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Earth Devotions

Mary’s writings contain plant love letters + earth medicine stories, all accompanied by her photography.

Highlights

A sampling of favorite and highly read posts.

Highlights, Writings

Quotes

I love a good quote. And I love taking photos. So this here post is an offering of two of my favorite things:-) I add to this page regularly, so come on back here again and again! &nb…

Highlights, Writings

Reckoning in the Darkness~ a dark cave retreat

My eyes widened at the sight of the perfectly intact body of a dead Luna Moth that lay below the nesting box. I gathered the eggs with the curve of my shirt and scooped the moth up with the other hand, then wandered down the hill to show Hart.…

Highlights, Writings

My Walk With The Plants

Perhaps it was having a pond at our house while growing up that pointed me int he direction of becoming a plantwalker. One of the most intriguing ecosystems to lead a child back to nature, I would sit, walk, swim and wade for hours in that pond,…

Highlights, Writings

Species Inventory of Herb Mountain Farm

In 2014, Luke Cannon, aka Luke Learning Deer, helped us compile a species list of the flora and some of the fauna at Herb Mountain Farm. Over the years, Marc Williams has been a valued investor in not only updating this list, but bringing…

All Posts

All posts prior to October 2023 can be read in full here. Since then, you will find the complete posts on Substack.

Vitex Praise

Vitex flowers are so showy and pretty yet it’s really a hundred flowers in one spike that makes this ‘flower’ appear so lovely. Were it just the one, we would probably not notice it. It’s like each one of us, so uniquely beautiful, but…

The Power of Plantain

Excerpt from a Love Letter from Plantain... Knowing my genus Plantago helps clarify when talking about me, as there are many others with the common name of Plantain. Robin’s Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus) of the Aster Family, the orchid Rattlesnake…

Earth Beatitudes

At the gas station and grocery store and to those on my mind, I find myself silently sending blessings to people. I find myself speaking blessings aloud to plants and animals that I encounter. Throughout the day, I find myself being a dispatch…

Red Clover isn’t Red

Dear Red Clover, Every morning, I call upon my plant allies, and you, Red Clover, for whatever reason I am not quite sure, are always at the top of the list. Is it the sweetness of your taste or your strange resinous scent when dried or the…

Oak the GOAT

Read a Love Letter from one of the greatest of all time, Oak.

Blessed Sweetgrass

Here ye go

Surviving Catastrophe

Day 1 My battery-operated clock says its 2am and the power is already out. Through our bedroom screen door, I hear wind and rain raging. So this is the storm they were warning us about. I can’t fall back sleep. I lie awake, listening for…

Only in my Dreams + Mugwort

Excerpt: In early spring, I like to eat your baby leaves, so tender and tasty! Another new growth happens this time of year, around the autumnal equinox, and I nibble these too, putting them in salads. For medicinal use, I harvest you in…

Love Letter from Tobacco

In this week's Substack, I share about how we are made to Gather, as well as a fine love letter to the humans, from Tobacco;-) Read here...

Sunflower Power

From my writing spot, I can see the flickering of yellow through the thick leaves of the Gingko and Hawthorne trees, and I know it’s the Sunflowers dancing in the breeze. Summer has ended, or ending, depending on which calendar you follow,…

Wearing the Crown + Ambrosia

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Unexpected Gifts + Calendula

In this week's Earth Devotions

Jiaogulan’s Teachings

Control is an illusion....

Our Humanity + the Monardas

This being human thing is a real trip! Will you ponder it with me here for a minute? Here I am, a woman who has lived over half of her life, and I only (probably) know a few hundred of us humans. I say probably because I have never actually…

From Clary Sage

Clary Sage Salvia sclarea Lamiaceae Dear mint-loving human, Our families have been intertwined for centuries, us cosmopolitan mints and you people. I am an unusual mint family member though, and may not be as familiar to you as some of…

Herbs with Rosalee

What a gem Rosalee de la Forêt is! Do you know of her youtube channel called 'Herbs with Rosalee' where she has interviewed dozens and dozens of amazing plant people, plus shared her own insights into edible and medicinal plants ? I was so…

Litha’s Shine

Here ye go...

