Herb Mother

Almost four years ago, I sat in this little house, and wrote my first ever blog post. I never imagined the journey that one simple and innocent act would take me on. The women I’ve met and circled with have changed my life forever. Even more amazing, that I’ve actually been able to meet so many of them in person. Women living in this very city, that I now know as best friends and kindred spirits. We are forever linked by the web. Strangers whose stories kept me breathing during the dark months of post partum depression became friends I flew hundreds of miles to visit. That there are even women waiting for me to arrive in Washington, is almost like a living dream.

The connections we make are important. Having a blog is not a ridiculous notion nor a waste of time. It can move mountains and build friendships. The fact that you tell your story matters, however and whenever and to whomever is up to each of us. But it’s important that we share. One of these sweet strangers turned soulmates, is hosting a giveaway for one spot at the Spring Mini Session of HerbCraft Camp over at her beautiful space. Go say hello. Giveaway ends Friday. Camp starts Monday.

So I guess you thought this was a blog about herbs huh? Yah, well I got kinda….distracted. Thanks so much to everyone for sticking around and listening to our journey, and planting your own seeds. Transformation is a profound thing and it’s hard not to share. In the meantime….. we have been enjoying some delicious herbcraft around these parts. Our garden is just starting to bloom like crazy and we are humming right along next to the bees making our harvest. The borage is always the first to grace us with her flowers and we’ve put together a few fun crafts with them.

Borage flower vinegar. Though I usually use raw apple cider vinegar, I like white wine vinegars for this one because the flowers impart their beautiful color making a delicate pink brew and I cannot resist it. Collecting a few flowers each morning, being sure to leave enough for the bees, is a quiet meditative practice we enjoy as a family just after we wake.

I’m also enjoying a bit of fresh borage tea. A few flowers make the most sweet delicious cup. Their medicine is priceless to me.

Finally, we’ve been making scrumptious candies to put in our other teas, on homemade sorbets, and just as little treats.

And…..here’s a little video of our candy process. Hope you enjoy!

Borage Flower candies from Latisha Guthrie on Vimeo.

The simple sugar recipe I use is: 1/3 c sugar, 1/4 c water, 1 TB orange juice, and a dash of cinnamon. Melt everything together in a pan until dissolved and cool before using on flowers. Most any fun edible flowers will make great candies.

Welcome to Spring! What are you most looking forward to creating?

Love and Besos,
Latisha

“This very moment is a seed  from which the flowers of tomorrow’s happiness grow.” ~Margaret Lindsey

The Sowing Sunshine Project
guerrilla gardening goodness

Using plants as medicine is clearly a daily part of my world. But not until this year, have I really understood what all my teachers keep saying when they talk about it being more than just science. I tend to want to know why things work, having a hard time with faith. But after these last three years working closely with sunflower, my faith in the plants is where I begin. This project is about sharing a piece of that nature medicine that helped us rewrite our story. You can read all about it here. Last Sunday afternoon with the help of my family, 100 artful little spring inspired pouches were filled with a pinch of dill, calendula and 10 Sunflower seeds from our own garden.

Our guerrilla gardening request: use these seeds to plant your intention for this year. Toward abundance, peace, strength, courage. Plant sunflower seeds anywhere you want to see the sun.

These hearty plants grow almost anywhere. Perhaps outside your cubicle window, or in the parking lot at the doctors office. Maybe in the abandoned lot outside your city park. Maybe get together with your playgroup and plant them outside the swings. Or with your artful friends and paint beautiful pots and grow them in your windowsill. Maybe paint the pot, plant the seed, and give it to a friend. Buy more seeds. Have a planting party on the Spring Equinox. Save at least one for your own garden, and harvest your seeds. One sunflower can yield up to 2000 seeds. Share them with friends next year.

If you are wanting to connect a bit deeper. Save this little packet in your purse and whenever you need to reground, go outside wherever you are, take off your shoes, hold your palms up to the sun, and plant one seed in the middle of a sidewalk crack. Make ritual, create ceremony.  You see, using plant medicine is not just about taking tinctures and drinking tea. It’s about connecting with nature. And I don’t mean this in some etheric intangible way. Simple connecting: putting fingers and toes in the dirt. This is how we invite the wisdom and healing into our lives as a practice and a community.

