It seems that I have developed an interest to gain an in-depth understanding of herbs and their functions, though I believe that this interest has always been there but was lying fallow somewhere in the recesses of my mind.

Now and again, the desire to start the journey into the jungle of herbs and its usage briefly bubbles to the surface and I picture myself standing before a steamy cauldron of nose tingling mixture, dishing out timeless wisdom of the ages.

I can still recall the voluminous black and yellow book ‘Where there is no doctor’ that sat on my parents’ bookshelf for ever and by the way, still sits there. As a young girl, I thumbed through that book uncountable times and marveled at how people knew what to do for different ailments etc.

Was that a cue that I should have dabbled into medicine and pharmacology? Not sure, just a side thought. My mother used to prepare many concoctions and what not from plants gathered from her garden and foraged around us and they worked.

Till date, when having a conversation with my mama and I complain of anything, she will say, ‘ah, have you tried turmeric, or ginger, or milk thistle or this and that,’ and her recommendations are always quite helpful.

Incidentally, we have forebears who were medicine men/women who knew both the good, the bad and the ugly sides of plants. I vividly recall the night I was stung by a scorpion on my left foot whilst we played outside, the horrible pain that shot up my leg seared itself into my memory. I can vividly recall the swift manner in which my aunt swung into action to take care of me.

My left thigh was bound tightly with a belt, an action taken to stop the scorpion’s venom from spreading. I was given a fat ball of raw onion to chew on whilst my aunt with the precision of a surgeon made an incision in the area where I was stung with a blade and applied some black poultice to that spot.

I felt the painful extraction of the venom by this marvelous black thingy and after the arduous process of sucking out the venom, she dropped the black mass into a bowl of evaporated milk and a yellowish liquid oozed out of it. By the following morning, I was as right as rain.

Unfortunately, most of these relatives passed on without getting their rich knowledge documented. Now that I think of it, I think it is kind of sad that in the bid to embrace Western ways, it seems like we have left valuable parts of our culture behind.

Anyways, back to my awakened desire to delve into herbalism especially stoked by the fact that as I grow older, my body keeps speaking foreign languages to me. I have been researching and reading lots of articles – it seems overwhelming, and I don’t even know which end of the stick to hold.

I plan to take short, affordable courses to enrich my learning and my life. I wonder where the journey will take me, but I doubt very much if I will be reading tea leaves anytime soon. Will let you know how I progress and maybe share a tincture or two.

Till next time.