Friend Foxglove

Collage of Foxglove in Bedroom

Richard Hugo, poet refers to Neighbour Trout and Neigbour Tree, and this is my inspiration for using the term Friend Foxglove. Robin Kimmerer author of 'Braiding Sweetgrass' says there cannot be no meaningful healing or restoration without re-story-ation. This is what I am setting out to do is change the story, or re- story, or even re-invent the story. Kimmerer says that the land changes but not the story, so maybe I am accessing the story of this land when I tell you about my first plant memory.

Friend Foxglove, 'do you remember when I first met you?' You were towering over me, hidden in the hedgerow, your tantalising bell shaped tunnels whispered promises of other worlds. 'Come in,' I'm sure I heard you say, 'how?' I asked, wondering how I could possibly climb inside. 'No' my older sister pulled me away, they are poisonous, 'you must not touch them'  but the faeries live there I thought, why isn't it poisonous for them?

You were my first encounter with the Plant Kingdom and I have been enraptured ever since with this realm. Always feeling as though I could be pulled into these somehow familiar worlds, where there is no such thing as time and just like the Faerie Folktales I'm sure that whole lifetimes could pass in minutes. A glimpse into these worlds show me a medley of activity for the senses, bees and insects appear as giants, which mean I have become small I suppose, like Alice in Wonderland. Or could it be how ancient ancestors of this land communed with the plant kingdom and this is where folktales sprung from?   It is these 'thin places' that I am trying to convey when I paint. the magical worlds where things are not quite as they seem. I am finding that collage is helping me to release an image for painting.

Foxgloves can be deadly, but then they can,in very small doses heal and help with conditions such as heart disease. Bees and other pollinators love them. They were given to the Physicians of Myddfai by the Faery folk along with instructions on all the herbal remedies for humankind.

Apparently, Friend Foxglove arrived in a box to the Physicians of Myddfai with all the instructions about the medicinal qualities of all the plants of the land. Kimmerer says that Indigenous cultures believe that the human kingdom is young and the plant kingdom is old and wise. It is this wisdom I bow to and listen out for when sitting with my honourable friends.