When I look at the Dhuni Fire garden, a bit tattered now by the chill of fall but still radiant, I bow in gratitude to a garden that has offered up so much healing energy to so many for thirty years.

I recall the many mandalas that have existed in this garden space since 1993, and I am still startled by their complexity and the specificity of their healing vibrations.  The many mandalas that have blossomed in this place have each brought so much more than seems possible.  The Flowers in this garden always welcome the light pouring down into them with such complete abandon that something well beyond three dimensional reality is grounded in the garden. Thanks to the Flowers and all our partners here, this is the spot on which the whole of Green Hope Farm spins.

The initial garden in this space back in 1993 was called the Eight Garden. Not surprisingly, the garden design was a pine needle path in the shape of the number Eight embraced by rows of primarily purple and orange Flowers. After that first season, the garden became known as the Venus Garden.  A combination Flower Essence is made from the Venus Garden each year, and these can be found in the Venus Garden section of the website. This year’s Essence is the incomparable Dhuni Fire Essence.

The Venus Garden is a mystery.  Wondrous things happen here.  In that first season of 1993, many spontaneous healings occurred at the center of the garden where the lines of the eight crossed. One memorable healing for all of us in attendance was when a dear beloved with AIDS came for a healing.  During our time with him, we received the message that he would not die of AIDS. In 1993 this was considered impossible, so this message shattered our preconceptions about AIDS and pretty much everything else.  This beloved is still alive.

In so many ways this garden blew our assumptions out of the water.  It still does this each and every growing season. If you have the opportunity to work with any of the Venus Garden Essences, you may have felt this ever loving but always dimension shattering energy. 

I thought today I would share a message we received in 1993, the year we were open to visitors.  We had been told in an earlier message that the Eight Garden existed in the fifth dimension.  We had no understanding of what this meant. Then spontaneous moments occurred where “random” people sat down in the center of the garden and unique healing events happened.  These healings in the garden began to reveal the nature of the fifth dimension where things moved in and out of manifestation and form with much greater ease. But still we had questions.  We still do!  

As I have mentioned before, these messages began in May of 1993 when the four of us planting all the healing gardens came to loggerheads over our different opinions about garden priorities. Gardeners can be strong willed and ours pulled us in four different directions.  Mired in disagreements, it seemed unlikely we would be ready for visitors in a few short weeks.

In despair, I was prompted to go sit at the computer and ask for guidance.  After receiving a message that helped us continue on in greater harmony and oneness, I was asked to check in for messages every day at 5 am. Each afternoon, the four of us would collect our questions for the nexxt day’s guidance. The next morning after receiving answers to our questions and a whole lot more,  I would print out copies of what I had received. When the farm opened for visitors on the Solstice, we kept a book of the messages there for visitors to read.  The book grew to over three hundred pages (which will surprise no one who knows how much I like to write!). 

At the time of this specific message, it was early June, and the four of us were doing the last of the planting with the designs we had received from the Angels and Elementals.  We had no idea how many people were about to arrive and we had no real conception of the power of all the gardens we had created, most especially the Eight Garden.

While the discussion begins in the specificity of planting, it becomes a discussion of how to move forward when people don’t agree with us and don’t resonate with our choices to reach for the fifth dimension and ground it, as best we can, here in our daily life on earth.

This is a day in which to stay fully present in your present reality and not move forward or backward in time or space.  Make the act of planting each plant an intentional act of bringing heaven to earth.  It has always been the intention to have this happen in the places of nature on this planet but it seldom happens when there are people involved because their need to get a certain response or product from what they do in nature interferes with the full manifestation of heaven on earth.  

How can you bring about the greatest realization of what I want to accomplish here?  Give up any notions you have of what is going to happen because they are all limiting notions, developed in the lower dimensions.  You must understand that the world is moving…into fifth dimensional reality and most of you have only conscious recollections of third dimensional reality… You need to stop your worries about how many plants or what they look like amassed in the gardens or how they will mix because it is all three dimensional concerns and ego concerns at that.  You do not know what can be accomplished with one plant in the fifth dimension or you would most certainly ease up in your concern about the way the number of plants in the eight garden seems to slip lower and lower.  

Let go and let the energies I bring this place manifest as I see fit.  This place is a forerunner of what is to come and does not operate on third dimensional rules and regulations.  Each time you find yourself feeling anything that is not a complete openness to a new vision, you are caught in useless dogma.  Dump it.  

