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Hello, everyone,

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and welcome to this lecture on local roots

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and the connection between herbal medicine

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and cultivating a "sense of place".

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This is a topic that is close to my heart.

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Actually, my first job
as a college student,

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I was a second-year student in college,

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I worked for a nonprofit called
the Vermont Earth Institute,

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and my job was to put together
a discussion group reader

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around Vermont sense of place.

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So I got to talk with
authors over the phone

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and get permission to use their articles

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and prepare discussion questions.

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And this started a long journey

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through grad school and up until now

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of really looking at the ways

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that developing a sense of connection

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to the place that we call home,

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and particularly the natural environment

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and the cultural human
communities that are a part of it,

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really creates a sense of wellbeing

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but also a sense of responsibility,

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reciprocity for caring for that place

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and making it a more
inclusive and healing place

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for everyone involved.

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So before I talk more about sense of place

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and what it means to me,

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I want you to pull out a piece of paper,

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maybe pause the presentation

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if you need a little bit
more time to do that,

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and consider what sense
of place means to you.

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And there may be some specific actions,

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behaviors, activities, experiences

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that you have found help
you connect to your place.

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So take a moment to jot those down,

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and then I'll share my definition,

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assuming you've paused it and
done that before moving on.

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So "sense of place", to me,

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are characteristics that make
a place special and unique.

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And this can involve
both the human experience

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in a non-human landscape

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as well as the local
knowledge and folklore.

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Usually, it's about identifying
to a particular place,

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a particular geographic
location on a piece of land

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on the surface of planet earth.

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And there may be many
places that we call home

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and we connect to,

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but cultivating a certain
skillset and an awareness

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of wanting to connect
to your surroundings,

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I have found to be extremely grounding

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and contributing to health and wellbeing,

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but also an important foundation

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to being involved as a citizen,

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not only a local citizen
but a global citizen.

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And I wanna share a little bit
of background on this concept

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of the connection between
humans and their place

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and particularly their
natural environment.

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The term "biophilia"
has been repopularized,

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particularly in the ecological
design and landscape design

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and architectural design
movement around biophilic design.

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And this a phrase coined
by Edward O. Wilson,

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the need to be in contact
with or drawn to nature

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in order to be happy and healthy.

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And this is a place
where I talk a little bit

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about the privileging
of voices in academia.

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I consider that many humans,

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probably before Edward Wilson,
which was in the 1940s-

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he's a White man, scholar from Harvard-

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there were probably many humans

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that understood the need to
be in contact with nature

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in order to be happy and healthy

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since we evolved as beings
in a natural landscape.

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Edward Wilson was the first White man

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with an advanced degree to name it.

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-(computer chimes)
-So in an academic environment,

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it's important to credit
him as the primary source,

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but I, also, in this class,

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want you to start thinking
about sources of knowledge

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and valuing other kinds of knowledge

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besides academic knowledge.

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There's also Richard Louv,

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who, in the early turn of the century,

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talked about this concept
"nature deficit disorder".

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And Richard Louv was primarily
talking about children,

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but of course children

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in the generation that many of you are in,

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children who are born around
the turn of the century.

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And as one scientist puts it,

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"We can assume that just as children

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"need good nutrition and adequate sleep,

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"they may very well need
contact with nature."

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And this may seem
surprising to those of you

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who are naturally drawn to the environment

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or who have had the privilege to grow up

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with access to green spaces,

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but it was really looking at this pattern

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of children being more and more
raised in home environments,

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sterile home environments,

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being entertained by screens
and human entertainment

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rather than spending time in the woods.

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The title of his book was
"Last Child in the Woods".

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So this idea of nature deficit disorder

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was specifically about
exposure to the natural world.

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But when it comes to a
plant medicine context,

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we're not just spending time in nature,

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getting to know the plants.

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That's certainly a really important part

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of herbal medicine.

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But we're also starting
to bring those plants

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into our homes,

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bringing those plants into our bodies,

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engaging with them in a deeply
intimate and visceral way,

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which I think is really powerful,

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and it's a really important
part of my parenting practice

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to get my son out into the woods

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and have him identifying
things that are edible,

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things that he can put on wounds,

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and really cultivating

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this connection with the natural world

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as something that is supportive

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-and joyful to interact with.
-(computer chimes)

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I'm just gonna pause a video for a second

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'cause I'm getting a
little bit of extra sound.

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So another scholar that
I really respect his work

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is Bill Plotkin, who's an ecopsychologist.

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He wrote a number of books,

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but one of my favorites is "Wild Mind".

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And this is getting more into the concept

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of not just connection with nature but,

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and not only how connection to nature

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supports individual wellbeing,

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but also how that deep
understanding of our wildness

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contributes to our citizenship
and our political views.

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So Bill Plotkin says:

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"We need to preserve and
embrace our individual wildness-

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"our treasury of ecological intelligence-

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"in order to become fully human.

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"If a majority of Westerners

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"were to viscerally
experience the sacred kinship

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"they have with all life,

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"we'd see an abrupt collapse

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"of the extractive, synthetic
economy and imperial politics

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"on which contemporary
Western culture is built."

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So this is getting political

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and starting to get into a
little bit of my political views.

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And in this class, I don't
expect you to adopt my politics,

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but to share a politics

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of questioning the Western
imperialism and the synthetic.

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And particularly, the
history of extraction

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that the Western world has been engaged in

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is something that I take issue with,

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and it certainly has been quite
harmful to our environment

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and to humans and public health as well.

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And we'll talk a little bit more

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when we get into food systems next week.

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But this idea of visceral
experience and kinship

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is obviously a key theme

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that herbal medicine allows
us to engage more directly

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with these green beings on earth.

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And this quote from
Permaculturist Megan Durney,

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"Nature needs love-filled
human participation

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"for its progress into the future,"

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is kind of a reversal.

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It's another perspective.

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So the previous quotes spoke
to how humans need nature

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to experience health and wellbeing,

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and here's a permaculturist

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saying that nature needs
human participation.

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And notice she qualifies
it by saying "love filled".

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So this is an interesting idea,

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and I think that Robin Wall Kimmerer

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in "Braiding Sweetgrass"
also engages this idea

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in a really inspiring and cogent way,

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that this idea that human participation

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can actually be supportive to nature.

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And this is something that I
really wanna talk about here

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in this lecture and in this class.

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What are ways that humans

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can be in right
relationship with the world?

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And what are some reasons
why humans can get off track

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in the way that we engage
with the natural world?

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And to me, a lot of it is related
to cosmology and worldview

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and the way that stories

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influence how we interact
with the environment.

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And I first encountered this pattern,

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really, as a graduate student.

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So I was a few years
older than many of you,

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although I don't wanna assume

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that you're all in your twenties.

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And this idea that I was viewing myself

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as separate from nature,

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that I was nearly following a
path as a field ornithologist,

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and essentially realizing
that the work that I loved,

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the field work of being in
the mountains with the birds,

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was essentially collecting data

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to create a case for preventing
fewer and fewer humans-

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in this case, ski areas-

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from being in the natural world

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because of this assumption

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that human beings are
essentially destructive.

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And really start engaging
with this other question,

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are there ways for humans

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to engage with the natural environment

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where there is a sense of reciprocity,

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there's a sense of respect,

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there's a sense of perhaps deep reverence?

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And this flies in the face

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of what I call sort of old
school conservation ideology,

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which is still pretty active
in academic discussions

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and definitely active in
political conversations,

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this idea that in order to
protect the natural world,

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we need to keep humans out of it.

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And where does this idea come from?

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And I think starting with
the predominant worldview

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of the United States as
a predominantly-Christian

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or Christian-ancestry country

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and looking at the story of Adam and Eve

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in the Garden of Eden is a relevant piece.

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And even though I wasn't raised Christian,

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I certainly have had the stories

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of Catholicism and Christianity

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in my roots as somebody
of European descent.

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And I think that it
also has colored the way

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that the academic field of
environmental conservation

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orients itself to the world.

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And I wanna share a passage
from "Braiding Sweetgrass",

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and we'll talk a little bit
about the Skywoman story soon.

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Let me just see what the next slide is.

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Yeah, so here's the Skywoman story.

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So for me,

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reading the Skywoman story
was a breath of fresh air

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in being introduced to
a world creation myth

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and a cosmology that
was aligning much more

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with these principles of,

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how can I express my love for the earth

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and become a better steward,

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a better lover of the earth,

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in a way that is
reciprocal and supportive?

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The first Indigenous principle,

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which comes from many
First Nations groups,

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is respect the earth
and have a sacred regard

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for all living things.

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This is not something that I
see as a predominant ideology

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in political systems in the Western world,

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and I think it's an
important thing to consider.

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And you all have now
read the Skywoman story,

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but I wanna draw your attention
to a specific passage.

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And this is on page 6 in
"Braiding Sweetgrass",

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and I'm gonna read a couple
paragraphs from this.

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"On one side of the world

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"where people whose relationship
with the living world

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"was shaped by Skywoman,

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"who created a garden for
the well-being of all.

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"On the other side was another woman

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"with a garden and a tree.

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"But for tasting its fruit,

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"she was banished from the garden

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"and the gates clanged shut behind her.

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"That mother of men was made
to wander in the wilderness

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"and earn her bread by
the sweat of her brow,

261
00:12:12,097 --> 00:12:14,737
"not by filling her mouth
with the sweet juicy fruits

262
00:12:14,737 --> 00:12:16,777
"that bend the branches low.

263
00:12:16,777 --> 00:12:17,647
"In order to eat,

264
00:12:17,647 --> 00:12:19,987
"she was instructed to
subdue the wilderness

265
00:12:19,987 --> 00:12:22,027
"into which she was cast.

266
00:12:22,027 --> 00:12:26,527
"Same species, same
earth, different stories.

267
00:12:26,527 --> 00:12:28,267
"Like Creation stories everywhere,

268
00:12:28,267 --> 00:12:30,817
"cosmologies are a source of identity

269
00:12:30,817 --> 00:12:32,947
"and orientation to the world.

270
00:12:32,947 --> 00:12:35,167
"They tell us who we are.

271
00:12:35,167 --> 00:12:36,847
"We are inevitably shaped by them,

272
00:12:36,847 --> 00:12:40,387
"no matter how distant they
may be from our consciousness.

273
00:12:40,387 --> 00:12:42,517
"One story leads to the generous embrace

274
00:12:42,517 --> 00:12:43,927
"of the living world,

275
00:12:43,927 --> 00:12:46,357
"the other to banishment.

276
00:12:46,357 --> 00:12:48,487
"One woman is our ancestors gardener,

277
00:12:48,487 --> 00:12:50,737
"a cocreator of the good green world

278
00:12:50,737 --> 00:12:53,317
"that would be the home
of her descendants.

279
00:12:53,317 --> 00:12:55,027
"The other was in exile,

280
00:12:55,027 --> 00:12:57,217
"just passing through an alien world

281
00:12:57,217 --> 00:13:00,033
"on a rough road to her
real home in heaven.

282
00:13:00,907 --> 00:13:02,407
"And then they met-

283
00:13:02,407 --> 00:13:05,677
"the offering of Skywoman
and the children of Eve-

284
00:13:05,677 --> 00:13:08,857
"and the land around us bears
the scars of that meeting,

285
00:13:08,857 --> 00:13:11,517
"the echoes of our stories."

286
00:13:14,670 --> 00:13:16,650
I think an important
piece to point out here

287
00:13:16,650 --> 00:13:20,970
is that history is written
by those who are in power.

288
00:13:20,970 --> 00:13:23,520
And some of you, I hope,

289
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,700
have encountered alternate
histories of the United States,

290
00:13:26,700 --> 00:13:30,270
and particularly Indigenous
history of the United States.

291
00:13:30,270 --> 00:13:34,620
Part of my work as a person
of White European descent

292
00:13:34,620 --> 00:13:38,640
who encounters this stolen land of Vermont

293
00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:39,870
that was originally occupied,

294
00:13:39,870 --> 00:13:43,170
or is still occupied by Abenaki people,

295
00:13:43,170 --> 00:13:46,950
and they have not given
up this land to us,

296
00:13:46,950 --> 00:13:49,170
is to understand and honor that history,

297
00:13:49,170 --> 00:13:53,490
which is often hidden from
me because of my privilege.

298
00:13:53,490 --> 00:13:55,380
And some of you may not know

299
00:13:55,380 --> 00:14:00,120
that it was actually written
into Vatican law in 1493

300
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:04,620
and then readopted into U.S. law in 1823.

301
00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:06,600
So not that long ago.

302
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,700
And this is still used in the court system

303
00:14:08,700 --> 00:14:12,030
to justify displacement and mistreatment

304
00:14:12,030 --> 00:14:13,590
of Indigenous people,

305
00:14:13,590 --> 00:14:17,610
including as recently as the
Standing Rock pipeline issue

306
00:14:17,610 --> 00:14:19,590
of a couple of years ago,

307
00:14:19,590 --> 00:14:22,890
which is still a present issue.

