Deep Summer

This morning the near full moon is setting in the southwest sky and another day is beginning.
Rains are on the way to feed and nourish this land that has seen very little rain since the Sumer Solstice,
when we built the new sweatlodge and we had a rainlodge that night.
As always, we walk upon this earth in relationship to all life. I am grateful to all who have chosen
to share part of their walk on this land with me.

I feel deep summer in my soul and see what the season has brought to be harvested.
Early abundant rains have made a harvest possible on this land, in this time of little rain.
Some things are very abundant such as sweet annie , Artmesia annua.
What a sweet annie forest we have this year !  Growing 10ft tall and fragrant.
Sweet fennel is 8ft and beautiful in flower and unripened seed ,ready for harvest and the butterflies.
Basil is abundant and loving the heat of this deep summer, requiring water from the well occasionally,
in order to thrive and put off flowering and seeding.

The popcorn is 8ft or more and feeding the raccoons each night. The tomatoes and peppers are doing well but will not produce much fruit if the rains withhold their gift.
The sugar snap peas germinated and became food for the rabbits as the rains had stopped.
I will wait a bit longer, dreaming of rain to plant the fall lettuces,greens and herbs.

Deadheading the echinacea so as to have more bloom into the autumn. Leaving the seed heads for the birds and the earth so we will have this sweet medicine in other years.
Mullein still standing tall and food for the downy woodpeckers and orchard orioles.
Catnip past it's beauty and harvest time ,yet will feed the orioles and finches into the season.

Hibiscus blooms short yet lovely. Comfrey and nettles harvested twice and growing still, fulfilling
the need to flower and seed thus spread their abundance.
Lemon Balm and mints lush with fragrant growth this spring into early summer, now in deep summer are flowering and ready to harvest ,as the healing essential oils within are at their highest.
Lavender is past it's flowering but the plants are thriving in these driest of soils,
emitting there healing fragrance into the air. Leaves ready for harvest and creating Herbes de Provence
for your winter soups,stews and roasted vegetables.

So much more is ready for harvest,deadheading,cutting back and made ready for beautiful gardens in the autumn. Each season, as each year, brings a different garden with it. And as with every year the
gardens we tour during the Herb Festival this year will be very different from the gardens of other years.
We will learn new things because of the difference and therefore, we will grow.

 Deep Summer has come
 Laden with fruit
Water moves on breath
Trees stand still
With bare movement


     raindancing~ Constance

Living Between the Raindrops

Greetings on this rainy spring Sunday morning.
Sunday mornings are the morning I save for moving slowly thru my world
and pause to see where I am,where I have come from
and where I am going.

I am here at home which is where I do my work,grow my life.
I have watered the greenhouse and smelled the warm fragrant green of the plants
and been thankful for their gift .I have remembered
that they are the reason I am able to do what I do.

I have been weeding and creating space in the gardens
so the plants that are there have the environment
they need to grow and create
the health and healing that my family and I need.
Creating the health and healing that friends,neighbors,customers
and those looking for health and healing
need so they can do their work and grow their lives.


I am going forward in my work and life while looking
with softened gaze and trying to live non-linearly.
Living from my heart.
I am looking at the seeds,roots, branches,twigs, leaves
and blossoms of my world,that form my life.
I am speaking my truth and want to hear your truth.

Come wander this piece of earth I have been given to tend and
care for.This place I find myself standing.
Come work and grow and help in the creating.

I look forward to hearing from you and to our conversations.
so we can move into a place we have co-created.

    I am living between the raindrops,
          Constance

Living Between the Snowflakes

Greetings on this snowy day.
   I am creating this blogspot to communicate and share  my journey tending this land in West Central Indiana. Sharing this journey thru this blog ,workshops,events and meeting with you  at  Farmer's Markets.I hope that you will want to go on this journey with me and thus share your journey.

  I am not sure what I will have to say or how much I will have to say but I begin knowing that this community of people that tend the land,grow the food and medicine, and share the knowledge and are examples of how to nurture and keep the land,the water,the air, are where my heart and soul lie.

In this blog we will speak of the land,gardening,soil,water,plants,medicine,organic,farmer's markets and all things having to do with our food,our health,our ecological footprints,our hearts and our souls.
   
On this journey I hope to grow,learn,,laugh and build community.

I have learned to love the subtle beauty of this ancient land we call Indiana.
Come journey with me..........................................................
                  ~Constance