I haven't posted in forever! I have been hanging out with her. She is keeping me too busy to blog lately, darn! Ha! But one of my favorite ladies on the planet found another cool internet fun site I just had to share. Something to keep me busy in the middle of the night when i cant sleep and im too tired to write. How does she find these things. I love the last one still.
my beautiful aunt carrie invited me on a plant walk this past saturday. to describe it as amazing would be well, lame. In about three hours we covered a little under one mile and about 30 plants. the focus was on local plants and how they can be used medicinally, edibly, and just plain decoratively. this should be a required course for everyone in life, sorta like shop or American History. our expert was herbalist Charles Kane of Tucson.
no less than 2 minutes into our walk and we stopped to observe the first of many trees and bushes i never noticed in any of my previous desert hikes. soapberry, he explained, could be used as a tea for arthritis, joint pain or other anti-inflammatory needs. The bark and the fruit were traditionally used for, guess what, washing! never noticing this lively bush before, i was now careful where i placed my feet so as not to crush its delicate leaves. i was all at once aware of my surroundings in a new way. i wanted to be sure i was not stepping on some other precious gem i had yet to meet.
as we wandered our way through the park over above the windy ridge lookout we learned about the rich tannins of desert plants. how ironic that so many of these plants are used for surface tissue inflammation issues (sunburn, cuts etc). it seems nature knows a thing or two after all. pausing at the top of this ridge overlooking the vast desert mountains while the wind hums a familiar song, i am instantly connected with everyone who was here before. i see women gathering the lemonade berries and men working at the root of a great yucca. 
we learned that survival in the desert was possible. small berries poked out of their lush green hiding places when you started looking and tiny acorns seemed to jump into your hands. mesquite beans make flour. the all growing passion flower, abundant in our desert is a valuable healer. desert broom comes to the rescue of our tired muscles while juniper heals our tummy. deer weed makes a good lunch and if you are looking for an altered state (really he said its like 'having a coupla beers'), there's always a good dose of hedgehog cactus fruit. 
i took a million notes, but wish i could just go on the walk again. the best thing our herbal cowboy talked about was balance. this might have been the first time a nature walk guide encouraged me to take something from the forest. taste flowers, take home acorns and shrub branches to try them out. after all this was about coexisting with our local nature to heal and grow. while being careful not to give any answers he posed the idea of balance. "i dont want it all cut down and bottled, but i dont want a fence around it for looking only."
this is probably the longest post i will ever write but there is still so much to say. as we pulled away from the park i was left feeling connected to my harsh desert land while i rolled the small mugwort flowers around in my hands. you see while we didnt come from here, our family mirrors the desert. hard, dry, and rough but with an occasional monsoon of love for each other that gives clarity to the rich bounty that helps to cure our aches and pains. 
where is everybody. i realized today i have a small addiction. i must have check the blogs 4 times today. no new news. addict. i wish i would have known about the blogs when i was pregnant and couldnt sleep at night.