Pretty Please + Dr. Yarrow

Little blurb: “Hey, mom, can I have some grape juice?” “What’s the password, dear?” “Pretty please.” “Yes you may.” Anybody reading this remember when the only password you knew and needed was “Pretty…

Lavender Speaks

Follow along on my Substack to read regular shares about plants and earth devotions! Here is Lavender

the Story behind my Plant Love Letters

excerpt from the Story behind my Plant Love Letters: "Look. I am sharing this post with you not because I am a Taurus sun, Capricorn moon, Virgo rising gal (that’s Triple Earth, y’all) and can’t help myself with list making and explanations,…

What Might Rose say to Us?

Rosa speaks...

Angelica Praises

Dear Angelica, You are Gorgeous. Every part of you. Your invigorating scent. Your hollow stem- the sleek way it feels in my hands. Your shades of green with occasional purple and red hues. Your compound leaves that are birthed from sheaths.…

A Prayer for Our Mother + a letter from Dandelion

Here it is...

Feral Pearls and a love letter to Apple

From Feral Pearls- A long string of pearls snakes along our ancestor table and drapes over the photos. Fake pearls. I found them at a thrift store. I have hung these pearls up the edge of frames and down the other side, twisted them on mantles,…

Let Nettles Rewild You

Let Nettles Rewild You

Purple Archangel

Loving the Lamium is this week's highlighted plant ally!

Remember Who You Are + Rosemary

My most recent writing can be found here.

The Ring + Garlic

Excerpt from The Ring When I was 19-years old, living in Bellingham, Washington and attending Fairhaven College, I met a street vender who sold jewelry and this one particular turquoise ring kept drawing me back to his cart, day after day.…

Love Letter to Poppy

Poppy Papaveracea Dear Poppy, Every February, I sprinkle some of your seeds in my garden as an early spring blessing. I know you need some cold to kiss your seeds before they can sprout, so I disregard the nonsensical label that says ‘sow…

What is Love + Motherwort

“Love is something when you give it away, you end up having more.” Malvina Reynolds. My 10 year-old loves the recent movie ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ and convinced me to watch it with her one evening. It’s about a quirky family…

Flora and Forage Podcast with Mary Plantwalker

I had a fun time talking plant love with Nina of Blue Ridge Botanic for her Flora and Forage Podcast. Give a Listen!

In the Belly + Cleavers

In this week's Substack.... Imbolc stories and rites + Cleaver praise. Did you know Cleavers is a natural milk curdler? And oh so much more...

Comfrey Love Letter and more….

Want to read about plants through my love letters for them? And receive some weekly inspiration of earthly living? Then please come on over as a free or paid subscriber to my Substack newsletter!

Earth Altars + Ginger

Author Molly Remer says, “Each of us contributes to the patterns of the world soul,” and I think just being alive in and of itself is a total work of art. We collectively weave forms, patterns and images, creating a never-ending cosmic tapestry. …

Hear Her Roar + Horsetail

Read Hear Her Roar plus a Love Letter to Horsetail.

Cleaning, Cats + Camellia

I love how we humans share so much in common- far more things than not- and that when we tend to those shared needs instead of our opinionated differences, we do better as a species. Housekeeping is one of them. Cleaning is universal. I don’t…

Cedar

Cedar Thuja spp. Cupressaceae Dear Cedar, My, oh my. Thank you, Grandmother, for being so confidently and magnificently yourself. The gifts you have bestowed upon the people are huge, just like you. The stories we have told about and around…

