Understanding Our Commitment to Regional and Local, Part 1

Understanding Our Commitment to Regional and Local, Part 1

One of the core values of the Woven Roots Collective is our commitment to working with regional and local plants, growers, and creators as much as possible. We view this pillar as a powerful part of what helps foster connection not only with people within our communities, but also with the plants and other beyond-human beings who share our environments, and to the environments we inhabit. This last one–connection to our environments, or to place—is too often overlooked and underestimated.

When Elizabeth and I moved to Atlanta, I felt so ungrounded. We drove across the country from Colorado with a U-haul full of our plants and a backseat full of our tree friend, our puppy Reina, and her giant stuffed animal. We were on our way to our wedding, I was moving to a new city, I needed to find a new job, and we didn’t have a place to live yet. It was a whirlwind of transitions, and I felt like I was floating around in space with nothing to hold on to. My anxiety was sky high.

Thankfully, I remembered the importance of connecting to place. Connecting to place and orienting to your surroundings can bring you back down to earth, back into your body, and back into connection with your community.

As soon as we settled into our Decatur home, I found solace in our backyard with the trees surrounding our house. I also started walking Reina all over the neighborhood, learning where I was spatially and who my plant neighbors were. I delved into learning every plant I saw on our walks–who they were, what they liked, and what gifts they brought. If they were medicinal or edible, I would make tea, tinctures, or add them to my food. I would spend my days at work as a gardener learning the native plants I was tending to. I also learned the stories of our human clients and how they connected to the land. I listened to their memories of living in the Atlanta community they have lived in for years.

I gave mindful attention to how quickly I started to feel the settling as my roots began to sink into the local soil. I literally felt like I was being woven into the ecosystem here. I felt held and at home. I felt surrounded by friends and family. This was the magic of connection to place!

This experience of profound connection to place was a big inspiration for creating Woven Roots Apothecary and Herbal Community, and why we are so wholeheartedly committed to supporting regionally and locally grown herbs and makers of herbal products. I want to share and facilitate this kind of connection to place that I found so deeply healing and grounding.

 

Join the Conversation: How do you connect to place? What do you notice when you connect or orient to your surroundings? What parts of your surrounding do you usually connect with the least? Share your reflections in the comments below.

 

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