Summer came and went so fast this year it took me by surprise. Here in Missouri we didn’t have much of a spring. We dealt with drought conditions much of the summer too. Plants and flowers that normally thrive easily really struggled with only tap water to keep them going. I suppose we didn’t have it as bad as some states did but it was definitely noticeable here at home and out in the wild where I gather my wild flowers for the store. Lavender plants that have produced really well the past couple years were just sticky and not wanting to snap out of the hibernation looking stage. I thought I had lost a couple of the plants completely but then half way through summer they started showing some new growth. I knew this wasn’t because of our winter this past year, it was mild and I insulated all the plants with straw for even further protection. Two of our grapevines went crazy. This is our first year getting a good harvest off of them. I love using the leaves in smudge sticks and in different herbal blends, especially sabbat blends for the harvest season. Another plant that really struggled in the dry heat was our sage. It was just like it was fighting to survive, let alone to flourish and so we didn’t get much taken from those. I refuse to take from plants that are struggling for survival because I feel that doing so would stress them and ultimately that negative, stressful energy would follow the cuttings and then be manifested in whatever they are used for. This is part of the responsibility that green witches work with in order to make sure that what they take is actually a gift from nature for them to pass on and not doing something in the reverse. In the wild, we really hit the jack pot with the hemlock. It was early June and I normally have a hard time finding much hemlock hidden within all the Queen Ann’s Lace that we have around here. However, this year, we must have either hit the perfect time or the plant loved the weather that others were struggling with. We sold out of this so fast last year that I knew I needed to stock more of it this year and that we did. Already selling a LOT within the past couple months, I think we should still be ok and stay in stock through the winter but we will see how demand goes. So, yes, this was a more difficult summer for our wildflowers, plants and herbs. By effect, it was a harder season for Cynnamon Charmed. However, learning to adapt and being resourceful are all parts of the craft and mastering that art. Although it was a difficult summer, it wasn’t a failure or a drain, it was a learning lesson, and a metaphor for life and how we need to be resilient and able to adjust to the curve balls we all get thrown.
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Keri Nichol
Founder, Artist, Herbalist, and Writer Archives
August 2018
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