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....,...

  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 c...

 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 th...

  Green Magic As a farm kid, eating plants was part of the culture. I loved spinach, turned my nose up at salads. Sweet corn was a treat, but no way would I consider cooked tomatoes. Eating green beans took will power, but I did it to please my mom. She grew all these vegetables in her garden. As a young mother, I was moved to plant a garden too. The thrill of green shoots appearing above the soil, All from tiny seeds, the miracle of continuing life, It pulled me for good into this new world of plants.  They became my friends, and I watched them grow. Yet even then, the green world had more in store for me. From my neighbors, I learned about herbal medicine. Growing medicine in my garden?!  How intriguing. These plant helpers were already existing on their own, Along the roadsides, at the margins, in the woods. Now the green world is my teacher. We humans have used herbs for healing since ancient times  But how did our far ancestors know what to use? What guided them...

  Great Cosmic Wind Looking at the sky. Clouds moving, birds moving. Our round world Also moving, spinning around Toward night, then toward day. And also, journeying around the sun Forever. What makes this happen? No one worries that this movement Will stop. Worries that day will not come, Or winter last forever. Round and round the worlds go Circles within circles. Some mysterious rhythm drives them on. Such order, such constancy. And this small piece of life Looks upward, wondering, As the universe, like a beating heart, Holds us all, moons, planets and stars In its embrace. 

 This week at Prairie Hill, we had a special guest at our "Tasty Tuesday" weekly meal. She is the mother of one of our new members, born of the Lakota peoples from the Pine Ridge Reservation. She has taken on the task of talking to groups about Native American life in this country, past and present. We watched her powerpoint presentation and heard about her own history as well as a wider view of the Native American presence in this country. And she brought along special items from her family including a scoop made out of a buffalo horn and a huge owl feather she uses in prayer. We also enjoyed a special traditional pudding she made for us with choke cherries (including the seeds). This evening that focused on the Native American worldview resonated with me because I had just been reading about this. I had run into the phrase "Mitakuye Oyasin", and then JJ's mother used it in her talk! It means all my relations, and it expresses the belief that everything in natu...