These past few weeks visiting California have gone by in a blur. A happy blur, to be sure! As usual this trip home is full of visits to friends & family and thus, a fair bit of festivity has taken place too. I enjoy wandering a garden with a beer in hand, chit-chatting with an old friend. And of course this wouldn't be Calendula Craft without a few herb walks!
As I mentioned in a a previous post, the main reason for this trip to my home state of California was to attend a bachelorette party which was actually more of a bach-weekend.
It doesn't feel right to share pictures of that weekend beyond the images I have already shared of myself collecting bouquets of dahlias for the table decor. None of the other bridesmaid's know I have a personal blog where I share about my life but still ... I don't want to share pictures of anyone without their consent,
you know?
In general, this trip has been pretty photo-scarce. Normally I take advantage of my family's home, the gardens, and the places I visit as opportunities for fresh content for my blog here.
This trip, however, I haven't felt much like sharing my life online. Instead I have been writing in my journal, reading, and potting around the garden. Some part of me feels a bit lazy for not sharing more, for not transforming my life into little anecdotes to share with the web.
On the other hand, I remind myself that living life should always come before creating content.
I have come to realize that while I have not written much here on this blog, nor created more than a few short clips, I have been working on something super important to me ...
Creating my own HerbLore
Let me explain what I mean by HerbLore. Herbs are, of course, medicinal plants. And lore are the tales we humans associate with them. On a cultural level there is all kinds of herblore the most common plants. On a personal level, every herbalist has his or her own lore associated with all his/her favorites plants.
For example, I personally never really had much of an affinity with Dahlia flowers before this bachelorette party. They were pretty flowers to me and nothing more. Now, I have the memories of seeking refuge in that dahlia-filled garden when I felt awkward at the party. Of returning to the party with arms full of beautiful flowers and placing them about the house. It is such a simple thing but the visuals of the colorful arrangements fill up my recollection of that weekend, leaving no room for any lingering awkward conversations that might take up space in my memory.
And then yesterday, I spent the day gathering baskets of elderberries with a friend. Once again I didn't really take any pictures of the actual gathering. I don't have my tripod with me and, well, I just felt like being in the moment rather than worrying about my appearance and wondering if my friend & her daughter would also want to be in the pictures, or not.
I didn't worry about it. I simply gathered!
Upon returning home I realized that I have never written about elderberries here nor in the Herbal Hive community. So, I snapped a few (bad) pictures while I took the berries from the basket and prepared them for drying.
I promise a full herbal profile about the magic & medicine of elderberries is coming soon!
Until then, I will be gathering.