25-26 February 2012 – Otawa Lodge, Te Puke
Workshop 1 ~ with Rob McGowan aka Pa Ropata & Donna K.
Talk about information overload! I’m partially deaf with no hearing aids (I know, I should have these) – and rely on others to pick things up for me where I may have missed it. To write things down as I went would have meant missing something really important as well! But I managed to take photos and took in as much info as I can; others assisted me as we went out to identify plants, shrubs and trees.
I have learnt that the forest has layers just like auras and I found this really fascinating! and the importance of the birds and insects role and where we, us humans come into the picture in regards to the ngahere – forest.
The layers I am referring to (if you’re as illiterate as I am) – is in tree/plant sense. Like tiers, the undergrowth nourishes and encourages other plants or trees to thrive and then the next layer and so on. Eventually, the smaller plants would die due to lost of sunlight from the bigger plants/trees which is not an indication that that is the end of smaller ones. All is not lost as the smaller ones break-down and becomes rich in nutrients for others. How fascinating! Alot of our natives are used as medicinal uses. But having a foundation to stand on, the understanding of it’s cycle, the harvesting, preparations etc is very important and crucial. To heal the people is to heal the land and your surroundings – your environment.
The people I met on this course are a diverse bunch which I also found fascinating – Homeopath, Herbalist, Naturopaths, Acupucture, Health and Services etc.
I had a great time here and learnt lots – especially the humble kawakawa (macropiper) and its diverse use! Great as a tonic, headaches, migraine, toothaches, a repellant, burn some of this when you have your next outdoor bbq – it keeps mozzies and sandflies away, even blowflies!
I used to have bad migraines that was caused by being whiplashed in a car accident over 15yrs ago. I haven’t had these since. I get the occasional headaches but that is due to lack of sleep.