Moments

The wildflowers are at their peak, a lacy profusion of petals, happy faces, feathery leaves and a finale of dancing butterflies sewing the design of next year's arrangement.

The air is sweet and thick at high noon, with honey-hay breezes anointed by evaporating river mist. The water has taken good care of the plants, and as I wade carefully down the current, I can brush my fingertips along the flowering vervain. I crush a little watermint and inhale it's beatific scent deep into my lungs and belly. The cool ripples float along my calves as I step in between slippery rocks. All around me there is bounty; canopies of grape leaves, frosty thickets of young willows, sassy bull thistle, and half eaten boneset patches. Many creatures have stepped along this mud before me.

Nearby the raccoons forage. They are tiny little new ones, crunching along last year's leaves, digging into the dirt for edible treasures, and waddling from spot to spot. The bitter mugwort and wormwood are nearly ready to make flowers, and so I collect many stalks for potions. My big jar of vinegar sits, luminescent, on the counter top, and the drying stalks hide in the shade. Clever in the corners of the riverbank are the stunning blue singing mouths of Skullcap... soothing my spirit as I listen to their colorful melody.
My basket is full this summer. With water plants and meadow plants, flowers and fragrances.
With beauty.
And exquisite moments of sharing.
A page is turning, and the suspense is heavy. What moments lie ahead? Where do I put my energy - so that it will be multiplied, not stolen? What practices can I cultivate that will nourish my authentic being.

I will ask the plants and pray to the river.

We are Water, Mostly, and So are Plants Water

The rain came this morning to our land here on Whidbey Island.
I prayed for it and then wished I hadn't because of the start of our Herbal Wisdom Summer Mentorship for Girls starting today.
But once I stepped out on the earth, onto the rain soaked grass and felt the warm moist air on my skin, I softened. A gentleness washed over me, soothed my overwhelmed, overheated and overexcited body/mind.
Water is a much needed companion in summer's heat and fire.
Water washes away that last bit of unneeded energy so that we may manifest our desires.
We are water, mostly, and so are plants water.



I will not wait for the overwhelm of summer's heat to take its toll on me next time.
I will drink water, I will sprinkle water on my brow, I will soak my feet in water, I will swim.
Summer is the time to grow, grow, grow. Summer is the time to continue through, to put all that we've got into what we desire.



And as we focus our intentions on our desired outcomes, we may bring gentleness, peace and well-being into our practices with water...

• Walk barefoot on the rain soaked land
• Wash your face with spring water
• Soak your feet in warm, salty water
• Drink nourishing herbal infusions
• Bless the you that is water
• Cry tears of sadness and joy
• Spend time wading in a lake, a stream, an ocean
• Thank the rain
  

May it be in Beauty.

Herbal Roots - a blessing to all plant folk

Greetings!

I have been wanting to do a little promotion for Herbal Roots - and have been having a hell of a time trying to insert a picture/link widget into my wordpress blog for the Wilderness School (I still have my hair but it was getting close)

SO.... I am going to sing some unabashed praise here, and add, as you will see, her sweet little badge/link on my side bar.

Simply put, I LOVE Herbal Roots. Herbalist, Homesteader and loving Mama, Kristine Brown of LunaHerbCo., hand writes and illustrates every sweet little morsel in there.... and they are generous 20+ pages of herbal wisdom, games, lore, projects, and medicinal facts.

I've enjoyed playing in these pages myself, and have also used them for our little ones (the Micro-Scouts) at our Wilderness Homeschool programs, who adore it.

I love the accessible nature of the information ... such a breath of fresh air compared to the dense reading in many herbal books. I love that I can learn it and immediately go and DO it ... it is satisfying and leaves a lasting imprint of each of the plants.

Each plant is picked in a timely manner - at least for much of the eastern/central part of the US, the plant written about won't be far from reach, and ripe for the pickin'

At a superbly affordable price, I assume it a part of my own monthly growing as an herbalist, and I love supporting another Green Mama.

For your own PDF copies.... go here: HERBAL ROOTS ... and don't forget to share on Facebook or any other networks you might belong too.

Thanks!!