In your struggles amongst each other you may not always be in solidarity about something.  You may be holding a lone point of view that is not where the rest of the group is.  If you examine the threads of this conviction and know it is not tied to ego fears and worries then understand that if you are the lone individual in the group holding a different way of being or doing then perhaps you are the first in the group to catch a fifth dimensional strand that it is your job to pull down into reality.  Hold on courageously even if the others look at you askance.  

This whole place will be something that others may not understand or agree with you about.  Consider these times of being tested a chance to practice your skills of holding onto my vision in the face of skeptics.  It is your chance to decide who or what is going to run your life; approval and acceptance from ego bound individuals or the light within you.  It is your chance to love unconditionally those that do not understand, those that resist the fundamental changes in all reality which such gardens as this usher in, and those that would turn on you in fear and self doubt.  Love them and let them go.  

Know that if you hurt then you must come to me for solace.  I am your rock and your comfort.  I am the one who understands the purposes behind each instant in your life.  I am the one that calls you to this work which will require that your connection to me is rock solid.  You will face many critics in the heated days that lay ahead, and you will only find the inner calm and fearlessness you seek if you do this work with me, for me and comforted by me.

Question:  What should I do when I am aware of these currents of disapproval, judgment and misunderstanding, and I feel so alone.  How can I connect most fully with you to feel the comfort which you speak of?

Answer:  Once you truly understand that you will never get the love and acceptance that you are searching for from anywhere else but me, then you will stop putting any energy into trying to get it elsewhere.  That alone will be a major breakthrough for all of you.  

When you are hurting, most humans are like animals without healing instincts.  They head straight for the very situation in which the wound was created, and they exacerbate the situation and the wound again, thinking that is the only place that healing can come from.  Healing will never come from reopening the situation.  It is unrealistic and unproductive to assume that if someone has called you a hurtful name that battering away at them until they take it back will cure the situation.  Even if they take it back, you have left it a situation in which you have given your power and self worth in the situation away to this other person’s ego.  There can be no strong balance or centeredness until you realize with all your being that it doesn’t matter in the slightest what anyone else thinks of anything you do.  If you do it in alignment with me and come to me for the love and support that you need and deserve then you truly begin to have the immutable, centered, balanced life which is your birthright.  

When you are aware that you feel hurt or judged, remember that it is only the part of the person operating in the dark that is sending out that energy.  Take the time to immediately go inward to ask me to help you through the pain or difficulty you feel and to help clarify for you whether there is something to be learned from what has been said.  If you are looking for vindication or understanding from outside yourself then you are still looking for it in the wrong place.  

The wisest teacher in the world is not meant to be your permanent emissary from me to you.  All of you are called to have a personal relationship with me.  The teachers are here to return you to this, not run interference.  Your own training is to give your power away to whomever you like, admire or emulate.  See them as a facet of me shining their own unique light so that you can better see the light within you.  Then use your energies to look to the light within you, not copy their light or try to get them to approve of your light.  The most vital relationship you will ever have is with me.  It is all you need or ever will need.  Turn and come inward to me.  Understand that the challenges of those that disapprove of you or misunderstand you are my way to get you to give up what you do not need and find the relationship with me that you do need.

Welcome dear friends! As always I am so happy to share our Flower Essences with you! They offer wonderful support as we make the transition to a New Earth.  As energetic role models, Flower Essences bring us specific wisdom for healing the challenges we face right now. They also help us experience our inseparable oneness with Divinity and connect us more deeply with the Divine helpers here to support us during this time of major transition. 

This fall, in addition to our Flower Essences in stock, we introduce a set of six Green Hope Farm Flower Essences called Balancing our Inner Elements.  By balancing the elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth within us, we help the planet as well as our own inner climate to find balance in these times. Here is a brief description of the Flower Essences in this set. This is followed by a longer discussion and more news from the farm for those looking for more information.

The Dhuni Fire– Creating the Dhuni Fire Flower Essence was our main focus at the farm this season. This project involved growing a powerful garden mandala which became this Essence. The Dhuni Fire invokes a fire of love and purification that helps us release our burdens and everything else that runs interference on us experiencing in full our true eternal self. The Dhuni Fire helps us with the balanced use of the FIRE element.

Horehound– Horehound helps us breathe during this time of fire and smoke and helps us work constructively with the fire element.  It also helps us tangibly feel the companionship and support of the Divine beings at our sides as we head towards a New Earth. Horehound helps us with the balanced use of the AIR, FIRE and EARTH elements.

