Biodiversity


Spring 2021 Update

I’m very happy to be starting the 5th growing season here in Canada. It seems like a lifetime ago, as always. The time passes so quickly and I am an ALL in person, committed and ready to love, heal, grow and give.

I plan to attend the Almonte Farmers Market again this year, from May 29th onward, but due to the pandemic the timing is not 100% guaranteed. But, you can reach out to me by email, Instagram, or Facebook and you can place an order in the webshop located within our website. I will continue to fill out the descriptions of products and oils blends and try to give as much information as I can. Following me on social media allows you to see any products as they become available and to see what I have growing (and all the wildlife). I ask that you reach out to me directly for any custom orders or needs. I have many healing hydrosols and resins of the forest. I am going to be restocking the lip salves and have a couple of neat things that are new like the Queen of Hungary tonifying spray and an educational sampler mix of truly Fair Trade Frankincense and Resins that will fund raise for the Global Frankincense Alliance that will be added in the shop as soon as we possibly can! I have struggled with what to do about the ethical use and trade of these precious and endangered resins and for now I will continue to make and sell the resin based boswellic acid-rich salves and oils for healing emotional, mental, and physical stress but I will donate 10% of the sales of these products to GFA and continue to source all resins from trusted Fair Trade Sources like Apothecary’s Garden – Dan Reigler and Floracopeia.

Floracopeia is a leader in Eco projects for sustainable harvesting and replanting projects and continues to be my number one trusted source for all essential oils (and some carrier oils) and I continue to learn from its founder David Crow through his many classes on herbs, Ayurvedic health, and essential oils.

I am also nurturing my own soul through education with wonderful teachers like Matthew Wood, Judith Hill, and Sajah Popham. I am growing as an herbalist and gardener through my relationship with the plants. When asked what brings me happiness or joy when I am at my lowest the answer is truthfully – the birds and the plants. The only time that I don’t have doubt is when I am working with them. That is slow time, breathe time, real time. So I crawl along this Spring (literally in the mud) and wait for my vaccine, desperately miss my granddaughter who turned 8 this April, and see my children through the 7th and 11th grades, while nourishing my significant others through great change and challenge and find joy in the Sandhill Cranes and Cardinal’s song each morning, the fox, the bears, the bees, the little sprouts pushing up, the wild ramps, the violets, the peepers, the turtles, and the snakes.

I am thankful to have this garden, If you are local and are interested in doing some work in trade for plants or herbs then feel free to contact us to see if we can make it happen. And of course this will be after the lockdown!

Acknowledging that all these lands are of Anishinabewaki and Algonquin peoples.

oznorTO

Balsam Poplar

Balsam Poplar buds

Sticky and aromatic Balsam Poplar buds

Young Balsam Poplars

I have been looking for this tree, Populus balsamifera. I wanted to get to know it and make an oil with some of its buds, a traditional medicine. Today I found a small stand and have permission to harvest.  The trees are a bit invasive where they are and so need to be managed and smaller ones removed so we can work together, a best case scenario! So grateful.


Winter Woods Salve for the Cedar Hill Christmas Tree Farm

Our neighbourhood is called Cedar Hill, and there are many Eastern White Cedars (Thuja occidentalis) all around us. Also there are Eastern white pine, spruce, and balsam fir, and we are fortunate to be able to sustainably harvest and distill needles and greenery from the various evergreen species.

Cedar essential oil and hydrosol

My Winter Woods Salve is made using Canadian spruce resin dissolved in safflower oil, with added essential oils, many of which are from our own distillations, in a base of beeswax. Apply it to the neck and chest area for a cooling decongestant effect.

Winter Woods Salve

Winter Woods Salves – just poured and now cooling!

Winter Woods Salve is one of my most popular products at markets, and this holiday season we are happy to say that it will be for sale at the Cedar Hill Christmas Tree Farm. The farm is a wonderful local business and the perfect place to find a Christmas tree, but it also features a great sledding hill, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and Cafe Claus, which always features a warm fire and delicious homemade food. Run by the Martin family, the farm is an ideal place for a day of winter fun.

Cedar

Eastern White Cedar, ready for distillation


Helpers in the Garden

I’ve been delighted to discover all of these beneficial Insects working away in the garden beds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am amazed at the complexities of their life cycles and how they work synergistically to control the sometimes overwhelming numbers of leaf-hungry herbivores.

Gardening is a lot of work but It has become a very mindful activity for me while I watch how I use and move my body.  Some of the plants I grow, like Tulsi, require a mindful and nearly daily tending, and this is where I get to witness many things over time that might be overlooked, such as nymphs and larvae growing into bugs and flying things, and seeing who is eating who.  The four-lined plant bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus) tried to make a breakthrough in our garden this year but we were sure not to harm the beneficials by immediately overreacting, i.e. by using organic approved pesticides.  Instead we mindfully picked off the adults for about a week or two and then their own life cycles were interrupted by the multitude of predatory beneficials who lay their own eggs and who effectively end the outbreak.

I am not an expert in this area but it is a very important part of permaculture and sustainable practices in agriculture.  I am excited to be able to learn in this hands on, eyes on way.

 

 


Yoga Mat Spray and a little info about Hydrosols

June 9th at the Almonte Farmers market I will have a new hydrosol.  Yoga Mat Spray is a co-distillation of  wild harvested Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus )and our own organically grown Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus).    As with all my hydrosol blends there are no added anythings……no added essential oils,  alcohol,  or stabilizers.  True hydrosols are a unique product obtained through the steam distillation of various leaves, flowers, barks, needles and roots and naturally contain all the water-soluble constituents of the plants including 0.05 – 0.2 per litre of essential oils (see “Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy” by Suzanne Catty).  This makes them one of the safest forms of aromatherapy and herbal medicine.

This Yoga Mat Spray  combination is antiseptic, antifungal, and antimicrobial –  Spray on and let dry or spray on and wipe off.  Depending on your own particular mat’s specific cleaning and maintenance instructions you could even add one drop of plain organic dish soap to give a little bit of extra wash.

Of course you may have figured out that the Yoga Mat Spray can be used many places, on many surfaces, and for many other uses!!

Here you can see the cluster of White Pine that this batch of hydrosol came from

Eastern White Pine

Eastern White Pine growing near me.

Pine and Thyme co-distillation

Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus )and Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus)

Arnica Montana

Arnica Montana just waiting to burst with the first rays of a full sunny day!

Tulsi / Holy Basil

Tulsi / Holy Basil or
Ocimum tenuiflorum (synonym Ocimum sanctum) These little babies will be for sale this weekend!