Ask the plant before you harvest ...

All pants have an intention… we need to work with that intention. If you want to pick part of a plant for food or for medicine, you need to ask the plant for permission….Shihaam Domingo

This was one of important teachings of the four plant heritage  workshops run by indigenous practitioner and cultural botanist Shihaam Domingo.
     The workshops were held with 18 Lotus High  school learners, at the school and at Princess Vlei. They were part of our Fynbos Fantasia project, to make youth aware of the ecological, historical and cultural significance of our rich fynbos kingdom. The workshops invited learners to see touch, taste and smell the plants. They learnt about ancient cultural, spiritual  and medicinal uses by the Khoe and San people and their descendants. Learners also wrote poems to express their own relationship with the plants and Princess Vlei.

The workshops began at Lotus High School on 10 September, where learners studied plants in  the rich ingenious garden and nursery at the school, established by science teacher Shafiek Isaacs.
They learned how to identify plants with healing properties as well as edible plants. They were taught about the value of indigenous and traditional knowledge and how their gardening supports the preservation of plant knowledge and therefore helps to protect indigenous vegetation. Shihaam prepared wild rooibos tea with honey for the learners and gave them sprigs of indigenous teas to try at home with their families. 
         The learners were gifted notebooks from the poet Barbara Boswell, who would be helping them write poetry at the second session at Princess Vlei. They wrote their thoughts and feelings as they moved through activities to generate material for their poems.
      On the 12th September learners were treated to roosterkoek and homemade jams prepared by Shihaam on the fire at the Princess Vlei braai areas. She infused these treats with indigenous plants so that learners could experience the taste of the edible species that they were learning about.

Learners shared their writing and walked with Shihaam through the fynbos to learn about species like the wild rosemary and skilpad Bessie. Wilde dagga, wilde knoffel, wild rosmary, wild rooibos, bruin salie, skilpadbessie, tabak bos and malva. Shihaam stressed the importance of respecting the plants. 
     Speaking about the tabak bos, she said this sacred plant has been used by women for meditation and reflection. ‘It’s important not to abuse it for just any reason. Remember, a plant has an intention, so our interaction with it is also intentional …’ 
     Learners were also taught about the indigenous khoe princess who gave the vlei its name and asked to write about her relationship with plants and the vlei. Barbara Boswell hosted a session on poetry writing. Learners were taught to free write, then to weave elements of their free writing into a poem to express  their feelings about plants and the vlei.
    In the third session, held at the school, Shihaam told learners about the role of plants in ceremony and how diverse groups of people including the khoe and descendants of the Khoe continue to work with plants to bring healing and restoration to land and their communities. Learners were invited to wash their hands in a water with indigenous herbs and were taught about the cleansing and healing properties of water combined with  healing plants.  Shihaam also provided a plant based balm that she’d made. She explained that all the ingredients in the balm came from custodians who harvest at the right time in the plant’s natural environment,  which boosts the healing properties of the balm.

     In the final session, learners again met at the Vlei and enjoyed rosterkoek and tea made with fynbos plants. Vlei. Learners were invited to share their poetry in a circle and took turns to recite what they had prepared. Shihaam encouraged them to continue working on their poetry and journaling as part of the process. Those who were comfortable enough to share to poems performed their poetry at the Fynbos Fantasia celebration on 25 October. 
     These workshops gave learners a opportunity to engage deeply, using all their senses, with the plants at Princess Vlei; to enrich their understanding of the cultural heritage of these plants, and their relations with pollinators, air, water and people; and to express their reflections an this through poetry

• Thanks to Shihaam Domingo, Barbara  Boswell, Lotus High teachers and learners, and to the City Grant in Aid for funding this project.