• 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]

Tag Archives: medicine

(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 | Also tagged , , , | 5 Responses

Teas & Brews: Elemental Art Forms

By Renée A.D. | Published: November 27, 2011

The Wheel of the Seasons is turning, and we’re entering the Season of Water here in the Pacific Northwest. The light and warmth of the Sun has waned, and the plants have drawn their energy downward into their roots. The leaves are brown, the clouds and rain have turned the forests into misty, secretive cathedrals. [...]

Posted in Medicine Making | Also tagged , , | 2 Responses

Ecological Medicine and the Grey Area of Individual Treatment and Systemic Change

By Renée A.D. | Published: November 6, 2010

I’m unreasonably excited about the ecological medicine movement. Here’s why. For my entire academic and professional life, I’ve struggled in committing (and therefore confining) myself to a particular discipline. Because of the way that knowledge is fragmented, playing within the bounds of one discipline confines my understanding to that portion of the whole system. None [...]

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The Art of Apothecary Design

By Renée A.D. | Published: May 12, 2010

The more time I spend in the apothecary, the more I begin to notice its structures and patterns as a system. And the more I muse about apothecary and medicine design itself. So I began diagraming the parts and particulars of my apothecary.

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It’s Like Hearing a Voice You Know You Recognize

By Renée A.D. | Published: March 31, 2010

My ever-evolving medicine practice is something I don’t discuss in the internet world, primarily because this work is very place-based. For instance, my elaborations about trillium may not be so applicable to readers in Spain. Likewise, my thoughts on borage harvests might not interest everyone. Nevertheless these are important things to talk about, even if [...]

Posted in Announcements | Also tagged , , | 2 Responses