Plants and Healerstag:,2010:/32010-01-15T22:47:49ZMovable Type Personal 4.1Memorium by Mary Morgaine Thames and Juliet Blankespoor, December 2009tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2010://3.5802010-01-15T22:45:58Z2010-01-15T22:47:49ZEarly morning of August 19, 2009, beloved green man and inspirational teacher, Frank Cook, left this earthly plane. This sparkling blue-eyed visionary giant left a legend in his wake--of how to listen to the stories from the plant world and,...
Early morning of August 19, 2009, beloved green man and inspirational teacher, Frank Cook, left this earthly plane. This sparkling blue-eyed visionary giant left a legend in his wake--of how to listen to the stories from the plant world and, in turn, be a voice for them. Frank fearlessly lived his life's purpose by being fully present in the moment. An engaging and charismatic storyteller, Frank was dedicated to his mission of awakening 'Gaian' consciousness in humanity. His deep love of plants introduced thousands of people from six continents to the world of botany and traditional herbalism, enabling many along the way to break through the 'green wall.'
If a big oak tree were to speak, it would probably have the voice of Frank Cook--deep, calm, and full of resonance. Frank's presence drew people from all walks of life. His message was universal: we are all one family, sharing and stewarding this beautiful planet together. Frank's mission was to 'turn people on' by paying attention to, and loving, the life around them. He taught through example, the art of simple living, and avoidance of unsustainable distractions for temporal satisfaction.
Frank had an insatiable appetite for knowledge and possessed a keen intellect. In 1985 he graduated with honors, receiving a B.S. Degree in Zoology and Computer Science from Duke University, North Carolina. Frank later was a graduate from the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine and became certified in Permaculture Design. Recently he earned an M.S. degree in Holistic Science at Schumacher College in England; his master's thesis was published as a book under the title Emerging Planetary Medicines.
Frank kept a disciplined travel and work schedule, planning a year or more in advance for his teachings. For the past thirteen years he traveled the world with the goal of meeting all the genera of plants on the planet. Along with being a botanical explorer, Frank met and documented the lives of traditional healers in numerous countries. He self-published books describing his travel experiences of meeting the plants and healers in India, Peru, and southern Africa. Through his travels he realized the common patterns found in plant families and their uses. For nine years Frank facilitated an online discussion through the book "Botany in a Day," helping others understand more of botanical concepts and plant families.
Every time Frank would send out his mass emailings, he would individually click on each person's name and think on them for a moment with gratitude and a prayer. Frank definitely had his strong opinions, but on top of that was a vision, an offering he could make of how to enhance anything. From the smallest thing, such as how to core an apple, to visions of what Schumacher College's landscape and curriculum could look like, he approached it with equal and steady zest, detached from results while passionately engaged in the ideas. He had the gift to see most places, plants and people for who they were at the time, while simultaneously coaxing and inspiring them to grow into their very best.
As disciplined and determined as Frank was, he still made quality time to spend with family and friends in North Carolina, California, and in Maryland, where his parents Kaye and Frank Cook III reside. Also in Maryland are his brother Ken, his sister, Cami, and their families. When Frank arrived for a visit he would make a delicious vegetarian feast from scratch. He was known to whisk up a batch of biscuits after a long day's work when everyone else was too tired to think about it. Frank was an avid wild foods enthusiast and helped to revitalize the art of mead making, bringing back the ancient tradition of brewing medicinal herbs in honey.
Frank Cook's crossing has alit sleeping embers in people all over the world. His unfinished work continues more expansively than he could have accomplished on his own. A week before Frank's crossing, he was asked how he saw himself in the world and he answered, "I am a teacher of teachers, that is my job." Death has not stopped this and, if anything, it has enhanced his mission. He lives on through his writings, stories, and the students who carry forth his passion to the next generation.
Celebrating the awe of existence was what Frank Cook did in every moment, and this is why we loved him so. His very presence reminded us of our own vitality, our own interconnectedness with all of life, and especially with the green beings.
Praises to the most high!
Mary Morgaine Thames and Juliet Blankespoor, December 2009
Frank Cook passed away this morningtag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5762009-09-01T22:13:41Z2009-09-10T10:08:34Zby Joseph Immel, 8/19/09 To contribute your story about Frank, click on the link here (http://www.plantsandhealers.com/yourstory.php). The doctor tells us there are multiple lesions in the brain and a large cystic mass in the leg. Frank seems nervous by that...
http://www.plantsandhealers.com/yourstory.php).
The doctor tells us there are multiple lesions in the brain and a large cystic mass in the leg. Frank seems nervous by that but still he is strong, even taking care of us. Memory is lapsing in and out, Hallucinations. He talks about going down to the Piedmont tomorrow for a plant walk. He talks about Artemesia...
We've been here a few days already but last night I came to the hospital a little late. Friends have prepared loving biscuits and homemade honey. Matthew is holding a shamanic ceremony and showing Frank mushrooms and Yarrow. Morgaine, distraught and exhausted for days, is loving and protecting Frank while giving him her strength. Frank is cooperating with the doctors, but in and out.
I wake up again in the early morning when I hear Frank's spirit come in and greet me saying, 'Hey Bro!' I thank God for having already gone through the anger, frustration, disappointment, and heaviness. So it's good to finally see him, "Hi Frank!" I say. He laughs at me, "Joseph what are you doing hanging out with my body. You're supposed to be hanging out with my spirit." And then adds a final dig - "When are you going to get that!" I smile and agree and suddenly I'm just hanging out with his spirit:
...I see a dark black and green smudge and I'm like, "Frank that's not your spirit." Then suddenly, right behind it, I see a light-green light. It's so pure and generous, full of love and courage. Then he says, "See Joseph my spirit still loves the plants! But it's not dark in here..."
I smile and prepare him some breakfast and drive over to the hospital to nourish his real body. When I get to the room it's empty. Behind me the chaplain comes and says that his condition has destabilized. "Oh my gosh," I hear him say in my mind. Paul is downstairs but I can't find him. Morgaine calls like a fierce lioness ready to protect Frank's spirit and respect him but she's sobbing and can hardly speak.]]>
I'm totally numb, can't feel anything. I sit down, take my shoes off. Stand up. Shake it out. Make some gurgling noises. Can't believe this is happening. Okay Joseph, sit down again I tell myself. I'm in lotus pose. Ceara! I forgot to call Ceara. I call and Ceara comes.
A few minutes later his mother arrives - she is so bright, beautiful and strong but her eyes are droopy. His brother sad too but also ready to lift us all up and encourage us. His family is beautiful I think to myself. Finally, I get to go in the room and see Frank. I know already he's not breathing on his own anymore...There he is, lying like Jesus, completely unresponsive but his skin is warm. I touch his shoulder and repeat his words, "You are so good brother. Here we go - on the journey! Lifting it up!"
I hold his hand. I realize I'm crying and there are large strands of mucous hanging from my nose. I can't speak and every time I try to, it chokes me. Suddenly we're in the southwest together again, driving up the mountains. In the background I hear Morgaine and everyone, with all their dignity and divinity, singing songs about angels. But Frank and I are in the mountains. 'Can't you feel it!' he says to me, 'we're going up! Here we go. In the mountains the whole reality changes. You know in those valleys you can find all kinds of food and medicines. We don't have to survive, we can THRIVE! Look Joseph, over there, the elders are right on the peaks. The fathers are watching over us. Yeeeeeeeaaaauhhhhh!"
I put my hands on his head. The room is full of people again. People are crying and still singing with the angels and the mother earth. It's so graceful. There are birds singing and a sycamore tree. I'm kneeling down holding his dreadlocks and Morgaine is whispering in his ear, "Frank it's time to go." She's nurturing him, holding him, and cooing to him in such gentle words I see Frank as a little baby for the first time. I see his mother's labor pains and a wave comes over me - some tears and I breathe them out.
I leave the room. I stretch and shake my body up to the ceiling. Big stretch! "Om nama shivaya." I keep chanting to myself trying to lift the energy and let his spirit go. Don't hold on to any part of him Joseph. You have your own life to live. I keep trying to lift it, lift it, and suddenly I realize - "wait, letting go means letting it go down and up and the same time." My tears stop for a few moments. Frank's spirit comes and puts his hand on my kidneys, swiping his hand down my back to ground me saying, "Whooooosh..." I realize I'm dizzy, there are some stars in front of my eyes and I let my breathing go slow again.
The neurologist asks us back in the room. People are still singing. Grace is everywhere. Ken, his younger brother, puts his hand on Frank's heart. He's a robust man with strong hands, a shaved head, but I see him as little brother with a smile in his eyes looking at his big bro all gentle and emotional, crying and happy at the same time saying "Frank, you are my Peter Pan! You brought me places I could have never reached on my own." His mother holds his big feet saying, "Look how strong you are. You're my son but you are also my mentor. You drove me crazy but you also pushed me beyond my own limitations and I grew."
The doctor comes in the room. He asks the mother if she is ready to let Frank go. To pull out the tubes. She looks at me. If you've ever looked into a mother's eyes like that... I nod my head feeling a peacefulness and she nods her head. Everyone nods their head. We're ready and he's ready. This is it, the moment... All the plant walks, the dreams of India, the potential, the knowledge. It's slipping away. "Okay," I say to myself, "this is really going to happen."
The nurse, so gently, she comes up to Frank and says, "Sweetie, I'm sorry. This will take only a moment." She pulls the tube out quickly. It almost feels like she's whispering a little blessing to Frank as she does it. He lets out all of his breath. I feel his deep voice vibrating through my bones for the last time. We all exhale. We're rubbing and massaging his tissues. "Just relax brother. Just relax. It's okay to let go."
I look up to his face and I realize he's smiling. His spirit says, "You thought you knew what was going to happen, Joseph!" Then he says, "Just being in the flow here!" I realize he's still teaching me - and playing tricks too. "Here we go Frank!" I return the smile to encourage him. We're back in Nevada together. It's my first time and I feel so blessed he's initiating me. There are mountains and mountains for hundreds of miles across a vast expansive sky. "Joseph, the world is this big," he says as he opens his hands really wide.
Then I'm back in the room and his mother says, "You're my boy. I always knew this would happen to you. Look what's happened." Ceara is holding his hand. Juliet is kneeling at the bed. Paul and then Morgaine, and then me and then everyone comes to kiss his forehead. I step back from the body. The spirit is leaving. I feel as if it's not okay to touch him. His spirit is expanding and expanding. There is a wheel of blue and pink and it's spinning. "Frank, here we are buddy! Going up into the mountains - here we go!"
I step away. The lights are dim again. Everyone steps away except his mother who turns back to the body. She's hugging him with her big mother bear arms and talking to her baby with so much sympathy. I put my hands together in prayer. Namaste Frank...We love you.
On my beloved Frank's last days and his crossingtag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5782009-08-31T00:52:43Z2009-08-31T01:16:10Zby Mary Morgaine To contribute your story about Frank, click on the link here (http://www.plantsandhealers.com/yourstory.php). It is Monday, August 24th, 2009, and Frank has been gone from this world now for five days. I have received many questions regarding how...
http://www.plantsandhealers.com/yourstory.php).
It is Monday, August 24th, 2009, and Frank has been gone from this world now for five days. I have received many questions regarding how and why Frank left this planet so suddenly. I offer these words to the larger circle of what I bore witness to, what I experienced and felt in the last few weeks of Frank's life and what I believe led to his crossing. The sun is bright in the summer sky, pausing neither for life nor death. The days keep unfolding without judgment as to who has come into this world and who has gone. Even in death, life spills forth to fill the moments with its own love for itself, a never-ending cycle of transformational existence. I am honored to be able to share my story within the Great Turning.
One of the last coherent conversations Frank and I had, 4 days before he crossed, was about 'Story'. He was firm in having me understand clearly that the telling of a story could only be, even in its best form, a fragment of the Whole, for there are so many perspectives and conditions that make up the reality from which the story unfolds that it could never be all conveyed simultaneously. With this understanding, I sing my heart song.
It was in Australia, winter 2007, that I first noted Frank feeling less than his vibrant self. He arrived with a cold and the entire time we spent together there he did not feel well. But he did not let that stop him from moving and learning and sharing, and he gained his strength back enough to continue on to New Zealand and then back up to the northern lands of Australia after we parted. While there, near Darwin, in the tropics of that beautiful country, he was bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes and from that he believed he acquired the Ross River Virus, a self-limiting virus said to be gone within a year, that causes inflammation of the joints, fever and fatigue.]]>
Until his death, he continued to experience these symptoms on and off to different levels and degrees. Frank also had a history of kidney stones that may have played a role in his declining health. I cannot help but also note it is my memory that a couple months before he went to Australia, he began the first of a series of mercury amalgam removals from his teeth that continued until three weeks before his death. Frank also had (and recovered from) malaria, acquired from his 2003 travels in Africa. When cat scans were taken once he was in the hospital, we learned of infarcts(dead tissue from lack of blood supply)on his brain that were several years old, maybe caused by malaria, maybe not.
Our human bodies are just that, human. We are both fragile and resistant beings at once, and for the eons of human existence our systems have slowly evolved and adapted to a localized ecosystem of water, air and earth. When we leave the place of our origin, it takes generations for our bodies to fully adapt to the new elements around us. Frank was a child and lover of Gaia and I am certain it was his intimate connection to the plants that kept him as vital and strong as he was for as many years as he spanned the globe. Yet all of us are subject to natural law, and Frank's choice to live all over the planet without taking time to slow down and let his body acclimate to the micro-organisms that came to co-exist within him from those travels had a price.
