Hello,
T. minuta
This is a story of magic and plant faeries who I don't even believe in most of the time, stalking me and heaving wild beauty and blessings into my life. Yet, I do believe; I believe with all my heart. My mind is the skeptic and I'm grateful for it. The inner mechanical engineering work that I seem to most need at this time is listening to and trusting the Mental component of my intuition. My heart is chronically excessively open and it is not a boon to my life at all. Then again, I can also overhtink things to the point of feeling utterly frozen. Which is to say that there is no right way forward or inward.
T. minuta
This is the medicine that flooded my limbic system upon crushing and inhaling the volatile organic compounds and other constituent chemicals of a leaf of Tagetes minuta this morning. So onward to the plant and our history as allies.
T. minuta
We first met in my head. You see, I love to prepare and share and eat Ceviche. Wanting to up my skills, I searched for variations in traditional recipes one day and came upon the use of the herb known in Peru as Huacatay and in el norte as Peruvian black mint. Of course, I had to research it and I learned that it is not a mint at all, but Tagetes minuta which is essentially a wild marigold. Some of it's powerful chemistry is shared with mint plants creating an only slight (to my senses) overlap in smell and flavor and I assume that is why it is called a "mint". Looking at photos and reading a bit more about it's other applications in Peruvian cuisine, stirred up a strong desire in me to know this herb.
T. minuta
Two days later, ceviche already made and consumed, we met in the garden under the first rays of the day's sunlight. Truthfully, I could not believe my eyes, but my nose I couldn't deny. How had I never come across them before? Were they not growing on my farm until then, the 5th year that I'd been there? Possibly. In fact, they could not have been, as I am an obsessive smeller. In particular, I break off bits of plants to crush and sniff. The perfume of tagetes minuta would have sent me immediately seeking the wisdom of the knowledgeable local Wild Medicinals and Edibles Ladies...By the way when I did bring an example to share with a whole group of 20 or so, none of them had come across it in our area, in their lifetimes.
T. minuta
Many plants have felt like "special someones" to me over the years. And I think that people can be likewise to the plants as well. Since leaving the old farm I've felt a bit sad to not have managed to bring any seeds along, nor encounter this plant growing wild in the various locations where I'd been working and living...until now! For so many years, my deepest desire has been to have a home that is my own, without someone putting unachievable conditions on my peace of mind, physical and emotional well-being...to simply feel at ease in my own home.
T. minuta
Falling for someone who presents as a new friend only to land on my face and taste the same gravel I am already familiar with...I can do without it anymore. I used to say that I would rather be open-hearted and vulnerable and get hurt...than...than what?
Well, now I understand that what I need is to cultivate the ferocious guard dog yard-bitch part of my own personality. I am the mother now, to the vulnerable little girl who I am as well and I've got to advise myself and heed my own warnings. Okay so uncollapsing the notions of "judgementalism" and discernment; step one. The one has in fact, little to do with the other and discernment in fact requires an open-heart, even when the incoming data informs a warning that someone ought not be trusted with access to your softness, so to speak. (Haven't I been here before?)
T. minuta
So far so good over the past 9 days at the new home. So good..how good? The closest neighbors are super-friendly, open, warm and kind. They have invited me to come to church with them and I think I will. I'm not religious, yet I've been known to frequent different religious centers simply because I was invited and find it to usually be loving and enjoyable...and if not, then I just won't go back. Sikh church is perhaps my favorite and I miss my Didi Varinder and going to services, preparing food and all of the other women from my hometown Sikh community. These new neighbors have invited me to drink mate with them in the mornings and shared fruit from their trees, a whole heap of mandioca to cook, parsley plants to plant, and a big little acerola cherry tree. Their goats now call out to me when I come out my door in the morning. I'm telling myself it is friendship as well and not just that they hope I will bring them a snack.
T. minuta
First plant that got my hopes up, but is NOT Tagetes minuta
BUUUUT, This new friend is the edible and medicinal Erechtites valerianifolius. It was a much younger one, easier to mistake, that I first sniffed to discover the difference. Upon finding a more mature plant, I thought it might be Valerian...Maybe someone else had the same experience??? and that is why it is called valerianifolius...?
Among other new friends one is particularly enthusiastic about arranging to have private yoga lessons and for me to be able to teach classes in a lovely spot in her building. Her enthusiasm is contagious, but I am also going to need to complete this residency process first so that I can obtain a license, so that I can drive there. Taking a taxi from the farm and back is too expensive unless I were able to book a minimum of 6 private lessons per day, and that simply would not be sustainable for me anyhow. And the bus station is a long walk which is fine on the way out, but not in the dark return...And also not a reliable source of transportation here. Bueno, ok.
From six years working towards self-suffiecient living, "off the grid," it's been a long while I haven't taught yoga or any other sort of fitness training but my confidence in returning to that would be fine. As for massage therapy, I just really can't hack it anymore. Ideally and time best spent, seems I ought to be documenting the project on the farm here as we are developing, and making video content out of the other things that I have to offer such as yoga and meditation. As far as that goes, it seems that another new friend will maybe help me out a bit and in exchange, I'll help her to navigate HIVE for herself.
This post is taking me an entire second day to finish now, so I'll wrap it up. I'll have to translate to spanish tomorrow i think as I'm pretty worthless once the sun goes down and that time is nigh.
Then these last few photos are of another plant that had fooled me initially, but isn't T. minuta, and whose name I seem to have forgotten. It's getting dark again...goodbye mind of mine.
Thanks for giving a hoot. Take it easy.
Kisses. I wrote this and made these photographs. And there is an app called Leaf Snap, that is sometimes helpful in plant identification, sometimes not at all. hahaha ciao ciao.