Category Archives: Anger

Summit Walk Early Spring

Anger, Flexibilty, Planning, Seasons, Spring, Vision, Wood Element, , , , ,

Monday 31st August 2026
Early Spring
Mount Barker Summit – Womma Mu Kurta

It is three months since I last drove up the rutted track to the summit. Time to see what has changed. Today is comfortably warm and sunny, prompting outer and inner smiles. In the spirit of the Wood Element of the season, I am on a mission. Armed with a printout from Green Adelaide’s ‘Common native orchids of the Adelaide Hills’, I’m on a private treasure hunt to find as many as I can.

First, I take the short trail to the trig point which gives a clear, panoramic view of the surrounding district. Mount Lofty to the north-west seems so close but the old metal plaque on the cairn reveals it is 21.5 miles away (34.6 km). To the south-east, further still, I can see the sun glinting on the waters of Lake Alexandrina and at the edge of vision, the dunes of the Coorong. Such wide vision engenders a sense of expansiveness, raising the spirits and imbuing me with optimism.

Tearing myself away from these views, I head back down to rejoin the main track around the summit that I trod in the winter. This time the sky is clear and blue, the sun warm on my skin, the ground dry underfoot. Last season I walked hurriedly huddled in my jacket; today I want to linger and savour everything the land has to offer. This suits my mission as I hunt for the elusive orchids.

Here is my first flower find: a pink-tinged white flower, but, hmm there are loads of them. I take a photo and identify it as kind of freesia. Or iris. It becomes clear that I am no botanist.

Ambling along the eastern edge of the ridge, scanning left and right, I find another candidate, a tall, pencil-like flower with small purple flowers with smaller yellow centres. It does not fit any of the images on my identification sheet. And again, there are many more examples. Another strike.

A gorgeous pink six-petalled flower turns out to be onion grass; a white beauty is completely unidentifiable; another purple one might be a kind of… I begin to realise that AI is not set up for plants in the Adelaide Hills. A subtle sense of disappointment and frustration creeps in: my mission has been unsuccessful. I recognise the feeling as a minor expression on the anger spectrum. And yet, I have seen an abundance of beautiful wildflowers! In not finding what I’ve been looking for, I haven’t really appreciated what I have seen. Bound by my tunnel-visioned mission, I have missed the wider picture. Such a lesson of the Wood Element.

Letting go, I continue in a lighter and more open frame of mind. I reach the northern end of the loop and turn onto the western slope. This was very cold and windy last time; today it is balmy and inviting. The tree canopy is denser on this side and I notice there are far fewer flowers. They peek out from open pockets of sunshine. Rounding a corner, there is a blaze of yellow bubbles from a wattle over-reaching the path. It is gorgeous, rich, bursting with yellowness. It doesn’t need a name or a label. Letting go of labelling somehow allows a fuller appreciation of its beauty. Reminds me of how we label people and thereby fail to see their uniqueness.

The last leg of the circuit is a steep climb up high steps strewn with rocks. Now I am hot and take off my sweatshirt which today is living up to its name. Just before I get back to the carpark, there is a profusion of wildflowers in the scrub by the path. Nameless and heart-liftingly beautiful.

Back home I do some research and discover that the orchids most likely to appear at Mount Barker Summit in September are Donkey Orchids, Pink Fingers, King Spider, Pink Fairies and Sun Orchids. I am advised to look closely at the damp, shaded soil patches beneath the open stringybark canopy and around exposed rock slabs. Maybe a little more planning would have helped, but such is the nature of Wood. When plan A doesn’t work, think again and try plan B.

I look forward to my next try.

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SPRING FOOD

Anger, Detoxification, Eye problems, Food, Reflux, Sour, Spring, Tendons & Ligaments, Wood Element, , , , ,

The tide of energy that swells through the year has moved on from winter to spring, from the Water Element to the Wood Element. In fact, since we have passed the spring equinox here in the southern hemisphere, we are now more than halfway through the season. It is high time to continue our series on the foods of the Elements by exploring those foods that can support our Wood and its yin organ, the Liver.

The taste of the Wood Element is sour. It is a taste that puckers the mouth and is called astringent. It shrinks and contracts. This is remeniscent of the tendons, the tissues of Wood, which contract in order to lever the muscles and thereby propel movement.

This astringent taste generates and preserves fluids, nourishes yin, helps to hydrate, and cools any heat in the liver. Lemon water, quenching and refreshing, is a great way to support the liver. Grapefruit acts similarly.

The Neijing chapter 10 teaches: “the liver is benefited by the sour taste. However, this never implies that one may overindulge. Excessive consumption of sour foods can make the skin rough, thick, and wrinkled, and cause the lips to become shrivelled.” Too much sour impacts upon the grandson Element of Earth and its organ of Spleen. It injures the Stomach and creates acid reflux, and damages the teeth and the tendons.

Lemons, grapefruit, kiwifruit and apple cider vinegar are obvious examples of the sour taste, but there are other less obvious sour foods which belong to more than one flavour group. These include tomato, cheese, plums, grapes and strawberries; the aromatics of chive, leek, onion and shallot; cinnamon, turmeric, mint, kombu (seaweed) and honey; and goji berry, hemp seed, black sesame and olive oil.

The colour of the Wood Element is green. Therefore, green foods support the Element and the liver. Green, leafy vegetables are best, the darker the better. My favourites are kale and collards; others include rocket (arugula), spinach, cabbage, beet greens, cos (romaine) lettuce, endive, bok choy and microgreens. Other green foods include peas, broccoli, green beans and avocado. Fortunately, all of these are in abundant supply in the springtime as nature puts on its skates and rockets into action. Farmers markets are brimming with these vegetables at this time of year. Make a salad with a mix of these greens and dress with olive oil and cider vinegar. Your liver will light up.

The organ of the liver has hundreds of functions; one of its most important is to detoxify the blood. Besides the foods listed above, here are some important herbs that help with detoxification: coriander (cilantro), dandelion leaves or its roasted roots, milk thistle, nettle, liquorice and peppermint.

Green tea, besides having the appropriate colour, is known for its positive effect on liver markers, as well as its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. At my place we have a daily ritual of Japanese green tea with two pourings from the kyusu.

Springtime tends to reveal imbalances in the Wood Element, in the organs of liver and gall bladder, the eyes, and in the emotion of anger and frustration. This is because the tide of the year is rising in the Wood Element, putting pressure on the Wood resonances that are not flowing freely. On the other hand, it is a great time to detoxify as the same energies are supportive of positive change. So bulk up on sour, green and cleansing foods while you have the tide in your flavour.

Next week I will share a recipe that incorporates many of these foods.