Green Tribe of Belonging

  This week my poetry group had an assignment of writing a poem about "root vegetables". Parsnips, turnips, carrots, potatoes, all those yummy ingredients for a good soup. But somehow my mind went to my favorite roots instead: ones that heal us. On this New Year's Eve, I do wish I'd made myself a root vegetable stew to celebrate the turning of the year, but I do have this poem to share with you: Underground Medicine Long ago we began to find plants that healed, sometimes using leaves, sometimes fruits, often roots. Women the Nurturers became Women the Healers. They knew where to find, in field or forest, the right plant friend for each illness. They learned that often it was deep roots that gave strongest help, greatest relief. Digging down below ground,  these women healed their communities from whatever came along. They knew that Burdock root was a friend to our blood, that an unquiet stomach was eased by Marshmallow. They used Astragulus to help keep their group re

 No matter where we turn to the media these days, we're confronted with discouraging facts. Even when I decide to watch nature programs, beautiful and inspiring views of forests, oceans, skies, I am confronted with warnings about the fragility of our environment and the need to restore balance. The truth is that as a species we are in trouble. As a planet, we are in trouble. And much of the trouble for our planet is because of our actions as a species. Looking at the political divisions within our country is one thing, the rigid lines in the sand, the dysfunction and antipathy that seem more important  than finding a way to peace. But that is only one small part of the difficulties. So many components of our earth are in the red zone, in a dangerous space that might ultimately contribute to our demise, or even of all life. The facts are so brutal that it is hard even to let them in. Climate change, loss of diversity, air pollution, desertification, the clearing of forests...., the

  Winter Solstice Starry night, windy and cold, bleak. Gazing from my window, it looks like just another such night, dark and closed in, spring far away, and I huddle near the heat.  In this age of separation, we spend our days indoors. Cosmic matters such as the tilting of the earth’s axis,  the changing of the year, get forgotten. Mostly we are unaware of the big things, the planets and stars, the movement of sea and land, our earth home moving toward the light as the world continues its yearly journey.  Yet the wheel of life turns, and we turn with it. This very night is the moment when long nights begin to grow shorter.  We’ll soon begin to bask in warm sunlight as slowly, slowly the earth creeps toward spring, then summer.  Ancient peoples celebrated this momentous event, and honored the forces that yet again moved them toward light and life.  This day when I have been so discouraged by our country’s mess, the hatred and intolerance rampant, the common sense abandoned, with effort

 Carrying on with the question I raised in the last post, how do we know what healing plants can help us? What kind of communication best addresses this need for clarity? As you might have noticed, doctors these days usually scoff at the value of herbs, if not downright warning us to stay away from them. Yet since antiquity, healing herbs have been used with good effect. And they are in general much safer than drugs, mostly nourishing and gently tonifying. I have been fascinated with plants as medicine for many years, and my garden has more medicinal herbs than vegetables. I get such satisfaction in turning those plants into tinctures and teas that are available to people in my community as well as myself. And since winter is coming and most plants have succumbed to the freezing temperatures now, this is the time to make sure the medicine cabinet is full. But there is still the question: which herbs are good for any of us at a particular time?  I am coming up on a time when this questi