Beautiful. Thank you for leading by example and helping your fellow humans to re-connect with their Great Mother through your devotional, attentive, mindful and loving interactions with the plant and fungal realms.
In my day job (landscape installation) I get to work intimately with the roots or many trees and plants as I help them from the nursery to find forever homes in the living Earth. I have found that through being mindful of the fragrances and visual cues of the roots these plants can communicate to me the types of medicinal gifts they can offer humans. Two examples are the fragrant roots of the Tulip tree or Liriodendron tulipifera (which offer a peppery/minty almost eucalyptus like aroma when exposed) and the vibrant almost turmeric-esk appearance of Barberry roots.
In both instances these aromatic and visual cues gave me information that indicated similar medicinal properties I had come to recognize in other species which I was then able to confirm through learning from local indigenous elders and/or scientific research after the fact.
I feel like developing these sensory/intuitive pattern recognition and plant mindfulness practices is extremely important in this time when so many are depending more and more on technological crutches. There may come a time when our access to these handy computers is suddenly not possible for long periods of time, and it will be those who have nourished their innate sensory based tools for measurement, medicine detection and intuitive knowing that will be capable of continuing to thrive regardless of outside circumstances in such a situation.
Thank you so much for the links and your thoughful reflections. I love the idea of finding wild forever homes for plants and trees. Such a sweet and comforting image. Last year, my partner and I welcomed a number of elder trees and endangered medicine like goldenseal onto land we steward. It's interesting to note that medicinally, abundant barberry roots are sometimes used in place of endangered goldenseal roots since both herbs contain the chemical berberine. 🌱 I'm happy to know this post inspired you!
I am reading your gorgeous book (Awakening Artemis) and I have found your description of the yew tree and apple tree especially moving.
I am growing the wild apples from Kazakhstan you mentioned in the book and would like to offer to send you some seeds from my 2024 harvest if you have somewhere you would like to allow some ancient wild apples to set down roots and thrive.
I updated to article to include the delightful and so powerfully true Welsh proverb that you included in your book :)
Considering the hyper heterogeneous nature of wild apples most people expect that growing a tree from seed that would produce palatable fruit to be highly unlikely, however I share Akiva Silver's opinion that growing delicious apples from seeds is not nearly as rare or unlikely as apple breeders and apple grafting specialists would have us believe.
Our "Starlight Blush" apple is a testament to the gifts Mother Earth shares with us when we give her wild seeds a chance to grow and express themselves freely.
Thanks for helping me to feel more connected to my Scottish heritage and deepening my desire to learn from and intimately connect with our rooted elders.
In truth, I wish I was working with, learning from, connecting with and finding forever homes for mainly native species (rather than imported species like Barberry planted for purely ornamental reasons) but it is not my landscaping business so the decisions are often not up to me with regards to what species are planted. I am currently working that day job so I can save up for self-publishing / printing my next book on regenerative agroforestry (food forest design) so I need the work (even if it involves landscaping in a way that I would not necessarily do myself if I was in charge). Thus, in the meantime I strive to learn what I can from the photosynthetic beings that I find my self working with. Thanks for the info on the compounds in golden seal.
I have been walking in the little sections of Carolinian hardwood forest that remain here in southern Ontario throughout the winter and allowing the trees to speak to me and I am grateful to say that a few Shagbark Hickory trees reached out to me energetically and they want me to propagate their seeds/seedlings this year. I am looking forward to working with them as they are endangered in our area and I am also working on scaling up our paw paw seedlings for planting out into forest designs and "guerilla gardening" them into the local parks here that are devoid of that wonderful understory species.
I just pre-ordered your book "Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature" so I am looking forward to exploring that later this year.
I am also working on protecting and preserving an ancient progenitor species that is the wild relative of all modern domesticated apples (malus sieversii). Have you read about/worked with that species at all?
Thank you for your sacred works in healing the land and helping humans remember the importance of nurturing a connection with their rooted kin.
I really appreciate how your fierce stance on rewilding does not include apps, it is about fully being in presence with the plants. And I think that these apps are exciting for people starting out to identify, as it mimics how we have learned in school, immediate and clear feedback. yes or no. But in order to rewild, we have to learn in new ways too. I think the relationship we grow with plants as we learn to identify them through appreciation of their uniqueness, then allows us to consider to harvest them. It goes in tandem and is a relationship, and its a relationship that must be grown with the whole ecosystem.
Thank you so much for your reflection here. I agree the apps can be helpful in confirming a species (satisfying that yes/no) but have noticed they take away from the need for close observation and communication with land. Exploring the language of the natural world deepens intimacy and slows me down; it is a language innate in all of us, I believe. Like Google maps, the apps can cause us to question our instincts and become dependent on our devices instead of our senses.
Beautiful. Thank you for leading by example and helping your fellow humans to re-connect with their Great Mother through your devotional, attentive, mindful and loving interactions with the plant and fungal realms.
