Autumn home-keeping rituals are underway at my house -- drying and tincturing a few more plants, roasting a pan of tomatoes to make 3 cups of tomato sauce, and making thyme tea bundles. I tried the bundle technique with chocolate mint but the stems are just too long even though the flavor is fantastic. The olive-looking things in the pan of tomatoes are chocolate cherry tomatoes, in case you're wondering.
Nearly everyday I go outside and rinse off another potted plant to bring back in the house but there isn't much else I want to harvest from the garden. I'm beginning to change my views about the obligatory harvest -- realizing we don't have to eat or preserve every single tomato, plum, or bean. Some of the bounty is for people, some is for wildlife and the rest goes back to the earth.
More seed packets have been made and jars properly labeled, labeling is my weakness. It occurred to me that I rarely make quart-size medicinal tinctures anymore, except for echinacea. When I first trained as an herbalist everything was made quart-size and sometimes even larger -- new herbalists can be overzealous. Actually, that goes for anything new I guess. More than once I heard "not to go overboard with your herbal pharmacy because you'll end up throwing it all out in 10 years." Which is exactly what happened. Small batches are not so intimidating to make or use -- infused vinegars are pint-sized now and medicinal tinctures are even smaller, as I delve into the energetic use of plants as medicine -- using 3 drops instead of 30.
Every fall I look at that brown pillow cover and every fall I don't know what to do with it. Today I decided to either replace the existing patches or turn them into houses. I sort of like the houses. The calendar cloth is from last year's full moon sewing ritual.
Today is a waxing moonday in Pisces, a moist and fruitful time. Piscean energy is creative and intuitive and we may just find ourselves retreating from the outside world to spend time in the inner world.
To a beautiful week.
beautiful stitching in that last image. i love the way you created a calendar moon.
ReplyDeletePeggy, YES! re obligatory harvest, YES,
ReplyDeleteexactly my feeling this week! Let
them do as they will, as the plant
would have them do. To fall IN to the Earth. Feed Earth. Maybe, if we ALL
are lucky, rise in the Spring as
Volunteers, the Strongest of All...
YES!!!!!!
Thanks, Deanna, nice to have this one out again.
ReplyDeleteHi Grace -- It just feels right, doesn't it? I love your comment, thank you!
ReplyDeleteit does. and i was so happy to
ReplyDeletesee you thought the same...
we are so used to feeling we need
to Take everything. Leaving some
is such an interesting feeling....
xo
I'm so hungry for fresh since I gave up the church garden for a thousand good reasons...I would harvest till I dropped (throwing some for the future) There are scant birds, and those I actually buy and distribute sunflower seeds to :-) What a charming cloth and i LOVE your labels...that sort of methodical is very comforting to me....but sometimes I forget and, in fact, I have several jars in the freezer that are questions rather than answers:-)
ReplyDeleteYour houses are great. I have some scraps of the same fabrics, one of them is part of a house on a quilt, too.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm reading one of my own post, I also have been trying to harvest the last of the gardens, vegetables, herbs, seeds, bringing in cold sensitive plants. Love last years Oct. moon cloth and your labels.
ReplyDelete