308
00:14:22,890 --> 00:14:26,370
And this was essentially a papal-

309
00:14:26,370 --> 00:14:27,750
so it came from the pope-

310
00:14:27,750 --> 00:14:30,780
document that dehumanized
indigenous people

311
00:14:30,780 --> 00:14:32,340
by regarding their territories

312
00:14:32,340 --> 00:14:34,830
as being "inhabited
only by brute animals",

313
00:14:34,830 --> 00:14:38,880
because the assumption was
that if you are not honoring

314
00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:40,440
or following a Christian God,

315
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,100
then you are not human, you
are considered a savage.

316
00:14:44,100 --> 00:14:46,350
And this is still used as a document

317
00:14:46,350 --> 00:14:49,170
to prevent rights of Indigenous people,

318
00:14:49,170 --> 00:14:50,400
and I think it's important for us

319
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,083
to understand that history.

320
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,120
I also wanna speak to European history

321
00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,550
as relevant to our
orientation to the world.

322
00:14:59,550 --> 00:15:02,460
And I'm gonna share a longer passage

323
00:15:02,460 --> 00:15:04,950
from a book by Sharon Blackie,

324
00:15:04,950 --> 00:15:09,000
who is a Celtic ecofeminist and activist,

325
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,520
who wrote a book called
"If Women Rose Rooted".

326
00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,040
And we'll hear more from
Sharon later in the class

327
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,280
when we start getting into
indigenous Celtic history

328
00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:18,453
and plant medicine.

329
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:21,637
Sharon writes:

330
00:15:21,637 --> 00:15:24,757
"Before there was the
Word, there was the Land,

331
00:15:24,757 --> 00:15:28,717
"and it was made and
watched over by women.

332
00:15:28,717 --> 00:15:31,297
"Stories from almost every
culture around the world

333
00:15:31,297 --> 00:15:34,807
"tell us that once upon
a time it was so...

334
00:15:34,807 --> 00:15:37,417
"For many native tribes
throughout America,

335
00:15:37,417 --> 00:15:41,227
"Grandmother Spider continually
spins the world into being.

336
00:15:41,227 --> 00:15:43,717
"For the Andean peoples of South America,

337
00:15:43,717 --> 00:15:45,787
"Pachamama is the World Mother;

338
00:15:45,787 --> 00:15:48,277
"she sustains all life on Earth.

339
00:15:48,277 --> 00:15:51,217
"In Scotland and Ireland, the Cailleach-

340
00:15:51,217 --> 00:15:52,327
"the Old Woman-

341
00:15:52,327 --> 00:15:54,607
"made, shaped and protects the land

342
00:15:54,607 --> 00:15:56,527
"and the wild things on it...

343
00:15:56,527 --> 00:15:58,777
"In these and other Celtic nations,

344
00:15:58,777 --> 00:16:01,507
"Danu gave birth to all the gods

345
00:16:01,507 --> 00:16:04,117
"and was mother to the
people who followed.

346
00:16:04,117 --> 00:16:06,547
"Women: the creators of life,

347
00:16:06,547 --> 00:16:09,307
"the bearers of the Cup
of knowledge and wisdom,

348
00:16:09,307 --> 00:16:12,097
"personifying the moral
and spiritual authority

349
00:16:12,097 --> 00:16:14,587
"of the fertile green and blue Earth.

350
00:16:14,587 --> 00:16:16,987
"Do you remember those days?

351
00:16:16,987 --> 00:16:17,943
"Me neither.

352
00:16:18,877 --> 00:16:20,767
"Other indigenous
cultures around the world

353
00:16:20,767 --> 00:16:23,347
"may still respect and
revere the feminine,

354
00:16:23,347 --> 00:16:25,207
"but we Western women lost control

355
00:16:25,207 --> 00:16:27,937
"of our stories a long time ago.

356
00:16:27,937 --> 00:16:31,417
"The story which I was given
to carry as a very young child,

357
00:16:31,417 --> 00:16:33,157
"the story which both defined me

358
00:16:33,157 --> 00:16:36,787
"and instructed me about the
place I occupied in this world,

359
00:16:36,787 --> 00:16:39,967
"afforded no such significance to women.

360
00:16:39,967 --> 00:16:42,997
"In this story, woman was an afterthought,

361
00:16:42,997 --> 00:16:44,437
"created from a man's body

362
00:16:44,437 --> 00:16:47,227
"for the sole purpose of pleasing him.

363
00:16:47,227 --> 00:16:48,307
"In this story,

364
00:16:48,307 --> 00:16:51,727
"the first woman was the cause
of all humanity's sufferings:

365
00:16:51,727 --> 00:16:54,667
"she brought death to the world, not life.

366
00:16:54,667 --> 00:16:57,727
"She had the audacity
to talk to a serpent.

367
00:16:57,727 --> 00:16:59,647
"Wanting the knowledge and wisdom

368
00:16:59,647 --> 00:17:02,947
"which had been denied her
by a jealous father - god,

369
00:17:02,947 --> 00:17:05,467
"she dared to eat the fruit of a tree.

370
00:17:05,467 --> 00:17:06,577
"Even worse,

371
00:17:06,577 --> 00:17:09,727
"she shared the fruit of
knowledge and wisdom with her man.

372
00:17:09,727 --> 00:17:12,127
"So that angry and implacable god

373
00:17:12,127 --> 00:17:15,367
"cast her and her male
companion out of paradise,

374
00:17:15,367 --> 00:17:18,487
"and decreed that women
should be subordinate to men

375
00:17:18,487 --> 00:17:19,773
"forever afterward.

376
00:17:21,007 --> 00:17:23,437
"The stories we tell about
the creation of the Earth

377
00:17:23,437 --> 00:17:25,237
"and the origins of humankind

378
00:17:25,237 --> 00:17:28,807
"show us how our culture views
the world, our place in it,

379
00:17:28,807 --> 00:17:30,757
"and our relationships with
the other living things

380
00:17:30,757 --> 00:17:31,863
"which inhabit it.

381
00:17:32,737 --> 00:17:35,647
"And the key consequence of
this particular creation myth

382
00:17:35,647 --> 00:17:39,487
"is a belief, prevalent now
for centuries in the West,

383
00:17:39,487 --> 00:17:42,607
"that women are naturally
disobedient temptresses

384
00:17:42,607 --> 00:17:45,127
"who must be kept firmly in their place.

385
00:17:45,127 --> 00:17:49,117
"We are weak-willed, easily
persuaded to think or do evil,

386
00:17:49,117 --> 00:17:52,717
"faithless, untrustworthy, mendacious,

387
00:17:52,717 --> 00:17:55,477
"and motivated purely by self-interest.

388
00:17:55,477 --> 00:17:58,207
"The story of Eve in the Book of Genesis

389
00:17:58,207 --> 00:18:00,247
"is the underpinning
for countless measures

390
00:18:00,247 --> 00:18:03,937
"which have limited the actions,
rights and status of women.

391
00:18:03,937 --> 00:18:06,247
"No matter what women
might achieve in the world,

392
00:18:06,247 --> 00:18:08,437
"the fundamental message
of the sacred texts

393
00:18:08,437 --> 00:18:10,867
"of the world's largest
religious grouping,

394
00:18:10,867 --> 00:18:12,157
"which for 2,000 years

395
00:18:12,157 --> 00:18:13,897
"have supplied the foundational beliefs

396
00:18:13,897 --> 00:18:15,397
"of our Western culture,

397
00:18:15,397 --> 00:18:17,677
"is that men should not trust women,

398
00:18:17,677 --> 00:18:20,767
"and that women should
trust neither themselves

399
00:18:20,767 --> 00:18:22,173
"nor each other.

400
00:18:25,987 --> 00:18:29,797
"As I grew older, I grew
angry about other things too,

401
00:18:29,797 --> 00:18:31,477
"things that might seem on the surface

402
00:18:31,477 --> 00:18:33,817
"to have nothing to do
with the story of Eve

403
00:18:33,817 --> 00:18:35,767
"or the disempowerment of women,

404
00:18:35,767 --> 00:18:38,587
"but which in fact are profoundly related.

405
00:18:38,587 --> 00:18:41,797
"The same kinds of acts that
are perpetuated against us,

406
00:18:41,797 --> 00:18:43,957
"against our daughters and our mothers,

407
00:18:43,957 --> 00:18:46,267
"are perpetrated against the planet,

408
00:18:46,267 --> 00:18:48,577
"the Earth which gives us life,

409
00:18:48,577 --> 00:18:50,107
"the Earth with which women

410
00:18:50,107 --> 00:18:52,717
"have for so long been identified.

411
00:18:52,717 --> 00:18:54,727
"Our patriarchal, warmongering,

412
00:18:54,727 --> 00:18:57,187
"growth and domination-based culture

413
00:18:57,187 --> 00:18:59,617
"has caused runaway climate change,

414
00:18:59,617 --> 00:19:01,657
"the mass extinction of species,

415
00:19:01,657 --> 00:19:04,717
"and the ongoing destruction
of wild and natural landscapes

416
00:19:04,717 --> 00:19:07,957
"in the unstoppable pursuit of progress.

417
00:19:07,957 --> 00:19:09,007
"At six years old,

418
00:19:09,007 --> 00:19:11,407
"knowing nothing but somehow
understanding everything,

419
00:19:11,407 --> 00:19:14,197
"I sobbed as hazy black
and white TV news footage

420
00:19:14,197 --> 00:19:16,957
"showed a bird futilely
flapping its wings,

421
00:19:16,957 --> 00:19:18,937
"slowly drowning in a thick, soupy layer

422
00:19:18,937 --> 00:19:22,507
"of black crude oil which
coated the surface of the sea.

423
00:19:22,507 --> 00:19:24,630
"Another bird landed next to it,

424
00:19:24,630 --> 00:19:26,257
sank below the surface,

425
00:19:26,257 --> 00:19:28,357
"reemerged for a few final flaps,

426
00:19:28,357 --> 00:19:30,997
"then drifted towards the
growing mass of dead bodies

427
00:19:30,997 --> 00:19:34,417
"lining up along the
southwest coast of England.

428
00:19:34,417 --> 00:19:36,697
"I was watching one of
the first major acute,

429
00:19:36,697 --> 00:19:39,007
"man-made environmental disasters

430
00:19:39,007 --> 00:19:40,027
"caused by the wreckage

431
00:19:40,027 --> 00:19:43,717
"of the oil supertanker SS Torrey Canyon.

432
00:19:43,717 --> 00:19:47,647
"32 million gallons of crude
oil dumped into the ocean

433
00:19:47,647 --> 00:19:50,527
"and around 15,000 seabirds killed.

434
00:19:50,527 --> 00:19:52,747
"The sea burst into huge sheets of flames

435
00:19:52,747 --> 00:19:55,957
"as napalm was dropped in an
effort to burn off the oil.

436
00:19:55,957 --> 00:19:58,117
"I thought the world was ending.

437
00:19:58,117 --> 00:19:59,857
"It was just an unfortunate accident,

438
00:19:59,857 --> 00:20:01,477
"people said at the time,

439
00:20:01,477 --> 00:20:04,263
"but how often have we done it since?

440
00:20:06,547 --> 00:20:08,377
"The stories we've been living by

441
00:20:08,377 --> 00:20:10,237
"for the past few centuries,

442
00:20:10,237 --> 00:20:12,187
"the stories of male superiority,

443
00:20:12,187 --> 00:20:14,917
"of progress and growth and domination,

444
00:20:14,917 --> 00:20:16,087
"don't serve women,

445
00:20:16,087 --> 00:20:18,487
"and they certainly
don't serve the planet.

446
00:20:18,487 --> 00:20:20,437
"Stories matter, you see.

447
00:20:20,437 --> 00:20:22,237
"They're not just entertainment.

448
00:20:22,237 --> 00:20:25,717
"Stories matter because humans
are narrative creatures.

449
00:20:25,717 --> 00:20:27,877
"It's not simply that
we like to tell stories

450
00:20:27,877 --> 00:20:29,197
"and to listen to them.

451
00:20:29,197 --> 00:20:32,137
"It's that narrative is hardwired into us.

452
00:20:32,137 --> 00:20:34,207
"It's a function of our biology

453
00:20:34,207 --> 00:20:37,200
"and the way our brains
have evolved over time.

454
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,667
We make sense of the world
and fashion our identities

455
00:20:39,667 --> 00:20:42,757
"through the sharing and
passing on of stories,

456
00:20:42,757 --> 00:20:44,677
"and so the stories that we tell ourselves

457
00:20:44,677 --> 00:20:46,657
"about the world and our place in it

458
00:20:46,657 --> 00:20:48,937
"and the stories that
are told to us by others

459
00:20:48,937 --> 00:20:51,217
"about the world and our place in it,

460
00:20:51,217 --> 00:20:54,817
"shape not just our own lives
but the world around us.

461
00:20:54,817 --> 00:20:58,387
"The cultural narrative is the culture.

