The Wonder Women is a blog series that spotlight some of the most badass women I know. Women that have the courage and drive to live and work relentlessly within their passion. Each blog is written by a different Wonder Woman and will give you an opportunity to be inspired and connect with incredible women who are movin’ and shakin’, helping and healing. Enjoy!

Today’s wonder woman plays many rolls in my life and to the lives of many. She is a teacher, farmer, mentor, herbalist, friend and straight up inspiration. She is one of the most intelligent, hard-working, kind of souls I’ve ever met. Meet Linda Shanahan of Barefoot Botanicals.

Living lives connected to seasonality, with rituals that reflect and respect the wildness and abundance that we are all a part of, promotes a collective consciousness that makes it more difficult to harm our earth or those living within her web. This may feel harder to achieve in our modern world, but it is possible. One of the most simple, basic acts that can help to slowly build this connection is carefully choosing what we put into our mouths every day. It serves as our most intimate connection with the environment around us.

This is where, for me, herbs come in. Many herbs have a tonic, nutritive effect that can help to slowly build structure and function. But others have a direct, noticeable physiological effect that can be stimulating, relaxing, cooling or warming. Over time and with the development of intuition, slight energetic effects can be felt almost immediately. Many experienced herbalists can taste an unknown plant and explain what the plant is likely used for, noting organ systems most affected, based on how they feel after ingestion. For those of us that grew up completely disconnected from plant medicine, which is most of us, it may take the stronger physiological effect of something like coffee or even the psychoactive effect of a plant such as cannabis to “wake up” our DNA to the power of plants. We evolved knowing plants intimately and so it does not take much to foster this inner knowing.

Once this human-plant connection is established, the plants serve to facilitate a human-ecosystem connection. Take dandelion, for example. The common dandelion is a deeply nourishing, mineral rich food available to us in some form every month of the year. Once you’ve tasted her medicine, it is hard to imagine why anyone would want to use toxic means to eradicate her. This leads you to learning more about herbicides and their impact on the environment and on human health, which then leads you to consider the effects of things like Roundup on pollinator species and children’s nervous and digestive systems. Taking this further, you learn that populations of once abundant bird species are in decline due to the ingestion of herbicide laden flies and cutworms.

On a positive note, you notice that every April, you can expect to start seeing a sea of yellow flowers opening across grassy areas everywhere you look. Because you have heard that dandelion flowers make great wine you are determined to make a family ritual around flower harvest. You also notice that around this time in Spring there are many other plants flowering or lushly green. You sign up to go on a plant walk so that someone can identify these plants for you because you just know that they must be good for you somehow. You learn about chickweed, mallow, plantain, and wild mustards. You are reminded, once again, that we are surrounded by food and medicine everywhere we look! Who knew there was so much to celebrate growing wild under our feet?

When we love something, we will stand to protect it. This is how earth defenders are born.

This is why I teach about plants.

Learn more: www.barefootbotanicals.net

Wonder Woman: Linda Shanahan