Rose Cottage

 ᎤᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ  ᎢᏤ  ᎠᏕᏘᏱᏍᎬᎢ   U-li-he-lis-di  i-tse  a-de-ti-yi-s-gv-i / happy new year! What's on your creative table in 2025? For 2024, our pastor Erika Marksbury got a grant to use  Bonnie Smith Whitehouse 's lovely book, Seasons of Wonder, for inspiration and focus. The grant covered copies of the book for the congregation, plus supplies for our monthly Makers Meetings and funds for field trips; and we met in small groups for monthly discussion.  I really enjoy Bonnie's approach of interweaving gathering as a circle (!!), sharing creativity, connecting with nature, each other and the Divine.  I've ordered her  Kickstart Creativity   cards for more inspiration. In her introduction to Seasons ofWonder, Bonnie quotes  Steven Charleston ,  ' It is all a circle, the ancestors said -- an endless circle within a circle. The drum is a circle.  The dance ground is a circle. The earth is a circle.  There is no us or them...

 I've been intrigued with homemade concoctions and  Kitchen cosmetics since my teens, and it's fun to watch my granddaughters experimentation with their own formulas!  My mom was sensitive to chemicals and fragrances, so kept her routines simple - she washed her hair with baby shampoo, and used skim milk (from powder) to set her hair in pin curls ! Her mama Mary worked with herbs, so my mom was supportive when I tried recipes from my American Girl magazine (facial stream using mint leaves, facial masks with oatmeal and honey ...)  In my 20s, my botanist hubby and I grew herbs, and with guidance from our books, I steeped nettles, horsetails, lavendar,  Rosemary and chamomile, for hair rinse, made facial masks, and drank herbal tisanes. I learned to identify plants, and harvest nettles, horsetails and wild herbs.  When my son was 8 or 9 and spurred by our mean rooster, we learned about clay for wound care from our friend Kylene - after thorough cleaning, the...