462
00:20:58,387 --> 00:21:00,367
"If the foundation stories of our culture

463
00:21:00,367 --> 00:21:02,917
"show women as weak and inferior,

464
00:21:02,917 --> 00:21:05,347
"then however much we may rail against it,

465
00:21:05,347 --> 00:21:08,527
"we will be treated as if
we are weak and inferior.

466
00:21:08,527 --> 00:21:11,107
"Our voices will have no traction.

467
00:21:11,107 --> 00:21:13,177
"But if the mythology and
history of our culture

468
00:21:13,177 --> 00:21:15,247
"includes women who are wise,

469
00:21:15,247 --> 00:21:17,557
"women who are powerful and strong,

470
00:21:17,557 --> 00:21:21,427
"it opens up a space for women
to live up to those stories,

471
00:21:21,427 --> 00:21:25,147
"to become wise and powerful and strong,

472
00:21:25,147 --> 00:21:29,097
"to be taken seriously and
to have our voices heard."

473
00:21:33,630 --> 00:21:34,770
So as that sinks in,

474
00:21:34,770 --> 00:21:39,660
I do wanna comment that I take
issue with the gender binary

475
00:21:39,660 --> 00:21:41,433
in Sharon Blackie's book.

476
00:21:42,630 --> 00:21:44,460
My orientation to this text

477
00:21:44,460 --> 00:21:46,980
and the way she talks about
women and the feminine

478
00:21:46,980 --> 00:21:48,510
is that it's an opportunity

479
00:21:48,510 --> 00:21:52,320
to reintegrate the feminine
aspects of all genders

480
00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,840
and the aspects of leadership

481
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:58,230
that demonstrates power in
a way that is very different

482
00:21:58,230 --> 00:22:00,930
from the way power has been demonstrated

483
00:22:00,930 --> 00:22:02,343
in our Western culture,

484
00:22:03,450 --> 00:22:05,940
which I consider to be hyper-masculinized

485
00:22:05,940 --> 00:22:09,780
or a manifestation of what I
call the "toxic masculine".

486
00:22:09,780 --> 00:22:13,200
So what I feel that Sharon
Blackie is calling for,

487
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,700
and what I am strongly calling for,

488
00:22:14,700 --> 00:22:18,120
is the idea of bringing back a culture

489
00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:20,670
of leaders of all genders,

490
00:22:20,670 --> 00:22:23,790
men, women, non-binary,

491
00:22:23,790 --> 00:22:25,860
that have the courage

492
00:22:25,860 --> 00:22:27,930
to speak from their
hearts and are unafraid

493
00:22:27,930 --> 00:22:31,890
of demonstrating feeling,
empathy, vulnerability

494
00:22:31,890 --> 00:22:34,260
and these aspects of what it means

495
00:22:34,260 --> 00:22:37,860
to be a whole,
fully-integrated human being

496
00:22:37,860 --> 00:22:40,440
that has been discouraged
in the Western world

497
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,353
for the last 2,000 years at least.

498
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,470
And Robin Wall Kimmerer is
another one of those leaders

499
00:22:49,470 --> 00:22:52,140
who shows that integrated approach,

500
00:22:52,140 --> 00:22:53,040
and particularly in the way

501
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:58,040
that she masters the more
scientific, rational side

502
00:22:58,050 --> 00:23:02,280
along with a much more
sensitive, empathetic,

503
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,020
intuitive side.

504
00:23:04,020 --> 00:23:06,900
And Robin Wall Kimmerer
speaks to this concept

505
00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:08,730
of "living in place",

506
00:23:08,730 --> 00:23:10,890
and I think her voice
is particularly potent

507
00:23:10,890 --> 00:23:12,360
as an Indigenous person

508
00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:15,513
whose ancestors are from this
land and from this country.

509
00:23:16,620 --> 00:23:20,910
She says in the chapter
around becoming naturalized

510
00:23:20,910 --> 00:23:23,017
or indigenous to place:

511
00:23:23,017 --> 00:23:24,967
"Being naturalized to place

512
00:23:24,967 --> 00:23:28,537
"means to live as if this
is the land that feeds you,

513
00:23:28,537 --> 00:23:31,417
"as if these are the streams
from which you drink,

514
00:23:31,417 --> 00:23:33,997
"that builds your body
and feeds your spirit.

515
00:23:33,997 --> 00:23:36,937
"To become naturalized
is to know your ancestors

516
00:23:36,937 --> 00:23:38,767
"lie in this ground.

517
00:23:38,767 --> 00:23:40,207
"Here you will give your gifts

518
00:23:40,207 --> 00:23:42,217
"and meet your responsibilities.

519
00:23:42,217 --> 00:23:44,047
"To become naturalized is to live

520
00:23:44,047 --> 00:23:46,177
"as if your children's future matters,

521
00:23:46,177 --> 00:23:48,277
"to take care of the land as if our lives

522
00:23:48,277 --> 00:23:51,427
"and the lives of all our
relatives depend on it.

523
00:23:51,427 --> 00:23:53,457
"Because they do."

524
00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,040
And this reminds me of a
conversation that I had

525
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,920
as part of a panel at the
Resilient Vermont Conference.

526
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,430
I was part of a panel presentation,

527
00:24:05,430 --> 00:24:08,430
and this was at Norwich
University this past summer.

528
00:24:08,430 --> 00:24:12,870
And I was speaking as an herbalist

529
00:24:12,870 --> 00:24:16,020
and the ways that herbalist
are stewards of the land,

530
00:24:16,020 --> 00:24:20,340
and to my left was an
agricultural policy representative

531
00:24:20,340 --> 00:24:21,270
from rural Vermont,

532
00:24:21,270 --> 00:24:23,850
and to my right was a forest conservation

533
00:24:23,850 --> 00:24:26,430
and forest policy person.

534
00:24:26,430 --> 00:24:28,740
And getting back to that
earlier conversation

535
00:24:28,740 --> 00:24:33,150
about this ethic of old
school conservation,

536
00:24:33,150 --> 00:24:34,890
which really feels that the solution

537
00:24:34,890 --> 00:24:37,110
to conserving the landscape

538
00:24:37,110 --> 00:24:41,460
is to control human behavior
and often prevent humans

539
00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:44,640
from interacting with
these sacred wild places,

540
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:49,640
really became the predominant
conversation in the room.

541
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:51,570
And because I was present

542
00:24:51,570 --> 00:24:54,000
and also was asked to be a speaker,

543
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,077
I interjected and said,

544
00:24:56,077 --> 00:25:01,077
"I just want to speak to this discourse

545
00:25:01,777 --> 00:25:03,397
"and point out the fact

546
00:25:03,397 --> 00:25:05,467
"that there's long been this assumption

547
00:25:05,467 --> 00:25:07,237
"that a way to protect the environment

548
00:25:07,237 --> 00:25:08,617
"is to keep people out of it.

549
00:25:08,617 --> 00:25:11,557
"And I can see that as
a temporary strategy

550
00:25:11,557 --> 00:25:14,107
"as we move towards a more respectful way

551
00:25:14,107 --> 00:25:15,517
"of interacting with the environment,

552
00:25:15,517 --> 00:25:17,587
"but how do we, in the meantime,

553
00:25:17,587 --> 00:25:19,897
"create programs to reconnect people

554
00:25:19,897 --> 00:25:21,097
"to their natural environment

555
00:25:21,097 --> 00:25:23,557
"and ultimately to reconnect
them to their selves

556
00:25:23,557 --> 00:25:25,447
"in a way that they can learn

557
00:25:25,447 --> 00:25:30,447
"to walk respectfully and
reverently in our woods

558
00:25:30,487 --> 00:25:35,310
"in a way that moves away
from extractive behaviors?"

559
00:25:35,310 --> 00:25:37,680
So this is a question that
I wanna pose to all of you.

560
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:38,970
How do we do this?

561
00:25:38,970 --> 00:25:42,240
And is there a role that
herbal medicine can play

562
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,180
in restoring humans' connection

563
00:25:45,180 --> 00:25:49,440
and really their ability to
be naturalized to a place

564
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,590
rather than engaging in
an invasive, extractive,

565
00:25:52,590 --> 00:25:54,243
and destructive way?

566
00:25:56,910 --> 00:25:58,410
So community herbalism.

567
00:25:58,410 --> 00:26:00,120
We've been talking about herbal medicine

568
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:02,250
more in an individual scale,

569
00:26:02,250 --> 00:26:05,520
but what does herbalism look
like in a community setting?

570
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,200
And before I was an herbalist,

571
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,440
I was an activist not only
for environmental health,

572
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,590
environmental justice,
sustainable food systems,

573
00:26:13,590 --> 00:26:15,870
but also social justice in communities,

574
00:26:15,870 --> 00:26:18,930
and then, as I've come more
and more into herbalism,

575
00:26:18,930 --> 00:26:21,780
feeling really drawn to addressing issues

576
00:26:21,780 --> 00:26:24,060
of vulnerability in our
public health system,

577
00:26:24,060 --> 00:26:26,520
which we'll be talking
much more about next week.

578
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,380
And I believe that sustainable

579
00:26:28,380 --> 00:26:30,810
and healthy communities thrive

580
00:26:30,810 --> 00:26:33,180
when there's access to affordable,

581
00:26:33,180 --> 00:26:35,820
high-quality local medicine,

582
00:26:35,820 --> 00:26:39,600
and that plant-based medicine
is essential to this.

583
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:41,910
And this has become even more clear

584
00:26:41,910 --> 00:26:45,360
when we look at the COVID-19 crisis.

585
00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:46,980
And I think the most acute example

586
00:26:46,980 --> 00:26:48,510
is not here in the United States,

587
00:26:48,510 --> 00:26:51,210
but I was just speaking with a colleague

588
00:26:51,210 --> 00:26:54,990
who is watching a crisis in Bangladesh,

589
00:26:54,990 --> 00:26:58,020
and this is current news.

590
00:26:58,020 --> 00:27:01,770
In Bangladesh, they're having
their first COVID cases.

591
00:27:01,770 --> 00:27:05,037
They have stockpiled their medicines for,

592
00:27:05,037 --> 00:27:06,660
and their testing kits,

593
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:09,270
for COVID in one part of the town,

594
00:27:09,270 --> 00:27:12,510
and they're in the
middle of a huge typhoon.

595
00:27:12,510 --> 00:27:14,850
And not only are those supplies isolated

596
00:27:14,850 --> 00:27:17,010
because of the damage from the typhoon

597
00:27:17,010 --> 00:27:19,710
from being distributed to
the population that needs it

598
00:27:19,710 --> 00:27:22,350
to respond to the COVID cases,

599
00:27:22,350 --> 00:27:24,510
but there also are monkeys

600
00:27:24,510 --> 00:27:29,220
that are occupying the building
with the medical supplies,

601
00:27:29,220 --> 00:27:31,620
and the monkeys are making
it really difficult.

602
00:27:31,620 --> 00:27:32,453
They're being aggressive

603
00:27:32,453 --> 00:27:35,460
and preventing humans from
coming into the space.

604
00:27:35,460 --> 00:27:37,920
And to me, this is a really key example

605
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:39,720
of what happens in a population

606
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,580
when people forget or mistrust
the local plant medicines

607
00:27:44,580 --> 00:27:48,300
that are supportive for
immune and respiratory health.

608
00:27:48,300 --> 00:27:50,640
And part of the work I've
been doing here in Burlington

609
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,250
is to reestablish people's knowledge of,

610
00:27:53,250 --> 00:27:56,640
for example, using cedar as a lung steam

611
00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,800
to prevent bronchitis and pneumonia

612
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,150
as a secondary infection,

613
00:28:00,150 --> 00:28:02,790
which can lead to
COVID-related fatalities,

614
00:28:02,790 --> 00:28:07,050
and reminding people that
cedar grow all over the place.

615
00:28:07,050 --> 00:28:10,020
It's a very abundant
medicine and really effective

616
00:28:10,020 --> 00:28:13,950
for supporting respiratory
health in this case.

617
00:28:13,950 --> 00:28:16,923
So that's just a specific
example for our times right now.

618
00:28:17,850 --> 00:28:20,220
And this is also about
wellness sovereignty.

619
00:28:20,220 --> 00:28:22,410
So wellness sovereignty

620
00:28:22,410 --> 00:28:26,790
builds on the discourse
around food sovereignty

621
00:28:26,790 --> 00:28:28,770
and that it's not just about access.

622
00:28:28,770 --> 00:28:31,350
It's not just about access
to medical supplies.

623
00:28:31,350 --> 00:28:34,260
It's about access to medicine

624
00:28:34,260 --> 00:28:36,720
that aligns with your value system.

625
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,730
And value systems are complex.

626
00:28:38,730 --> 00:28:40,980
They're based on your cultural upbringing,

627
00:28:40,980 --> 00:28:43,680
to whatever extent you remember

628
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,500
and are connected to ancestral forms

629
00:28:46,500 --> 00:28:48,660
of medicine and healing practices.

