Rose Cottage

 Recently, I came across an account by Melanie Sawyer on dehydrating wild foods and grinding them into flour. She uses these at home, and found they served her health, during a stint on a reality TV show.  Melanie writes, " making flours converts perishable, bulky or bitter forest forage into lightweight, shelf-stable staples to be used throughout the lean months." (And rodents are less likely to steal flours - they're harder to tuck in their cheeks!) I was delighted that she featured using the seeds of yellow dock, Rumex Crispa! We've all seen those beautiful red-brown seed heads - yes! They can be harvested and used for food! (And - at thousands of wee seeds per stalk, it's a great use!)  "They are widely foraged over England, Scandinavia and Europe, and used as a nutritious, yeast and gluten-free wild brown flour that tastes similar to buckwheat." Dock stem  with chaff and seeds With their deep roots, dock acts as a bio-accumulator, bringing minerals ...

 This morning I headed out to the gardens, and gathered Comfrey and borage leaves for a batch of  FPJ - Fermented Plant Juice. This is a pleasant  (and less stinky!) way to use Comfrey  to enhance plant health in our gardens!   Comfrey and FPJ in Rose Cottage Garden Welsh gardener Huw Richards gives this description on his  YouTube tutorial on making and using FPJ for healthier plants and soil.  "Fermented Plant Juice (or FPJ in short) is a method developed from Korean Natural Farming, to help get better yields using local and 100% natural materials. "The whole goal in Korean Natural Farming is to use local resources to make mineral and biological amendments that not only improve results in the garden, but are kind to nature and helps close the waste gap in our modern culture." Nettles, dandelions, mugwort, or nasturtium are also great options for making FPJ. Perennial plants are especially potent bioaccumulators. Look for young, fresh leaves, a...

  This fall marks  3 years since I moved across town to my daughter's, and (the following spring) into my sweet Rose Cottage. It was awesome to have so much help with sorting and downsizing for the move! That was a marathon - which we often attempt on our own - but without aid, it can be  overwhelming!  For  day-to-day tending  and periodic  resets , it's better to do in regular, steady increments. I watched a  little clip  from an organizer of a marathon sorting project, and could relate to the stacks and piles and boxes ... d uring my move, my son-in law was the 'take away guy,' dealing with trash, recycling, donations, things we were bringing over here, and storage.  Along with season's turn, I am also preparing for the SoulCollage® Facilitator training (squee!)  It feels timely to do a fall reset with this in mind, and set the stage for deepening with creative process!  I tend to let things pile up around me - and I hav...

  One of the prerequisites for  SoulCollage® Facilitator training is to create and meet cards from several suits, including 2 Companion Suit cards. From the  description of this suit  on the  KaleidoSoul  website:  these cards r epresent the energetic dimensions of our lives.   This suit encompasses two different kinds of energies:  Animal energies Chakra (body) energies You can think of your Animal Totems as imaginary guides on your life journey. You might also think of them as Power Animals because each one imparts a special energy/power to your life. The animals can be animate or legendary - like the Courage card i made this spring - featuring a phoenix. As you choose images, be open to both animals you already feel connected to, and surprises!  Courage  In the 90s, I did a visioning journey to discover Chakra totem animals, in a workshop with indigenous doctor/ healer Louis Mehl. I know I have the notes *somewhere* - horse,...

  What a lovely week with lots of tsalagi sprinkles!  On Saturday, our Willamette TsaLaGi and the Mount Hood groups hosted folks from the Cherokee Nation for a feast and gathering in Salem, Oregon!  Principal Chief Chuck Hoskins Jr   Guests included Principal Chief Hoskins, Storyteller Robert Lewis, at large council members, and several others - plus 2 ASL interpreters! My friend ᎵᏒ (Li-sv) helped send food and volunteered at the Willamette TsaLaGi booth. When I met Chief Hoskins, I mentioned taking Cherokee online with Ed Fields, and he, in turn, mentioned that during his 'state of the nation' talk! I'm in Ed's first Cherokee ᏅᎩ (nv-gi /Four) class, and we're learning verb tenses. It's fun for all of us (Ed included!) to work with new sentences and 'Word pictures.' This week I also joined the hybrid language study group which meets at the Longhouse at Lane CC. This is where our language classes have been held - and is open for use by indigenous groups. ...