There were so many factors, both known and unknown, that were a part of the picture of Frank's dying- that no one 'thing', one 'diagnosis', killed Frank Cook. Frank was at death's door many times in his life. He had a remarkably risky and incredibly 'stress-full on the body' lifestyle. That is how he did his amazing work, though. I believe his Higher self knew he would die at a young age and he was driven to reach as many people as he could with his message of compassion and daily connection to the earth and that slowing down was not high on his priority list. May no one be afraid of engaging deeply with nature because of what they may think killed Frank. That would contradict his very existence. To thine own heart be true and always keep the faith that your destiny is in the hands of Someone/Something far greater than you.
On Tuesday, August 4th, Frank awoke with a painfully sore throat and a bit of a fever. He had been commenting that his throat was sore for a while, but this day, it hurt him so much he could not swallow easily. He said it felt like ulcers had burst in his throat and asked me to look down it with a flashlight, but there was no visible sign of any sores to my eyes. He was scheduled to teach with Sandor Katz a 'Wild Foods and Fermentation' workshop for the next two days. He felt weak and his throat hurt, but he went ahead the next morning to Ashevillage Institute, in Asheville, NC, to teach with Sandor. He felt so lousy that day and rested when he was not teaching, and he had no desire for food since swallowing was so painful for him. He drank tea and juice and really from that day on I never saw him take in a 'normal' sized meal again.
Frank prepared Sandor that he may not be able to teach the next day. I drove us home, the full moon soon to be rising, and Frank rested and burned a fever while I brought him teas and compresses to ease the discomfort. The next morning he felt a good bit better, and was able to show up for teaching with Sandor. Again, he napped between teachings, and was grumpier than I could recall. Within the past year, Frank would often become easily grumped by this or that, especially to me when we were alone, so unlike the endearing sweetness he poured onto me in the beginnings of our relationship. But the grumpy-ness was not consistent, and it seemed to me to be unrelated to anything I was doing but rather to how he was feeling inside, so that most of the time I was able to not take it personally.
The next day was the Permaculture Gathering in Celo, NC and although Frank still did not feel very good, he had it in him to go. He was scheduled to give a plant walk that morning and what a stellar plant walk it was! He was so tuned in and inspiring! Later he went back to our tent, and napped, and burned fever, and then got it together again to be present for the large gathering. When he was with people, he shined through the pain and discomfort, but then would come back to the tent and sleep and express how tired he felt. A dull headache had begun at the base of his head and also a painful feeling in his left calf had started. He said his vision did not feel as sharp as usual either.
Frank did not believe in standing in lines (herd mentality he called it) and so at the gathering he would wait until everyone had eaten before he would get up and fix himself a plate. Because there were so many more people there than expected, there would hardly be any food left. He would not let me (the line-stander) fix him a plate and as a result he hardly ate all weekend. By Sunday evening when we were headed home from the gathering, he was very weak with hunger. We went to the Laughing Seed and before the food arrived he said he felt like he was going to pass out. I asked him what he wanted me to do if that happened and he said, "Just don't take me to the hospital." He didn't pass out but even in his hunger he ate less than half the proportion he would normally eat.
We had been planning on doing a cleanse starting the next day, on green drinks. We would harvest greens from the garden, yard and or woods, blend them with water and then strain it. But it was apparent that he just needed food at this point more than cleansing, so he decided to just do the green drink for Monday and then begin eating again. I opted to do the drink for five days until noon, then allowing light fruits and veggies until 8pm and elimination of my favorite thing- black tea with half and half. I am so grateful I did this cleanse for I think it carried me through what was coming with so much more strength and vitality.
We spent that entire Monday drinking plants and having long, deep conversations about things that were really important to us as we watched the cucumber vine grow up the screen door. It was such a special day of sharing and loving one another, regardless of what was to come, yet it turned out to be the last normal day that Frank ever lived.
On Tuesday morning, he did not want to get out of bed, and his head had begun to ache more and his calf was red, swollen and painful to even the slightest touch. His left arm was experiencing odd sensations, waves of tingling and numbness, that occurred every 10 minutes or so. I made him some oatmeal of which he ate half a bowl. We had an invitation to a birthday party for that afternoon and I encouraged him to just rest but he insisted we go. He was limping by now, the calf being too painful to put any pressure on it, so I supported him as he hobbled into the party. I think it was very important to him to be surrounded by chosen family, and that even though he had very little energy, the love of his friends was such good medicine he wanted to make the extra effort to be there.
He was scheduled to call in that night at 11:11pm for a radio talk show with our friend Jerry in Taos, New Mexico, and speak about emerging planetary medicine. I sat up with him, keeping him alert and ready for the call. He was so exhausted. He made it through the show with such grace but it was so much work for him. Within half an hour after that began his piercing headaches and little rest came for either of us. He sweated, tossed and turned all night, and began to have a smell to him that was not good. One of the things about Frank was that he always smelled so good to me, like fresh air. This smell concerned me greatly. On Wednesday morning he had even less energy. I encouraged him to come lay in the sunshine for a bit, which he did, and made whatever food he requested but he would only eat the smallest portions of it. He was scheduled to teach male herbal health and the urinary tract that night at Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism. He felt absolutely terrible but would not cancel. I asked him, "When do you say you cannot do it, Frank?" He answered, "When I cannot do it, Mary."
On the way home from this last teaching, a huge owl flew in front of us down in the mountain pass on the way into Madison county. In bed that night his heart was beating so rapidly all night long, his head ached and he burned fever, also he had a lot of upper GI tract gas. I tried to get him to take some aspirin but he would have nothing to do with it. I had harvested witch hazel and black birch and with a fresh turmeric root from a friend, I had made a strong decoction two days before and was applying that regularly to his calf and he would drink some of it. I also harvested willow bark, made a strong tea, and he would sip this and I would soak a rag in it and apply that to his forehead or the back of his neck. These things brought temporary relief, but the pain returned inevitably each time. I had him soak his feet in rosemary-willow tea and rubbed them with rosemary oil. He took many hot showers. I did lying on of hands, singing, praying, everything I knew how to do that had always brought relief in the past but nothing seemed to last for long in its help.
All that night I lie awake with him and his suffering and kept my hand on his heart praying for reprieve. We did not sleep. On Thursday morning he began screaming, "My arm, my arm!!!" and his left arm was outstretched and I just held it and rubbed it and breathed, toned with it and him for several minutes just holding him while the excruciating pain moved through his arm. Then it was gone and he felt so much relief, even enough that his head stopped aching for a bit and his spirits lifted and he said something about transforming from the old into the new and that he was getting better now and asked for some more oatmeal.
Yet when the oatmeal came, he just wanted fruit, very specifically peaches and melon, so I went to the store to get these. He was trying to eat during those last few days but it was such little portions he took in. I asked him to please let me call some of our healer friends to come and help and he was fierce when he told me absolutely not, that he was improving and he just wanted to rest here and we could handle it ourselves. The headaches returned later in the day, never to leave again.
He was so irritated and grumpy about everything and then he would become blissfully loving. He told me to keep up with my own schedule/life yet he would call on me for help or my presence every five minutes, I could not do anything I had planned. Plus, I did not want to. All I could think of was getting him better, how to soothe him and be there. In retrospect, on a deeper level, I knew he was dying and I believe he did, too. At one point I went into the other room and began sobbing, trying to not let him hear me, but he did. He asked, "Why are you crying, Mary?" and I told him that I was concerned he was leaving and he said so gruffly, "Well that is your trip, you do not need to worry about me." And it was true, it was my trip. He was at peace, in spite of the pain, with what was happening.
We slept very little Thursday or Friday night, and Frank lay in bed or on the sofa all day long. He would not even come outside for sunshine. I began begging to him to let me call for help. I wanted to call his mom so badly and just let her know what was going on but he said I would be disrespecting him if I did that and that she would just tell him to rest which was what he was already doing. He finally agreed to my calling this one homeopath who lives in Spring Creek. Before I called her, I had a solid hunch she would be out of town. Sure enough, her message said she would be gone until August 19th, which was the day he passed. I went to tell him but he said first, "She is out of town until next week, isn't she?" We both asked what was the meaning of all this. I asked if I could take him to the acupuncture clinic. No way, he wouldn't hear of it. Finally he let me call our dear friend Turtle, although he made it clear to me that Turtle was coming over for me and he did not want to have anything to do with it.
Turtle came over Saturday night and I was so grateful for another perspective, a shoulder to cry on. He went home and shared with his beloved Julie, an acupuncturist healer and dear friend of ours, and she called at 2:48am that morning, I remember it clearly. I could not sleep and it did not even seem odd that the phone was ringing in the middle of the night. Turtle had told her what was going on and she was very concerned. They agreed to come over early the next morning. I did not let Frank know until they were almost here, and he was so pissed at me. He said it was unnecessary, why couldn't I just let him rest and get better here by ourselves? I told him I was sorry but I had to do this. Then Julie and I called in Juliet, our dear friend and herbalist healer, and I had to accept the anger he expressed at me for calling out to another person without his approval.
It was such an inner struggle for me, having so much respect for Frank and his wishes yet coming to the realization that if Frank died in my arms with no one around, the guilt I would carry with that would haunt me for the rest of my life. It was not up to us anymore to make decisions- the larger family must have a say.
Julie and Juliet did intakes with Frank and he cooperated for the most part. Juliet concluded that we must take him to the emergency room. I had a Plant Spirit Yoga workshop I was scheduled to teach that afternoon with Sierra Hollister and had called on our friend Lydijah to come and stay home with Frank while I would be teaching. Frank was adamant that I not miss teaching my workshop on account of him. But when Juliet said clearly we needed to go to the ER, I called Sierra at the last minute to cancel, and graciously she took over all those details. Frank agreed to go to the ER and Julie, Juliet, Turtle, Frank and I sat on the bed, smudged ourselves with sage and prayed for the Most High to guide our way before leaving the land.
When we got to the hospital, Frank at first would not get out and said he did not agree to come here. He had been having bouts of forgetting what had been said or had happened, and minor hallucinations. It took a few of us to get him out of the car, reminding him he had agreed to come.
We wanted to do a blood test mainly, so that we could understand what was going on and with that knowing, treat it with holistic medicine. The only thing Frank would consent to was an ultrasound on his calf. I held his hand while he received it, as he was in a semi-conscious state of bliss, and when it was over he did not even know it had happened. Yet then he would be so sharp. "You're on in 55 minutes, Mary," Frank said as I wheeled him into another room in the ER, referring to my workshop I was supposed to be teaching. "I cancelled the workshop, baby," I told him. "Now why did you do that?" Even in dire straits, Frank's attitude was that the work of the green path must go on.
As we waited for the results he kept saying it was time to go home, let's leave this place, we are done here, etc... I told him we needed to just get the results back first. The ultrasound showed a leg mass which could be a tumor or an abscess, and that an MRI would be needed to further diagnose. Frank insisted on discharging himself now and we honored that. What more could we do? His student and dear friend and Ayurvedic doctor Joseph and his wife Rose and their little girl had arrived earlier at the ER to offer support. They brought wonderfully balancing food and thankfully took the initiative to call Frank's mom and let her know what was going on. Joseph handed the phone to Frank, and strong-willed Frankie said to his mom he was alright and improving and he would call her from the landline when he got home.
We all decided that Frank should stay closer to the hospital, since I lived 40 minutes away. So I drove toward Julie's downtown house and Frank said, "This isn't the way home, where are we going?" I told him what we had decided. Again, I experienced the irritation Frank had at his will being set aside. He told me he was going home and I could stay in town if I wanted to. So I took him back out to the house, and remember the feeling of complete despair when we got there, like everything we had just done to try and help had been to no avail and now Frank felt dishonored and weakened even more by the whole experience. It was a horrible thing to sit with.
He immediately requested pesto pasta, with buckwheat noodles. I told him I only had wheat or rice noodles and he said,"I am not too fond of either," but that he would try wheat. My sweet beloved man, stubborn, detailed and clear on his needs and wants amid all the suffering. Word had gotten out now on Frank's condition and my phone was ringing off the hook. I could not keep up with it and give him the care he needed both at once, so many of the calls just went unanswered. I saw that his old friend and chosen brother Paul had called and was on his way to be with us. I felt so glad to know this strong ally would be arriving that night, and that his mom, Kaye, and brother, Kenny, were coming in the next day.
Frank only ate a few bites of the pasta. His head pain was just too overbearing for him to eat or sleep much at all. I sang and prayed with him for several hours and then exhaustion overtook me and I fell asleep about half an hour before Paul arrived around 1am. Frank tried to greet Paul as if everything were fine, but he did not have it in him.
When his family arrived the next day, Monday the 17th, they were able to get him to go to the hospital again. This time upon arrival to the ER, I think Frank had surrendered to us to guide him in what to do next. He accepted the tests as gently and appreciatively as he could, and I could see this great peace in him in being surrounded by so many people who loved him so much.
He had a cat scan which came back showing ring enhanced lesions all over his brain. This was the cause of his calf swelling, arm aching and horrible headaches. It was putting pressures on the left side of his vital organs and tissues that kept them from functioning properly. It was a serious matter but Frank seemed undaunted by it. "Alright, can we go home now?" How could we take him home at this point? We had entered into the world of western medicine and learned that what was happening to Frank was far bigger than we had any idea, that the situation was desperate. It seemed if we went home, he would surely die, and in great pain. If we stayed in the hospital, we thought there might be a chance of saving his life and relieving the pain. We loved him so much, valued his life so dearly, that we admitted him, with his consent, into a room in St. Joseph's Hospital, with prayers and hopes of healing, of getting through this intense time before us all.
Frank was a solid, brave man, and he had very little fears. I think the fear of being subjected to Western Medicine was one of his few, and the greatest. Like the Buddha, Frank was born with webbed fingers, a condition called syndactyly. He had a series of operations from early childhood into adolescence to bring agility into his hands. In our last year together, we had many healing sessions with him going back to those surgeries and moving through the subconscious fears that being on the operation table had left him. I believe that the route taken in his death of surrendering to the hospital care enabled him to come to a significant clearing of this fear in his life, that it was divinely laid out and has sent him forth into the Heavens with far less karma than he would have taken with him otherwise.
