Well here we are at the end of summer 2013 and it's been almost a year since I last wrote a post for this website. There has been a delay in my writing a new blog post; one, because when I had time to sit down at the computer to write at length, I went blank and gave up. Two, because I've been awfully busy!
There was a time not long ago that the word 'busy' was such a foreign word to me. I was only working a few days a week and the other days I was at my internship. I felt dulled by my job at the time, it was a negative situation. My 'work' didn't satisfy my soul, my internship at an apothecary totally did, it was there that I was learning about what was important to me; plants and the relationship between plants and people; how to cultivate those relationships with both and how to facilitate the process of nourishment and healing using plants. I was in a limbo of sorts, the calm before the delightful storm! Some days it was as if I was in some big empty waiting room that had no walls. I could get up anytime and stop waiting, but all I did was sit there and wait. Well, after a few different jobs and continued loyalty to the apothecary, I now officially work there. The tables have turned and the waiting time is in the past now. In fact, the word 'busy' comes out of my mouth a couple of times a day now, and my calendar is full of dates & doodles, though now I am working to make sure a balance is kept. Playing is important no matter what age one is.
Branch & Beak is still in it's infancy as an herbal business; unofficially and such, growing at a snail's pace. I'm okay with that, it's my creative spirit at play and I'm just letting it be a loose end for awhile. There are so many ideas and feelings that I have to keep filing away for future fruition. I've learned that it's best to step on the small knobby dry stones than it is to go leaping for the big flat wet stones. You can guess what might happen with the latter. What I mean is; it's been really exciting for me to create beautiful, useful products for people, and while sharing that excitement with others is where I really get enthused I realize (again, again, and again) that quality over quantity is really the KEY. Making sure I'm prepared to release the product and that I LOVE and feel confident with the product is really crucial. Much more crucial than trying to bust on to the scene with a million different items that are at risk for lack of quality, presentation, or even integrity! Do not want.
The delay hasn't just been with writing here, but also with re-opening my Etsy store which enables my products to reach people world-wide. I'll be working to open it back up for the last few months of the year.
Speaking of year, it's been a wild one for me! it really feels like I'm finding my niche in life, my path. Maybe some of you will roll your eyes, maybe others will just raise an eyebrow, and then others will hopefully smirk or nod in concurrence; but I have manifested quite a bit this year. Visualized. Without getting too far into the science of how we are all energy/one mind, I have to say that consistent, focused visualization alongside putting in the effort to nose around in the universe for what it is that you are seeking, is really what basic spell-casting/magick is all about. When my substitute teaching job was wearing me thin, I began to imagine what it was that I wanted to be doing to supplement my income from the apothecary. I knew certainly that I wanted to garden, to work outdoors and have my hands in the dirt, to touch plants and feel sunshine. Over a couple of weeks to a month I kept that image in my head as I asked around to landscaping friends and I just kept telling people when it came up in conversation that I wanted to do some kind of gardening work. Ears and minds now had that information...I stayed persistent. One day while working at the apothecary a former intern came in and we were talking, she was speaking of her plans to go traveling, and she brought up how she was looking for someone to take over this gardening job she had. My entire being lit up, I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. We immediately got into conversation about arranging a meeting with the woman she worked for and a week or two later I was on the job. It felt more cosmic than anything else, and while it was hard work and harder than I anticipated, it was what I had wanted. A disciplined, yet laid back situation with a lovely garden consultant who's schedule allowed her little time to maintain her own personal (and INCREDIBLE) back yard garden. It's magick I tell you, and it's not just this job that I'm speaking of, it's a lot of things in my life lately. Magick. Among so many other things that I've got my hands in; I'm practicing a stringed instrument which I never thought would be possible for me since I'm so keen to mashing piano keys, I'm knee deep in learning Chinese and Western herbalism, I'm gaining some kind of momentum with Branch & Beak, I'm growing. It's a beautiful quiet but chaotic movement. Faith and confidence instilled in me by loved ones has slowly seeped through to my silly thick head that then, ironically, allows the ego to take a knee and frees up a new spiritual level for me. Does that make sense at all? Maybe not. but either way I have stronger shoulders for it and a good sense of boundaries that can't be beat. Every day I learn a thousand new things and it's just the most thrilling thing to feel those brain wrinkles form. Such wrinkles have formed while working in my garden, planning and planting takes planning and planting!
