Hello VV community.

This is my first blog on VV and i'm new to blogging and still on the fence about social media.  Anyway that's just to say that i'm a bit nervous about this.  It's taken a lot, a huge thing, in fact, to push me over the hump of jitters.

And that Big Thing is a Huge Celebration that I thought you folks would be able to really appreciate and share in the celebration.  In today's, Mon. Mar. 28, Globe and Mail there was an article featuring the growing trend of people turning to their yards to find medicines and remedies in the weeds and herbs.

The article is actually pretty good.  Firstly, it contextualizes our movement in a pretty good light.  It has a couple of different voices (mine included!) talking about gathering wild foods & medicines.  It also has some of the mandatory naysayer's voices and some cautions that are mildly fear mongering.  On 1 point, I strongly agree... Avoid eating Foxglove!  It can stop your heart, permanently. 

So, here are 2 links for you.  The 1st is to the article in the Globe and the 2nd is to the blog response I wrote late, late into the night/early this morning.   I thought about replicating some of those points here, but i think it's probably easiest to just check it out if you're interested.

(click on the underlined title and it'll take you to the right article)

1. The promise and perils of backyard herbalism by Adriana Barton

2. the Urban Herb School in the Globe and Mail by garliq

I've added a good bunch of links to help expand the context of the conversation - related to the food industry, other herbalists, specific plants as medicines, the global context for herbalism, and other interesting things.  If you enjoy, feel free to subscribe to my new blog.  There's more good stuff to come.

Ok, here's a 3rd article to check out.  Into the Wild and other Poisonous Plant Fables.  I found it in the comments following the article.  It's a really great about how afraid people become about not just eating the 'wrong' plant, but of the Wild in general.

I hope y'all enjoy.  And another quick hooray for a World Remembering Plant Medicines!!!

strength & wisdom.

garliq