Gothic Foraging, Wildsteading, and Natural Healing

This winter, as we approach Winter Solstice, Christmas, and so many other of the winter celebrations, and as personally many of the extended families and my own birthday creep closer in the Wolf Moon ( January ), gifts are on my mind.  As a Goth, a Rewilder, and as one who seeks to live in harmony with the shadowlands and the other than human creatures, I would like my gifts to reflect my values, while still honoring those whom I am gift-giving. As personally, I am trying to live as locally as possible, and online shopping is last on my list.  Thusly, the following is where I first look: Homemade:   Homemade gifts are personalized, made by ones own hands personally for the person one is giving the gift to.   Local Crafters/Craft Fairs:  Getting into connection with local artisans for personally made items, while both supporting others with similar values who live locally. Local Farms/Farmer's Markets:  For food gifts, often I will look at farmer's mark...

If we are going to Wildstead and Rewild, then we need to incorporate this into every part of our lives, for it is a mindset, a worldview, and a way of being.  As such, it will echo into how we dwell upon the land, how we live, and how we interact with the place we shelter.  While some have the freedom to strike out in temporary shelters, traveling nomadic in sheep/dog/horse-pulled wagons, many of us still live semi-permanently on land we rent, "own", and/or wildstead on.  Others are still renting in more urban settings.  Where ever we are, rewilding can be at "home". Are we living in a way that is not tearing up the land more? Are we learning to make, cook, and store food in a way that is better for us and the wildlands? Are we dressing in a way more natural and not creating more waist? Are we making natural make-up, soaps, and lotions? What are we using for furnishings - are they handmade, repurposed antiques, or reused finds?   Are we rethinking how we si...

A s summer and its heat surround us, we look into our sick-bays, healing rooms, herbal nooks, and cupboards to see if we have the herbs of the season and prepare them both for healing, food, and treats over these summer nights. Red Clover: This sweet, cool herb, which is often made into a tea from its dried flowers, is a favorite herb of summer.  It is often used for lymphatic congestion, blood purification, and hormonal balancing.  It is a natural, plant-based source of estrogen.  It is said to symbolize:  Beauty, Health, and Protection. Mullein: This cool, salty herb, is a vibrant torche of summer.  It is often used medicinally for lung aids with dry coughs and asthma, as well as bladder aid.  Dried stocks are often used as torches within rewilding.  It is said to symbolize:  Courage, Protection, and Rest. Raspberry: This warm, watery herb is a sweet delight of summer.  It is used to aid cardiovascular issues, women's menstruation issues,...

What is a Wildstead?   The simplest explanation is a Wildstead is a Wilderness Homestead, which uses rewilding techniques to live in balance and harmony with the land. It is an integration of food forests, rewilding gardens, and no-till gardens, using native and naturalized plants to sustain one long term. A wildstead is a dwelling in the wild shadowlands where a rewilder dwells in balance with the wild shadowlands and the seasons around them. Why Wildstead instead of just Homestead? A wildstead works with the land, the seasons, the animals, and the people to create an integrated, balanced dwelling for both rewilders and the creatures native to the area.  It respects the Native inhabitants of the land while seeking as displaced refugees of colonialism, to become as naturalized to the land as possible, without uncalled-for appropriations.  Homesteading has a tainted history, sadly interwoven with Native removal acts and colonialism.   Begun in the 1860s...

  Gothic Foraging, Wildsteading, and Natural Healing is an off-branch of what we do at Shadowlands Outposts, but here we dive deep into the actual growing, tending, gathering, raising, and using of these awesome skills.   Here we will dive into skills, recipes, methods, plants, foraging knowledge, herbal medicines, types of plants in various colors, animals for the wildstead as close to native varieties/closest to wild, natural dying, DIYing with forage, raised, and found items, and so much MORE! Stay tuned for a lot more exciting content coming in the weeks to come! In Umbra Terras, Lady Morria