Ep. 246 : Healing Relationships with Land Through Help of Red Clover

I have been feeling a little bit distant lately. Like some sort of anxious attachment distant. Avoidant even. While trying to not be too clingy or handsy with the land, I have slipped into a disconnection, being one that just observes but doesn’t participate in the ways that brought me into relationship with so many plants in the first place. I have been feeling this disconnect, and recognizing something had to be done. Then along comes Red Clover.

After attending a workshop on edible and medicinal plants I felt called by the Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). Here was a plant that I felt I could harvest without much impact on the populations, or harm to local species who depend on T. pratense. It felt like I could relearn relationships with the broader landscape, incorporating components of taking and consuming - components of relationship making with plants that I have felt conflicted on recently - and therefore helping to heal that separation which has been sneaking in. Since harvesting, I have also been doing deep dives into Red Clover natural history, and ecofunction. It has been a gift from this special plant to learn from them, harvest them, teach about them and drink the tea made from the flowers.

That’s what this week’s show is all about.

To learn more :
The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario by Timothy Dickinson, Deborah Metsger, Jenny Bull, and Richard Dickinson. ROM, 2004.
The Book of Field and Roadside by John Eastman and Amelia Hansen. Stackpole Books, 2003.
American Wildlife & Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander C Martin, Herbert S Zim, Arnold L. Nelson. Dover, 1951.
Incredible Wild Edibles by Samuel Thayer. Forager’s Harvest, 2017.
Held By The Land by Leigh Joseph. Wellfleet Press, 2023.
The Earthwise Herbal vol. 1 by Matthew Wood. North Atlantic Books, 2008.
Rhizobium leguminosarum wikipedia page