News from the Trillium Center
Do you ever wonder if that plant emerging from the sidewalk can share its resilience? Or if that pesky weed can teach you something about being grounded and nourished?
Even in urban centers plants find ways to break into cracks and thrive. Some plants are more resilient than others, and their chemical constituents, medicinal properties and folk lore combine to tell stories of resilience. Plant stories are embedded with medicinal knowledge and lessons on living in uncertain times. Here’s a short one about an eye opening experience of emergent herbalism.
Below you will find resources for self-study, online group learning and hands-on workshops. But first, a story.
After the earthquake that rocked Haiti in 2010, I joined a group of first responders to provide mutual aid. We were there for two weeks. Me, an herbalist trained as a wilderness first responder, three wilderness EMTs, a paramedic who’d just finished nursing school, a rural EMT and street medic, and a person who glommed onto our group (that’s another story).
Not doctors. Not surgeons.
Just some people with limited skills wanting to help out. The first challenge was packing. We knew from other groups (who’d run out of food and water or didn’t plan for those things at all) that not packing adequately could mean that we’d take resources meant for earthquake victims.
We took a trip out to a family farm with Odson, our interpreter. We did the best we could providing minimal services to the people there for many hours. At one point I took a short walk.
Moments before the photographer captured this moment, I leaned over to examine an almond sapling. I didn’t know at the time that almond trees, native to Asia, are a crop in Haiti. They pop up everywhere like a weed. Growing up in California I was acquainted with almond trees, so I recognized it. In that moment of emergent herbalism I realized several things.
- One, that some of the conditions we identified in our makeshift clinic could benefit from almond leaf, such as skin rashes and high blood pressure.
- Two, that despite the desperate poverty, weedy plants were abundant and could be used.
- Three, that I knew almost nothing about Haitian herbalism and natural healing.
Because, as I stood back up to tell Odson that almond leaf could be used for skin conditions and high blood pressure I realized that a crowd had quietly gathered to watch me look at this plant.
The crowd began chattering and when I asked Odson, what are they saying? He said, they say it’s for blood pressure. We both laughed and he said everyone is an herbalist in Haiti.
This is the heart of what the Community Resilience Series is about. It’s the Trillium Center’s education project to help individuals and communities build skills to endure the tough times. The mission is to prevent and ease trauma and burn-out by cultivating fortitude, pluck, and post-traumatic growth while accommodating the the ways in which we are all unique individuals.
Each offering is designed to impart ideas, thoughts, and activities to allow participants to increase resilience, connect with where we live, and pay more attention to the life around us whether it flies, swims, crawls, slithers, creeps, or simply emerges from the earth.
We all should be practicing a little bit of herbalism.
Resilience Events & Resources
Free Resources
Refine your first aid skills
Workshops & Walks
For details or to sign up visit the Workshops & Walks page.
June 27 – Community Medic Training, Lakewood, Ohio
July 25 – Community Medic Training, Lakewood, Ohio
July 26 – Plant Walk, near Cleveland, Ohio
August 1 – Herbal First Aid: Start Your Kit, Columbus, Ohio
August 2 – Plant Walk, near Columbus, Ohio
August 22 – Summer Foraging Workshop NE Ohio
September 26 – Herbal First Aid: Start Your Kit, Lakewood, Ohio
October 2-3 – Emergent Herbalism and Community in Disaster Situations, Green Roots Convergence, Chagrin Falls, Ohio
October 4 – Plant Walk, near Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Community Distillation for Herbalism and First Aid, interested? Get in touch!
Community Distillation for Herbalism and First Aid
Learn to Purify Water, Make Essential Oils, and First Aid Sprays
Date and Location: TBD
Learn about different extraction methods to make herbal essences (hydrosols) and essential oils with little more than a handful of barks, leaves, and needles from plants that grow in the region. When the community pools effort, the outcome is shared resources. This workshop is an opportunity to practice a new skill while creating a community distillation project.
Distillation is an ancient practice that can be done in multiple ways. Leah will demonstrate how to do distillations at home with common kitchen equipment while also demonstrating the use of copper alembic distiller. This experience also comes with online materials, available for 30 days so that you can preview and review information to help you develop skills to safely choose herbs that fit your constitution and elemental patterns, plus a guide to ethical foraging.
Interested in attending or hosting this event? Get in touch.
More Resilience Resources will be added over time. I’m in the middle of transitioning to a new platform for online learning. Many changes are on the way, so if this is your first time here, be sure to subscribe to get updates.
The Forest Healing Center
Oh, the impatience of it all. You can see that this place is going to be beautiful and amazing, but I still need more time to save up the funds to make it accessible. The floor has been finished and is striking in its colors. Next I will put in a driveway so that it’s actually possible to get to it without trudging through the mud. The economy is definitely putting the brakes on progress, but soon I’ll be able to schedule an open house.
I’ll leave you with some photos from the Community Herbal Intensive – Level 2 retreat at Arc of Appalachia.
