Full Moon Greetings – April 16 2022 This blog post on lavender and kindness is part of my lunar blog series featuring one plant and its correspondence for mindful focus. (Read more details on the lunar mindfulness series. ) The Energy of Kindness Lavender has a strong historical connection to both love and tranquility. The … Read more
Rosemary & Remembrance Today is the first full moon of the year (January 17, 2022) and this begins my lunar blog series featuring one plant and its correspondence for mindful focus. (Read more details on the lunar mindfulness practice. ) Fragrant Rosemary Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a perennial shrubby evergreen herb that originated along the … Read more
Welcoming the New Year As we cautiously wade into 2022 I have invitations, a mindfulness challenge, and a gift to brighten your new year. Perhaps you started the year with a goal to practice mindfulness in a more consistent or deeper way. Or maybe you are still casting about to decide what your mindfulness goals … Read more
I recently finished reading a fascinating book by Judith Flanders – A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order. If you are laughing at the idea that alphabetical order can be fascinating, stay with me. (And this is absolutely related to weeds and medicinal herbs.) Alphabetical order was not always a “thing”. … Read more
As the world moves into surreal disaster movie mode with COVID-19, mindfulness practice is needed more than ever. It may require increased dedication. Here are four key points to consider as we move through the next few weeks. First – Breathe No seriously – taking slow deep breaths activates the parasympathetic nervous system. That’s the … Read more
Calendula Officinalis The mindfulness word for the week is constancy, inspired by Calendula flowers overflowing in my yard. We’ll get to the “constancy” part of the plant in a moment, but first here is a little bit of information about this healing plant. About the Herb Calendula (Calendula officinalis), sometimes called pot marigold, is an … Read more
The word surrender often has negative connotations. We have lost; we are quitting or admitting defeat. And yet there are countless times surrender can be the healthy choice. In the garden, I have had to surrender to the fact that plants I grew successfully in Pennsylvania are stressed by the Colorado environment. … Read more
Summer Solstice arrives Thursday June 21st at 4:07 AM Mountain Time (6:07 AM EST). This marks the point when the northern hemisphere is at its furthest tilt toward the sun. Observers in ancient times would have noticed the sun moving in a northward direction and then stopping and heading back the other way. One … Read more
Owning Our Story – this week’s mindful focus, inspired by amaranth Every plant has a story. Amaranth is ancient. It came back into our modern awareness about twenty years ago as a healthy, high protein, grain-like choice. I will get to the story in a moment, but one reason I’ve been thinking of amaranth is … Read more
If you drive through my neighborhood in mid-summer, you will see wild morning glories in almost every yard. But here is the thing, they are not morning glories at all. They are bindweed flowers (Convolvulus arvensis} masquerading as morning glories. And the name bindweed tells you most of what you need to … Read more
