mortar and pestle.....

Wolfesbane...

 I have been doing my otherworldly journeying thang the last few days, more shamanic than my more usual greenwitchyness, or so I thought...

 A couple of times Id ended up at a native american pow wow, stayed a little to watch dancers, then thought this is not my ancestral tradition and moved on. At one point however i saw flashes from around the world showing the common thread running through all traditions of women processing food and medicines, women in africa pounding grain, an european kind a chick using a mortar and pestle, native americans grinding corn....

Last night as I was returning my wolfriend called after me, check out 'wolfsbane' laughing, it was gobbledegook to me at the time...

Anyways, so I think what the **** is wolfbane for about 1/2 a second, then pull out the herb books. Came across wolfbohne, which is lupins, a good green mulch for poor soils and that made sense for the garden here. I just decided to pull out an olde booke to doublecheck, and theres wolfesbane in the index, aconite, Aconitum napellus. As i read more I find shes, highly poisonous, and a plant that, along with hemlock, was used in 'flying ointments'. Whats flying but the same thing as the 'shamanic' journeying  done with repetitive rhythm or other psychoactive plants. This shit is global, and the european witches were that part of the worlds version of shamans. Love it when life messes with labels and information comes through in such experiential ways. Thats one way to learn about herbs...

Id never heard of wolfsbane, but you can bet my wolf friend had, as it was used to poison arrowheads to hunt wolves....

We have to admit that the language, in vegetation, of the land has been altered in many waves of plant arrivals, each changing the character of what grows in a certain place. Some species have adapted so well as to overtake and force out others. How do you choose what to keep or pull out in your garden, or on your land? Its a matter of perspective, and i would suggest a process in action that contains its own paradoxes. Lantana for example, recognised as a hideous invasive force in bushland, was originally brought into the country because it formed hedges with clusters of pretty flowers. Forms hedges alright, sometimes metres high along creeklines. In one context, gardens, it worked for a while, but when it busted out of context, it dominated. Yet even while doing so,  provided its delectible berries to native birds. Its thicket like form created nesting sites in situations where other habitat may have been destroyed. Vegetation is often an evolving, rather than a static thing, and may well depend on who is caretaking a site, or not, as to how it develops and changes.

Certainly since the coming of white boatpeople to Australias shores plants travelled with them, have taken root and flourished. With furthur layers of folks coming from all over the world (some of who would have been happy to find plants like dandelion growing in their new home) came different plants, some of which naturalised.

"these weeds are now part of a 'new' Australian ecology."
                                                Greg Czechura, Queensland Museum

As someone looking for medicines and food to harvest, also just blown away by natures diversity, I hope my senses are open to all kinds of plants. The pictures above of red clover and a waratah each hold beauty for me, amazingly similar in their form though originating on oppposite sides of the globe...

Resources:
Robin Buchanon. 'Bush Regeneration'.
Tim Low. ' The New Nature: Winners and Losers in Wild Australia'.
Suzanne Ermert. ' Gardener's Companion to Weeds'.

red clover, white clover...

Both from the same family, Red Clover, Trifolium pratense, is the one most often used in healing but in Australia, White Clover, Trifolium repens, seems far more common. As far as I know they have similar properties but the white clover is much milder in its effects. These sketches are of white clover found growing in a lawn.....   

Violet, Viola odorata.

Another mucilaginous plant after plantain, whos leaves can be eaten too.

My experience of violet would seem to affirm the reputation of her leaves, and flowers, as  dissolvers of growths and tumours both internally and externally. A neighbours dog had a large cancerous growth at her throat, which was causing discomfort breathing, and continuing to grow. She would pick the leaves,mince them, put them to brew in milk and then strain off the plant material, giving the dog the milk to drink.Twice a day if I remember rightly. It was a kind of last ditch effort, but the growth stopped, the dog was not only able to come of vet prescribed meds but ended up living for years more. A sweet ending indeed....

Resources:   Juliette de Baracli Levy. The Complete Herbal Hanbook For the Cat and the Dog

Plantain....

                                                          Plantain : Plantago lanceolata
Youll know her by her parallel veined leaves, running from stem base to tip. Her leaves form a rosette, from the centre of which emerge flower spikes that form seedheads. She grows in lawns, where soil has been disturbed or compacted. Shes a soothing one indeed, her leaves crushed up or chewed and put on an insect bite give speedy relief, handily she often grows where bees harvest. She has a knack for healing skin inflammation, wounds, sores, scalds or burns, and excma. The seeds of plantain ( and Plantago major) were recovered from the stomachs of Tollund Man and Grauballe Man, iron age men dug from peat bogs of Denmark. Plantains are amongst the most ancient weeds from northern Europe.

 Ive had some plantain leaves infusing in olive oil for some 4 months (oops). I finally strained off the oil to make a salve with it. My 8/10 of a litre of infused oil went into the bowl of a double boiler setup, with three chopsticks to ensure against burning. Turned up the heat till water was boiling, and then gradually added 100grams of grated beeswax to the oil. I kept stirring until all the wax dissolved. Poured the mix into jars and lipbalm containers, and theres plantains lovely green soothing salve!