The hospital staff could not have been more respectful and accommodating to Frank and his loved ones. We were so blessed. He knew his plants right up to the very end, and kept passing on his gifts, through words and gestures, until deep sleep came to him hours before his heart and breath pulsed no more. He flew away early morning of August 19th, 2009, to reunite with his Creator.
The synergy that brought together the 4-day gathering and beautiful memorial service affirmed Frank's eternal strength and grace, as I felt him orchestrating it with his angels from the heavenly realms. The radiant and beaming joy Frank would have felt in seeing us all circle Peace Eagle Pond, singing blessings for his journey and for those of us who remain on this beloved Gaia, was known and felt in all of us present. In Frank's crossing, all the seeds he was planting all over the world became potentized. He can now move through us all at once, and be a guardian angel into the prophesized times coming..
For me, I call upon that strength and grace to go on, to let go, to accept and have undying Faith in the Almighty. I am so humbled and so grateful for the gifts of love that Frank shared with me, and I will keep them alive through my works ahead.
Aho.
Frank Cook: The Banyan Tree by Tim Tobentag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5792009-08-30T10:33:51Z2009-09-10T10:34:54ZPearson Garden, Asheville NC, 7PM, August 19, 2009 Just hours after his passing, Frank's brother Ken spoke from circle of nearly 200 friends holding hands around the garden. "I think he saw us all as plant beings and he certainly...
Pearson Garden, Asheville NC, 7PM, August 19, 2009
Just hours after his passing, Frank's brother Ken spoke from circle of nearly 200 friends holding hands around the garden. "I think he saw us all as plant beings and he certainly was one himself." Muffled laughter mixed with tears. Frank Cook was the Banyan Tree.
If the name is not familiar, you'll remember the man. Frank stood 6'3" tall with piercing blue eyes and waist length dreadlocks. He wore simple clothes and sandals and carried a satchel over his shoulder. In Carrboro, his home was a loft bed at the residence of Beth Williams and Alan Dehmer. He walked everywhere, once across the entire state of North Carolina, foraging for food along the way. Most of us in these modern times would die attempting such a trek. Frank feasted - both physically and spiritually.
Someone once said that we are born with two beings - one that dies and one that lives forever. That is certainly true for Frank Cook. Frank will always be known around the world for his plant knowledge and his journey to "meet" the 5000+ genera of plants. At 47 years old, he was 70% of the way to his goal. He'd chucked a promising career in computer science 20 years earlier to follow his heartsong, traveling to Namibia to meet Omumborombonga, the ancestral tree of life, and to India to meet Buckuchurbu, used to treat stomach upset.
Those of us lucky enough to cross His path were reacquainted with the native plants we loved as children. Frank could hang with the best Linnean taxonomist, but he "understood" plants more deeply - their medicinal qualities, their nutritional values, and their unique role in the interdependent ecology of nature. And he clearly loved them.
Frank would lean down and shade his small subjects with large hands and begin telling their story. The breath from his deep baritone voice seemed to lift the plantain or pepsisiwa from its roots, as he brushed the leaves from around their base. "Choose me, choose me," you could imagine them saying. In those moments, we were children again, finding a long lost love. And he was an "indigenous" teacher.
The meals between walks were just as vibrant. Reminding us that most Americans eat just 25 species of plants a year, he'd make fresh bread and soup with at least 25 species gathered during his walk. The flavors and energy in his food were life giving. He'd make teas by day and meads at night, always sharing a batch from last year in a pass- around bottle. Frank's blueberry and sumac meads were my favorite. His gatherings built community and these are the friends we'd all want at our memorials.
His "business model" baffled most. He worked for donations. You paid what you could, and that was enough to fund Frank's travels to meet plants across the globe. He'd recently completed a Masters Degree at the Schumacher Institute in the UK and written a book on Planetary Ecology. His subject matter had expanded to include "transition cultures" - those preparing for, not a low-, but a no-carbon economy.
Frank had just returned from teaching engagements in the Southwest US, but before that in South America. What he thought was travel weariness was apparently a spreading parasitic infection, which spread rapidly this week and this morning claimed his sinewy body. Thousands around the world, and several hundred in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Asheville weep quietly at the loss of their friend and teacher. We are ever so grateful for his many gifts, for the many seeds he planted. His spirit is alive and well.
If he'd ever have stayed in one place for more than a few months, I'm convinced that Frank's cascading dreadlocks would have taken root, like the Banyan Tree, and grown other Frank Cooks. If only that had happened, what a better world this would be.
Godspeed.
A Memorial Service for Frank Cook will be held at 6PM Sunday 8/23 at:
The Toben Home
Pickards Mountain
8300 Pickards Meadow Road
Chapel Hill, NC, 27516
(919) 619-5475
www.pickardsmountain.org
Rainbow NM 2009 Reflectionstag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5752009-07-26T23:28:50Z2009-07-26T23:31:53ZA Thousand Words about the 38th Annual Rainbow NM 2009 Many of us arrived on June 30th and we seemed to increase exponentially after that until the peak of the fourth. Over 10,000 made up our village that spread down...Frank Cook
A Thousand Words about the 38th Annual Rainbow NM 2009
Many of us arrived on June 30th and we seemed to increase exponentially after that until the peak of the fourth. Over 10,000 made up our village that spread down the valleys of half a dozen small ridges. Our water came from springs above us. We were in a forest full of dead wood and lots of plants that the cows didn't like to eat.
At 9300 feet we experienced a very different NM than you might expect. There were frequent rains many days with hail on the fourth. We were also blessed on the fourth with a double+ rainbow that endured a long time giving inspiration to the faithful. The rains encouraged the plants and mushrooms to come forth abundantly.
And they did which brought forth nature lovers. 7Song's walks had over 100 people on each of the walks of the first few days. We could really feel the deepening of the plant knowledge into our community during those walks.
The Greenpath Camp formed solidly this fourth year supported by a core of 15+ people. Several arrived early and really made a memorable village feel with two teepees and two bark huts not to mention a kitchen and a clay oven. Once the oven was done pizza, cookies and other delights flowed from it for the rest of the gathering. Several teaching spaces formed around the village. On the second over 100 people showed up for an afternoon of gathering and preparing wild edibles.
The kitchen never seemed to stop--sending meals to main circle and always on hand seemed to be another healthy meal. I think I gained weight at the gathering! We had over 15 gallons of kimchi/sauerkraut brought to/made at the gathering. Hopes are to up that a lot next year along with more sprouting to feed main circle some.
By the time I got there, a full on schedule of classes was happening. I jumped in with both feet and helped facilitate eleven teaching circles during my time there including: Plant walks and talks, Fermentation show and tell, Mycology 101, Holistic Science and Transition Culture. The vibe around the Greenpath Camp was strong and growing with many plans for next year and connecting between now and then. It felt wonderful to camp near such a vibrant village.
Every day was long for me with walks about the gathering. A nice circle of botanical enthusiasts collaborated to create a list of the plants and mushrooms seen at the gathering. That should be compiled soon but to give you a sense of it, we encountered over 50 families and a 100 genera. Everyone grew from the experience it seemed.
In addition to seeing the famous herbs there like Osha, Arnica and Aconite, I learned three new genera: Paxistima, Dracocephalum and Psuedocympoterus . I was very excited to find a new polypore and eventually found out it was another species of Phellinus (our cracked cap polypore that grows on locusts and is famous in Korea for preventing the return of cancer). I had a wonderful tea of it and was delighted to see that it was called P. tremulae (alluding to its host aspen, Populus tremuloides). I also enjoyed the decocted tea of the red-belted Polypore, Fomitopsis.
On the fourth the morning silence opened to the celebration of interdependence just before noon. I had never experienced that before in my 16 rainbows. Usually rainbow noon is later afternoon. I was not at the circle. As has happened a number of times on this day in recent years, I found myself alone in the woods praying on the earth, cleansing in a spring, focusing on healing. I made my way later to the celebration and deeply enjoyed connecting with my family there. This year more than a dozen friends I had not seen for many rainbows re-appeared. It was so wonderful to see them out in those glorious aspen-fir-spruce forests. One concern is that my teacher and friend, Greenlight, was not there and I heard rumors he has been ill. If anyone has news about him, please let me know.
I spent time hearing stories of an archeological site in the lower part of the meadow with a stone fire pit 5000 years old and tufts of grassy areas making up an ancient medicine wheel. I visited them and could feel some energy from them. The main meadow was apparently a place warriors would meet before war.
I checked in on the main family council several times and heard some amazing visions and stories. I have recently heard word that the council consensed on next year's gathering being east of the Mississippi.
The drums would play in the distance through the night which gave me great comfort. I understand that the parties and circles also spanned the night. Given my path I usually go to sleep on the early side so you will have to read another's rainbow account to hear more about that.
I participated in many circles on how we can grow to be a more sustainable rainbow. Lots of ideas were aired hopefully seeds for future transformation. Some ideas that stay with me include: Water catchment off the kitchen roofs into simple filters of charcoal, sand and moss; Utilizing alternatives to toxic bleach such as antimicrobial plants (e.g. sage brush); Introducing more wild food and teas from the kitchens to the people; Reducing the amount of wood burned at the gathering; Coordinating the different camps into neighborboods....
I could feel my many years of attending gatherings this year. I had changed a lot in the 14 years since my first NM gathering. One of the biggest distinctions that needs to be shared is that there are people who act like rainbows (shining love and light) and those that act like drainbows (needy energy seekers). It is important to understand this distinction.
I just saw a really interesting hour documentary called "We Love You" that features many friends. You can see the trailer for it through http://www.weloveyoufilm.com/.
We are all part of the rainbow. It is a way of life.
Love and Light,
Frank
July, 2009
Woodsedge, NC
Upcoming Teachings 2009-2010tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5732009-06-30T18:18:03Z2009-08-03T14:54:02ZUpcoming Teachings 2009/2010 New Mexico June 30-July 8 38th National Rainbow NM July 9-17 Teaching around Taos contact me for details. Colorado July 18-20 Mushroom and Plant Walks with Chris Ricci Near Durango. For More In-formation contact Chris at 970-884-0877...Frank Cook
Upcoming Teachings 2009/2010
New Mexico
June 30-July 8 38th National Rainbow NM
July 9-17 Teaching around Taos contact me for details.
Colorado
July 18-20 Mushroom and Plant Walks with Chris Ricci Near Durango. For More In-formation contact Chris at
970-884-0877 CHRIS@CULTUREBROTHERS.ORG
North Carolina
July 31- Aug 2 Mushrooms and Plants as Shamanic Allies with Ken Crouse at the Sunnybank Inn Hot Springs. Coming for the day is available for local people. Contact Elmer at 828-622-7206 for more information.
Aug 3 Mead and Pizza Making Pearson Community Gardens Monford, Asheville. Call Turtle at 828-273-8151 for details.
Aug 5-6 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute. For more information email: info@ashevillage.org
Aug 7-9 16th Permaculture Gathering at Celo www.southeasternpermaculture.org I will be facilitating an advanced plant walk Friday morning.
Aug 14-16 GREEN SCENE AT PEACEFUL VALLEY GARDENS outside Boone
Come join us for the "Green Scene at Peaceful Valley Gardens" on August 14 through August 16. Frank Cook and Ken Crouse will be leading walks through the woods and the gardens and sharing their knowledge of the plant (and fungal) world. Topics are likely to include edible and medicinal wild plants and mushrooms, ornamental and vegetable gardening, herbs, permaculture, and more. We will leave a lot of room for spontaneity and invite other to share their skills and knowledge with the group. We are planning for an opening circle around 5 PM on Friday the 14th and closing circle on Sunday afternoon.
Peaceful Valley Gardens is the home of Ken Crouse, Cindy Fowler, and Henry and Judith Orszula and is located in Wilkes County (about 20 miles east of Boone). The valley is surrounded by woods and contains a pond - great habitat for plants, frogs, birds, insects, and people who like to camp and swim! Please contact Ken and Cindy if you plan on coming so that we can send you details and work out logistics for food sharing and camping. We will need for you to confirm your participation as space will be limited. You can call (336) 973-5569 or email us at peacevalley@wilkes.net . When emailing, please put Green Scene in the subject line.
Maine
August 23-28 Applied Nature Studies: Wild Plants as Medicines, Teas, and Foods at the Humboldt Field Research Institute near Steuben
During our week together we will pursue an experiential approach to encountering the world. We will initially discuss the context of the phenomena that we are studying-be it plants, mushrooms, seaweeds or the land forms we explore. Our aim is to pursue a holistic understanding of nature bringing together such diverse fields as botany, mycology, fermentation, permaculture, ethnobotany, and ecology. Once we have achieved a degree of understanding we will take frequent trips into the surrounding ecosystems, and learn the techniques for collecting from the wild. From these gatherings we will process and ferment wild foods and natural medicines. By the end of the week the participants will have been exposed to many of the qualities of complex ecosystems and ways in which humans can study and connect with their environment. We will encounter some of the challenges facing humanity and ways to apply our understanding of nature to address them.
For more information contact them:
Phone: 207-546-2821, FAX: 207-546-3042,
http://www.eaglehill.us
California Happenings Early September--check the website.
United Kingdom
Sept 13-25 Thrival Living Skills for the Coming Times Findhorn Ecovillage, The Park, Findhorn, Moray
This Workshop has an emphasis on wild foods and includes wild food walks and taught/experiential modules on Food Philosophy, Plant Allies, Permaculture principles, Mycology, and Fermentation.
