Now

Yes, this is my neglected and once organized herb garden.  Last year, I did not even glance its way.  Ever live in the land of denial?  Let’s just say I had some black-hole issues revolving around finding myself unemployed, after working continually for the past four decades.  Ten months of assuming the fetal position, while wearing lead shoes, was an unfamiliar and dark side path.  So, while I continue to send out resumes (is it too late to rule the world?) the conditions of my gardens were a reflection of my state of mind.  Depression, it’s a killer of Spirit.

During the past few months I had enough of my pathetic self-inertness.  Creating this website related to the meaning behind the tarot card, The Fool.  The opportunities to express and share my knowledge and personal experience, from the world involving metaphysics, became a self-empowering icon of motivation.

Last night my friend Judy visited me, armed with heavy duty garden gloves and a can-do attitude straight out of a vintage Andy Hardy movie.  We worked past sunset.  The entire area had been overtaken by purple and white violets I had planted a few years ago.  I left the violets in their containers so they wouldn’t spread.  This onslaught of violets taught me that while things may look contained, it’s foolish to think it would remain so.

All my lovely comfrey, nettle, thymes, and sages choked out by violets.  Add one consonant and you have the word violent.  See how one teensy change can wreak havoc in your life garden?

Then

Now I’m back.

Back on track.

Back to the future.

Back to being me.

Baby got back.

Back from the brink.

No turning back.

Back home.

Heady stuff, these white lilacs from my yard.  The scent of lilacs, while incredible, is difficult to capture for aromatherapy purposes.  Know that lilac scented products, i.e., soaps, cologne, etc. are most likely made from synthetic products.  I’m a “ain’t nothing but the real thing” kind of gal.  So, if you have access to one of the most fragrant flowers in the entire world then you may want to try your had at keeping this scent, synthetic free, for your own personal use.

According to Jeanne Rose, who is at the top of the list for Aromatherapists and a living legend, you can extract the scent but it is a laborious process, and she clearly states on her website that if you want to make lilac perfume you will have to do so yourself.

To make your own perfume use a 190 proof Everclear alcohol,  and have access to a lasting supply of blooming  purple lilacs.

Fill a sterile bottle, with a cover, with flowers.

Pour Everclear to cover and cap tightly.

Store in a cool, dark place.

When the color has been stripped from the flowers, remove them and add more flowers.

Continue this process until the lilacs have stopped blooming.

Store the “mother” bottle of dark purple extract in a cool dry place.

Dilute some of the mixture slightly with pure water and place it in a spritzer bottle to use – still keeping it in the refrigerator and out of the light.

Cut lilac flowers early in the morning, before the full sun has had its chance to vaporize all the dew and moisture from them.  Place them in smaller bottles or water glasses around your home.  The scent will lift your spirits and chase away the blues.

For an incredible peaceful night’s sleep, place a small vase of lilacs next your bed before retiring.  Sweet dreams will await you.

One note of caution:  every lilac bloom you pick will result in that branch not blooming for next year.  So do not exhaust your supply.  Pick what you need, and leave at least two-thirds of the flowers on your lilac bushes.

I love New England.  I love where I live, with all four seasons King of their own highly irregular weather patterns.  Yesterday it started snowing, continuing through today.   Silent snow falling is strangely otherworldly.  Mother Nature’s coverlet comforting a weary mind. 

My sister cannot abide the cold weather.  A few years ago she went down to central Florida on one of those tours to sell you a home and never looked back.  She physically cannot tolerate the cold.  I miss her.  She is not mesmerized by this weather, she sees it as harshness.  I am under the power of white crystalline flakes.  Looking out my window I can recall sled rides down Front Street, wool pants and mittens so encrusted with snow that they felt like an extra forty pounds on my body and the sound of chains on car tires marking cadence like marching soldiers.

Joy through memory.  We all have that gift.

I asked my grandchildren if they could see Suzy Snowflake today.  They just blankly looked at me for a few seconds then ran to the Hallmark snowmen singing Jingle Bells.  No clue.  Poor Suzy.  Thank goodness for YouTube.  I can watch her in the original black and white commercials that I grew to love each winter as a child.  She was my idol.  A Winter-fairy, all sparkly, riding on that sleigh in the sky and making a snowman, one-two-three!

The photo is my sleeping herb garden covered in a foot of snow.  Birds were swaying in the branches as they foraged for any uneaten seeds.  The little roots of plantain, thyme, French tarragon and nettles in a dormant slumber until next March.  This is the message of nature when it snows.  Rest.  Snuggle up with a book and let the warmth of your hot cocoa cup unthaw your fingers from shoveling.

Take stock at what you harvested from the summer.  All the herbs you dried, or infused with extra-virgin olive oils.  The tinctures you made with glycerin or alcohol.  The salves you made with pure beeswax.  Little gifts locked away in your cabinets for use throughout the next few months. Then the cycle will begin again.

Rosemary

I’m wild about it.  The aroma makes me spin images of Viggo M. riding up to my front door on a black Arabian horse, whispering his poems in my ear, as I’m carried away.  (Hey! It could happen!)

I love how the little needles leave a sticky resin on my fingers.  I particularly like to use Rosemary to benefit my circulatory system, as it acts as a nervine stimulant.  Herbs containing nervine stimulants helps to dissolve stress and tension.  (I’m stressed about Viggo coming to get me and I’m not home.)

I’ve also drank a couple of cups of Rosemary brew to get rid of a headache.  You could even combined it with Oatstraw to chase away the icky blues when feeling down but not out.

Grocery markets often have available little packets of organic rosemary for sale, or you may even luck out and find an organic plant at your local gardening supply center.

Rosemary contains delicate volatile oils so be careful not to pour boiling water on fresh leaves as it will make your tisane/brew bitter. 

Pour 8 oz. of near boiling water over 1 teaspoon of fresh Rosemary leaves and twigs.  Use a tea basket to hold your herbs in the cup.  Cover the cup and let it steep 10 – 15 minutes.  This can be taken up to three times a day. 

If you want to use dried Rosemary leaves* simply double the amount of leaves to 2 teaspoons and then it’s ok to use boiling water because the oils will have dissipated.

If you are taking a Rosemary brew for circulation or a headache don’t incorporate other herbal drinks throughout your day.

 *Use the best brand on any herbs when purchasing.  McCormick Gourmet (gluten free spices and herbs) and Simply Organic by Frontier (not guaranteed to be gluten free) are two of my favorites when I’m purchasing them from a grocery store.