Golden Opportunities + Peppermint

It’s 2007, and I am hitchhiking across Australia with my daughter, Makyziah, and we are finally leaving Perth, headed to the small coastal town of Esperance. I know nothing about this town—I just like the name of it and that we can experience…

a Love Letter to Olive

Olive Olea europaea Oleaceae Dear Olive, Oh, to behold the new and old groves of you in California and Sicily—I didn’t know you could be so stately! Having first met you as a pitted green oval thing with a pimento stuffed inside, then…

Everybody has a Story + Spicebush

Here is the full post for Everybody has a Story + Spicebush Excerpt from my love letter to Spicebush: Spicebush Lindera benzoin Lauraceae Dear Spicebush, I follow the path to the creek or the seepy wood’s edge, and you’re there.…

RX Earth Medicine + Ginkgo

If you are reading this, you most likely already feel a closeness with the natural world, and I give thanks to be here with you on this planetary journey. I am uplifted by both our resilience and devotion to building a better world, even when…

the Angel’s Trumpet

Angel’s Trumpet Brugmansia (7 species) Solanaceae Dear Angel’s Trumpet, How many times did I see you growing before I recognized you as the powerful being that you are? I see you now. Reina de la Noche, you Queen of the Night. My…

a Love Letter to Thyme

Thyme Thymus spp. Lamiaceae Dear Thyme, I see you. You are evergreen and dainty, a bee magnet when you flower, standing erect or trailing along, willing to be trampled upon and still stand strong. And I taste you. Pungent, mildly spicy.…

The Mint Family

Frank Cook was the first person to tell me that plants are grouped into families. Plant families? The idea got me excited, so he turned me on to Thomas Elpel’s Botany in a Day which really opened my eyes to seeing the patterns that plants…

Honeybees & Beekeepers

“That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.” -Marcus Aurelius Beekeeping is estimated to be as old as 5,000 years, although archeological records show we were robbing wild hives long before we kept them, bringing…

A Yarden Pesto

Eat something wild everyday, or at least eat something Green everyday! It’s a simple, powerful way to do something good for ourselves, to take care. Yarden is the combo of foraging from the yard and harvesting from the garden, and it makes…

Avena sativa

Dear Avena sativa This is how I know you~ In cookies, in granola, in bread, as breakfast, as tea, as tincture, as bath, as waving growing grass. I like to eat your groats, steel-cut or rolled. I like to place them in a muslin bag and let you…

Costa Rica and Thoughts on Traveling

It’s February, the high and dry season in Costa Rica, and Hart rented a 4x4 camper from Nomad America. This was the strangest trip I’ve ever taken as I had no desire to go, but wanted to support Hart in this fantasy he’s had since we…

Many Mini Pilgrimages

One day it dawned on me that I don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have a pilgrimage. I realized that some of the greatest pilgrimages I’ve done were actually the ones closest to home. A pilgrimage is about taking a journey,…

Imbolc and Elderberry

Blessed Imbolc dears! I thought I would share one of my Imbolc rituals with you of tending to Elder (Sambucus canadensis) and then wax on a bit about this Adoxaceae family member while I’m at it. For those of you who do not know about Imbolc,…

What’s for Breakfast?

What do you eat for breakfast? Are you one who pretty much eats the same thing over and over? A routine breakfast eater? Or do you shake it up? I am somewhere in the middle. All I know is if I go without eating breakfast, my day is wonky. I…

Pondering

It is the end of the calendar year and for many of us that leads to reflections. Maybe those reflections lead to resolutions, maybe not. Although I have a private journal that is meant for no one else, ‘writing therapy’ as I call it, I also…

Do I Contradict Myself?