Australian Native Plants, some potent forces....

Traditions of bush food, and medicines, are passed on orally as an adjunct to learning the landscape here, and this has in places been undeniably fragmented by colonisation, but reweaving is and has been going on. Records kept in a written culture are expanding as Indigenous communities speak for themselves, teach and create educational syllabus. These are a good source of learning for those of us with an interest, and provide a continuity different to the documents of early voyages and expeditions from Europee.

A crucial part of knowing what you can eat or make medicines is often in how to prepare them and that applies everywhere. For example, the ‘cycad palm’ seeds that look so delectable, (Australia has 28 species) all require extensive processing. Be that baking in coals for an hour and then soaking in water for 6 to ten days, or roasting, pounding and then soaking in water for two weeks. A plant like the bunya-bunya pine has large tasty nuts which simply require boiling and then peeling off of the outer husk to reveal a nutty treat. The macadamia nut is a low preparation nut by comparison. Its a question of getting to know the plants and doing some research. They sit at different points along a sliding scale of preparation required to maximise nourishment and minimise harm.

Perhaps being some of the most ancient species on the planet some species feel they’ve done their time as food and medicine.The women who did most of the gathering had to be skilled botanists. Plant food sources were up to 80% of the diet in desert areas, down to about 40% on the coast

Fruits seem to be some of the more approachable bushfoods. Some , like those of the lilly pilly, Syzygium species, are now commonly available in nurserys.

I would like to talk about  pigface, Carpobrotus rossii,  so named because of the fruits ‘snout and ears’. If you get coastal in your travels you would probably recognise her. Vibrant pink flowers and succulent leaves trail along the sand. The fruits redden as they reach maturity and when ripe you pick em and simply squeeze the fruit out of its skin and into your mouth. They taste almost like a salty kiwifruit.

"In the early days in this big wide open country, there was always healing cures here on the Land -the healing songs, fat, paintings and the healers - and its still the same now, even after all the old-time elders have passed on."
                                                  Veronica Perrurle Dobson, Arrernte traditional healer, 2007

Medicines are invaluable to identity and community health, sharing them is a gift and harvesting while also maintaining a plant poulation is a skill. For example, a plant may be slow growing and hence not recover easily from too large a harvest, some tubers or roots when pulled thats it for that individual plants life cycle but if you break a small piece off and replant itm thatll shoot . So if you want to nourish a patch, learn about how it grows over time and keep an eye out for its health. Itll be appreciated and thats a nice vibe....

Different preparation techniques which could be used in creating medicines, as in other traditions, include ointments made with animal fat, poultices, 'kino' (dried sap) and 'smoking' or inhalations. Smoking can be used both medicinally, and ceremonially. A small fire is lit and the leaves put on, usually picked from plants high in essential oils like eucalypts, and tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia. Their ability in the treatment of colds and flus, or as an antibacterial to prevent infection has led to the essential oils from them being used globally. These can burn the skin neat, and are best used diluted.

The vegetation of Australia is so varied that theres much to be learned. But I did just want to write something to acknowledge the potency of some Australian native plants and the skills required to 'live on the land', as a follow up to the previous post. 

Resources:
Veronica Perrurle Dobson. 'Arrente Traditional Healing'.
Institute for Aboriginal Development. 'Punu: Yankunytjatjara Plant Use'.
Minmia. 'Under the Quandong Tree'.
Peter Latz. 'Pocket Bushtucker'.
Tim Low. 'Wild Food Plants of Australia' and 'Wild Herbs of Australia and New Zealand'.
E.V. Lassak and  T. McCarthy. 'Australian Medicinal Plants'.
Compiled by  Michael Richardson. 'Your Own Resources: A Practical Guide for Self Supporting People in Australia'.

Plants talking to us....

One of the main ways live plants communicate with us is through our body and senses, experientially. There are clues to a plants tangents in visuals, scent, taste, and feel. Where is it growing, is it far from human civilisation, or close to your doorstep? Does it smell earthy, sweet? Does it taste bitter? Do you want to spit it out? Whats its sap feel like?

People have been exploring the uses of plants for eons.These are the gathered observations that have collectively been handed down to us to form the basis of our foods and medicine. But there had to be an experimenter somewhere along the line. If you want to contribute to this lineage, or experientially test it out, spend some time just hanging out with plants, especially if youre drawn to a particular one. If youre not sure about it, it smells unpleasant or potent, observe it, does it share similarities to others you know, check it out or ask someone else to. There will be exceptions to any rule. Go slow with this stuff, learn how your body intuits by testing it against knowledgeable folks in flesh or writings. Plants are not all safe to ingest in quantity, but they usually give indications of this to warn us off. We have access to knowledge of many generations, and traditions, to double check our gut feelings. An exception to this is fungi, where what looks like an edible in one country, may not be in another.

