I love a good quote. We have a chalkboard by our front door where we leave a new quote to reflect on throughout the week, a little ritual of our home. I also love taking photos. So this here post is an offering of two of my favorite loves- my…
My eyes widened at the sight of the perfectly intact body of a dead Luna Moth that lay below the nesting box. I gathered the eggs with the curve of my shirt and scooped the moth up with the other hand, then wandered down the hill to show Hart.…
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Perhaps it was having a pond at our house growing up that eventually led me to become a plantwalker. One of the most intriguing ecosystems to lead a child back to nature, I would sit, walk, swim and wade for hours in that pond, watching tadpoles,…
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In 2014, Luke Cannon, aka Luke Learning Deer, helped us compile a species list of the flora and some of the fauna at Herb Mountain Farm. Over the years, Marc Williams has been a valued investor in not only updating this list, but bringing…
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All Posts
All posts prior to October 2023 can be read in full here. Since then, you will find the complete posts on Substack.
From Feral Pearls-
A long string of pearls snakes along our ancestor table and drapes over the photos. Fake pearls. I found them at a thrift store. I have hung these pearls up the edge of frames and down the other side, twisted them on mantles,…
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Excerpt from The Ring
When I was 19-years old, living in Bellingham, Washington and attending Fairhaven College, I met a street vender who sold jewelry and this one particular turquoise ring kept drawing me back to his cart, day after day.…
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Poppy
Papaveracea
Dear Poppy,
Every February, I sprinkle some of your seeds in my garden as an early spring blessing. I know you need some cold to kiss your seeds before they can sprout, so I disregard the nonsensical label that says ‘sow…
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“Love is something when you give it away, you end up having more.” Malvina Reynolds.
My 10 year-old loves the recent movie ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ and convinced me to watch it with her one evening. It’s about a quirky family…
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I had a fun time talking plant love with Nina of Blue Ridge Botanic for her Flora and Forage Podcast. Give a Listen!
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Want to read about plants through my love letters for them? And receive some weekly inspiration of earthly living? Then please come on over as a free or paid subscriber to my Substack newsletter!
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Author Molly Remer says, “Each of us contributes to the patterns of the world soul,” and I think just being alive in and of itself is a total work of art. We collectively weave forms, patterns and images, creating a never-ending cosmic tapestry. …
I love how we humans share so much in common- far more things than not- and that when we tend to those shared needs instead of our opinionated differences, we do better as a species. Housekeeping is one of them. Cleaning is universal. I don’t…
Cedar
Thuja spp.
Cupressaceae
Dear Cedar,
My, oh my. Thank you, Grandmother, for being so confidently and magnificently yourself. The gifts you have bestowed upon the people are huge, just like you. The stories we have told about and around…
It’s 2007, and I am hitchhiking across Australia with my daughter, Makyziah, and we are finally leaving Perth, headed to the small coastal town of Esperance. I know nothing about this town—I just like the name of it and that we can experience…
Olive
Olea europaea
Oleaceae
Dear Olive,
Oh, to behold the new and old groves of you in California and Sicily—I didn’t know you could be so stately! Having first met you as a pitted green oval thing with a pimento stuffed inside, then…
https://www.maryplantwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_1402-scaled.jpeg25601920maryplantwalkerhttps://www.maryplantwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mary-Plantwalker-Logo-Centered.pngmaryplantwalker2023-12-02 16:05:022023-12-02 16:05:02a Love Letter to Olive
Here is the full post for Everybody has a Story + Spicebush
Excerpt from my love letter to Spicebush:
Spicebush
Lindera benzoin
Lauraceae
Dear Spicebush,
I follow the path to the creek or the seepy wood’s edge, and you’re there.…
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If you are reading this, you most likely already feel a closeness with the natural world, and I give thanks to be here with you on this planetary journey. I am uplifted by both our resilience and devotion to building a better world, even when…
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Angel’s Trumpet
Brugmansia (7 species)
Solanaceae
Dear Angel’s Trumpet,
How many times did I see you growing before I recognized you as the powerful being that you are?
I see you now. Reina de la Noche, you Queen of the Night.
My…
Thyme
Thymus spp.
Lamiaceae
Dear Thyme,
I see you. You are evergreen and dainty, a bee magnet when you flower, standing erect or trailing along, willing to be trampled upon and still stand strong. And I taste you. Pungent, mildly spicy.…
https://www.maryplantwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/unnamed-3-scaled-e1698063896610.jpg16891517maryplantwalkerhttps://www.maryplantwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mary-Plantwalker-Logo-Centered.pngmaryplantwalker2023-10-23 08:21:552023-10-23 08:28:02a Love Letter to Thyme
Frank Cook was the first person to tell me that plants are grouped into families. Plant families? The idea got me excited, so he turned me on to Thomas Elpel’s Botany in a Day which really opened my eyes to seeing the patterns that plants…
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“That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.”
-Marcus Aurelius
Beekeeping is estimated to be as old as 5,000 years, although archeological records show we were robbing wild hives long before we kept them, bringing…
Eat something wild everyday, or at least eat something Green everyday! It’s a simple, powerful way to do something good for ourselves, to take care.
Yarden is the combo of foraging from the yard and harvesting from the garden, and it makes…
You may not have this exact plant growing near you, but likely there is an equivalent- a native annual that grows several feet tall in one season, is rich in pollen and is cursed by farmers and gardeners because it makes them sneeze and overtakes…
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Dear Avena sativa
This is how I know you~
In cookies, in granola, in bread, as breakfast, as tea, as tincture, as bath, as waving growing grass. I like to eat your groats, steel-cut or rolled. I like to place them in a muslin bag and let you…
It’s February, the high and dry season in Costa Rica, and Hart rented a 4x4 camper from Nomad America. This was the strangest trip I’ve ever taken as I had no desire to go, but wanted to support Hart in this fantasy he’s had since we…
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One day it dawned on me that I don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have a pilgrimage. I realized that some of the greatest pilgrimages I’ve done were actually the ones closest to home.
