Wednesday, April 13th, 2016

Post date: May 2, 2016 8:11:02 PM

On Wednesday, April 13^th, 2016, we were supposed to have an outside speaker come in and present for us. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances that speaker was unable to attend. Instead our glorious leader Amanda Black took up the mighty mantel and threw together a presentation in very short order and saved the day so that we did not have to disappoint our members without a speaker.

Amanda spoke on the various uses of herbs and other plants, including medicinal uses as well as spiritual uses, by various people including native groups. In her presentation titled, Culturally Significant Plants, It’s not just a Weed; she stated that herbs are generally used as a tonic while many plants are often used to cure things.

Firstly, one has to learn the best measures that need to be taken in order to effectively grow your plants; the best type of soils to grow it in, the right amount of light, water and fertilizer to administer, even the type of temperatures the plant prefers for optimal growth. Then one also has to consider how best to harvest the plant; do you take just a leaf or two, is the best part for your needs the flowers, or do you need to work with the roots of the plants. Next, one has to consider how best to store the plant materials, does it need to be dried or just kept cool? Lastly, how do you prepare the plant for the medicinal or spiritual use? There are several ways to prepare the plant; via infusions (ie teas), decoction, tinctures, syrups, oils or creams.

Amanda then went through various plants and spoke about how some aboriginal peoples utilized each of the plants she spoke about. Plants like Burdock, which is good for circulation when it is made into a tea, but it can also be used as relief for insect bites and poison ivy. Then there is Milkweed, which relieves nausea and is an anti-inflammatory; interestingly, native groups also believed it protects from witchcraft. Geranium is good for diarrhea and can be used as a poultice for open wounds. Evening Primrose is another anti-inflammatory and the oils of it can be used for menstrual cramps. Dandelions are full of vitamins and the flowers can help you pass kidney stones as it is as diuretic.

These were just a few of the plants that Amanda spoke about and there were many more that she could have spoken about. So much natural medicinal information from the natives has sadly been lost and we are only now starting to scrape the surface of that knowledge. We need a balance to be achieved between modern medicine and the old ways and knowledge.

Thank you Amanda, for being able to quickly make an informative presentation that intrigued us on such short notice.