My garden calendar includes many seasons: garden design work in late winter, seed starting and garden clean up in early spring, an insanity of planting in May and June, weeding and harvesting in summer, more harvesting and garden clean up in fall then more garden dreaming in early winter.
For Jim there are TWO SEASONS: Cleaning up Molly’s OUTSIDE MESSES (spring through fall) and cleaning up Molly’s INSIDE MESSES (fall through winter).
Cleaning MY MESSES is always a very complicated fight negotiation. The problem is, I don’t experience some of the things that DRIVE JIM CRAZY as messes. He, however, does.
Take for example his current CLEAN UP project. On the backside of one of our sheds, there is a big shelf where I store all my seed starting stuff. Any time I buy a six pack of seedlings or a plant, I save the plastic to use in my own greenhouse starts. I’ve been saving this stuff since 1987. So yeah, I have a lot of plastic containers on the shelves. Big deal! It’s fine! They sit OUTSIDE on a MOLDY OLD SHELF doing ABSOLUTELY NO HARM TO ANYONE. But Jim has decided that this area is in dire EXTREME need of cleaning. No one has a view of this shelf from anywhere. There is room for everything on the shelves. But IT IS A CRISIS like explosive diarrhea or lice.
Today is the tail end of the three day Nor’easter. Jim could be inside reading a detective story wearing a smoking jacket with a glass of cognac, but instead he is out there DEALING WITH THE SITUATION.
To prepare for battle this particular clean up, Jim has built a mighty shelf on the inside of the shed. This shelf could easily handle gold bricks, yet it will be called upon to store Jim’s idea of a select group of plastic pots. Jim also has begun the annoying delicate process of taking stuff off my moldy shelves to decide what to keep on the new shelves and what to recycle. The first thing he pulled out was my black plastic flats. These hold transplants of seedlings once they are growing in individual pots. Jim decided I needed 30 of these flats. I pointed out that I used at least 10 of these for my tomatoes ALONE, so I wasn’t sure 30 would get it done. He countered by noting that all the ones he’d selected for recycling were poorly constructed or broken. Welcome to America Jim, that’s how things are made here.
So….. basically things have started off with a bang well. I hope the wind and rain picks up enough to force Jim to come in. I’ll have the smoking jacket waiting. Then I can sneak down and pull some of the black plastic flats from his recycle pile.
Tomorrow when the storm ends, we will examine the five thousand hundred other objects on these shelves with the same level of disharmony. Should be fun.
All this is in preparation for Jim coming inside for the season of INSIDE MESSES. This winter he plans to redo our kitchen. He will replace our forty year old cabinetry that was junky when we installed it but has now broken down completely. In order to force me to do this redo get me ready for this exciting project, Jim has let these broken shelves FALL OFF so that now the cupboards are wide open and the need for action ( think Explosive diarrhea and lice) is evident.
My cherished butterball paddles, madeleine cookie tins and steamed pudding molds are now revealed in all their glory. This has led Jim to sweetly suggested that MAYBE we don’t NEED four steamed pudding molds in the new kitchen. I plan to just nod in agreement about everything he wants to recycle then take what he considers to be extra down to the new shelves in the shed.
Whew! He won’t notice this pile until next spring!
Welcome! Happy Equinox! It’s been a wonderful season in the Green Hope Farm gardens. The new cedar fence enclosing our main vegetable garden made everyone happy except the deer and the groundhogs. For the first time in years we had abundant produce!
The Venus Garden mandala was breathtaking with an energy unlike any other garden here ever. From this garden was born a deeply supportive combination remedy called REPAIR, now available to you.
Inside the office, many innovations led us to now bottle all our Flower Essences as bespoke bottles for you. This means they are vibrationally fine tuned to you and your beloveds on yet a deeper level. Something else that is new is our Astrology collection of Flower Essences, a collection we are so excited to share with you.
While we officially introduced this collection earlier in September, it is worth sharing about this wonderful new colection again!
Diving deep into our rich and wide reaching catalog of Flower Essences, we have created twelve unique and dynamic mixes, one blend for each astrological sign. Our hope is that this collection brings far reaching support as you balance the gifts and challenges of your own unique astrological chart.
Each combination remedy can be used to focus on your sun, moon or rising placement as well as any major planetary placements. They will be supportive during each astrological season as well as during major transits when astrological signs come into importance in your individual birth chart. They will also support astrological shifts from one sign to another, be it in your own chart or in that of the collective.
