Pareidolia

Welp, it has been forever since I posted; can you tell I am building a house?  Lots of the things I used to do, and plan to get back to, have fallen to the wayside in order to focus on this massive project.  It's an interesting phase in life, a all-encompassing hiatus, sorta like getting a degree or having a newborn.

Nonetheless, I just had a much-needed vacation and went to Georgia for the American Herbalist Guild Symposium and also got to explore some of the surrounding mountains of the Chattahochee National Forest.  It's gorgeous down there!  The vibrant, yet gentle, light and color of the changing leaves soothed my soul.  I want to share a few of the highlights here; may they soothe you too.

First, a minute-long video for you to pause and take a deep breath and center yourself.
This was taken near a large waterfall which you will hear.  Just breathe as you watch; that is all you need to do.  Let the water wash away your tensions, your cares fall away with the leaves.

"Tension is who you think you should be.  

Relaxation is who you are." 

- Chinese Proverb

“You drown not by falling into a river, 

but by staying submerged in it.”

- Paulo Coelho

"I planted my self in the middle of a great many Glasses full of Dew, tied fast about me, upon which the Sun so violently darted his Rays, that the Heat, which attracted them, as it does the thickest Clouds, carried me up so high, that at length I found my self above the middle Region of the Air."
 - Cyrano de Bergerac

Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding 

that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. 

The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” 

- Terry Tempest Williams

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, 

but in having new eyes."

 - Marcel Proust  

“A Woman in harmony with her spirit

is like a river flowing.

She goes where she will without pretense 

and arrives at her destination

prepared to be herself

and only herself ” - Maya Angelou

“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” 

― Søren Kierkegaard

“Omnia mutantur, nihil interit”
(Everything changes, nothing perishes)
― Ovid, Metamorphoses  

“Trees are sanctuaries. 

Whoever knows how to speak to them, 

whoever knows how to listen to them, 

can learn the truth. 

They do not preach learning and precepts, 

they preach, 

undeterred by particulars, 

the ancient law of life.”
-Hermann Hesse, 'Wandering'

“Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.” 
― Charles Bukowski

“Whether you try too hard to fit in 

or you try too hard to stand out, 

it is of equal consequence: 

you exhaust your significance.” 

― Criss Jami

“your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.” 

― Charles Bukowski, "The Laughing Heart."  from 'Betting on the Muse'

Breathe, the path awaits your presence...

Back and Forth - A Photo Journal of Reveries

Juxtaposition on today

"Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.

 - Arthur C. Clarke

Containing Keys

 In creative work — creative work of all kinds — those who are the world’s working artists 

are not trying to help the world go around, but forward. Which is something altogether different 

from the ordinary. Such work does not refute the ordinary. 

It is, simply, something else. 

Its labor requires a different outlook — a different set of priorities."

 - Mary Oliver

An invitation

...and a gazing within

“At worst, ​one is in motion; and at best, 

Reaching no absolute, in which to rest, 

One is always nearer by not keeping still.”

 - Thom Gunn 

.

 “You can recognize a pioneer by the arrows in his back.”

- ​Beverly Rubic

Layers

Ravenwind Botanica Coriander Oil Infusing

"​Close some doors. 

Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, 

but simply because they no longer lead somewhere.”

​ - ​Paulo Coelho

Art supplies/animal findings

"But when I lean over the chasm of myself - 
it seems my God is dark
and like a web: a hundred roots
silently drinking.
This is the ferment I grow out of.
More I don't know, because my branches 
rest in deep silence, stirred only by the wind."
  - Rainer Maria Rilke

Slow Food - Nourishing Body and Soul (organic potatoes and healthy fat)

“Of all evil I deem you capable:  therefore I want good from you. 

Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings 

who thought themselves good because they had no claws."

 - Friedrich Nietzsche

Calendula: Summer Bottled

The teacher who is indeed wise 

does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom 

but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." 

 - Kahlil Gibran 

 - and Gone Again

Breaking Fast with Some of Spring's Edible Wild Flowers

I took a walk this morning and gathered some wild edibles from the yard for a breakfast omelette.  I made some art while walking in the rain-wet wild, or should I say soothed my soul...

In this mandala, you will find mostly wild plants, one feral (Arugula flower), one horticultural (Forsythia flower).  The wildflowers are Ground Ivy, Purple Dead Nettle, 2 types of Violets, Dandelion, and Redbud.  The wildleaves are Cleavers, Dandelion, and Trout Lily with the spirals of fern fronds just beginning. 

