Wild Green Wild

Once, I and a dear friend were the only humans living on the peak of a certain mountain in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, near Asheville. Our neighbors were the plants and animals that lived on 250 acres sprawling in every direction. I spent most of my time wandering through, up and around every rock, creek, and path as far as I could travel by foot. The mountain became my mother, friend and teacher. She nourished me on many levels.
Every spring the mountain woke from her winter slumber, at first slowly—a stretch, a yawn, a warm day followed by a week of snow, followed by another warm day. Eventually the snow ceased and the warm days increased. She began to vibrate with her awakening energy as it rose from her depths. Within a matter of weeks, the mountain went from deep sleep to an ecstatic expression of brilliant color, bursting with flaming orange and yellow azaleas, pink mountain laurel, sassafras, dogwood and redbud blossoms. The bears, mountain lions, snakes, and cardinals became visible once again and reclaimed their grocery store. Suddenly, young violets covered the ground, their new light-green foliage sprinkled with small lavender blossoms.
I gathered these precious leaves and blossoms for my wild green salads. I combined them with tender dandelion leaves, cochani, purslane, chickweed, and the watercress I found growing down by the streams. These wild greens vibrated with the energy—the same spring energy that was surging through the mountain, a force of creation and self-expression that didn’t know the meaning of holding back. The mountain wore her brilliantly colored spring blossoms like a maiden on fire with desire. Her ecstatic presence permeated with scents, beauty, nourishment, wisdom, and creative energy.
When the spring wind picked up, it caressed my body gently as it brushed across my cheeks. The wind awakened every cell, opening me to the energy of new life pulsing with potential. The life force would rise in me, asking to be put to use in the creation of a new beginning. The wind knew when to gently waft across my skin to get my attention. At times it ravaged me like a forgotten lover reclaiming its place in my memory. My hair blew, my eyes watered, and I, too, awoke with desire from a long sleep.
If I hadn't aligned with the previous season, making my peace with the stillness of winter, then this rising life force, demanding to be expressed, turned to frustration and anger. The touch of my breezy lover irritated and annoyed me. I hid inside to get away from it. The fluttering leaves in the various trees and plants no longer sounded like music. They became mere noise that I wanted to shut out. Spring's life-force energy had been freed up, stirred up, and ignited. Now it was available to support me in expressing myself more fully during the new year’s cycle. But I had to be prepared for its use. Preparing to use the natural energy of spring—this is what I learned from that mountain in North Carolina.
Now I support my annual journey by staying in alignment with this energy. When the earth itself is waking, I focus on the spring foods and preparations. They will support me to come out, be seen, get active, and dance with the world around me—dance with passion, enthusiasm, and joy.
As the energy awakens and moves upward and through my body, it can be thwarted, especially if my liver and gallbladder are congested. Bringing the young spring greens into my diet will nourish and cleanse my liver and blood. I do this to help the rising life-force energy move freely forward and upward into an expression of who I have become. Tossed with a little lemon juice, these young greens enable the liver and gallbladder to rid the body of physical and emotional toxins.
Spring is the perfect time of the year to drink a daily tea made of dried dandelion and nettle. These herbs give our body added support for cleansing, building the blood, and keeping the energy moving.
Spring is also the best time to enjoy raw or barely cooked vegetables. Quick stir-frying or light steaming of seasonal vegetables, these methods of cooking nourish our energy closer to the surface of the body, where it resides when we are more active and outward. Eat young greens raw or slightly cooked, tossed with fresh lemon juice and a touch of olive oil with a variety of fresh herbs—a delicious and simple way to enjoy these seasonal foods. Add a variety of young sprouts, such as alfalfa or radish. They align us with the energy of new beginnings. When I’m in sync with this season, I don’t hold back or apologize for who I am any more than my beloved mountain in North Carolina would ever apologize. And I have to get in sync. When I’m not in sync, I feel like a forgotten potted plant left to die of thirst in a dark corner of a room.
Aligning with the energy of the spring season supports the blossoming of my heart and passion as I relate more to the world around me during the summer months, when this desire peaks. I continue to eat an abundance of greens to keep my rising energy flowing freely throughout summer. I nourish my spirit with friends, lover, hikes, gatherings, dance, and anything else that I am passionate about.
The wisdom I gained in the stillness of the winter months prepared me for the rising joy in the spring and summer. As the summer months wane and I begin my slow return to my inner world in the early fall I am grateful for the wisdom that has been shared with me. I am ready to let go of what doesn’t support the deep joy available when I honor and feel connected to all there is.
Liver Tonic Salad

Ingredients
4 cups fresh dandelion greens
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh romaine lettuce,
or mixed baby lettuces
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
2 TBS chopped fresh chives
½ cup alfalfa or radish sprouts
Dressing
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 medium cloves pressed garlic
1 tsp honey
salt & black cracked pepper to taste

Directions
Rinse and dry greens in a salad spinner if you have one. If not, rinse and pat dry so excess water does not dilute the flavor of the dressing. Toss with dressing, and sprinkle with minced chives
Serves 2

Spring & Summer Medicinal Recipe

1. Get out in Nature and hike or garden.
2. Harvest and eat as many green plants drizzled with fresh lemon juice as possible.
3. Dance! Dance around the kitchen. Dance around the fire. Dance around your desk. Dance alone, dance with another. Keep that energy moving and expressing.

Mary Lane lives in the Asheville area where she teaches right relation with the natural world through the doorway of food. merrylane@earthlink.net