Hard Times and Dangerous Days

Hard Times and Dangerous Days.

Here in Ontario we are facing hard times and dangerous days. Despite being over a year into this pandemic it has never been more dangerous. Community transmission is running like wildfire across the province and the vaccine rollout is a muddled mess. Combine those facts with the new variants that are more transmissible and cause more serious disease and as a result we are in crisis.

I am resentful of the half measures that will do nothing to solve the problems we face while simultaneously causing the same damage that an actual true hard lockdown would cause. I am resentful that Doug Ford doesn’t care about essential workers. What I have learned this past year is that all the movies that show people coming together for the greater good are bullshit. Instead we have a toxic combination of me me its all about me and you’re not the boss of me. I am too sad and angry to rant.

Stay home whenever possible. Do not let anyone who does not live in your household inside your house.

Fabric masks are no longer good enough. Consider double masking and use a mask that is at least ASTMII. Covid-19 is spread in the air that we breathe.

Limit any time spent indoors (unless in your own home). This article highlights the danger of indoors. If you need social contact make sure it is outdoors and be mindful of social distancing.

I know that it sucks. It’s hard.

I was lying in bed this morning in a general state of despair and then I had a moment of clarity. I can control my actions. Instead of feeling helpless and hopeless I can resolve to do what I can. May it be so for you.

Rose Medicine

I’m watching my garden and enjoying the gradual lengthening of the days. I know it is March but I long for the roses to bloom. If I am honest, I admit that I don’t know the species planted in my garden. Like many of the plants out there I inherited them when we bought the house. They are a lovely soft pink and flower in abundance when their time comes. Rose medicine is ineffable.

Rose medicine.

When folks make a list of medicinal herbs, I think few would think to include roses. Instead we think roses = romance. Maybe we think of their culinary uses. Rosehip jelly anyone? As a healing herb roses are special.

Spirit Healing.

I cannot think of another herb that has such a powerful action on our spirit. Many herbs are nervines and anxiolytics. These herbs work on our stress and anxiety. I think of these as conditions of the mind, the brain. Rose medicine has a completely different effect. Imagine if you will a thorn – used as a needle. The power of the rose to sew a broken heart back together again.

When working with herbs I am at times too much Sgt. Friday – “Just the facts Ma’am.” Too much Apollo – not enough Dionysus. Roses speak to me on another level. While rosehips are valuable medicine (Vitamin C), but I am forever falling into a bed of rose petals. Insert cheesy Bon Jovi reference here.

Rose medicine brings us to a place of peace, love, and trust. When we have been living our lives in a state of shields up – leading with our thorns as it were – roses centre us and give us the courage to lower our shields. Sometimes, when we soften, we are overcome by that which made us raise our shields in the first place. Rose medicine allows us to feel and process those emotions without being overwhelmed by them. They ground us and help us to find clarity. What should our next step should be? I think of roses as the remedy for joylessness.

Rose medicine and grief.

Roses are perhaps the ultimate in feminine flowers. With a profound action on the female reproductive system. Roses are excellent for uterine pain and menstrual cramps. I have found them without equal for helping people after miscarriage. Acting both on the physical and on the grief that a person experiences after such a loss. They help to soothe the storms that rage after a miscarriage.

Grief heals on its own schedule. Sometimes we need our thorns. Rose can leave folks tender and exposed if they are not ready to face their hurt and pain. I recommend people try the tincture for a few days to see how they feel.

Roses are antiviral. They combine with other antiviral herbs such as hyssop, lemon balm, St John’s wort, and heal all. They support the immune system. This is a one two punch against viral infections. Fighting against the virus directly while aiding the action of the immune system itself. Roses work well systemically and topically as an antimicrobial. Rosewater makes an excellent wash for small cuts and scrapes and is healing and cooling to a sunburn.

Can you smell them?

Rose Tincture.

I cannot explain why bourbon and roses have a synergy but they do. As a general practice I make all my tincture from ethyl alcohol. Roses are the exception. Bourbon and roses make an excellent tincture. Roses are the one herb that I make using the simpler’s method. I grab a jar and stuff it full with rose petals. Add the bourbon. Roses rarely bloom at the same time. They tend to bloom in waves. Each morning I harvest petals and stuff them into the jar. Once the petals have lost all their colour and become translucent I will remove them to make space for new petals.

When harvesting roses I find it works best to grasp the blossom, twist and observe to see if any rose beetles or other insects wriggle out. They make their homes in the blossoms. You also want to watch out for frass (insect excretions.)

