Entertaining & Holidays
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Our Kindred Home: Herbal Recipes, Plant Wisdom, and Seasonal Rituals for Rekindling Connection with the Earth
Learn to reconnect with plants and nature for collective healing in a world beset by environmental crisis with this herbalism and eco-activist handbook.
"Breathtakingly beautiful . . . a gentle and welcoming hand offering to guide those of us seeking mindful connection and mutually nurturing paths through life in the Anthropocene."-Whitney Leigh Morris, author of Small Space Style
Alyson Morgan, a second-generation Haitian American, grew up feeling disconnected from her roots and suffering from the trauma of racism. To heal herself, she found a connection with the natural world around her: slowing down, respecting the seasons, and growing or foraging plants in her local area. To Alyson, connection with the earth means finding a sense of place and home in an era of stress and overwhelm. Now she shares her methods of homesteading for anyone to practice in their own life. Beautifully photographed, with plant monographs, illustrations, and recipes, Our Kindred Home explores our deep ties to the natural world and offers regenerative and sustainable ways of living.
Alyson helps readers better understand the deep grief and systemic harm that stems from disconnection with nature, and provides pathways for healing, such as:
• An exploration of ecological grief and its impacts
• Information for working with subtle body energy
• Tools for observing, identifying, foraging, and cultivating plants
• Methods for creating infusions, honeys, vinegars, and oils
• More than 80 seasonal and 40 plant monographs
With the whole world in environmental crisis, creating a relationship with the earth that is reciprocal rather than exploitative and understanding our fundamental interconnectedness is more vital than ever. In Our Kindred Home, you'll find everyday ways to connect to the earth for resilience, resistance, liberation, and collective healing.
"Breathtakingly beautiful . . . a gentle and welcoming hand offering to guide those of us seeking mindful connection and mutually nurturing paths through life in the Anthropocene."-Whitney Leigh Morris, author of Small Space Style
Alyson Morgan, a second-generation Haitian American, grew up feeling disconnected from her roots and suffering from the trauma of racism. To heal herself, she found a connection with the natural world around her: slowing down, respecting the seasons, and growing or foraging plants in her local area. To Alyson, connection with the earth means finding a sense of place and home in an era of stress and overwhelm. Now she shares her methods of homesteading for anyone to practice in their own life. Beautifully photographed, with plant monographs, illustrations, and recipes, Our Kindred Home explores our deep ties to the natural world and offers regenerative and sustainable ways of living.
Alyson helps readers better understand the deep grief and systemic harm that stems from disconnection with nature, and provides pathways for healing, such as:
• An exploration of ecological grief and its impacts
• Information for working with subtle body energy
• Tools for observing, identifying, foraging, and cultivating plants
• Methods for creating infusions, honeys, vinegars, and oils
• More than 80 seasonal and 40 plant monographs
With the whole world in environmental crisis, creating a relationship with the earth that is reciprocal rather than exploitative and understanding our fundamental interconnectedness is more vital than ever. In Our Kindred Home, you'll find everyday ways to connect to the earth for resilience, resistance, liberation, and collective healing.
Editorial Reviews
"Alyson's way with words is similar in essence to her way with the earth. Her ability to distill the potent down to the digestible leaves us wanting more. She has a gentle yet powerful way of conveying knowledge that goes beyond the traditional. Her images are poetry. Her words are full of the very wisdom we need now more than ever. As she says, we are living in a time of an unveiling, and this book does that and so much more."-Nikki Reed
"In this breathtakingly beautiful book, Alyson communicates with her hallmark stunning artistry the magnificent and multifaceted vibrance of this planet though a raw yet deeply soothing lens. Our Kindred Home is a gentle and welcoming hand offering to guide those of us seeking mindful connection and mutually nurturing paths through life in the Anthropocene."-Whitney Leigh Morris, author of Small Space Style
"Our Kindred Home takes you on a beautiful and unique journey through Alyson's life and creative wisdom. From reclaiming her sense of safety and joy within nature to then harnessing the medicine nature provides to nourish and sustain. I learnt so much about how to interact, gather, and prepare herbs. I can't wait to follow her recipes through the seasons."-Bonnie Wright, actor and author of Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet
"Beautifully illustrated plant monographs and recipes for tonics, teas, and food (including a mouthwatering dandelion almond cake) promise to aid readers in attuning to the ‘cyclical nature of the earth' by, for instance, mixing up holy basil sangria in the summer or indulging in mushroom galette and herbal macaroni and cheese to mark the arrival of fall. Additionally, helpful tips outline the dos and don'ts of identifying, harvesting, and storing herbs at home. Expert and beginning herbalists alike will find this a fruitful resource."-Publishers Weekly
