teachable moments
At the Women's Gathering in Grassy Narrows, Kathy and I attended a workshop on medicinal plants, led by a woman who was still very much learning herself. "Be your own teacher!" she said several times. "Don't wait around for that one wise person to come along and teach you, it's not going to happen!" She told us we had to become "21st Century Medicine Women," and teach ourselves by researching in books, by researching on the internet, and by reaching out to friends. If all three of those sources agreed on an answer to our question, we could research it on ourselves next. It seems like a more efficient plan than hoping to find one particular teacher, and until that point learning nothing.
She taught us how to make salves and balms, which I already knew in theory but it was cool to see it done (and, to have the excuse to do it; there is something to be said for having that teacher nudging you to put your wonderings into practice). She told us about mint, and raspberry leaves, and mullein, and she told us about plantains. Dimly I remembered that plantains were supposed to be good for your skin, somehow, but she had some plantain-infused oil prepared, for salve-making, and invited us to try it on our skin right there. She said it was good for bug-bites, to stop the itching.
At the time, I had over 3 dozen bug-bites, including some annoying ones on my wrist, just where my bracelets and shirt sleeve rubbed.
I am not even kidding, within about two seconds of me rubbing some oil on those bites, the itching stopped. Wowza!
As the workshop concluded, we each got wee little jars (like, 1/4 ounce) of lip balm, and plantain-infused skin salve. I rubbed that on my bites, and it helped tremendously.
Here's a slightly-too-much-information thing about me -- I can't wear conventional deodorant on a regular basis, because my poor delicate skin breaks out and gets super itchy. Like, mosquito-bite-grade itchy. I wear it anyway occasionally, because my hippie-dippie salt crystal deodorant can't hold up to the stresses of traveling, but while I smell powdery fresh, I'm kind of uncomfortable.
The salve helped in that department, too, and again I noticed a difference pretty much immediately.
I'm kicking myself because it's past plantain season here -- they've all gone to seed and are decaying -- but we had so many populating our front lawn, had I known earlier I would've harvested baskets of it. Oh well. Next year, next spring, I'll find some enormous grassy space that's unlikely to have been pesticided, and start making my own anti-itch salves. 21st century medicine woman, indeed.
She taught us how to make salves and balms, which I already knew in theory but it was cool to see it done (and, to have the excuse to do it; there is something to be said for having that teacher nudging you to put your wonderings into practice). She told us about mint, and raspberry leaves, and mullein, and she told us about plantains. Dimly I remembered that plantains were supposed to be good for your skin, somehow, but she had some plantain-infused oil prepared, for salve-making, and invited us to try it on our skin right there. She said it was good for bug-bites, to stop the itching.
At the time, I had over 3 dozen bug-bites, including some annoying ones on my wrist, just where my bracelets and shirt sleeve rubbed.
I am not even kidding, within about two seconds of me rubbing some oil on those bites, the itching stopped. Wowza!
As the workshop concluded, we each got wee little jars (like, 1/4 ounce) of lip balm, and plantain-infused skin salve. I rubbed that on my bites, and it helped tremendously.
Here's a slightly-too-much-information thing about me -- I can't wear conventional deodorant on a regular basis, because my poor delicate skin breaks out and gets super itchy. Like, mosquito-bite-grade itchy. I wear it anyway occasionally, because my hippie-dippie salt crystal deodorant can't hold up to the stresses of traveling, but while I smell powdery fresh, I'm kind of uncomfortable.
The salve helped in that department, too, and again I noticed a difference pretty much immediately.
I'm kicking myself because it's past plantain season here -- they've all gone to seed and are decaying -- but we had so many populating our front lawn, had I known earlier I would've harvested baskets of it. Oh well. Next year, next spring, I'll find some enormous grassy space that's unlikely to have been pesticided, and start making my own anti-itch salves. 21st century medicine woman, indeed.