Greetings friends,

 

It turns out that when you have a baby who only contact naps, you don’t have a lot of time to type out a newsletter. I miss writing but I also know that this particular season in life is brief and that the newsletters will find a rhythm again when they are able. Baby is only baby for so long! Sometimes when I find myself getting frustrated by bouncing on a yoga ball for 30 minutes to get baby to fall asleep, I read this (cheesy) poem and then get all sentimental and teary and then I feel more than okay about the pace of my days. 

 

I want to start by sharing that it is nettle pasta season. Do I really have time to make fresh nettle pasta from scratch two nights a week? The true answer is absolutely not, but we do it anyways. Committed to celebrating the lush green nettles, always. Even if that means baby gets overtired and cranky and takes longer to get down for bed and that the kitchen is an absolute mess. Years ago, when I lived in Olympia, WA (s/o to other Evergreeners!) there was a yearly community Nettle Fest at Calliope Farm where so many people would show up and bring their best nettle dishes. There was nettle donuts, nettle bagels, nettle-infused cheeses, nettle everything. I have no clue if this tradition lives on (I hope it does) but I have continued to honor the yearly tradition, even in the small ways. I can’t host a party right now, but I can honor the nettle by ingesting as much as I can this season. Wake the body up with green, imbibe the nettles in all forms. Celebrate the retuning plants. So just in case you want to take part in the tasty joy of making nettle pasta at home, the simple recipe is as follows:

 

1/2 cup blanched fresh nettles, finely chopped 

2 cups pasta flour

3 eggs

 

And now, a gallery of nettle pasta photos:

buon appetito, Angelo

jk no solids for him yet ! 

 

It feels like such a relief to have green flood the senses everywhere you turn. The nettles are high, the mugwort is taking over the garden and the caterpillars are already munching down the tree canopies that have only recently fully returned. The catalpa trees are always the last to fully leaf-out in June, but the past few heat-wave days have certainly pushed their timeline forward. May has been all over the place. We had a pretty intense frost that killed most of the apple blossoms in the orchard; no chance of apples this fall (I have asked myself, is this what happens when you skip wassailing the orchard for one year?). With the ridiculously hot days & upcoming rain this week, many of the apple trees are at risk for fireblight, a serious bacterial disease that can infect an orchard rather quickly, especially when using organic management methods. Because of baby, I am sending a lot of “thoughts and prayers” to the apples rather than getting out there to spray copper on the trees. Year after year I am humbled by how quickly growing season comes on — the sheer overwhelm of the greening is real! I bought a big drum of organic alcohol this spring for tincture making this season and have been distributing it to students and other medicine makers in the area, we are ready to make medicine! I am excited to get my apothecary well stocked again after being incapacitated last year. Motherwort, I'm looking at you. I need you. 

 

I wanted to share some updates about what’s going on in the realm of classes & the apothecary. Herbal Mystery School and Flowering Round have begun and I am absolutely delighted to be teaching again. Aaaand I am seeing clients! Yes, my schedule is limited and I'm only booking a month out at a time - but the books are open and if you’d like to book a session for a herbal or flower essence consultation, you can do so here. This past month I started seeing returning clients again and it’s been really lovely to be back in the apothecary pouring formulas. 

 

Summer Solstice flower essence sessions will be on pause this summer. To be able to offer the discounted rate each season, I would see 8 or 9 clients a day over a series of 4 days, but that’s not possible in this season…. (Oh, long extended hours in the apothecary, you are already missed!) You’re always welcome to book a full-length essence consultation and maybe I’ll be able to offer autumn equinox sessions instead later this year.

Kate Weiner of Loam Publishing and Herbal Mystery School alumn (HMS students are seriously some of the most lovely, creative humans in the world – I'm always in awe) moved the mobile Loam library to the future herb school, here it is in all it’s glory! ^^^  I will be adding herb books to it so we can have a sweet little herbal library where future students and community members can read and relax. Already envisioning the herbal infusions I would like to serve on open library days for the community. We parked the library next to the little hawthorn grove I planted a few years back, I am very excited to read under the shade of a hawthorn a few years down the line when the trees get bigger. If you would like to donate any books about herbal medicine, plant folklore, botany, craft, indigenous ecology, poems… I welcome it. I know some of the readers of this newsletter are incredible writers….  

 

Speaking of Kate, she has an timely book coming out next month called Compassion in Crisis about community-oriented disaster preparedness. This subject is BIG ON MY MIND these days. She is on a book tour right now (currently on the west coast but making her way east!) and I recommend attending an event if she’s in your neck of the woods. I’ve preordered my copy of Compassion in Crisis and will host it in the little library for you to come read one day soon.

 

If you are interested in teaching a class this summer at the yurt, please get in touch! I am on hold from in person teaching until the fall, but we have the incredible sweet yurt space ready and waiting for magical classes. Reach out if you’d like to learn more about use of the yurt space. It's cozy! I'm excited to host some fun events this fall, stay tuned.

Okay friends, it's time for me to wrap this up. I am grateful you are here. 

 

Hugs,

Liz 

 

p.s. this is the playlist I am currently listening to while spending hours of each day bouncing baby to sleep on a yoga ball – a vision!!