Finally the day's product is loaded on the donkey, and, when the distant station is reached, weighed and paid for. Out of this the laborer lives, furnishes and feeds the donkey and supports his family. We need another way of looking at our bodies and the plant medicines. Seeing the two as interconnected and in balance is new to industrial culture, but in reality it is the most ancient healing model on earth. We knew it before we were people.
Animals know how to use plants to medicate themselves.
Their examples surround us, from dogs eating grass to bears digging Osha roots. Probably every human society has had some way of explaining how the body works and how plant medicines work in us. In more primitive societies where people have the luxury of listening to their own bodies it is easy to spot an imbalance before it turns into an acute disease state. This is where herbs are most effective. They are treated differently from the two first crops.