Spring is finally inching her way over the Hills, not fast enough for most of us, but She has definitely arrived. The morning’s light snowfall yesterday  was gone by mid afternoon. It was mild enough for me to fill feeders and do yard chores in just a sweater and scarf. The exuberant chorus of starlings as I sit on the porch drinking afternoon chai creates an energy all its own, with the warming air and longer light, we can feel the shift in our bones and heart. It has been a strangely long winter, and the Quickening comes not a moment too soon.

Today I am busily preparing for the get-together in Rupert. My own herbal journey has been a long one and yet always feels like it’s just beginning, again. The First Aid course I’m taking with 7Song opens me to a world of practise that isn’t a standard part of my work;  starting a number of seeds this year that I have not grown before teaches patience and humility as I learn their needs and ways, how I will care for the seedlings. I spent too much time at my desk especially in winter – academic learning is just bursting to be applied in real life situations (not necessarily First Aid, but I have added a few items and medicines to my traveling/field kit and like to feel I am now very well prepared!) Perhaps above all, I love medicine making, creating new formulations to ease skin irritation and tummy upset and hasten the passing of a cold. There is always more to learn, try and develop – more to share.

Herbal honeys for warmth, immune system health and wound healing

Today, the emphasis is on two things;  offering prayers for the land at this Sacred Tide, sending out prayer for healing the human Spirit, and the land who suffers from our lack of both heart and vision. Some quiet time in meditation,  as I continue my search to do more of what I love and still stay on top of my many demands in life. Prayers for me, for the trees, for us all. I couldn’t let the Equinox pass unacknowledged, busy life or no busy life.
And the second order of the day is baking! With the Herbal Potluck today I am getting ready – cookies, a lovely primavera I adapted years ago from the old Silver Palate, emblematic cookbook of that giddy era! and syrups, tea blends, Medicine balls.  The classes in Rupert are in their infancy and with my professional schedule I have not been able to devote the time to them I would hope for,  but this is about to change. With Spring’s arrival comes outdoor time – “weed” walks, gardening, outdoor classes, discovery. I’m looking at an all- day workshop this summer, on medicine making, where we will make tinctures, honeys, decoctions, vinegars and oxymels, salves and lotions and more. Planning a monthly walk through various parts of the local fields and forests to identify our many medicinal herbs and trees. Just sitting on the porch chatting about herbs, sounds pretty good to me about now.

So; today. In my haste – that rushing-around thing I alluded to earlier – I neglected to notice there was no time on the poster! well, it’s an Open House kind of deal, so doors open at One, but you can come by anytime. We’re not doing a class, just a get-together, and trying to set up the film, too! It looks like I’ll need to bring my own tv equipment over, but that’s ok, it’s a short film and worth seeing. The important thing in my view is, we kick off the season with food and community and plenty of herbs! I am stoked to see both new faces and of course, the regulars.

Let the year ahead bring us both personal and collective healing and  love; let the  magic and beauty of the Green World show us the way.