Tribute To Aki, My Dear Friend [ 2nd Try ]….[ Herb Usage; Postwar Japan; Youth; Family; Change ] Poem by Bri Edwards

Here is Aki's "About Me", in her words.

ABOUT ME
I was born in Japan 5 years after the end of WWII. The atmosphere appeared calm; it was a healing time for our society. In the nearby shrine, I saw veterans standing quietly every day. These men, who had lost their limbs or parts of their face, were dressed in white patient's kimonos and stoically rang bells collecting money.
Food was scarce and school children were fed meals supplied by the American government.My two older brothers and I often went out hunting for food to eat.Our favorites were eels we plucked from the river, small fishes that local fishermen left behind, and snails and barnacles that clung to the cliffs by the seashore.I also enjoyed the small, bitter potatoes we collected from vines that my mother boiled and salted for us to eat.
I loved visiting my grandmother's house where I would explore the one-acre vegetable garden she grew for food for herself and her husband. I enjoyed walking with her and eagerly listened when she told me the names and stories of each of the plants we were passed.She was like a plant dictionary; and endless cornucopia of information.She later developed interest in Haiku writing, and her poems were always published in Haiku magazines as good examples since writing Haiku requires poets to know many plants.
One year, I visited my grandparents during a busy season when they were preparing traditional foods for the coming year. I helped with the mochitsuki, an activity where her large extended family got together to make mochi from scratch.We also gathered herbs to mix with the just cooked mochi rice to make sweet balls later. One of the traditional New Year's dishes was a herb porridge with ingredients that could be collected in the countryside of Japan. My grandfather used say to us that Daikon is a great blood cleaner.The one of the herb people use in the seven-herb porridge.
One of the yearly activities I looked forward to in the spring was hunting for Tsukushi buds (Equisetum arvense) . My mother would make a huge pot of delicious tsukudani out of the herb.Yomogi (Artemisia indica)or Shiso (Perilla frutescens viridis)tempura were always eagerly consumed as well.Herbs were something we used daily without much acknowledgement or consideration of their existence, and as the town developed and buildings went up to house the baby-boomers, the local, naturally existing herbs existence and importance declined in our neighbors.
I grew up with numerous herbal medicines, but hardly ever used them for my children… I always liked to do gardening, but never had enough time for it. I am very happy to be studying herbs now, and am developing an even greater appreciation and deeper understanding about them.