Can you recognize them all?  If not, time to get out the field guides and go into the field, learn a plant a week...or a month and in a few years you will have a repertoire.   Make sure that part of your learning includes learning about the habitat and ecosystem you find the plants in and their role including whether they are invasive, rare, slow-growing, endangered, native, common, tenacious, etc.  You want to know *if* you should harvest and *how* to harvest if you do.  You'll want to know if there are poisonous look-alikes and how to tell them apart.  You'll want to know if you can only eat certain parts of the plant, or only eat it in certain seasons.  You'll want to know if the plant is an annual, biennial, or perennial as this affects harvesting guidelines.  You'll want to know if it has medicinal qualities and what they are, and so on...  Truly learn and study the plant before harvesting and eating a wild plant.

"The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end." 

 - Rabindranath Tagore

I chopped up the bigger pieces and added some Garlic Mustard, see picture below.  This is one plant that you can freely harvest anytime and should actually pull it up by its roots and dispose of the roots in the trash if you do not eat them, not the compost.  It is one of the worst invasives that no amount of purposeful eradication seems to work, so you can't get rid of it even if you try, and I have tried for many years on my property as it crowds out natives and other less tenacious plants.  I still always have it, lots of it.  So harvest away.

I then mixed this with good eggs (good meaning not out of a battery cage like most eggs bought and sold) and cooked it in local lard from happy pigs and put this on sprouted, whole-grain bread with extra virgin olive oil and salt.  All organic, all ways.  Here's why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It tastes fresh, green, vibrant, and alive! just like spring itself - a perfect way to start the day.                      

Plus you get to eat spirals.  :)

 “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.” – Goethe

 

 

 

Intrigue in the Botanical Garden

Visiting the United States Botanic Garden for our 3rd Anniversary on 3-3-2013 

Here are some pictures of the spectacular plants to share with you. 

Plants are so amazing, so diverse, so endlessly fascinating - with much to teach us.

 

I didn't get all their names, but I met them nonetheless; let me introduce you...

 “Experience the beauties of nature, and in doing so, learn about yourself.” - Japanese proverb

 “Watching gardeners label their plants

I vow with all beings

to practice the old horticulture

and let plants identify me.”

- Robert Aitken 'The Dragon Who Never Sleeps:  Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice'

  

"I believe I will never quite know.
Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving."
~Mary Oliver 'Bone'

 

“I adore the simple pleasures.  They are the last refuge of the complex.” - Oscar Wilde

"There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

 

“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of 

others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... 

and some scarce see nature at all. 

But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” - William Blake

“Of all the plants that cover the earth and lie like a fringe of hair upon the body of our grandmother, 

try to obtain knowledge that you may be strengthened in life”- Oliver Goldsmith

  

 "Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

 -  Hans Christian Andersen

 

“What will come from the briar but the berry.” - Irish Proverb

“and the leaves were telling secrets to the wind.” ― Peter Mulvey

Oecology...

 "...the branch of biology that studies the relationship of organisms and environments"

This past Father's Day my family and I camped along the Shenandoah River

 and I took some pictures of the marvels to be found:

 “The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls. ” - John Muir

 

All leaves above: young Sycamore

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the Earth are never alone 
or weary of life.”“ - Rachel Carson

Two photos above:  Horse Nettle, Solanum carolinense - a poisonous relative of the tomato

 “Experience the beauties of nature, 

and in doing so, learn about yourself.”

- Japanese proverb

Magical Datura

"Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? 

Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. 

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. 

If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. 

Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation." - Lao Tzu

Tiny Toad

Mullein Verbascum thapsus

"Wonderful how completely everything in wild nature fits into us, as if truly part and parent of us. The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and; tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love." - John Muir

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

“Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things,

 it will come and sit softly on your shoulder…” - Thoreau

Zebra Swallowtail  Protographium marcellus

“I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.” 

'Animals' - a poem by Walt Whitman

Sleeping in the Forest I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed, nothing between me and the white fire of the stars but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard the small kingdoms breathing around me, the insects, and the birds who do their work in the darkness. All night I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times into something better. -  Mary Oliver                                                     "His labor is a chant, His idleness a tune; Oh, for a bee's experience Of clovers and of noon!"  from 'The Bee' by Emily Dickinson Walnut  Juglans nigra “The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.” - Abbey 'Desert Solitaire  Hops  Humulus lupulus Ageratum   Prickly Lettuce  Lactuca serriola " If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive."  - Eleonora Duse Redtop Grass  Agrostis gigantea "This is a test to see if your mission on Earth is over: If you are still alive, it's not." - Sir Francis Bacon Squash?  seeds must've washed in Magical Datura Bud “Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "I, the fiery life of divine wisdom,  I ignite the beauty of the plains,  I sparkle the waters, I burn in the sun,  and the moon, and the stars."  - St. Hildegard Von Bingen    "I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you,  and that you will work them,  water them with your blood and tears  and your laughter 'til they bloom,  'til you yourself burst into bloom."  - Clarissa Pinkola Estes Virginia Creeper  Parthenocissus quinquefolia