#it's very sweet.. both bitterness and that cultivated love is very strongly put forth in this season imo..

[heartvisor]

[birdseyetea]

June Newsletter

Summer Solstice is upon us! 

Praise be the long days with a head like an emerald, wings to soar, heart of a song, legs like vines, and hands of soft veiny leaves. 

Summer solstice is our most beloved seasonal transition as humans. From the rush of spring building and planting toward a deep long slow breath as we sit and envelop ourselves in the company of good food, peaceful scenery, and great conversation. We relax, we enjoy, we simply be, and in that being-ness, we are entranced by the warm loving whispers of good things on the wind. 

Summer on the farm means maintaining. Some days it’s shape is a slow meander through the fields in deep conversation with both plants and animals that jump up and appear in my awareness. I need to spend a lot of time just watching and learning from the master herself. Sensing when it is time to step in and make changes and when to let the ecology of the place find its own balance. Other days I move at a slugs pace, deep in connection with a single place or project (often in a tough match against thickets of grass encroaching on mixed rows of herbs). My closest friends these days are the herbs, weeds, trees, and seasonal birds that chat with me all morning and late into the evening. Their voices have deeply penetrated my awareness this year. In the process of both cultivating and rewilding my land I have been given many gifts, some come with burdensome requests and some seem to swaddle me in such goodness and pleasure I cannot help but pay it forward. 

Summer is important to our human-animal lives. This is the season where we can be most assured we will not starve or freeze or struggle to meet our most basic needs. The earth provides and we can help it along as best we know how. We more easily shed our sense of scarcity in summer and let our radiant generosity emerge. To taste nature’s fecundity each day: turn off the news, leave your house, and reenter the presence of living growing creation all around you. Just WANDER. Let your senses carry your forth. Stretch your hearing, widen your gaze, feel what the earth wants for you, what is waiting for you when you shed layers of fear, anxiety, self consciousness. Savor the moments of clarity and generously share what you have been given.

Nature has a sense of humor, a playfulness, that helps us laugh at our shortcomings, provides surprising realizations, and puts a smirking face to the depths of our ignorance. 

That day you got stung three times by bees or fell headfirst into a swamp hidden by bramble as you scrambled through an unfamiliar landscape... We are often overtaken by some draw, some curiosity, some desire from nature, so we race into the unknown in a comedic dance with the stuff that sustains our limbs and lungs. The physical comedy that ensues the minute we step outside our manicured protected spaces should be the making of a great meandering story, full of slowly unfolding truths that we learn one adventure and unfamiliar turn at a time throughout the days of our lives. Humor is the antidote to all the pressures we pile on our shoulders, it allows us to laugh at ourselves, to laugh together at the absurdities we fall into each day. I do not have a single day where I am not face to face with my limitations, but the more I widen my lens and lean into the conversation with the parts unknown, the more I am caressed by the sweet nectar of learning that tends toward deeper connection and humor.

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Sip your tea over ice on the hot days and take it hot if you are up before dawn. I have been listening to birds just as the first signs of light penetrate my eye lids. The sweet calls of thrushes and robins feel so distant as I slowly meander my way toward being awake each morning. Their familiar calls draw me up, erasing the memories of dreams and solitude. “I am here” I find myself saying as I say hello to the world. “I am right where I am supposed to be” as I affirm my commitment to the day. Cups of hot tea and fresh air are enough to get me dressed and enthused to find purpose and strength through these joy filled longest days of the year. 

This is a great time to be alive to learn what freedom is for you and to cultivate deep connections to the work you do in the world. Happy Solstice later this month, I hope you find beautiful ways to celebrate the gateway to summer!

 Unburden Tea

Jade Cloud Tea, Tulsi, Clover, Mint, Lemonbalm

Unburden tea is designed to energize you during these long days, but aside from the stimulating caffeinated tea, the other herbs are soothing and nourishing to the adrenals. Caffeine is a great fast way to wake up, but it is important to feed the adrenals that are often depleted by caffeine intake and stress. Tulsi helps balance the mind and body, helping the body manage stress and supporting immunity. Lemonbalm is a fabulous herb for calming nervousness. Lemonbalm also is anti-viral, a superb ally for people with herpes simplex viruses. Clover is just a darn good nutritive herb. Red clovers support heart and bone health. Red clover is also commonly used to treat respiratory infections. Mint is calming and nutritive. Mints taste refreshing and help cool the body on a hot day.  

Unburden tea helps get you going and, I hope, inspires you to unburden yourself from the narratives that keep you confined and feeling small. We tell ourselves all kinds of stories that bind us to much too narrow identities. We are all so creative and curious, let yourself freely create this summer, without the fears and insecurities that keep us detached from our creativity or stepping into the unknown. 