In evening talks, also open to the community Frank will share his knowledge on the themes of Emerging Planetary Medicine, Holistic Science approaches and Neo-Shamanic insights.
contact: www.findhorncollege.com.
Sept 27 Wild Edibles around London with Miles Irving
contact Alex: alsl@btinternet.com
Sept 29 The Wisdom of the Plants
http://wildwise.co.uk/professionaltraining.html
Oct 3 Thrival Living Skills
http://wildwise.co.uk/events_and_courses.html
Oct 4 Edible Plant Walk
Frank Cook will lead a 3-hour wild edible plant walk around Otterton, Nr. Sidmouth, East Devon, where he will gently guide you into the healing and beauty of wild foods. www.foragingcourses.com
Oct 17 Sacred Plant Medicine
Indigenous peoples around the world have been able to gather knowledge of plant uses by communicating directly with them and honouring the sacred relationship between themselves and the plant kingdom.
In this 6-hour plant immersion, Frank will explore the many ways that you are able to communicate with the plant kingdom to aid your nutritional and healing needs. With him you'll explore the sacred dimension of plant and human interactions. www.foragingcourses.com
Oct 19-24 Ethnobotany: Listening to the Plants Schumacher College, Devonshire
www.schumachercollege.org.uk for more information.
October 25 Plant Walk with Miles Irving Greater London area.
Tennessee
Oct 29-31 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz near Short Mountain. Check out www.wildfermentation.com for more information.
North Carolina
Nov 7 Plant Day at Pickard´s Mountain 10:00-4:00 Chapel Hill
2010
Costa Rica
End of December though mid-January 2010
India
Later January through February
North Carolina
End of April Walking the Green Path Gathering
Mid-August through Beg-October Yoga Bus cross country twice NE-NW then SW-SE. Interested in jumping on board?
A Discussion group on Emerging Planetary Medicines will be happening soon. Add your thoughts and reflect to the ongoing discussions. The time is now to relocalize and renaturalize our medicines!
Frank Cook - For over fifteen years Frank has pursued his passion for being a repository of plant knowledge. He has studied with Herbalists, Shamen, Vaidyas, Sangomas, Green Witches, Doctors, Professors, Medicine Men around the world. They have initiated him into many ways of walking with plants. As an extensive traveler he has developed a deep-rooted network of people whose lives are consciously intermingled with plants, healing, and ways to create a better world. He makes a wide range of foods and medicines to share with his family, friends and community. He leads a simple life communicating, teaching, reflecting, and spending a lot of time in the forests and gardens delving deeper into the mysteries of the plant kingdom and our place in Gaia. He has a Masters in Science from Schumacher College, Dartington, Devonshire, England where he studied Holistic Science and Transition Culture. He is certified as a Permaculture Designer with over 13 years of working with permaculture principles. He graduated from the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine as a Clinical Herbalist, Ithaca, New York in 1995 and received with honors a Bachelor of Science degree from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina in 1985 double-majoring in Zoology and Computer Science.
FC July 2009
Spring Teachings 2009 tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5582009-04-14T18:28:34Z2009-04-14T18:28:58ZSpring Teachings 2009 North Carolina April 17-19 Herbal Conference at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa An herbal conference of this nature has been called for in the Katuah region for a number of years now. A couple of dozen of the...
Spring Teachings 2009
North Carolina
April 17-19 Herbal Conference at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa
An herbal conference of this nature has been called for in the Katuah region for a number of years now. A couple of dozen of the region's finest herbalists along with octogenarian James Duke will be coming together to share their experiences around health and our plant allies. I highly recommend that you show up if you can and tell others you know. Together we can be the change.
Check out all the details at:
www.warren-wilson.edu/~herbalsymposium/index.php
April 22 Earth Day! May you spend time out with the plants!
April 23 6:00-8:00 Getting to Know the Wild Food Families Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism West Asheville
Increase your confidence in harvesting wild foods by learning the major plant families in the wild who are food oriented (and ones to be careful with). Having a copy of "Botany in a Day" by Thomas Elpel would be a good touchstone for the talk. Donations appreciated. For directions go to: www.herbsheal.com
April 24 11:00-4:00 Practical Ayurveda with Joseph Immel Pearson Community Gardens Asheville
Come spend the time together going deeper into Ayurveda (the knowledge of Life) a healing system over 5000 years old. We will share an Ayruvedic Lunch and walk through the gardens learning the yoga of plants and who the plants are to us from an Ayurvedic perspective. Let us know you're coming by emailing me or Joseph at joseph@joyfulbelly.com
April 26 11:00-2:00 Native Plant Walk--Food and Medicine Duke Gardens Durham
Meet at the parking lot entrance at 10:45. Bring a lunch and something to share. Rain or Shine. I worked in these gardens in 1985 and feel a special kindred connection with this impressive plant collection. Donations appreciated.
May--starting the Online Botany Discussion Group
This is my ninth year facilitating botanical journeys through Thomas Elpel´s ¨Botany in a Day¨. Get a copy of the book on my website or from the author at www.hollowtop.com. Send an email to planttalk2009@yahoo.com to sign up for the circle. There are 13 mailings over the next six months sent every other week starting in May.
May 1-3 Doug Elliott at Sunnybank Inn Hot Springs Contact Elmer at 828-622-7206 for more information.
May 4 6:00-8:00 Emerging Planetary Medicines Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism
We have begun going through unprecedented changes in the world and midst all the chaos a new world is rising. Come and join in a discussion of the plants and healing systems of the world that will guide us through these times. You can get a copy of Frank Cook's thesis on this topic at his website: www.plantsandhealers.com. Donations Appreciated. For directions go to: www.herbsheal.com
May 5-7 Wildroots Walk on the Appalachian Trail in Madison County
Contact Natalie crazgnat@yahoo.com or call her at 206-661-6550
May 8 Day at Sunswept Sanctuary Madison County Reconnecting with the Earth
Walk gently with us through the Sunswept plant sanctuary and get a glimpse of the high mountain ancient flora. We will come together to vision and appreciate these times we are in. Enjoy local food and music and sharing. More information from dory@sunsweptfarm.net
May 13 Being Fed by Nature with Marc Williams Boone, NC 10:00-5:00
Come join us for walks around a farm and to a nearby waterfall. Nourish yourself on a local and wild lunch and discussions on plant knowledge, natural healing, food preparation, and the importance of community. For more information contact Marc at italmon@hotmail.com. Come together with us to feel the high vibes around Boone!
Virginia
May 15-2o Teachings around Roanoke and Floyd
There are lots of circles planned over this week of immersion into the Virginia mountain cultures. I am looking forward to it. For details of the Floyd/Roanoke events visit: fourdirectionspermaculture.org and you can also contact Pamela via 540-322-2192
Massachusetts
May 22-24 The Yoga of Plants Health Retreat with Joseph Immel Williamstown
Ayurveda and Herbalism offer experiential approaches to using the five senses for holistic self-healing and growth. We will discuss these ancient healing systems and how they relate to food and medicine around us locally. Through plant walks and hands-on experiences we'll develop tools to help you feel, organ by organ, how food affects consciousness. We'll introduce ayurvedic anatomy, focusing on mind and ego and it's relationship to the natural world. Our weekend will also introduce Neo-Shamanism, Goethean Science (Phenomenology) , and share visions for the future of planetary medicine. Residential accommodations available. Nourishing wholesome meals will be prepared.
Please go to www.froglotusyoga.com for details. May 25 Genesis Farm 10:00-3:00 Wild Foods and Medicines Walk Blairstown Contact them at 908-362-6735, or through their website : www.genesisfarm.org for more details.
Pennsylvania
May 28 Plant Walk Philadelphia 2:00-5:00
Contact David Siller at dsiller@yahoo.com for info.
Maryland
May 29 Relocalizing Food and Medicine Talk 6:30-8:30 at Green Earth Goods Clarksburg contact Niki at info@greenearthgoods.net or 301-916-2035
May 30 Neo-shamanic Plants: Meeting the Healing Plants a day in James Duke´s Magical Gardens 10-3 Fulton, MD Contact me for more details. A light meal will be provided. Donations appreciated (suggested amount $35-$50).
California June 7 Seaweed Gathering Mendocino County
Come share time together in the slippery intertidal zone and learn a dozen edible/medicinal seaweeds that make up one of the five pillars of abundant living. Hear some of the stories about these amazing ancient beings. We will gather seaweed near daybreak so staying near by the night before is advised.
contact Angelina at lunablue11@yahoo.com for more information
Future Teachings
Southwest
June 30 -July 8 National Rainbow -- New Mexico July 9-20 Teaching with Joseph Immel, Ayurvedic Practitioner around Southwest
Details on this have not been worked out. If you have suggestions of places for us to teach please contact me.
North Carolina July 31- Aug 2 Plants and Mushrooms as Allies with Ken Crouse Sunnybank Inn Hot Springs contact Elmer at 828-622-7206 for more information
Aug 5-6 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute. For more information contact: http://www.kleiwerks.org/events_projects.php or 828.225.8820 Aug 7-9 16th SE Permaculture Summer Gathering Celo
Come join in the fun and excitement of being a permaculture village for a few days. For complete information contact: www.southeasternpermaculture.org Maine
Aug 23-Aug 29 Applied Nature Studies Humboldt Institute
We will pursue an experiential approach to encountering the world. We will initially discuss the context of the phenomena that we are studying--be it plants, mushrooms, seaweeds or the land forms we explore. Our aim is to pursue a holistic understanding of nature bringing together such diverse fields as Botany, Mycology, Fermentation, Permaculture, Ethnobotany, and Ecology. We will take frequent trips into the surrounding ecosystems, and learn the techniques for collecting from the wild. From these gatherings we will process and ferment wild foods and natural medicines. Scholarships and college credit available.
For details contact: http://www.eaglehill.us/
United Kingdom Sept 13-25 Findhorn: Immersion into the Magical Plant Kindom Scotland For details contact: www.Findhorncollege.org
Sept 27-Oct 17 Teachings around Devon and London
Oct 18-24 Walking the Green Path short course at Schumacher College
www.schumachercollege.org.uk for more information. I will be teaching with Ethnobotanist Nancy Turner. Scholarships available.
Tennessee
Oct 29-31 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz Short Mountain
www.wildfermentation.com
North Carolina
Nov 7 Plant Day at Pickard´s Mountain 10:00-4:00 Chapel Hill
pickardsmountain@gmail.com.
California
December--Mushroom Gatherings and More
Costa Rica
End of December though mid-January 2010 contact www.artofunion.com India 2010
Later January through February 2010
Late August through Beg October Yoga Bus cross country journey
Monthly discussions online at the soon-to-exist yahoo group Emerging Planetary Medicines. Add your thoughts and reflect on the ongoing discussions. The time is now to relocalize and renaturalize our medicine. Get a copy at www.plantsandhealers.com.
Spring Forth 2009tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5572009-04-14T18:27:21Z2009-04-14T18:27:55ZSpring Forth 2009 Dear Family and Friends, Here we are dancing through time in 2009. Most people I meet say they feel time is moving faster. I concur and note there still are ways to slow it all down. Upon...
Spring Forth 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Here we are dancing through time in 2009. Most people I meet say they feel time is moving faster. I concur and note there still are ways to slow it all down. Upon reflection some that come to mind are: Holding your breath; or standing in line to use the toilet during a time of need; or going for a jog; or bouts of insomnia and more. What have you noticed about time? Believe me when I write that I know time is precious. Thank you for taking the time to reflect on these words. I am doing my best to keep our connection grassroots despite the temptations to automate.
I last wrote you in December as I was about to embark on journeys to the south. Well, I have been traveling since then through two new countries: Panama and Colombia. (And even a couple of visits to a border town of Brazil!). I was teaching on either side of these, first in Costa Rica and finally in Peru, my 4th and 5th visits respectively. Please read the account of this time on my website.
The next few seasons for me are full as they are for many of us. Together we are much more resilient than apart. I have just arrived from west coast family time here to the east for the next couple of months with the coming schedule below.
For the ninth year I offer a discussion group through the book, "Botany in Day " by Thomas Elpel. You can order the book through my website or his at www.hollowtop.com. We will be starting in May and going for 6 months with a emailing every two weeks. If you would like to receive more information on the circle please email planttalk2009@yahoo.com.
After a year of effort I am excited to live into my recent receipt of a Masters in Holistic Science. My thesis, "Emerging Planetary Medicines", is now available on my website. Please order a copy and engage in the discussion of how to relocalize medicine and reskill ourselves. I am hoping to engage a 1000 people in the discussion over the next year.
Spring Teachings 2009
North Carolina
April 17-19 Herbal Conference at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa
An herbal conference of this nature has been called for in the Katuah region for a number of years now. A couple of dozen of the region's finest herbalists along with octogenarian James Duke will be coming together to share their experiences around health and our plant allies. I highly recommend that you show up if you can and tell others you know. Together we can be the change.
Check out all the details at:
www.warren-wilson.edu/~herbalsymposium/index.php
April 22 Earth Day! May you spend time out with the plants!
April 23 6:00-8:00 Getting to Know the Wild Food Families Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism West Asheville
Increase your confidence in harvesting wild foods by learning the major plant families in the wild who are food oriented (and ones to be careful with). Having a copy of "Botany in a Day" by Thomas Elpel would be a good touchstone for the talk. Donations appreciated. For directions go to: www.herbsheal.com
April 24 11:00-4:00 Practical Ayurveda with Joseph Immel Pearson Community Gardens Asheville
Come spend the time together going deeper into Ayurveda (the knowledge of Life) a healing system over 5000 years old. We will share an Ayruvedic Lunch and walk through the gardens learning the yoga of plants and who the plants are to us from an Ayurvedic perspective. Let us know you're coming by emailing me or Joseph at joseph@joyfulbelly.com
April 26 11:00-2:00 Native Plant Walk--Food and Medicine Duke Gardens Durham
Meet at the parking lot entrance at 10:45. Bring a lunch and something to share. Rain or Shine. I worked in these gardens in 1985 and feel a special kindred connection with this impressive plant collection. Donations appreciated.
