Vanilla Rhubarb Syrup

It's rhubarb season. So along with making an imperfect yet gloriously delicious rhubarb 'n' black currant crostata, I made a rhubarb syrup. But this is no ordinary rhubarb syrup. As the rhubarb cooked down to make it's own juices I added two split organic vanilla beans... and the result is magical.

This is a simple syrup. In more than a single way. I harvested rhubarb and did all the preparing for the pot (washing, trimming, chopping). An unmeasured amount of water joined the rhubarb in the pot over medium flame - just enough water to prevent it from sticking/burning and to help the rhubarb in releasing its juices. I split two vanilla beans and added them to the pot as it came to the simmer. I turned the flame down low, covered the pot, and let it dance for - I dunno - 30 minutes. Maybe more. The neighbor was visiting, so I really wasn't paying attention. But neighborly love was surely infused in the syrup.

So then the tart and aromatic juice was strained and measured, and equal parts (by volume) of organic cane sugar was added. I had about a quart of juice, so I added 4 cups sugar. That's the culinary definition of a simple syrup.

The pot went back on a low heat and was stirred until the sugar dissolved, then cooled and bottled. I made a beverage stirring a tablespoon into a tall glass of sparkling water. I was delighted. And this can be made with plain water, added to cocktails, tea... poured over pancakes, used to make icings and glazes, or in anything that calls for a syrup or honey. Just like any syrup.

You can make a syrup like this with whatever you have in the garden, or on hand, in any combination of flavors. Play. Play and create. Play, create, and be grateful.

Peace. 🕊

The Lusty Month of May

It's May! It's May!

The lusty month of May!

And while my own personal May Day may be flecked with melancholy, I still embrace the playful passion of this holy day, this sacred season.

My little world is greening, and ever so gently the buds 'n' blossoms, pollen 'n' passion are making manifest.

Planting and harvesting are becoming daily tasks, with kind temperance. For now.

I invite you to make time, to make pause, to make space to be in this heartening May verve. Frequently, while it's with us. For this May magic is - like all things in life - fleeting.

Be with it. Embrace it. Feel its embrace. Honor the relationship. Feel the LoVe.
And share it.

Peace.

Welcome April and the Vernal Emergence.

The landscape on our little acre still looks more winter than spring. Nonetheless, I've been looking close, and see signs of onion grass, dandelion, chives, celandine, garlic, clover, plantain, butterbur, cleavers, any other rooted kin emerging. Sections of the main vegetable garden have been seeded with peas, spinach, lettuce, and beets. The chicken coop will be moved - on this fool's day - out of the main garden and into its summer space, and I'll be able to get more annual seeds into the warming earth, in between the April showers.

Nap time is over. The vernal voice says so, and confirms the message of my full-year tarot spread. ::nods:: The spread that speaks to changes on the horizon. Shifts whispered in the vernal winds of change. 

Spring is here. I await the vibrant energies of the season, the greening of the landscape, the buds and blossoms that paint the world in colors missed for a full year cycle. I welcome it, and the pace that shall quicken. And the care I must take to keep up with it.

May you welcome spring. May you feel the quickening - without and within. And may you take care so the pace may nurture and sustain you.

Peace.

A Colorful Hello Spring!

It's been a long time since I've engaged an art journal (or any art) challenge with my online community of creatives. Yet yesterday offered a gift of shared herART journaling in the studio with some creative folk, and I managed to complete this colorful spread to welcome spring with a wee bit of my own bad poetry, as I lovingly call it.

And in doing that, I combined two challenges. One from Art Journal Journey, where the challenge is "Welcome Springtime," and Moo Mania, where the challenge is Colorful!

My hope is to reengage this practice, if not every month, then whenever I am able. I've been away from it too long. It's a fun 'n freeing experience, even with the structure of theme, to ponder a collective topic, tap into the collective creativity, create in the collective verve, and share the love with the collective community. Maybe you'd like to join the fun!

Peace. 🕊

Vernal Snow Blessing

It is, indeed, spring, and yet there's - once again - snow cover over our little acre. There are no colorful buds 'r blossoms. Yet.

There are the tree buds, swelling. And with them, my vernal heart.

And that heart seeks the yet invisible sightings of daffodil 'n' tulip fronds, anticipates the glee of the first violet blooms, even as it spots garlic, chickweed, onion grass, garlic mustard, betony... and other rooted friends manifesting amid this vernal snowfall.

I take solace in these seasonal reunions, as I look forward to the soothing cheer of spring's warming, thawing, familiar surprises.

Peace.

Welcome, Vernal Days

The western patch of our main vegetable garden was transitioning with the solar shift of the seasons, clinging to patches of winter snow.

The few thawed patches of well-mulched top soil at the top of the south-facing slope, and close to the hut's foundation, attracted the attention of the ladies.

On the transitional day that bid farewell to winter and welcomed spring I was gifted with quiet time and space to sit on my garden stone, sip tea, soak in the light and warmth, observe the symbols of the shifting landscape, and enjoy the antics of the ladies.

The day of winter-to-spring was a spectacular gift of light and warmth, and I was outdoors for most of it, including journaling time on the deck, as the ladies free ranged wherever the snow was not.

I welcome the the shift of the winter-to-vernal days, and I am grateful for the bright warm sunshine on the transitional day, even if I was unable to direct seed in the still-frozen topsoil, as today, on the first full vernal day on our little acre, clouds and rain and snow showers will likely keep me mostly indoors. So I count my blessings, and I am grateful. Every day. Every season. I wish the same for you.

Peace. 🕊

Welcome March

Yes, welcome March. I greet you from the heart of a solitary space, steeped in savory stillness, and quintessential quiet. As one who grew up an only child, alone time is paramount to my essence, of this I am certain. It is only during such cloistered time that a still, shy part of me stirs, emerges, and makes itself known in a way that I am able discern hidden markers of the mysteries I seek. And that seek me.

This precious gift of alone time feels perfect for the transition from Empress to Queen of Wands that my full year (tarot) spread revealed five months ago. And I am obliged.

As I welcome this month from my secluded nest, I honor this hermitic verve as the rare and invaluable gift that it is. It will nourish and sustain me as I tenderly anticipate to venerate the arrival of the vernal equinox.

I invite you to make such time and space for yourself, if even only for a moment.

Peace. 🕊

Nuanced Medicine

heART journal spread in progress

This past week I became obsessed with - what I can only call - nuance. I honed in on seeking it in my doings, and goings, and beings. It was a provocative and harmonizing étude. And rather enlightening, too.

Eventually, on Sunday, I expressed a less than poetic harangue to a small gathering of lovely women of how we - from my perspective - live in times where nuance is dismissed, denied, and demonized... to a cusp where we no longer see the beautiful places where colors blend, the fertile spaces where roots entwine... the shared oikos where we might otherwise recognize, acknowledge, and honor how unity nourishes and sustains.

I wore black and white that day as a physical reminder and inspiration to continue the adventure into the blending and entwining spaces of thought, action, love, life and spirit. It ended up being a remarkably prickly challenge. One that surprised me with a deep sense of compassion for another, and for myself. One that surprised me with nuance. One that surprised me with Medicine. 

I'm still obsessing. Will you join me?

Peace. 🕊