Feeding Our Instincts & Nourishing Our Bodies

by Cori Young

Motherhood gives us so many opportunities to trust. For some women it's a time for deepening their instincts by aligning with the fierce protective, and nurturing current within themselves. For others, it may be the first time they open to the lessons of courage that trust requires of us.

I'm talking about the courage it takes to trust in the healingprocess of a feverish babe rather than reaching for the bottle of aspirin. Or to know that our children's bodies (as well as our own) can be nourished by foods and herbs instead of synthetic vitamins.

During pregnancy, birth and postpartum I felt empowered by my knowledgeof healing and nourishing with herbs. This power gave me the trust I needed to give birth at home and to nourish my babies with my rich and plentiful breast milk. For me, these were incredibly important gifts that I was ableto give my daughters.

Through the use of plants and herbs we can pass on the empowering gift of trust.By sharing knowledge about healing and nourishing with plants we can introduceour children to the Wise Mother in themselves.

Children seem to have a natural affinity with herbs and can benefit greatly from their nutrients and gentle, healing properties.

One of my daughter's earliest memories is of picking chamomile flowers in her garden when she was not quite two years old.

Like most kids, she marveled at the 'miracle' of watching seeds sprout and grow into flowering plants and she cherishes memories of harvesting leaves and flowers for making tea.

Growing gardens with children is a great joy for the whole family and one of the easiest ways to introduce babes to the larger world.

Kids love picking things and eating them and I suspect it feels very empowering to them to be able to roam about instinctually following their taste buds rather than being told what to eat.

Both of my daughters began drinking nettle tea even before weaning. They still drink daily herbal infusions - they even use nettle infusions on their oatmeal instead of milk.

My 4 year old, who just recently weaned was drinking a glass of nettle and oatstraw infusion with her eyes closed the other day. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "If you close your eyes this tastes likeyour milk!" (Meaning breast milk.) I tried it and it actually did!

I feel good knowing they're getting vitamins and minerals and lots of chlorophyll instead of sugary juices and soft drinks that wreak havoc on blood sugar levels and leech away calcium their growing bodies so greatly need.

Children's instincts are so sharp and they have such a keen curiosity aboutlife and how things work. I talk openly with kids about the plants andherbs I am using and they assimilate the information very rapidly.

Once kids are walking and talking I like to begin pointing out all the wild edible and medicinal plants that grow all around us. I think this really helps children tune into their environment and connect with their surroundings. It's also practical. When my daughters are playing outside and someone gets stung by a bee or scrapes a knee, they will go and find some dock leaves or some plantain and have the affliction fixed up in no time. They also know which plants not to eat or touch and wouldn't dream of eating any plant they couldn't positively identify.

Learning to distinguish between edible and non-edible plants helps kids realize that they shouldn't put just any plant in their mouths.

Some wild herbal allies my children love are Nettle, Yellow Dock, Dandelion, Plantain and Chickweed.

Helping children foster an intimate relationship with plants can be a very empowering gift. It encourages them to trust their instincts and explore their senses.

When children see plants as the source of most of our nourishment and our medicines it helps them recognize the earth as their true matrix.

Children grow up with a reverence towards nature when they have direct experiences of being nurtured and nourished by the abundance all around us. This is a radically different experience than if we grow up with the feeling of scarcity and lack - of never having enough access to the packages of high priced foods and medicines that come from the "experts".

When my young daughter instinctively goes to the garden for some peppermint leaves when she has an upset tummy I know she is learning about the power of taking responsibility for her well-being. By interacting with plants in such an intimate way, she is receiving a wisdom that comes directly from the source - not another's interpretation.

It gives my heart a thrill that, to my daughters, vitamins and minerals are nutrients in our foods and herbs, not isolated compounds found in bottles of pills. I am grateful that they can experience the power of being nourished by plants!

May all our children trust their instincts and feel connected to their environment. May they grow to maturity with the Wise Mother whispering in their ears.

What greater gift?

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