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am vast. I contain multitudes.” Walt Whitman wrote these words in Song of Myself and I return to them when I am feeling guilty and confused about my contradictions and inability…

Plant Ally Cards

A little project I am currently undertaking...to make a deck of plant ally cards. Begun end of 2022. Here are 11 examples. Once I have completed the deck, I will surely be shouting it out! I love the color dusty rose and chose that as…

Plants To Keep Close

There are certain people that you just know you need to keep close, even if you are living far apart. You know what I’m saying? You know who those people are—think of one right now and send them the sweetness of your heart. Yes, there are…

Naming Doesn’t Have To Mean Shaming

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, the school and church I attended and the family and social conversations I witnessed never broached the subject of what we did and were doing to Indigenous peoples in order to hold the life of comfort and…

I Have A Feeling…

What if it turned out everything had feelings? How would you behave differently? I believe they do, and definitely plants. I believe appreciation or gratitude is the feeling they thrive upon. The realm of feelings I write of here is more energetic.…

A little Beach Plant Walk

Huntington Beach State Park located in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, is a haven of undeveloped seashore, dunes, salt marshes, brackish waters, freshwater ponds, expansive ocean, nature trails, boardwalks, interpretive signs, guided tours and…

Nothing Remains In Its Prime For Long

Until recently, whenever I’d have a bouquet of flowers, the moment they started to wilt, lose their ‘fresh’ look, drop petals, and fade, I’d dump them out as quickly as possible. I mean, who wants to look at spent flowers, right? Hart…

Sicilian Plant Pilgrimage

I recognize that traveling internationally is a privilege. I am humbled by the opportunity. If you have never immersed yourself in a completely different culture and there is a chance you can, please do take it. It broadens your perspectives…

Blog Articles for Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine

Mary Plantwalker has been enjoying penning some articles for Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine's Blog! Check them out! Why Plant a Medicinal Herb Garden? How to Grow an Herbal Tea Garden Herbal Tea Ceremonies Compost Magic for…

Upon Whose Shoulders I Now Stand

Yesterday would have been the 99th birthday of my paternal grandmother whom I am named after. Mary. She and my mother were the dearest women of my life and now they are both gone. Gram died 7 years ago, mom 5 months ago. Sometimes I feel such…

The Light In The Dark

The bats were coming home to roost when I awakened at dawn. They sleep under the eves outside our bedroom windows and on the mornings when my own awakening chimes in with their swirling-whirling descent dance to hang upside down for over 12…

Everyday Is A New Song

How many of us wake up singing? How many of us sing while doing the dishes, showering, gardening, driving or during other tasks throughout the day? This is your daily reminder that if you can talk, you can sing, and singing is an essential form…

Eat Your Flowers!

There are so many flowers we can eat! Some taste better than they look, others look better than they taste/ just like people! Here are some freshly harvested ones from our gardens at Herb Mountain: DayLilies Bachelor Buttons Calendula Rose Nasturtium Evening…

Mamas

Not one of you reading this is without one. No one can make the passage to earth without a mother. Whether she be alive or dead, you will always have a mother as she is a part of you more than any other human, having given half her genes and…

Only One Earth

Beech, Sourwood and Maple grew up together, and are as close as can be, lives forever intertwined. Together, they make this portal that beckons. When I first came to Herb Mountain Farm in 2005, the bank holding these trees was covered in…

Don’t Be Rote

As I watched this beautiful egret skillfully feed in the Everglades Sawgrass, I was struck by this thought- Does this bird give a damn what anybody thinks or says its experience should be? No! It is both intuitive and constantly adapting to…

Unfurling

I am honing skills at aligning my time and energy with what I want to see flourish. It’s such a continual practice! Whether it be plants, friendships, family bonds, community service, or something else, it is evident that what I give my attention…

Earth Devotions

Hello, it’s April 5, 2022, and I am beginning my Earth Devotions, regular writings on how we love and care for our one precious mama planet. Which is really about how we live. From day to day, year to year, our lives unfolding. Sometimes these…

Stewarding the Land Interview

Interview with Mary Plantwalker on stewarding Herb Mountain Farm, by Kelly Moody of Groundshots Podcast

I see the world and the world sees me-
everything is alive and changing,
infinitely.