Opening Day!

Happy Spring!  March 13 was New Moon Prayer week.  I studied Tarot, but did not have time to journal.  I spent the next two weeks developing my lesson plan for “Introduction to Herbalism for Emotional Health and Stress Relief” for Rise Up Kingston on April 2 so no time to blog.  The season begins with priorities jamming together and altering the schedule just a bit.  I began college studying Psychology ending up with Horticulture, but I will always love Psychology, so what a thrill to be asked to create a class on mental health.  My goodness, it took me back and I ended up with a journal entry in the process.  The beauty of Psychology, is that we get to delve into ourselves and find the way.  It is a wonderful unraveling of the experiences that have brought us to who we are.  Like, the internet, a rabbit hole that can bring us to wholeness. 

March 20 was Spring Equinox.  We had a beautiful sunny day at 52º for ceremony at Seed Song.  It is an honor and a privilege to witness regeneration.  I get amnesia in Winter, especially one as cold as 2021.  I went through the motions of ordering seed for the season, but the warm days are always a surprise.  Winter visioning gives way to Spring energy getting back out into the field.  I caught Spring Fever at the Equinox, but I still had reservations at the start of the season (for me) April 1.  The second season with Covid.  I pray for those who have lost loved ones.  Hopefully, that energy release will serve us.  Humble us, vision a new day?  568,777 souls have passed on.  I suppose when I light my candle and burn Sage to bless the gardens, I can honor all those souls who have left us.  At the very least, we had a peak of 5900 deaths in one day and now we are down to 1700 a day.  Perhaps Covid is petering out.
 
Opening day in the gardens!  Also our birthdays, so we are in the midst of the Two Week Hurrah!  Of Caribbean descent, we are prone to celebration.  Born to take it easy.  I am sure our Caribbean DNA gives us a laid back perspective on the world.  I’ve been to Maritinique (Marc’s homeland) a couple of times – easily paradise!

The simplicity of awakening and heading out to Sargent-Downing Community Garden (SDG) was stunning.  When Covid hit, I as so thankful for my solitary self.  I don’t spend much time around people.  My gardens are quiet spaces, where I interact with my Plant, Insect, Animal and Rock Families (Other Council Fires were Here Before Ours by Twyla Nitsch and Jamie Sams).  Is Covid a culling?  A cleansing of the species?  Is this how Mother works?  Natural selection?  Survival of the fittest?  Abraham (www.abraham-hicks.com) says fear is the virus.  I believe there is another plain of existence of folks who are not affected by the virus.  Am I one of them?  What do we learn here?  Certainly, develop and build resilient communities.  Our reliance on the Establishment has brought us here.  How do we collectively become more self sufficient?  We don’t want this to happen again, especially to our communities of color.  What do we do right now so that in 100 years, we have a better outcome.  Or are times like these inevitable with an Establishment like ours?

Hawk circling overhead.  According to Ted Andrews in his book Animal Speak, Hawk is associated with Kundalini energy.  The root chakra.  Visions become reality with hawk medicine.  We can soar and keep our feet on the ground.  Learn our true purpose in life.  Expansion of vision.

So much joy in the gardens!  Reserve or not, to get back out there cannot help, but to lift one’s spirit.  It was cool 45º April 1 and 40º April 2.  The first day at SDG, when I got back in the house, I was chilled to the bone.  On the second day, not so much.  We are sooo adaptable!  I did have the excitement of Jelly Beans, Good Friday, lunch and my class later in the day, not to mention a warm truck to travel in.  Errands are grounding and joyful!  Menopausal, I find myself feeling the cold and the damp in my bones.  Easily, we are forever changed with the Great Change.  Susun Weed says we change on the cellular level.  I think I’m beginning to know what she means.  The fence needs repair in a couple of spots at SDG.  It’s also the first year of the next ten years at SDG.  One works so hard for the life one wants that when one achieves it (at least for me) it is astonishing and takes some getting used to.  Nothing to it, but to live it now. 

Leaf devoid of color

Burdock, Arctium minus

Comfrey, Symphytum officinale

Garlic Mustard, Alliaria petiolata

Horsetail, Equisetum arvense

Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca

Pussywillow, Salix sp.

Valerian, Valeriana officinalis

Catnip, Nepeta cataria

Garlic, Allium sativum

Hellebore, Helleborus atrorubens

Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis

Nettle, Urtica dioica

Sage, Salvia officinalis

Yellow Dock, Rumex obtusifolia

Many of us cleanse our systems this time of year.  I harvest and dry Nettle (Urtica dioica, Urticaceae) in May and make infusion throughout the Winter.  Nettle is a nourishing, cleansing herb, promoting the optimum functioning of the internal organs.  I have been harvesting Burdock root (Arctium minus, Asteraceae) for the past two Springs for a deep cleansing tea.  I harvested Horsetail (Equisitum arvense, Equisetaceae) brown stems last Spring to snack on and dried the green stem for tea that enriches the blood.  

There is no end to the critter experience at Hiddenbrooke!  Someone ate Sage plants of all things.  I’m not even sure they will recover.  We’ll see.  I start the season at Hiddenbrooke cleaning out the drying space.  I’ll consider new windows this season. 

Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta

Iris, Iris sp.

St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum

I replaced the blade on my Felco #2 pruner.  The screw on my second Felco pruner seized up and I can’t replace the blade.  I guess I have to get a new one.  Twenty years with my tools, now developing a second set.

Here’s to the season.  Let’s get back out there and do it again.  The march of time dancing with Spirit.  Ebb and flow.  May you have a joyous, bountiful season.  Ache!