This is the story of how it all began or, to quote The Hobbit, a story of there and back again.
It began with a garden.
It wasn’t an herb garden. It was a vegetable garden, or rather a series of them tucked into the sunny spots of our quarter-acre piece of land. I wanted to grow my own food, if only for that incredible feeling of picking a ripe tomato off the vine. I was a bit tomato-obsessed in those days. At one point I had thirty tomato plants.
What can I say? Those heirloom seed catalogues got to me.
Gardeners, I think,
dream bigger dreams than emperors.– Mary Cantrell
During those years, my body was also becoming increasingly fatigued and in pain for no apparent reason. In my search for healing I came across medicinal herbs. I was no stranger to the herb garden for I’d grown up around garden-loving women, and my mother, aunts, and grandmother had always grown herbs. But I discovered that I had only known a small part of their potential.
Enter Medicinal Herbs
I leaned that some plants strengthen the immune system, some are anti-inflammatory, some cool fevers, and some heal the skin. Some plants recognize the unspoken needs the body is signaling, and adapt to heal it. Some plants hold the healing in their leaves, and some in their roots. Some work best in harmony with other plants. Some are lifelong partners; others should only be taken for a season. They all amaze me with their beauty and rich diversity. Like women.
I learned the best from growing them and using them. And by and by, the vegetable gardens became herb and tea gardens. Or experiments in living, as I like to call them.
This foray into the world of herbalism has now spanned over a decade. I ended up with countless books on herbal medicine, healing, and ancient wisdom, and more and more yard space devoted to herbs and teas of all kinds.
I learned that medicinal herbs and teas are a lifestyle. They’re not a cure-all or a quick fix, for nature herself is not a quick fix. To follow the path of nature’s healing requires patience. It’s a path that incorporates body, mind, heart, and spirit.
I still have a lot to learn. The world of herbalism is vast. I have no formal degrees, in case you’re wondering. I’m simply someone who has found healing through plants in many ways.
Enter Tea
“Tea began as medicine
and grew into a beverage.”
-Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea
Tea blending was a natural follow-up to all the herbal lore I was tucking away in my mind.
Herbal teas are one of the simplest ways of incorporating medicinal herbs into our lives.
Finding that my body responded well to the gentle healing of plants, I began experimenting with nourishing herbal infusions. Then came black teas and green teas flavored with some of my favorite herbs. Kitchen gadgets were given away to make room for a tea collection that was becoming a bit alarming. I found myself collecting as many books on tea as I had on medicinal herbs.
Something more than tea was happening.
I was finding a new way of living. It was a life that focused on nurture over productivity, for myself and others. Beyond that, I was finding a life that did not need success or approval. I learned to release the expectations others had placed upon me that were not mine to carry. I learned that I did not need to prove my worth to anyone, and I did not need everyone around me to be happy before I could let myself feel happiness.
The garden path I had set out on in an effort to raise my own food taught me about the healing potential of nature and gardens. It taught me that health is more than merely physical – that the health of the mind and spirit are vital to living a healed and whole life. I learned to walk lightly upon the earth, for I wanted to nourish it as it had nourished me.
When we live in partnership with nature, it affects every aspect of our life.
As tea experiments became tea blends, I gave some as gifts to friends who loved them and said I should sell them. I said there were plenty of companies who sold herbal tea blends and I didn’t think the world needed another one. But the seed of a dream was planted. In the years that followed, in the middle of raising three young sons, the tea dream never left.
I didn’t know if it would ever happen, but I knew one thing: it was going to be about healing and nourishing. Tish Harrison said something I never forgot in her book Liturgy of the Ordinary:
“Food has so much to teach us about nourishment,
and as a culture we struggle
with what it means to be not simply fed,
but profoundly and holistically nourished.”-Tish Harrison
Living profoundly and holistically nourished in body, mind, and spirit – this was the light that carried the dream. Seed of Life is the result of a healing journey that spanned more than a decade and continues today. It was a journey of learning to not only exist, but to live nourished no matter the circumstances that touched my life.
Each tea I offer is one that has come from this healing journey. Each one has been designed for a reason. Each one has a story, and the title of each story is nourish.
This is also a space for healing words. It’s a space that shares gardening and poetry and books and stories. It’s a space for me to pass along the rich wisdom that was gifted to me by others and has blessed and healed my life in so many ways.
If you would like to read the story of my grandmother, the woman who brought meaning to the Seed of Life name, you may enjoy reading Greenhouse Roots.
Thank you for being here.
–Sheila Rochelle
