An Herbalist is a Naturalist

Relatively simple practices that will strengthen your intimacy with plants:

~Record the weather every morning. Go outside and feel the air, the temperature, the taste, smell and quality. Look at the sky. Listen to the sounds. Identify the wind. Push your finger into the soil. Look at the location of the sun, write down the time. 

~Moonwatch. Do the above exercise under the moon.

~Watch the same plant for two years, weekly or daily during it's active season, and record changes. Sketch pictures, note size, color, and texture changes. Push your finger into the soil. Smell the plant.

~Hug trees as often as possible.

~Bud watch. Watch and journal the life cycle of a live tree twig. 

~Eat your lawn. Eat the dandelions, violets, chickweeds, ground ivy, purslane, plantain, and clover. Journal your recipes, gathering experience, and how you feel when you've eaten them.

~Pick one or more animals that you eat. Research what they eat and how they digest.

~Count flower petals.

Oh, there are so many ways indeed. But my main point is that intimacy with plants, to me, isn't a hobby, or an occupation, or some esoteric thing. It is simply how I want to co-exist. It is my way. I'm not perfect at it. It's a practice. It involves all of nature. Herbs are my heart.... existing within the interdependent ecosystem of my whole body.... they work together. As does the forest with the cohosh, the spring with the bloodroot, and the meadow with the yarrow. And so it is, that we create a practice; little rituals to sharpen, connect, love, and learn. 

Teachers helpers

It was a rainy day today. Very rainy. My plan for a vibrant outdoor class for the Jr. Herbalists had to be converted to a hopefully vibrant lesson indoors. Although I do spend part of each lesson talking; reviewing the previous week's material and introducing a new concept for exploration; I usually send them outdoors for an important plant mission or just conduct the whole lesson outdoors when the weather is nice. My plan for storytelling and medicine making in the far field (filled with Artemisia, topic of the day) was soiled.

While I was able to tell my story of Artemis, and pass around fragrant sprigs of Mugwort to examine, a teachers charisma, no matter how magnetic, always has a time limit. And so I made these little card helpers, to begin learning about menstrums. They are passed out and then read aloud by the students instead of me, allowing for a little more participation. Making simples was on the agenda as well, but you can't very well put up sopping wet plants. To suffice, we passed around some of my completed potions to smell, feel and taste. Herbal honey is always a winner with kids and adults alike. Next week we can get to work! Well, if the weather cooperates, that is.

The Eighth Intelligence: The Naturalist

Indeed. A long overdue recongnition, despite the underdeveloped understanding of it thus far. I am not sure why I thought it was brand new, maybe in the last five years, because really this information was explored in the 80's. Well, at least by this Gardner guy - if you ask me, it was probably the most primitive, original and intrinsic intelligence possessed by humans.

Here are some explanatory links courtesy of google:

Newer Views of Learning

The Eighth Intelligence, by Leslie Owen Wilson

The Seven Intelligences, plus a new eighth

Another basic article with pinpoints

Wikipedia

Yeah - lets me know I'm living my purpose when I get to dig up roots, walk through bogs with a bunch of kids, and shudder with awe as I watch the magic of the great blue heron gracing the sky.

But I have to say, I do wish something a little deeper was revealed here. It all sounds so scientific .... more in the arena of the logical intelligence ....all that sorting and classifying; a small expression of what's really happening. I feel like there is an uncanny gift within the Naturalist. Something that comes from an alchemy of intuition and extra-sensory awareness. Something that recongnizes the interdependence of all living things. Someone who knows that while they are in nature, they are not greater than, or less than, but can seamlessly immerse themselves into the symbiotic dance of nature itself. This awakens the deepest, keenest facets of the intellect and psyche, rendering a dynamic sensitivity to every cell, every line, every expansive shape and predator and vein ... details beyond ordinary, details and patterns with meaning, details which tell secrets. The best scientists are the ones who left room for creativity.

In essence, it is the Artist awakened to Nature that defines the Naturalist.