The Herbal Fun

In my backyard there is a stump, the rear of the stump is empty and hollow, today when I peeked in I found this lovely oak leave trapped in a spiders web...how clever Mother is!

THE GIFTS OF MOTHER NATURE!

 

I I do just adore Mother Nature and all her offerings do you know that I begin every day standing in awe of Mother Nature and Father Sky.  Well yes I do, in my  garden arms reached to call the quarters and speak of my daily gratitude and to intend Peace for all the world and it's inhabitants


~ this weekend I was fortunate enough to share those feelings with like minded students.
Our teacher is Susan Clements a very energetic, enthusiastic and compassionate woman who eagerly passes along the information she is so full of!!   
 Last spring we gathered together for the first time and began our walks in the woods and lessons in Susan's house we shared and learned from Susan and one another.  Yesterday was a culmination of the first part of this class and here are some of the products we were completing!

LHere we have Deb looking kinda guilty!

No ~ not really I am just having fun, Deb was our label maker. 

Jen and Pat were squeezers

While Susan and I poured!

There was no doubt 

We giggled when we tasted those YUMMY cordials!!

Peach Ginger... and Lime Tequila 

 

Afterwards we took off to the woods to see if we could find and identify some mushrooms, mostly hen of the woods!

Susan leads the way with Pat by her side...

 A moment of surprise for the students

Susan is awarding them their crescent moons!

As Susan's teacher Rosemary Gladstar has done for her students, our teacher has passed on the tradition they were surprised and so excited, what a wonderful tradition to witness! 

I am very proud to be the Apprentice Assistant!

Beaming Jen and Pat

S

Susan putting Deb's moon around her neck!

Smiling Deb!

SHIT.. look there are the mushrooms across the lake

Patricia spots some of those mushrooms we are supposed to be finding.. only thing is this is a digital zoom and now we have to trek there to see if we can find them!

WELL 

we do.. 

and DEB wants to go out onto the stick to get them.. only Susan says "NO"!

It's Deb's anniversary and Susan doesn't want anything to happen to her, after all her husband of many years is taking her out to celebrate!!

Some of our other woodland findings were

Wintergreen

and Squaw vine!

I hope you enjoyed our adventure!

There is no doubt we all did

As If I don't have enough to do?

Okay so I am not the world's busiest person.. but I do like to keep busy

I never find enough time to do what I would love to do at that moment.. and one of those moments came yesterday while I was journaling, since I do believe I am an adult attention deficit human.. since I can't sit still very long.. I created a new journal

Here is how it happened......It all began with some really nice paper.. and some ribbon and yarn, that put the notion into my head, than WHAMMO.. I added the paper, bound it with the ribbons and yarn and it became one of the nicest journals I have ever made.. 

I

Isn't it pretty.. It came out so lovely..  I was interested in selling it.. it has 16 sheets of paper inside, it's 5 X 7 inches overall.. what do you think maybe $5.00 ?

Its

It's so fun!

Now I have got to rest a bit or I'll never sleep tonight, it is the night before school begins, and I am like a Kindergartener all over again.. can't sleep toss and turn wondering what the new year will bring!

Hum............

Bread Anyone?

Bread.. yep

So I was busy cleaning the school yard (again!) and my mom came to help, we were chatting and I told her JP's ( he's the spouse) biggest cost at the grocery store is a loaf of bread.. whole grain, no garbage is $4.00 a loaf.. that's total insanity, of course you can buy cheap white bread no doubt, but I am talking about health here, and white bread is not healthy we all know that.. I would personally go without bread first.
Well back to the story.. my Mom called later in the day and asks if I will be home (I am always HOME by the way and she knows that , the only time I am gone is walking the dog!)

So she pops over and brings me a gift that I have to go to her van to get..  here it is an Oster BreadMaker!

boing.. so I don't have time to use it right away, but then the thoughts of using it begin to eat my mind...

SO of course I have to use it
I made a simple white loaf.. yes white but there were no ingredients to make anything but I am thinking whole wheat with sunflower seeds to be my next loaf

Here is the first loaf swirling around in there first mixing stage!

 And here is the loaf still warm getting ready to go to the Fridge since there are no preservatives I think it's best there!

So I go back to work soon, and my blogs I hope will be more consistent, this past few weeks have been hectic and Earl the Hurricane surely put my time in a tailspin!
But we'll chock all that up to bunch of good energy spent to lose some weight I have managed to hold onto this summer!

 

After a long hard day of yard work we can look back !

The new play area complete!