A Wortcunner - to know plants

I learned a new word recently. "Wortcunner"  A wortcunner, a simpler . Wortcunners were those that lived with and understood plants on another level. These were the folks, the wise women who truly understood all the ways of plants. Not just what they were useful for but the magick of them as well. They learned and knew how to engage the "spirit" of the plant and see beyond what was seen by the naked eye.

I have always loved and been forever enamored with plants. I grew up in the city but we had a lovely garden and our neighbour, Mr. Wilson, had a double lot and grew flowers for the florists in Vancouver. Chrysanthemums by the hundreds of every colour and variety. Our home was always full of flowers. My mother always had spring flowers and lots of roses in the garden. We had a weeping cherry tree in the front yard and I can remember countless hours spent lying under the graceful, bent down branches. It was like a living tent that hid me in the garden and allowed my spirit to roam free.

My mother has often told me what a "vivid" imagination I had. I was always communicating with living things and telling my mother the stories they were telling me. Lucky me that my mother never told me to "stop that nonsense !" My mother has always thought that I would become a writer and I guess in a way I have. I have many stories inside me.

It is interesting that as I become older I am also remembering and retrieving memories of "simpler" times. As an adult I went to school and studied herbal medicine and have taken countless courses to learn as much as I can about plants and how they can help us. But my "true" love has always been the "magick" of them. What they can tell us if we move past the physical reality and see beyond, into the ethers.

Plantago lancelata - Ribwort plantain 

Plants are SO much more "connected" than we are. Of course they are ! They are "rooted" into the earth and grow under the influence of planetary forces and so much more. They are here to help us this much I know. We cannot live without them. 

grows under the influence of Venus. 

I have spent a lifetime trying to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up. "EUREKA" I have found it, in the definition of this very appropriate word, wortcunner. I am an aspiring wortcunner and still have a lot to learn. The plants will teach me and I am doing  my very best to be a worthy student. 

Stay tuned :-)

The Natural World

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,

comfrey

  And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the Palm of your hand,

  And Eternity in an hour.

          William Blake

  

 

 

I have often sat amongst the natural flora and fauna of my surroundings and allowed myself  to become immersed in the moment of what is taking place around me. It is always a deep and thoughtful experience. 

It takes me "out" of "who" I am and into the realm of being part of the whole experience of the living world. To really "look" at a flower, a stone, a handful of soil takes time and focus. It is really a type of meditation that leaves me feeling very, very connected and "rooted" into the living, natural world. 

These "trips" have made me SO much more aware of my surroundings all the time. Where am I going ?, What am I doing ? How are my footsteps, my body, my energy impacting the space I am filling ?

horsetail

At this time of year the farm is very, very busy. There is a lot to do. Lots of planting of seeds and transplants and walking on the earth. Cultivated or not the soil is a "living" skin that deserves our respect when we move over it. 

When we are teaching and educating interns here on the farm part of the learning is becoming "aware" of yourself and how you impact the space with every move you make. Learning to walk with your eyes to the ground and being mindful of where you are stepping and what you are stepping on. Our large bodies can do a lot of damage as we mindlessly brush by plants without being conscious of them. We would never "bump" into another person without excusing ourselves and plants deserve the same good manners. Each participant is encouraged to touch, feel, smell, taste and "think about" what they are experiencing.   

So many years of observing and teaching "newcomers" gives me an indication of why it is so difficult to get the masses to be more supportive and responsive to environmental concerns and issues. Most people move through their environments almost "devoid" of consciousness.  The body and head are NOT connected with their physical actions. They have to get from point A to point B but not really paying attention to how they will get there in a mindful, respectful manner, with the least impact and footprint behind them.

tulips

The most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life is to choose to use the farm as a "tool" to charm the uninitiated into coming here and having them discover themselves through more conscientious awareness of their surroundings and observing the Natural World. That soil and worms and bugs and plants are NOT "yucky" but important,  living things that are valuable and vital to their microcosms. Look at them within the context of their environments and they are no longer those "yucky" things but beautiful in their own right.

fawn lillies

Change happens through learned experiences, one person at a time. The student becomes the teacher and so it passes from one to the next. Once the "earth" has "soiled" you, there is no turning back.

That is Magical !