Yearning for simpler times

Mother Earth is bountiful and will provide, has provided. Humans survived long before we had WiFi, Google and Starbucks.  I know some must find it hard to believe based on the amount of data they consume, information they've got at hand and how much Starbucks they buy, but it's true.  So many natural remedies and foods have been used and lost in the current age.

 

I'm listening to Game of Thrones book 2, A Clash of Kings. This series of books (and the television show created from them) describe a world of castles and keeps, kings and queens, lords and ladies, knights and dragons.  While I'm not sure about the presence of dragons in the past, I do know that the rest was undoubtedly real.  I listen as they describe feasts of roast boar with buttered parsnips, squash soup with quail and creamed ramps, crusty breads slathered with fresh butter and piled with fresh caught fish from the sea, sausages speared on the ends of dirks. Wine, ale and beer flowed at every meal including breakfast.  Foods and drinks made with all the bounty God and Mother Earth provided. Eating whatever fruits and vegetables were in season near you and augmenting it with whatever animal was killed on the hunt.

Oh how far we have fallen.

The advent of the industrial and technological ages has taken us far away from our dependence on what we can hunt and or gather. I shop at the grocery (or even big box) store and I don't know the family who grew it, harvested it, raised it, slaughtered it, packaged it or transported it.  The only food that grows in my garden is basil for anything Italian that I cook or a caprese salad.  And I bought the basil plant from the grocery store!

Listening to my book drives me to yearn for simpler times.  Times when we relied more on what was all around us instead of demanding faster, easier, lazier, more processed choices. Times when we did heal with nature, as that's all there was available.

I am realistic, though, it pains me to say.  While nature is still a bountiful resource, so many things on which I depend would not be available to me were we to revert to olden times.  Medication for my son with epilepsy, the ability to work at a job thirty miles from my home, to be able to communicate instantaneously with my family far away, the ability to talk to you.

Let's work toward finding a balance.

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Grounding Rod - Focusing your energy in the present moment



New art from Elisabeth Ladwig

Herbal remedies are the ultimate healing through nature, using what mother earth provides to heal mother earth's children.  Elisabeth Ladwig captures this feeling with her newest art.   |  The Herbalist |   Having a partially wooded property means there are always a couple of surprises each Summer that send me fetching the wildflower field guides, and over the next several months, the local farmers' markets will be reminders of just how much medicine is inherent in the Earth. The Herbalist's relationship with the Nature is symbiotic: as she gathers her medicine, she encourages the plants to grow by tending them with care and harvesting with respect, taking only what she needs. In response to the generosity and abundance of the planet, she raises her bouquet in gratitude. "The Herbalist" © Elisabeth Ladwig View Elisabeth's portfolio View portfolio at elisabethonearth.com.