Medicine, and Id include food in that, plants are living alongside us, or we can grow reatively simply (unless like me you live close to the coast, the soils sandy and theres tropical storms) but to look at it another way we can look to whats growing around us easily in reach for our medicines.

As an example I have a species of Oxalis, which Id fobbed off because its not the species thats generally used and grows like crazy. However shes planted for her delicate flowers and as a herb of good luck/ abundace in the hearth. Planted? Man my hearth is abundant! Folks actually dry the leaves for luck. Id love to be able to eat the oxalis, but I already started digging her up with the plan to leave a patch.

Oxalates are found in some quantity in most plants and taste almost painfully sour, as in Oxalis species. Its just that the levels are so low in most fruits and vegetables, usually less than 0.00001gram, so as to go unnoticed. For a lethal dose youd have to persisit despite spewing and pooing to get there. Its more likely to happen to cows with limited pastures. Poor ol bovines! So sometimes in your salads ok, but not at a high regular dose. My instincts to reduce her numbers made sense, and im sticking with that.

Most wild herbs are lower in oxalates than oxalis and pose no greater threat than spinach or silverbeet, which would have had their wild days along with the rest of us.

Oxalis and I are in communication. We need a mediator, but we're in discussion. As much as I pull her out she appears still, so I dont know where our relationship can go from here. Except theres been tangental learning in the process. I now know if I had white flowering Oxalis who spreads via rootsystems not bulbs, her leaves could be used internally to help relieve fever and externally to relieve inflammation. Sounds cooling. I may not remember that, but probably will because its based on me on my hands and knees with a kitchen spoon digging up bulbs that drop mini ones back into the soil each I lift em out. Its going to be one of those relationships you have to but clear boundaries around, like a brick wall *sigh*.....

Resources:
Susun Weed. 'Healingwise'.
Stephen Harrod Buhner. 'The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intellect of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature'.
Gai Stern. ' Australian Weeds: A Source of Food and Medicine'.
Juliette De Baracli Levy. ' Common Herbs for Natural Health'.

Talking to plants...

Talking to plants. You might already do this without knowing it. When that houseplants leaves droop, its time to water, when the frosts come in you worry about those trees you just planted, on a roasting hot day youre glad you mulched around that herb. Maybe you kill everything you try to grow, except one real tough plant that can you use in your cooking, or for that particular recurring health problem. Plants want to communicate with us, infact theyre pretty much natures boddhisatvas.
They give us our breath our whole lives, and then we give them ours. Its a giving and recieving relationship thats core to our essence of life, easy to forget amidst our to do, still havent done and wish I hadnt done lists.
Some folks acknowledge plants as lifes great teachers, healers and artists. Not bad for someone who is rooted to the one spot for most of their lives, some for under a year. Imagine how crazy we seem to a 120 year old figtree thats watched our comings and goings for that long. Talk about meditation.
How wouldo u feel if u took 5 minutes to lean on that ancient trunk and just breathe, sigh. How do you feel when you put that aloe vera on a hot burn, aah. The communications already goin down, its just not called up to the surface of our minds. So if you think youre not a plant person, pause a moment before you believe that. We are all plant people. We are all in dialogue with them. Every breathe we take or give.
So if chatting away to plants makes you look for the oncoming white coated men, if growing food and medicine from seeds bores you to even think about or if all you see in trees is a fire hazard youre still a plant person. On the other hand if the sight of a seeds first sprouting tip excites you silly, the shape of an agophra trunk gets you in the mood,  the scent of jasmine evokes springs coming, tasting your own homegrown tomatoe rocks your world, your a plant person.
Probably theres a combo of the two going on, you love that rose youve nurtured into flowering but get pissed off by the oxalis growing all around her. You listen to the rose but block out the oxalis, I do cos shes stifling my native grasses. But I also acknowledge the leaves of oxalis, while high in oxalic acid, add a lemony zesty taste if I pop a few in my soup right at the end. Its just shes kinda domineering and likes to take over the conversation.
I hope here to introduce you to some of my conversations with plants and hope maybe you can do the same because I can learn from your experiences things that go under my radar....

A wending path....

Come with me down a wending path where you never know what will be growing, be it native, or weed, they all have messages, and medicine, for us if we listen quietly and with some respectfull openess. After all some folks are proud to be weeds.....

The page Ive opened at is a path near my grandmother, Alices, house by the sea, a tea tree path that led me back to her garden. Alice always noticed the small differences in her garden as it changed from day to day, at 95 she still loved having a picnic lunch ' down the garden '. She also made the paper that forms the background of these musings, mulched up something or rathers, as she experimented up to her elbows in her papermaking shed with everything from banana peels to flax leaves....
 Plants have been a presence in my life as long as i remember, well duh thats bloody obvious, how else would you breathe, or appreciate beauty or make kindly medicines that allow you to have some control over your own health? Ooops raved, getting ahead of myself.
So I dedicate these small scale potterings to the green nations without whom we couldnt live, and to my granmas, Alice and Bea, who both loved them in their various guises...