The garden that my partner and I designed, planted and maintain together is our ongoing learning experience that we share. We both have our areas of interest and expertise; his in vegetables and soil maintenance, mine in herbs, flowers and then creating with those when the time is right. Every year it gets a little bit bigger and a little bit wilder, which is such a beautiful blast! Our sunflowers are taller than most basketball players and our tomatoes and peas are sweet as candy. Butterflies, bees, other bugs, birds and critters of all kinds visit our garden on the regular. It has become a haven for not just us but ALL creatures. Deer and groundhogs come snack but we usually plant enough to share and when they encroach we send them packing (to a different town with a Hav-A-Heart trap). This garden has really taught me quite a bit about myself and I realize I haven't fully acknowledged that until recently. Caring for a piece of the outdoors is quite an undertaking, but it sure is rewarding! and in more ways than just the obvious one. I sing and talk to the plants, I give them little pats and when I harvest I thank them...that's just how I roll. They give to me a really wonderful gift, and that is a potent gift at that; it is the feeling, the nourishing, healing, therapeutic feeling. The feeling of connection. A simple, humble feeling.
Branch & Beak is really all about that feeling, albeit with an attached aesthetic that stems from not just my love of nature but of my love for tongue-in-cheek, for right on the edge of morbidity, a recognition of the darkness that lies on the other side of light. I like the collision of light and dark, the play of shadows & light together. With a rainbow here and there, for the weak-kneed. Branch & Beak as an ongoing project/business has taught me a good deal on it's own, and I think it really helps my initial shyness with other humans, my apprehensiveness with certain kinds of humans. It puts me in situations where I am challenged, emotionally, intellectually, and most of all socially. I've always felt a little awkward as I vocally maneuver through conversations like I'm in some wobbly, ill equipped canoe. Ah.
As far as blog posts go, this may be a long one and it may be inconclusive; but I'm hoping this will be a good amount to chew on for those that may not be familiar with me outside of the internet. I will work to post more deliberately and more frequently, as you can see I have much to share.
Below I'll leave you with some photos of the garden that I work in, it really is quite an impressive space, and large! The photos do not ever seem to do it justice, but have a look at the slide show.
Thanks for taking some time to read and stay tuned in for more ramblings!
Sheepsalou
There was a time not long ago that the word 'busy' was such a foreign word to me. I was only working a few days a week and the other days I was at my internship. I felt dulled by my job at the time, it was a negative situation. My 'work' didn't satisfy my soul, my internship at an apothecary totally did, it was there that I was learning about what was important to me; plants and the relationship between plants and people; how to cultivate those relationships with both and how to facilitate the process of nourishment and healing using plants. I was in a limbo of sorts, the calm before the delightful storm! Some days it was as if I was in some big empty waiting room that had no walls. I could get up anytime and stop waiting, but all I did was sit there and wait. Well, after a few different jobs and continued loyalty to the apothecary, I now officially work there. The tables have turned and the waiting time is in the past now. In fact, the word 'busy' comes out of my mouth a couple of times a day now, and my calendar is full of dates & doodles, though now I am working to make sure a balance is kept. Playing is important no matter what age one is.
Branch & Beak is still in it's infancy as an herbal business; unofficially and such, growing at a snail's pace. I'm okay with that, it's my creative spirit at play and I'm just letting it be a loose end for awhile. There are so many ideas and feelings that I have to keep filing away for future fruition. I've learned that it's best to step on the small knobby dry stones than it is to go leaping for the big flat wet stones. You can guess what might happen with the latter. What I mean is; it's been really exciting for me to create beautiful, useful products for people, and while sharing that excitement with others is where I really get enthused I realize (again, again, and again) that quality over quantity is really the KEY. Making sure I'm prepared to release the product and that I LOVE and feel confident with the product is really crucial. Much more crucial than trying to bust on to the scene with a million different items that are at risk for lack of quality, presentation, or even integrity! Do not want.
The delay hasn't just been with writing here, but also with re-opening my Etsy store which enables my products to reach people world-wide. I'll be working to open it back up for the last few months of the year.