630
00:28:48,660 --> 00:28:51,090
It connects with your
political value system.

631
00:28:51,090 --> 00:28:55,680
Are you someone who would
prefer to have dandelion leaf

632
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,640
as a diuretic to lower your blood pressure

633
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,430
rather than buying a
pharmaceutical diuretic

634
00:29:02,430 --> 00:29:05,280
that has a much higher carbon footprint

635
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,790
for being produced in a lab
and shipped across the country?

636
00:29:08,790 --> 00:29:13,790
So what types of wellness
strategies align with your values

637
00:29:14,430 --> 00:29:15,780
and are effective?

638
00:29:15,780 --> 00:29:18,150
And I think herbal medicine
is a great way for people

639
00:29:18,150 --> 00:29:23,150
to find joy in gathering food and medicine

640
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,260
that supports their health and wellbeing,

641
00:29:25,260 --> 00:29:28,140
and not only supports their bodies

642
00:29:28,140 --> 00:29:30,870
and the health and
wellbeing of their family,

643
00:29:30,870 --> 00:29:32,310
but also builds community.

644
00:29:32,310 --> 00:29:33,870
You can see, in all of these pictures,

645
00:29:33,870 --> 00:29:36,630
herbal medicine really lends itself-

646
00:29:36,630 --> 00:29:37,620
you know, pre-COVID,

647
00:29:37,620 --> 00:29:40,920
but we're finding ways to do
this with just six feet apart-

648
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:42,990
to be out in nature with other people,

649
00:29:42,990 --> 00:29:45,060
harvesting plant medicine.

650
00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:48,930
And there's something inherently
human about that practice,

651
00:29:48,930 --> 00:29:51,150
and I'm really delighted that
you're getting to do that

652
00:29:51,150 --> 00:29:52,683
as part of this class.

653
00:29:54,060 --> 00:29:55,350
The other important piece

654
00:29:55,350 --> 00:29:57,990
around connecting people to sense of place

655
00:29:57,990 --> 00:30:01,593
is that the idea of
connection requires presence.

656
00:30:02,610 --> 00:30:05,730
And I think we all have
felt this even more acutely

657
00:30:05,730 --> 00:30:06,870
in the time of COVID

658
00:30:06,870 --> 00:30:09,270
as we plug into our screens much more

659
00:30:09,270 --> 00:30:10,920
to connect to other people.

660
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,810
The idea of being in nature
with plants is an opportunity

661
00:30:15,810 --> 00:30:18,990
to restore a sense of
presence and mindfulness

662
00:30:18,990 --> 00:30:21,060
and being in our bodies.

663
00:30:21,060 --> 00:30:24,030
And this is a key part
of the embodied research

664
00:30:24,030 --> 00:30:26,460
that I'm inviting you to do.

665
00:30:26,460 --> 00:30:29,190
And the aromatic nervines, in particular.

666
00:30:29,190 --> 00:30:30,840
So lavender is one of my favorite.

667
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,390
But the aromatic nerve nervine herbs

668
00:30:33,390 --> 00:30:35,760
are any of the aromatic plants

669
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:40,530
that contribute to
aromatherapeutic benefits

670
00:30:40,530 --> 00:30:43,320
of restoring a certain sense of presence

671
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,060
in the nervous system.

672
00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:48,570
And you all have now read Guido
Mase's chapter on aromatics,

673
00:30:48,570 --> 00:30:51,060
so this is a bit of review.

674
00:30:51,060 --> 00:30:53,190
But these aromatic plants,

675
00:30:53,190 --> 00:30:54,630
one of the ways that they're effective

676
00:30:54,630 --> 00:30:58,500
is that they reset the
physiology of our nervous system

677
00:30:58,500 --> 00:31:02,310
back to a flexible,
resilient, responsive state.

678
00:31:02,310 --> 00:31:05,340
For those of you who have
studied nervous system physiology

679
00:31:05,340 --> 00:31:07,110
and the autonomic nervous system,

680
00:31:07,110 --> 00:31:10,530
basically, if you are
in fight or flight mode,

681
00:31:10,530 --> 00:31:12,480
in sympathetic nervous system mode,

682
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,210
they reset you back to sort of a midpoint

683
00:31:15,210 --> 00:31:18,750
so that you're able to
oscillate more flexibly

684
00:31:18,750 --> 00:31:21,120
between fight or flight
and rest and digest,

685
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:23,520
which is considered a
healthy nervous system.

686
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,140
And in times of stress,

687
00:31:25,140 --> 00:31:28,170
and I would say that
living in the 21st century

688
00:31:28,170 --> 00:31:32,430
already puts us often in
survival or fight or flight mode

689
00:31:32,430 --> 00:31:33,960
most of the time,

690
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,150
but certainly living through a pandemic

691
00:31:36,150 --> 00:31:38,130
is a more heightened version of that.

692
00:31:38,130 --> 00:31:39,900
So more and more,

693
00:31:39,900 --> 00:31:42,360
these aromatic nervine
herbs are really critical

694
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,580
for bringing us back into our bodies,

695
00:31:44,580 --> 00:31:47,103
bringing us back into the present moment.

696
00:31:48,420 --> 00:31:50,370
And heart rate variability.

697
00:31:50,370 --> 00:31:52,650
If you didn't understand that
part of Guido Mase's book,

698
00:31:52,650 --> 00:31:53,940
I invite you to go back and read it

699
00:31:53,940 --> 00:31:56,880
because his discussion
of heart rate variability

700
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,040
is really important.

701
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,610
And heart rate variability, or
high heart rate variability,

702
00:32:02,610 --> 00:32:04,590
is a state of being in which humans

703
00:32:04,590 --> 00:32:07,830
experience deep appreciation
and satisfaction,

704
00:32:07,830 --> 00:32:10,020
highly creative and adaptive thinking,

705
00:32:10,020 --> 00:32:13,593
and feelings of strong
connection to their environment.

706
00:32:14,700 --> 00:32:16,800
So the first point I wanna make here

707
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,280
is that when we care
for our nervous systems-

708
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,130
and plants are really wonderful
at helping us do that-

709
00:32:23,130 --> 00:32:26,550
we're much more able to connect
in a deep and meaningful way

710
00:32:26,550 --> 00:32:28,710
with our surrounding environment as well,

711
00:32:28,710 --> 00:32:30,690
and that could include other humans,

712
00:32:30,690 --> 00:32:32,910
but also the natural world.

713
00:32:32,910 --> 00:32:36,480
It also supports adaptive
thinking, creativity,

714
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:37,890
appreciation.

715
00:32:37,890 --> 00:32:41,970
These are qualities of a divine
feminine leadership style,

716
00:32:41,970 --> 00:32:44,100
which I think is strongly lacking

717
00:32:44,100 --> 00:32:47,280
in many of our primary
leaders in this country.

718
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,500
And I won't get too political,

719
00:32:49,500 --> 00:32:51,120
but most of the leaders,

720
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,090
even leaders who identify as women,

721
00:32:54,090 --> 00:32:56,040
are modeling a certain type

722
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,970
of toxic male style of leadership,

723
00:32:59,970 --> 00:33:01,290
which isn't responsive

724
00:33:01,290 --> 00:33:03,540
and isn't serving the
needs of the population

725
00:33:03,540 --> 00:33:04,890
and the needs of the earth.

726
00:33:07,290 --> 00:33:08,970
So your embodied plant research

727
00:33:08,970 --> 00:33:12,630
is a chance to practice experience.

728
00:33:12,630 --> 00:33:14,170
And this William Blake quote

729
00:33:15,870 --> 00:33:20,640
about experimentation through experience

730
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:23,580
is what this exercise is
really designed to do.

731
00:33:23,580 --> 00:33:24,630
So this is an excerpt

732
00:33:24,630 --> 00:33:29,010
from a previous student's
embodied plant research journal

733
00:33:29,010 --> 00:33:30,990
working with calendula.

734
00:33:30,990 --> 00:33:35,990
So getting close and
recording the fine details

735
00:33:36,810 --> 00:33:37,980
of these plants,

736
00:33:37,980 --> 00:33:40,020
and making medicine with them,

737
00:33:40,020 --> 00:33:42,330
and then using the medicine on your body

738
00:33:42,330 --> 00:33:45,840
is an opportunity to
establish a connection

739
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:47,583
with these plants in the environment

740
00:33:47,583 --> 00:33:49,260
in a really potent way.

741
00:33:49,260 --> 00:33:50,520
And I really invite you to,

742
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,140
as you're having these experiences,

743
00:33:52,140 --> 00:33:55,620
to reflect on how has your
connection to your own body,

744
00:33:55,620 --> 00:33:57,810
but also your connection to
your surrounding environment,

745
00:33:57,810 --> 00:34:00,153
deepened through these exercises.

746
00:34:01,470 --> 00:34:04,260
So I wanna speak a little
bit to some specific examples

747
00:34:04,260 --> 00:34:08,550
of how plant medicine
can support our society

748
00:34:08,550 --> 00:34:11,820
and our sense of community herbalism,

749
00:34:11,820 --> 00:34:13,590
our sense of wellness sovereignty,

750
00:34:13,590 --> 00:34:15,990
and our sense of place in our community.

751
00:34:15,990 --> 00:34:17,520
And I also wanna share an example

752
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:19,980
of how plant medicine supports our bodies

753
00:34:19,980 --> 00:34:23,430
to operate in a much more optimal fashion

754
00:34:23,430 --> 00:34:27,240
and therefore have a greater
capacity for connection

755
00:34:27,240 --> 00:34:30,780
and a greater capacity for
citizenship and activism.

756
00:34:30,780 --> 00:34:34,650
So first, I'm gonna speak
about this idea of whole food

757
00:34:34,650 --> 00:34:37,980
and the importance of
super foods as medicine

758
00:34:37,980 --> 00:34:41,490
as opposed to taking
vitamins or supplements

759
00:34:41,490 --> 00:34:42,740
for health and wellbeing.

760
00:34:43,860 --> 00:34:46,440
And the power of bioregional herbalism

761
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:48,960
is not just about phytochemistry-

762
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,450
although I am gonna talk
from a phytochemistry

763
00:34:51,450 --> 00:34:54,120
and very scientific lens soon-

764
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,730
but this idea of having herbs

765
00:34:56,730 --> 00:34:59,310
that come from the place where you live

766
00:34:59,310 --> 00:35:00,870
is really powerful.

767
00:35:00,870 --> 00:35:05,870
And this is based on the idea
that plants provide medicine

768
00:35:08,370 --> 00:35:11,220
in the form of secondary metabolites.

769
00:35:11,220 --> 00:35:14,190
So these are chemicals that
the plants are producing

770
00:35:14,190 --> 00:35:16,500
not for basic structure and function,

771
00:35:16,500 --> 00:35:20,040
but specifically to adapt
to their surroundings.

772
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,380
So a dandelion in a very dry place

773
00:35:22,380 --> 00:35:23,790
will have slightly different chemistry

774
00:35:23,790 --> 00:35:26,010
than a dandelion growing
in a very moist place

775
00:35:26,010 --> 00:35:28,680
because they're adapting
to the micro-climates

776
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,630
that they're existing in.

777
00:35:30,630 --> 00:35:33,300
And then when we consume that plant,

778
00:35:33,300 --> 00:35:34,890
it's the secondary metabolites

779
00:35:34,890 --> 00:35:39,890
that exhibit the pharmacological
reactions in our body.

780
00:35:39,900 --> 00:35:44,283
It's the secondary metabolites
that create plant medicine.

781
00:35:45,270 --> 00:35:48,630
So you could argue that when
you are consuming plants,

782
00:35:48,630 --> 00:35:50,340
and this could be vegetables as well,

783
00:35:50,340 --> 00:35:52,083
from your surrounding environment,

784
00:35:54,060 --> 00:35:57,690
you're embarking on a
biochemical conversation

785
00:35:57,690 --> 00:35:58,860
with those plants

786
00:35:58,860 --> 00:36:02,910
that give you clues about
your surrounding environment.

787
00:36:02,910 --> 00:36:05,700
So you could even say it's a
way to adapt to climate change,

788
00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:07,140
in some ways.

789
00:36:07,140 --> 00:36:09,090
So there's this power of consuming plants

790
00:36:09,090 --> 00:36:10,290
from your local environment,

791
00:36:10,290 --> 00:36:13,830
where you're not only
getting nutrient-dense food

792
00:36:13,830 --> 00:36:16,260
because you're choosing to consume plants,

793
00:36:16,260 --> 00:36:20,070
but the specific array of nutrients

794
00:36:20,070 --> 00:36:22,110
actually contributes to you

795
00:36:22,110 --> 00:36:25,293
being more biochemically
informed about your environment.

796
00:36:27,300 --> 00:36:29,730
And I wanna talk specifically
about super foods,

797
00:36:29,730 --> 00:36:31,170
which I consider to be similar

798
00:36:31,170 --> 00:36:33,990
to these tonic food-like herbs.