May--starting the Online Botany Discussion Group
This is my ninth year facilitating botanical journeys through Thomas Elpel´s ¨Botany in a Day¨. Get a copy of the book on my website or from the author at www.hollowtop.com. Send an email to planttalk2009@yahoo.com to sign up for the circle. There are 13 mailings over the next six months sent every other week starting in May.
May 1-3 Doug Elliott at Sunnybank Inn Hot Springs Contact Elmer at 828-622-7206 for more information.
May 4 6:00-8:00 Emerging Planetary Medicines Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism
We have begun going through unprecedented changes in the world and midst all the chaos a new world is rising. Come and join in a discussion of the plants and healing systems of the world that will guide us through these times. You can get a copy of Frank Cook's thesis on this topic at his website: www.plantsandhealers.com. Donations Appreciated. For directions go to: www.herbsheal.com
May 5-7 Wildroots Walk on the Appalachian Trail in Madison County
Contact Natalie crazgnat@yahoo.com or call her at 206-661-6550
May 8 Day at Sunswept Sanctuary Madison County Reconnecting with the Earth
Walk gently with us through the Sunswept plant sanctuary and get a glimpse of the high mountain ancient flora. We will come together to vision and appreciate these times we are in. Enjoy local food and music and sharing. More information from dory@sunsweptfarm.net
May 13 Being Fed by Nature with Marc Williams Boone, NC 10:00-5:00
Come join us for walks around a farm and to a nearby waterfall. Nourish yourself on a local and wild lunch and discussions on plant knowledge, natural healing, food preparation, and the importance of community. For more information contact Marc at italmon@hotmail.com. Come together with us to feel the high vibes around Boone!
Virginia
May 15-2o Teachings around Roanoke and Floyd
There are lots of circles planned over this week of immersion into the Virginia mountain cultures. I am looking forward to it. For details of the Floyd/Roanoke events visit: fourdirectionspermaculture.org and you can also contact Pamela via 540-322-2192
Massachusetts
May 22-24 The Yoga of Plants Health Retreat with Joseph Immel Williamstown
Ayurveda and Herbalism offer experiential approaches to using the five senses for holistic self-healing and growth. We will discuss these ancient healing systems and how they relate to food and medicine around us locally. Through plant walks and hands-on experiences we'll develop tools to help you feel, organ by organ, how food affects consciousness. We'll introduce ayurvedic anatomy, focusing on mind and ego and it's relationship to the natural world. Our weekend will also introduce Neo-Shamanism, Goethean Science (Phenomenology) , and share visions for the future of planetary medicine. Residential accommodations available. Nourishing wholesome meals will be prepared.
Please go to www.froglotusyoga.com for details. May 25 Genesis Farm 10:00-3:00 Wild Foods and Medicines Walk Blairstown Contact them at 908-362-6735, or through their website : www.genesisfarm.org for more details.
Pennsylvania
May 28 Plant Walk Philadelphia 2:00-5:00
Contact David Siller at dsiller@yahoo.com for info.
Maryland
May 29 Relocalizing Food and Medicine Talk 6:30-8:30 at Green Earth Goods Clarksburg contact Niki at info@greenearthgoods.net or 301-916-2035
May 30 Neo-shamanic Plants: Meeting the Healing Plants a day in James Duke´s Magical Gardens 10-3 Fulton, MD Contact me for more details. A light meal will be provided. Donations appreciated (suggested amount $35-$50).
California June 7 Seaweed Gathering Mendocino County
Come share time together in the slippery intertidal zone and learn a dozen edible/medicinal seaweeds that make up one of the five pillars of abundant living. Hear some of the stories about these amazing ancient beings. We will gather seaweed near daybreak so staying near by the night before is advised.
contact Angelina at lunablue11@yahoo.com for more information
I hope to see a lot of you this spring. I intend to attend most of my regular summer migratory stops. This year I have been given a number of opportunities to share about walking the greenpath to the wider world. I would be so excited if some of you decided to join me. Please look at the summer and autumn teachings below and see what inspires you to participate. Come make the circle strong. Stay Tuned! I will work hard to keep my website up-to-date. Thank you, webmaster Joseph!
I think this brings us to the present. I hope you are ready to engage the abundance of spring! I have been enjoying the lush greens coming forth! Hurray for LIFE! See you out there.
Love and Light,
Frank
www.plantsandhealers.com
Future Teachings
Southwest
June 30 -July 8 National Rainbow -- New Mexico July 9-20 Teaching with Joseph Immel, Ayurvedic Practitioner around Southwest
Details on this have not been worked out. If you have suggestions of places for us to teach please contact me.
North Carolina July 31- Aug 2 Plants and Mushrooms as Allies with Ken Crouse Sunnybank Inn Hot Springs contact Elmer at 828-622-7206 for more information
Aug 5-6 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute. For more information contact: http://www.kleiwerks.org/events_projects.php or 828.225.8820 Aug 7-9 16th SE Permaculture Summer Gathering Celo
Come join in the fun and excitement of being a permaculture village for a few days. For complete information contact: www.southeasternpermaculture.org Maine
Aug 23-Aug 29 Applied Nature Studies Humboldt Institute
We will pursue an experiential approach to encountering the world. We will initially discuss the context of the phenomena that we are studying--be it plants, mushrooms, seaweeds or the land forms we explore. Our aim is to pursue a holistic understanding of nature bringing together such diverse fields as Botany, Mycology, Fermentation, Permaculture, Ethnobotany, and Ecology. We will take frequent trips into the surrounding ecosystems, and learn the techniques for collecting from the wild. From these gatherings we will process and ferment wild foods and natural medicines. Scholarships and college credit available.
For details contact: http://www.eaglehill.us/
United Kingdom Sept 13-25 Findhorn: Immersion into the Magical Plant Kindom Scotland For details contact: www.Findhorncollege.org
Sept 27-Oct 17 Teachings around Devon and London
Oct 18-24 Walking the Green Path short course at Schumacher College
www.schumachercollege.org.uk for more information. I will be teaching with Ethnobotanist Nancy Turner. Scholarships available.
Tennessee
Oct 29-31 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz Short Mountain
www.wildfermentation.com
North Carolina
Nov 7 Plant Day at Pickard´s Mountain 10:00-4:00 Chapel Hill
pickardsmountain@gmail.com.
California
December--Mushroom Gatherings and More
Costa Rica
End of December though mid-January 2010 contact www.artofunion.com India 2010
Later January through February 2010
Late August through Beg October Yoga Bus cross country journey
Monthly discussions online at the soon-to-exist yahoo group Emerging Planetary Medicines. Add your thoughts and reflect on the ongoing discussions. The time is now to relocalize and renaturalize our medicine. Get a copy at www.plantsandhealers.com.
Journey South Winter 2009tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2009://3.5592009-03-14T18:29:27Z2009-04-14T18:30:20ZCosta Rica, Panama and Colombia A Holistic Thrival Quest I arrived into San Jose on December 28th a bit exhausted from 17 hours of travel but my spirits quickly lifted upon seeing Tenasi smiling as I came out the airport....
Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia
A Holistic Thrival Quest I arrived into San Jose on December 28th a bit exhausted from 17 hours of travel but my spirits quickly lifted upon seeing Tenasi smiling as I came out the airport. We headed immediately to the closest fruit stand and bought a nice collection of fresh tropical foods for our needs of the day then drove to the Ark Herb Farm (www.arkherbfarm.com). It was great to see Tin and Satya and their 3-month year old as well as several people who would be joining us on the journey ahead. This was our fourth year gathering to go on a holistic thrival quest.
We stayed that night at the farm up in a treehouse looking over the bright city far off in the distance. The next day we walked about the wonderful gardens as I worked hard to bring my tropical plant knowledge back into my forebrain. That afternoon four of us headed out of the valley and up to the high mountains of Cerro del la Muerte and had a delightful night with the Seelye family and the next morning Janie took us on a several hour walk about the land--nibbling through the garden, climbing around in an ancient hollow Podocarpus, then hiking through the lush forests up to their old homestead. In the afternoon we drove down the western side of the mountains to San Isidro to get food supplies and pick up more people. Then out to the Diamante Valley where we received a big welcome from Rosita, owner of the community center/restaurant Mucho Gusto. There 30 of us gathered for a wonderful feast. The seven of us now together headed to our base camp joined there by my brother, Ken. In our opening circle we emphasized some of the principles of holistic living that include adaptablility and staying open to emergent and self-organizing principles. This was quickly grounded in reality when the next morning we decided to go on a 24-hour hike up to the cave that loomed in the hills above us rather than drive. What made this decision particularly exciting was that no one in our circle had ever done this walk. The eight of us took the trail down to one of the creeks joined by a neighbor dog who stayed with us practically the whole trip. Soon we left the trail and several members of the group skilled with the machete made a trail as we walked over hill and dale. We were tempted to cut over to the river but knew there were several waterfalls we needed to circumnavigate, so on we went becoming consumed by nature. After several hours we did cut over and followed the wonderful, fresh Diamante River for a while passing through areas seldom visited by humans. This all took many hours longer than we had anticipated and eventually near dusk we came to a waterfall we could not easily scale. So we backed up to a nice spot along the river and found a place to camp for the night under a big tree. We shared a wonderful night of stories from our lives and fell asleep to the lullaby of the river.
At dawn several scouts went out looking for a way around and soon we found a trail that steeply climbed up and out of the gorge and eventually we came back to the barbed wire fences of humanity and made our way to the road that led to the cave.
Cave Time
There was a big crowd waiting for us when we got to the cave (I assume most of you know about the cave as I have written about it these past 3 years--but in short it is a retreat center inside a cave with a with the highest waterfall in Central America going over it and dropping hundreds of feet below.) We shared our story of walking there from down the river and jumped into the festivities. Over the next several days we did several plant walks around the farm near by and a memorable walk through the woods with plant maestro Marcus. He fed 20 of us on the heart of a young palm he skillfully harvested and shared. We immersed deeply into eating wild food and sharing several very significant circles to bring in the new year. First we participated in a chocolate ceremony led by a neo-shaman named Keith from Guatamala. I was particularly blown out by this as just a couple of months before I had felt in my own body the amazing healing qualities of chocolate when combined with hot peppers. And this was essence of the ceremony. The shaman explained that the chocolate opened up the heart chakra and this was evident by the emotional releases by many of the people present. He said, ¨Chocolate opens the door of perception but does not push you through like some other sacraments.¨
The next day 19 of us rose early in the morning to participate in a very hot, cleansing sweatlodge. We journeyed to many places together and by the end of the third round most everyone´s head was on the ground. I certainly felt we had been in a womb together and were all born anew. My brother, Ken, and I walked in silence afterwards and jumped off a thirty foot waterfall to signify rebirth.
The Om Farm
The next day we walked down the mountain and made our way to the OM farm stewarded by Joyus and others. We spent the night there and then I facilitated a plant walk the next morning after a rousing ¨worker´s yoga¨ led by Joyous. Then we headed out and began a walk up the river toward a little village called La Florida. Along the way we stopped for the night at the bamboo community of Raw Foods Chef Eric. He gave a memorable lecture on Raw Foods Philosophy and treated us to a delicious dinner. In La Florida, a kind brother, Mateo, hosted our group and we had a couple of days there to rest and go deeper with the plants. Highlights included some wonderful some wonderful group massage and a feast celebrating Mateo´s daughter´s birthday.
Down to Ocean
Most of our crew opted to climb onto the great landrover Blue (that runs on used veggie oil!) and take the truck to the ocean, but four of us decided it would be memorable to walk. With most of our weight taken ahead we had a great walk along a dirt road that led us through a nature preserve, along the ridge and then gently down, down to the ocean below with some beautiful views and lush nature.
During our time in the valley we learned some new edibles including Heliconia and Panama Hat hearts as well as one of the species of Centropogon. The group did some wonderful shared experiences with trying the many hard-shelled polypores we encountered either by chewing them or making delicious teas. Over our week plus of traveling we sampled over 25 of these polypores (none are known to be poisonous in the world). I was impressed how willing people were to experiment and how energized they were by the medicine.
Singing Alive Festival
We spent a couple of days at Tenasi´s recooperating and with the help of Sal and Wendy, Tenasi and I did a marathon session of compiling a small pocket guide to the families and genera of CR. (You can contact him for copies at www.artofunion.com.) It was in this time that the earthquakes rumbled. Though mellow where we were, some people died around San Jose.
We then all headed to a music festival at Suzanne´s farm that grows hibiscus calyxs for red zinger and sesame seeds and cocao among other things. The featured teacher was Morgan Brent who co-incidently was one of my thesis contributors and led us one morning through an awakening of the evolutionary plant through participatory story and music. I facilitated a plant walk later with an enthusiastic group and throughout enjoyed some amazing local foods. I can see clearly the sixty of us dancing around a fire under a very bright full moon!
I had a chance to meet the well-known herbalist Ed Burnhart and share some ideas with him. Our group stayed at a house near by and we were led through a memorable ear, nose, and tongue yoga by Tenasi our last morning. Our holistic thrival group held our closing circle, sharing our reflections of our time. Our core group of around 12 shared in some wonderful adventure and passed on the seeds of our holistic thrival quest to over 120 people in the region. It was a very successful fourth year of gathering together in honor of Gaia.
