Edible/Medicinals in the city?
Most of the time I’m day-dreaming to be out beyond the city. Beyond the built-out, man-made metropolis where we’ve destroyed all life that inhabited it before, just to create cookie-cutter houses and landscaped yards and parking lots, while we bring non-native plants in, then we spray the fuck out of the rocks and weeds. Because God forbid anything grow and ruin our perfectly curated plots of land.
With herbicides that kill all life, polluting our water, negatively affecting the insects- you know the ones that birds eat, while it goes up and up the food chain and we wonder why we are constantly sick from environmental toxins, amongst other reasons.
I would love to be able to forage and wildcraft in the city. But seeing green sprayed rocks everywhere reminds you that the medicine or food you know that plant has, has been tainted. You’re lucky to find herbs and food-bearing plants that haven’t been touched by man’s brainwashed mind to keep it all looking perfect and manicured. What if we chose to learn more about that plant instead of spraying it and the rocks around it? We would know that it might have styptic properties and help stop or slow down bleeding, or it’s actually high in vitamins and minerals that can support our immune system and build healthy bones, etc.
When we build-out the land, spray it, plant non-native seeds, we are continually becoming disconnected with nature, with our world, and driving out the native wildlife that calls this area “home.”
What if we shifted our mindset from spraying “weeds” to using them safely for edibles or medicinals. By harvesting these plants and sharing what we know about them, we would be keeping balance with the native flora and fauna. We would be focused on education and awareness instead of control. Then as we bring in more native plants, we could share ancestral medicine, wisdom from the land, and the people who were here before us, we would be building a relationship with all.
What do you like to do to support the native flora and fauna in your area?