As a child I always struggled with the fact that my birthday was in the depths of Winter. It seemed incredibly cruel to me that I could never have a swimming party, with a slip'n'slide in the heat of summer. However, as an adult I coordinate an annual bathhouse spa day, so I get my swimming party after all! I’ve truly come to cherish the winter months and their quiet contemplative beauty. It’s a lovely time of year to walk in the forest completely alone with a chill breeze

Fall is my favorite gathering season. The weather is mild and the plants are beginning to go dormant and offer up their bounty as crafting material. Leaves and grasses, flowers and vines all seem to don lovely rich bruised colors, and I can’t resist drying them for future projects. This is the perfect time of year to gather up materials for creating nests. Weaving nests is something I discovered how to create on my own, so I’ll share my process here. Although I’m unsure how

It’s become a tradition recently to take a vacation with Pinto to a quiet and remote place away from the fireworks of July 4th. This year I decided to try a location East of the Cascade Mountains within Washington instead of my normal escape route to Canada. Dear friend, Amy Billharz, came along to make it a true Girl’s Trip. Driving across Snoqualmie Pass I’m always struck by how different the landscape is East of the Mountains. It becomes desert-like, with huge expanses o

This is the time of year when I begin gathering herbs and flowers for the Smudging Wands I craft. Some plants are already blooming, whereas others I use won't begin to blossom until a month from now. So, I gather what I can now and dry it for use later when I finally have harvested all of materials to make Flower Smudging Wands. Most plants will dry quite easily with this upside down method. It keeps the flowers and stems straight and full of color. They also make lovely d

Alder species are widely distributed throughout North America and Europe. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have an abundance of Red Alder. Alder is a deciduous tree. It drops it's leaves while still green in the fall but it's small female cones and male catkins hang like lanterns on the tree throughout the winter and late into spring. They are easy to find scattered by the wind all over the ground and I've often still found the cones into summer. Alders are noted for adding n

One of the most important lectures I remember from my Herbal schooling was simply talking about HOW we should go into Nature to gather. Here is a good primer for all the steps to take into account when beginning to gather from the wild. Before ever leaving the house, I like to ask myself what I want to create with what I intend to gather and why. Have a plan in mind, otherwise you may end up wasting the plant material you bring back. First, determine the area or region you