50 Our Grandmothers' Herbs | The Thread That Came Down Sideways

Some of us inherited the apron and the herb bundle. Some of us inherited three thousand miles and a grandmother who was at war with the dandelion.

This week, in the deep hearth of Cancer season, we sit with the long thread — the women whose hands came before ours, and the strange and sideways ways the green world gets handed down.

I'll tell you about my grandmother, who fled a northern Michigan farm and never looked back, who tended two rose bushes and a few tomatoes in a patch of ground the size of a doorway as though they were the only things that mattered — and who once made my grandfather pull the Ford LTD over on a hot summer afternoon so she could give a landscaper a piece of her mind about the dandelions in a lawn.

She saw the devil in that plant. I see an old friend.

And I'll tell you about Evelyn, who was not my blood but who was, in every way that mattered, the woman who handed me the green world. She had twelve acres in New Hampshire, decades of White Mountain trails in her legs, and she could name every plant along a dirt road — common name and Latin both — and tell you which were medicine and which were simply worth stopping for.

Between the two of them, I got my whole inheritance.

We'll wander through the herbs that lived beside our grandmothers' hearths whether they called them medicine or not — mint and parsley, sage and thyme and rosemary, and the wild ones at the edge of the tended world: yarrow, plantain, chamomile, and the most generous weed there is.

Because here is what I've come to believe: your grandmother did not have to believe in herbalism for the knowing to pass through her. It came down in the soup pot. It came down in here, drink this, you'll feel better. And if you've ever felt you missed the handing-down — that you came to all of this alone, with no one to teach you — I want you to hear this one from someone who came to it late, and sideways, and found the thread waiting anyway.

Put the kettle on. Come sit.

A gentle wondering to carry with you this week: Who handed you the green world? Was it a grandmother by blood, or one by grace — or did it come to you sideways, through absence, through refusal, through one plant somebody couldn't stand? Even one name is enough.

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🌿 Herbs & Favorite Tools

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Herbs featured in this Show:

1. Dandelion Leaves

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2. Rosemary leaves

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3. Peppermint Leaves

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My favorite tea-making tools:

BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker,

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Cold Brew Coffee Filter for Wide Mouth Mason Jar,

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Heat-proof wide-mouth mason jars

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Inside you'll find:

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Perfect for homeschooling families, budding herbalists, and anyone who wants to grow confidence by growing plants.

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🎶 Music Credits

A heartfelt thank you to Alexander Nakarada for the music featured in this story.
I am a Patreon supporter of Alexander's work.

🎼 Song: Planning - 320bit - September 5, 2021

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