The energizing power of herbs

The gardener has arrived to tell the summer campers about the importance of plants for the animals living in the zoo. The children get to plant herbs that are used as enrichment for the animals, thus taking part in the work at the zoo.

During the gardener’s talk, a child is squatting at the planter box, fingering a plant.

“Is this rosemary?”

Another child has their nose buried in mint.

“Can we taste mint?”

The herbs, grown for enrichment for the animals, hold energizing power also for the children. They bustle about the herbs growing in the planter boxes, eagerly rubbing leaves between their fingers. Scents linger in their hands: mint, rosemary, spearmint, lovage, and lavender.

“Lovely chewing gum.”

“This smells like ginger!”

“Now my fingers smell lovely!”

“It smells just like lollipops!”

“Is that dill?”

“My mom has bought this kind of soap.”

The children touch the herbs, and the herbs touch the children with their scents. Scent is touching, tiny particles attaching into the receptors inside noses, as presence of the other in our bodies (Tsing, 2020). The scents of the herbs connect the present moment of these encounters with children’s meaningful histories: lollipops, chewing gum, and soap bought by mom spring vividly to children’s minds.

The gardener tells us how using herbs as enrichment for the animals requires testing. Lemon balm has been found out to be good for the residents of the tropical house. Lavender is currently being test-grown. Perhaps some of the animals in the zoo will like it. Catmint will also be tested in the future. The zookeepers have asked the gardeners to grow strong herbs.

Why strong, I wonder. Do zoo animals need stronger sensory experiences to get energized? I’m pondering if the scents of the herbs revive memories in the noses of the zoo animals too. What kind of histories might be present in the encounters between zoo animals and herbs?

Through scents, diverse ways of being gather together and form bunches filled with affects. They lead us to histories yet unfolding.