Coming dark days, plants and thoughts

Often, by the time I get around to the blog post, I've been on the computer for awhile doing my load of things i do when i finally get on a real computer. I'm often computer-eyes tired and ready to get back in the real world. I'm usually left with a little headache and wishing I hadn't been on too long. For some reason, there's always a million things to soak in, run through the motions with, or check on. That virtual life. What I will give you here will be a few moments of a non virtual life, curious details of unedited photography.

I've been living at my parent's piece of farmland, a good 17 acres of beauty. Not enough woods for my liking, but yet, enough. At the corner of a wooded creek bed surrounded by a garden, orchard and fields is a lone wild persimmon tree that I visit often and eat of its fruits. They look wrinkly, but they're just right. The more wrinkled and squishy, the better. They're actually perfectly ripe. I was eating them a month or two ago, and I would have to suck out the sweet insides to avoid the skins, but now I can put the whole thing in my mouth. I grab the stem that connects the fruit to the branch and eat the rest. I spit out the seeds covered in fibrous persimmon heart threads. Maybe one will sprout? 

This one would be perfect. Pine Needles behind the fruit: my future cold day tea (to be mixed with elderberries and honey) to tame the wind-wear. 

I've been wanting to do this for awhile with the plants that grow in this place I have been spending time. I'll take one with me wherever I go hereafter and burn it remembering the uniqueness of this place. These bundles are firestarters for winter solstice. They could be for the woodstove, furnace, hearth--adding spark and sacred aroma to a freshly heated space. They are momentarily lit reminders to be here now. Within these I wrapped with intention. (Red Cedar) juniperus virginiana, (Garden Sage) salvia officinalis, (Rosemary) rosmarinus officinalis, (Lavender) lavendula angustifolia were the plants included.  The Cedar was wildcrafted, it is super abundant here and grows anywhere it can. The herbs I plants in the Spring in the labryinth herb garden. They grew well and enjoyed this spot on the earth. This brings it back full circle. Earth to root, water to feed, air to speak, fire to reach from the sun and back to the hearth. 

I clip the ends neatly as the wind chills me deep down. I enjoy this sunny cold. I'm appreciating being able to touch and feel the ground, dig my hands in the dirt while I still can before I move up north for the winter where I won't see the ground much for awhile. 

Quiet contemplation, wrapping tight intention of love, light in the darkness, spirit within the physical. 

Stacks of aroma. Maybe gifts for friends I think of often. Lately I've been longing to stay in one place and connect with my friends  in the the place I choose on a day to day basis..I see brief glimpses of friends from all over and it is sweet but too short. 

Juniperus virginiana by a fence behind the barn where I live. One foggy warm morning where the dew hung onto webs between things, otherwise invisible. Soon, the fog will burn off and the dew too. 

Echinacea purpurea, planted this Spring in my labyrinth herb garden. Hopefully this beautiful ally with spread and grow in this circle amongst a world of square. I send it magic blessings of blue corn and love. I just wish I could keep guard.. The web connects these frostbitten flowerheads, now they're completely brown, life now in roots resting amongst the black, the dark, the night, the mother. 

 Ilex opaca, American Holly, also grows wild and abundant in the forests here. Like the Cedar, they show the color of the dark days bright. Red berries and bright green leaves to last all winter.