What's growing wild around you? Do you know? Have you stopped to take notice of a plant that catches your attention? Is there a new plant showing up near you, where you haven't seen it before?
When I visit people's homes and land to help identify the wild edible and medicinal plants that grow there, I am often struck by the way that certain plants show up for certain people. Whether we realize it or not, the plants that grow around us (as in, near our home, or a place that we frequent) often carry a particular healing element that would very specifically benefit us. When we discover that the medicine we need is growing right near us, it can change our relationship to the natural world, and help us appreciate the dynamic role that we, as living beings of nature play within it. Here are a few examples of plants showing up where and when folks might need their support...
I recall walking with a woman around the mowed lawn, outside her home, as she positioned herself on one side of me in order to hear me speaking. She told me about a persistent blockage she was dealing with in her ear, which began with an ear infection that seemed unable to fully clear, despite rounds of antibiotics. As we walked, I noticed thick patches of purple-flowered ground ivy in various spots on the lawn. "Do you know this herb?", I asked her. Other than having noticed it growing abundantly amongst the grass in her lawn, she did not know the plant.
Ground ivy is one of the first herbs I think of for stubborn infections in the ears. While it clears infection through the lymph system and respiratory tract, it also helps to gently detoxify, and "reset" the entire body into a state of better resilience and microbial balance. One of the ways it is known to do this is through its ability to clear out heavy metal buildup in the body---particularly lead, aluminum and mercury. We can accumulate heavy metals through chemical runoff in the soil and water, as well as residues from pesticides and herbicides found in many common foods. Heavy metal buildup can affect the body's immune response to infection because metals will displace important minerals that help us to metabolize wastes and efficiently turn nutrients into energy. Ground ivy can help to draw these metals out of the body, sending them through the pathways of elimination/detoxification, like the lymph system, the liver and digestive system, the respiratory tract and the kidneys. Meanwhile, the vast mineral profile in ground ivy and other wild herbs (such as stinging nettles and dandelion leaves) can help to restore the system, and allow the body's microbial balance to regulate so that infection can not thrive there. I suggested harvesting some of the ground ivy, and preparing a tea from it, which could be drunk daily (1-2 cups), along with some of the other cleansing, re-mineralizing herbs that we found growing there.
Another time, I remember finding an abundance of yarrow leaves growing beside the garden that surrounded a young couple's new home. He did carpentry work, and was involved in the building of their home, while she did various types of bodywork and massage for a living. When I told them about the medicine of the yarrow that grew in their lawn, they were amazed at how appropriate it was for both of their needs, different as they were. It is one of the top remedies to help heal lacerations from sharp objects like cutting tools as it manages excessive bleeding, prevents or clears infection and disperses congealed blood to clear bruises. Also, I often give its flower essence to those who do one-on-one healing work because it helps to protect people from taking on the energy that's around them (ie it protects the practitioner from taking on the energy that may be clearing off a person whom they're working on).
Then there was the time when one of my students, early on in the Experiential Herbalism program, was taking raspberry leaf tea daily as a way to help promote fertility and regulate her menstrual cycle. She had a friend who had lots of raspberry canes growing on her property, and was planning to go to her friends place to harvest the leaves herself so she could dry them and drink them, instead of buying the tea. After one of our classes in which we studied raspberry leaf, and visited the wild black raspberries growing here at the farm, she went back to her home, on a rural property that borders a woodland, and discovered that the wild raspberry canes grew around much of the perimeter of her yard, and had been available for her to harvest all along, right outside her door!
Herbal medicine shows up, not just as a physical healing agent, but it works on multi-facets. Plants can lend their energy and presence to our environment in ways that might change the way that we engage day to day. They tend to communicate in their own language, bringing scents, textures, visual inspiration, and attracting different insects and wild life to their environs, which can also influence our engagement with the world. The concept of flower essence medicine (as described with the yarrow above) can provide subtle, yet profound influences that trigger shifts in mental and emotional patterns, affecting our decisions and our relationships.
For me this year, it seems that violets have taken up residence in a few of my garden beds, with their blue-purple blooms standing out amidst the array of unchecked spring growth that comes in before I begin to cultivate, mulch and plant. Their quiet beauty draws me in, and their presence calls me to avoid cultivating to my own plans, but rather to work with them and the energy they already bring to the garden space. Accepting what is present, and holding your own with integrity---this seems to be some of what I am currently learning from violet. This understated medicine is actually a powerhouse, and can be called on to gently but deeply restore a number of degenerative conditions back to health and integrity. Meanwhile it can help in simpler cases too, cleansing through the lymph system like ground ivy, and soothing the throat and the lungs from all sorts of irritations. I am listening to violet, grateful that it has brought its vigor to my garden spaces. We'll see how the medicine it brings presents itself in different ways as the season progresses.
So....what's growing near you? Have you been paying attention? Nature is ready to be your medicine--in fact, it seems to offer itself up as such, regularly--- and you do not need to go far to receive it. Just have a look around, and see what's showing up.
