#6 Ritual of Spring
Yesterday I went into the forest with my harvesting basket for a spring ritual ~ gathering the abundance of green food Gaia pours out each spring. A carpet of green to walk amidst, graze while gathering, curl up and nap upon. To dream wild dreams and waken with breezes ruffling my feathers. Back indoors for alchemy: making wild greens pesto! A bracing spring tonic.
As I walked and gathered, I greeted each congregation of plants by name and asked permission to harvest them for my human beloveds. A joyous “yes” whispered around me and among the trees. Here are the wild beings I gathered: chives, onions, dandelion, garlic mustard, wood sorrel, violets, chick weed, corn salad, and the tiny bright green buds of our hemlock tree, for a lemony twist.
Would you like my recipe? No measurements, just go by taste!
---lots of spring greens: stuff them into the blender
----fill the blender about 25% with fresh olive oil
---add balsamic vinegar, less than the olive oil
---a few tablespoons sweet sherry
---as many garlic cloves as you like, maybe 4 or 6
----a handful of walnuts
Blend till smooth and creamy. Add water bit by bit if too thick.
Taste and adjust as needed
And here, an excerpt from A Litany of Wild Graces: Meditations on Sacred Ecology. More poems? Check the Books page.
Remembering native people
and the timeless girl
at the spring, I bring
a child of five years.
We sing offerings and prayers,
gather spring greens.
I recite their names:
a litany of wild saints.
She repeats:
Shepherd’s purse
Cleavers
Chick weed
Wild Onion
Violets
Watercress.
Green words of resurrection,
resilience. The mountain and
her people are still here.
