Golden Lessons

I want to tell you a story of a time that my excitement got me in a bad situation, and my intuition got me out of it. This experience taught me a couple of very important lessons.

In my early days of foraging, I was learning about new things to forage, and my most recent goal was to find the Golden Oyster mushroom. During a walk in the woods, I spotted a log littered with gold clusters in distance. I knew there was a strong possibility they could be golden oysters, and I was overflowing with excitement. As I ran towards them without a care in the world, I didnt see the stinging nettles in the sea of green between me and those mushrooms.

The sting of the nettles hit me instantly, and I realized very quickly what had happenned. I ignored the pain as I continued my bound toward the log bearing the gold awaiting me. Once I inspected the mushrooms more closely and confirmed they were golden oysters, I collected a few of the freshest clusters and stowed them away in my cloth bag I packed with me. After the excitement of my first time finding these delicious fungi wore off, the sting of the nettle on my skin intensified. It became harder to ignore.

• 

I took a water break on my way back towards home and sat on a rock to rest. I wanted to find a way to relieve this discomfort. My knowledge in the plants in my area was somewhat limited at that time. I knew plantain could help. But I didnt see any plantain on my hike at all. What I did see an abundance of, however, was violets. Though I hadn't read or heard anywhere that violets could help relieve discomfort from stinging nettle, I did know some of its historical uses.

Violets were used at one point in time to help relieve sore throats. I also knew they were edible, so chewing them up wouldn't cause any issue. My intuition told me if they can help soothe the throat, they can help soothe the skin. I trusted it and started gathering leaves, chewing them up and spreading them on my skin. I used some of the violet petals to keep the poultice in place like a bandage. Within minutes, I felt relief.

I learned a lot that day. I learned that violets can help soothe the skin, and to trust my intuition. Trust the patterns you see. If a plant has certain qualities in one context, it likely carries those qualities into other situations. Learning the "personality" of a plant is just as important as memorizing its name. I also learned that it is important to become familiar and know how to use many plants for a situation so there is more likely something you can use around you. Every experience is a teacher, and sometimes, the best lessons come from the stings we didn't see coming.