Have I not just told you that Intelligence moves through all physical forms? Whereas form is separate in its physical identity, Intelligence is One. We (plants) welcome an attitude of respect and admiration. For too long the forests have been exploited to meet your needs on a physical level. It is time now to merge our energy with mankind on higher, finer levels. ~ Michael Roads, Talking with Nature

The spring equinox is the first day of spring and is a time of the year when we plant the seeds of dreams for the earth, dreams that have the potential to become nourished and brought to fruition. Chanting and drumming in the sweat lodge on March 20th, we each shared strong intentions for planting the seeds of change; intentions for more conscious awareness to take root in humanity. These are the seeds of creative, universal life-force energy that can be nourished by all of us to liberate the planet from the grasp of seeds that have produced fear and confusion.

Nearly four years ago I wrote a blog about how I liberated the dirt in my backyard. The woman who we bought this house from had laid plastic sheeting under the gravel in the yard, and the Earth told me that she couldn’t breathe, so I removed it. As a result, weeds began to grow everywhere. Because of my perception from years of conditioning of what beautiful yards and gardens should look like, I pulled at the weeds and yanked them out.

Now, three years later, the weeds are running rampant and I’ve come to peace with them. I’ve decided to cultivate them and allow them to stay. I am also calling them wild plants instead of weeds, a name I feel myself to be worthy of.

I have done some research into allowing wild plants to take over yards and gardens. These searches, unfortunately, produce ads for round-up and other chemicals to restore your unnatural, pristine, and controlled environment. But a gem entitled Weeds: Guardians of the Soil popped up and explained a multitude of beneficial functions that these wild plants play in your garden. For example, they introduce minerals, condition the soil, increase nutrients, and host a myriad of beneficial insects, an act that prevents non-beneficial insects from taking over and thriving. We are these wild plants!

Since the roots of these wild plants typically go deep, they nourish the lower layers of your garden bed by pumping lost food materials back to the surface soil which increases overall soil health. These wild plants withstand intense heat and drought conditions. By letting wild plants grow around the perimeter of your raised beds, they retain moisture for the garden and protect the beds from the scorching sun, preventing the beds from drying out between watering. As the wild plants pull water up from their roots, the surface crops get to feed off of the surface layer. This also encourages beloved earth worms to aerate the soil and increase nutrients, and improve the physical structure of the soil. We are these wild plants and we are hardy!

Another reason to cultivate the plants that grow of their own volition is their beauty and medicine. Of the nearly two dozen wild plants in my yard, they all have medicinal properties and most of them contain edible parts (seeds, leaves, roots, flowers).  Even if I don’t utilize all the plants for food and their medicinal properties, I am given the honor of walking amongst those powerful energies, merging and becoming one with them. This creates a beautiful and balanced symbiosis; appreciation, well-being, and wholeness for each of us in our daily interaction. We are the wild plants and our creative beauty, individual medicine, and self-expression provide the solid foundation for others to thrive!

Wild plants attract pollinators, provide an amazingly beautiful carpet of beauty, and feed the birds. A constant surge of life-force energy that interacts, co-operates, and unites. Likewise, human pollinators gather what they desire from the wild plants (that we are) to disperse its pollen for germination to ensure the sprouting of new needs!

My perception has completely shifted over these years. These aren’t weeds at all, they are, like us, wild plants, and they have consciousness and intelligence. They have ancient wisdom to share with us and I am open and ready to merge my energy and consciousness with theirs.

As we, the wild plants, embrace the totality of nature and enter into the one conscious intelligence that contains all of life in its incredible myriad of infinite forms, we unwittingly and effortlessly assist others in arriving to the power of what it means to truly live in the harmonic flow of nature, fully connected to unity consciousness.

In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. Most people are on the world, not in it — have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them — undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate. ~ John Muir

Disclaimer: Be sure to accurately identify any plant before eating it or utilizing it for medicinal purposes.