04/13/2024
The story behind our green salve 🦋✨
Crafted with my beah’a (grandmother) in mind, I was playing football at my old elementary school with my older brother and cousins when I twisted my ankle. I tripped and fell, scraping my entire elbow and the folding area of my arm. Not a peep of cry escaped me, I had to be tough like the boys. I was about seven or eight, a tomboy, often the only girl because my youngest sister was always under our mother, while I was a grandparent’s girl. Those were my people. My granddaddy did ‘traditional man’ things like fishing, etc. I was one of the few girls interested in that. I was born to be outside, in nature, free. Where my granddad went, I went. Anyway, I had to show the boys that I was tough, so I didn’t utter a peep. It was literally a two-minute walk back to my grandparent’s house in Southeast D.C. The boys and my grandfather surrounded me, attempting to clean me up. The moment they touched my skin with alcohol (OUCH), my grandmother walked in, and I started to cry. She hurried to me and began working her magic (NOT WITH ALCOHOL) and finished it off with a kiss.
Now, as a mom, still a tomboy at heart, I’m raising a rough yet gentle and adventurous little girl (a mini version of me) and little boy. That comes with scrapes, bruises, busted lips, and even knots. My grandmother’s love crafted this gentle and nourishing formula, and every time they get a cut or scrape, I kiss them, feeling the love she poured into me pouring into them. I’ve thought about changing the name to “Grandma’s Kiss,” but my darling daughter calls it the “Green Salve.”
Made for cuts and scrapes, but crafted with generations of love.
Disclaimer: color of salve may vary.
Follow for holistic healing, plant-medicine, and zero waste things for the family. 🍀
