Unapologetic Seeds: How Plants Teach Us to Be Ourselves

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A bright orange wildflower taught us something bold about being human. Jewelweed doesn’t ask permission to exist—it launches its seeds with gusto, outcompetes invaders, and even soothes poison ivy. That unapologetic presence became our lens for talking about essential nature, the blend of genetics, environment, and epigenetics that shapes how we move through the world. We celebrate the joy of finishing the manuscript for Nature Knows: Growing and Thriving Through the Wisdom of Plants, and we open the door to a community-powered launch that lets ideas travel farther than any one person can carry.

We dig into how early messages—be quieter, be softer, be less—teach us to shrink, and how that shrinking can feel safe but slowly starves our growth. Plants don’t compare themselves to sunflowers; they match their needs to their habitat and reach. Translating that into daily life, we explore why being labeled “too much” often signals a mismatch of ecosystem, not a flaw in your design. There’s practical wisdom here: filter feedback by fit, honor your wiring, and choose spaces where your expression is an asset. Along the way, we ground the science of epigenetics in plain language, showing how experience affects gene expression without changing DNA, and why that context can turn shame into usable information.

If you’re curious about early access to the book, honest review copies at cost, and a few fun perks like sneak peeks and cover input, we’re building a small launch team to help this project take root. Listen, take the jewelweed lesson to heart, and if you feel the nudge, email [e-mail] to join. If this resonated, subscribe, share with a friend who needs permission to take up space, and leave a quick review so more people can find their way back to their essential nature.

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Episode Transcript

Mary (00:00):
Hi, and welcome to a mini episode of No Shrinking Violets.
So before I jump into my topictoday, which is going to be
related to what I'm about totell you, I want to share that I
have finished my book draft.
It is ready to head off to theeditors.

It is called Nature Knows: Growing and Thriving Through the (00:17):
undefined
Wisdom of Plants.
And I'm I can't even tell youhow excited I am about this.
So one of the things that Ineed that you can help me with
is I need a launch team.
The people on my launch teamwill read the book before it is

(00:38):
officially for sale.
They get a link to buy the bookfor cost, basically.
And in this case, it will bethe physical book, which I am so
excited about that because Ihave someone very special to me
that is actually doinghand-drawn illustrations for

(00:59):
this book.
And I mean, there's so manyparts about it that I'm so
excited about.
But the launch team will readthe book before it's officially
for sale and review it.
And honest reviews so that whenit launches, it will have some
street cred, so to speak.

(01:20):
And my launch team will alsoget some special things.
I haven't decided yet, but itmight be some sneak peeks ahead
of time.
You might be able to weigh inon what the cover is going to
look like.
You may get a little gift fromme.
I don't know yet, but I lovesending gifts in the mail.

(01:41):
But um what I need to do isstart to get my launch team
together.
So if you would like to be amember of my launch team, just
use the email that is in theshow notes.
And it is actually nsvpodcastat gmail.com.

(02:02):
So no shrinkingviolets,nsvpodcast at gmail.com.
All I need is for you to sayyes, I want to be on your launch
team.
You will just get updates fromme about the book, which
actually it is several monthsaway, but we got to plan ahead
for these things.
So let me now transition towhat I want to talk to you about

(02:24):
today, which is one of the mainconcepts in the beginning of
the book.
What I base a lot of thecontent of the book on is that
we all have an essential nature,and I'm sure you've heard me
use that term before.
And what I mean by that is weare nature, we're how we're
wired, what our genetics are,and we're also nurture, how the

(02:46):
things in our environmentimpacted our development.
And there's a concept calledepigenetics, which means that
the things that have beenexperiences for even prior
generations, they don'tphysically change our genes, but

(03:06):
they can impact what parts ofour genes are expressed.
So when I talk about the ideaof essential nature, one of the
parts of that that is soimportant to recognize is that
whoever you really are, and Ibelieve we know this from when

(03:28):
we're kids.
I think before society comes inand tells us we're weird or
strange or we shouldn't be thatway, we know the things that we
love.
And we change those because wefeel like we're not okay the way
we are, because we're gettingmessages, and sometimes they're
from parents, and sometimes, youknow, it can happen later in
life when you hit middle schooland you think, you know, like

(03:50):
for me, I was a tomboy, and allof a sudden that was weird
because I was starting, I was ateenager, and that was just not
okay to be kind of that tomboy,and you know, my friends were
starting to get into fashion andboys, and those things were
cool, but you know, anyway, soum one of the examples that I

(04:14):
think about when I think of anunapologetic plant, because
plants just are, they don'tchange who they are, they don't
look at the plants down the roador across the street or in the
other field and think, I reallywish I looked more like the
sunflower, or I really wished Ilooked more like a morning

(04:36):
glory.
They just embrace theirplantness and they do everything
they can to first survive ifthey're in a difficult
situation, but they want tothrive.
So there's a plant called ajewelweed.
Sometimes it's also called atouch me knot.
It's a lot of times commonplant names vary geographically.

(04:59):
It is called jewelweed becauseit is an iridescent orange
color.
It's really beautiful.
Touch me knot is because whenyou touch this plant, the seed
pod literally explodes and sendsseeds out.
It's a member of the impatiencefamily.

(05:20):
The Latin name is impatiencecapensis.
And it's native to where Ilive, and it's one of the only
plants here that can outcompetegarlic mustard, which is an
invasive plant, and it's takingover some areas of our
woodlands.
But jewelweed is also somethingthat can help to treat poison

(05:44):
ivy, and it's interesting thatthey often grow near each other
in the woods.
And I know on the propertywhere I live, this is for sure
true.
But the reason I love thejewelweed is it is unapologetic
in the way it shares its seed,and it makes me think about when
I hear women say they're afraidthey're too much for some

(06:06):
people.
And this is a common thing thatI hear women say, and it's why
I use the words take up yourspace so often.
I myself have been too much forcertain people.
And you probably know what I'mgoing to say.
If you're too much for someone,they're not your people.
But it is a consistent fearthat I think many women that are

(06:28):
successful, have strongopinions, or even have been told
along the way, you know, useyour inside voice, or you're
being too loud, or your laugh isweird.
The jewel weed does not givetwo craps.
It just sends the seeds out.
And if it was able to think, ifit actually had a human brain,

(06:49):
it might be like, well, maybethis is a little much.
Maybe I'm kind of encroachingon those plants over there.
If it had that human brain andit tried to keep itself small,
it wouldn't be able to do theamazing things that it can do.
It was a plant that the NativeAmericans used for some types of

(07:11):
healing.
And again, it helps to treatpoison ivy.
It can outcompete one of themost problematic invasive plants
in my area.
So be a jewelweed.
You know, if you have somethingto share, share it.
Put it out there.
Be the plant version of theperson that you are.
So again, just a reminder dropme an email if you want to be on

(07:35):
my launch team.
Until next time, go out and bethe amazing, resilient violet or
jewelweed that you are.