799
00:36:33,990 --> 00:36:35,550
So this is a nutrient-rich food

800
00:36:35,550 --> 00:36:37,470
considered to be especially beneficial

801
00:36:37,470 --> 00:36:39,810
for health and wellbeing.

802
00:36:39,810 --> 00:36:44,400
And some of my favorites
are the Brassicas,

803
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,440
the dark berries, garlic,

804
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,830
medicinal mushrooms,
such reishi or shiitake.

805
00:36:49,830 --> 00:36:53,820
And these are safe and food-like remedies.

806
00:36:53,820 --> 00:36:57,360
They often show up in
prominent ways on our plate.

807
00:36:57,360 --> 00:36:59,250
And they enhance function

808
00:36:59,250 --> 00:37:01,680
rather than directly treating disease.

809
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:03,600
So this is the idea of a tonic,

810
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:07,290
something like "an apple a
day keeps the doctor away",

811
00:37:07,290 --> 00:37:09,690
and it's often something
that isn't discussed

812
00:37:09,690 --> 00:37:11,130
in a conventional medical setting,

813
00:37:11,130 --> 00:37:14,310
which is very focused on treating disease.

814
00:37:14,310 --> 00:37:15,810
There is not as much of an emphasis

815
00:37:15,810 --> 00:37:18,363
on wellness and preventive healthcare.

816
00:37:20,580 --> 00:37:25,170
So specifically, I wanna talk
about berries as a super food.

817
00:37:25,170 --> 00:37:28,140
And this is a picture of
my son when he was three.

818
00:37:28,140 --> 00:37:30,750
So he's now nine. That's six years ago.

819
00:37:30,750 --> 00:37:33,180
But he was harvesting
berries from my backyard

820
00:37:33,180 --> 00:37:36,240
and bringing it to me because
I had just had knee surgery.

821
00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:39,060
And berries are a really
excellent source of vitamin C

822
00:37:39,060 --> 00:37:41,070
as well as anti-inflammatory properties.

823
00:37:41,070 --> 00:37:44,400
So he was bringing me medicine,

824
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,800
but it also suggests
the idea that medicine

825
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:51,800
is not just the encapsulation
of phytochemicals in a berry.

826
00:37:52,290 --> 00:37:55,020
It's also who is harvesting the medicine,

827
00:37:55,020 --> 00:37:58,170
who is bringing the medicine,
what is the context?

828
00:37:58,170 --> 00:37:59,820
And as you can imagine,

829
00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:03,610
my receptivity to berries from
my cute little three-year-old

830
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:09,032
is going to create a
different response in my body

831
00:38:09,032 --> 00:38:12,030
than if I had just bought some
from the store, for example.

832
00:38:12,030 --> 00:38:14,310
So that's an important consideration.

833
00:38:14,310 --> 00:38:16,050
But for the purposes of this conversation,

834
00:38:16,050 --> 00:38:18,270
I am gonna get rather reductionist

835
00:38:18,270 --> 00:38:20,700
and talk about the chemistry.

836
00:38:20,700 --> 00:38:23,910
So the chemistry that has been shown

837
00:38:23,910 --> 00:38:26,520
to be most potent in the berries

838
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:28,830
are these bioflavonoids.

839
00:38:28,830 --> 00:38:30,690
So this is the class of phytochemicals

840
00:38:30,690 --> 00:38:33,000
that are in all terrestrial plants.

841
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,450
They provide structure and sunscreen,

842
00:38:36,450 --> 00:38:41,190
and they are considered
anthocyanidins or anthocyanins,

843
00:38:41,190 --> 00:38:45,900
depending on if they've
been deglycosylated or not.

844
00:38:45,900 --> 00:38:48,360
And these are the red,
purple, and blue pigments.

845
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,670
So you all have seen these,

846
00:38:50,670 --> 00:38:55,350
and if you get curious or
have not done this before,

847
00:38:55,350 --> 00:38:58,950
these red, purple, blue
pigments respond to pH

848
00:38:58,950 --> 00:39:00,780
and shift their color.

849
00:39:00,780 --> 00:39:05,780
So they work essentially as a
signal to the animal kingdom

850
00:39:06,150 --> 00:39:10,230
that is consuming the seeds
and are seed dispersers.

851
00:39:10,230 --> 00:39:12,120
And as the fruit-

852
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:13,560
they're often in fruits-

853
00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:15,990
become ripe and sweet,

854
00:39:15,990 --> 00:39:17,850
they shift from red to blue.

855
00:39:17,850 --> 00:39:19,053
Think of a blueberry.

856
00:39:19,980 --> 00:39:21,600
And you can actually play around with this

857
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,700
if you have a little
bit of blueberry juice

858
00:39:23,700 --> 00:39:27,120
or cherry juice or elderberry syrup.

859
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,910
You can add lemon juice and
you can add baking soda,

860
00:39:29,910 --> 00:39:33,480
and as you shift the liquid
from acid to alkaline,

861
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,940
the color's going to shift as well.

862
00:39:35,940 --> 00:39:40,533
So it's a very simple
pH-based pigment pattern.

863
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,420
And the berries provide...

864
00:39:45,420 --> 00:39:48,210
We often think of berries as antioxidants.

865
00:39:48,210 --> 00:39:51,330
So this is a comparison of
the antioxidant capacity,

866
00:39:51,330 --> 00:39:55,050
which is basically their
capacity to quench free radicals,

867
00:39:55,050 --> 00:39:57,360
or unstable electrons,

868
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:00,210
that might be present in the environment.

869
00:40:00,210 --> 00:40:01,800
And as you can see,

870
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,620
elderberries, blueberries,
or aronia berries,

871
00:40:04,620 --> 00:40:07,350
which are all really
able to grow in Vermont

872
00:40:07,350 --> 00:40:09,720
and other temperate climates,

873
00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:13,650
have really high antioxidant capacity.

874
00:40:13,650 --> 00:40:18,650
And the part of me that wants
to push locally-grown berries

875
00:40:19,530 --> 00:40:21,000
is really happy with this chart,

876
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,420
because the more non-local berries,

877
00:40:24,420 --> 00:40:27,780
like the noni berries, the
goji berries, the cherries,

878
00:40:27,780 --> 00:40:29,220
aren't scoring quite as high.

879
00:40:29,220 --> 00:40:32,520
So don't just lean into
the exotic berries.

880
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:33,990
You can also grow the local ones

881
00:40:33,990 --> 00:40:36,690
and get the same potent medicine.

882
00:40:36,690 --> 00:40:38,580
But saying that barriers are antioxidants

883
00:40:38,580 --> 00:40:42,720
is really just speaking to one
small part of their benefit.

884
00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:45,210
They really act as a whole...

885
00:40:45,210 --> 00:40:47,970
In a complex human body,

886
00:40:47,970 --> 00:40:51,360
they act in a really
complex and holistic way

887
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,730
to prevent oxidative damage in the body.

888
00:40:53,730 --> 00:40:57,393
And I'm gonna speak specifically
to cardiovascular disease.

889
00:40:58,350 --> 00:41:00,870
So cardiovascular disease

890
00:41:00,870 --> 00:41:04,350
is one of the leading causes
of death in this country.

891
00:41:04,350 --> 00:41:06,450
The disease of atherosclerosis,

892
00:41:06,450 --> 00:41:08,010
or the hardening of the arteries,

893
00:41:08,010 --> 00:41:10,320
the formation of plaques in the arteries,

894
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,510
leads to heart attack

895
00:41:12,510 --> 00:41:14,820
when blood flow is occluded
to the heart muscle

896
00:41:14,820 --> 00:41:19,820
or stroke when blood flow is
is blocked to feed the brain.

897
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:23,370
And I find that most of
the general population

898
00:41:23,370 --> 00:41:26,850
doesn't understand how
plaque formation happens.

899
00:41:26,850 --> 00:41:28,260
There's usually some understanding

900
00:41:28,260 --> 00:41:30,090
that it has to do with cholesterol,

901
00:41:30,090 --> 00:41:32,940
and that's why people are taking
cholesterol-blocking drugs.

902
00:41:32,940 --> 00:41:33,900
So I wanna take a moment

903
00:41:33,900 --> 00:41:37,740
to just explain the
physiology and the etiology,

904
00:41:37,740 --> 00:41:40,620
pathophysiology of atherosclerosis

905
00:41:40,620 --> 00:41:41,970
or cardiovascular disease,

906
00:41:41,970 --> 00:41:45,660
and then explain specifically
how the flavonoids in berries

907
00:41:45,660 --> 00:41:46,680
help to prevent it

908
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:49,410
because I think it's
important to know all of that

909
00:41:49,410 --> 00:41:50,850
as a citizen in this country

910
00:41:50,850 --> 00:41:53,310
where that disease is so prevalent.

911
00:41:53,310 --> 00:41:56,160
So plaque formation is essentially

912
00:41:56,160 --> 00:42:00,210
in response to irritation
in the blood vessels.

913
00:42:00,210 --> 00:42:03,540
So when we have high blood sugar,

914
00:42:03,540 --> 00:42:06,660
which is related to
diet, but also to stress,

915
00:42:06,660 --> 00:42:09,690
when we are consuming poor-quality fats,

916
00:42:09,690 --> 00:42:11,373
such as fried foods,

917
00:42:12,420 --> 00:42:15,180
and when we have high blood pressure.

918
00:42:15,180 --> 00:42:16,680
All of those are stressors

919
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:20,640
on the inner lining of the arteries.

920
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:24,090
And the way the body responds
to irritation over time

921
00:42:24,090 --> 00:42:26,580
is to form essentially a bandaid,

922
00:42:26,580 --> 00:42:29,130
or something like a callous on your foot,

923
00:42:29,130 --> 00:42:29,973
or a plaque.

924
00:42:30,870 --> 00:42:32,040
An important thing to point out

925
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:35,970
is that the primary ingredient
in the plaque is cholesterol.

926
00:42:35,970 --> 00:42:38,010
So cholesterol is used as a building block

927
00:42:38,010 --> 00:42:39,780
for plaque formation.

928
00:42:39,780 --> 00:42:42,830
And when I learned about
cardiovascular disease

929
00:42:42,830 --> 00:42:43,950
in herbalism school,

930
00:42:43,950 --> 00:42:46,447
my herbalism teacher Larken Bunce said,

931
00:42:46,447 --> 00:42:48,097
"Think about this situation:

932
00:42:48,097 --> 00:42:50,617
"Blaming cholesterol for heart disease

933
00:42:50,617 --> 00:42:53,737
"is like when you're
driving by a car accident

934
00:42:53,737 --> 00:42:55,087
"on the side of the highway

935
00:42:55,087 --> 00:42:57,037
"and there are ambulances there,

936
00:42:57,037 --> 00:42:59,757
"and you blame the ambulances
for the car accident."

937
00:43:01,260 --> 00:43:04,590
Cholesterol is not the root
cause of heart disease.

938
00:43:04,590 --> 00:43:06,990
It's actually showing up to
try and help the situation

939
00:43:06,990 --> 00:43:09,270
after it's gotten off course.

940
00:43:09,270 --> 00:43:11,070
The root cause of heart disease-

941
00:43:11,070 --> 00:43:13,530
and this is now well
substantiated in the literature-

942
00:43:13,530 --> 00:43:16,140
is a combination of poor diet and stress

943
00:43:16,140 --> 00:43:19,050
and inflammation in the vasculature.

944
00:43:19,050 --> 00:43:20,370
So we're gonna talk a little bit more

945
00:43:20,370 --> 00:43:21,780
about chronic inflammation

946
00:43:21,780 --> 00:43:24,450
and the role that it
plays in many diseases

947
00:43:24,450 --> 00:43:27,270
throughout this course
because it's really important.

948
00:43:27,270 --> 00:43:28,530
But I wanna talk specifically

949
00:43:28,530 --> 00:43:31,290
about how the flavonoids in berries

950
00:43:31,290 --> 00:43:34,380
help to prevent this
process of plaque formation

951
00:43:34,380 --> 00:43:37,080
and ultimate blockage in the arteries.

952
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:38,340
So first of all,

953
00:43:38,340 --> 00:43:39,960
flavonoids and berries have been shown

954
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,820
in the primary academic literature

955
00:43:41,820 --> 00:43:46,260
to tone and protect the
lining of the arteries.

956
00:43:46,260 --> 00:43:49,560
It's basically a process of thickening

957
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:52,320
and making the arteries more resilient

958
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:55,320
and less prone to irritation and damage.

959
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:56,190
And they've actually shown

960
00:43:56,190 --> 00:43:59,340
that a regular diet and
exposure to flavonoids

961
00:43:59,340 --> 00:44:01,800
actually thickens the arterial lining

962
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,230
in a way that is supportive to health

963
00:44:04,230 --> 00:44:06,483
and helps to prevent plaque formation.

964
00:44:07,500 --> 00:44:10,590
The flavonoids in berries
also promote relaxation

965
00:44:10,590 --> 00:44:11,550
of arterial walls.

