Comments on: Weeds and Wildlings

By: Sarah Head

Sarah Head — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:42:07 +0000

Lovely post, Kiva. I was thinking only this weekend how different I feel going barefoot and how much it’s a case of “if I don’t grow it, I don’t use it” with my herbal output. I love your mexican poppies- the colour is so vibrant. I’ve probably missed our wild red ones and I’ve not tried using the yellow icelandic poppies which self seed in my garden.Elderflowers and dog roses are blooming here at the moment – except of course it has started continually raining after a very dry three months. I’m just hoping I get to harvest this year!

By: Yael

Yael — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:34:23 +0000

So it’s posts like this that drew me to you in the first place! I’ll talk to anyone and everyone. I love my flowers and my garden, and spend time chatting with them, and that weed that I don’t know growing out of the sidewalk that always seem to yell up at me, “Yo, how you doing?” What else can I do but stop and chat. I love them all! When I found shepherd’s purse here for the first time I was thrilled! Plantain and of course dandelion are such good friends. And then every once in a while, I find some tiny little wild flower growing out of God knows what, and I stop mesmerized. Really. I stop and look and empathize. I wonder sometimes what I grow out of. But grow I do. Am I like that weed? You bet. Do I get trampled. Uh huh, but up I pop again. No choice, it’s my nature. Don’t get me wrong. It hurts like hell and right now, I feel pretty darn wilted. But what can I do? I suppose it is why no matter how much I try to be a pretty flower in the garden, I can’t do it. Can’t seem to be fenced in. I am who I am. Love me or leave me or try to get rid of me…but I will be there, just like those pesky weeds offering medicine and love and just being me.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:03:19 +0000

This was a great read, and it came at a really great time. The part about the “badassness” of the plants was an especially important reminder for me right now, as I’ve been subject to some potentially devastating financial upsets over the past couple weeks. But, I’ve come to pride myself on my own personal “badassness” , or ability to grow and thrive in the face of a good amount of adversity. And, even though this wasn’t always the case in my past, when I often spent a lot of time wallowing in “poor-me-ness”, which didn’t get me anywhere, in the past 4 or 5 years, this has really started to change, and I’ve made many great strides in the face of extreme poverty, raising a child completely on my own, all while healing from a child-hood of abuse and neglect, and issues of substance abuse. When these things creep up and threaten to destroy me, I may temporarily wallow, but I always eventually get pumped and motivated to figure out a solution, like trading my skills for a running vehicle, or trading other things I own for things I need. More than half of everything I own was free, traded or bartered for. The urge for survival is strong and powerful motivation! Thanks for the reminder, Kiva!