Herbalism
​notes from the green that nourishes
Plant Alchemy
Many traditions demonstrate the instrinsic relation between kitchen and health.
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The principles of plants ask us to risk trying the strange flavors of the unknown that leads us to accept that even bitter things have their benefits.
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There are key moments in learning Herbalism, and for me almost all of them involve nutrition and the introduction of wild foods into our daily routine.
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As an Herbalist, I live with one foot in the fields and the other on the kitchen/laboratory table, and in the meantime, everything is transformed with the Wheel of the Year: infusions, dehydrations, macerations, preserves, fermentations, all are delightful to our health.
Would you like to learn more?
HERBALISM IN 6 STEPS
my teaching recipe
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I like to teach herbalism as a craft synchronized with the earth's rhythms; in fact, it's all about embracing curiosity about constant change. Since the human body reflects these changes, we must learn to prepare for them by listening to the first signs and feeling the deeper ones. From there, we create formulas that restore harmony and better manage the body as a dynamic and vital element.
Recording all the transformation processes is central to this learning of wild and medicinal plants, whether it's in the shape of recipes, books, drawings or even music. Only by registering the practice we can evolve and attain the knowledge of an alchemist.
The various manifestations of the uses of plants have remained with us to this day only because they were repeated in writing, in action or through rituals.
The Herbalist is therefore, the one who transports plant knowledge to the material manifestation of health.
Attention
What draws us towards a plant is actually a call of communication between kingdoms. Plants can wink at us in many ways: some release perfumes, others dance, some shine, standing out from the rest...
- ENTHUSIASM -
Practice
Only through direct experience with each plant do we become more in-depth herbalists. We interpret the smell, taste, and touch, and begin to recognize them, which is why we risk inviting them to the kitchen table.
- ACCEPTANCE -
Release
With what has been learned, it is time to create and share. Space is given to the materialization of a new creation, more than the sum of its parts; each work born of inspiration is unique, and almost certain, necessary to the world.
It should be manifested!
- MANIFEST -
Reading
From attentive presence comes the space to experience the plant's history: the beauty of its growth stages, the paterns of each adaptation that shaped it, of the other species that usually surround it. We should use direct reading but also study in depth through books and reference material.
- UNDERSTANDING -
Trust
Without fear of making mistakes, this is the time for maturing experience, repetition, and improvement. Like someone practicing a craft, in the beginning, you have to repeat yourself over and over until you gain experience. Only after this dedication can our memory and personal experience be reflected in our creations, as works of our own signature.
- DELIVERY -
Celebrate
And as every birth should be celebrated, this is the time for rituals. It's a recognition of what has been accomplished, a way of revering the natural world and ensuring continuity. Throughout Portugal, we see several manifestations of the inclusion of plants in rural festivities, and others can be commemorated.
- RITE -