Pheonix Rising from the Fire
A group of us joined with others from the festival and made our way up to mountain top for another night with the wonderful Seelye Family. I was delighted to see Andy had returned from his tour guiding and the next day he and sister, Janie, led our large group up the mountain to the famous paramo. I love that world up there with its rare plants and incredible views. We were led through yoga by Joyus and Tenasi. One of their meditations encouraged us to, ¨Give thanks for all the plant beings within a few feet of you. Say hi and get to know them.¨ All along the way we were told many wonderful stories by the Seelyes. Then back to the house for a meal.
That evening I left with the OM Farm crew, returning to the Ark Herb Farm for another night with the family there and time in the beautiful gardens. In the morning we walked through the medicinal gardens slowly with Tin learning lots then we selected plants to bring back to their eco-ashram. We said our goodbyes and headed into San Jose. I caught an evening bus ride back out the other side of the valley.
After a little time of uncertainty I made it to the hostel where a group of college art students from Rhode Island were staying. I had come to share with them time out nature with daily walks and talks. We a had several good full days. We took some memorable walks and I enjoyed seeing their talented work giving them a naturalist´s persective.
Then I passed by the ark farm one last time and caught buses east out to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, an area I had never been. I made it to Puerto Viejo about the time the roads gave way to pot-holed dirt ones. The local bus dropped me right at Miraflores Eco-lodge(www.mirafloreslodge.com), run by Pamela Carpenter who pioneered in this area earth-friendly lodges twenty years ago. Now there are many. She is also a world expert on Heliconias among other skills. She shared with me many wonderful stories from her adventuresome life.
I only had a few days there but quickly felt right at home enjoying a day at a botanical garden meeting many interesting people. Then off I zoomed down to the border with Panama, very rural out in the lands of the BriBri Indians. After a couple of hours I was through the border at Sixeola.
Panama Life with the Forcinelli's
January 22, 2009--from my journal
So the US has a new president and americans wait to see what will come with it. I wonder whether the speeches were as inspiring or is the honeymoon over?
I travelled into Panama yesterday from a sweet little nook down in Caribbean-side CR lower corner--lots going on in that region. Very different than over the other side. Let me know if you want contacts down that way.
I crossed smoothly over the border across a delapidated bridge and then jumped in a group taxi for an hour down to the boat launch at Almirante, where an exciting high speed boat carried us out to the island town of Bocas famous for its surfing beaches.
Several members of the Forcinelli family showed up in their boat and wooshed me off to the southern islands and around to the Caribbean sea to the island of Bastimentos. This was a memorable journey securing us so the waves would not swamp us then into a shallow coral reef zone inside the breakers and onward to a bouey that we tied-off on and waded into shore with our provisions.
The Forcinelli's are a little village with nine members. I had not seen them for nearly 4 years. They had a couple more children to meet but quickly it felt very outside of time and space to be together again.
Day 5--- January 25th---Wow so much has happened with the family over the last few days. Exciting to be here on the island. More soon.
Day 9---January 29th--- Remarkably we will be heading over the border to Costa RIca today and tonight I will be giving a talk on transition culture at Miraflores in Cr traveling with the 9 members of the Forcinelli tribe. Very exciting. Two days ago Frank F and I headed out at first light to walk the length of Bastimentos Island. What an adventure! 10 hours later we entered the town of the same name and spent a little time with Bruce Hill who had created an edible forest-aquaculture paradise over the previous 5 years. It is hard to capture in only a few sentences the adventure through the wilds of the coast with the ocean crashing up against the coral reefs of yesteryears then inland through swamps and dense groves of Difffenbachias. We trotted down the Playa Larga for a few kilometers feeling the sensation of an isolated island and our bodies working. I was taken back to my athletic days as a long distance runner. We were reasonably lost for several hours when we headed inland to go around a point. Yes, we knew we were in the middle of an island only a few miles wide and 13 miles long but when every direction is thick with jungle it is easy to get fatigued and discouraged. We kept our act together and made it back to the coast ironically reappearing through the back of a Christian retreat center climbing in over their garbage dump. Coconut water never tasted so good on the pristine beaches that day.
That night I slept very well, my body fatigued from the exertion. But from living the good life with this family I noticed how little I suffered the next day. I was thankful, though for a day of rest and spent it entirely focused on writing mushroom chapters for a book written by my friend, the philosopher Alan "Mushroom" Muskat.
Sea Adventure
The next day Frank F, his daughter, Frankie Jane and I headed out on a fun adventure around the island by boat to fill it up with plants from the plant man Bruce Hill. Though it was a beautiful day, the waves were high and acting strangely. Frank F was uncertain about how hard it would be to traverse the seas but off we went and after a little while he said, "looks like we are through the worst of it." So I relaxed a little bit but soon he was saying, "I can't see the point. What do you see Frankie?" Frankie was at the bow looking for coral and giving direction.
Moments later we were hitting coral. "We're too close to shore," she said, "we need to head out deeper." It was an unusual day in a world of unusual days and the narrow channel that led us out between the coral beds which normally had a characteristic look of the water acting in choppy way was no where to be seen. Frank F. turned the boat out to sea with the big engine still biting coral, seeking deeper water. Just then a freak wave two feet higher than the others appeared and I saw it looming to my left.
I had been hit by a wave one foot over the boat on my first day and it hit hard. I knew this would be like a wall and was steeling myself for it. But that is not what happened. The wave began to break before reaching the boat and in a second it picked the whole boat up and flipped us 8 feet in the air completely over. It all happened so fast and the next thing I knew I was under water under the boat completely disoriented. My body was relaxed and I kept waiting for a blow to come from somewhere. Fortunately it never did. It felt as if my dreads were stuck (which I found out later was Frank F pulling on them to get me out!) and quickly I realized I need to get to the surface and away from the boat.
I popped up on the surface fifty yards from shore with stuff strewn bobbing about. I was not in a lifejacket and I could feel my shoes dragging me down so I kicked them off. I grabbed some floating items and heard Frank F. yelling for me to get away from the boat. More waves hit upon me as I made my way to shore. The water was embarrassingly shallow but it was also full of sharp, biting coral. I could feel my legs and feet had already taken a beating.
I could see a whole indigenous family standing on the shore and two young guys in kayukas coming out towards us picking wreckage. My legs and feet were cut up some from the coral but otherwise I felt fine. I kicked into shore and dragged what I had brought above the shoreline. I walked the beach a bit and picked up other items and watched as Frank F. with a number of others joining in flipped the boat back over. I put on a life preserver and floated back out there and helped guide the boat full of water back to shore. The motor had some damage at least externally and the boat was scrapped up with its awning ripped off. One rescuer jumped in the boat and began bailing away and Frank F. pointed out that the billage pump was still working. As we approached the shore the boat got lighter from the effort of man and machine and soon we caught a small wave and began moving the boat higher and higher from the reach of the waves. Then Frank F. and a couple of others went snorkeling for several items denser than water like the anchor, finding a badly damaged snorkel mask which I realized could have been my head. After a while of reflection and gathering everything together the three of us walked the half an hour to home telling the native people we would be back in the next few hours. It seemed like a long walk and as the shock began to wear off we each dealt differently with the reality of what had happened. We kept mentioning all we had to be thankful for.
After a while we got back to the house and explained the story to a surprised family. We decided to pack up the house and head out then, a day early on our trip to Costa Rica together . I had been contacted by Pamela at Miraflores and asked to come and do a weekend of teaching. The family needed to cross the border to renew their visa. So we spent an hour packing everything up and off we hiked slowly along the beach back towards the boat. Once there we loaded some things into it and Frank F and two of the villagers paddled the boat along the shore while the rest of us walk. They easily maneuvered over the coral with the engine up and met us at the dock around the point. We made arrangements for a high speed boat to tow us to Bocas and just like that we were all sitting in the tow boat with Frank F riding his boat in tow zooming along. Unbelievable.
The boat repair people were very sympathetic. We stayed the night catching up on internet and doing laundry. Then caught the morning boat to the mainland where I repeated my journey in reverse back to Costa Rica in the company of the nine Forcinelli's. Many little adventures occurred along the way but all in all it was smooth and we arrived in the late afternoon. That night I gave my talk to a dozen people. The next day we woke up early and went to the local market and then we had a big group of 35+ people show up for a plant walk and in the afternoon with a lot of help by the Forcinelli tribe, we harvested wild foods and combined them with local foods to make a feast together. It was a great success.
Punta Mona
The next day I and the family headed back to the 20 year old Finca La Isla's Botanical Gardens just north of Puerta Viejo (www.greencoast.com) and were conducted on a stellar walk by Kiawe who had grown up there and knew the plants well. The next day the Forcinelli´s headed home to Panama and I stayed on a few more days having some wonderful time with my host Pamela. We accompanied a group of people out to the well-known permaculture project called Punta Mona (www.puntamona.org) and I gave a couple of plant walks and a talk on Walking the Green Path. They have done a wonderful job creating a food forest around them and have lots of people showing up each day to learn from their experiences.
We headed back to the eco-lodge the next day by boat in high seas and then it really began to rain all through the night. The next day at the Gaia Permaculture Center run by charismatic and knowledgeable Silvio I witnessed some incredible flooding and wondered if I would be able to leave the next day. Luckly, I caught a ride with a friendly French couple back to San Jose seeing lots of flooded areas until we got up in the mountains. I knew I was on the right path when we were emmersed in a huge triple rainbow as we entered into the high valley around San Jose.
I stayed another day with my friends at the Ark Herb Farm then caught a plane the next day toward Bogata. Unfortunately I was delayed a day in Panama City due to engine problems and was put up for the night at the Sheraton Hotel. Talk about feeling like a stranger in a strange land I did my best to relax and go with the flow.
Colombia
The next day I got on a morning flight and flew to Bogata. My hosts Mauro and Carolina came to greet me at the airport and took me home to their cozy home in the university district. The first couple of days were wonderful checking out the area and working on my many projects. I had looked forward to slowing down to get some work done during my time in Colombia before the intensity of the group trip in Peru. I certainly did slow down but not as I imagined. Instead of getting work done, I got sick with fever and no energy or appetite. The pollution of the city was intense and over 5 days I spent a lot of time sleeping. I rode the experience as best I could and was thankful for the stable, calm space of C and M´s home. I also grew to a new level of appreciation for Calendula--which I made poultices of for a staph infection on my foot. What an incredible healer!
All my plans and work were put to the side as I danced with my dis-ease. I will remember most the street people who keep showing up each day finding creative ways to live. I had some quality time with C and M and did get some work done. I learned some good lessons in not pushing the river...
Leticia
After several different healing approaches over the week I turned the corner toward health. None-too-soon I was saying goodbye to that high country world and boarded a plane for the jungle town of Leticia. It is perhaps a tenth the size of Iquitos but with much the same flair. It is located on the Amazon River across from Peru and next to Brazil. I actually had a little time in the border town in Brazil buying and launching on my trip to Peru. But most of my time was around Leticia.
It was a challenge to find my hostel. It was listed online and I had some directions to it. I landed back into the sea level humid tropics and walked the two kilometers into town. The town is laid on a grid and I figured how hard can it be to find this hostel. Well two hours later, exhausted, I was finally taken directly to the hostel which was unmarked and deserted. My guide was a taxi driver, Rudolf, a worldly elder man who'd traveled the world for 12 years before settling in Leticia 28 years ago. He affirmed my faith in angels. I would have liked to have heard more of his stories but once he left, I never found him again despite my efforts.
He called the phone number on the door and soon the owner, Gustavo, showed up and I was granted a room. It was a minimal place, very rainbow and the owner was a character. The walls were adorned with all sorts of maps and stuffed animals from the jungle. Memorable. But it had a kitchen and a steady flow of foreigners as it was pretty much the only backpackers in town. The owner had a ¨mi casa, tu casa¨attitude which I appreciated, though he was temperamental and complex.
Soon I hooked up with my buddy, Justin, whom I know from Schumacher. He was on a 3 month Churchill scholarship learning from indigenous peoples and studying third world farming practices. We had a wonderful few days together sharing stories and having some adventures.
Our most memorable outing was a visit to a Witoto village outside of town and spending the day with elder 72-year-old, Fernando. He was wonderful to be with. His bare feet, wrinkled hands and his deep strong voice revealed his connection to the earth. With grace and ease he took us on a wonderful plant walk around the village seeing many plants I knew and some I did not including the palm [chambera (Astrocarya)] used to make the wonderful woven bags and mats. What an arduous process to remove the inner fiber of the young branches and convert them into useful material. I really enjoyed seeing Fernando work with the fiber. He explained, "To cure somebody, you have to pray...We believe in these things."
We also got a first hand account of how they process coca leaves inside the maloka, the central meeting house: toasting them and mixing them with the ash of Cerecropia leaves. They do not ferment the leaves as the literature reports is done. Is this a lost tradition, misinformation, or a regional difference? Ongoing research... Coca use is being discouraged by the government, but as Fernando says, "We need it to walk and talk. It is part of who we are." The day was full of memorable stories of rubber barons, sacred plants and human relations told by this elder and translated by Justin.
One night out to dinner the rains came and dumped so much water. I really enjoyed the drink called Copaozu, which is made from the pulp of a relative of cocao, Theobroma grandiflora. During a break in the rain we made a dash for home having to take shelter along the way for lots more rain to come down. We squatted dry, telling stories and watching people try to navigate home through the flooded streets. Eventually we headed out, going our own ways and I got lost for a second time for half an hour, but finally made it back to my bed, wet and tired, and fell asleep.
