Lessons from herbs

My Autumn Season of Gathering is coming together beautifully! I’m grateful that I don’t need to make a choice, but if I did, autumn would be my favorite season!
​While I gather my autumn herbs, recipes from the kitchen, journal prompts, and autumn creative sparks, due to be posted on the first day of autumn, you can review my Summer: Season of Radiance  - since summer isn’t quite over - and join me in reminiscing about one of my favorite courses - Enhancing Your Life with Herbs. I taught it at the Renaissance Institute at Notre Dame University of Maryland when I was in Baltimore, and by zoom when I moved to Newville. I painted over 200 herbs to illustrate the course - many were painted while I was watching Orioles games!

The course was always presented during the autumn. It lasted for six weeks and the first sessions included culinary and medicinal herbs. As Halloween approached we covered Herbs for Haunting, followed by Holiday Herbs. We also did a session on Herbs for Romance. 

The folklore surrounding herbs is fascinating and can range from frightening to hilarious. Since so much of it has lasted for centuries and spanned continents, there must be some validity. My grandmother taught me to look at herbs with an open mind over three quarters of a century ago and to appreciate their value and versatility. While others called them weeds, I knew they could be use for food, medicine, hexes, love spells and more! Herbs have been mentioned in the Bible and Shakespeare’s literature. There are herbs from the zodiac, from historical tapestries, Egyptian papyruses and more!

Viewing things from a more creative perspective allows me to see the world differently. I know that everything and everyone has value if we look for the assets instead of the deficits. I wrote It’s a Weed when I was working with adjudicated youth and women in prison. 

“If we can find value in a plant we labeled a weed,
we will probably be able to find value in people we previously
​labeled, undervalued, and discarded."

It's a Weed was created when I saw the damage done by labeling people  and then deciding they had no value. I worked for years with women in the prison system, served on the board of directors for The Program (for Female Offenders), with young people in the juvenile justice system and children from the worst areas of the city. Many had parents who were addicted to drugs, often living in dreadful poverty simply by virtue of where they were born. Many were labeled, misjudged and under valued.. I found them to be filled with unappreciated gifts and talents. 

Herbs have been used throughout history to
​protect, destroy, predict, inspire, cure and season. 

As the end of summer unfolds, I hope you will spend as much time as possible in nature, and pay attention to the plants growing beside trails, railroad tracks, along sidewalks and in gardens. If you haven’t been introduced, use your imagination and consider the plant's value. Take some time to look at it, journal and possibly make a few sketches. Don’t touch it if you are unfamiliar. Poison ivy is absolutely gorgeous in the fall and one of my favorite plants to paint - from a distance! You can visit it later after you find out more about it.

As you look at an unfamiliar plant, consider how it might be used -  as a food or medicine? Can you imagine a witch (think "healing, helpful, good witch") finding it and using it in a spell? Do you recognize other plants growing near by? 

Is there someone in your area you could contact to help you learn more about herbs and plants? You may know a knowledgeable grandparent, teacher, or Master Gardener.

Are you knowledgeable and willing to share with others in your neighborhood or community? 

Exercise your creativity by watching, learning and considering. We are surrounded by miracles! Don’t label and discard them. Explore, identify and celebrate the priceless treasures all around us!