Forage: The Rose and the Hip

What is Forage? A kind of inner tracking, a wild wander, observing how the gifts in the wild or garden reflect the gifts within.

I realize now, that the idea for the name of both my photography business and my educational business comes from a  kind of ‘forage’ experience.   In what ways does a ‘fruit’ or example from Nature mirror or symbolize a human process?  The Apple Star, is the core revealed, not cut out, the seeds of future creations intact, the beauty honoured!

The Rose and the Hip

It’s easy to admire the rose, in full glory, full sent and splendour, isn’t it? but not so easy the haw, the seed, the hip. Hard, blood red, seedy and itchy to boot, this little bounty has it’s treasure well hidden. She’s thorny too, marking territory, entwined in an never-ending dance with the Black Berry Briar, we watch those once juicy black nuggets drying on the vine, and marvel at their simple giving of themselves to us, compared to the complex extraction needed to taste the healing of the rose hip! A what is this weird, puff of a hairy nest? Is it true a wasp lies within? This is what Rose hips bring up for me:

“When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.”

Kahlil Gibran

Thank you Omi Grace for walking with me, listening to me, and gathering with me.  Thank you too, for standing your ground and expressing your boundaries, and making the tea, that I couldn’t make!!  Belinda White

#forage #wildwander #wildwomen #rosehip #innertracking #pinions #Kahlilgibran