A pilgrimage is about taking a journey,…
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Blessed Imbolc dears! I thought I would share one of my Imbolc rituals with you of tending to Elder (Sambucus canadensis) and then wax on a bit about this Adoxaceae family member while I’m at it. For those of you who do not know about Imbolc,…
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What do you eat for breakfast? Are you one who pretty much eats the same thing over and over? A routine breakfast eater? Or do you shake it up? I am somewhere in the middle. All I know is if I go without eating breakfast, my day is wonky. I…
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It is the end of the calendar year and for many of us that leads to reflections. Maybe those reflections lead to resolutions, maybe not. Although I have a private journal that is meant for no one else, ‘writing therapy’ as I call it, I also…
“Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am vast. I contain multitudes.” Walt Whitman wrote these words in Song of Myself and I return to them when I am feeling guilty and confused about my contradictions and inability…
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A little project I am currently undertaking...to make a deck of plant ally cards.
Begun end of 2022.
Here are 11 examples. Once I have completed the deck, I will surely be shouting it out! I love the color dusty rose and chose that as…
There are certain people that you just know you need to keep close, even if you are living far apart. You know what I’m saying? You know who those people are—think of one right now and send them the sweetness of your heart. Yes, there are…
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Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, the school and church I attended and the family and social conversations I witnessed never broached the subject of what we did and were doing to Indigenous peoples in order to hold the life of comfort and…
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What if it turned out everything had feelings?
How would you behave differently?
I believe they do, and definitely plants. I believe appreciation or gratitude is the feeling they thrive upon. The realm of feelings I write of here is more energetic.…
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Huntington Beach State Park located in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, is a haven of undeveloped seashore, dunes, salt marshes, brackish waters, freshwater ponds, expansive ocean, nature trails, boardwalks, interpretive signs, guided tours and…
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I first met Sweetgrass thirty years ago at a sweat lodge when an indigenous elder burned a braid of it before we went in, and the smell transported me to my childhood, sitting on my Pop’s lap, admiring his handsome grin while he smoked his…
Until recently, whenever I’d have a bouquet of flowers, the moment they started to wilt, lose their ‘fresh’ look, drop petals, and fade, I’d dump them out as quickly as possible. I mean, who wants to look at spent flowers, right?
Hart…
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I recognize that traveling internationally is a privilege. I am humbled by the opportunity. If you have never immersed yourself in a completely different culture and there is a chance you can, please do take it. It broadens your perspectives…
Mary Plantwalker has been enjoying penning some articles for Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine's Blog! Check them out!
Why Plant a Medicinal Herb Garden?
How to Grow an Herbal Tea Garden
Herbal Tea Ceremonies
Compost Magic for…
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Yesterday would have been the 99th birthday of my paternal grandmother whom I am named after. Mary. She and my mother were the dearest women of my life and now they are both gone. Gram died 7 years ago, mom 5 months ago. Sometimes I feel such…
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Never do I tire of being a voice for calendula and incorporating her into my life!
Calendula officinalis grows easily from seed and will self sow year after year in Zones 5 and up. They will bloom until frost if you pick their flowers…
The bats were coming home to roost when I awakened at dawn. They sleep under the eves outside our bedroom windows and on the mornings when my own awakening chimes in with their swirling-whirling descent dance to hang upside down for over 12…
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How many of us wake up singing? How many of us sing while doing the dishes, showering, gardening, driving or during other tasks throughout the day? This is your daily reminder that if you can talk, you can sing, and singing is an essential form…
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There are so many flowers we can eat! Some taste better than they look, others look better than they taste/ just like people!
Here are some freshly harvested ones from our gardens at Herb Mountain:
DayLilies
Bachelor Buttons
Calendula
Rose
Nasturtium
Evening…
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Not one of you reading this is without one. No one can make the passage to earth without a mother. Whether she be alive or dead, you will always have a mother as she is a part of you more than any other human, having given half her genes and…
Beech, Sourwood and Maple grew up together, and are as close as can be, lives forever intertwined. Together, they make this portal that beckons.
When I first came to Herb Mountain Farm in 2005, the bank holding these trees was covered in…
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As I watched this beautiful egret skillfully feed in the Everglades Sawgrass, I was struck by this thought- Does this bird give a damn what anybody thinks or says its experience should be? No! It is both intuitive and constantly adapting to…
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I am honing skills at aligning my time and energy with what I want to see flourish. It’s such a continual practice! Whether it be plants, friendships, family bonds, community service, or something else, it is evident that what I give my attention…
Hello, it’s April 5, 2022, and I am beginning my Earth Devotions, regular writings on how we love and care for our one precious mama planet. Which is really about how we live. From day to day, year to year, our lives unfolding. Sometimes these…
Interview with Mary Plantwalker on stewarding Herb Mountain Farm,
by Kelly Moody of Groundshots Podcast
https://www.maryplantwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC02237-scaled.jpeg25601828herbmountainfarmhttps://www.maryplantwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mary-Plantwalker-Logo-Centered.pngherbmountainfarm2021-12-11 10:55:262022-05-27 12:51:15Stewarding the Land Interview
I see the world and the world sees me-
everything is alive and changing,
infinitely.
Follow Mary’s conversation with the natural world on Instagram