Medicinal Gardens

"What ever we ingest will either heal us or harm us"
Hippocrates, ancient Greek Doctor

Natural food and Health Care, Herbal remedies, clean sustainable sources of soil, water, and air for growing food and medicine, these are the challenges of the 21st Century. The call to action in the urban environment is heard up and down the Mississippi River Community of the Greater Longfellow Neighborhood.

The project Sustainable Medicinals in an Urban Environment inspired and co-created by Sandra Arseth and in collaboration with Minnehaha Avenue Community Gardens, United Plant Savers, Local and National Plant resources, and various educators including Lise Wolfe and Kari Tauring provides opportunities for people of all ages to develop relationships to these plants. Through educating about the names, histories, and uses of medicinal plants, providing opportunities to harvest and use these plants in our lives, and by propogating these plants, our understanding of ourselves as good stewards of the Earth will deepen.

"Everything and everyone has a use and purpose or it would not exist. Our job is to discover the use and purpose."
My Grandmother, Myrtle Engen

Challenging ourselves and others to re-examine the word and concept of a weed is paramount to developing a balanced relationship to plants and nature in general. Balanced systems on every level is necessary for meeting the challenges of the 21st Century.

When gardening with my grandmother in Frederic, WI, I spoke disparigingly of crab grass. The quote above was her response. We must look at all life and re-define our concepts of what we deem desireable, good and useful and what think is bad, useless, a "weed" and worthy only of extermination...extinction.

Medicinals are plants we see every day. We step on them in sidewalk cracks. We walk through them in ditches. People go to great lengths to remove them from lawns and gardens. Some folks get down right angry if they find you plant them purposely! Yet others, seeing the benefit of a plant medicinally or financially have harvested them to extinction.
All Healthy Natural systems seek balance. In a balanced system all parts of the system thrive.

example: A tree is a system. The leaves fall and nourish the roots. The roots nourish the trunk. The trunk nourishes the branches. The branches nourish the leaves and the leaves nourish the roots....

"Some humans seem to be stuck in an adversarial relationship to some plants, to nature in general I perceive. I am glad my grandmother put me off the path of adversity."
Me (Kari)

Some ways to heal this relationship include:

Getting to know plants - names, histories and uses - changes how we relate to these plants and makes them part of the total community.

"Creeping Charlie and Community Building" ........by Kari Tauring

Utilization/consumption of plants changes our relationship to them in an intimate and internal way. When we feel their affects in our bodies our relationship to medicinal plants deepens.

Classes by Lise Wolfe

Understanding Plants as Mirrors - All life seeks communion and communication is the result of this event. Knowing, understandingWhen we see a plant take over an area of Earth we have learned to call this invasive and insidious. But a plant's use and purpose mirrors the healing needs of individuals and communities. If an area is overtaken by a plant, what does it want us to know?

"The example of mugwort"...............................by Sandra Arseth

Sustainable Medicinals in an Urban Environment accomplishes healing
As a collection of collaborators ranging from extreme local to the world wide web this project tendrils out to engage, heal, and restore the balance of the total global community.

Housed in a true inner city environment:

Minnehaha Avene Community Gardens

Providing opportunities to:

Get Educated - Designed as an intentional outdoor classroom space. Utilized as an outdoor classroom by Herbalist Lise Wolfe and educator Kari Tauring, and various tour groups scheduled to visit in 2005. Any passerby can read the information or engage in conversation.
Designed and maintained as a healthy, balanced ecosystem it is the example of a healthy, balanced ecosystem. It teaches by this example. I personally know many who have stopped "irradication" when they got to know what we had in our garden!

Plant Some More - Maintained and Utilized as a nursery space for plant and seed distribution. The whole community can be involved in preservation of sources, the quality and accessibility of medicinals. Many of the plants in this garden were sold for the benefit of the Hiawatha PTO which supports Community Greening efforts and education. And by educating other

Use medicinals - Many in the city of Minneapolis are seeking self care in health. This space provides a clean source of many commonly sought herbal remedies. Educate yourself about your health needs and the plants specific to those needs. Start simply with teas of mint or raspberry leaf. Sniff lavender or roses and record their affects.

Share! - Share plants, knowlege, personal experiences and resources. There are so many people who need to know about and heal their relationship to plants and all of creation.

In this way we can honor our traditional knowlege of life and meet the challenge of the 21st Century - a world of balanced healthy systems.