal changes by where nettle is in its life cycle. As the first young plants emerge from the winter soil, I rejoice the imminent return of spring. Nettle season is upon us! I have seen nettle touch people in deep and mysterious ways. My friend Valerie Segrest said she drank a cup of nettle tea and it changed...
Read MoreCottonwood
Winter’s Balm, First Medicine, Water Keeper. As I walk along the river I notice giant cottonwood trees towering above the tops of the alder and the big leaf maple. Luckily, a windstorm has knocked down large branches with swollen buds, making my work easy. These are the prize I am after. As I squish the buds, a reddish resin sticks to my fingers. It has a strong fragrance all it’s own – reminiscent of pine and honey. This resin contains a medicine that eases pain and heals damaged skin. Other names: Black Cottonwood, Balm of Gilead, Populus trichocarpa Identifying Cottonwood: This massive...
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