Hearts and hands gather honorable mountainside harvest

by Teagan Wu

Eyes closed in the cool, spacious garden
Orchestra of birds and bees play in silence
Sunlight warms eyelids
Resting in company, tuning into rooted Motherwort.
Deep green, jagged leaves, standing strong in sun and blowing breeze
Receiving her welcome, we snip and gather
Gratitude pouring from our hearts like a river
 
Valerian moving to light, wind and honeybee rhythm  
Delicate white petals radiating like suns
Still moments feeling heart strength
Medicine gifts resting in jars
Holding harvest to nurture
 
Sitting among wood nettle before a sea of dancing green
Listening to invitation
Silently harvesting
Gratitude flowing through hands
Hearts humming in stillness
 
In the dancing light of the wood by a winding stream,
Wild ginger tree with green heart-shaped leaves
Beams up at us
Receiving a joyful yes to harvest
Unwinding roots with care from earth in sharp sweetness
Tall thin shoots with spiky hairdos call out
Magical wild leeks, small white bulbs happily coated in soil
Baskets full and singing with vibration
Gratitude infuses roots
 
Wood nettle drying in the barn
Green bundles dancing
Through hanging forms of life
 
Circled hands connected, forest medicine comes alive in hearts and bellies
Soft leaves of wood nettle kind and nurturing
Wild leeks crunchy and full of vitality
Wild ginger nourishment from head to toe
A bath of love seeps the core
 
Words from Robin Wall Kimmerer arrive on the breeze
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you
so that you may take care of them”
Honoring life in community
Giving and receiving
Healing connected hearts