"In this breathtakingly beautiful book, Alyson communicates with her hallmark stunning artistry the magnificent and multifaceted vibrance of this planet though a raw yet deeply soothing lens. Our Kindred Home is a gentle and welcoming hand offering to guide those of us seeking mindful connection and mutually nurturing paths through life in the Anthropocene."-Whitney Leigh Morris, author of Small Space Style
"Our Kindred Home takes you on a beautiful and unique journey through Alyson's life and creative wisdom. From reclaiming her sense of safety and joy within nature to then harnessing the medicine nature provides to nourish and sustain. I learnt so much about how to interact, gather, and prepare herbs. I can't wait to follow her recipes through the seasons."-Bonnie Wright, actor and author of Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet
"Beautifully illustrated plant monographs and recipes for tonics, teas, and food (including a mouthwatering dandelion almond cake) promise to aid readers in attuning to the ‘cyclical nature of the earth' by, for instance, mixing up holy basil sangria in the summer or indulging in mushroom galette and herbal macaroni and cheese to mark the arrival of fall. Additionally, helpful tips outline the dos and don'ts of identifying, harvesting, and storing herbs at home. Expert and beginning herbalists alike will find this a fruitful resource."-Publishers Weekly
Short Excerpt Teaser
Introduction
Much like the living world around us, our bodies are complex ecosystems, home to water, fire, earth, wind, and spirit.
Emotions swell. Like waves on the brink of cresting, rising within my body, carrying old stories, old feelings. When my emotional waters have been calm for some time, the rising tide of self-hatred is the one that can take me under so quickly. I gasp for air at the thought that I can even hold such loathing for myself. I found that, much like a riptide, fighting the wave makes it harder, so I must ride it out. I used to wholeheartedly believe the stories these swells tell and take them for truths. I know now the true origins come from a dark and ancient sea not of my own making, a sea not unlike the one that carried my ancestors in the belly of a ship. Understanding its origin does not make it any easier to feel, but it does make it easier to not be wholly engulfed. Life contains mystery felt yet unseen that we cannot quite comprehend.
My buoy in this sea of darkness is joy. The stars and the moon are anchors outside of myself, whispering, "You do not travel alone; when you are lost, we can be your guide." I'm learning to allow my emotions to fully surface, letting the salt water of my tears cleanse me. The only way through is to feel. When I began to listen attentively and value my own inklings, it opened a new world and allowed me to rebuild a relationship of trust within and the ability to discern information in the outside world. My unlearning and relearning began when I started listening to plants.
I never understood the gravity of heaviness and pain I carried in my brown body in this white-dominated society. I don't think my mother quite understood it either. Why was I so sensitive and so affected? More than emotionality, I felt something deep in my bones and blood. Gifted and woven together by the threads of my diverse ancestry, known and unknown, Afro Indigenous, Haitian, European, place, stories, and languages are sown into me. The threads of my ancestries span continents and oceans. My body is the keeper of their stories and the pain of both the colonizers and the enslaved. Nestled between sinew, nerve, and tendon, I hold acute pain of being stolen from homelands and concurrently dogged resilience of surviving it all. We all, undoubtedly, hold more than we are aware of.
Our bodies are our primary and sacred vessels for the time we travel here on Earth. From the moment we are born, our first language is our senses. The vibration of our mother's heartbeat is the first we experience, the warmth of the skin, the taste of milk, and from those very moments we begin to process information about the world around us. Is it safe, am I loved, am I fed, are my bodily needs met? We learn from these first moments, through sensory information, for months and years of our lives before we learn language. It informs how our nervous systems and our brains become wired.
I was loved, fed, and held, yet my own pain was brought to light in a car accident in high school. Physical trauma laid bare emotional trauma. With my corporeal vessel cracked open, the light poured through my wounds, and this trial became my initiation. I could have died at sixteen years old, but I see it as the day I was born. At this tender age, I was made aware how precious and fleeting our lives in these human bodies are. We are here for a blip on the timescale. That accident changed me physically, spiritually, and mentally. I wanted to live my life to the fullest now that I knew how short life could be, but I felt stifled by toxic relationships to myself, my body, and to people around me. A deep sense of disconnection haunted me.
