When it Rains, I pour
Happy Fall everyone! After a long and hot summer full of smoke, fire and vegetables we are here in the rainy season once again. How was your self care this summer? Yeah, me too. I kinda lost track of myself amidst the piles of vegetables to bring in and the many folks coming to and from the retreat center. Autumn has always been my favorite season. For those of us who run on the stressful side of the spectrum, it is a yearly invitation to slow down, relax and pour a cup of tea.
This little gem is one of our first herbal tea (tisane) crops! Rose hips for fall and winter tea gives us so much vitamin C that we don't need to take pills to ward off flu and colds. I will be posting a tutorial soon on making rose hip tea from scratch! Stay tuned!
Yes tea. My newest farming love has always been my go-to in terms of offering myself a moment of cuddling up with a great book or with my journal for self reflection. Unlike coffee, which is often fuel to "get er done", tea is the soothing friend that begs us to take a moment and nourish ourselves, to reflect, or sit and catch up over multiple steeps.
When thinking about self care; plants, tea, books, travel and yoga featured prominently in my mind. I started to think that combining them into a job might be a great way to go for 2018! Brigham and I are excited to announce the Oregon Coast's first tea farm- aptly named 53 Tea. We are still discussing (over tea of course) how it will all roll out and I look forward to sharing our journey with you along the way.
This autumn i signed up for a restorative yoga teacher training program that emphasizes social justice, with Sara Joy Marsh in Portland OR. The decision to send myself to yoga school was to benefit my beleaguered brain who had been waving a little white flag and asking for some support. Stress and "doing" were becoming habitual and I knew I needed to have some physical and mental guidance in order to retrain my thoughts towards peace and relaxing into my body. Sara Joy's book Hunger, Hope and Healing is an inspirational read for anyone of you who is looking for a fresh perspective in the realms of eating, yoga and mindfulness.
I am so grateful to be back on the blog and taking time to nurture my inner writer. I always welcome your comments along the way and look forward to sharing more of my personal self care and tea journeys with you this fall and winter. Oh and we are building a cedar sauna at North Fork 53 too this winter- so you simply must come out stay for tea:)
Fresh indigo grown at North Fork 53 this year was used to dye this silk banner. Our friend Brittany Boles at SeaFolk Artisans made a hand carved wood block for the symbol of tea to honor our new journey. She dyed this with fresh batch indigo! It's amazing what plants and people can do.