Bladder Campion– Too much water and too much sorrow can leave us feeling like soggy dishrags. Bladder Campion shares a model of emotional buoyancy in watery times. It also shows us a way of balance and restraint during inner and outer firestorms, supporting us to pause and breathe deeply during difficulties. Finally it helps us sort and release heavy emotions in the aftermath of the transitions and challenges confronting all of us. Bladder Campion helps us with the balanced use of the AIR, WATER, FIRE and EARTH elements.

Bouncing Bet– Feeling downtrodden and bewildered during these times? Bouncing Bet, an indomitable “roadside weed” shows us how to bounce back into an experience of joy, confident we matter and are deeply loved.  Bouncing Bet helps us with the balanced use of the AIR and EARTH elements.

Japanese Anemone– Circumstances don’t have to define our reactions. Japanese Anemone helps us find causeless cheerfulness and openhearted delight even as the winds of change toss us about. Japanese Anemone helps us with the balanced use of the AIR and EARTH elements.

Sunflower– Like kryptonite for Superman, Sunflower Essence ignites a fire within us so we know we are the superheroes in our life. Firmly planted in this identity, we can co-create new kinds of community, confident these models of selfless service and inspired creativity will catch fire and birth a New Earth. Sunflower helps us with the balanced use of the FIRE element.

A MORE LEISURELY JOURNEY OF EXPLANATION

It’s hard to miss that because of humankind’s choices, the four elements of our beloved Earth are out of balance. Floods in our region have been a constant this year, and the air has been thick with smoke from Canadian wildfires.  Green Hope Farm friends all over Earth report similar elemental imbalances in their worlds.  As Gaia and the Elementals heroically work to heal the planet and rebalance the four elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth, we can support them by balancing these elements within ourselves.

In this news from the farm, the Angels and Elementals explain how their new offering of a set of six Flower Essences called Balancing our Inner Elements will help us as well as Earth.  They note that even if you chose not to get this set, the practice of balancing your inner Elements helps everyone and everything. This set can be used in tandem with our Flower Essence Gaia Knows Best which supports Earth to experience and manifest its healed self.  When we combine balancing ourselves with support for Gaia, we help more than we can imagine. 

THE DHUNI FIRE– A SACRED FIRE OF PURIFICATION

The Angels want to begin with a discussion of this year’s Venus Garden and the Flower Essence made from this garden called the Dhuni Fire.  The Venus Garden is the energetic engine of the farm. Its garden mandala, designed by the Angels, changes from year to year, always building energies that support us in profound ways.  Some years the Angels do not tell me the name or theme of the Venus Garden until I make a combination Flower Essence from all its Flowers at the Autumn Equinox.  Sometimes I figure out the theme because of what happens at the farm during the growing season.  This year they told me in January that the name of the garden was The Dhuni Fire.  What I knew about dhuni fires could have fit on the head of a pin.  I vaguely recalled that dhuni fires were a traditional Hindu fire of purification.  I also knew that once a month, Meher Baba had a dhuni fire at his home in India.  I had no idea what dhuni fires were meant to burn.

In early June, still uncertain what a dhuni fire was, I planted the garden mandala as designed by the Angels with seedlings I had grown in the greenhouse. From the beginning, the garden was extraordinarily vibrant and beautiful.  This was in stark contrast to a summer of extreme weather in which skies were gray with smoke and ash from wildfires in Canada.  Day after day the sunlight was strangely muted as if we were underwater, and our eyes and lungs burned. The immense fires burned without ceasing. Rain also fell almost continuously, yet these deluges were unable to clear the skies of smoke. 

The Dhuni Fire garden was a counterpoint to the fires.  Could we embrace its fire of sacred love and purification and find a new balance of the fire element that didn’t involve burning forests?  The garden said, “YES.”  It shared a vibration of sacred love that could revitalize us and the Earth without the destruction of actual fire. It offered itself as a healing balm to those of us feeling burnt by life and a vibrational model for a shift from the destruction of the fire element raging across the planet to a more constructive, life affirming one.

To back up a moment, what was the design of this garden and what did the garden look like? The design was a spiral beginning in the center with fiery red Flowers.  Flame colored Torch Flowers, rusty red Sunflowers, scarlet Castor Bean Flowers and statuesque Lion’s Ears soared into space from the heart of the garden.  As the spiral began its outward journey, many shades of pink Nicotianas, red Zinnias and Rubenza Cosmos swirled to meet a sea of orange and yellow Zinnias and Marigolds, salmon pink Four O’Clocks, and a “short” variety of golden Sunflowers, one of which grew to fifteen feet tall. The Queen Orange Zinnias had a particular radiance, mellowing the fiery tones without dulling the display.  The outer rim of the spiral was white Flowers including a vibrant display of Mehera Marigolds, Chamomile, white Nicotianas, Daturas and white Snapdragons. The Flowers mixed in unexpected ways and each day brought surprising new combinations. While the rest of the gardens showed signs of stress from too much water, too much smoke and too little sunlight, this garden had a vitality like nothing I had seen in a long time.  Each morning I circled this garden in silent wonder.

