Roots Just Everywhere

Roots just everywhere, can you find them! This weekend was a blast, the fall weather was present and I was fascinated by the variety of roots we discovered. The underground world is a true mystery to many of us and getting a little taste of what happens underneath our feet is a true blessing in disguise. Without it, we wouldn’t be here. On a day like today, there was hardly any leaves left on most plants and trees, therefore digging up roots makes it even more special because we all had to use a keen eye on the signs of remaining plant parts. We learned about the way roots are used for utilitarian, medicinal and edible purposes. Burdock for example, has a taproot which often anchors itself quite deep and firmly into the soil. If you successfully and respectfully removed the whole root, it is edible and also holds valuable medicinal properties.

I love the feel of different soil textures and questioning how and why plants are adaptable in specific environments. For example, we dug up dandelion roots that were in a forested habitat that had very rocky soil, I personally struggled uprooting these dandelions. In other occasions, I’ve managed to dig dandelion roots far more easily because of their environment which was in a park which had soft smooth soil.

Throughout the course of the day we also had the opportunity to look at various seeds prepared by plants for the upcoming winter season. We observed wild coffee, blue cohosh and wild asparagus seeds apart from many others and they were incredible. During lunch time we warmed up with a cup of white pine tea and many great conversations stirred in our group. Our day ended on a high note, I felt inspired, grateful and curious about many earthly mysteries from our time spent together – clearly there’s never a dull moment with Earth Tracks!

-Annie