Gingerade

Ginger, oat tops, fennel, honeybush, lemongrass, rosehips, elderberries, rosemary, and schisandra

Gingerade is a great tea to cold brew! It is tangy, sweet, and a little spicy. I really love making iced tea blends because it is so rare to find ice tea blends made with the real unprocessed herbs and fruits. I often choose fruits/berries that have complex flavor and are typically more medicinal than common fruits. In this blend I used elderberries, rosehips, and schisandra. Elderberries are antiviral and rich in anti-oxidants

This blend is created as an enjoyable rejuvenating iced tea. It helps restore vitamins and minerals as it hydrates. Gingerade is also a great tea to drink with a meal as a digestive aid. Ginger is such a great tonic herb! Ginger supports digestion and immunity, improves circulation and absorption of nutrients, and relieves nausea.   

Oat tops feed the nervous system. In studies they have shown to be a mild nerve tonic, nutritive, anti-depressant, and soothing demulcent. Fennel seed is an excellent digestive tonic herb. Fennel relieve digestive upset and is anti-inflammatory. Fennel adds a nice aromatic sweetness to the blend. Rosemary has a toning and calming effect on the stomach. Rosemary is a folk ally for memory, it is commonly know throughout folk traditions as, “The herb of remembrance.” Like fennel and oat tops, Rosemary is a great herb to treat weakness following stress or illness. 

Elderberries are antiviral and, along with rosehips and schisandra berries, they create a melange of fruity and tangy flavors. Rosehips are rich in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory. They are also higher in vitamin C than almost any other fruit! Schisandra berries come from Chinese magnolia vines. They are commonly used in Tradtional Chinese Medicine and in the herbal medicine of Japan and Korea. They are called wu wei zi in Chinese which means, “five flavors fruit.” The whole fruit (including the seeds) has salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and pungent components. Because of all five tastes in one fruit, it is considered a tonic to the five yin organs: liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, and spleen. Schisandra is also a great adaptogen herb, helping the body adapt to stress: 

“It is a mild central nervous system stimulant that enhances reflexes, work performance, and mental activity. At the same time, it is calming and helps relieve anxiety and stress induced asthma or palpitations. Schisandra can help prevent immune system depletion caused by stress.” From the book: Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief by David Winston and Steven Maimes 

Honeybush is an herb from South Africa. It’s rich sweet flavor is a great base for this blend. Lemongrass adds a refreshing lemon flavor that brightens the mood and supports digestion.

Snooze

kava, passionflower, mint, hops, valerian, linden, and nutmeg

Snooze is probably too strong for pregnant women and small children.

I get lots of requests for sleep teas during late spring and summer. Long days, heat, and strong feelings that the world is truly abuzz makes falling asleep very difficult. Whether we like it or not we are all affected by seasonal changes and the patterns of light and dark strongly affect our sleeping. The long bright days and warm weather are begging us to get outside and move around, it is no wonder we struggle to let go of our attentiveness until late into the night.

I more often send teas like my Dream tea to you guys, but every once in a while I want to give you the opportunity to try a different kind of slumber tea I make. This is a valerian based relaxing tea. Valerian usually puts people to sleep. About 5% of people that are not affected by valerian though. Valerian has the reputation of being characterized as smelling like dirty socks. It does have a very distinct taste and aroma, but I long ago dropped the impression that it tastes bad. When balanced with mellow nervine herbs like linden, hops, and mint the valerian starts to have a subtle floral characteristic to it. Hops and passionflower are both strong bitter herbs which also overshadow a distinctly strong valerian taste. Nutmeg, surprisingly, can be very sedating. If you have serious insomnia try taking a capsule or two filled with nutmeg powder an hour before you go to bed and you will probably sleep like a baby.

I sometimes add a teaspoon of honey to this tea. During the summer I keep a jug of iced snooze in the fridge and drink a large diluted glass of it an hour or two before I head to bed. I really struggle to find the right combination of herbs that help me sleep. I am a worrier and easily fall into bad sleeping patterns. If you can relate to this, then you probably need to take a more direct approach to your sleeping regiment. When I notice I am in a restless sleeping pattern I have to experiment for a few nights with different evening protocols such as eating dinner earlier, forcing myself to relax and read a novel instead of working or watching a movie, or cutting out caffeine completely until I am able to reset my sleep rhythm. There is absolutely no shame in making lifestyle changes that actively encourage better sleeping patterns. When you sleep better you respond to the world with so much more curiosity and compassion.