If Humans Were Plants

by nancylee bouscher

My commute from the Co-op to home is super short. It’s over the river and through some fields, and it goes by too fast some days. As I drive home from work, like you, I review my day. I think of those sweet divine twins who made shy eyes at me and their chubby cheeks, the kind grandmother who loves the new eye serum I recommended, and the sound of my co-workers joyfully laughing aisles away as they stock boxes and bottles. Some days, I drive home thinking of the very unhappy people I’ve encountered— their sadness of a new health hurdle, the frustration at a higher price or an out-of-stock sign, and yup, sometimes even seething anger for reasons they themselves might not realize.

As I was running errands one day, I kept reviewing a couple of recent icky interactions, thinking of how I could have responded differently because I am NOT a “they go low, you go high” kind of gal. I’m all sunshine and giggles until there’s a bully in the room who wants to steal someone’s joy, and then part of me thinks “game on.” It’s not pleasant for anyone. As I walked through a very crowded store to pick up this and that, I couldn’t stop chewing on these two interactions, annoyed with the energy they were still sucking out of me. I did the things and paid the money, and when I came back to my van and threw my tired body into the driver’s seat, I looked up to find a pale pink long stemmed rose on my dirty windshield.

Now, if you listen to true crime podcasts, you might see this differently, however, I don’t, so I was elated by this rose left by a stranger. I immediately hopped out of my van to smell it, and no rose has ever smelled more sweetly. No strings (or thorns) attached, someone just decided to choose kindness over contempt. Just as the bees, birds, bats feed on the pollen of blooms, humans desperately need to see and exude more genuine joy in all aspects of our lives, and most importantly to me, while they shop for groceries. As spring unfolds in Skagit Valley— undoubtedly one of the most magical moments to experience— let’s buzz through some of the ways flowers can uplift you, even as you might feel your petals drooping a bit.

When I think of flowers in Wellness, three powerful flowers pop into mind: lavender, calendula, and St. John’s Wort. Each with their unique shapes, scents, colors— they all grow effortlessly around us, and each offers different ways to ease our troubled mind, bodies, and spirit.

Lavender is by far the most popular scent of Wellness products, and for many, the smell is uplifting. Island Thyme, owned and operated by Eliza and Chris over on Orcas, offers some of our most popular lavender products: lotions, body scrubs, and even a Lavender Vanilla lip balm. Their best-selling product for us (and we have literally sold thousands of these) is their Lavender Peppermint Headache Stick. Keep one in your car for long drives and a spare at work for those days when you wish you were on a road trip. Pro tip! In a pinch it can help with bug bites too— just don’t get it too close to your eyes!

Calendula and lavender together, as they live in Arbordoun’s Calendula Cream, is a dynamic duo that soothes and moisturizes like nothing else on our shelves. No doubt I have written about this miraculous and luscious cream, and yet, do you know where your jar is? It’s my go-to for any and all skin issues. Too dry, too itchy, too sensitive, too old. Yes, yes, YES! Another great woman-owned local company providing a really powerful herbal remedy to her community.

Calendula petals also make their ways into teas used for soothing digestion like Bloom Apothecary’s Well Belly, and their Permission to Pause tea blend includes lavender for those moments when we need to rest and restore. Drinking flowers feels so decadent and yet, it’s such an inexpensive remedy. Kelly Ann, the herbalist behind Bloom Apothecary, is one of the kindness mamas I know. You can almost feel the warm hug in every cup.

My favorite St. John’s Wort product comes in two forms, and both are from Herb Pharm’s organic fields. There’s the topical Trauma Oil that’s used as a massage oil and the internal Trauma Drops. Both also contain calendula and arnica, and both are great for any time trauma causes you pain. In my personal path of pain, I found that these two products really helped to relieve nerve pain, including my tension headaches. I loved to create my own roll-on, getting an empty glass roll-on in our Mercantile and blending the oil and the tincture with essential oils, so I had an easy way to apply the mix to sore body parts during my day. Another great option for internal St. John’s Wort is Vitanica’s Uplift formulation which also includes B vitamins, rhodiola, ginkgo, and lemon balm.

St. John’s Wort is somewhat of a controversial plant. She pops up along freeways and roads, so many folks see her as a weed. She’s also not great for livestock, so some feel she shouldn’t be cultivated in your backyard. Some even go so far as to call her noxious! She does have a ton of studies and clinical trials behind her, but she can interact with prescriptions, so do some homework before you dive in (I appreciate the pubmed.gov website when researching). One of her many tricks is that even though her delicate flower is yellow, if you pick that yellow bloom and squish it in your fingers, you will see the deepest plum purple color. Such a good reminder to seek out pleasant surprises because we know we’ll get some unhappy ones along the way, too.

Almost two years ago, my mother-in-law, Mary, had a bad fall and has been in a care facility in Albuquerque since. It’s unlikely that she will be able to return to her small two-bedroom home on the reservation, so packed full of relics of her life that I’m no longer surprised when I find a beautiful turquoise and spiny oyster shell earring nestled in a jar on the bathroom counter, and then spy its partner in a kitchen drawer with tea bags and old forgotten packets of hot chocolate. Reuniting them, even with their chips and imperfections, gives me this small flicker of joy that I could make this one thing complete, as so much else seems to fall apart.

Just like flowers, we do not bloom forever. So, while we are here blooming and smelling pretty, let’s share that energy as much as we can with each other. I know it’s hard some days, and when that happens, I hope you have friends, people, and plants you can look to for support to get your back to being your best self. Smell the roses, be the roses, leave them in your wake for others to find as a spontaneous reminder of how beautiful joy can feel to share.