2012 Sustainable Herb Conference

Today I am feeling inspired. Today I am feeling nourished. Today I am feeling grateful.

These wonderful feelings are the happy afterglow from yesterday, when I participated in the 2012 Sustainable Herb Conference in Corvallis, OR. I had found out about the conference just the night before, thanks to my friend Jesse, so the spontaneity of going made it even more exciting.

Yasmina and I went and took two classes [the length of our attention span]. One class, taught by Heiko Koester, was about growing your own native medicinals. I am inspired to fill my yard with medicinal plants, even though the woods around me are already filled (you can never have too many!) The other class was taught by Lawrence Birch and focused on the spiritual properties of plants. This is a subject I have been very interested in since reading Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cowan several years ago. All plants have spirits who are allies in healing, and you can access those spirits through shamanic journeying. I have been exploring this on my own for awhile now, and I feel that meeting Lawrence Birch may be the next step in my journey....but more on that later, I'm sure.

I feel very blessed to live in an area with so many knowledgable herbalists. I heard great stories and learned new information, but the best part was just talking about plants and being around other people who love plants.

I do love plants. The wild herbs. I believe they have great healing powers, and I'm not necessarily talking about the powdered capsule you get from the health food store (not to say there aren't companies putting out wonderful and effective herbal products). But I do think the greatest medicine comes from a personal relationship with a plant, being with that plant and harvesting it and making medicine from it. Listen to the plants, and they will be your teachers. 

Obviously, this is not feasible with every plant in every situation. I buy herbal products from the store too. But if you are indeed interested in herbal healing, I urge you to make some plant allies, if you haven't already. We are surrounded by them. Walk down the street - I'm sure you'll meet dandelion at the least. St. John's Wort, plantain, chickweed, and yellow dock are other very common "weeds" that are easy to spot. Go to your garden or the park. Meet rosemary, lavender, calendula, or other easily found garden herbs. Sit down, slow down, open your heart, and listen. You'll make a friend, I promise.

Urtica dioica, or stinging nettles, is one of my favorite wild plants

I came home from the conference full of inspiration. I do go through periods of being a more active herbalist and being a less active one, and I am kind of coming out of a period of hibernation. Last night I got into my pantry and pulled out all my jars of various dried plants. I like to use up my herbs within a year, and most of my current stash was harvested last spring or summer. This means the time to use them is now! 

Red clover is rich in minerals and a great blood purifier

Using a mortar and pestel, I ground up whole leaves to make a tea blend. I combined nettles, dandelion leaf, lemon balm, red clover flowers, alfalfa leaf, cleavers, and raspberry leaf to make a nourishing liver-lymph-womb tonic. I used roughly equal parts of each herb. To make my tea, I use about a tablespoon of herb per cup of water. I steep the tea for 30-60 minutes, covered. Tonight I lit a candle on my altar and sat in front of it drinking my tea. With my awareness so focused on my delicious tea, I could really feel the nourishment spreading throughout my body. 

Thank you to those who worked so hard to put on the 2012 Sustainable Herb Conference. Thank you to our healing plant allies. Thank you to my delicious tea and the nourishment and energy I feel.

*Gratitude*

Do you have a favorite plant, or one you'd like to know better? Feel free to post in the comments below.