If you need help finding information about your natal chart there are many free astrological birth chart calculators online. Please feel free to contact us for support! We are passionate about sharing this collection.
We offer these Flower Essence combinations in three different ways. You can order an individual bottle of any single astrological sign. You can order a trio called THE BIG THREE. THE BIG THREE trio allows you to get the Flower Essence mixes for your SUN, MOON and RISING SIGN. If you have two of your BIG THREE in the same astrological sign you are welcome to pick the sign for a personal planet of great significance in your chart or if you are newer to astrology you can reach out to us and we can guide you towards a sign that holds an important placement for you.
You can order the complete set of all twelve astrological signs. This set can be used to honor each astrological chapter of the year, as a kit to serve family, friends or clients and as a deeper tool to support the alchemical magic of each sign as it affects your life. Each mix is created with a unique group of Flower Essences with no overlap of Flower Essences with any other combination mix in the collection. This means the set of twelve offers a great diversity of Flower Essences.
MORE ABOUT OUR BESPOKE APPROACH TO OUR FLOWER ESSENCES
This year brought big shifts in how we bottle our Flower Essences for you. When you order a Flower Essence from us, we now bottle this Flower Essence just for you as a bespoke Flower Essence. For almost forty years we primarily bottled groups of Flower Essences then pulled from inventory to fill orders. Now we make every Flower Essence fresh the day we send you your order.
We were guided to this approach and have found it deeply satisfying. Each of us has noticed a shift in what this feels like energetically to bottle your Flower Essences just for you and those you share the Flower Essences with. This approach opens the way for the Flower Essences we send you to be of optimum service and coherence with your energy system and the energy system of those Beloveds with whom you share the Flower Essences.
In this AI world, we want you to know that in addition to bottling our Flower Essences with our own hands, we grow the Flowers and our Red Shiso stabilizer to make your Flower Essences in our organic gardens with our own hands. We dig, plant, weed and harvest with our own hands. All the photos on the website are photographs taken by us in the Green Hope gardens. All writing from emails to the website descriptions to this blog is written by us humans (not that our partners in Nature don’t inspire us too!).
Each year a new mandala of Flowers is planted in the garden plot we call the Venus Garden. Each growing season brings a unique harvest of a Flower Essence combination remedy from this garden. The creation from this Venus Garden is a remedy called REPAIR. we’ve shared photos of this garden here in this blog. It was stunning!
The Venus Garden and the Venus Garden collection of Flower Essences from this garden exist as a living library. Different garden mandalas have supported our deepest challenges on the spiritual path including our alignment to purpose, surviving firestorms, living with equanimity, community dynamics, care for the Earth and gratitude. The purpose of each Venus Garden always jives with something essential going on in the collective. REPAIR feels perfect for right now. The promise of a Flower Essence helping us with REPAIR work left me grateful even before the first plants went into the garden.
REPAIR supports the earth’s need for repair, our country’s need to repair our divided communities, the repair needs of our individual energy systems and repair in our interpersonal relationships.
When I first began Green Hope Farm four decades ago, I was horrified when we made mistakes with an order (and being human, of course we made mistakes). My guides told me that if we made right on a mistake, the relationship would be even stronger than if we had never made the mistake. This encouraged me to dive into the repair. What I learned was that the back and forth to straighten things out led to so many precious relationships with you. To embrace our mistakes and work them through became a treasured part of our lives here. This helped me understand that in the creation of the REPAIR Essence, we were supporting a strengthening of ties in a profound way. We are always stronger and more connected on the other side of a repair. We just need the courage to embark upon the repair and to keep going.
REPAIR was a gorgeous garden from early spring through to the whole growing season. Now it is a gorgeous powerhouse of an Essence! While we planted a specific mandala of plants grown for the garden, volunteer seedlings arrived on their own from past Venus Gardens and proved essential to this creation.