Speaking of year, it's been a wild one for me! it really feels like I'm finding my niche in life, my path. Maybe some of you will roll your eyes, maybe others will just raise an eyebrow, and then others will hopefully smirk or nod in concurrence; but I have manifested quite a bit this year. Visualized. Without getting too far into the science of how we are all energy/one mind, I have to say that consistent, focused visualization alongside putting in the effort to nose around in the universe for what it is that you are seeking, is really what basic spell-casting/magick is all about. When my substitute teaching job was wearing me thin, I began to imagine what it was that I wanted to be doing to supplement my income from the apothecary. I knew certainly that I wanted to garden, to work outdoors and have my hands in the dirt, to touch plants and feel sunshine. Over a couple of weeks to a month I kept that image in my head as I asked around to landscaping friends and I just kept telling people when it came up in conversation that I wanted to do some kind of gardening work. Ears and minds now had that information...I stayed persistent. One day while working at the apothecary a former intern came in and we were talking, she was speaking of her plans to go traveling, and she brought up how she was looking for someone to take over this gardening job she had. My entire being lit up, I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. We immediately got into conversation about arranging a meeting with the woman she worked for and a week or two later I was on the job. It felt more cosmic than anything else, and while it was hard work and harder than I anticipated, it was what I had wanted. A disciplined, yet laid back situation with a lovely garden consultant who's schedule allowed her little time to maintain her own personal (and INCREDIBLE) back yard garden. It's magick I tell you, and it's not just this job that I'm speaking of, it's a lot of things in my life lately. Magick. Among so many other things that I've got my hands in; I'm practicing a stringed instrument which I never thought would be possible for me since I'm so keen to mashing piano keys, I'm knee deep in learning Chinese and Western herbalism, I'm gaining some kind of momentum with Branch & Beak, I'm growing. It's a beautiful quiet but chaotic movement. Faith and confidence instilled in me by loved ones has slowly seeped through to my silly thick head that then, ironically, allows the ego to take a knee and frees up a new spiritual level for me. Does that make sense at all? Maybe not. but either way I have stronger shoulders for it and a good sense of boundaries that can't be beat. Every day I learn a thousand new things and it's just the most thrilling thing to feel those brain wrinkles form. Such wrinkles have formed while working in my garden, planning and planting takes planning and planting!
The garden that my partner and I designed, planted and maintain together is our ongoing learning experience that we share. We both have our areas of interest and expertise; his in vegetables and soil maintenance, mine in herbs, flowers and then creating with those when the time is right. Every year it gets a little bit bigger and a little bit wilder, which is such a beautiful blast! Our sunflowers are taller than most basketball players and our tomatoes and peas are sweet as candy. Butterflies, bees, other bugs, birds and critters of all kinds visit our garden on the regular. It has become a haven for not just us but ALL creatures. Deer and groundhogs come snack but we usually plant enough to share and when they encroach we send them packing (to a different town with a Hav-A-Heart trap). This garden has really taught me quite a bit about myself and I realize I haven't fully acknowledged that until recently. Caring for a piece of the outdoors is quite an undertaking, but it sure is rewarding! and in more ways than just the obvious one. I sing and talk to the plants, I give them little pats and when I harvest I thank them...that's just how I roll. They give to me a really wonderful gift, and that is a potent gift at that; it is the feeling, the nourishing, healing, therapeutic feeling. The feeling of connection. A simple, humble feeling.
Branch & Beak is really all about that feeling, albeit with an attached aesthetic that stems from not just my love of nature but of my love for tongue-in-cheek, for right on the edge of morbidity, a recognition of the darkness that lies on the other side of light. I like the collision of light and dark, the play of shadows & light together. With a rainbow here and there, for the weak-kneed. Branch & Beak as an ongoing project/business has taught me a good deal on it's own, and I think it really helps my initial shyness with other humans, my apprehensiveness with certain kinds of humans. It puts me in situations where I am challenged, emotionally, intellectually, and most of all socially. I've always felt a little awkward as I vocally maneuver through conversations like I'm in some wobbly, ill equipped canoe. Ah.
As far as blog posts go, this may be a long one and it may be inconclusive; but I'm hoping this will be a good amount to chew on for those that may not be familiar with me outside of the internet. I will work to post more deliberately and more frequently, as you can see I have much to share.
Below I'll leave you with some photos of the garden that I work in, it really is quite an impressive space, and large! The photos do not ever seem to do it justice, but have a look at the slide show.
Thanks for taking some time to read and stay tuned in for more ramblings!
Sheepsalou