   This week I took the grands to their volunteer training at our Public Library. While there, i picked up several seed packets from the Seed Library!  My granddaughter's middle school gardening class packages and restocks the seed supply, and she asked,  "Grammie, have you visited the seed library?" ... Seed Library - 'take up to 5 packets' I also checked out a couple of books - on gardens and gardening. In an essay on the lovely blue Poppy,  Meconopsis betonicifolia in Jamaica Kincaid's  My Favorite Plant , gardener Wayne Winterrowd writes of being given a start of M. betonicifolia.  The 'very good gardener' who gifted the start told him,  "Divide it into single crowns, with a bit of root when you get home. Plant then firmly just at the crown, like strawberries, in rich decayed leaf mold. Bright dappled light. Maybe some morning sun. But pinch out the first flower bud.  You MUST pick out the first flower bud."   Tibetan Blue Poppy Sin...

  It's exciting to watch the garden emerge and take shape!   I seeded more of my Homesteaders Kaleidoscopic Perennial kale Grex (Experimental Farm Network) - always fun to see the variety of plants which emerge.  Tomatoes, basil, kale seedlings on right I sketched various plans for each bed, then, go out to the garden and fine tune with the Devas, for the layout! We still don't have fences to the N or S, so the deer roam through.... tulle and binder clips provide night time protection!  Tomatillos and Monarda I enjoy planting a mix of old favorites and less standard greens - orach, new Zealand spinach, doucette (summer relative of corn salad/ maché) red celery, Alexanders, Magentaspreen, shiso ... and purslane transplanted from the lot.  Varieties of beans include Dragons Tongue, Red Swan, Edamame, runner beans, and Trail of Tears. There are Dragons egg and Persian cucumbers, bitter melon and okra ... a box divided into 4 sections for burdock... Morning vi...

  This spring my son came with his small tractor to till the back lot while the fence to the S is open. While I prefer no-dig methods, and minimal soil disturbance, Mary wanted the lot evened out. Garden shed, greenhouse, artichoke and Rosemary - and on the right, the row of blueberries.  Freshly Tilled Garden I'd already put together several garden beds, and Mary helped me assemble another. Two were in the garden with chard and perennial kale - so I moved those plants out weeks before Josh came to till. Two beds with branches and straw Ideally, I'd cover the whole back with tarps and cardboard ... I had saved enough cardboard to cover the bottom of each bed.  Matt took out the grape in back, and saved the branches for my beds.  The black bag has goat bedding from Michael's house - two bags was enough for  a good layer in 1 1/2 beds. I harvested some of our compost for another layer. The mound of our native dirt to the left of the back bed it's loose enough to d...

  Our theme for tomorrow's Red Thread Circle is Wonder Woman,  connecting with our own power.  One of my Sheros is Abigail Scott Duniway - our own 'Oregon Pioneer Suffregette!'  Born in 1834, Abigail's family traveled by wagon train from Illinois to Oregon in 1852, and seventeen-year-old Abigail Scott was assigned the task of keeping a daily journal. She married Ben Duniway the next year, and they settled in the Willamette valley. Her husband was injured in 1962, and Abigail became the breadwinner, taking boarders, teaching school and running a millinery shop.  The family moved to Portland in 1871, and Abigail began a weekly human-rights newspaper, The New Northwest, which she edited and published in Portland for sixteen years (1871-1887) Editor and Publisher Abigail first headed to the polls (closed at the time to women ) at 38, in 1872; after campaigning for Ulysses S  Grant/ Henry Wilson.  On election day, Abigail led Mary Laurinda Jane Smith Beat...

  We're a week into February and our focus on Resetting Your Space as a Living Altar. This is the third year I've been invited to co-host with my creative Sistar Katy, and we've both decided to focus on our studios.   Craft supplies & Altar I'm also enrolled in an 8 week course on using Creativity to foster Resilience, with my friend Cindy Jacobs . We are using Soul Collage and Mixed media to craft cards, and exploring insights in our journals. Cindy i s also offering a monthly circle to make cards around our Word of the Year - email Cindy to register for these! Yesterday I moved a small set of shelves next to my couch, where I do most craftey bits!  Angel of Time One of the first SC 'Neter' (archetype) cards is this helpful Time Angel! I've been working with her since ~ 1995, when my friend Anita and I invoked her aid on the way to a Reiki circle (and arrived 'on time' - though we should have been late!)  Whilst resetting our spaces, it can also...

  As January comes to a close, we are finishing our first blog challenge for 2025. It's been fun visiting each other's blogs, giving us a kaleidoscopic view of each other's worlds. New recipes, creations projects and inspires abound!  As this challenge ends, new opportunities beckon. One SiStar blogger has even set up a Pinterest board, inviting us to post favorite articles!  Emily, Mary, Josh n me Yesterday my son and granddaughter Emily came to town and we had a quick and sweet visit! Emily turns 21 tomorrow, so i passed on her gift. We stopped by Mary's work for 'a hug' (in facilities, at our nearby Uni)  In February I'm looking forward to our next space Reset (my Atelier/ Library and closets are next on the list!) and delving back into my  ᏣᎳᎩ Studies. I'll be blogging about that journey again - stay tuned! Connected I am taking a couple of my friend Cindy's creative workshops, combining Soul Collage ™  Mixed Media, and Intentional Creativity ™!...