966
00:44:11,550 --> 00:44:14,040
And this photo down below
of Hawthorne berries,

967
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:15,813
taken on UVM campus,

968
00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,040
is an example of a plant that is effective

969
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:21,750
for lowering blood pressure

970
00:44:21,750 --> 00:44:24,630
when taken in relatively large doses,

971
00:44:24,630 --> 00:44:28,230
like a spoon full of
Hawthorne jam every day.

972
00:44:28,230 --> 00:44:30,810
And relaxation of the arterial walls

973
00:44:30,810 --> 00:44:32,970
helps to prevent some
of the mechanical damage

974
00:44:32,970 --> 00:44:35,020
that can happen from high blood pressure.

975
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:38,130
The flavonoids and berries,

976
00:44:38,130 --> 00:44:39,690
because they're antioxidants,

977
00:44:39,690 --> 00:44:43,530
they can also prevent the
oxidation of fats in the blood,

978
00:44:43,530 --> 00:44:45,630
the blood lipids, and
specifically the LDL,

979
00:44:45,630 --> 00:44:48,423
which is correlated with heart disease.

980
00:44:49,410 --> 00:44:53,220
These berries have a mild
anti-clotting effect.

981
00:44:53,220 --> 00:44:55,710
So a lot of times heart
disease, heart attack,

982
00:44:55,710 --> 00:44:58,590
and stroke can be caused by a clot,

983
00:44:58,590 --> 00:45:02,460
and not only does plaque
formation occlude the arteries,

984
00:45:02,460 --> 00:45:04,860
but there's also a process that can happen

985
00:45:04,860 --> 00:45:08,730
where the blood becomes
more prone to clotting.

986
00:45:08,730 --> 00:45:11,760
And so clots can also
make the problem worse.

987
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:13,470
So there's a mild anti-clotting effect

988
00:45:13,470 --> 00:45:16,230
provided by the flavonoids
in dark berries.

989
00:45:16,230 --> 00:45:17,940
Garlic or ginger

990
00:45:17,940 --> 00:45:20,760
actually has a really
potent anti-clotting effect.

991
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,580
So that's another super
food that could be employed.

992
00:45:23,580 --> 00:45:26,610
And these berries are
anti-inflammatory at multiple levels.

993
00:45:26,610 --> 00:45:28,920
And what I mean from a
physiological perspective

994
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:31,980
is that they're anti-inflammatory
at the tissue level.

995
00:45:31,980 --> 00:45:33,540
I just described a couple of examples

996
00:45:33,540 --> 00:45:36,720
that refer to kind of the
tissue and organ level.

997
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:38,850
But they also are anti-inflammatory

998
00:45:38,850 --> 00:45:40,770
through the epigenetic level

999
00:45:40,770 --> 00:45:42,690
and actually interacting
with the machinery

1000
00:45:42,690 --> 00:45:43,920
in the cell nucleus

1001
00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:48,480
to produce proteins and
a certain environment

1002
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:49,380
in the cell nucleus

1003
00:45:49,380 --> 00:45:54,380
that is anti-inflammatory
rather than pro-inflammatory.

1004
00:45:54,420 --> 00:45:56,550
And Guido talks a little
bit more about that

1005
00:45:56,550 --> 00:45:59,133
in his chapter on tonics in your textbook.

1006
00:45:59,970 --> 00:46:02,040
There's also a role that dark berries play

1007
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:04,440
in increasing insulin sensitivity.

1008
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:05,610
So insulin is related

1009
00:46:05,610 --> 00:46:08,280
to the body's processing of blood sugar.

1010
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:11,190
And if there's less blood sugar

1011
00:46:11,190 --> 00:46:13,470
or sugar being stored in the blood

1012
00:46:13,470 --> 00:46:15,690
and the insulin helps the sugar move

1013
00:46:15,690 --> 00:46:19,020
from the blood into the cells
and the tissues of the body,

1014
00:46:19,020 --> 00:46:21,840
then there's gonna be
less damage from sugar

1015
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:23,880
in the arteries.

1016
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:28,560
And much of the research
related to heart disease

1017
00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:30,120
and the strongest evidence

1018
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:31,710
based from the perspective

1019
00:46:31,710 --> 00:46:33,870
of the primary scientific literature

1020
00:46:33,870 --> 00:46:35,340
speaks to Hawthorne berry.

1021
00:46:35,340 --> 00:46:37,950
So Hawthorne is this photo here.

1022
00:46:37,950 --> 00:46:40,170
It's in the rose and the apple family,

1023
00:46:40,170 --> 00:46:43,260
and there are about 50 Hawthorne trees

1024
00:46:43,260 --> 00:46:45,240
growing on UVM campus.

1025
00:46:45,240 --> 00:46:48,510
And I hope to share some photos with you

1026
00:46:48,510 --> 00:46:49,980
as the class progresses,

1027
00:46:49,980 --> 00:46:52,680
but will definitely be sharing
a video of Hawthorne berries

1028
00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:55,533
that Beyla and I produced last semester.

1029
00:46:57,420 --> 00:46:59,310
So an important thing about super foods

1030
00:46:59,310 --> 00:47:01,980
is that they really only
work if you can digest them

1031
00:47:01,980 --> 00:47:03,780
and prepare them adequately.

1032
00:47:03,780 --> 00:47:06,990
So I wanna speak a little
bit to medicine-making

1033
00:47:06,990 --> 00:47:10,623
for enhanced bioavailability
of these flavonoids.

1034
00:47:11,460 --> 00:47:14,100
And often, the traditional
way of preparing them

1035
00:47:14,100 --> 00:47:16,230
actually aligns with the bioavailability,

1036
00:47:16,230 --> 00:47:21,230
so making jam, making
syrup, making blueberry pie.

1037
00:47:21,900 --> 00:47:25,350
The heat, and ideally, using berries

1038
00:47:25,350 --> 00:47:26,970
that have been previously frozen

1039
00:47:26,970 --> 00:47:28,770
and then putting them into a pie

1040
00:47:28,770 --> 00:47:30,600
is the best way to use it.

1041
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:34,440
These flavonoids are caught
up in the cell walls,

1042
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:38,370
or inside the cells of
the skins of the berries,

1043
00:47:38,370 --> 00:47:39,960
in many cases.

1044
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:43,023
So the freeze-thaw and
the heating process,

1045
00:47:44,578 --> 00:47:46,230
the shifts in kinetic energy

1046
00:47:46,230 --> 00:47:48,090
actually helps to break open to cell walls

1047
00:47:48,090 --> 00:47:50,910
and release those
flavonoids into the matrix

1048
00:47:50,910 --> 00:47:53,670
so that they can be better
absorbed in your gut.

1049
00:47:53,670 --> 00:47:58,083
So aiming for frozen or
processed as jam or syrup.

1050
00:47:58,950 --> 00:48:02,400
The dose is about 1/3 of a cup daily.

1051
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,610
I prefer wild blueberries
because they are smaller

1052
00:48:05,610 --> 00:48:10,260
and therefore have more
skin-to-flesh ratio.

1053
00:48:10,260 --> 00:48:12,810
If you think about a smaller berry,

1054
00:48:12,810 --> 00:48:14,640
then there's gonna be much more skin

1055
00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:16,650
in 1/3 of a cup of wild blueberries

1056
00:48:16,650 --> 00:48:18,510
than 1/3 of a cup of
conventional blueberries

1057
00:48:18,510 --> 00:48:20,790
because there's so much
more pulp and flesh

1058
00:48:20,790 --> 00:48:23,460
in the fatter, big, plump berries.

1059
00:48:23,460 --> 00:48:25,560
And then combining with pungent.

1060
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:27,870
So herbal pungent,

1061
00:48:27,870 --> 00:48:29,010
you know, there are things like garlic

1062
00:48:29,010 --> 00:48:31,230
which don't actually blend
very well with berries,

1063
00:48:31,230 --> 00:48:33,480
but things like ginger and cinnamon,

1064
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:36,660
which are traditionally
included in elderberry syrups

1065
00:48:36,660 --> 00:48:37,920
and blueberry pies,

1066
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,130
actually help by warming the digestion,

1067
00:48:41,130 --> 00:48:44,820
slightly irritating the
skin of the digestive tract

1068
00:48:44,820 --> 00:48:46,590
and bringing blood flow to the area

1069
00:48:46,590 --> 00:48:49,290
to help better absorb these flavonoids,

1070
00:48:49,290 --> 00:48:51,900
which are actually quite
hard to absorb on their own.

1071
00:48:51,900 --> 00:48:54,150
So having something warm and spicy

1072
00:48:54,150 --> 00:48:55,623
helps to absorb them better.

1073
00:48:57,180 --> 00:48:59,790
So the main takeaway with super foods-

1074
00:48:59,790 --> 00:49:02,220
and I have taught an entire
class on super foods,

1075
00:49:02,220 --> 00:49:04,410
this is just a a subset of it-

1076
00:49:04,410 --> 00:49:06,750
is that these foods are super

1077
00:49:06,750 --> 00:49:09,570
at reducing chronic inflammation.

1078
00:49:09,570 --> 00:49:13,860
So they help to prevent these patterns of,

1079
00:49:13,860 --> 00:49:16,710
really, ultimately,
irreversible tissue damage

1080
00:49:16,710 --> 00:49:18,720
that can happen over time,

1081
00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:21,270
often related to stress and poor diet

1082
00:49:21,270 --> 00:49:22,320
and certain lifestyles

1083
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:25,173
that are ultimately
damaging to our tissues.

1084
00:49:26,010 --> 00:49:27,180
And this is really important

1085
00:49:27,180 --> 00:49:31,800
in a time where many of
the degenerative disease

1086
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:34,260
that our population is suffering from

1087
00:49:34,260 --> 00:49:37,170
has its root in chronic inflammation.

1088
00:49:37,170 --> 00:49:39,810
And I spoke a little
bit in the last video,

1089
00:49:39,810 --> 00:49:41,340
which was produced before COVID,

1090
00:49:41,340 --> 00:49:44,460
that COVID is an infectious disease,

1091
00:49:44,460 --> 00:49:47,850
but there's a correlation
between these complications

1092
00:49:47,850 --> 00:49:50,670
of high blood pressure and diabetes

1093
00:49:50,670 --> 00:49:52,860
increasing risk of death from COVID.

1094
00:49:52,860 --> 00:49:56,790
So, they're definitely related,

1095
00:49:56,790 --> 00:50:00,060
and you could say that these
chronic inflammatory diseases

1096
00:50:00,060 --> 00:50:03,390
are a risk factor as far
as the severity of COVID

1097
00:50:03,390 --> 00:50:05,043
in this time of the pandemic.

1098
00:50:09,660 --> 00:50:11,163
Just gonna pause for a second.

1099
00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:18,360
So not only is there
complexity to the pharmacology

1100
00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:20,190
of how plants interact with our bodies,

1101
00:50:20,190 --> 00:50:23,580
but to me, I see it as
a grace and a beauty

1102
00:50:23,580 --> 00:50:25,890
that really comes out of the way

1103
00:50:25,890 --> 00:50:29,130
that humans and plants
have co-evolved together.

1104
00:50:29,130 --> 00:50:33,000
And our bodies really
have evolved with plants,

1105
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:34,050
with plants being sort

1106
00:50:34,050 --> 00:50:37,140
of the first living
organisms on this earth

1107
00:50:37,140 --> 00:50:40,230
and then animals emerging from plants

1108
00:50:40,230 --> 00:50:42,180
in this constant reciprocal relationship

1109
00:50:42,180 --> 00:50:43,980
that started with just the exchange

1110
00:50:43,980 --> 00:50:48,210
of carbon dioxide and
oxygen in that relationship.

1111
00:50:48,210 --> 00:50:49,830
There's also this idea that I mentioned

1112
00:50:49,830 --> 00:50:52,290
about local plants helping us to adapt

1113
00:50:52,290 --> 00:50:56,310
to our local environmental conditions,

1114
00:50:56,310 --> 00:50:58,730
and so seeing our local plants as allies

1115
00:50:58,730 --> 00:51:00,963
in that bioregional adaptation.

1116
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:05,370
And I think that thinking about
these traditional remedies

1117
00:51:05,370 --> 00:51:08,310
for a modern public health context

1118
00:51:08,310 --> 00:51:09,573
is also relevant as well

1119
00:51:09,573 --> 00:51:14,040
when we're thinking about
individual and family-level health

1120
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:17,010
and local food as medicine

1121
00:51:17,010 --> 00:51:20,460
as well as a source of
sustenance for our bodies.

1122
00:51:20,460 --> 00:51:22,980
And I love this quote from Guido's book

1123
00:51:22,980 --> 00:51:24,577
which you'll get to encounter later:

1124
00:51:24,577 --> 00:51:27,397
"The tonic, in its most positive sense,

1125
00:51:27,397 --> 00:51:30,697
"is an expression of love from
the plant world to our own.

1126
00:51:30,697 --> 00:51:33,427
"It is evidence of our coevolution.

