Green blessings of abundance to each of you on this fine solstice day!
We celebrate the longest day. We acknowledge the growing dark. The sun king dies. Millions of tree leaves stretch to the sun. What has been planted and tended now develops and ripens.
We wish you could come to the farm to play with the baby goats. There are wonderful classes this weekend – A Day with the Trees on Saturday and Hands-on Great Remedies on Sunday – and there is still room for you to join the goats and us.
And if you can't, here are some photos of our new babies to delight your heart.
I will be teaching at Alex Grey's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors the weekend after that (July 1) and hope you can join me for a special weed walk. We'll participate in talking stick, learn how to commune with the plants, talk about green blessings and even pick a wild salad for our dinner with wonderful art and permaculture folks.
Meanwhile, the wild cherry tree is throwing cherries at us. Seriously. Come on! Let's pick (and eat!) some.
Watch out for the nettle. It is large and lush and flowering profusely. Too late to harvest now. But we keep a patch that we cut monthly for soup, so we always have some edible (non-flowering) nettle on hand.
The second week of July is the time to kick back and relax with the goats, your inner goddess, and green blessings. Green Witches play together for four days of sisterhood, singing, and fun. This event includes a special trip to Gretchen Gould's Herb Hill, where we will harvest St. John's/Joan's wort flowers and many other medicinal plants and turn them into medicine. There are still a few places left if you are thinking of joining us.
Of course, we will be making wild salads at all these events. It is summer solstice, after all!
Baby Goat Joy
As you remember, I believe that baby goats are the most joyous beings in the world. Share the joy in person or through these photos I snapped while out on goat watch.
Prince Charming is our newest wide-eyed addition to the flock. He was born last week.
He loves to help us with our chores and follows faithfully at our heels like a hoofed puppy.
Ixchel and Cinderfella are slightly older. They were born a month ago. Here they are with their mother.
And here are the teenagers – Isis Fawn Star, Stella Dawn Star, and Alexia Dark Star – running amok, as usual.
Cherry Ecstacy
I love cherries. Do you? There are two wild cherry trees near my house that usually give me a few days of cherries. This year the trees are so covered in fruit, that one gets hit in the head while bending down to pick up the cherries on the ground. And we have been eating them for more than a week now, with no end in sight! Yummy. Yummy. Yummy.
Look up. There are lots of juicy cherries!
Look down. There are lots of juicy cherries!