… A plant has been calling me…Chicory.  It’s been playfully waving to me from the road side for the last several days that it has been in bloom. But it wasn’t until late last night while I lay in bed reading about its virtues that I felt the strong need to return the call and head outside and play. It was the pull of the earth — perhaps the pulling of the plant itself — that urged me to my feet and up from the warmth of the covers of the bed. Still in pajamas and with bare feet, I plod out into the yard and into the dampness of the evening where the Chicory stood in the twilight, extending to the sky … To me it said:

“Eat me. Embrace my bitters. It is the medicine you need. I will clear what’s congested. I will give you clarity in your mind’s eye so you may see what you need to see. I will part the clouds so you can see the road you need to travel. I will help you deliver the nourishment you will need for this long journey.”

I nibbled and munched and contemplated the bitterness of its dry, coarse greens as its solitary blue flower waved above my head.

***Thank you, Matt Wood, for such being a wonderful plant teacher and the compelling writer that you are. It was your work that led me outside to the garden last night to spend time with the Chicory… I was perusing “The Earthwise Herbal” for your writing on Feverfew, when the Chicory monograph — right adjacent to it — nearly lept off the page and pulled me from my bed…