#sounds so amazing!!!! cardamon and vanilla!!!

[rhaenyratargeryn]

Hnngh I got this body lotion from Bath n Body Works (mistake) and it smelled so good in the bottle but on my skin it is SO perfumey and awful, I just had to shower to get it off me..... literally burned the back of my sinuses and was making me nauseated.

[birdseyetea]

September Newsletter

Hello Friends!

Fall is in the air! The nights are starting to get cold and the light becoming noticeably sharper each day. As the sun sits lower on the horizon a chill perches on the breeze, reminding us that it is time to shift gears on so many levels. Next week we will cross the fall equinox and our bodies will start to be noticeably impacted by the contracting daylight. I have already heard many of my friends and family saying how they get really sad this time of year. As kids go back to school and summer wanes, grief is exposed. 

If we allowed space for it, we were sort of blissed out for a few months, keeping our minds and bodies busy during the height of summer. During summer we are more able to accept the multiplicity in ourselves, each other, and the natural world. We all move through the world with so many facets and faces. The natural rhythm and bounding energy that the summer season blessed us with beautiful memories and reminders of the cyclical nature of the world we live in. 

Fall is a season where we slowly come back, back into our own inner landscapes. As we prepare for winter and say goodbye to the ease of summer, our bodies shed, in the way a tree loses it’s leaves. We are left with beautiful memories of days past along with a sense of a retreating conversation with the social-human-animal, that simple presence of awareness that loves to be engaged with the wonders and vibrancy of the natural world. The growth and beauty of natural spaces during the growing season extended into our personal space and reality. Nature has a way of enveloping us, helping us feel whole and emotionally well fed.

A sense of sadness or grief during fall is totally normal. The light, the drama of changing and falling leaves, and the return of cool wet weather are all very strong sensual influences. It is important to just observe what is coming up for you as fall comes into full swing. Let your body release emotion as it needs to, but remember to keep in mind that, like spring, the environment of fall sets the stage and can be an emotional rollercoaster, so try not to play the blame game with your friends and family. We are all on this ride together. The geo-political world feels scary right now, and fall really exposes our fears and anxieties...but the best thing about fall and winter is that it allows us time to calmly and curiously face and work with our shadow. 

Our shadow is aspects of ourselves that protect our vulnerabilities. In our culture we do not naturally expose our vulnerabilities, instead we create all kinds of patterns and defense mechanisms to compensate for all the ways we feel we are lacking. When we use the energy of the season to safely unwrap the layers of protective armor that shroud our soft sensual inner-self, we learn to become more familiar with the ways we posture and try to protect our inner emotional lives. By working with shadow in a playful way, we develop a flexibility around our insecurities and befriend them. They do far less damage when we actively converse with and laugh at the ways we posture, puff ourselves up, and act the fool when our shadow surfaces. I am quick to judge others when I feel hurt or ignored, so I try to literally talk out loud to myself when I notice I am judgmental. Hearing my voice call myself out just makes me laugh hysterically almost every time. I sound so petty when I hear my inner voice out loud, and then I can be the one to call myself out, which helps me drop my judgmental line of thinking...and move on and engage with more interesting social territory.

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I personally love fall. Because I live so far north I appreciate shorter days after seemingly never ending days mid-summer. Shorter days are more limiting, so I have more realistic goals for how much I can accomplish in a day. And fall is the time of year when I am excited to do more inside work. I write a lot more during fall and winter, and have more time to drink tea, cook, and read. As a farmer, spring and summer are just overwhelmingly busy, fall and winter are recovery seasons and I just enjoy the heck out the off season because I like having time for non-work related creativity and emotional processing.

On my farm this week I have been busy starting new trees and shrubs from cuttings for next year, I have started a cover crop on about half of the open space on my land, and am getting ready for tea season coming up. I am trying to shuffle my business around so I do not have to do so many farmers markets this winter. Basically this means I will be promoting Bird’s Eye Tea a lot more and living leaner than I already do. I am also embarking on a new tea project with my friend Mehdi who owns a business called Villa Jerada. Mehdi is originally from Morocco and has a business that sells specialty food products from Morocco and North Africa. We are creating a set of amazing herbal teas that highlight teas and herbs that have deep cultural roots in Mehdi’s place of origin. Our first tea is green tea with cinnamon, rose buds, and saffron. I look forward to sharing more about this project with you as it gets off the ground. 