1127
00:51:33,427 --> 00:51:34,357
"Everywhere we look,

1128
00:51:34,357 --> 00:51:35,827
"we find locks in our bodies

1129
00:51:35,827 --> 00:51:38,967
"that are opened by
these botanical allies."

1130
00:51:40,530 --> 00:51:41,970
And I wanna share some examples

1131
00:51:41,970 --> 00:51:46,110
about the ways that community herbalism

1132
00:51:46,110 --> 00:51:50,100
and plant-based medicine and local food

1133
00:51:50,100 --> 00:51:52,830
are enhancing at least
the Burlington community

1134
00:51:52,830 --> 00:51:57,330
in the ways that I have found
to incorporate herbal medicine

1135
00:51:57,330 --> 00:52:00,960
into my work in social
and environmental justice

1136
00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:02,850
and community health and wellbeing.

1137
00:52:02,850 --> 00:52:04,620
And as I'm sharing these examples,

1138
00:52:04,620 --> 00:52:07,800
I really invite you to
share some of your own.

1139
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:09,330
You can be jotting them down

1140
00:52:09,330 --> 00:52:12,000
and also adding them to the
class discussion platform,

1141
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,670
but I'd really like to be
building a list of examples

1142
00:52:14,670 --> 00:52:17,190
from all of the communities
that you call home

1143
00:52:17,190 --> 00:52:21,990
of ways that plant medicine,
and even food as medicine,

1144
00:52:21,990 --> 00:52:25,380
is relevant to your surroundings as well.

1145
00:52:25,380 --> 00:52:27,480
So I mentioned in the intro presentation

1146
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:31,380
that I'm part of a long
tradition of Vermonters,

1147
00:52:31,380 --> 00:52:33,240
starting with Adele Dawson,

1148
00:52:33,240 --> 00:52:35,190
who was a teacher for Rosemary Gladstar.

1149
00:52:35,190 --> 00:52:36,750
And Rosemary Gladstar was a teacher

1150
00:52:36,750 --> 00:52:39,690
for my Vermont Center
for Integrative Herbalism

1151
00:52:39,690 --> 00:52:41,310
class teachers, including Guido,

1152
00:52:41,310 --> 00:52:43,950
who's the author of "The
Wild Medicine Solution".

1153
00:52:43,950 --> 00:52:44,850
You'll also have a chance

1154
00:52:44,850 --> 00:52:47,070
to learn from Carl Brokenhorse Koehler,

1155
00:52:47,070 --> 00:52:49,830
who is a Seneca medicine keeper.

1156
00:52:49,830 --> 00:52:52,380
And Carl and I first started out

1157
00:52:52,380 --> 00:52:55,290
as herbalist colleagues
learning from each other.

1158
00:52:55,290 --> 00:52:56,790
I came to his class first.

1159
00:52:56,790 --> 00:52:57,900
He heard a little bit about me,

1160
00:52:57,900 --> 00:52:59,790
started coming to my classes.

1161
00:52:59,790 --> 00:53:01,350
And we've now crafted a friendship,

1162
00:53:01,350 --> 00:53:03,720
which includes being in the woods together

1163
00:53:03,720 --> 00:53:04,740
and doing wildcrafting,

1164
00:53:04,740 --> 00:53:06,510
but also teaching workshops together.

1165
00:53:06,510 --> 00:53:10,500
So you'll get a chance to
learn from Carl in a few weeks.

1166
00:53:10,500 --> 00:53:15,090
And so seeing my sense of
place rooted through herbalism

1167
00:53:15,090 --> 00:53:17,370
and other people in my community

1168
00:53:17,370 --> 00:53:19,770
that are plant lovers, plant advocates,

1169
00:53:19,770 --> 00:53:22,950
and also advocates for human health

1170
00:53:22,950 --> 00:53:24,903
and wellbeing and social justice.

1171
00:53:26,340 --> 00:53:28,920
One of the ways that I started,

1172
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:30,360
this was actually something I started

1173
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:34,830
in my final year of herbalism
school back in 2013,

1174
00:53:34,830 --> 00:53:38,310
was creating a herbal "CSA",

1175
00:53:38,310 --> 00:53:41,160
so "community-supported herbalism",

1176
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:45,360
which is based on the
model of farm share CSA,

1177
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:49,170
where members join an
organization or a farm

1178
00:53:49,170 --> 00:53:50,730
at the beginning of the season,

1179
00:53:50,730 --> 00:53:55,590
and then, as members, they get
shares throughout the season.

1180
00:53:55,590 --> 00:53:57,990
So this has now been
running for five years now,

1181
00:53:57,990 --> 00:54:00,750
our herbal CSA through Spoonful Herbals.

1182
00:54:00,750 --> 00:54:02,700
To me, this was an opportunity to,

1183
00:54:02,700 --> 00:54:04,020
through providing remedies

1184
00:54:04,020 --> 00:54:06,990
such as elderberry syrup and wound salve

1185
00:54:06,990 --> 00:54:10,710
and bundles of sun tea in
the middle of the summer,

1186
00:54:10,710 --> 00:54:12,570
it's an opportunity to introduce people

1187
00:54:12,570 --> 00:54:16,350
to how easy and delicious
plant medicine is.

1188
00:54:16,350 --> 00:54:19,203
And these are all
locally-crafted plant plants.

1189
00:54:20,040 --> 00:54:23,550
It's really just a way to
introduce them to what's possible

1190
00:54:23,550 --> 00:54:26,880
and then provide recipes and
inspiration and information

1191
00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:29,610
so that they can start
to build these practices

1192
00:54:29,610 --> 00:54:33,330
into their own toolkit
and into their own lives.

1193
00:54:33,330 --> 00:54:35,310
And I've absolutely seen that happening.

1194
00:54:35,310 --> 00:54:37,800
A number of our CSA members
from the previous years

1195
00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:39,270
are now making their own batches

1196
00:54:39,270 --> 00:54:41,430
of fire cider and elderberry syrup

1197
00:54:41,430 --> 00:54:43,710
and encouraging their
neighbors to do the same.

1198
00:54:43,710 --> 00:54:46,440
So this idea of wellness sovereignty

1199
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:51,440
as a ripple effect of
skill-sharing and re-skilling

1200
00:54:52,590 --> 00:54:53,640
is really important,

1201
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:56,580
and also, again, this idea of embodied.

1202
00:54:56,580 --> 00:55:00,120
I don't just want to teach
herbalism to people's brains.

1203
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:03,900
I want them to also taste
these plant preparations

1204
00:55:03,900 --> 00:55:06,540
and really experience it at that level

1205
00:55:06,540 --> 00:55:09,360
because that's the fundamental
place where change happens,

1206
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:11,710
is when we actually start
consuming the plants.

1207
00:55:13,890 --> 00:55:16,320
After the first year of offering the CSA

1208
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:17,400
where it was just myself

1209
00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:20,790
and one of my herbalism
classmates, Rachael Keener,

1210
00:55:20,790 --> 00:55:25,380
we were pretty exhausted
producing 40 bottles of,

1211
00:55:25,380 --> 00:55:27,000
15 different bottles of....

1212
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:29,670
Well, so it was 40 bottles of 15 remedies.

1213
00:55:29,670 --> 00:55:32,373
So multiply that. That's
a lot of medicine.

1214
00:55:33,270 --> 00:55:37,440
And ultimately, realizing
that many of our CSA members

1215
00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:39,090
wanted to learn how to make the medicine.

1216
00:55:39,090 --> 00:55:40,890
So we started an apprenticeship program,

1217
00:55:40,890 --> 00:55:43,350
and it was at this time that
Rachael transitioned out

1218
00:55:43,350 --> 00:55:44,970
and my colleague Kara Buchanan,

1219
00:55:44,970 --> 00:55:47,430
who's my coworker at Spoonful Herbals,

1220
00:55:47,430 --> 00:55:50,670
started the Community Herbalism
Apprenticeship Program.

1221
00:55:50,670 --> 00:55:51,503
So this was really

1222
00:55:51,503 --> 00:55:55,200
just employing herbal medicine enthusiasts

1223
00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:57,870
who wanted to learn about
growing and harvesting

1224
00:55:57,870 --> 00:56:00,900
and making plant medicine.

1225
00:56:00,900 --> 00:56:04,890
They became sort of our labor
force for creating the CSA.

1226
00:56:04,890 --> 00:56:07,920
So this is a teaching
and work study program.

1227
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:10,470
There's a photo of us on Lake Champlain

1228
00:56:10,470 --> 00:56:12,060
out at Rock Point Beach,

1229
00:56:12,060 --> 00:56:13,710
braiding sweet grass that we've grown

1230
00:56:13,710 --> 00:56:15,060
in the garden together.

1231
00:56:15,060 --> 00:56:16,440
And that's the sweet grass

1232
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:19,320
that came in your home medicine kits,

1233
00:56:19,320 --> 00:56:21,510
which you should save for
the last week of class,

1234
00:56:21,510 --> 00:56:23,043
if you can bear it.

1235
00:56:24,030 --> 00:56:27,870
So this is a really great place
to build those deeper skills

1236
00:56:27,870 --> 00:56:29,070
of wellness sovereignty.

1237
00:56:29,070 --> 00:56:31,830
So not just elderberry
syrup works for a cold,

1238
00:56:31,830 --> 00:56:33,960
but here's how to identify elderberry,

1239
00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:36,570
here's how to harvest it
and when to harvest it,

1240
00:56:36,570 --> 00:56:38,100
here's how to make it into medicine,

1241
00:56:38,100 --> 00:56:40,230
here's how to store it for my family,

1242
00:56:40,230 --> 00:56:42,810
and hey, I can teach my
neighbors how to do this.

1243
00:56:42,810 --> 00:56:44,970
So the vision of Spoonful Herbals

1244
00:56:44,970 --> 00:56:48,600
is really to keep that skill-sharing going

1245
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:51,543
so that the population has
this level of knowledge.

1246
00:56:52,980 --> 00:56:56,280
I also was noticing just an
abundance of plant medicine

1247
00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:00,030
that was growing on
organic farms in Vermont

1248
00:57:00,030 --> 00:57:01,950
in the form of weeds,

1249
00:57:01,950 --> 00:57:03,540
also on UVM campus.

1250
00:57:03,540 --> 00:57:04,560
That's me on the right

1251
00:57:04,560 --> 00:57:07,800
harvesting Hawthorne flowers from Votey.

1252
00:57:07,800 --> 00:57:09,600
And some of those trees were taken down

1253
00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:10,740
in the recent construction,

1254
00:57:10,740 --> 00:57:13,890
but there are still a few
Hawthorne trees around Votey

1255
00:57:13,890 --> 00:57:16,170
and more around Marsh Life Science.

1256
00:57:16,170 --> 00:57:18,750
So this idea of medicinal plant gleaning

1257
00:57:18,750 --> 00:57:21,207
and a partnership we
have with Salvation Farms

1258
00:57:21,207 --> 00:57:23,820
and their Vermont Gleaning Collective.

1259
00:57:23,820 --> 00:57:25,200
We are the only organization

1260
00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:28,410
that's supporting gleaning
of medicinal plants.

1261
00:57:28,410 --> 00:57:31,830
There are many food gleaning
organizations in Vermont,

1262
00:57:31,830 --> 00:57:35,250
but with the idea of
closing a distribution gap

1263
00:57:35,250 --> 00:57:36,810
and acknowledging that
there's an abundance

1264
00:57:36,810 --> 00:57:38,580
of plant medicine in the landscape,

1265
00:57:38,580 --> 00:57:41,490
and if we can bring a lot of volunteers,

1266
00:57:41,490 --> 00:57:42,330
folks who are interested

1267
00:57:42,330 --> 00:57:45,090
in learning about
harvesting herbal medicine,

1268
00:57:45,090 --> 00:57:47,430
to a site and harvest it,

1269
00:57:47,430 --> 00:57:50,970
provide the infrastructure
for drying and processing it.

1270
00:57:50,970 --> 00:57:52,950
And a lot of our local herbs get sold

1271
00:57:52,950 --> 00:57:56,430
to Railyard apothecary at market price.

1272
00:57:56,430 --> 00:58:00,840
And I hope I'll get to
show you some comparisons.

1273
00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:03,660
A lot of the quality of the
herbs that we're able to provide

1274
00:58:03,660 --> 00:58:07,170
because they're harvested with such care

1275
00:58:07,170 --> 00:58:09,750
and they're processed really effectively,

1276
00:58:09,750 --> 00:58:12,750
we have much higher quality of herbs

1277
00:58:12,750 --> 00:58:16,170
than what can be bought
in the marketplace.

1278
00:58:16,170 --> 00:58:18,810
Things like the red clover
that you buy in the marketplace

1279
00:58:18,810 --> 00:58:21,840
often looks more brown rather
than the purple-red clover

1280
00:58:21,840 --> 00:58:25,533
that you'll see in the campus
herb walk video this week.

