• And the Plants Will Set You Free

    Through knowing and using the plants that grow around us—the ones in our backyard, the weeds that resist all efforts to control them, the abundance and diversity of the species in the Cascadian forests—we are more whole, secure and free. What’s right under our feet are, by their very nature, agents of freedom. [Read full post]

  • Design Thinking for the Creative Herbalist

    As herbalists, we are naturally using design processes all the time. Working in the plant and human world for the purpose of healing we are constantly dealing in very complex worlds. I want to push you to go past what you know is comfortable and reimagine your practice so you are doing the wildest, most liberating brilliant work that you can. [Read full post]

  • Aesthetic & Beauty in Practice

    It’s touching the dirt, digging roots, preparing and sipping beautiful garden tea blends, smelling the flowers, having my apothecary full of jars containing gorgeous, whole-leaf herbs. Microwaving a wack bag of herb tea is a completely different game. Authentic botanical practice is a lifestyle that honors the sanctity of life and the ecological patterns around us. It’s how we connect to the larger planetary system. [Read full post]

Author Archives: Renée A.D.

On hiatus!

By Renée A.D. | Published: June 2, 2013

…as if it wasn’t obvious already. I’m on a learning & practicing frenzy. I’ve been reevaluating my perspectives on socioecological health & herbal medicine, and reconsidering many of my assumptions…as well as working & practicing, which keeps a girl busy. A lot of reading too. Be back soon with more (& better!) posts.

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Save the date: the 2013 Dandelion Seed Conference is here!

By Renée A.D. | Published: March 7, 2013
Posted in Announcements, Events | 1 Response

On the Reading Table: Spring 2013

By Renée A.D. | Published: February 16, 2013

All my book-related posts are, I realized, drafted during the Winter months. I’ve always been an ethusiastic—nay, voracious reader. But during the other seasons I’m inclined to engage in and write about the more tactile & outdoor activities. And that time is almost upon us. However, it’s still just over 40 degrees and raining here, [...]

Posted in Books | Tagged , | 2 Responses

(Materia Medica) Pseudotsuga menziesii: Douglas Fir

By Renée A.D. | Published: February 4, 2013

“Trees were our first teachers,” Bruce Miller used to say. Bruce (Subiyay) was a Skokomish elder, teacher & leader who was a driving force behind the Salish cultural renaissance of the last few decades. I learned about him just a few months after my arrival at the Evergreen State College. Though he had already passed, [...]

Posted in Materia Medica | Tagged , , , , | 5 Responses

Trees, Lichen & Fungi: Teas in February

By Renée A.D. | Published: January 31, 2013

Tea is the perfect theme for this month’s Wild Things Roundup. I truly love tea—it’s an art and, sometimes, a form of therapy. In the depth of Winter, we confront dark, hard, uncomfortable things. I doubt I’m the only one recovering from the turmoil of 2012, ducking from the seasonal bugs whizzing through our communities, [...]

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Simon Nunn: Botanicals & Scanners

By Renée A.D. | Published: January 28, 2013

UK-based artist uses a flatbed scanner to produce images that are paradoxically shallow & deep. See more on his website in the series “Flatbed Roam”.

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Is health a right or a privilege?

By Renée A.D. | Published: December 21, 2012

On one hand, health is a right and it should be available to us all. This is the basis from which most healers practice. It’s even recognized in the UN Declaration on Human Rights. The World Health Organization Constitution “enshrines the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being.” Health [...]

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Elspeth Diederix

By Renée A.D. | Published: December 4, 2012

See more on her website.  

Posted in Art | 1 Response

Lindsey Eldredge-Fox: Wax & Filaree Ginkgo Leaves

By Renée A.D. | Published: December 2, 2012

See more on her Tumblr.

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(Materia medica) Ganoderma lucidum: Mushroom of Divinity, the Spiritual Heart & Host Defense

By Renée A.D. | Published: November 25, 2012
reishi-33

As plants die back and the rains return in Autumn, the fungi take the stage. The flowers have faded, and the leaves have curled under, its chlorophyllic contents retracting as the plants draw their vitality back underground. In this season of separation, purification, and decomposition, the fungi rule. The return of the Autumn rains awaken [...]

Posted in Materia Medica | Tagged , , | 6 Responses

Ecology, Learning & the Subconscious

By Renée A.D. | Published: November 20, 2012

The more I learn, grow, develop new skills, reach out to new groups, try to engage creative social change, I’m consistently reminded that most of our thinking and decision making is driven by unconscious processes. (One of the articulations of this is Buddha’s metaphor of the Elephant and the Rider—where the rational, conscious mind is [...]

Posted in Opinion, Originals, Social & Ecological Innovation | Leave a comment

(Materia Medica) Rosmarinus off: Exalted Herb of Memory, Clarity & Majesty

By Renée A.D. | Published: October 13, 2012

The rains returned this weekend. We’ve had a clear, crisp, exlated & majestic late summer and autumn–maple leaves waning in chlorophyll, leaving the anthocynanins to dazzle our retinas will their brilliant hues of red, orange, and gold. But the cool rains have tapped us on the shoulder every now and then, as if sending a [...]

Posted in Materia Medica | Tagged , , | 1 Response

Interview with Poppyswap on Community Herbalism, Socioecological Health & Current Issues in American Herbalism

By Renée A.D. | Published: October 5, 2012

I had the pleasure of having a conversation with the amazing, inspiring folks at Poppyswap, where I shared some information and background on the Olympia Free Herbal Clinic and the Dandelion Seed Conference: Herbal Medicine for Community and Social healing. Check out the post here. Here are some excerpts to tantalize you. I think we’re [...]

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Conversation with Ann Armbrecht on Traditional Medicine

By Renée A.D. | Published: September 6, 2012

Ann Armbrecht, Ph.D. (author of Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home and creator of the film Numen: The Nature of Plants) and I were able to talk last month about my recent work with a Salish ethnobotanical education program, as well as larger issues of traditional medicine and community healing. I had a great time doing this, [...]

Posted in Originals, Social & Ecological Innovation, Systems Theory | Tagged | Leave a comment

Spearheading Culture Change with Plant Traditions

By Renée A.D. | Published: September 3, 2012

This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2012 issue of Plant Healer Magazine. If you haven’t subscribed to this eclectic, thoughtful, extremely original publication, I highly recommend it. Subscriptions are affordable and support the Anima Lifeways & Herbal School, one which I proudly attend. Enjoy.  I absolutely love writing outside in the Summer. In the [...]

Posted in Originals, Social & Ecological Innovation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Response