Red Clover

Soil mom. The dust settles on spring and it’s a given now. Warm days, wet grass. Red Clover rises in the everywoman place—by the garage, the grassy greens never seen—but we see now. Walk by. Notice. Harvest. Leaves of the Triple Goddess. BIG purple fireworks go off between your fingers. Soft like silk. Girls make crowns and teach the boys. Human healer. Soil feeler. Soil feeder. Soil mom.

 

The medicine of Red Clover is Regeneration.

 

MEDICINE

Medicine for Soil. Red Clover fixes nitrogen for other plants to use, eliminating the never-in-the-first-place need for chemical fertilizers. Red Clover is a prolific grower and abundant giver to all soils in which it grows. Invite this soil mender to live and thrive. Medicine for Women. Big. Red Clover contains compounds that mimic estrogen, which is a Big Deal. Strengthening arterial walls, Red Clover lowers the risk of blood clots, saving lives. Thank Goddess. Bone density buzz word means that women’s bones don’t go anywhere. Stay. You stay. The women you love stay. Osteoporosis held at bay. Night sweats evaporate and hot flashes cool. Anti-anxiety. Raises the heart from depression’s depths. Healthier, happier daily life. Supports the health of the heart, blood, and veins. Women who get periods see the unpleasant symptoms of bleeding eased, by a lot. Red clover helps and heals. Ally to women. Vital. Important. Loving. Feminist. Fighter. Badass. Like you.

STORY

One summer day, a little girl was running through a high mountain field, with her Mother and Grandmother not far behind. They’d gone to pick wildflowers, and when they found a patch of Red Clover growing high, they gathered around it, popping off the petals and sucking out the nectar, and making crowns of purple flowers for each other.

The trifoliate leaves of Red Clover symbolize the Triple Goddess—an ancient being who contains the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, representing the three archetypal phases of a woman’s life. Such definitions can be helpful in sorting ourselves out, but it should be said that three is too few a number to contain the multitudes of a woman’s time on this Earth. So, consider it as a fractal—three, within three, within three, within three… as many as you wish to organize and define your life by. Three, within three, within three, ad infinitum. To the infinities of living a life.

INTERACT

Teach children to suck sweet nectar from the base of Red Clover’s little purple petals. Teach them to pick the flowering Clovers from the base and weave the stems together to make brilliant jeweled crowns for each other. Use the flowers to make nourishing tea (and to garnish cocktails).