Photo by Robert Blankenship, 18 March, 2015. Downtown Princeton Community Garden
After having been rescheduled twice, my first workshop on the use of medicinal plants came to fruition on Tuesday, March 17. This is a milestone in my independent study, which was designed to increase my community's access to medicinal plants, facilitating the transfer of lessons from our country's best botanical medicine practitioners to southern West Virginia. It is an honor to present traditional and practical uses for medicinal plants to my beloved community.
The presentation focused on the use of medicinal plants for cold & flu, touching briefly on joint pain relief at the request of a few people. Each of the plants presented are easily accessible to this community. Most of the plants are native to or naturalized in West Virginia (and are coming soon to the community garden), but a few such as ginger and turmeric are easily accessible from the grocery store. Samples of each individual plant were distributed among the class participants for close observation as we discussed its indications. Each of the remedies that were prepared were sampled with gusto. Some of the plants such as Zingiber officinale were sampled in simple form.
The workshop was warmly received. It was a good turnout, especially considering the fact that the event was rescheduled twice due to severe weather. I am happy to report that on the evening of St. Patrick's Day 2015, 35 people donned green and gathered for this experience. Audience participation was strong and the experience was rewarding.
After the class, many of the participants took a quick stroll across the street to Dayfly Books and Collectibles where we celebrated St. Pat with a warm atmosphere, great company and live music. It was there that I heard of audience commentary, that after tasting several of the remedies and medicinal plants, participants were already feeling better by the end of the class.
I am fairly new to this community, but what I have witnessed so far is astounding: This community is strong and vibrant - fiercely creative, and watching the energy grow around medicinal plants and the people who care for them... leaves me at a loss for words.
The workshop on medicinal plants was hosted by the Princeton Renaissance Project (PRP), a local chapter of Blueprint Communities, which is an organization dedicated to the revitalization of core communities, downtowns and traditional neighborhood districts. The event was also hosted by the First United Methodist Church on Mercer Street, whose pastor and parishioners have been actively supportive of our community garden and the Princeton Renaissance Project. It has been such a pleasure to bring medicinal plants to PRP and its community garden. The interest in medicinal plants in Princeton is growing, and I am glad!
Photo by Robert Blankenship, 18 March, 2015. Downtown Princeton Community Garden
There’s more: This presentation on medicinal plants was included as the first of six annual required seminars for the Grow Appalachia Sprouts of Pipestem (GASP) program. The Grow Appalachia program is founded by John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Patron Spirits Company and Paul Mitchell hair products, in partmership with Berea College. It is a program that began as a response to food security issues in Appalachia. GASP provides families with free seeds, tools, and labor to help increase our community's access to healthy food. All the program asks in return is that the participants attend the workshops, grow organically, record and report the food produced, and sell surplus at the market. It sounds like a win-win-win situation to me, so this program is going to help me turn my lawn into a garden for food and medicinals. I am thrilled that they decided to include my presentation as one of its workshops! The other participants in the GASP program that attended are excited about incorporating medicinal plants in their gardens and learning how to use them.
Clearly, I have much to be thankful for. Among the audience were representatives from GASP; my bee friend and president of the Mercer County Beekeepers Association Ken Cole, who answered many of the participants' questions about honey; our downtown community garden captain, Loren; and the pastor of First United Methodist Church who graciously offered up his facilities for the event. There were many others who brought their curiosity and enthusiasm for these wonderful plants and I just can’t even express how happy I am that these people participated. I was a little worried that people would hesitate to sample the formulas, but actually they were more eager than I could ever expect!
Snapshot of the setup before the class began
The following is a link to the newspaper article about community outreach, indicating the original date of the presentation (before it got rescheduled the first time!):
http://www.ptonline.net/gallery/new-resident-getting-involved-in-princeton-community/article_77f1882e-b3a0-11e4-a1d8-bf956b8628bb.html
Princeton Renaissance Project master Lori McKinney says that WVVA called her asking for an interview about the "medicine garden." We do not have one yet, but I am happy to be introducing medicinals to the garden this year and showing my lovely community how to use them. Here is a link to WVVA's interview about our community garden:
http://www.wvva.com/story/28596053/a-new-garden-in-princeton-is-open-to-everyone
Clearly, there is much to be thankful for. This weekend I begin my internships in the Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH) medicinal garden and the MUIH dispensary, where alumni practitioners turn to fill their botanical prescriptions. This work is exciting and I can't wait to bring it all back home to southern West Virginia.
