Bridging the Gap Between Food + Medicine
Anne Heart: What’s your muse these days in the world of plant medicine?
Meg Berry: For a long time I’ve been interested in having a relationship with the plants that grow in the ground. It started off as wanting to deepen my understanding in relationship to the food that we put into our bodies. And this naturally extended into the realm of herbal medicine.
So for me, herbal medicine includes food, drinks, the energy that we enter into our body. Basically, the way I see it is that it’s a philosophy of living in community with nature. So my personal work with herbs, is to bridge this gap between food and medicine. This includes wild cultivation, incorporating herbs into our daily meals, and using plants in other ways other applications in and on our body.
AH: How does your work with herbs connect to your community?
MB: My community with herbal medicine is diverse and broad. Working at a local apothecary that focuses as much as possible on local, organic, and biodynamic herbs is important to me. We also value community, so being a part of a business that is bridging the gap between our knowledge and the community by sharing via products and classes to help educate everyone and to come together. As well, I have several friends that are part of my community with our shared value of plant medicine. That can show up as medicine swapping, local nutritious meal sharing, and even plant identification and wild cultivation in my local region.
AH: What’s your vision for the future of herbalism and wellness?
MB: My big vision for the world is that we all can shift to a more nature-based relationship, on a personal level and a societal level. I strongly believe that we should be cultivating more of our own food, our own plant medicine, and doing that within community. This has been a strong core belief of mine for over a decade. In the future, I envision many more land based communities that share skills, trade goods and services, and are more aligned with nature. I envision all of us, especially our children, outside and connecting with the world more intimately on a regular basis. When we have a relationship with plants, with animals, with the natural world, we are more aligned with ourselves, and we can blossom more vibrantly and build diversity, resiliency, and community. I look forward to seeing more and more of that in the near future.
More about Meg and her background:
I thrive when I’m working with my hands, creating in all ways, and connecting with my community. I’ve been called a jack-of-all-trades, and enjoy learning various skills to build resiliency.
My schooling began with sociology - a natural extension of my incessant need to ask why, explore how we are all connected, & make positive change. Following my desire to learn more about growing food, I worked on farms around the country for a few years after college. Then I received a yoga certificate, a permaculture certificate, & most recently a certificate in clinical herbalism and nutrition at the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism. Currently I make herbal medicine at a local apothecary, do landscaping, make & design knits, and raise a sweet 4 year old boy. When I’m not working you’ll find me in the garden, reading, harvesting wild plants, and making food. I look forward to connecting!
Connect with Meg here Renegadebotanicals@protonmail.com
