Radogast,
Only now do I begin to know the depth and breadth of the knowledge in your clan. It's wonderful when like find each other. You are so right, so much of medication is a function of dosage: some of one is good for the blood, too much stops the heart.
I think it's wise to tread cautiously when the Coyote is about. My garden is a GaiaGarden consisting of 10'-diameter raised keyhole beds, the Core, surrounded by 6 (looks like a daisy to the Hawk). The MainEntrance and the CoreEntrance are opposite, so that you must walk all the way around to ge to the Core, for complete isolation if needed. The 6 surrounding 6 surrounding beds naturally focus energies both physical and spiritual. The plants flourish in the broadest sense. The energy they send to the Core adds to it's own in a way that is non-arithmetic. One can only imagine; seated comfortably in the Core, meditating/communing with a pipe full of herbs grown, from w/in this very, flower-shaped garden, under the moon, w/Eyes wide open. Separate beds could easily be set aside by type or any relevant criteria.
Pawpaws always smell. I've seen Amish plant them near pig-sties so that they harvest 1/2 & piggies get fat on the other. Piggies reduce bug problems by making sure there are no rotting fruit on the ground, whilst busily manuring the area, and the tree shades the pigs. They know a thing or 2 about growing.
Sweetsue: Always grateful, and frequently enlightened when you chime in. Thx.
Though kind, you grant me more knowledge than I have acquired.
I have too much book knowing and not enough direct knowledge and experience,
Yet I have been blessed with many experiences this life.
I have been cautious around Coyote. Let's just say that I have taken the time to double check his references and received a go ahead from my security team.
I'm sure I would love to meditate in your Gaia Garden. Literally.
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About 4 years ago, I wrote a few chapters to begin a fictional book on the magical and sexual birth of a witch.
When I got to the point of describing a garden the witch had inherited, I stopped writing the book because it was more fun to imagine the garden than continue the book.
Your 'like a daisy to a hawk' garden description is quite similar to that one, although I chose 8 'petals' based on the number of sabbaths established by Gardner in Wicca, and now widely accepted in the neo-pagan communities.
I believe it was the dream of that garden, that brought me to this land, that put me on a study path to where I now know what a keyhole garden is, that puts me on path leading to old teachings. One of those perfect paths unseen until you choose it.
My wife and I aren't ceremonial, so we chose organic shapes over geometrical for the garden area.
Still, there is a circular, cathedral of trees that seems destined to be a formal gathering space
Thank you for the Paw Paw smell alert. We have several wild plots of skunk cabbage.
There is some well drained, shady ground near skunk cabbage along the path near the large Oak tree that may work very well.
I'll be starting the seeds indoor, hoping for several mature trees in several years. So I have time to learn the right place
I may even be able to apply the principles of a plant with many uses, like the Amish