Herbalist to share San Valley's healing traditions

[Guest guest]

Natural womanHerbalist to share San Valley's healing traditionsBy MARY JEAN PORTERTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAINSAN LUIS - The names roll off her tongue like music.Yerba buena, capulin, romero, osha, poleo - plants long used by San Valley peoples to heal, to nourish, to season, to please.Herbalist de Jesus Berlinda Vigil shows the plants, in various applications, in the tiny gift shop adjacent to Sangre de Cristo Church where she's a volunteer. There are sweet, fragrant dried bundles; jewel-like jars of jelly; dream pillows made from calming herbs; tinctures; pomanders; bags of

potpourri; decorative arrangements of colored leaves, tiny gourds and fall-burnished apples; show-and-tell posters with plant specimens and their names in Spanish and English.Outdoors in the large churchyard, she points out milkweed, common juniper, ponderosa pine, hollyhock, elderberry, crab apple, shepherd's purse, mullein and what sounds like a personal favorite - quelitas or wild spinach, known to English speakers as lamb's-quarters."Almost every plant will nourish us, give us food or pleasure," she says. Vigil, 77, will share her extensive knowledge of herbs and her stories about plants at 1 p.m. Friday in the Ryals Room at Hoag Rawlings Public Library in Pueblo. Her program on Hispanic and Native American herbalism in Southern Colorado is one of many offerings in the All Pueblo Reads celebration devoted to Latino literature, art and

culture.Vigil was born at home in Alamosa, lived for a while at Sacred Heart Orphanage in Pueblo because her mother had died, then moved with her father to San Francisco where he worked as a welder in a shipyard. Every summer, she says, her father sent her to San to live with her grandmother. Today, Vigil lives in her grandmother' s house.It was in California, though, that she became a licensed practical nurse andmet the man, Victor Vigil, who became her husband.Vigil says her nursing background is one aspect of her work as an herbalist. She contributed the information on traditional Hispanic herbalism to the book, "Delmar's Integrative Herb Guide for Nurses," written by Martha Libster."I teach a lot of cautions, a lot of Old

World wisdom; the way to use herbs safely, for the right purposes. I tell people to use them for so long and then go to the doctor. Sometimes you have to be very careful with plants."I've done a lot of self-study. I mostly listened to my elders. Here in the valley, traditionally everybody has used herbs."Vigil tells how she got blood poisoning in her leg as a child.Her grandmother treated the leg with a poultice of tansy, which drew the poison to a place where the skin could be lanced and the infection drained. She still has a scar today - and she still has her leg, she notes happily.In addition to=20her grandmother, Vigil learned about herbs from a Navajo woman who lived nearby in San .Vigil teaches classes and leads herb walks in the summer."The higher up (into the mountains) you go, the more you can learn about. I try to tailor my classes to who the people

are."She stresses how precious natural resources like plants and water are, and she urges people - particularly children - to reuse or recycle materials whenever possible."I try to emphasize las donas - the gifts of God in nature - while we still have them."Vigil knows her plants but says she's not a botanist. Instead, she calls herself "an ordinary natural woman who likes to be connected to the Earth and God.""Every plant gives you more than you imagine," she says. "Every day you learn something new."marypchieftain (DOT) comHEALING HERBSBolsa de pastor - "It's used a lot for bleeding problems." Also called shepherd's purse.Crab apple - "You can cut and dry them and make apple tea." Also used for jelly.Cota - "It's good for ladies in general, who might suffer from urinary tract problems." Also called Navajo tea.Flor sauco - "The berries are

used for medicine and for jelly." Elder or elderberry.Lechones - "The milkweed has pods. The leaves have a sap; when we were kids and had a pimple, we'd put the sap on it and it would dry up." Broad-leafed milkweed.Osha - "The No. 1 herb of the valley. If you ask anybody about osha, they can tell you." Also called Porter's lovage and wild celery. A related plant, osha de la sierra, grows at higher elevations.Punchon - "It has fascinating stories. It was used as a dressing; they'd hold a leaf against the wound. The stem is called candelaria - they'd dip them in bear fat and use for a light." Mullein.Quelitas - "It's the delicacy people wait

for. My grandmother used to pick sacks of it. She'd dry it and then in the winter, put it in water to reconstitute it." Also called lamb's-quarters or wild spinach.Scarlet globemallow - "One of its main uses is for the hair. It's a good skin tonic. It grows wild here. The flower is bright orange."Yerba buena - Made into a tea for upset stomach. Useful for mothers before and after childbirth. Wild spearmint.- Sources: Vigil; "Los Remedios: Traditional Herbal Remedies of the Southwest," by IF YOU GOWHO: Vigil, herbalistWHAT: Talk on Hispanic, Native American herbalismWHEN: 1-3 p.m. FridayWHERE: Ryals Room, Rawlings LibraryCOST: Free; open to the

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