The simple definition of wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting plants from their natural, or “wild” habitat, for food or medicinal purposes.
When I was a child my parents lived on 52 beautiful acres in the Mendocino Mountains of CA.
My mother, bless her, would kick us out of the house to “go play!”
She’d say, “just make sure you take the dogs with you and look out for mountain lions!”
So my siblings and I would strap on our “pack packs” and set out on an adventure!
But that is where I fell in love with nature. The exploration. The excitement or perhaps the fear of mountain lions… But always the unknown and the imagination.
Building forts, not just in the living room, while we did that too, out of sticks, mud and ferns (I vividly remember the ferns). Making mud pies, playing house and building dams at the creek!
But that time also taught me to appreciate and observe nature.
As I got older that love turned into a fascination with herbal medicine and a natural transition to my spirituality.
When I went to college, I yearned for that connection and peace the earth gave me as a child. So I’d wonder in parks.
There are few things better in the city then laying on a lawn, in a beautiful park, with the sun betting on your face, the buzz of children playing and city life.
But as I wondered these parks, I always found myself picking things up.
Feeling as though I had to take this rock home, or make something out of this fallen branch. That this object, that so many had passed over or stepped on, needed to be in my life and WAS special. But by the time I’d get home my pockets were full of rocks and twigs, like some kind of kleptomaniac.
As a result, I know have bowls of rocks, logs and treasures, strewed about my house.
But I was always searching, always wildcrafting.
Weather it is for practical (who isn’t broke in college), for herbal, beauty or for spirit…
It gave me peace.
I’d like to share those kinds of adventures here, delve deeper into wildcrafting
and expand my knowledge.
Cheers!
