Your blog post

My post content

Exploring the medicinal properties of the plants at facrp

By Jaden Kalamazoo College Biology and Art Student

Today, we worked in the nursery at Fondes Amandes! Our focus was mostly on Soap Seed, a plant that produces black seeds that you make soap and wash your hands and body with. We loosened the roots of 200+ plants to promote growth, and topped every plant with handmade soil. We learned that the soil is made by the employees at facrp, with dirt, leaf litter, cow and/or chicken manure, and sand. All of which is super nutritious for the plants to anchor their roots in. We also made sure to check for weeds growing in the plants and removing dying leaves.

Then, our lovely instructor _ (pls insert her name for me i forgot it) showed us the plant hospital and what plants were housed there. There was Wonder of the World plants, which apparently can heal inflammation and pain on your skin if you put the leaves of the plant on your skin overnight. Termites are a huge pest at the forest and lots of plants in the hospital were eaten up badly by them, as they find the leaves quite yummy. We saw herbs like thyme, bay leaves, and some other plants like malaysian apple, and some citrus plants.

I really love learning about how we can acquire medicine from nature around us. It’s so important that we know where and how to use plants for medicine, as access to medications can be expensive and difficult to obtain. As Black women, our access to healthcare is especially impacted, especially back at home in America. It fills me with joy to see Black women healing themselves alongside nature, and to know that I too can do that. I’m so grateful for the knowledge from today and am looking forward to learning more.