The first weekend in October we met near
Orangeville to focus our learning on roots. The nights had grown longer and the
temperature had dropped considerably since our still summery meeting in early
September. With these seasonal changes, we knew that the energy of the plants
was moving downwards, under the soil. As
we gathered Saturday morning, we were jolted by strong winds that battered
around us and blew through the many layers we each wore. Since we were on a private property, a home
and horse farmed owned by good friends of Alexis, we ducked into the barn to
circle together and start our day.
Back out in the fields, the wind was
fierce. We dug up plantain roots along our
way, then found a sheltered hollow in tall grass which shielded us from the
wind. From this we made forays out to
dig and gather plants such as nettle and catnip, and pulled out some field
guides to help us answer pressing questions.
We moved through the property, finding plants along the way, but the
winds pushed us on. Eventually we
decided to cross the road and tuck ourselves into a forested area off the Boyne
Valley. We were grateful for the shelter
and ate some lunch to refuel. After
lunch we took advantage of the relative warmth to each sit with a plant and
learn something from it. 
I found myself sitting under a maple
focusing on a tiny Herb Robert plant, feeling questions and anxieties of the
previous week slipping away from me in the space and silence of the forest,
admiring both the delicacy and the resilience of the intricately-leafed plant. As
we came back together, we shared stories of what we had learned sitting with
the plants, what spaces the forest had opened up in us. We spent some more time
focusing on digging: milkweed, burdock, dandelion, and – very conscientiously –
a couple of blue cohosh plants. We marveled at how different each of the roots
was, wondered what that told us about each plant, and speculated about how fascinating
it would be to try to identify the different plants by only looking at their
roots.
We finished our day back in the barn,
washing the earthy roots in basins of warm and cold water, warming ourselves
up, and tincturing the roots of our choice to take home. We were grateful for shelter and the promise
of our warm homes that night!
The second day of our roots weekend was
spent in a forest in Dufferin County, an area we had not previously
explored. Much of the morning we spent
very close to where our cars were parked, exploring and digging in the richness
of the forest soil. We carved some
digging sticks out of a small maple sapling to help us in our efforts. We
traced the long rhizomes of sarsaparilla, which link whole colonies of plants
together; examined the segmented appearance of the roots of false Solomon’s
seal; and admired the incredible tenacity of the deep taproots of burdock,
which tested the limits of our own perseverance and digging tools.  |
| Seeds of Wild Leeks |
Lunch was spent around a fire, resting and
sharing songs together; our afternoon was spent exploring, wandering and
digging more roots. A strange and
unexpected moment was finding an ancient Volkswagen rusting and decomposing in
the middle of the woods – this find inspired much speculation and many stories! We also spent time digging up spruce roots,
useful for basket making and other traditional crafts, with Judy pulling out an
impressively long rope of root; and took some time to rest and talk about our plant-related
projects and research. |
| Spruce Roots |
Written by: Malgosia Halliop - 2nd year Plants A
pprentice