1281
00:58:27,150 --> 00:58:28,770
So it's exceptional quality

1282
00:58:28,770 --> 00:58:29,820
but at the same price

1283
00:58:29,820 --> 00:58:32,220
as what they would be paying market rate.

1284
00:58:32,220 --> 00:58:35,340
And it's also a way to just
make that local medicine

1285
00:58:35,340 --> 00:58:37,530
available to the local community.

1286
00:58:37,530 --> 00:58:40,200
We're also in a new partnership right now,

1287
00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:42,600
led by Carl Brokenhorse

1288
00:58:42,600 --> 00:58:47,600
and his activist colleague
and friend Arthur Blackhawk,

1289
00:58:47,970 --> 00:58:51,330
creating a new initiative
called Free Pharm,

1290
00:58:51,330 --> 00:58:53,190
spelled P-H-A-R-M.

1291
00:58:53,190 --> 00:58:56,040
And that's specifically working
with local Indigenous groups

1292
00:58:56,040 --> 00:58:58,620
and leaders in the Abenaki community

1293
00:58:58,620 --> 00:59:02,220
to provide opportunities
for medicinal plant gleaning

1294
00:59:02,220 --> 00:59:05,400
for Indigenous people that
are living here in Vermont,

1295
00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:06,690
and not only providing them

1296
00:59:06,690 --> 00:59:10,200
with access to clean lands
for harvesting their medicine

1297
00:59:10,200 --> 00:59:12,330
if they don't have access to it,

1298
00:59:12,330 --> 00:59:15,300
but also harvesting
culturally-appropriate medicines

1299
00:59:15,300 --> 00:59:16,860
and processing it for them

1300
00:59:16,860 --> 00:59:19,200
so that they can use medicines

1301
00:59:19,200 --> 00:59:21,573
that feel culturally appropriate for them.

1302
00:59:23,700 --> 00:59:26,250
And then, of course, Railyard Apothecary,

1303
00:59:26,250 --> 00:59:29,730
which helped me to produce
your home health kits

1304
00:59:29,730 --> 00:59:31,200
and ship them out.

1305
00:59:31,200 --> 00:59:34,320
I'm one of the co-founders
of Railyard Apothecary.

1306
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:36,270
Guido and I are the original founders,

1307
00:59:36,270 --> 00:59:40,020
and then we've since recruited
other amazing herbalists

1308
00:59:40,020 --> 00:59:43,410
to work with us there at the
clinic in the apothecary.

1309
00:59:43,410 --> 00:59:47,640
And this is really designed
to be a hub year-round

1310
00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:49,260
for this type of movement.

1311
00:59:49,260 --> 00:59:51,300
So providing the herbs

1312
00:59:51,300 --> 00:59:54,510
in a really delightful retail setting.

1313
00:59:54,510 --> 00:59:56,490
There's also a browsing library,

1314
00:59:56,490 --> 00:59:58,800
where you can go and sit and have free tea

1315
00:59:58,800 --> 01:00:03,800
and read the library books once
we reopen from the pandemic.

1316
01:00:04,050 --> 01:00:07,140
And a lot of classes right
now available online,

1317
01:00:07,140 --> 01:00:10,620
but in person once we reopen,

1318
01:00:10,620 --> 01:00:14,550
that is really around
supporting this concept

1319
01:00:14,550 --> 01:00:17,790
of plant-based wellness and social justice

1320
01:00:17,790 --> 01:00:19,233
and herbal justice.

1321
01:00:21,810 --> 01:00:25,290
So all of these just connect
to a vibrant local food

1322
01:00:25,290 --> 01:00:27,630
and a local medicine system,

1323
01:00:27,630 --> 01:00:29,040
which is something that I've been trying

1324
01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:30,210
to cultivate for years,

1325
01:00:30,210 --> 01:00:32,370
and we're just at the beginning here.

1326
01:00:32,370 --> 01:00:33,870
There are many other initiatives

1327
01:00:33,870 --> 01:00:36,810
that my herbalist and activist colleagues

1328
01:00:36,810 --> 01:00:38,130
are engaged in here in Burlington.

1329
01:00:38,130 --> 01:00:40,860
These are just a few
that I'm contributing to

1330
01:00:40,860 --> 01:00:43,980
and have been involved
in leading directly.

1331
01:00:43,980 --> 01:00:45,990
There's also Jeff and Melanie Carpenter,

1332
01:00:45,990 --> 01:00:47,190
pictured here on the right,

1333
01:00:47,190 --> 01:00:50,280
who I worked with them several years ago

1334
01:00:50,280 --> 01:00:55,110
to create Vermont Herb Growers Co-Op.

1335
01:00:55,110 --> 01:00:58,020
So this was a way for
folks who are farmers

1336
01:00:58,020 --> 01:00:59,700
who are growing medicinal plants

1337
01:00:59,700 --> 01:01:03,420
to team up together, ensure
a certain level of quality,

1338
01:01:03,420 --> 01:01:06,060
and aggregate their
supply into larger batches

1339
01:01:06,060 --> 01:01:09,690
so they can sell to big companies,
such as Urban Moonshine.

1340
01:01:09,690 --> 01:01:12,030
So also trying to create a market

1341
01:01:12,030 --> 01:01:14,310
for producers of herbal medicine.

1342
01:01:14,310 --> 01:01:15,750
So there's lots of different ways

1343
01:01:15,750 --> 01:01:17,280
that you can look at a system,

1344
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:19,680
look for opportunities and threats,

1345
01:01:19,680 --> 01:01:23,130
and try and create and
strengthen that system,

1346
01:01:23,130 --> 01:01:26,160
which is like probably a lifetime of work,

1347
01:01:26,160 --> 01:01:28,773
and I'm only about five
or six years into that.

1348
01:01:31,170 --> 01:01:33,183
There's the distribution system.

1349
01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:37,620
And I wanna end here with a quote

1350
01:01:37,620 --> 01:01:39,630
and then some more resources.

1351
01:01:39,630 --> 01:01:43,020
And this is a quote from D.H. Lawrence,

1352
01:01:43,020 --> 01:01:47,100
and of course ending with
this beautiful sunset here

1353
01:01:47,100 --> 01:01:48,423
over the ridgeline.

1354
01:01:49,670 --> 01:01:51,847
"Oh, what a catastrophe,

1355
01:01:51,847 --> 01:01:54,397
"what a maiming of love
when it was made a personal,

1356
01:01:54,397 --> 01:01:56,647
"merely personal feeling.

1357
01:01:56,647 --> 01:01:59,617
"taken away from the rising
and the setting of the sun,

1358
01:01:59,617 --> 01:02:01,507
"and cut off from the magic connection

1359
01:02:01,507 --> 01:02:03,727
"of the solstice and the equinox.

1360
01:02:03,727 --> 01:02:06,577
"This is what is the matter with us.

1361
01:02:06,577 --> 01:02:08,287
"We are bleeding at the roots,

1362
01:02:08,287 --> 01:02:12,127
"because we are cut off from
the earth and sun and stars,

1363
01:02:12,127 --> 01:02:13,777
"and love is a grinning mockery,

1364
01:02:13,777 --> 01:02:15,967
"because, poor blossom,

1365
01:02:15,967 --> 01:02:18,997
"we plucked it from its
stem on the tree of Life,

1366
01:02:18,997 --> 01:02:21,367
"and expected it to keep on blooming

1367
01:02:21,367 --> 01:02:24,357
"in our civilized vase on the table."

1368
01:02:28,590 --> 01:02:30,750
So I wanted that quote to land with you

1369
01:02:30,750 --> 01:02:33,840
before sharing what it means to me.

1370
01:02:33,840 --> 01:02:37,080
And to me, this is a
fundamental piece of herbalism.

1371
01:02:37,080 --> 01:02:40,200
It's that, is acknowledging
this disconnection

1372
01:02:40,200 --> 01:02:42,330
from ourselves and from the natural world

1373
01:02:42,330 --> 01:02:46,833
that modern life continues to encourage.

1374
01:02:47,700 --> 01:02:51,630
And herbal medicine to
me is a modern pathway

1375
01:02:51,630 --> 01:02:54,360
back to being connected to the earth

1376
01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:57,120
and being connected to our bodies.

1377
01:02:57,120 --> 01:02:59,910
And it opens up lots of cans of worms,

1378
01:02:59,910 --> 01:03:01,320
as you'll find in this class.

1379
01:03:01,320 --> 01:03:04,440
And I'm grateful for your
patients and your courage

1380
01:03:04,440 --> 01:03:07,113
for engaging with these
issues as we move forward.

1381
01:03:08,460 --> 01:03:10,680
But my hope is that herbal medicine

1382
01:03:10,680 --> 01:03:14,040
is about all of you finding
your roots in some way

1383
01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:16,473
as you engage with these plant teachers.

1384
01:03:17,790 --> 01:03:21,750
So here's some resources to
get involved beyond this class,

1385
01:03:21,750 --> 01:03:23,640
which I highly encourage.

1386
01:03:23,640 --> 01:03:27,090
The UVM Herb Club is an
active club on campus,

1387
01:03:27,090 --> 01:03:30,300
and Beyla, the TA, can provide
more information about that

1388
01:03:30,300 --> 01:03:31,800
if you're not already involved.

1389
01:03:31,800 --> 01:03:33,480
There is a Facebook group,

1390
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:35,700
and they were meeting weekly on campus.

1391
01:03:35,700 --> 01:03:38,430
I'm not sure if they've continued
to meet with the pandemic,

1392
01:03:38,430 --> 01:03:41,250
but definitely something to
look for in the fall semester,

1393
01:03:41,250 --> 01:03:43,620
either online or otherwise.

1394
01:03:43,620 --> 01:03:44,520
Railyard, I mentioned,

1395
01:03:44,520 --> 01:03:46,620
as a resource for ongoing
classes and events,

1396
01:03:46,620 --> 01:03:48,450
and they do offer a student discount

1397
01:03:48,450 --> 01:03:50,520
for their classes and events.

1398
01:03:50,520 --> 01:03:52,800
You can check out Spoonful Herbals.

1399
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:54,120
I think that's actually...

1400
01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:55,470
You've already looked at the website

1401
01:03:55,470 --> 01:03:57,420
'cause it was assigned
to you as a reading,

1402
01:03:57,420 --> 01:03:58,500
but that's where you can find out

1403
01:03:58,500 --> 01:04:01,290
more about some of our programs

1404
01:04:01,290 --> 01:04:06,030
to promote access and connection
to backyard plant medicine.

1405
01:04:06,030 --> 01:04:08,280
And then, if you're interested in,

1406
01:04:08,280 --> 01:04:09,390
I definitely encourage you

1407
01:04:09,390 --> 01:04:11,790
to do a one-on-one
consultation at some point

1408
01:04:11,790 --> 01:04:13,950
around specific wellness goals

1409
01:04:13,950 --> 01:04:17,010
or specific health concerns
that you might have.

1410
01:04:17,010 --> 01:04:20,490
And they're essentially
personalized wellness lessons

1411
01:04:20,490 --> 01:04:21,843
with a focus on herbs.

1412
01:04:22,710 --> 01:04:25,080
I don't see my students as clients,

1413
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:28,410
and I'm actually not
seeing clients this summer

1414
01:04:28,410 --> 01:04:30,270
because I'm home with my son

1415
01:04:30,270 --> 01:04:32,190
and have limited time to see clients,

1416
01:04:32,190 --> 01:04:33,780
but I would encourage you

1417
01:04:33,780 --> 01:04:36,450
to set up a remote consultation
with one of my colleagues

1418
01:04:36,450 --> 01:04:39,330
if you're interested in
getting more information.

1419
01:04:39,330 --> 01:04:42,720
And there's sliding scale
clinical consultations

1420
01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:46,500
available through the
Vermont Herb Center, .org,

1421
01:04:46,500 --> 01:04:51,500
which is basically conducted
by clinical herbalist interns,

1422
01:04:51,570 --> 01:04:53,520
so students who are in their final year

1423
01:04:53,520 --> 01:04:55,320
of learning to be a clinical herbalist.

1424
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:59,400
Guido is one of the
instructors and supervisors

1425
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:00,810
of that clinic,

1426
01:05:00,810 --> 01:05:02,940
and that's a great way to get information,

1427
01:05:02,940 --> 01:05:05,820
but they also offer
herbs on a sliding scale.

1428
01:05:05,820 --> 01:05:10,140
So you can get that
information for 10 or $20.

1429
01:05:10,140 --> 01:05:12,390
You can get a full
comprehensive wellness consult.

1430
01:05:12,390 --> 01:05:13,890
So something to look into

1431
01:05:13,890 --> 01:05:16,190
if that's something that
you're interested in.

1432
01:05:17,160 --> 01:05:19,980
And with that, I'm gonna
end this presentation,

1433
01:05:19,980 --> 01:05:22,740
and I look forward to your
thoughts and discussions

1434
01:05:22,740 --> 01:05:24,333
on the class discussion board.

1435
01:05:25,230 --> 01:05:26,793
Thanks, everyone, and be well.