Introducing Benevolent Healer

What dirty nails have to do with health and wellness

I can’t get the dirt out from under my fingernails these days, and I’m really okay with that. This spring, I am taking advantage of the longer days with plenty of outside work. It feels good when the sun shows up, even if the temperature is still hovering in the 50’s. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ve already heard via the podcast how I decommissioned our driveway to make way for raised garden beds. Currently, there are four 4x8 feet beds, all seeded or from transplants out of my dining room. I’m saving up to purchase another four beds, and aim to build a trellis between them. It will be prettier than parked cars, I promise.

The dining room still has three full shelves of plants in all stages of growth, waiting for warmer temperatures. There are many medicinal and perennial plants, and plenty of flowers as well. I kind of like the fact these are growing in the dining room, the hope of fresh food that will show up again in the same place, but upon our table.

Raspberries and strawberries have been planted this spring, and I added a small area of fodder trees. I don’t have any livestock such as rabbits or goats yet, but if and when I do, I know I will appreciate having access to feed that isn’t dependent upon feed stores to have what I need and want when I need and want it.

Yesterday, I was out in the woodlands hunting for chickweed and collecting nettles. I was filled with gratitude for not only the fresh air and birdsong and a patch of ground with which to grow something, but that I have so much that is already growing without my help or planning whatsoever. I’m also so thankful for the food and herb and health books I’ve read (soooo many books while nursing all of my babies), the teachers I’ve learned from, the classes and workshops and courses and schools I’ve attended, the experiences (including failures) I’ve had, my willing-to-try-new-things-family and friendly herbalists and doctors and peers who helped me learn even more along the way, and—most of all—that the Lord granted me this curiousity and all of the resources I have (including an ability to learn) and a whole wide world of creation to pursue this kind of education.

So. Lots of dirt under my nails, and renewed energy to spare (it must be all the nettle tea I’ve been drinking). So why not start writing more specifically in this area?

I’ve been wanting to begin a second Substack, especially around food and herbs. For example, how to enjoy and use herbal medicine found within the woods both for the supper pot and for their unique healing properties. Holistic nutrition and clinical herbalism are like an ocean of knowledge of which I have a few drops, but the decades of drops I have are so meaningful and helpful to me that I want to share them with others and educate and cheer them on as they take more responsibility not only for their own health and well being, but for their families and communities as well.

Of course, as Christians we all know (or should) that even if we live the healthiest most amazing life full of nothing but organic nutrient dense foods in the cleanest of environments, sin still prowls as a roaring lion in our fallen and cursed world, and we can succomb even to cancers of the lung without a cigarette ever touching our lips. Taking care of our bodies, temples indeed of God Himself through His Spirit in the believer, is indeed a matter of stewardship and a means of which we might be equipped to better do the work He has called us to do. It is right to not only pray for health and wellness in heart and body, but to pay right attention and to do what we are able to do in order to foster such health and wellness. Our fear is not disease, but the Lord Himself, and we don’t presume that such efforts towards well being will purchase some sort of bribe from Him that we will in return live free of illness and trouble. Even the most ardent of “name it and claim it” adherents will find themselves needing eyeglasses or doctors to help them.

Instead, our souls know right well that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that God gave food and herbs for the service of man, bringing them forth from the earth (Ps 139:14-16, Ps 104:14). Thus we are mindful of how we use and feed our bodies, striving towards holiness in all things.

If this is a room you’d like to be present in, I’d like to invite you to check out and subscribe to Benevolent Healer. Some of you have already found yourself there as I was sneaking behind the scenes, and I was thrilled to walk into a room where some of you were already there and waiting. I have notebooks FULL of my own case studies and recipes and growing tips and education that I want to bless your own hands and homes with.

I’ll still be here as well at A Happy Home Media, pondering the works and words of Jesus as I pilgrim through this Vanity Fair. The difference between my newsletters are: here, you might find me with dandelion flowers in my lap and my face to the sun. There, you might learn something about what I might do with them all. Whatever room I find you in, I am blessed to linger with you and thank you for keeping me company.