the neighborhood herbal, episode 1: THAT GIRL THINKS SHE'S THE QUEEN OF THE NGHBRHD
today i want to talk about roses. many of my neighbors have rose bushes, which they keep well-manicured and mulched. i even impulse bought a rose bush at lowe’s pre-quarantine. in the kingdom of lawns, she’s the queen. my mom is a gardener and one of my first herb memories is helping her plant roses in our yard. when i started studying herbalism, i kind of passed over roses, thinking of them as a more ornamental or fru-fru herb. an herb of the bourgeosie. the ~pOpuLar~ gurl. a basic bitch flower. (yes, there was some internalized femmephobia happening.) but one thing i love about herbalism and plants is that they will humble you quick! some of the most profound medicinal herbs are the ones right in our yards or in our pantries (garlic, cinnamon, dandelions). and roses are no exception.
i mentioned that there are wild roses growing on the edge of the walgreens’ parking lot in my neighborhood. yesterday i saw them and the whole bush was blooming bright. in my two years time of living here, i’ve never seen anyone come spray or take care of these roses (that’s a good thing - we want medicine sans pesticides). i call them ‘wild’ roses because they’re in the wilderness of my neighborhood, but who knows if they were actually purposefully planted there at some point. nevertheless, wild roses are a thing and they’re in bloom everywhere here. on our daily walk, me and karuna collected some to use fresh and a bunch to dry for future medicine-making. this is one of the smol pleasures of being an herbalist. tracking what’s around you / how your landscape is changing and getting creative with what’s growing seasonally.
once fresh, now dried rose petals on parchment paper (two weeks after harvesting)
rose medicine
in Like Water for Chocolate, the protagonist cooks quail with rose petal sauce to woo her beloved. (and everyone who eats the meal gets really hot and bothered because she cooks her feelings into the food!) i was mesmerized that you could drench basically a little pigeon in a rose sauce and that it still sounded kind of romantic. even though we might associate roses with hot, heart-thumping love, roses actually cool the body from overheated emotions. i have a very ‘hot’ internal climate— i love spicy foods and anything in a deep, rich red sauce and i like my food and drink veryyyy hot in temp (like if it’s not scalding my tastebuds a little it’s not hot enough). anyway, i imagine roses compliment these fire sign ways of being and cool me off a bit. roses are also heart medicine and open your heart, especially in the face of grief and heartbreak. sounds like a friend we could use right about now.
here’s a great post about 34 ways to work with roses. i like to give them a light spray with water and use them on salads, sprinkle them on desserts, diy rose water, dry them for rose + orange peel tea, or freeze them in ice cubes trays for pretty floral drink experiences later. when i taught cooking classes with kids, they would love decorating our food with flowers. find some wild roses with your little karunas and throw them on a quarantine cake!
photo by stef bernal-martinez
rose offerings
tomorrow (4/18) i’m teaching a lil 30 minute online class about how to make your own chocolate rose love elixir during Siembra NC’s fundraiser, Sabado Gigante: A Telethon for Families Facing Detention (from 11AM-12AM ET). undocumented communities are being excluded from government COVID-19 relief packages. in response, the telethon aims to raise $5K for families whose loved ones have been detained by ICE. Venmo or CashApp to @Sabado2020.
i did a fun thing with my fave abolitionist bookstore, 1977 Books in montgomery, alabama. they put together these dreamy book boxes for Natalie Diaz’s new poetry book, featuring a postcolonial love potion made by yours truly! the potion is a tulsi, rose, and cinnamon extract in vegetable glycerin. it’s pleasure medicine for angelic troublemakers. 50% of the proceeds go towards the montgomery bailout fund. buy a book box here.
thanks for tuning in this week! let me know if you have this queen in your neighborhood and what love potions you’re making together.
