Motherline Medicine nourishes our mitochondria with weeds.
Motherline Medicine nourishes our ability to adapt and thrive with weeds.
Protein-rich weeds.
Mineral-rich weeds.
Energy-rich weeds.
How did I discover this?
I planted my very first garden in 1967.
Did it by the book:
Chose a spot and exterminated all the plants growing there.
Today this approach makes little sense to me.
But that is still how much cultivation begins —
By murdering all the plants
On a particular patch of land
So we can start with "bare" soil.
Onto that bare soil I drew straight lines.
Planted my seeds.
Covered them.
Watered them.
Waited.
I expected to see lines of plants growing.
Not the entire surface of my garden sprouting.
What?
Which of those sprouts were the seeds I had planted?
Which would become the plants I planted?
What was going on here?
You already know the answer.
Weeds.
Weeds love "disturbed" ground.
And I had definitely disturbed that ground.
So weeds were growing.
Nowadays, the seed package often shows you a sprout.
Helps you to distinguish it from the surrounding weeds.
Not then.
Nope.
I was on my own.
Literally.
I knew no one else with a garden.
So I waited.
I figured it would soon be obvious which sprouts were the ones I wanted and which weren't.
It wasn't.
You already know what happened.
The weeds grew faster.
The weeds grew bigger.
The weeds weren't bothered by insects.
The weeds tolerated my erratic care with grace.
The weeds were vibrant.
The weeds were the stars.
The books on gardening told me to kill those weeds.
Pull them up by the roots.
Pour herbicide on them.
Cover them with black plastic.
Try as I might — and I honestly didn't try that much — more weeds kept growing.
Fortunately, somehow, I stumbled onto Euell Gibbons.
"Stalking the Wild Asparagus" opened my eyes to the weeds.
It didn't take me long to understand that the weeds were best.
More nourishing for me.
More minerals for me.
Easier for me.
More abundant.
And they were medicine too!
Frabjous day.
Then Joseph Cocannouer wowed me with
"Weeds, Guardians of the Soil."
I was firmly on the path of weed lover.
I claimed myself as champion of the weeds.
Now, I have a garden for the weeds.
Rarely plant seeds.
Every seed I need is in my cool-process compost.
(Hot compost kills weed seeds.)
Amaranth
Lambs quarter
Purslane
Chickweed
Dandelion
Burdock
Chicory
Mallows
Even volunteer squash and tomatoes.
I just checked.
Both books are available.
Reasonably priced too.
Read them.
Even if you already love weeds.
They are old books.
But the plants don't follow fashion.
The plants don't sing a different tune at different times
Or to different people.
What Euell and Joseph have to say is just as valid today as it was fifty years ago.
They speak for the weeds.
Motherline Medicine is in the weeds.
It is in beauty.
It is a giveaway dance, breathing with the plants.
It is one with the earth's heartbeat.
Surrounded by weeds.
Surrounded by green blessings.
Gratitude
Joy
Dear Susun,
I wish you could see my weed garden, finally someone who could appreciate it and not see it as neglect! When I moved, last year to our little house and big (for me, coming from the city) green space, I was in awe of all the edibles nature had already provided; borage, amaranth, nettles, malva, cleavers, lamb's quarters...
And though I have read Euell Gibbons (what a character ;-)), I want to tell you that it was your beautiful weedy ode Healing wise, that introduced me, 20 years ago, to nature's bounty.
Thank you.
Robin