In my day job (landscape installation) I get to work intimately with the roots or many trees and plants as I help them from the nursery to find forever homes in the living Earth. I have found that through being mindful of the fragrances and visual cues of the roots these plants can communicate to me the types of medicinal gifts they can offer humans. Two examples are the fragrant roots of the Tulip tree or Liriodendron tulipifera (which offer a peppery/minty almost eucalyptus like aroma when exposed) and the vibrant almost turmeric-esk appearance of Barberry roots.
In both instances these aromatic and visual cues gave me information that indicated similar medicinal properties I had come to recognize in other species which I was then able to confirm through learning from local indigenous elders and/or scientific research after the fact.
I feel like developing these sensory/intuitive pattern recognition and plant mindfulness practices is extremely important in this time when so many are depending more and more on technological crutches. There may come a time when our access to these handy computers is suddenly not possible for long periods of time, and it will be those who have nourished their innate sensory based tools for measurement, medicine detection and intuitive knowing that will be capable of continuing to thrive regardless of outside circumstances in such a situation.
Thanks for the inspiration!
---------------------------------------------
Tulip tree medicnal info:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33939429/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31444719/
Barberry roots medicinal info:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6885761/
Thank you so much for the links and your thoughful reflections. I love the idea of finding wild forever homes for plants and trees. Such a sweet and comforting image. Last year, my partner and I welcomed a number of elder trees and endangered medicine like goldenseal onto land we steward. It's interesting to note that medicinally, abundant barberry roots are sometimes used in place of endangered goldenseal roots since both herbs contain the chemical berberine. 🌱 I'm happy to know this post inspired you!
I am reading your gorgeous book (Awakening Artemis) and I have found your description of the yew tree and apple tree especially moving.
I am growing the wild apples from Kazakhstan you mentioned in the book and would like to offer to send you some seeds from my 2024 harvest if you have somewhere you would like to allow some ancient wild apples to set down roots and thrive.
I posted about our first harvest and shared some pics of the first new apple variety we were gifted by our first Turtle Island soil grown from seed malus sieversii tree that produced fruit here: https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/you-can-count-the-seeds-in-a-single
I updated to article to include the delightful and so powerfully true Welsh proverb that you included in your book :)
Considering the hyper heterogeneous nature of wild apples most people expect that growing a tree from seed that would produce palatable fruit to be highly unlikely, however I share Akiva Silver's opinion that growing delicious apples from seeds is not nearly as rare or unlikely as apple breeders and apple grafting specialists would have us believe.
Our "Starlight Blush" apple is a testament to the gifts Mother Earth shares with us when we give her wild seeds a chance to grow and express themselves freely.
Thanks for helping me to feel more connected to my Scottish heritage and deepening my desire to learn from and intimately connect with our rooted elders.
PS - I just read part of your excellent article on Pine and thought I would share this with you:
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/an-encounter-with-an-ancient-healer
Have you ever tried harvesting and eating the pollen?
Thank you for the thoughtful response.
In truth, I wish I was working with, learning from, connecting with and finding forever homes for mainly native species (rather than imported species like Barberry planted for purely ornamental reasons) but it is not my landscaping business so the decisions are often not up to me with regards to what species are planted. I am currently working that day job so I can save up for self-publishing / printing my next book on regenerative agroforestry (food forest design) so I need the work (even if it involves landscaping in a way that I would not necessarily do myself if I was in charge). Thus, in the meantime I strive to learn what I can from the photosynthetic beings that I find my self working with. Thanks for the info on the compounds in golden seal.
I have been walking in the little sections of Carolinian hardwood forest that remain here in southern Ontario throughout the winter and allowing the trees to speak to me and I am grateful to say that a few Shagbark Hickory trees reached out to me energetically and they want me to propagate their seeds/seedlings this year. I am looking forward to working with them as they are endangered in our area and I am also working on scaling up our paw paw seedlings for planting out into forest designs and "guerilla gardening" them into the local parks here that are devoid of that wonderful understory species.
I just pre-ordered your book "Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature" so I am looking forward to exploring that later this year.
I am also working on protecting and preserving an ancient progenitor species that is the wild relative of all modern domesticated apples (malus sieversii). Have you read about/worked with that species at all?
Thank you for your sacred works in healing the land and helping humans remember the importance of nurturing a connection with their rooted kin.
I really appreciate how your fierce stance on rewilding does not include apps, it is about fully being in presence with the plants. And I think that these apps are exciting for people starting out to identify, as it mimics how we have learned in school, immediate and clear feedback. yes or no. But in order to rewild, we have to learn in new ways too. I think the relationship we grow with plants as we learn to identify them through appreciation of their uniqueness, then allows us to consider to harvest them. It goes in tandem and is a relationship, and its a relationship that must be grown with the whole ecosystem.
Thank you so much for your reflection here. I agree the apps can be helpful in confirming a species (satisfying that yes/no) but have noticed they take away from the need for close observation and communication with land. Exploring the language of the natural world deepens intimacy and slows me down; it is a language innate in all of us, I believe. Like Google maps, the apps can cause us to question our instincts and become dependent on our devices instead of our senses.
Love this.
I'm happy to know this resonated. 💚