Gardening


Fall return

After being away for 3 weeks I returned to an amazing abundance and fantastic weather!  Thanks to all those who helped and attended the garden the 1st week and to Ian and the kids for the last 2.  Everything is wonderful.

First to do was a Tulsi distillation!

Masses of Tulsi for distillation. This hydrosol is one of the most diverse and effective. Excellent for the Fall season.

Tulsi in the basket

large purple asters

Calendula

The yard, wild and unmowable for most of this year, suddenly exploded with gifts of flowers


As it is: The eclipse, elixirs, and healing

As summer comes to a close we have been very busy harvesting the herbs and distilling, learning about our new environment and adjusting.  The herbal teas, the hydrosols, the oils and the resins provide the elixirs.

The ones for illness, the ones for the soul, the ones for the heart.

Last night (the night of Aug 21st and the Solar eclipse in Leo) I distilled the Rose Geranium and when I started to process the plant I got a clear message to slow down and let the aroma seep in, permeate my mind and I felt my heart open up to myself.  I hadn’t known I was closed, I was rushed, busy and tired, and suddenly I felt more acceptance, acceptance of everything.  Love was present.

The distillation is aromatically exquisite.  The oil this morning was the color of the sky.  I hope that others will find healing, love and connection to self through this hydrosol and I will use the Oil in my next batch of Deep Sleep.

 

Rose Geranium oil in the separator

Rose Geranium permeates the room

 

Here are a few more things we have been up to!

In the woods behind the house I found this:
Phaeolus schweinitzii. It can be used as a natural dye

Tulsi Holy Basil as it is about to move into the new tunnel in the beginning of August.

Harvesting Bacopa monnieri

Bacopa harvest will become a tincture for our family.

From the garden daily.

Blue Chamomile essential oil

Butterfly on the Gotu Kola

The Mother. The Source.

Gifts

Speaking of Gifts……That will be the focus for the next months, Energetically aligned and Inspirational aromatic and healing salves and oil blends to get us through the fall and into winter! Whether you are feeling sluggish or need to rest, feeling down or need to channel that enthusiasm? Contact me for any custom blends you might be interested in.


First distillations in Canada / Prep for market

We are distilling again!

Finally, with our newly replaced heating element, we have enough plant material to start this season’s distillations. The smells in the house are medicinal grade with no chance of stressing out even with the flurry of work to prepare the day before the Midsummer Herbfest market.

Chamomile

The kids helped pick all the Chamomile flowers; these plants have been producing an abundance of blooms.
The oil is the most beautiful blue and the aroma is so comforting.

Chamomile in the still

blue Chamomile essential oil

Tulsi and Clary Sage

We are so happy to be able to distill Tulsi and Clary Sage again! We forged a deep connection with these two aromatic plants in our gardens in Sweden, and it’s been a real gift to keep growing, harvesting, and distilling these amazing plants in a new season in a new country.

Clary Sage in the bubble

Tulsi / Holy Basil


Here’s what we have growing now

Clary Sage. Up close and inspirational.

It’s difficult starting again, but as always the plants show me the way.  Here’s what I have growing now.  Some began as seed and some from seedlings that I purchased.
Clary Sage- An incredible flower to distill.  The hydrosol is perfect for hot flashes and any preparation containing the essential oil goes right to the head, heart and soul.  It can be quite euphoric.

Clary sage, a different point of view

Rose Geraniums – 6 Lovely little plants which are growing and will make a nice distillation for hydrosol at the end of the summer.  I mix the oil into my Deep Sleep blend which has great balancing effect opposite Frankincense and Jatamansi.

Potted Tulsi or Holy Basil or Ocimum Sanctum (from my own seeds) and there will be more of this but It would really benefit from a hot greenhouse.  Hopefully soon!  An ultimate in adaptogenic stress relief.

Ocimum sanctum
Holy Basil, not your regular basil.

Lots of Mint –  growing well despite the torrential rains.  And Lemon Balm, and Lemon Verbena.

Lemon Verbena
Aloysia citrodora

Skullcap, Valerian, and Chamomile –  mainly for tea (and maybe tincture) but I wonder what a co-distillation for hydrosol might be like?  Maybe I’ll try it…

Valerian

Chamomile

Two kinds of Arnica – Chamissonis and Montana (from my own seeds)

Arnica chamissonis, spreading.

Inula helenium or Elecampane – Awesome herb for coughs when used properly

Acmella Oleracea or Spilanthes (from my own seed) – Also known as the toothache plant.

A great place to get medicinal herb seeds from is Strictly Medicinals (formally Horizon Herbs)-  They also sell some plants but only within the U.S.   It was a hard blow to discover that I could not order plants from them to Canada.  I had made big plans but  I was fortunate that some one at Strictly Medicinals answered my email and suggested Richters Herbs here in Canada and that has been helpful getting started with some great plants.  I’ve just discovered a few other possibilities and will try to give all the helpful information as I get it.  Here’s one:  https://www.onplants.ca/, a site that sells Ontario native plants.


Here we are

In our new spot,  just outside of Ottawa, Ontario.  It’s been a long journey.  We moved in on April 10 and it was under snow.  Everything is new. Again.

But, some things always remain the same, kinda.  The same kinds of birds are eager to get at the new feeder, same kinds but they’re different,  the Jays are very different.  The Moon is there, as always, sometimes full and others new,  every night but different.  This is what I notice, what has led me here now.  The cycles, the signs, the connections, they are all saying everything about what is important.  If I listen.

April 13

This is what I do when my heart feels a little broken over what I left behind,  Every time I have moved.  Every time I begin again.  I listen.  When I listen I usually get clues to what to do next on a multitude of levels.  When I listen I am learning about myself.

I feel deeply.  That’s what triple water signs do.  There is no way to doubt the importance of it all,  the plants, the sun, the water,  working together every day for life.  I’m not saying I know what is best or right,  I’m saying that when I listen to wind and to the bird song and plants, that’s when I understand why I do what I do.  Growing, sharing, caring.

This is my heart. Healing. Eve and Amelia. Peaks Island

What followed our move to Ottawa was (is) two months of snow, torrential rains and flooding yet we still managed to put in a small garden.     And like we seem to do again and again, we carve out a little bit more every day, week, month, Another row or corner or mound and we plant something.  So we are building,  it’s a life form making gardens.  With each joy my heart breaks,  like when a baby is born and you can cry and cry through ear splitting smiles.

Deck, pots, and two garden spaces

So, What we have at this point is two medium planting spaces completely fenced off from the deer and as of this week a small dome greenhouse I put together for the pots of Tulsi, Spilanthes and Rose Geraniums until it warms up (it’s been as low as 10 c several nights this week) and stops raining and raining. I really hope we can have a greenhouse by the end of the summer.  When a place is new there is a lot you don’t know and two nights ago we had torrential downpours again on top of daily hail and rain all week.  We had to shovel trenches to drain the water as our beans were beginning to float.  I have no idea what we will do about this problem.  Unusual weather but we can’t have this.  One step at a time.  Ian says this is washing the earth clean so we can start new.  Building, growing, and learning,  As usual.

working together to dig trenches as the water rises