Claudia Black

Claudia Black Instagram – COVID and lockdown sent me into survival mode. And then my inner homesteader emerged. Primal provider panic brought me to vegetable gardening. And then my friend and conscious producer from the pixie realm @ginstar introduced me to foraging: @growforagecookferment and @pascalbaudar
Once out of fight or flight I started to see my garden less as another daunting responsibility (amongst many others as a single mother in a pandemic), and more as the extraordinary ally and resource that Mother Earth is. I marveled at the medicine my wild and weedy nasturtiums could be, and they agreed to transform into pesto. I harvested orange blossoms and rose petals just before they fell and pink peppercorns once fallen, and they simmered their way into hedge-witch jellies. Lilac honey became gifts for my separated clan. Jalapeño honey has followed. Foraged chai tea with pine needles and pink peppercorns is probably not everyone’s cup of tea though it
proudly has been mine. After years of feeling my pain and my bombastic and needy complex ptsd—as it has presented and looped through my heart, mind, body and spirit—this new hobby has brought me to feeling humble, grateful, enchanted and quiet. I have access to the subtle yet powerful intelligences of things growing just outside my door. And after years of my traumas teaching me falsely to believe that feeling bad was right, I now feel peace and satisfaction as I tinker in my kitchen. It’s a sign of my healing that I am playing and creating this way—I marvel that I am able to be available to it—to put time and energy into it —and what pleasure it brings because it is sustainable, generative and beautiful. #plantmedicine #foraging #ptsd #cptsd #downregulation #sustainability #homesteading #hedgewitch | Posted on 27/Sep/2021 21:52:34