I road on the back of a motorcycle a couple of times, which was probably the first time in twenty or more years. Fun though dangerous. My journey up the Amazon to Iquitos was memorable. I arranged a taxi to pick me up at 4:15 am and take me over the border to Brazil where I crossed onto a floating dock in the pre-dawn. From there I climbed into a little boat which held 4 at a time and was motored out into the dark river for a 1o minute crossing in the dark and rain to a bigger speed boat docked on the Peruvian island, Santa Rosa. There a border guard stamped my passport and I climbed onto the bullet-shaped boat and got my seat. The boat held 50 of us and at dawn we took off, zooming fast up the river at 30-40 mph. I did what I could to sleep-covering my eyes from the light and my ears from the noise of the powerful motor. I did manage to sleep a while and awoke to videos playing of some European James Bond who fights like Bruce Lee. I think called "The Translator"--no recommendations here. The journey was scheduled to be twelve hours but we had a couple of breakdowns. Humbling to be tied to some small thorn-covered island while the mechanic clanked and banged for a couple of hours. But somehow he got it together and off we were again. The videos never stopped and when we did, villagers would come on with fresh fruits and such that the passengers gobbled up. They served a couple of meals that I had no interest in, but I had brought supplies and plenty of work to do. Somehow the time passed and before dark I arrived in the big jungle town of Iquitos. This was my fifth time there, first time in 2 ½ years. Fortunately I had a few days to recuperate and prepare for the group that was arriving.
FC
March 2009
Check out further travels on my website: www.plantsandhealers.com
Schedule Winter 2008-2009tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.5072008-12-18T12:17:05Z2008-12-18T12:17:36ZCalifornia Bay Area Dec 6-7 San Francisco Mushroom Foray: Oakland Science Museum. I will be at the Edible Mushroom table on Saturday--come by and say hi. For more information: www.mssf.org Dec 7 Walkabout Berkeley followed by a Tea and Talk....
California
Bay Area
Dec 6-7 San Francisco Mushroom Foray: Oakland Science Museum. I will be at the Edible Mushroom table on Saturday--come by and say hi. For more information: www.mssf.org
Dec 7 Walkabout Berkeley followed by a Tea and Talk.
Come join us for a plant walk around the neighborhood. We will meet at Soupster Kristan's house: 1910 virginia st. berkeley (10 min from dwntn or n. berk bart) arrive at noon. Please come scent free. Contact Kristan at kwillits@earthlink.net to let us know you are coming.
Nevada City Area
Dec 9 Re-localizing Medicine: a talk presenting my master's thesis, "Emerging Planetary Medicines" 6:00 Briarpatch Food Co-op.
Dec 10 Multi-Skilling Playshop 4:30-7:30 location TBA
Dec 12-13 11th Annual Sierra Mushroom Foray
Talk by Christopher Hobbs Friday 7:30 pm and Foray starts Saturday 10:00 at the Columbia School House. Contact Daniel at danmadrone@yahoo.com for details.
Dec 18 Plants and Healing Ways of Peru and Multi-skilling focus 6:00 location TBA
Come hear about adventures and watch slides on the diverse lands and people of Peru. This is a fun(d)raiser for the next trip there at the end of February, 2009. Bring forth something homemade or wild-crafted for a potluck starting at 6:00. What skills are essential to our being a strong community? Reflect on that and participate in a discussion around re-skilling for local resilience.
Bay Area
Dec 20 3rd Annual Concert Carnival 9pm
The Independent
628 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA
Doors @ 8:30pm
Tickets to the Concert Carnival are available at the Independent box office. $20 Reserve Table seats: $35 (bought in pairs; 4 to a table)...dress is "Soiree Casual" For more information check out: www.hotbutteredrum.net/nkc
Dec 21 Solstice Plant Walk around San Geronimo meeting at 11:00 am. For location details and to let us know you are coming contact Soupster Gwen at gwengordon@comcast.net. Bring lunch and something to share.
Frank seeks right-livelihood through donation.
Please Give What You Can; Receive What You Need.
Winter Travel Plans
December 27th- January 11th Costa Rica Journey
This will be my fourth year immersing myself into the Costa Rican wonderland. Come travel with us around CR learning about its natural treasures as well as the experiments going on in sustainable living. Visit the website: www.artofunion.com to learn more about the organization organizing this journey and consider being a part of this transformative world. Hope to see you there.
Feb25th - Mar 14th Peru Adventure
Are you ready for an adventure? This will be my fifth time venturing south to Peru in the last 9 years. We will experience both the Amazon Jungle and the Andean Highlands during our time: meeting the flora and peoples; exploring Shamanic realms; and more deeply embodying permaculture and holistic living into our lives. Email mail me and let me know if you would like more information on this journey as it comes together in the next month.
FCC
Reflections on Bioneers #19 October 2008 tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.5022008-10-27T17:27:45Z2008-10-27T17:28:17Z I drove to the event with Daniel Wahl, a Schumacher graduate and member of the Findhorn Community, in his shiny hybrid rental. We arrived early to go on a plant walk in the hills around China Camp. It was...
I drove to the event with Daniel Wahl, a Schumacher graduate and member of the Findhorn Community, in his shiny hybrid rental. We arrived early to go on a plant walk in the hills around China Camp. It was a wonderful time walking the hills sharing the stories of the plants until darkness overtook us.
The next morning we left early, thankful to be staying only a mile away from the event at the home of kind soupsters, Michael and Carolina. We walked there picking apples, figs, strawberry tree fruit (Arbutus) and dates along the way.
This was my first trip to Bioneers though I had heard about it for over 10 years...
As it turned out I only had a ticket to get in on Saturday and Sunday so Friday I spent the day moving about in spaces open to ticketless people. I spent over a hour reading the 80 page program. I appreciated their lack of intensity for those attending on the edge. I could hear some of the speakers and listened closely to Paul Stamets' talk and took a couple pages of notes. He declared, "I am just the voice of the mycelium".
I also got a sense of Ray Anderson, enlightened CEO. These people were live in the big auditorium but also available in the main tent on a big screen. This event was being shared with 19 satellite events all around the country attended by over 13,000 people (2000 at the Marin event). This whole approach of teleconferencing may have some dramatic benefits, but let us also acknowledge its drawbacks. I remember weaning myself off television in my 20's and these virtual conferences seem like glorified TV. It doesn't work for me at big music events and it doesn't do it for me when placed central in the learning environment if I can have it live.
During the afternoon I really enjoyed hearing the indigenous stories in the new Indigenous Camp. I was delighted to hear a Maori woman proclaim her amazement to see so many NZ plants growing around. Then I was able to get into Paul Stamets' main talk and took six pages of notes. I enjoyed exploring the mile long five billion year walk with signs every few yards telling us stories about that time in history. Many amazing paintings were from a book called "The History of the Earth" by Hartman and Miller (1991).
The location of the event worked okay for me. I was comforted to see Mt Tamalpais near by. The cream of the alternative organizations and businesses was there sharing their opportunities and products. The food options were excellent--best I'd seen at an event of this size.
In addition to the privilege of learning from great activists and teachers at this event, I appreciated having time with about 20 soupsters who I had not seen at least since the June gathering. Also there was a myriad of other interactions with people I had not seen for as long as ten years (how many lifetimes is that?)
On Saturday, I was able to move fully into attending sessions appreciating the opening words of the founders, Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons and Iroquois Chief Lyons. This was followed the compelling talks of Janine Benyus (biomimicry), David Orr (Ecodesign), Bill McKibben (350.org), Greg Watson (urban renewal), and Sandra Steingraber ("Living Downstream").
In the afternoon I attended an herb walk by native American Sage DePalma with about 80 others. I would like to see a lot more herb walks happening there. Everyone should have the opportunity to go deeper with the plants during the conference. Saturday evening I attended the wonderful seed swap (sending good vibes to the ailing Gabriel Howearth). This was followed by the entertaining, poignant talk by astrologer Caroline Casey. She invoked spells, told stories, danced, prophesized and demonstrated coyote trickster energy. This was followed by a dance party.
Sunday I arrived in time for Naomi Klein's analysis of our economic/political picture. Then I left to facilitate another plant walk for a couple of hours at China Camp with about 10 soupsters. We met 20 plants growing from marsh to forest. In the afternoon I returned to attend an informative talk by Ralph Metzner and the Staff of MAPS on how psychedelics can be used as medicine. It is exciting to hear that that kind of research beginning again after decades of not being allowed. I mourned hearing of the passing Laura Huxley last year.
It was all a lot to take in and integrate. Next year will be the 20th event and they would like to see it go worldwide. Let us consider what kind of presence we might like to have as a community there. I appreciate all those who made efforts to get me there and provide shelter and food and access. Thank you.
For every ladle of soup we serve the world, let us remember to take a sip for our own health and growth.
Peace to you all in these coming times,
Frank
Medicine Feet (adapted from Master's Dissertation)tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.5012008-10-23T13:52:43Z2008-11-04T02:05:25Z Medicine Feet adapted from Master's Dissertation by Frank Cook "As the Empire building of predatory capitalism begins to crumble beneath the weight of its excesses, and many First Nations people disappear or become radically changed before the ongoing forces...
Medicine Feet
adapted from Master's Dissertation
by Frank Cook
"As the Empire building of predatory capitalism begins to
crumble beneath the weight of its excesses, and many First
Nations people disappear or become radically changed before the
ongoing forces of colonization, we find the world awash in
cultural fragments and detritus. It is out of this broth of identity
nutrients, this compost heap of social possibilities, that an archetype of human renewal is arising. I call this the 'sylva' (of the forest, and in its expanded sense, Nature) 'politan' (citizen of). The sylvapolitan is a bridge figure, alchemizing balance, and often synthesis, between the colonizers and colonized; the techno-rational mind of modernity and perennial wisdoms; reason (eagle) and spirit (condor), male and female knowledges. The sylvapolitan represents our potential to survive this era of great extinctions, to act as co-creative partners with the great Evolutionary intelligences of the planet, and flourish as a species."
- anthropologist, Morgan Brent
With the complex of issues around peak oil and climate change all coinciding upon us, the reality is unsettling that medicine for most westerners is synthetic produced in some far away factory. This points us towards the vulnerability of a very important aspect of living, our health. Even those who use natural medicines still purchase most of those medicines. Educating ourselves about these issues brings upon us the awareness that how far a food or medicine travels is essential. Those consciously aware people (of whom I imagine you count yourself among) already have been counting their food miles and their ecological footprints, but Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Culture Movement, warns us to start counting food feet. How many feet are your foods traveling? The same can be asked of our medicine. We need to count our Medicine Feet!...
Most of our food and medicine needs to be grown locally. This can be accomplished sustainably implementing the principles of Permaculture and Agroforestry. Learning to grow and caretake forests is critical to our species thriving. The harmony of our species can occur at the edge of forest and field.
There are at least five ways that we can obtain our plant medicines more sustainably. First, we must remember that humans have always traded. Even with hardships we will exchange goods amongst ourselves. Thus, some medicines will come from afar still but they will be available less frequently and will cost much more.
Second, we need to learn thoroughly the local native plants and weeds from the elders in the region. The time to start that is now. With each passing month more and more elders pass on and more and more wild places get "developed". You do not have to go far to begin walking the green path. Start with the weeds beneath your feet! Eating weeds will take care of most of our food and medicine needs. I am horrified each time people tell me they've been told that acorns and nettles are poisonous! I tell people it takes three to five years of learning about plants to be skilled in knowing them; of course, walking the green path is a life long journey. These are some of the skills we needed to have been taught as children. As adults we need to reconnect that missing link and pass it on to the next generation.
Most people's needs will be met if we keep our population densities down and caretake the forests (the opposite of what we have been doing these last few hundred years). Read Thomas Berry's The Great Work to get a sense of the tipping point we are now at as a species.
Third, seeds and starts of the desired medicines can be brought from afar and grown under similar conditions (using creative, low energy designs for greenhouses, cold frames and such) to widen the selection of herbs available. This can be done slowly over the generations starting near the plant's native habitat and spreading out slowly.
Pre-Incan civilization used terracing techniques to migrate plants from the jungle to the Andes (and visa versa). We must be conscious to not try and reinvent the wheel by being diligent at revisiting our past while bringing innovation into the modern flow. Simple is often appropriate.
Fourth, one can learn the healing stories of the well-known world plants and bring that knowledge to the local species of the same genus and experiment to discover their similarities. When species of the same genus share similar qualities they can be thought of as analogs-where the local species can be substituted for a well-known medicinal species. This kind of research is central to my work of the last thirteen years. An example of an analog would be substituting the famous dong quai (Angelica sinensis) with one of the 21 Angelica species native to North America.
Lastly, we can establish a relationship with the plants around us and they will tell us how they can be useful as medicine. Plant Spirit Medicine and Shamanism need to re-instated as legitimate ways of knowing. Through approaches such as Phenomenology we can reawaken our connection to nature. The famous George Washington Carver communicated with plants and introduced hundreds of ways to receive food, medicine and more from the plant kindom.
If you love it enough, anything will talk with you.
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
-George Washington Carver
Also, Luther Burbank communicated with plants with great success asking them to grow bigger for our benefit.
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine to the soul.
We must return to nature and nature's god.
-Luther Burbank
It is of immediate concern for any community seeking resilience that it assess what herbs are used (and in what quantities) by the local population. For instance, within your household, how many pounds each of nettles, Echinacea and ginseng are consumed a year? How about within your community? We need to make land and resources available to grow these herbs locally in substantial enough quantities to meet these needs. Start with current use but know the needs will grow so plan for that. Disperse the skills and means to make small yet significant gardens throughout the area. Make the changes on the grassroots level. The transtition town of Totnes in England has a Health and Wellness Group that is looking into these issues and is moving forward the building of a community medicine garden. Check out their progress at:
http://totnes.transitionnetwork.org/healthandwellbeing/home
Space needs to be made for monthly and seasonal herb markets where abundant herbs can be traded away and desired herbs brought in.
All these issues are expressions of global local, local global in which one acts and lives very locally and also keeps an awareness alive of humanity's collective knowing, applying it when appropriate to local conditions. There are many levels from local to global.
Through the awareness brought on by looking at our medicine feet, we can see that our collective resilience is low. By approaching our health with the suggestions above we embark on a path of becoming neo-indigenous. Let us begin it now.