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During spring and fall the teas are a little harder for me to formulate because the climate is so different in each region. The United States is a really big land mass and there is such a broad spectrum of paces at which the climate shifts in the fall. The nights are already close to 40 degrees where I live and the days not much warmer than 65. It definitely feels like fall up here! The teas I created this month can be drank hot or cold depending on your climate. I hope you enjoy the varied tastes and flavors this month!

Late Summer’s Harvest

ingredients: Young Hyson Tea, linden, nettle, rosehips, lemongrass, rose petals, elderberry, osmanthus blossoms, and chrysanthemum

This blend is a beautiful medley of herbs from throughout the growing season. From spring nettles to late ripening fruits of elderberry and rose hips. I love making blends that incorporate many of my favorite scents and tastes in one tea. This blend begins with a very light green tea called Young Hyson. I love the subtle floral quality this tea imparts. Having a delicate green tea base means the rest of the herbs in the blend must also be delicately combined. The flowers: linden, rose, osmanthus, and chrysanthemum are beautiful in their own right, but together they create a dazzling scent that is more akin to a flower bouquet than a perfume. Nettle is a bit earthy and grassy which brings out a little of the grassy quality of the Young Hyson. Lemongrass brightens the overall taste, offering a bit of an uplifting aroma and taste. Elderberry and rose hips add a touch of fruity sweetness, just enough to balance the whole tea. 

There is a lot going on in terms of taste and scent, but I find it simply delicious and fun to drink. This blend is a great morning brew for those days when it is just darn hard to get yourself moving. This blend will remind you of the natural beauty in the world and help inspire a positive attitude. 

Fruit Medley

ingredients: honeybush, peaches, asian pear, blueberry, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, and vanilla bean

Fruit medley is rich in vitamins and a really exciting fruity tea. I love combining summer and fall fruits with warming aromatic spices, they create a really well balanced flavor. Fruits are often energetically cooling, so adding some spices allows us to enjoy teas with fruits long after the summer heat has passed. Transitioning from summer to fall is hard, this blend makes that transition easier! Enjoy this blend hot or iced depending on the weather. 

This refreshing blend is full of vitamins and antioxidants, plus immune boosting spices to help the body feel cozy and cope with the first cool days of fall. 

Fall Tonic

ingredients: reishi and chaga mushrooms, astragalus, eleuthro, dandelion root, burdock root, fennel, and rose hips. 

Fall tonic is the first medicinal tea for immunity and seasonal stress since spring. This blend is a great daily tonic for keeping the body healthy. 

The mushrooms and astragalus are strong immuno-supporting herbs and have been studied for their ability to help the nervous system combat stress. Eleuthro strengthens physical endurance. Fall is a great time for hiking, biking, and getting your home ready for winter. Once the heat of summer passes, many people get back into a workout regime...eleuthro is a great ally for the daily workout grind. I do not do much in the way of traditional exercise, but I do chop a lot of wood and take long meandering walks in the forests in fall. Eleuthro is one of my favorite herbs for helping my body recover after lots of physical activity. Dandelion and burdock roots support the liver and kidneys. I drink at least one cup of tea with these two herbs almost every day to support digestion and elimination. Some signs of stagnant liver and kidneys are acne, slow or incomplete digestion, eczema, and dry or brittle nails and hair. Dandelion and burdock roots are very mild herbs that in addition to supporting liver and kidneys are also very nourishing, commonly eaten as foods in many parts of the world. Fennel is an herb I use really often. It is easy to grow and has such a nice sweet taste. Fennel is calming, nourishing, helps the body absorb excess air in the digestive system, and supports breast milk production in nursing women. Rose hips are a great source of vitamin C and add a slightly sweet fruity flavor. 

This blend is basically made with many of my favorite tonic herbs to support overall health and wellness. This tea helps protect the body from environmental stress for overall physiological resiliency.