Abundant deep purple Larkspur came on its own. It offers the energy of course correction, something so necessary if a repair is to happen. Larkspur also brilliantly illuminates the healing path so we know which way to go. Another group of volunteers, deep burgundy, violet and garnet Bachelor Buttons fringed the garden to help rebuff negativity that would run interference on our repair work. The ultraviolet Bachelor Buttons in particular soften us for necessary forgiveness work. These gems of color joined an outer ring of Snapdragons. Snapdragon’s qualities of restraint and protective strength help us create the space needed when we pursue a repair. Nicotiana was there to help us focus our repair efforts with clarity and discernment. It clears the decks of the extraneous. Amaranth, another volunteer, encourages perspective and the courage to repair without fear. It helps us take a stand. A veritable rainbow of Zinnias lifted the garden and thus our hearts so that no matter how tough the territory of repair, we can keep a bead on joy. Cosmos was there to help us unite head and heart so we can speak from our hearts. Mehera Marigolds held the center knowing that all repair is a process of reunion with our divine self. Together these Flowers created a symphony of support for all our repair efforts. We offer REPAIR with much love and blessings from all of us at Green Hope Farm.
As always, I want to thank our partners in Nature, the Elementals and the Devas of the Angelic Kingdom who make ALL the difference in our work creating and sharing Flower Essences with you all!
Diving deep into our rich and far reaching catalog of Flower Essences, we have created the Astrology Collection consisting of twelve unique and dynamic mixes, one blend for each astrological sign. Our hope is that this collection brings you support as you balance the gifts and challenges of your own unique astrological chart.
These combination remedies can be used to focus on your sun, moon or rising placement as well as any major planetary placements.
They will be supportive during each astrological season as well as during major transits when astrological signs come into importance in your individual birth chart. They will also support astrological shifts from one sign to another, be it in your own chart or in that of the collective.
We introduced this collection during a new moon in Virgo. Virgo encourages practical actions to better your daily life and routines. We felt this was a perfect time to bring forward this collection.
If you need help discovering information about your natal chart there are many free astrological birth chart calculators online. We’re also happy to help you find out this information too!
You can order a trio called THE BIG THREE. THE BIG THREE trio allows you to get the Flower Essence mixes for your SUN, MOON and RISING SIGN. In the note section of the order blank, just tell us which three signs you would like.
If two of your BIG THREE are in the same sign, you are welcome to pick the sign for a personal planet of great significance in your chart. If you are newer to astrology you can reach out to us and we can guide you towards a sign that holds an important placement for you!
You also can order the full set of all twelve astrological signs. This set can be used to honor each astrological chapter of the year, as a kit to serve family, friends or clients and as a deeper tool to support the alchemical magic of each sign as it affects your life.
Each mix is a created with a unique set of Flower Essences with no overlap of Flower Essences with any other combination mix in the collection. This means the set of twelve offers a great diversity of Flower Essences.
THE BACKSTORY
Over the years, a deep interest in Astrology has been a consistent theme among staff goddesses. Going back all the way to the 1980’s, there have been folks in the garden talking about Astrology. No surprise here, but our first group of staff were all Capricorn sun signs. Our group of cardinal earth signs made sense to us, because we needed to create and build a lot of structure. Since then, there has always been a great diversity of signs represented in staffers’ sun, moon and rising signs. We actually have a book in the office with each of our charts so we can look how certain astrological moments might affect each of us. This sharing has been a great way for us to hold each other with compassion and also play to each other’s strengths.
After almost four decades of discussion (sometimes heated and always interesting) about our own and each other’s natal charts’ strengths, weaknesses and big mysteries, we decided to create Flower Essence combination remedies to support each astrological sign.
Elizabeth got this project going and kept the ball rolling all the way to the launch. She and staff goddess Samantha created documents to organize our conversations about each sign. These are the two staff goddesses whom I look to for insight into what’s going on astrologically. Their input has been pivotal. We printed out the documents they created then everyone added lots of notes and comments.
Once we felt ready, we gathered on our front porch to decide which Flower Essences in our extensive library of Flower Essences could best serve each sign. The conversations were lively. We met again and again to reconsider the Flower Essences in the mixes. Early on we decided to use each Flower Essence only once in the collection of twelve remedies. We felt this would make the collection of twelve particularly vibrant with great depth. While most every sign could have used some of the same Flower Essences, we spent time considering where each Flower Essence felt most needed. We went through all our collections to find the Essences for each mix. When we felt our choice of Flower Essences was just right for a mix, we would let it marinate for a couple days then came back to feel into the vibration of the mix to consider if we still felt the mix was on point. Elizabeth ran the meetings to decide on the Flower Essences for each mix. She then mixed the mixes from of Mother Flower Essences. We wrote the copy together, and Elizabeth took the photos and put everything up onto the website.
