Fireweed is the queen of the clearcut. It’s the king of the forest fire. This plant is one of the most widespread in the Northern hemisphere, and one of the first to show up in any disturbed area. As if by magic, fireweed takes over, helping to green these areas again and stabilize the soil.
Hawthorne is the plant I am most careful to bring gifts to. There is a lot of folklore surrounding this thorny tree. It’s heart medicine. In herb school, my teacher told us a story about a woman who cut down a hawthorne tree and subsequently had a heart attack. She warned us to watch out if you ever wanted to harm one. It’s a magic tree.
By Larkin Schmiedl of Forest Heart Botanicals, embodying everything about this season on Salt Spring Island. It's uplifting. The licorice fern root and nutrient dense spring herbs come through giving you all the good feels. This precious blend was hand-gathered among the faeries who make their homes in old growth giants of the Pacific temperate rainforest.
There’s a special excitement that comes with nettle’s emergence in the spring since it’s one of the first herbal medicines and wild foods we can harvest each year. Nettle is abundant, easily recognizable and very useful.