If you’re feeling at the bottom of the well, like we did three years ago, I know you are nurturing soul soil this very moment. I know it seems hard to break ground somedays. The hits just keep on coming and winter never ends. The answers out there somewhere, locked up, inaccessible, not meant for you. Or worse, already growing in someone else’s garden. This small act, is offered as a way to let nature remind us that even the giant 8 foot tall sunflower started from a tiny seed. And so, here’s to sowing your own sunshine and watching your courage grow. I humbly offer this sunshine starter pack to get you on your way, but this is what I need you to know:

*You* already possess the very seed you need for an abundant harvest.

It took one seed to make a diff’rence.
It took one seed to grow up tall.
It took one seed to have the courage.
One seed that’s all.
~Rosemary Phillips 

Let’s start a sunshine revolution and see how much courage we can grow from one tiny seed.

If you’d like a packet of magic seeds, send me your mailing address at sowingsunshine@hotmail.com. I will mail seeds out until they are gone. I would love to see pictures and read stories about your sunshine gardens and planting parties as they grow if you’d like to share. And I’d be most grateful if you passed this post along using your favorite eShare tool by pinning, digging, liking, linking, tweeting etc.

I do hope you join us in the sun fun.

Love and Besos,
Latisha

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You may not know, but my middle name is Spring. My life is a revolving door of new beginnings. I celebrate Spring with abandon every year. But not just because it’s my namesake, it is also the season that hosts my birthday in May. And, I have been working on an early Spring Equinox gift for you. But first a story….

It all started with a journey three years ago. I met the giant sunflower underground during one of the darkest years of my life. I traveled with him deep into the earth to find water and made the exhausting trip back up to feed my own dream seeds. Mimicking his heart-shaped leaves, I learned to hold my arms out wide, palms up and receive warmth. I turned my head away from shadow and into the light with the sun as it rose each day and I bowed my head at night in gratitude for mother earth as the spiral of my story slowly built itself into the flower from which all of our current dream seeds are sprouting. Three years ago, at the pit of an empty well, we took a good look at the tiny reflection on the barely glistening rock bottom foundation, and said no thank you, we don’t accept this. So at that moment, with the only energy we had left to give, we got out our vision boards, our markers, our butcher paper. We watched all the cheesy movies, we listened to Dyer and Myss, and the Dali Lama. And we redefined our soul contracts and rewrote our story complete with a fairy tale ending.

Plant medicine works I have no doubt, but often at nature’s pace. This week we will have payed off debt from a three year get out of hell plan, recovered from a 6 month layoff while 7 months pregnant, post-partum depression, an out of pocket homebirth, recovered from two minor car accidents, and one scary and expensive trip to the E.R., manifested a work-from-home job for drew to get us mobile, decided to move half way across country, got rid of ALL our stuff except a few small boxes, secured a kickass property manager to take care of our home in the desert without having to shortsale so we can turn our first home into an investment, saved 1/3 of our moving costs by using an amazing and attentive local company, rebuilt our savings, and found our dream beach house with giant views fully furnished to rent on the island home we’ve always wanted.

Though true, and not really tragic in the scheme of the world, the details of my story are not so important. What is important is that for three long years, I let nature guide me. I gave myself over to my homedirt and got to know it intimately. Drawing metaphor and strength from the details of the plants in each season. It became both church and library. I watched Sunflower carefully and attentively. From seed to sprout to 8 foot tall beacon of joy and abundance courageously wind around poles and lift its heavy head toward the sun. I’ve watched my own courage grow in the quiet moments right along side this great flower and I’ve learned how to be warmed from within by my own light. I am now walking on this earth stronger than ever.

Sunflower is a deep healing well in nature used for everything from biofuel to skin remedies. But as a plant spirit medicine it is a bright tool to have in your healing basket for shaky courage. It goes right to the gut, the third chakra, breaking bonds and patterns of original tribe, holding your hand as you step into the powerhouse of the heart chakra where spirit and body combine. Spring is just around the corner, and I’m looking forward to planting new dream seeds from this place of new found courage. On Monday, I’ll invite you to do the same when I share my hopes for The Sowing Sunshine Project. Until then, here’s a tiny sneaky peak.

Love and besos,
Latisha