Allies played with as a child - who was yours?

[kelli]

I have been thinking lately about the herbs that have been with me since childhood.
Roaming the field behind our house I would play with dandelion, ribwort, pokeroot and shepards purse.
So my question is, who did you play with as a child?
Or what lead you to this path?


Kelli

[RoseRed]

Rose and dandelion. Same as today - go figure. Thank you for reminding me to think of this.

[teatime]

oh plantain! i loved plantain as a child. she was one of my favorite friends. and still is. roses were always good to me too. i talked about the roses i would visit as a kid in the rose thread. hmmmm.... which other? dandelions were always nice too. does anyone else remember making dandelion head dresses? those were some of my favorites, all of the still are.

[Jadeswan]

What a great thread!

Yarrow was a friend of mine as a child. I loved her smell and used to gently crush a few ferny leaves and sniff them. I also loved how the leaves would stay green down close to the ground all winter. One year when I was seven I gathered yarrow "for the winter" and laid it out in baskets to dry. If only the grownups had known how valuable it is they would have bagged it up and kept it.

I also played with rose a lot. I would make little fairy dolls by sticking rose petals on a tiny stick to be the fairy skirts. Sometimes I would pick a rose and use it as a cup. It was some kind of ritual for me to drink from a rose.

I also loved dandelions and would lie on my stomach and lick the nectar and pollen from the middle of dandelion flowers without even having to pick them.

I also used to snack on sorrel and shepherd's purse.

Interestingly enough, yarrow was the plant that really drew me towards herbalism in my teens. I'd gotten athlete's foot at the pool and I read somewhere that yarrow would help. I gathered some wild yarrow right from our yard, made an infusion and soaked my feet. I only did it twice but the athlete's foot went away. My mom had a cold and so she drank some of the infusion too. It was really strong and I told her I just made for soaking not for drinking but she drank it, sputtering all the while. It helped her cold too. I was intrigued and began to study all I could about herbs. Yarrow is still one of my very favorite herbs.

[Lady Alinor]

A huge part of my childhood was spent in the Mojave Desert of Southern California and what I remember most from that area was the Joshua Trees and their 'poison' tipped needles that would numb which ever part of our bodoies that came into contact with it
Once the parents dragged us kicking and screaming back to Utah I found Spearmint and with every move, I would take that plant spirit with me. She was my first and to this day she still has a place in my garden and heart!

[Lindsey]

I had kind of a spiritual reverence for Lilacs when I was growing up. It was a ritual for me to take some to the grave of my uncle, who died 10 days before I was born. They were always blooming right around that time, which also happened to be around memorial day so it seemed appropriate.

When I was very very young I liked to play with Snapdragons, and I still think about them often. I remember having a respect for small white Morning Glories, which I called Moon flowers. It bothered me that people thought they were weeds when they were so obviously flowers, same with Dandelion. There was also a certain root I used to dig up and eat but I have no idea what it was. Yucca plants were always around, and sagebrush.

I used to wait until the whole household was asleep then sit on the kitchen counter and open all the jars in the spice cupboard and smell them and read the labels. I just knew that the herbs could do...something... if only I could figure them out. The one I loved the smell of most was Tarragon. It smelled so magical to me.

The first time I realized that herbs were medicinal was when I was at my grandma's house with a cold and she had me drink Thyme tea. Within minutes I could breathe better and I thought it was miraculous! Now I think of Thyme like an elder.

[Rie]

Dandelion and Daisies.

[Kimberly60]

Honeysuckle and some type of clover? (The one that gets purple and white tops?) one dad always cussed, then went for the weed spray..... I hated it when he would do that

[Allie]

Mint is one that stands out. My grandmother had mint in her garden and we would pick pieces and snack on it all time.

Interestingly enough mint is still one of my top favorites and grows all over my property.

[cory su]

Dandelion & Chives : )

[treewicca]

plantain and fennel and californian poppies. i would walk home from school and pick weeds from gardens and overgrown places on the way, filling my lunchbox. i really loved to linger in the abandoned sections and where roadsides became overgrown banks. i also spent alot of time up apple and kowhai trees.

[Lady Alinor]

I've been doing some reading...Ethno-Botany...and I've come to the conclusion that it would be interesting to learn about my allies ancient history/memory.
I feel it would create a deeper understanding of their Spirits, Lives, and Gifts.

[feathersong]

Mint was a favorite of mine and a chewing gum substitute. Dandelion and tree mushrooms (fungi) most definitely had my attention as well. Love this topic....fun!

[meesha]

Great topic! I actually am planning a blog post on this!
My allies: lemon wood sorrel- used to eat it all the time, I loved the lemony flavor; oriental bittersweet- purple and yellow tiny flowers, soo pretty and mysterious; and morning glory. Interesting 2 of my childhood allies have poisonous attributes.

[teratorn]

QAL was my favorite as a child. I loved its scent, wrote poetry about its beauty, and once wove a garland of it for my hair. My best friend and I made lots of herbal and weed "soups" under the front porch (to go with the mud pies of course). We tossed everything in there: milkweed pods, QAL roots, clover, plaintain, black caps and blackberries, grass, wild chives, etc. We often would let it ferment for days to see how stinky we could make it. I also remember tying myself a doll out of fine grasses that grew in a moist part of the yard, and bringing reeds home from the edge of the creek to use as poles for my teepee. Jewelweed was fun because of the popping seedpods, but we never had any clue about its usefulness with regards to poison ivy and nettles. Got plenty of nettle stings in my childhood, but never minded a bit. It was just part of the whole experience of romping about in the natural world. I loved chewing on wild spearmint leaves down by the creek, looking for four-leafed clovers, sucking nectar out of red clover, holding buttercups under each other's chins (what was that supposed to indicate?), drinking in the smell of dandelions when I pulled them apart, collecting beechnuts and acorns, and playing "he loves me, he loves me not" with daisies.