I can only speak for myself, but this was a wonderful learning experience for me. And now the mixes are ready for all of you! We couldn’t be more happy about this harvest!
I invite everyone to give these mixes a whirl. They are intended to support both those who consciously consider how the configuration of stars, planets and asteroids impact their natal and progressed charts as well as support those who live with the particularities of their astrological chart in a less focused way. We are all equally a part of this whole earth experiment, so these mixes will support everyone! Yes, even our beloved animal friends!
One last thought- If there is interest, we would like to go further to make combination remedies for each planet. Let us know what you think. We would love to do this but want to know if there is interest from you all too.
These times bring many challenges with smoke inhalation from all the wildfires in the US and Canada as well as catastrophoc losses from the fires.
Breathe has been a life saver for many dealing with the smoke and we have sent off countless bottles to those affected by the smoke.
Today however a GHF friend said she had been led to use Phoenix Rising and Flow Free along with Breathe. I was so grateful for this GHF friends sharing. Of course I love Flow Free for everything so that felt so helpful. I also felt how powerfully PHOENIX RISING can serve us right now.
I started to describe the whole mysterious story of how Phoenix Rising was created, then I realized that it would be better to share the original description of this Essence which feels more relevant than ever. So here it is in full.
Phoenix Rising is for situations of burnout, illusion busting, fiery cleansings and recovery after firestorms. It shares with us the wise overview and deep faith of the bird kingdom and the knowledge that fire purifies even as it seems to destroy
The Angels tell us, ‘The promise of the firebird and of this precious Essence is that you are not alone in your suffering or in a wasteland of purposeless burning but in a fire of purification. A new life awaits you. Let these fires bring their gifts, and you will be set free. Let this Essence ignite, soothe, comfort and restore.’
The Phoenix Rising garden was planted with seven concentric rings of orange and flame colored Flowers: orange Snapdragons, Calendulas and French Marigolds in many shades, Apricot and California Poppies, Salmon Osteospermum, Serafina and orange Spider Dahlias, Nasturtiums and Bright Lights Cosmos to name only a few. Purple flowers shot through this abundance of glorious orange blossoms in the form of seven rays. The center of the garden was a pillar of brilliant orange Torch Flowers encircling a planter of purple Morning Glories perched 5 feet in the air.
When we planted the garden, the Angels had us tie strands of jute over the seven rays of purple Flowers. We thought the Morning Glories were meant to clamber along these lines, echoing the purple Flowers below. Instead, it was to be feathers that danced in the wind over this garden. Everywhere we went, we found feathers. Woodpeckers, blue jays, chickadees, crows, turkeys, pigeons, sea gulls, ducks and geese were just a few of the blessed bird friends who gifted us with their feathers. Sometimes we would walk out of the office and a feather would fall from the sky, the bird owner calling from nearby to announce its donation to the project. All these feathers were tied above the Venus Garden.
Wonderfully, many of you responded to the feather theme by sending feathers that you had been given. Feathers came from many tropical birds and from as far away as Australia.
During a very dry summer of difficult fires across the globe, this garden, with its Flower flames and dancing feathers, was a completely joyful firestorm.
The birds’ involvement was a particular blessing though a mysterious one. Eventually, the birds told us that the electro-magnetic stresses were affecting them particularly. They wanted to support the transmutation of this stress, which the Venus Garden represented. The birds explained, “We want to help, but we too need your help.”
At the close of the season, there was a shift from fire to rebirth. During this transformation, we began a beautiful but complicated dance of Flowers and bowls of water. On September 20, 2000, the Phoenix Rising Essence was born.
The Angels explain, “These fires of purification takes you to a new life, and an experience of greater closeness with your Creator. This fire burn the strangers from your heart. What are these strangers but all things that are not one with your Creator and your true self. This is the housecleaning you have asked for and have been given. It can be painful work, but it is worth the pain. Your willingness to be housecleaned of everything your Creator sees as unnecessary, not what you see as unnecessary, makes all the difference. A new life awaits you.”