"Maximum Freedom to the individual, Maximum coherence to the Whole."
-Mae-Wan Ho The Rainbow and the Worm
More Information:
Below are resources that will expand upon the ideas presented here. Also the terms bolded above can be avenues toward deeper learning through searching for them on the internet. This piece has emerged from my recently finished master's thesis. A larger book list can be found on my website:
Frank Cook www.plantsandhealers.com
Transition Culture
Transition Movement: www.transitionculture.org
Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future; Harmony/Bell Tower; 1st edition (November 14, 2000)
Hopkins, Rob. The Transition Handbook; Green Books; (2008)
Permaculture/Agroforestry
Jacke, David and Toensmeier, Eric Edible Forest Gardens Vol 1 and 2; Chelsea Green (2005)
Mollison, Bill. PERMACULTURE: A Designers' Manual; Tagari Publications; Reprint edition (October 1, 1997)
Martin Crawford's website: www.agroforestry.co.uk
Plant Spirit Medicine
Cowan, Elliot. Plant Spirit Medicine
Tompkins, Peter; Bird, Christopher. The Secret Life of Plants; Harper Paperbacks (March 8, 1989)
There are a number of books on the famous gardens of Findhorn as well as, Michelle Small Wright's "The God in All Things" about here fantastical gardens in Virginia called Peralandra.
Wild Food
Plants for a Future: www.pfaf.org
Alan Muskat: www.alanmuskat.com
Sunny Savage: www.wildfoodplants.com
Planetary Medicine
Tierra, Michael Planetary Herbology; Lotus Press (1988)
Van Wyk, Ben-Erik. Medicinal Plants of the World; Timber Press (February 15, 2004)
Food * Medicine * Poisontag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.4702008-10-12T22:42:40Z2008-10-12T22:49:44Z Many of us know the adage from Hippocrates about letting food be our medicine; medicine be our food. I have often said about the other end of the spectrum that the difference between medicine and poison is one of...
Many of us know the adage from Hippocrates about letting food be our medicine; medicine be our food. I have often said about the other end of the spectrum that the difference between medicine and poison is one of dosage.
Recently, I learned experientially what I was talking about. I was far away from home and my apothecary with an infection in my mouth*. I had tried a whole slew of things but none seemed to be the answer.
Then I saw a big poke plant (Phytolacca) and thought about making a poultice for inside my mouth...
I picked three green leaves surprised not to smell the Phytolaccine that is usually very strong in older plants. I started cautiously with two leaves, crushing them and placing them on the wound. It was not nearly as intense as I imagined (and hoped for) and soon I added the third leave. I did not swallow the leaves, but their mellowness relaxed me some. I chewed on the poultice and kept it there a half an hour letting the juices go down my throat thinking it would help with my overall lymphatic system. I remember thinking that these leaves seemed good enough to eat and they seemed way low in the alkaloid (lesson one-plants contain many kinds of chemicals. People do eat the leaves after blanching in two changes of boiling water!). After a while I took out the poultice and tossed it feeling a nice buzz on that side of my head. I was very tired so off to sleep I went.
A couple of hours later I awoke with extreme nauseousness. Soon I was over the toilet with my body trying as best it could to remove the toxins from my belly. I was sweating a lot. Then I would feel better for 15-20 minutes and then I would be throwing up more, back and forth through the night. After a couple of rounds I was only dry heaving so I began drinking water thinking that might dilute the toxins and the next round I would throw that up. This continued all night. By early morning I was able to sleep for a couple of hours and then got up to release very watery, smelly bowels. This I did several times. By noon I was done throwing up and felt very weak. I ate watermelon and it stayed down.
There is the old saying, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. At this point I don't feel stronger, perhaps a little wiser. I hope that in addition to toxifying myself maybe I detoxified also by putting all my cleansing systems through a workout.
*For those of you interested in what I was treating let me give some more details. Some weeks back I was illustrating how one can eat the seeds of sedges and some of the chaff scraped the back of my mouth near my throat. It felt like one was stuck there but I could not find it. Within a week there was an infection there that spread up my ear canal. I tried garlic and some other things which helped but not enough. After another week, my body began making mucus around the wound and within a day of that out came the piece of seed. I wished I had the hoxsey formula available from HerbParm for it had miraculously helped me in a more dire situation years ago when I had an infection down in my throat. But that was not to be had. It contains nine herbs including poke root. I am still suffering from it.
Teaching Schedule for the Past Year - September 2007-2008tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.4692008-10-12T22:13:59Z2008-10-12T22:42:09ZTeaching Schedule for the Past Year September 2007-September 2008 England September thru November 2007 Course "Cultivating Our Plant Allies for Health and Happiness" 6 Sessions every other Sat from 10-4 starting September 29th Schumacher College Class size: around 12 September...
England
September thru November 2007
Course "Cultivating Our Plant Allies for Health and Happiness" 6 Sessions every other Sat from 10-4 starting September 29th
Schumacher College Class size: around 12
September 29, 2007 2:00-5:00
Transition Town Training on Food Preservation
with Julia Ponsonby, Schumacher College
November 25 10:00-3:30
Living Skills Playshop with Julia Ponsonby
Fermentation, Food Preservation, Nature Awareness
Schumacher College, Dartington
-Nature Walk
-Food Preservation
-Miso Making and other ferments
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Costa Rica
December 27- January 16 I taught at a conference on being Gardens of Eden, then traveled around the country teaching at various places.
CaliforniaJanuary 18 We walked in the amazing University of California Botanical Gardens focusing on the Chinese Herbs then gathered in Oakland to learn about Kim Chi, Healthy Eating, Sharing and Community Action.
January 19 We walked and mingled with the plants as well as did a deep time walk and "bonding with Gaia" meditation around Lake Lagunitas.
EnglandMarch through April Three Land Wisdom Classes
at Schumacher from 10 am to 3pm.
April 11-13 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at Schumacher
April 20 Wildwise Class 10-4
April 21 Plant Walk Diggins Project Plymouth
April 23 Wildwise Class 10-4
While in England I went on many walks with Martin Crawford, Mary Bartlett, and Justin West exchanging knowledge and stories about the amazing diversity we call nature.
GeorgiaApril 26-28 Connect with the Plant World Retreat outside Atlanta 10 am Sat through 2 pm Mon
Tennessee April 29-30 Plants and People Retreat at MoonShadow near Chatanooga. Contact their website: www.svionline.org for more information. Our time together was an opportunity to deepen our sacred connection to the plant kingdom through neo-shamanic practice, wild plant walks and gathering, and plant processing. Join us as we celebrate the wondrous connections between plants and people.
North CarolinaMay 1 6-9 pm
Introduction to Holistic Science at the Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism in Asheville
This talk will introduce you to three areas of knowing the world: Gaia Theory, Goethean Studies and Post-Newtonian Physics. Also, we will look at three examples of how Holistic Science can be applied to the world--Transition Culture, Sustainable Design and Post- Modern Development. Come expand your mind and enliven your intuition.
May 2-4 Spring Herbal Retreat Hot Springs at the Sunnybank Retreat Center with Doug Elliott
May 4 Began 8th year of facilitating an online Botany Discussion Group every other week for the next 6 months.
May 5 Teaching all day at Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine
May 6 Transition Culture Talk--Downtown Asheville 7-9
May 7 Teaching all day at Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine
May 8 Permaculture, Goethe andHot Cross Buns: the mystery of science in everyday life Pearson Gardens, Asheville 2:00-6:00 Community Potluck at 6:30 with Turtle
May 9-11 Lake Eden Arts Festival Black Mountain
I facilitated a plant spirit medicine circle on Saturday night and gave a talk on Plant Allies Sunday morning.
May 13 Living the Green Path around Asheville
May 16 Plant walks in Charlotte City.
Plant Walk- Meet at the Smelly Cat Coffee Shop 9am - 11am.
Woods Walk-Meet at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve 1pm - 3pm
May 17 Weed Walk and Transition Talk at Pickard's Mountain Chapel Hill
10:00-12:00 Weed Walk followed by a Potluck
6:00 Talk on Transition Culture-Life after Peak Oil
VirginiaMay 21 Plant Walk at Morning Light Sanctuary 2:00-5:00 outside Roanoke. Contact Robert at footes@prodigy.net
May 22 Green Local Food and Permaculture near Roanoke
3:00 -5:00 pm Plant Walk
6:00- 7:00 pm Local and Foraged Food Meal
7:30- 9:00 pm Discussion Circle and PC Resource Sharing
May 23 Plant Walk near Nelson 10:00-2:00
Come join us out in the woods for a memorable time with the plants.
PennsylvaniaMay 25 Plant Walk 11-2 in Philadelphia. A weed walk on a collective farm with over 60 people showing up
New JerseyMay 26 Genesis Farm Wild Foods and Medicines Walk 10 am-2 pm. www.genesisfarm.org/wildfood08.htm
May 29 Transition Culture Talk 7:00 Hosted by Ridge and Valley Sustainable Living Network. Come to this talk on life after peak oil. For more information on transition culture visit transitionculture.org
MarylandMay 30 Healthy Living in the 21st Century: Herbs,Fermentation and Gaia 6:30-8:30 at the Green Earth Goods Clarksburg
A talk on the benefits of healthy living with herbs and fermentation. There were demos on how to make Kim Chi and Kombucha. Donations are appreciated. Let us know you are coming contact Niki at info@greenearthgoods.net or 301-916-2035
May 31 Fulton, Maryland
James Duke's Medicine Garden
10:00-2:00 We walked together with Jim and experienced the magic of his medicinal plant and woodland gardens.
California
June 8 Mendocino Seaweed Harvest Come meet us on Sunday morning and learn hands-on about the seaweeds followed by a potluck.
June 22 Transition Culture Talk. Briarpatch Food Co-op Grass Valley California. 4:30-6:30
WyomingJune 28 -July 7 36th Annual Rainbow Gathering Wyoming
I facilitated plant walks and talks and helped coordinate wild food foraging during this gathering--my 14th National
ColoradoJuly 9 Plant Walks and Healthy Living Principles outside Telluride on a permaculture farm
New MexicoJuly 12 Plant Walk in the hills above Albuquerque
North CarolinaJuly 23 -24 Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute, NC. Details at www.kleiwerks.org
July 24-26 Plants and Mushrooms with Ken Crouse Hot Springs, NC Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206.
July 28 Transition Culture Discussion circle in Hot Springs, NC 8:00 pm. Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206. If you would like to join us for dinner at 7:00 please let Elmer know.
Come share and listen to views on local resilience and re-skilling ourselves.
Now is the time to build community.
August 1-3 15th Summer Permaculture Gathering at Celo Facilitated plant walks and a talk on transition culture
August 6 Lecture at Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism on Holistic Male Health for students
August 8 Embracing Your Plant Allies with Mary 10-3 outside Asheville .
August 8 Getting to know the Conifers
6:00-8:00 at the ASHH in west Asheville. 2 Westwood Place
tel: 828-350-1221 www.HerbsHeal.com. Bring a snack to share. Also, any cones, needles or branches of conifers around you. They are called the plants of a thousand uses. Conifers have many stories to tell. Come Listen and Share.
August 9 Day Long class with students from ASHH with plant walks and learning how to make medicinal wines.
MaineAugust 24-August 30 Humboldt Research Institute in Maine. Spend a week there teaching many aspects of Holistic Health including plant/mushroom/seaweed. I facilitated lectures, harvests and demonstrations with Fermentation, Holistic Science, Permaculture and Transition Culture.
ScotlandSeptember 6-7 Findhorn Community. Over these two days I gave two workshops on wild food abundance and fermentation. And I gave a talk to the wider community on "Community as Food Security"
EnglandSeptember 12 9:00 am to noon
Immersion into a Forest Garden
with Martin Crawford and Frank Cook
website: www.agroforestry.co.uk
September 14 from 10:30 until 4:30
Plants of the Forests and Fields w/Wildwise
September 16 from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Eat Something Wild Every Day
Come join us for a weed walk and open up to the abundance of Nature. You will learn how to easily fill your belly with nutritious wild plants. We will meet on the plains. We'll finish up at the TTT office where we hope you'll join us for a meeting of the Community Health and Wellbeing Garden Project. Bring a notebook/camera so you can record the information and share with family and friends. A foraging community is a resilient community!
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Schedule for Summer 2008tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3932008-07-22T19:00:17Z2008-07-22T19:04:31ZJuly 24th -25th Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute, NCDetails at www.kleiwerks.org July 25th-27th Plants and Mushrooms with Ken Crouse Hot Springs, NCSome day spaces still available. Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206. July 28th Transition...
July 24th -25th Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute, NCDetails at www.kleiwerks.org
July 25th-27th Plants and Mushrooms with Ken Crouse Hot Springs, NCSome day spaces still available. Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206.
July 28th Transition Culture Discussion circle in Hot Springs, NC 8:00 pm.Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206. If you would like to join us for dinner at 7:00 please let Elmer know. He has copies of the "Transition Handbook" by Rob Hopkins available. Come share and listen to views on local resilience and re-skilling ourselves. Now is the time to build community.
August 1st-3rd 15th Summer Permaculture Gathering at Celo, NChttp://www.se-permaculture.tripod.com
August 8th Embracing Your Plant Allies with Mary 10-3 outside AshevilleExact Location TBA. email marymorgaine@yahoo.com for details.
August 8th Getting to know the Conifers 6:00-8:00 at the ASHH West Asheville. 2 Westwood Place; tel: 828-350-1221 www.HerbsHeal.com
Bring a snack to share. Also, any cones, needles or branches of conifers around you. They are called the plants of a thousand uses. Conifers have many stories to tell. Come Listen and Share.
Donations are always appreciated. Many Thanks for those who support me on the Green Path...]]>