Feature in Gardenista: "Jess Turner of Olamina Botanicals 'Harnesses the Power of Weeds'"

Photo by Valery Rizzo

UK-based garden writer Kendra Page Wilson of Gardenista, whose editorial objective is to demystify outdoor design, did a feature on me, Olamina Botanicals’ First Aid Spray and ways of seeing the living world through the eyes of a bioregional herbalist. This lens is one through which all plants—even so-called weeds—can be understood as medicine.

It is common wisdom amongst herbal folk that the plants growing most abundantly in a place are there for a reason. They are likely just the medicine the people living nearby need. Time and time again after having walked through a landscape with someone stewarding it, who may not yet be attuned to the powers of medicinal weeds, I find plants just suited to the issues they or someone they hold dear have been experiencing. The experience of seeing the place in which one lives with new eyes is healing in and of itself.

After years of encountering Chickweed (Stellaria media), Bidens (Bidens spp.) and Plantain (Plantago spp.) growing with vigor in spaces in which I have been involved, learning these plants’ medicinal powers and turning to them in my hour of need, I decided to gather them together in a topical formula that I could share with the world. Olamina Botanicals’ First Aid Spray was born.

From the article:

If you see someone foraging berries from a tree that you thought was merely decorative, or carrying plants on the subway that do not look like florist’s flowers, stop and talk to them. They might change your perspective on the world around you. It might even be Jess Turner of Olamina Botanicals, an herbalist who is very open in engaging strangers and passersby in a conversation on the potential of plants for wellbeing.

The short ingredients list in Olamina Botanical’s First Aid Spray reveals four medicinal plants that are easy to find, growing in gutters or abandoned lots: plantain, chickweed, bidens, and feverfew. It is Jess’s mission to promote understanding between ordinary plants and people, while rekindling a connection with our better-informed ancestors …

… Plantain, sometimes referred to as the mother of all herbs is one of the First Aid Spray’s vital ingredients. “It is also called the ‘green bandage’, an ode to its immense topical healing properties,” says Jess. “Plantain is astringent, antimicrobial, demulcent, cooling and anti-inflammatory. Because of its drawing properties, it can been used to pull out bee stings and infection from a wound.” For the easiest DIY application, freshly picked herbs are easy to use, without distilling or fermenting. “Just grab a leaf, chew, and apply to a sting, cut or abrasion. The enzymes in our saliva help to activate the healing properties of plantain; chewing the leaves releases the medicinal constituents in the leaves,” she says. If the idea of spit is “undignified,” the leaves can be crushed and applied straight to a wound, kept in place with gauze. “You can also take a few leaves, chop them, steep them in hot water for 15 minutes and apply that infusion as a wash to a troubled area.”

Read in full at Gardenista.com.