Commercial roses are one of the most sprayed plants under cultivation. Always always always use roses that are organic or that you harvest yourself in the wild. I used to camp at a Unitarian campground where the roses grew wild for years and it was my favourite spot to harvest roses.

Backwoods Safety

With the official arrival of spring and warmer weather I’ve been looking forward to a return to the backwoods. I’m not the only one. Looked at booking a campsite in my favourite Ontario provincial park and all the sites are totally booked until late August. Pandemic time has seen many folks turning to the great outdoors. Long term this is great because people protect what they know. If they have no personal experience in the backwoods it is harder for them to care about what happens to nature and the wild. Short term it means a lot of inexperienced folks are loose in the forest. Backwoods safety is something to think about before you end up lost in the wild.

As a wild crafter I am often out in the wild. Even so, I got lost this fall. Home in Nova Scotia and this recreation area had numerous signs telling folks to make sure they knew what they were doing and don’t get lost. I, in a fit of hubris, scoffed at these warnings. Me? Lost in the woods? Could not happen. And yet, there I was turning on location services on my phone to figure out where I was. This was within 5 km of a populated area. This week I want to review backwoods safety and best practices.

Map and a compass.

Aside from having a map and a compass you must know how to use it. You can use a GPS device or your cell phone but what if you drop your phone? What if the battery dies? I am sorry to this day that I didn’t understand what orienteering was back when I was in high school. Don’t plan to learn how to use a map and compass for the first time in a crisis. Practice at home to develop your skill. Keep your map in a ziplock bag.

Stay on the trail.

I have been woods-walking over the winter. This is a pond that one of my favourite trails runs alongside. In this photo you can see the melt happening. During the winter it looks like a snowy field. Step off the trail out into the “field” and there’s a good chance you fall through the ice.

Is there a pond there?

Information.

Make sure someone knows where you are. Let them know when you’ll be expected back. Before the pandemic my partner travelled a lot on business. No one at home to miss me. I leave a note on the dashboard of my car. No one can know you’re missing if they don’t know when you were supposed to be back. No one will know where to start looking when you’re overdue if they don’t know where you went. Remember the movie 127 hours? Could have been considerably fewer hours had anyone known where he was.

Stop.

Many folks have made a bad situation worse by thinking that they knew the way, it is just over this way. You’ll only use energy you might need. If you are lost – stop where you are.

Know your limits.

Enthusiasm is not a replacement for fitness and experience. Build up to the 14 km hike that is uphill both ways. I canoe with a friend and the first time each season that we lift that canoe up and onto the roof of her car it’s a challenge.

Dress properly.

Wear layers and invest in fabric that will wick sweat away. Jeans and a t-shirt are pretty much the worst thing you can wear. Break in your new hiking boots by marching up and down your road – not a trail.

Know/Understand Potential Hazards.

Do you have a bear bell? Is there Lyme disease in the area? I hike in long pants all summer long – regardless of how hot it is – because Lyme disease is a concern in my area. Tornadoes didn’t used to be a part of the Eastern Ontario weather experience but now they are. Do you know what to do?

Food/Water.

Carry a daypack with some snacks and extra water. Even if you think it will just be a short hike. Not even a hike. A ramble. Take it with you anyways. I did a 10 km hike at Charleston lake once. It would have been better if I hadn’t drunk all my water before the halfway mark.

I remember a few years ago harvesting goldthread. It was fall and the day was a shimmering gold. I moved off trail following patch after patch. When I had enough I looked around. It was an autumn forest ablaze in a carpet of orange and yellow leaves. I knew which way was back to the trial because I had left my backpack on the trail. And as I had moved farther off trail to harvest I had marked in my mind’s eye where the backpack was. Time in the wild is nourishing to my herbalism. I want to be safe while I embrace it.

Who Matters?

Who matters?

I’ve been thinking about this for at least the past 6 months. Who matters? If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that many of us feel we are the ones who matter. I had a meeting with a client back in July. Her take was that Covid-19 was a risk for the elderly and for those with co-morbidities so why should she have to suffer? My impression was she felt that those with co-morbidities had brought it on themselves and therefore deserved whatever they got. Taken aback doesn’t capture how I felt. Disgusted would be accurate. I am still angry with myself that in the moment I was unable to refute her.

I’m not sure I have the smarts to write this.

Who matters? To decide that some people’s lives have no value and therefore we have no obligation to keep them alive is eugenics.

Some refuse minor inconvenience because they have decided the lives of the elderly, the disabled, those with respiratory issues/ heart problems, the obese, and etc. are disposable. They do not matter. They are not worthy and when they are not worthy, we don’t have to care about what happens to them.