A very tall birch pole set in the center had streamers coming from the top of the pole out to the edges of the garden.  This gave the garden an under the big top feeling.  The way the streamers embraced the entire garden communicated that everything in this garden belonged and was part of a whole.  The spiral might take us outwards to a higher vibration as embodied by the Meheras, but the fire at the center of the garden was a necessary part of the journey.  

Sometimes we walk in the valleys, and there is no view.  This garden was a moment on a snow capped peak. Expansive. Exhilarating. Inspiring. It shouted, “Hang in there. Keep going. We’re with you. It’s going to be infinitely better than you can imagine.”  The Dhuni Fire’s unwinding from flame colored Flowers to the pure love vibration of the radiant Meheras Marigolds demonstrated that engaging in right use of the fire element is its own orderly process, leading us purposely to a new and wonderful experience of self.  As a Flower Essence, it now offers us an energetic role model for our way forward to this more unburdened and enlightened experience of self. Here’s what the Angels had to say about the necessity of this sacred fire and what needs to be tossed into the flames:

“You exist in completeness as one with Divinity.  Earth is your stage set for bringing this truth from the unconscious to consciousness.  When you know who you are, you are awake from a slumber in unreality.  Earth is the school where you awake and understand the unreality of everything else but your true self.  Illusion is what you release and burn.  These illusions are stored in your subconscious, and they run interference on you consciously realizing your true self. Burning these illusions is your way forward.

Many of your illusions suggest you need to collect things or experiences or become something more to be whole.  These are the kind of illusions you need to throw in the Dhuni Fire.  There is nothing to gather on your way to God realization. Instead you let everything go but your true identity.  There is nothing to fix because nothing is broken.  There is no need to become anything, because you already are everything. 

Energetic “alarm clocks” to awaken you to this truth come in many forms.  God realized spiritual teachers are a kind of alarm clock.  They know how to wake you up. To love them and follow their guidance helps stir you from sleep.  Flower Essences bring another kind of wake-up call with this Dhuni Fire Essence offering you a poke in the ribs.  The Dhuni Fire Essence provides you a vibrational energy that spirals you out of illusion towards your eternal self.  It offers you a map to grasp reality and abandon illusion. If you are footsore and weary of this spiritual journey, despairing and confused, The Dhuni Fire Essence picks you up, revives your sense of purpose and speeds you on your way with a clearer sense of direction and the solace of knowing you are loved and not alone in this journey.  This Essence and its garden offer a keyhole which expands and blooms in your consciousness, bringing the very vibration you need in order to let go, let illusions burn and rise up to know yourself.  

A dhuni fire is a fire of divine love, awakening you to all you are. Come, let The Dhuni Fire help you lay down the unreal and experience your true self.”

This New Angel Set

With The Dhuni Fire Essence included, the Angels created a set of six Flower Essences called Balancing Our Inner Elements.  This summer I frequently asked the Angels and Elementals which Flower Essences would support us during these times.  While they quipped, “Which wouldn’t?” noting that there are so many Flower Essences ready and able to support us right now, they also led me by the nose to several Flowers they wanted me to add to our Flower Essence collection, explaining that the time had come for these Flowers to be part of our repertoire and specifically part of this set.

This set works to balance the elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth within each of us, much as these elements work to find a new balance on the planet too.  Each Flower Essence in the set helps us manage too much or too little of an element or elements as well as find a more evolved balance of the elements within us. Here are the other five.

Horehound– Marrubium vulgare 

The first new Flower Essence the Angels called me to make this season was the traditional herb Horehound.  Our smoky summer had just begun, and once Horehound Flower Essence was ready, the Angels asked me to write a blog about how Horehound as well as Breathe Flower Essence supported our breathing, specifically helping our lungs manage smoke from fires like the wildfires in Canada. This was just the beginning of my learning about Horehound and the element of fire. 