This Essence supports the purification process in the most harmonious of ways. When your system needs a little more burn to get rid of a big piece of illusion, Phoenix Rising helps to accomplish this. When you need a tangible buffer during turbulence, Phoenix Rising can serve in this capacity. When you need uplift, currents moving you into an updraft of hope, peace and acceptance, reach for this Essence.
Phoenix Rising carries all birds’ wisdom of overview and conscious connection with the beloved Creator. It carries all birds’ confidence that you can and will sail home to the full realization of who you are. Phoenix Rising also carries the firebird’s knowledge that fire purifies even as it seems to destroy. It carries the essential firebird truth that what is most precious can never be lost to fire. It knows that the fire of God’s love is necessary to find this most precious treasure of all; your eternal self.”
This summer is Cousin Camp which means ( among other things) playing in brooks with grandpa, trading animal cards and watching several dads race in a triathlon…..so WHAT was happening ten years ago when all these beloveds were but a twinkle in their parent’s eyes?
Ten years ago tomorrow, August 6th, Emily and Charlie (now parents of three boys) got married in Kennebunk, Maine.
Sarah (now married to our son Will and mother of two boys) and Lizzie (now mother of two, then the mother of one) helped me grow the Flowers for the wedding.
And that was QUITE the adventure.
For a full report, check out THIS BLOG with the full story of Flowers for the wedding, written at the time of the event!
Let me share a few images here to tempt you to look at the earlier blog, and let me take a moment to thank Sarah and Lizzie once again for the summer that was!
The summer began as most summers do here with much planting of baby plants. That year we focused on Flowers that would be good cut Flowers. We gave a lot of attention to planting things at the right time so they would bloom for August 6th.
We were not completely successful in our timing efforts. The Snapdragons came and went too early, but Sarah had volunteered to do Flowers for another smaller wedding so that we could practice our bouquet techniques. The Snapdragons and the first blush of our summer harvest went to that wedding.
When the time came for us to start our days of cutting and conditioning Flowers, the men in the family found that they needed to go to Maine to play golf as part of the pre-wedding festivities. This left Sarah and me cutting Flowers night and day while the men….. frolicked? Jim’s funny expression says it all.
By Friday when our own departure for Maine loomed, the downstairs of our house was filled with Flowers
There was time for a quick cup of tea, sort of.
In this photo we have begun to make the table arrangements. We made twenty two of them to pack off to Maine fully ready to go. It proved to be a good thing that they were done of Friday, as we were straight out Saturday with other Flower projects we had to do ( like the bridal bouquet!)
Ever the engineer, Sarah figured out a system for transporting the Flowers in three cars to Maine.
Here is Lizzie packing one of the cars. We covered the windows in paper and blasted the air conditioning to keep the flowers as fresh as possible.
Somehow or other ( with me taking a wrong turn only once), we got the Flowers to Maine on Friday evening. We settled them into a friend of Charlie’s family’s garage. It was quite the garage as it was fully air conditioned and paved in brick!
Here are a couple of our larger arrangements ready for delivery on Saturday morning to the outdoor venue for the wedding.
We had eight bridesmaid’s bouquets, one bridal bouquet, twelve boutonnieres, a half dozen corsages for various mothers and grandmothers to make on the day of the wedding. We also made these big ones on the day of the wedding.
Dear friends Michael Dutcher and Catherine Boorady (beloved Green Hope Staffer emeritus) arrived from Brooklyn to help with assembly and Flower transport from garage to church and reception. Catherine is now with the Angels where I am sure she is keeping everyone laughing. Michael is with her too. We miss them both very much.
Here are Michael, Jim and Sarah loading a car for the trip from the garage to the reception hall on Saturday morning. Note Jim flexing his muscles in a demonstration of how strong his Friday golf game made him.
Time for the ceremony! Here is Lizzie with the other bridesmaids and Flower girl Grace then three years old.
Here is Emily waiting with her crew. Sarah and I arrived at the last minute without a moment to spare. In the pictures we look like we just blew in, and we did!
Jim and Emily about to walk down the outdoor aisle to the ceremony by the sea.
Our dear Emily and Charlie. Little did they know of the gang of three heading their way and with a gaggle of cousins too!
Jamie, Wim, Etta, Lola, Ernest & George. missing from the photo: Henry, Hector and Grace
As a community of Flowers, Angels, Nature Spirits, Dogs, Cats and even some People, Green Hope Farm can be a funny place……and I love telling you all about it!
