To my friends in the Northern Hemisphere, en-JOY these last luscious days of summer! Especially all of the fiery color!
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Susan Tuttlefine art photography
Summer’s golden aura awakens wild joy within me. You’ll find me outside more than I am in; such a delicious contrast to a Maine winter spent hibernating by the woodstove wrapped in my favorite sweaters (which my soul also loves) and those chilly, muddy spring days (which is typical here in these parts). I can’t help but feel elated and energetic during this height of the seasonal cycle, allured by nature’s bountiful gifts. My soul feels alive, electric and in sync with the high-vibration natural rhythms unfolding all around me. Such fullness. Realizations and fruitions of plant and animal life that I have the privilege of sharing my home with, in the woods. The natural world is peaking and as I immerse myself in it and move with it, recognizing my part in this beautiful tapestry, I too feel and become that height. What draws me in? What is bliss right now? Tending daily to my gardens, alongside hundreds of pollinators busy at work beside me. The sweet aromas of nature’s perfumes… the soft scent of phlox in my flower beds. The vibrant tastes of nourishing herbs and vegetables. The glasslike, bright tones of the cardinal’s song. The power of early evening thunderstorms softening into colorful rainbows. Feeling the cool breeze on my sweating skin as I stack wood for the coming winter. Foraging treasure hunts through woods and fields in pursuit of verdure food and “medicine”…
…As I delve deeper into studying foraging and wild edibles in my region, I feel an ancient resonance inside of me that I didn’t know existed. An uncovering of a lost art, for sure, but something more… like my DNA imprint is saying “Yes, Woman. Yes. You remember. You know the way.” How is it that we have become a species that has devolved away sharply from our natural roots in terms of hunting and gathering food and herbal medicine? Nutritious food and healing agents abound in our natural environment (even if you live in a more urban setting)… stuff you won’t find in the grocery store… real food that’s packed with vitamins and nutrients because it has not been over-farmed through agriculture…
…like the sumac-infused water I made with berry clusters I harvested earlier (it tastes just like lemonade), dandelion salad greens, and healing red clover tea. I’m drying blackberry and raspberry leaves, goldenrod, and mullein leaves and roots, all for various medicinal teas. I’m making tinctures of St. John’s wort, horsetail topical oil infusions, plantain salve, and whipping up stir-fry dinners of burdock root and wild carrot (Queen Anne’s Lace).
This is my bliss.
The fruits of summer are many. A bounty of gifts for which I am grateful. My heart and my body are in alignment with its rhythm, because I am choosing to spend time with and find my place in the natural world. And that in-sync feeling is comfort to me. Is joy.
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Sending you Light and Love from the Green.
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Time. It does indeed seem to pass quickly, even more so as we age. It’s impossible to slow it down, but we can choose to savor it and create memories with which to mark it, so that when we look back on our lives, it’s less blurred and more distinct. These events don’t have to be extravagant in order to be special and memorable. I took these shots to celebrate the end of the school year… our son going into eighth grade and our daughter moving on to the middle school with him as a sixth grader.
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On a technical note, can you tell which one of these digital slr photos was shot with flash? In my next newsletter (slated for release next week), I’ll reveal which one and provide a free tutorial on how to create natural looking light with flash using a few easy tricks. If you don’t already receive our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.
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