The Angels spoke about the necessity of fire and the energy of purification which fire brings.  They explained that the fire element plays a vital part in the release of everything we don’t need, even when we think we need it. I asked if this meant that the planetary fires were necessary. The Angels clarified that working with the sacred fire is inner work involving a release of inner stumbling blocks on the spiritual path.  They noted that when we work with the sacred fire of love using tools such as The Dhuni Fire Essence, the purification process does not have to involve actual fires.  They shared that on a planetary basis, if we collectively attend to our inner work, there is no need for planetary fires. When I asked whether enough people would attend to this task, they reminded me of the hundredth monkey and said that very few people were needed to light a fire of love that would heal the planet.  

Continuing on, they explained that working with the sacred fire of purification involves anchoring in our Divinity then letting go, confident the right things will be released.  The Angels noted that Horehound helps us trust this process is an orderly and wise one and also helps us physically manage the process.   They explained, “Horehound supports you to let go even when you’ve been enculturated to hold on for dear life.  It is a sweet and gentle friend that eases you through the release process, tenderly supporting you whether the fires of purification in your life come gently or with great speed.” The Angels closed by saying, “We are tremendously interested in helping you grow spiritually, but it may be hard for you to tangibly feel our support.  Horehound gives you a sensation of this support, sort of like a vibrational texture which is easier to grasp.  Horehound also anchors you in the calming, cleansing breath.  This anchoring also makes it easier for us to link to you.  We are here for you, and we are grateful for how Horehound connects you more deeply with us so you can feel supported through this time of transition.”       

I AM the healing breath releasing me into the fullness of who I really am.

Bladder Campion– Silene vulgaris

Bladder Campion helps us balance all four elements.  It helps us breathe more deeply, literally taking in more air. In this way, it balances the Air element.  Bladder Campion also knows how to preserve its energy during heated situations so that it lives to flower another day.  While each blossom wilts in the heat of the day, these very same Flowers revive to full beauty in the cool of the evening then blossom again the next morning.  In this way, Bladder Campion supports us to manage the Fire element, demonstrating how to conserve our energy during fiery times. It helps us resist the temptation to meet fire with fire, making it an excellent ally for those working to manage their anger and other fiery emotions.

Bladder Campion also offers us a vibration of buoyancy during times when it can feel very hard to stay afloat.  It is a master of water, helping us experience and process our watery emotions but not get swamped by them.  Think of Bladder Campion as a life raft for times when the watery world of sorrows and worries try to swamp you.  Bladder Campion can help you float through these watery times to a new balance of the Water element and to a place of sure footing again.

Bladder Campion’s Earth element gift is an energetic sorting function that grounds and stabilizes.  If you have experienced a literal flood, an inner flood of emotion or a firestorm of challenges and heated situations, you may know how much sorting must be done afterwards. It may feel like your inner landscape is one big slush pile.  This Essence not only helps you sort things out so you complete the release of any emotions that might otherwise bog you down, but it also supports you to have the energy to do this work.  Its Flower signature reflects this energy of empowerment, calm, buoyancy and the discernment necessary for sorting and release.  

I AM the master of air, water, fire and earth.

Bouncing Bet– Saponaria officinalis  

This summer, wildflower Bouncing Bet seemed to be everywhere I went. I recognized her as an old friend from childhood.  When she spoke to me, I remembered how much I loved this sparkling and delightful Flower.  During one visit this summer, Bet made it clear that now was her moment to become a mainstay in our collection. This flooded me with joy, but then, joy is one of her gifts.  Bouncing Bet explains;

“I help you live from your indomitable spirit as you go through this time of cleansing and rebirth.  Working with the Earth and Air elements, I am here to lift you up if you have felt downtrodden and unseen. I remind you that you are always seen by Divinity.  You are always loved.  I thrive in disturbed waste ground and neglected places. You can too. Yes, maybe humankind neglects some of us, but I know that nothing in this world is truly neglected or unloved.  Everything is a beloved part of the whole. 

When circumstances temporarily get you down, I remind you how to bounce back to unsullied joy.  I know we will soon find ourselves in a world that is very much worth the growing pains.  Yes, there will be more growing pains, but I am part of an immense collective of energies that will help you navigate these shifts with optimism, confidence and yes, joy.  

You may have been told that bubbling up into joy is a ridiculous response to these times and the challenges you face.  I help you know joy is a wise response and one that will set you free to do your work in the world unburdened and serene. And how wonderful that your efforts at bouncing back to joy bring joy to others too. 

 I AM able to bounce back to joy no matter the circumstances.

