I suppose the first encounter I ever had with herbal medicine was the first time I was ever served a cup of tea. There is perhaps no other plant, or any other process of ingesting a plant, that has been so globally revered for centuries. So I have been a longtime fan of tea and the nature of tea, tea blending, and tea collecting.
A couple of years ago, at the Mother Earth News Fair event hosted in Asheville, I met a gentleman named Guisepi who travels the country in a biodiesel converted mini school bus, serving free tea to all he meets as a way to build community and dispel loneliness in a world that sometimes can feel too busy, too crowded, too disconnected, and too unkind. I can wholly understand and appreciate how the history and nature of tea has the ability to bring people together via the action of sitting calmly and enjoying some warmth.
It is my intention with Middle Path Nutrition and Wellness Center to provide a community space in this town I live in, and encourage that we not be strangers, that we have a comfortable, safe, warm place to go to sit, to share stories, to learn, to contemplate, and to enjoy one of mankind’s oldest ongoing relationships with plants – by serving free tea to anyone who’d like.
Come sit a spell.