An Unexpected Day

On our way up to church, Isaiah started to vomit. And it wasn't just car sickness. So Phil turned the van around. The boys and I stayed home, and Phil headed up to church and community group.

I let the boys watch a movie, and I went and had an hour and a half of quiet and solitude. I don't know that there was anything life-changing about that time, but it felt restorative, deep within.

Some time later, I looked at Isaiah, and he still looked unwell. I put in a second movie, and thought about another quiet time. But I really wanted to learn something practical, and I thought of the herbs, the wild plants, growing around the farm. I wouldn't have to tend them, but simply read about them and pick them.

And so I spent a fascinating hour or so learning about four plants. Queen Anne's Lace can be used as a natural birth control. Yarrow has a wide range of uses, but I was interested to read that it is especially good for cuts to the bone—had I know that thirteen months ago, perhaps we wouldn't have needed three sets of stitches. Stinging nettle is good to relieve burns (Phil burned himself yesterday: if I had only known a day earlier!). And plantain is nature's drawing agent: it draws out splinters, pus, mucus in the lungs, infections in the teeth (use as a gargle).

I left that time almost walking on air. I had smelled the sweet yarrow, tasted several herbs in various teas, started several tinctures for future use. I had learned something new, made something healing out of the plants around the farm (three native, one planted).

So it was an unexpected day, but a good one.