chamomile teaches belonging
Once upon a time, I sowed chamomile seeds in the back field, but the goats have always gotten them before I could. This year, the goats moved on, and the land has been left alone. I walked out one morning recently with my new babe in arms, and there stood mounds and mounds of chamomile, stretching it's lovely arms upward and greeting the morning with gusto. The little bright faces look as if they are longing to be picked, and I was reminded of Robin Wall Kimmerer's words on the honorable harvest:
"The Honorable Harvest is not so much a list of "do not's" as a list of "do's." Do eat food that is honorably harvested, and celebrate every mouthful. Do us technologies that minimize harm; do take what is given. " She goes on to write about how the plants are our best teachers on how to give and receive; how they are always there to freely and endlessly give, no matter how we might neglect them or forget to say 'thank you'. It reminds me of parenting, giving everything I've got to these kids I love so much. With this in mind, I fill my pockets with tiny flowers for my newborn's goopy eyes, my sore nipples, our collective digestion and to soften and support our nervous systems. All the while, whispering thank you through tear-filled eyes, offering my salty gratitude to this bright little plant being. And not only is it a gratitude for the medicine offered, but the reminder that we too are made of this stuff, capable of such deep giving, and belonging to this earth.