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Article:

In Praise of Plants
by Rebecca Beidler

For centuries, wild plants were the primary sources of food and drink, medicine, fibers for clothing, furniture, and containers, and sources of beauty and inspiration. People had access to large areas of wild lands and their own lands to grow plants. In most cultures, botanical knowledge was learned and passed on through the experience of field identification, gathering, and use. There was a personal relationship between plants and people, sustaining a respect for plant populations and the ecosystems necessary for their survival.

Today with the advent of busy lives, higher populations, suburban lawns, monocropping, and the fragmentation of natural areas, our relationships with nature and plant sources have become far more removed. There are current trends towards the use of herbal medicine, natural health supplements, and natural fibers, yet these items generally come pre-packaged and processed with no need for knowledge of the sources of the product, and how or where it is produced.

This type of removed participation in the plant world often leads to: depletion of natural plant populations via wildcrafting, wasted energy in processing and packaging, the loss of the complete benefits that come from whole foods and herbs as opposed to isolated active ingredients, and most importantly a false sense of separation from and authority over nature.

Luckily, none of us lives in an environment devoid of plants. Especially in Oregon, it is hard to travel too far without encountering a preserved area of wilderness, garden, or even a plant growing up through a crack in the sidewalk. There are people who have dedicated their lives to growing food and herbs, teaching about plants and their use, and writing down old and new ethnobotanical information. There is so much potential for plant appreciation, use, and increase of related knowledge.

On the farm our focus is on cultivated plants for eating, selling, and enjoying. They are our art form. At the same time there are wild areas on and around the farm, that have formed the soil from which crops are grown, give habitat for birds and insects that benefit an organic farm, and provide beauty and a plethora of useful plants for the farm inhabitants.

One wild area on the farm consists of canary grass, nettles, and salmon berries, growing rampantly behind the barn. this tangle has provided a privacy block for the apprentice barn patio, berries, nettle tea , fertilizer, and biodynamic preparation, as well as the beauty of flowering grass heads (much to the dismay of allergy sufferers).

Praising the usefulness of plants can be as simple as letting an area grow wild, noticing that plant growing through the concrete, visiting a wilderness area, growing your own food and herbs or interacting with others that do, or learning to identify a few of the plants you encounter. Take a walk and look a little closer at those patches of green.

*Rebecca was an apprentice last year at Horton Road. Recently uprooted from her brother's dairy farm in Vermont, she has shared her interest in nature by blessing the farm with landscaped herbs & flowers, and not a few wild culinary delights.