Finally, after a long winter with more snow than anyone alive in my neighborhodd has ever seen the little green shoots are poking up through the crust of the Earth with their verdent green smile. The mountain is carpeted with blooming Trillium, soon to be followed by the lovely Bloodroot. Chickweed is everywhere! If you have Chickweed in your garden don’t kill it, eat it! It is a wonderful lymphatic cleanser that nature puts out right after a more sedentary winter lull. The system has gotten sluggish. It is not a coincidence that greens such as dandelion, nettles and chickweed are the first to be popping up. Time to do our spring cleanse. Here is a nice spring drink I make that helps to clear away some of the winter cob webs. I drink it every day for a good month while these plants have their new vibrant youthful energetic energy.

Spring Cleaning Tonic

This is a good tonic that you can drink all through spring. Go out in nature and gather as much of the greens as possible. Not only is this a good liver tonic, but gathering wild greens out in nature gets you in touch with nature’s reflection of spring energy.

2-3 handfuls mixed herbs: parsley, dandelion leaves, mint, chickweed, miner’s lettuce, nettles, plantain.

1 TBS chopped fresh ginger

2 cups freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.

2 TBS fresh lemon juice.

1-2 TBS honey

2 cups water

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until leaves are liquefied. Allow to stand for an hour or more and strain. Discard the solids and drink the refreshing liquid.

Seasonal eating runs deep and wide in our lives when we look beneath the surface.

I was at a gathering of women the other night. There was a sharing about how it looks and feels for the Divine Feminine to be showing back up in the world now on a collective and personal level. Each woman shared how she was breaking through in her own life. There was a theme of having to do the shadow work and clean up all the old stuff so she can emerge out of the shadows free from the wounding of a patriarchal era.

We discussed the need to embody the Divine Feminine in our lives grounded in her Earthly energy. This is where she is needed. This is where she is. She is not just an archetype in another dimension, she is the Earth herself. Her wisdom, and integration of the vastness of the Divine Feminine is who we are returninmg to, reclaiming, and honoring.

The movement to “save” the Earth is a noble one. However, it is still laced with the flavor of the patriarch. Women are becoming more empowered each generation. The fantasy of being saved by the white knight as we swim in our damsel in distress is rapidly becoming an antiquated fairy tale. It is no longer the desire of women to be saved. We have moved beyond that. We are saving ourselves through honoring ourselves.  We have moved into a recognition that to create balance and union we must have our wisdom honored. We are self similar to the Earth goddess. We are all made up of her very body. It is also true of her.

The Earth is not a damsel in distress waiting to be saved by those who separate themselves from her. It is quite the contrary. If we want to save ourselves we need to honor her wisdom. She is the one that will guide us through and open the door. She is reflecting back to us just how to do this with her seasonal map. All we need to do is pay attention to what she is offering seasonal course by seasonal course.

I have found that healing a collective wound that is carried by us all that keeps us trapped in a belief that we are unworthy runs parallel to nourishing ourselves by this wisdom. When we honor ourselves we honor the Earth, and when we honor the Earth we honor ourselves. The first step is taking the time to nourish ourselves aligned with her wisdom.

This winter has been an enormous gift for myself and many around me to do some deep shadow work. And as true to nature we are rising in spring to give birth to ourselves free from much of the unconscious behaviors from old wounding. Each winter us another opportunity to dive in and heal what we can. I so love how the seasons support us to heal while we nourish ourselves.

If this resonates with you and you would like support in this collective and personal journey, not just in recognizing the wisdom of nature in nourishing yourself, but also the internal shadow work needed to heal old wounding, consider my book as a support guide that is designed to do both.

You may need to digest it one small bite at a time as you go through the possible resistance in the beginning of the journey of looking beneath the surface at what drives your life. But if you give yourself time to step back, reflect, and do the work, it will be a great guide that will support you.  It will also give you seasonal practical guidance in how to nourish yourself according to the Earth’s wisdom while you heal and reclaim your hidden treasures.

MISO, SHITAKE MUSHROOM, SEAWOOD SOUP

Ingredients:

6 whole dried medium shitake mushrooms

6 cups warm water

4 medium sized pieces wakame seaweed

2 TBS chopped dulse seaweed

1 medium onion, quartered and sliced thin

3 medium cloves garlic, chopped

2 TBS minced fresh ginger,

2 TBS soy sauce

1 TBS rice vinegar

3 TBS minced scallion greens for garnish if locally available

salt and white pepper to taste

2 TBS miso

Directions:

Rinse mushrooms and wakame and soak in 2 cups of warm water for about 10

minutes, or until soft. Save water.

Heat 1 TBS seaweed water in medium sized soup pot.  Sauté onion in seaweed water

over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic, ginger and

continue to sauté for another minute

When mushrooms and wakame are soft, slice the mushrooms thin and chop the

seaweed. Cut out stems when slicing mushrooms and discard. Add to soup pot along

with soaking water, and 4 more cups of water. Bring to a boil on high heat. Add dulse.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for about 10

minutes. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Add minced scallion

and serve. Stir in miso at the end of cooking. Serves 4.