  恭喜发财 - gong xi fa cai   Blessings in the year of the Wood Snake! May you be blessed as we move forward, shedding old skins and finding new opportunities! Blessing tree The year of the dragon (just ended) asked us to evolve, grow up and let go of old patterns. Three next several days (through February 3) seat the new energies.  In the year of the Snake, we enter young adulthood and can thrive with the strength to accomplish our goals.  Snake medicine invites us to explore and exemplify : Wisdom and intelligence. This is a time to seek knowledge and understanding Caution and prudence - plan your actions and reevaluate.  Mystery and intuition - pay attention! Resourcefulness and adaptability. Tenacious and diligent Transformation and renewal.  The Snake's ability to shed its outgrown skin is a wonderful example of letting go of that which no longer serves! And let what's underneath some! Protection and healing.   Gong xi fa cai   In Asian As...

  I recently wrote about some of the benefits of practicing gratuitude - and this week our women's spiritual bookgroup, Sister Circle begins reading and discussing the Gratuitude Diaries by Janice Kaplan. (I'm Grateful to have found a lovely used hardback copy - and used bonus points for it's purchase!) My creative community journals using words and image, and we do intuitive, process oriented art. We pour a cup of tea, and sip with our creative muses.  Cup of Creativi-tea I got a lovely journal from 'the other Grands' for Christmas, and it seems perfect for the practice. The John Templeton foundation supported Kaplan's work on the Gratuitie Diaries - and a survey they funded over a decade ago showed 94% of Americans "thought people who are grateful are also more fulfilled and lead richer lives.  But less than half the people surveyed said they expressed Gratitude on any regular basis."  That's a big disconnect!  Gratitude Diaries Expressing grat...

   This winter has been lovely for my Bo Jo Hua Chrysanthemum tea plants!  I first saw them several years back, at my friend Melissa's Van Hevlingen Herb booth at the Farmers Market. She had two varieties, which bloom in the late fall like other Mums.  Bo Ju Hua (Chrysanthemum morifolium) doesn't set reliable seed, so is only available as plants - and I got one to try in my garden! When I moved across town, I brought it with me.  Bo Jo Hua and ginkgo on the drying rack Married to a botanist for 20 years, I've enjoyed herbal tea or tissues since the 70s, and growing up,  drank green and black tea with my mama. I grow many culinary herbs, and have tended a small Edible Landscaping  tea garden  for two years.   I found several blog posts about tea chrysanthemum, which support the liver, eye health, and are good for the heart, type 2 diabetes and easing headaches!  (Sage Garden Theory)  on a Growing Tradition, Thomas recounted his ...

  A helpful tip for any home care journey is to 'carry a clipboard' and tour your space regularly!  Clipboard & note pad In 'One Thing At a Time,' Cindy Glovinsky writes, 'face your possessions with a clipboard in your hands, and there's no way they're going to run over you. A clipboard puts you squarely in charge of the Things in your life.' (P 15)  Cindy suggests using a legal pad - but I have a sweet vintage half-size board, that my mom made many notes on (often on pads she made her self from 'scratch paper,' stapled together!) It's perfect for the 4x6" sticky note pads which were in my Christmas stocking! Our family loves this size note pad - and i love  the practice of checking off what's done! You can also use digital systems - and remember to check them periodically!  From the bookshelf In 'Finding Yourself at Home,' Emily also suggests using a clipboard or notebook, as you tour your home with fresh eyes!  Choose ...

 Feng Shui has been an interest of mine for decades. Literally meaning 'wind and water,' Feng Shui invites us to tune into our natural environment, and appreciate our place in it.    Practioner  Amanda Gibby Peters   reminds us that our homes are always talking to us - are we listening? Here's her podcast on loving up your   front door .  A great practice - stand in front of your house and observe, as of it were your first visit - is the number clear, and the front door obvious? Does the path invite you forward? Do you feel like you'll be welcomed in? If there are steps, do they look safe? Is their a rail? Jot down your ideas on what needs improvement, invite assistance where you need to delegate. Think of what you wish to invite in, and what needs to stay away!  Welcome in... As the Lunar New Year approaches, (January 29th), there are  several things we can do in preparation to welcome the year of the Snake. The first - spruce up the entranc...