Japanese Anemone– Anemone hupehensis

Japanese Anemone sweeps us into causeless cheerfulness.  While we find ourselves in a collective situation in which there may seem little to feel cheerful about, Japanese Anemone knows that good cheer is the antidote.  It helps heal our collective situation, because it radically shifts our personal vibrations upward which upgrades those in our immediate lives as well.  Much as we live in the illusion of separation, we are actually one energy system, and as we lift up our vibration into love and good cheer, it automatically affects the whole. 

Japanese Anemone has a structure of wide open and branching dusky pink Flowers which dance on the wind.  One of its nicknames is Windflower, and no surprise there.  It is beloved of Bumblebees and will often have three Bumblebees nose first in the abundant golden pollen of a single Flower.  Long Flower wands rising above the garden combined with an ability to handle any wind reflect Japanese Anemone’s vibrational gifts that help us rise above circumstances and be fearlessly open hearted, generous and of good cheer no matter what blows into our world.

The Angels note, “In our efforts to support you in the balancing of the elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth, we selected Japanese Anemone to help bring a perspective, detachment and clarity of vision that support you to not dig in and get too earthbound or heavy.  As the saying goes, “You are a spiritual being having a physical experience not visa versa.” We want you to be able to feel this truth and take it to heart as you navigate this time.

You each made the wonderful choice to be here during this shift in Ages. This time offers unrivaled opportunities for remembering who you are and helping others wake up to themselves as well.  Go forward with brave and open hearts.  You are not alone.  You are loved. You are safe and you will always be.  We are here for you in each instant, and you need only ask for us to give you more support.”  

I AM causeless cheerfulness. 

Sunflower– Helianthus annuus  Our beloved Flower Essence friend Sunflower joins this set of six.  In a summer without much sun, Sunflower called us to be our own inner Suns. While some plants struggled with this dearth of sunlight, the Sunflowers glowed with radiant inner light. In September, a particularly vibrant, extremely tall Sunflower in the Dhuni Garden began to lean way out from the garden towards the Green Hope Farm office as if to reach out and embrace us all.  Covered in blossoms fifteen feet up and unlike any Sunflower we had seen, we wondered how this plant had arrived in the garden and treasured its loving embrace of us. For a week we watched it reach further and further out across the space towards human community. It simply did not care that reaching out might bring its own end.  And one evening, during a downpour in a summer of downpours, this glorious Sunflower snapped off in total willingness to give all to the cause.  

Sunflower reminds us we are the superheroes in this tale.   We too can work together and reach beyond ourselves to give our all.  Sunflowers know no limit and ask us to embody this as well.  New models of community and an expansive experience of self are the harvest of the Dhuni Fire. Sunflower helps us know we can inhabit these new roles rising from the ashes.  Why is this so? When you burn up all unreality, what remains is both nothing and everything.  Yes, in one sense there is nothing left of the illusions we once carried, but in another sense, you are now everything.  The Sunflower helps us inhabit the everything of our eternal self.  

I AM God, a chalice of perfect wisdom power and love in perfect balance and action.

These Essences can be bought as a set or as individual Flower Essences.

IN GRATITUDE

I want to thank the wonderful Green Hope Farm community for your precious love.  How we appreciate and treasure your love, your sharing and your many kindnesses.  Together with you, this journey, no matter how arduous, is a blessing and a joy.   Thank you dear ones!

I would also like to thank the Elementals most especially Gaia.  Elementals manifest all form and then maintain it to the best of their abilities. There is an Elemental holding in form everything in creation.  Some have big jobs like Gaia who holds Earth in form, and some have smaller but deeply significant jobs like holding a blossoming Flower in form or keeping an air molecule at its best.  This summer I thought often of the air Elementals, working to clear the air in a world so filled with smoke and other pollution.  It was a job without ceasing.  As I write this we are experiencing another deluge of rain, and I think of the water Elementals too, processing so much of our energetic and literal garbage in the waters.  Elementals hold stage set Earth in form for our learning with tireless dedication and love.  I thank them for their immense efforts, persistence, patience with us humans and humor.  Thank you Elementals!

One of the constants in any growing season here is making Flower Essences.

In very early spring, I go through our entire inventory and get a master list of what needs to be made to keep our inventory topped up. Then I divide the list up into categories based on when each Flower blooms. I note how many quarts of Essence need to be made, but when the time comes to make the Flower Essence, I always check back in to see if we now need more. We go through a lot of Flower Essences when we make up combination remedies like Anxiety or Golden Armor, so often by end of the season we need much more of an Essence than we did in the beginning of the season when I took inventory.

