Witness to Your
Thoughts and Deeds

by She Sees
Printed in The Flowering Tree, Summer 2003

When I came to live in my clearing in the woods, I had visualized garden beds producing food and medicine. Healthy, vibrant plants sprouted in my imagination. I marked out beds and began to turn the soil. What I found was a soil so sandy, that when it eroded and washed down my driveway, it left a pile of sand – white sand – beach sand.

Being of Aries temperament, I could not be bothered by the details of soil testing, balancing of minerals, pH determinations. I chose instead to just begin feeding the garden beds with any and all organic materials I had at my disposal. I had to grow some dirt before I could grow those healthy, vibrant plants.

While I was waiting for the dirt to come of age, I explored the plants that chose to grow in my clearing. There was an abundance of Passion Flower, a beautiful unruly plant that is a wonderfully calming herb. The plants pop up from traveling underground roots and twine themselves around neighboring plants or trees. I have found those exotic-looking flowers blooming in cedar trees and among the apples in the apple tree. I tried to corral the Passion Flower to a tipi trellis, but this plant loves to travel. It springs up where it will, heedless of my desire to have it stay on the trellis.

Sweet Goldenrod grows along the edge of the clearing, not far from the trees. This delights me, for when I left the house in town, I left a beautiful stand of Sweet Goldenrod. Sweet Goldenrod smells and tastes like anise. I love to take a few leaves and crush them and inhale the spicy Licorice scent. I take care each spring to wait till the “weeds” are knee deep before I crank up the weed wacker. This spring I found numerous Goldenrod babies that had sprung up from last years seeds. The patch is spreading.

When I reclaimed a section of this clearing I live in, cutting away the straggly Sumacs and Winged Elm that had grown in a tangled mess, the sandy ground sprouted a tribe of Mullein. Thirty to 40 plants showed up the first spring, their fuzzy leaves forming rosettes. The next year, the flowering stalks rose high above the rosettes and yellow flowers bloomed for weeks. Mullein is a biennial plant. It takes two years to flower and then it’s finished. The dead plants stayed through the winter and were still standing tall the following spring. I didn’t have the heart to cut them down; they were like old friends by then. Eventually they all returned to the sandy soil.

Another plant that loves the sandy soil of the clearing is Mountain Mint. This mint grows chest high and flowers in the fall. Its stout square stems support the white flowering heads. Before my house was built, I harvested some Mountain Mint every fall and hung it in my outhouse. The minty smell released when the dried leaves are crushed is cheery on a cold winter’s day. Bergamot, another member of the mint family, has begun to gain a foothold in the clearing. At first there were just a couple of lone flowers, but I have nurtured them and the lone flowers are now surrounded by children. The growing families bloom in June, their lavender flowers scenting the warm summer air.

I have also found Partridge Peas, and Butterfly Peas, Johnny Jump Ups, Chickweed, and Venus Looking Glass. A veritable garden in the sand.

While waiting for my soil to grow, I have discovered the healthy, vibrant plants of the Creator’s imagination.

Holy Mother Earth, the trees and all nature
are witness to your thoughts and deeds.
Winnebago Wisdom

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