Why we plant Wild Ginger on the other side of the road?
Human beings built a road that separates the forest. Ants are enlisted to regenerate this primeval place, but we must help them.
This is a busy time of year for us because this is when we do the planning required that supports our efforts to restore forest understory and meadow habitat. We must also restore Cottonwoods and other wild species that support riparian areas. Clearcut logging is killing the Earth, and you and I can do what corporations, institutions and governments are not doing...we can go out and fix the damage that they have created...if we don’t who will?
Illumination becomes the cipher for better intentions and it becomes the reason why we will transplant the Wild Ginger to the other side of the road. The plant speaks of itself as a filter, gathering up all the sweetness that flows through the soils that reside in the rainforest.
Here it seeks to populate the place and along with a community of others becomes the groundcover that instills the towering trees with dreams cultivated by the rain.
Spreading a vast network of roots she weaves a web that will catch seeping waters and then forms their flow into slow moving catchments that know themselves as a great sponge.
This condition causes the Wild Ginger to spread and grow in the shadows. But her rootstock grows at such a slow pace that messengers are required to move her where she is needed. Ants serve this community well; sheltered by the Wild Gingers leafy over story they move her sweet seeds into areas so that she may form new communities in far away soil freshets.
The Ants very purposefully replicate all that was the origin of things so that the great balance can be maintained in the rainforest. All of this has been working in such a way for as long as there have been memories in the forest – for as long as there has been water and soil; for as long as there have been great trees and Wild Ginger; and for as long as there have been Ants.
But then the human beings built a road that would separate and create two disturbed forests. No longer is this a primeval place.
The road is a vast desert to an Ant, and to all beings in the rainforest; it is a lifeless thing that is maintained to remain a lifeless thing.
Seeking to recover the disturbed place and restore the primeval forest the small Ants struggle to cross the road with the seeds; they drop them in the desert in hopes of bringing life to this place – but traffic and graders destroy their work, again and again....and again.
At the end, the Wild Ginger ceases to be on the other side of the road – the balance in the rainforest is lost – and this imbalance goes largely un-noticed by humans.
This is why we must plant Wild Ginger on the other side of the road. This is why we are wildcrafters.
This is a photo of Wild Ginger at the Wildcraft Forest – it serves as a reminder that 68 percent of plants are in danger of going extinct and this process of extinction is largely unknown to us.
Plants are localized which means they have a very difficult time migrating to a different location in order to protect themselves. Extinction will be inevitable unless they are either helped to relocate or are protected. Humans are not helping when they are needed; in fact plant species are going extinct—about 5,000 times faster than they should.
We have become blind to the natural world around us and it is this situation that represents one of the reasons we started the Wildcraft Forest School.
Removing nature from our everyday lives has reached epidemic proportions as human civilization has become more urbanized. This is causing us to actually lose sight of both trees and the forest. This element of nature deficit disorder is called “plant blindness” and it represents an informally-proposed form of cognitive bias, which in its broadest meaning, is a human tendency to ignore plant species. This includes such phenomena as not noticing plants in the surrounding environment, not recognizing the importance of plant life to the whole biosphere and to human affairs, a philosophical view of plants as an inferior form of life compared to animals and/or the inability to appreciate the unique features or aesthetics of plants.
Our society seems to appreciate the importance of protecting biodiversity, but in fact most people can’t actually see a biodiverse ecosystem - they are blind to the finite details that are presented to them. The many shades of green and the structure of a great number of plants in a space remains difficult for many of us to comprehend.
As a cognitive bias this can actually negatively impact our mental and physical health as well as how we socially interact with each other and the world around us. Cognitive biases can affect one’s decision-making skills, limit problem-solving abilities, hamper career success, damage the reliability of memories, and can challenge one’s ability to respond in crisis situations. The condition can also increase anxiety and depression, and impair one’s relationships.
Both plant blindness and nature deficit disorder are gaining more attention as parents are recognizing the need to expose their children to more nature. There is also more public awareness as to the importance of nature within individual and community health and mindfulness. The public dialogue around climate change is increasing awareness as to the importance of biodiversity and ecology which requires us to overcome any challenges caused by plant blindness.
But still we have a long way to go.
Perhaps come and help us plant Wild Ginger?
Explore what we do: www.wildcraftforest.com
At the Wildcraft Forest School we offer skills, insights and inspiration for creating good stewardship and positive change in the world. We engage our participants in transformative education that includes wild dynamics, personal empowerment, responsibility and co-mentorship. Our courses integrate experiential learning and ancient wisdom within the context of wildcrafting and spiritual ecology.