Usually there is some Flower Essence we are almost out of, and this means making sure I grow the Flower. This spring our Maltese Cross was almost gone. I noticed this low inventory late last summer. At the same time, I also noticed that our Maltese Cross had somehow disappeared from the perennial garden, so I needed to source new plants. This is not a popular perennial, so I had to grow my own plants and not purchase them from a nursery. I started seeds in the hoop house in July, planted out the babies in September then celebrated when the Flowers bloomed this June before we completely ran out of Maltese Cross. While the photo above was really an attempt to capture a shot of the Yellow Mullein we grow, you can see a couple heads of Maltese Cross at the bottom of the photo. It really is a dramatic almost startling red.

Many Wildflowers grow in abundance just about everywhere. Some I have to search a bit harder for. This year Indian Pipe led me on a merry chase as the places it has always been were Indian Pipe free. Eventually I found a vast colony of this sacred plant. That is one of the lovely things about making Wildflower Essences. As I tromp our extensive woodlands, there are always unexpected discoveries. Sometimes its new patches of old friends and sometimes it is new friends that I haven’t met before.

Late summer is a particularly busy stretch for making Flower Essences. In the last week or so I have made Goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed, Queen Anne’s Lace, Vetch, Echinops, Borage, Sweet Pea, Blue Vervain, Zinnia, Bladder Campion, Bouncing Bet and Cosmos.

The Echinops, Blue Vervain, Bouncing Bet and Bladder Campion are all currently on the Additional Essence list however, the Bladder Campion and Bouncing Bet are stepping forward as helpful for the kind of climate change experiences we are having. I will sit down after the Autumn Equinox to find out more about this and get a document organized to share with you about the Angels and Elementals perspective on this time and the Flower Essences they feel will help us in particular right now. I do believe Bladder Campion and Bouncing Bet will be on this list.

I am also very excited about this year’s Venus Garden Essence as a source of support for these times. This garden has been both stunning in its beauty and powerful in its energy. I have just begun the process of making the Essence from this garden. It will be ready after the Equinox. I think the Flower Essence is going to be called The Dhuni. The Angels never set things in stone until after the balancing moment of closure of the Autumn Equinox so I will only know for certain then.

In the meantime, here’s a bit of the Dhuni this morning.

One last piece of news! We’ve just welcomed a new dog to our ranks. Staff Goddess Jen has adopted rescue pup Charlie. He is a complete sweetheart and a fan of peas!

You may have noticed that the Report from Reginald Montgomery “Chuckie” Hogbottom, Order of the Woodchuck, Recipient of the medal of honor “Marmota Monax” September 2019, Knighted as Groundhog of the Realm, May 2022, Recipient of the Order of the Garter July 2023 somewhat slowed me in my blogging tracks. Yes, Chuckie completely took the winds out of my sails.

How was I to respond to his bragging, his jabs, his puffery given the fact that he did seem to have completely submarined my vegetable gardening efforts this season?

Yes, there was next year to consider and grim plans to outsmart Mr Order of the Garter himself, but there was also the fact that I was having to whip over to the farmstand on the other side of the town rather frequently.

Then came the harvest of the onions. To back up a moment, one day in early spring I asked Jim to stop in at a local garden center to get me a bag of onion sets for the garden. Onion sets are those baby onions that you can plant instead of onion seedlings. They wake up and grow into onions just about as big if not bigger than onion seedlings. I asked Jim to pick up the onion sets because I had some onion seedlings going in the greenhouse, but they were limping along. Given our endless gray skies, I wasn’t sure they would amount to much.

I am not sure how specifically I described what I meant by a bag of onion sets to Jim. I think we talked about volume, but apparently not accurately enough, as Jim returned with an ENORMOUS bag of onion sets. When planted out, the sets filled more than a quarter of the vegetable garden and also got shared with Vicki, Jen and Sam for their vegetable gardens. I think there might have been onion sets LEFTOVER even after our HEROIC EFFORTS to plant all the onion babies. In a word, Jim filled our lives with ONIONS.

Miracle of miracles, this is actually why Reginald Montgomery “Chuckie” Hogbottom, Order of the Woodchuck, Recipient of the medal of honor “Marmota Monax” September 2019, Knighted as Groundhog of the Realm, May 2022, Recipient of the Order of the Garter July 2023 did NOT entirely triumph in the vegetable garden. Apparently Chuckie doesn’t like onions and left them be.

Last week it was time to harvest the mighty and untouched by groundhog paws onion crop. FINALLY a moment of ABUNDANCE!

Here is a photo of just a small swath of onions now air drying on the screen porch before being braided into so many braids I may well have to fill a room with them. (Needless to say everyone will be getting an onion braid for the holidays).