The mirror held up to Western society this past pandemic year does not show a flattering reflection. We leap to our feet and applaud the Avengers saving the world from Thanos. Wear a mask though? Sacrifice some GDP? Can’t be bothered.

I’ve always thought of myself as cynical but apparently not enough. I’m struggling with this. Looking to myself and how I can take action.

Canadian Blood Services

Ottawa Food Bank

Garlic Mustard – wild food

Garlic Mustard – Wild Food.

Most of us know that eating plants from the Brassicaceae family is good for us. Eating wild plants increases nutrient diversity in our diets and saves our pocketbook. We don’t always get to enjoy wild plants as much as we might like. When we want to eat the wild in the form of garlic mustard we can dig in with gusto. It is both delicious and invasive. By adding it to dinner we both enjoy its garlicky goodness, and as a result of our harvest, simultaneously protect vulnerable plant species. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolate) is a threat to many Ontario wildflowers. American ginseng, dropping trillium, wake robin, wild hyacinth, trout lily, sugar maples, and red ash are some of the plants negatively impacted by garlic mustard populations.

Gangster Garlic Mustard.

Garlic mustard is a thug. It was introduced to North America in the 1800s as an edible plant. Since, it has spread across both the United States and Canada. It is prevalent across southern and eastern Ontario. A biennial, during the first-year garlic mustard is a basal rosette of leaves, roundish in shape with a quilted appearance. The leaf stems have purple tinge to them. In the 2^nd year the leaves are more triangular, alternate, and roughly toothed. The plant sends up a flower stalk. The flowers are small and white with 4 petals. Garlic mustard thrives in full sun to shade. It prefers moist rich soil but can tolerate most conditions. A survivor – the plant can thrive just about anywhere.

Flowering garlic mustard

Garlic mustard has no predators. Animals do not eat this plant.

It is a prolific self-seeder. A single plant can produce up to 8000 seeds.

Seeds can be viable for up to 5 years.

Mycorrhizal Networks.

There can be a symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi. The fungi make themselves at home in and around the plant roots. These fungi form filaments that reach out into the soil as extensions of the root system. The fungi are far superior at absorbing water and nutrients than the roots are. Via photosynthesis the plant makes sugars. Each half of the partnership has something the other half needs. They swap. The fungi feed off the sugars and the plant relies on the fungi for nutrients/water that it would not otherwise have access to. Garlic mustard survives not just by taking up space another plant could use. It releases anti-fungal compounds into the soil that disrupts these mycorrhizal networks. This makes it harder for other plants to compete.

Imagine a neighbourhood. A street lined with houses. Not only do I move into a single house; I also ensure no one else can move into the houses on either side of my house. Or across the street.

Garlic Mustard as a Medicinal.

There is not a lot of info about garlic mustard as a plant for healing. The plant is almost a hybrid of the phytochemicals of both the brassicas and alliums. The seeds make an extract that is a potent antioxidant. In the book Invasive Plant Medicine author Timothy Lee Scott lists garlic mustard’s medicinal properties as “anti-asthmatic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiscorbutic, antiseptic, deobstruent, diaphoretic, sternutatory, vermifuge, and vulnerary.” If we extrapolate from the known medicinal qualities of glucosinolates (antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral) we can imagine that garlic mustard, as a result, would be effective as an antimicrobial. Garlic mustard contains allyl-sulfide. This compound is common in garlic and is known to be anti-cancer. Deep knowledge about plant families can help us to understand a plant about which there is little information.

Garlic Mustard as Food.

All parts of the plant are edible. The roots are pungent and spicy – similar to horseradish. The leaves are somewhat bitter with a garlic taste. The stems of the plant can be steamed and eaten much like garlic scapes. The seeds are spicy and can be used to make a wild mustard.

The leaves of garlic mustard contain cyanide. Before you recoil in horror, remember that most members of this family (broccoli, cabbage, kale) also contain cyanide. Blanching the leaves before eating will reduce the cyanide content. The concentration of cyanide is higher in the younger leaves and diminishes through the season. Like many wild greens the leaves are excellent sources of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and also of potassium, calcium, magnesium, selenium, copper, iron, and manganese.

The work that Gather Victoria is doing on incorporating wild plants into culinary exploits is a real inspiration to me. This is their recipe for garlic mustard oil.

Ideally, harvest 2^nd year plants before the flower buds open. Pull up the whole plant after you harvest what you want. To harvest roots, wait until fall when the flower stalk has died back. The plants should not be composted as the seeds can survive in the compost.

*before harvesting any wild plant make certain that you have correctly identified it. Do you know the local lookalikes? I use Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, but I never rely on a single source.