We are currently in the process of converting a van into our very own travelling home. We are around half way through our build now with our kitchen in place and took our very first trip in it a few weeks ago.
Our first stop was a visit to family down on the south coast for a lovely few days together. We then headed out west, further along the Jurassic coast to explore.
The area is steeped in myth and legend and it wasn’t long before I lost myself with so many beautiful wildflowers along the way.
We hope that you have been able to find some time and space to connect with the new season of Lammas – also thought of as high Summer or the birth of Autumn.
One of the ways I like to connect to a new season is by creating a tea blend that seems to hold the energy of the season in the plants that I blend.
We were gifted some lovely Nasturtium plants early in the season which we planted up in our herb garden. We are now greeted each morning with a wealth of the most vibrant orange flowers. Nasturtiums have been so easy to grow, requiring very little care. They are an excellent companion plant drawing aphids away from other more delicate plants.
Lammas (also known as Lughnassadh) falls on 1st August and is the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox in the northern Hemisphere. By Lammas we are into the second half of the year and may refer to this time as ‘high summer.’ The days are still long and the sun’s energy is strong yet active growth is waning. The earth is abundant and many of our grain crops have ripened and await their gathering, full and golden.
The wheel of the year is an ancient way of marking the changing energy of the Earth throughout the yearly cycle. The wheel consists of 8 seasonal celebrations or marker points, that fall every 6 – 8 weeks.
In-between each solar festival is a seasonal festival (or cross quarter point) connected with seasonal and agricultural changes. Imbolc marks the height of Winter where the first signs of Spring begin to appear, Beltane the height of Spring and birth of Summer, Lammas the height of Summer and birth of Autumn and Samhain the height of Autumn and birth of Winter.
The celebrations can be thought of as natural points throughout the year where we can stop and observe what is going on in the outer world as well as our inner worlds. A moment to reflect on how things currently are, how they have been over the last season and how we would like to move ahead into the new one.
My most precious insight from observing the wheel of the year is the element of change within it. Light and dark, growth and decay, beginnings and endings. In the modern world we are often expected to be as productive and efficient no matter the season. A striving towards a fixed state of happiness, vibrancy and certainty that isn’t present in the natural world, certainly not all year round.
Connecting with the energy and changes in the natural world, can help us to reflect on our own energy throughout the seasons which may naturally rise and fall. It can help us appreciate the change and flow of nature and learn to welcome and embrace these qualities in our own lives.
We have created 2 prints to celebrate the Wheel of the Year and a Seasonal Reflection card set aimed to support you in connecting with the energy of each festival, available now in our Etsy store.
We are lucky to have a huge supply of Bay in the garden thanks to a rather old and beloved Bay tree. I love adding the leaves to our herb bundles for burning.
Did you know that Bay leaves contain Linalool a compound known for its calming properties, also present in plants such as Lavender. Studies have shown that Linalool reduces elevated stress levels to almost normal conditions.
These lovely leaves also contain Eugenol which is known for its antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and pain relieving qualities. As mentioned in our previous post, burning is an effective way to release the therapeutic benefits of a plant into your environment.
You can find Bay in our best selling herbal garden smoulder sticks.
Before we had the technology to extract the essential oils from plants, burning leaves, flowers, roots and resins would have been the earliest and simplest forms of aromatherapy (the use of aromatic plant extracts for healing). The practice of burning dried plants also called ‘smoke cleansing’ has been carried out extensively across cultures, often but not always in connection with spiritual practices.
Tomorrow – the 23rd of July, the Sun moves into the fifth zodiac sign of Leo. Leo season runs up until August 22nd, before the sun transitions into Virgo.
Leo seasons spans the height of summer, where times are rich with warmth, energy and fun and creativity peaks. Qualities associated with this sign include confidence, leadership, generosity, creativity and joy.
Leo is a fire sign and is ruled by the sun, the centre of our universe. This season may offer up the fire and energy to invoke change, celebrate life and return to our core, helping us to speak our truth.
The moon’s gravitational pull influences many things on our planet, but perhaps most notably the rise and fall of the ocean’s tides. It is less well known however, that the same gravitational pull affects groundwater levels. The concept of aligning gardening with the moon phase is as old as agriculture itself. It is believed that as the moon is waxing towards the full moon, groundwater rises up, providing good conditions for planting. No dig gardener Charles Dowding has conducted a number of small studies comparing the yield of crops planted under the waxing and waning moon. So far, he has shown that crop yield in a variety of veg has been higher when planting with the waxing moon.
It is lovely to watch the flowers that you have planted grow, but it is extra special when they find their own way into your garden themselves, which is exactly what happened with some Goldenrod this year.
Goldenrod is known to be richer in antioxidants than green tea. Its Latin name, Solidago translates as ‘to make whole or heal’ and reflects its long use in herbal medicine. It has superb anti inflammatory action and pain relieving qualities thought to help arthritis, cold and flu symptoms and bladder & kidney problems.
Wild Fen 