Throughout my journey, I've learned how much trauma is stored within my body. This unprocessed trauma caused nervous system dysregulation, triggered by continuing racial and cultural wounding. To truly begin on a path of healing, I needed to find safe space and ways to ease my nervous system and befriend what I was carrying. I found safe space in the garden and a nostalgic ease with the natural world. I am grateful for years of access to mental health resources, body work, and somatic practices. Yet there is so much wisdom and healing to be gleaned from daily rituals and deep connection with plants. I've learned safe ways to ground myself into the soil of my being. Plants are a catalyst for deeper healing, and when they were woven into my daily practices, I found a sense of balance and ease. There are so many resources out there that teach us the constituents of plants and their biochemical processes, but I want to return to the root of plant connection. Our ancestors connected with embodied awareness and practices to form relation...
Much like the living world around us, our bodies are complex ecosystems, home to water, fire, earth, wind, and spirit.
Emotions swell. Like waves on the brink of cresting, rising within my body, carrying old stories, old feelings. When my emotional waters have been calm for some time, the rising tide of self-hatred is the one that can take me under so quickly. I gasp for air at the thought that I can even hold such loathing for myself. I found that, much like a riptide, fighting the wave makes it harder, so I must ride it out. I used to wholeheartedly believe the stories these swells tell and take them for truths. I know now the true origins come from a dark and ancient sea not of my own making, a sea not unlike the one that carried my ancestors in the belly of a ship. Understanding its origin does not make it any easier to feel, but it does make it easier to not be wholly engulfed. Life contains mystery felt yet unseen that we cannot quite comprehend.
My buoy in this sea of darkness is joy. The stars and the moon are anchors outside of myself, whispering, "You do not travel alone; when you are lost, we can be your guide." I'm learning to allow my emotions to fully surface, letting the salt water of my tears cleanse me. The only way through is to feel. When I began to listen attentively and value my own inklings, it opened a new world and allowed me to rebuild a relationship of trust within and the ability to discern information in the outside world. My unlearning and relearning began when I started listening to plants.
I never understood the gravity of heaviness and pain I carried in my brown body in this white-dominated society. I don't think my mother quite understood it either. Why was I so sensitive and so affected? More than emotionality, I felt something deep in my bones and blood. Gifted and woven together by the threads of my diverse ancestry, known and unknown, Afro Indigenous, Haitian, European, place, stories, and languages are sown into me. The threads of my ancestries span continents and oceans. My body is the keeper of their stories and the pain of both the colonizers and the enslaved. Nestled between sinew, nerve, and tendon, I hold acute pain of being stolen from homelands and concurrently dogged resilience of surviving it all. We all, undoubtedly, hold more than we are aware of.
Our bodies are our primary and sacred vessels for the time we travel here on Earth. From the moment we are born, our first language is our senses. The vibration of our mother's heartbeat is the first we experience, the warmth of the skin, the taste of milk, and from those very moments we begin to process information about the world around us. Is it safe, am I loved, am I fed, are my bodily needs met? We learn from these first moments, through sensory information, for months and years of our lives before we learn language. It informs how our nervous systems and our brains become wired.
I was loved, fed, and held, yet my own pain was brought to light in a car accident in high school. Physical trauma laid bare emotional trauma. With my corporeal vessel cracked open, the light poured through my wounds, and this trial became my initiation. I could have died at sixteen years old, but I see it as the day I was born. At this tender age, I was made aware how precious and fleeting our lives in these human bodies are. We are here for a blip on the timescale. That accident changed me physically, spiritually, and mentally. I wanted to live my life to the fullest now that I knew how short life could be, but I felt stifled by toxic relationships to myself, my body, and to people around me. A deep sense of disconnection haunted me.
Throughout my journey, I've learned how much trauma is stored within my body. This unprocessed trauma caused nervous system dysregulation, triggered by continuing racial and cultural wounding. To truly begin on a path of healing, I needed to find safe space and ways to ease my nervous system and befriend what I was carrying. I found safe space in the garden and a nostalgic ease with the natural world. I am grateful for years of access to mental health resources, body work, and somatic practices. Yet there is so much wisdom and healing to be gleaned from daily rituals and deep connection with plants. I've learned safe ways to ground myself into the soil of my being. Plants are a catalyst for deeper healing, and when they were woven into my daily practices, I found a sense of balance and ease. There are so many resources out there that teach us the constituents of plants and their biochemical processes, but I want to return to the root of plant connection. Our ancestors connected with embodied awareness and practices to form relation...
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