So did Reginald Montgomery “Chuckie” Hogbottom, Order of the Woodchuck, Recipient of the medal of honor “Marmota Monax” September 2019, Knighted as Groundhog of the Realm, May 2022, Recipient of the Order of the Garter July 2023 get the last word?

I think not for the last word this garden season, Chuckie, is ONIONS.

Report from Reginald Montgomery “Chuckie” Hogbottom, Order of the Woodchuck, Recipient of the medal of honor “Marmota Monax” September 2019, Knighted as Groundhog of the Realm, May 2022, Recipient of the Order of the Garter July 2023.

Yes, it’s been another splendid year to be a woodchuck, especially one living on this acreage. And yes, it’s true. I received more well deserved accolades this year, adding another medal to my lapel. How nice was it for King Charles to invite me to his Highgrove estate for a special induction into the Order of the Garter. I enjoyed the apres feast of young Artichokes a la Barigoule (organic of course, this is Charles we are talking about). It was also helpful for future plans to meet up with other woodchucks of my level of sophistication and epicurean appetites. How we encouraged each other in greater feats of glory!

But back to more mundane news. Once more, the sadly misguided human in charge of the vegetable garden depended on a flimsy 8′ tall deer fence to keep me out. Even after a big meal, and there were many, I could easily slip under the fence. When will she learn?

Of course I am glad for this ridiculous fence as it kept away the pesky deer. With the deer excluded (as they should be), there’s “more for the rest of us.” as I like to say to visiting relatives. Often as I snacked on gourmet treats, I pause to thank both the silly human and her silly fence. They work so well for me.

This year I partook of the entire Pea crop. I meant to leave a few pods to ripen, but the tender shoots and baby pods were just so scrumptious. The silly human planted three different kinds of shelling Peas, two different kinds of Sugar Snap Peas and those fantastic Oregon Giant Snow Peas. Yes, I ate them all. No sense doing anything halfway!

I was a bit miffed that the human had planted so many crops that just didn’t appeal to me- Onions, Celery, Parsley, Dill, Basil, Cilantro and Bunching Onions. Is she doing this on purpose? I mean, half the garden seems to be onions!

Fortunately she put in a bumper crop of Beans which I have eaten to the ground twice. She tried spraying the remaining Bean stalks with Garlic spray to deter me. I like a little Garlic with my French Filet Beans and Roma Italian Green Beans. I chuckle at her efforts and wonder who doesn’t love Garlic with Beans? It was almost sad when I saw her creep out of the garden clutching seven beans. She actually looked excited. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

We had our biggest tussle over an unlikely crop- the Swiss Chard. I think she was particularly proud of this crop because she started it in the greenhouse so it was robust and vibrant early in the season. What do they say? “Pride cometh before a fall.” I was happy to provide the deflation moment and wipe out this early crop. The pink, orange, yellow and red Chard helped me through the lean early garden season when I was only eating six meals a day.

I laughed uproariously when the human wistfully covered the tattered Swiss Chard roots with some sort of mesh screening. She was hoping the crop would survive. Around here, we give her leeway with her “hope springs eternal” efforts. But in fact, this time she was right to hope. The crop came springing back to life. I waited until the Chard was six to eight inches high again before demonstrating my skills removing the screening. Oh how tender was this second crop!

As I finished off the crop for that second time, I could only wonder, “How did she know of my great love of baby vegetables?”

I tried to make a burrow in the center of the garden as I did last year. This vacation home had proved so lovely for mid forage siestas. The human seemed a bit faklempt by the return of the burrow. She filled it rather aggressively with a lot of rocks. I gave her this one and settled on snoozing above ground au naturel with slices of cucumbers on my eyes to cool my fevered brow. Yes, in between 5,000 thunderstorms and days of smoke, we did have a few days hot enough for a fevered brow.

One of the high points for me was when I hosted friends, members of our gastronomic social club Le Marmiton, for our August full moon meeting. Under the light of the moon, we toasted the human and her commitment to keep us in fresh and tender vegetables. Oh what a night! The dancing, the romance, the baby Carrots…. it was perfection.

If you are a woodchuck in the area during the second blue moon this August, please feel free to join us for another epic feast. The Swiss Chard will no doubt have returned to glory and I can promise you some very special Lettuce, Beets and Borage. (I’d offer more but I am afraid I’ve eaten pretty much everything else.)

In the meantime, Bon Appetit!

I am most sincerely, R.M. “Chuckie” Hogbottom